With that classic 80's rock anthem from Europe playing in the back of my mind I enter the Final Countdown to my year in Kenya!
Twelve days to go and it seems as though time is just slipping through my fingers as I cross the days off on my ever-so-dramatic Deb's Countdown Chart which I made for the wall in an attempt to get organised (or was it just something I made to distract me from one of the more mundane tasks of packing my house away one day?)
My mission, now that I have chosen to accept it, is to work for a year in Kenya as a volunteer coodinator with the Kenyan Red Cross.
Working in a developing country is a life-long dream of mine and I have come close on a number of occassions and as those who know me will attest, my professional work-life has been leading me in this direction for some time now.
Packing is turning into quite the epic event. I'm used to travelling ultra-light, with no more than 15 kgs on my back, but a year in the same place requires a different mind-set and a different set of packing priorities that I'm struggling to grasp - so many boxes! I'm prioritising entertainment over clothing as I figure I can buy extra clothes there, so its juggling balls over that extra pair of trousers for me!
From my research, the town I am heading to is a rather dusty location, which is described as having a 'frontier town' feel to it, being one of the last major stopping points on the road that takes you north towards Ethiopia. It is currently affected by the drought that is impacting the lives of so many people of East Africa and I am told (by a contact I have made there) that the town has running water only 50% of the time at the minute. It is is also described as being a 'melting pot' of different cultural and religious groups, which makes it all the more appealing to me.
I'm excited, nervous, and a million other emotions. I have worked as a volunteer coordinator in the UK and Australia and I'm passionate about community development, but I am aware that the context here is very different and so I'm prepared for a role that requires flexibility and above all a good sense of humour!
Mostly though, I'm delighted to be returning to Kenya, which at one point of my life was the ONLY place that I was interested in visiting (thanks to a youth spent pouring in amazement over my dad's slide collection of pictures taken when he was stationed there with the military). I satisfied that dream in my early twenties with a rite-of-passage-lone-female-backpacker-trip and fell in love with the country and the people and swore I would return one day.
It's fourteen years later but I'm finally fulfilling that promise. Older (ouch), wiser (infinitely) and a much more well-travelled individual than that eager, naive young girl in '97, but still, I hope, with a mind that is open to all of the opportunities and wonderful life experiences that this vast, beautiful country no doubt holds!
"It's the final count-down, do do doooo do....."
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