Mimi ni msichana wa India (I am a girl from India) who landed in Nairobi, Kenya four months back as a PAL Network Research Fellow. I was joined by two co-fellows- Natasha from Nepal and Waqas from Pakistan who were my family for four months. I was apprehensive, oblivious to life outside Delhi, yet excited about the unknown and the uncertain.
What I learnt about the Kenyan culture and language
The first two months were spent pretty much in the apartment with some get-away to the nearby super-market and ‘the Town’.
However, I would not put those 60 days as utter mundane as I attended an orchestra for the first time, at the Kenyan Cultural Centre, walked 10 kilometers through the beautiful Karura forest. I learnt most Swahili words in those two months!
The PAL and the ZiziAfrique teams took the onus of teaching us basic greetings, days of the week and counting till 100. These lessons were followed by weekly assessments. I have been told to have fared well in them. The niceness of the people intrigued me the most. They made me feel at home even when I was away from mine. And I guess, this kept me less home-sick. I also realized, no matter where one is, two things surely unite the world- “chai” and Indian movies. Secondly, an Indian will always be loyal to Bata (I have already bought four pairs of shoes!).
Where my research paper stands
The research paper like me has been through phases. When I set out from India, I presumed I knew what I would write and what I expected to find from the data. A week into the Fellowship, I realized, a research cannot be pre-thought of, it evolves as one digs deeper into literature; and speaking more about it to various people. From changing the title to the direction of the content; keeping it formal yet not complex, the paper and I have come a long way. Each changing phase of the paper was challenging, however, facing them was made easier by the support we received from within and outside the network.
As I read my research paper today, I feel more content and proud. I am assured of writing a research paper and articulating the findings in times when the data does not support the pre-conceived argument.
About my bucket-list
I left India with a bucket-list of places to visit in Kenya. That included- a safari to the Maasai Mara, get a picture at the equator, visit the coast and be at three places at once (take a boat ride in Lake Victoria, ‘you are in the waters of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda’). Besides, covering the list, I travelled in bus that had WiFi and screens playing videos of Micheal Jackson and Whitney Huston songs, saw Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya from a distance and both were breath-taking views and attended a colourful traditional Kenyan wedding.
As for now I feel accomplished and know that I shall go back only to return to the pride of Africa!