First week of homestay

It has been exactly a week since I arrived in Riruta. Since the time of my arrival I have been exposed to many things. Living with a family has given me the unique experience of viewing the day to day life of Kenyans. Not only do I get to see how my host family and siblings live in their natural element, I also get to listen to their accounts of what life is like behind closed doors. Doors we as white people do not ordinarily gain access into. This unique living experience has given me access into facets of Kenyan life I would ordinarily be closed off from.
I have had the privaledged experience of going to several women's meetings here in Riruta. These meetings are essentially gatherings of friends. In order to be a member of a group one must be on good terms with all of the group. Each group, there are more than one hundred here in Riruta, meets once a month at one member's house. At this monthly meeting each member must contribute 3,000 shilling, a little more than $35 U.S dollars, a month. They can use the money for whatever they choose.
Essentially these groups serve as a social component of Kenyan women's lives, their social network grows depending on how many groups they are a part of, and gives them access to life outside of their homes. In addition to being a social networking device, these meetings facilitate a loan like process. When it is one members turn to host that women receives money from her peers, essentially the same amount of money she has give to the rest of the group in the past few months. Every member benefits from the communal cooperation of their peers. My mom is apart of more than twelve groups, and has brought me with her to three meetings this past week. Each meeting is conducted in a slightly different way, but each revolves around prayer and reflection. One women leads the meeting usually with a gospel and a sermon ranging from 5-10 minutes. These sermons are usually conducted in the groups vernacular tongue, in Riruta's case, the vernacular of choice is Kikuyu. After the meetings i have my host mom translate the sermon for me.
Outsiders are not allowed to attend these meetings, not even the children of members. Because I am the daughter of my host-mom, and because she wants me to meet her friends, I have been granted the unique privaledge of going to these meetings. I was unable to attend a meeting on Friday because I was at the local market, and some of the members wanted the know where I was, lol.
In addition to gaining access into these meetings I am able to hear and discuss the day to day politics of Kenya, most importantly the post election violence. Every night we tune in to the 9 o clock NTV news, NTV is an ABC, CBS equivalent. These news casts cover all the current issues going on in Kenya. In addition to the accounts given by the newscasters, my parents always contribute their own accounts of what is going on in the country. They are especially vocal on reports concerning civil unrest and tribal clashes.
From my international studies class and from living with a Kenyan family, I have learned how Kenyans identify themselves. Kenya is a country made up of 42 different tribes, tribes people have been identifying themselves with for centuries. It was not until the British colonized the region today known as Kenya, and grouped its inhabitants into prospective tribes, that identity came to the forefront of politics here.
In order to communicate with a demographic of peope speaking hundreds of languages, the British installed English and Swahili as the national languages of Kenya. The first four years of school are taught in vernacular languages (tribal languages such as Kikuyu, Maa...). In the fifth year the vernacular language is dropped and english is the language of instruction. Swahili is a language class all are required to take, simular to the approach many schools have with Spanish. Imagine being fluent in three languages by the time you are 13!!!

This past week in class we have been tying different tenses of Swahili together. Future tense uses Li in the postive form and Ku in the negative form. Conditional tense is ta.
Nitenda kuona tembo.