Last Days of Work, Mt. Kilimambogo, and Karaoke

If you've been keeping up with my blogs, you are probably wondering if I've actually been doing work! First and foremost, I have been hard at work here in the office! My morning starts at between 6:30 and 7:30 am with a dusty 45-minute walk to the office.

Then, after a cup of tea, I get down to work! I have finally sorted through all of these documents (yes, the same documents that I've been going through for the last few weeks) and deleted all of the identifying information. I have counted, classified, and redefined several indicators that these documents are meant to measure, namely based on the type of services that HIV-infected individuals were able to access. These include legal advice, formal legal representation, access to informal conflict resolution mechanisms (such as negotiation meetings or involvement of the local chiefs), and referrals to other legal or non-legal organizations. I produced a report for OSI and Harvard, and sorted through three other sets of data as well. 

Me hard at work

In addition to spending hours with these documents, the office at OSIEA environment is really unique. We have yoga classes 3x/week and lunch time together every day! It's like a family...I'm going to miss them!

Lunch time! OSIEA feeds us a mixture of meat, starch, veggies, and fruit every day! Yum!

Now, back to fun....

This past Sunday, Lena, Jasmine, Jan, James, and I joined a group of 50 others to go hiking at Mt. Kilimanbogo. It was great opportunity to get out of Nairobi, enjoy the fresh air, and get some exercise too. The 10 km hike up the mountain took 2 hours, as did the 10 km decline. I was the 5th person to make it to the top!!! But boy, did my legs hurt... Although we didn't see much wildlife - aside from a butterfly and plenty of giant ants - we got to get in touch with nature for the day.

Me, Jasmine (clearly not dressed for hiking), Lena, and Jan

Both looking a little ridiculous with our scarves...(that's not really Jan's scarf...)

The group as we prepare for the hike

9.6 km to go!

Still trekking along...

Lena standing in front of a view along the way

Me and the ranger as we head toward the top

Almost there...I hope!

I was the 5th one to the top (and left the rest of the crew behind...)

Notice: this is "the top." I climbed 10 km to see this...

Lunch time in the open field on top of the mountain.We're enjoying the rest because we're told that there's no easier way to come down...

Always time for one last pic on the mountain

James, Jasmine, and I after the long hike. We are tired!

After a hard week of work - and realizing that I have just over one week left - I decided that I should treat myself to a good time! Devrah, a friend from school, gave me the contact for a Kenyan friend called Benson, so after meeting briefly over the weekend, we decided to plan an outing. Ella - a new intern in my office from South Africa - and I had a lovely, upscale dinner in town at an Italian restaurant called Trattoria. Then, Jasmine and Lena met up with us and we took a long matatu journey to the town of Rongai, where we danced and sang karaoke (yes, I participated) at a club called Legend. 

I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie world...

Stop! In the name of love...

Before you break my heart...