Only in Kenya

Written by: Nessa

Recently I had a sit-down with someone you may or may not have heard of (and if you haven't, you will soon!): PPT's very own newly appointed forum mod, the_dog_god. Congratulations on your accomplishment and thank you for taking the time out to answer a few questions.

Back in December, the_dog_god left on a month-long trip to Kenya. He stayed with a Masai tribe while building classrooms for a girls' high school, located about a hundred kilometres south of Nairobi. the_dog_god agreed to tell me more about his experience, and thus, this interview was born!

Tell me about a project you've worked on that you are very proud of.

The project I took part in was one of last year's Round Square International Service Projects. My school was part of Round Square, and so I was chosen to go over to Kenya to a school that housed mostly Masai girls who could not afford to support themselves fully, let alone improve the school. I was the only New Zealander on the project, with twenty other "Western" people. There was thirty Kenyan people on the project who worked with us.

In total, it was ten days of actual building, though we were on the site for twelve days. The rest of the three weeks was either spent at the Starehe Boys' Centre (a school that houses the nicest people in the world), or on safari doing the touristy stuff along with some stuff that 99.9% of tourists never get to do because the project leader lives in Africa (Nigeria) and has been working annually in Kenya for twelve years.

What made you want to do this?

Long story short, it literally was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I wasn't going to let slip through the cracks. I'll never get a chance like that again, and I am absolutely stoked that I did do it.

What sticks out the most from everything you've learned from that project?

Westerners living in first-world countries are the most petty, whiny people in the world (myself included). The boys and girls I met in Kenya had nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a home for large chunks of the year, not a meal for days on end. No medical care when compared to us, relatively no technology. Any person that did succeed would find themselves supporting dozens of family members and friends. And yet, despite all this - they are the happiest, friendliest, kindest people I have ever met in my life.

Would you ever do it again?

Do my plans to go back one day and live there for at least a year answer that question?

What's some advice you can give to someone else who might take on a similar endeavour?

Go there with open eyes. People told me this before I went and it bugged the crud out of me - but it's true. Make the most of every opportunity presented. Don't shy from adventure; don't go and forget. Go over there, dance with the Masai, be licked by a giraffe and bawl your eyes out when you wave goodbye to the coolest people you'll ever meet. Be proud of what you are doing and don't back away from anything that presents itself to you. Forget your nerves (though nothing anybody said to me would do that when I was first travelling there) and make the most of it. You'll love it!

Nessa loves to interview people for Pink Ink!

Lillie has edited over 13 articles for this issue alone!