It's July... why am I still in Nairobi?

Girl, what dates you talking about? The past 2 weeks. 

So... my "practicum" has yet to actually get started off the ground and I'm still in Nairobi? Yes. 

Apparently, this is not an uncommon narrative with summer practicums. A lot of my colleagues are sitting around waiting for one bureaucratic process or another, be it international IRB approval, Emory IRB, organization-specific tedium, etc etc.


Why am I in Nairobi when I'm supposed to be in western Kenya?

After we had been in Kisii for just under a week, we were instructed to come back to Nairobi to complete some paperwork. Upon arrival in Nairobi, I am told that I actually didn't need to come back to Nairobi because my work could have been done remotely. Hmm...

This conversation happened two weeks ago. Why wasn't I sent back after that was cleared up? We also need identification that reflects our association with the organization, that way if we are stopped and asked "Hey you foreign nationals, what are you doing here?", we have something to present. This ID was only supposed to take 4 weeks to process. I sent in my materials the first or second week of May. Today is July 2nd and there is still no sign of it. I have been put up in a Nairobi hotel for the entire duration of my wait. While I am thankful that this was of no expense to me, it's still a pity that so much time and money is being wasted on nothing.

So What Now?

My flight itinerary currently has me leaving the first week of August. I have two choices: 1) Extend my stay so that I have some hope of executing my research or 2) Rework my stay into a succinct work assignment so that I am able to complete the number of work hours required of the practicum. I am heavily leaning towards option 2. Given how unpredictable things have been in regards to timelines, my shelling out additional money to stay for a few more weeks is no guarantee that I will have enough time to complete my imagined research protocol. While I was excited to take my first stab at independent research, it will not be my last opportunity. So, it's just better for me to make the most of the summer in a way that will not have me pulling my hair out  or draining my wallet. My thesis is NOT dependent on my summer (I always have a plan B), so why give myself grey hair over it?

I am excited about the prospect of heading back to Kisii this week. I'm getting a bit bored and stir crazy in Nairobi. The Nairobi office is simply a support office, so there is no "field" to go observe like there is in Kisii. Moreover, I've been to just about every bar in this town, so there's nothing else to see, haha! Really though, I came to here to work... it would be nice to be finally doing some of that. I could be a bum at home for a heck of a lot less money while having better internet access at my disposal.

Plus, I miss my "pets":

There are about 10 fowl of various types that run around the Kisii Guest House premises.

On the negative, I am not particularly excited about going back to the organization's guest house in Kisii. It just doesn't afford me the sort of privacy that I prefer. There, you live with your coworkers, and thus you see them all day, everyday. Thankfully, I find most of them pleasant, so it should not be torture. One the occasions I need a little "me time", I'm torrentting a storm while I have decent-ish internet in Nairobi. I'll be watching Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, and some anime to pass my time when I feel like being solitary. (If you have TV recommendations, comment or FB inbox me some... thanks!) I will likely make weekend trips back to Nairobi to see folks of interest since Kisii is supposed to be fairly dull on the weekends.

Up Next: Hopefully I'll be back in Kisii soon and actually have an entry dedicated to my time there!

P.S.:

There was one major benefit of being in Nairobi all this time. I got to Family Health Options Kenya headquarters, one of the largest and oldest providers of sexual and reproductive health services in the country and an International Planned Parenthood affiliate. I was in talks with them when I was looking for a backup practicum, but they still invited me in when I told them I was staying with my current org. They stated they would love to receive me in January for a monitoring and evaluation project related to behavior change communication in Kisumu, Kenya. They even introduced me to the Advocacy and Behavior Change Communication teams. If I could get the logistics sorted out, that would be an awesome winter project that is more in line with my interests. Only the months will tell whether or not this will work out but it's something to look forward to in the winter.