Looking back at my trip to Kenya travelling in Africa was an unforgetable experience. Between the dangerous and overcrowded matatu rides, the 18 hour train ride between Nairobi and Mombasa, our snorkeling trip to a tiny island off the coast of Kenya and Tanzania, we experience Africa at its best. Although we had an amazing trip, culturally, it was challenging. It’s not everyday that someone like Max or myself from the “Western World” is faced with the dangers and harsh reality of the “Third World” (or, to be politically correct, the developing world). I will never forget the image of small children eating food that had been cooked in close proximity to chickens over a fire that was being fed plastic from plastic bowl that had been “cleaned” with dirty water, nor will I forget the stories of children who could not afford to attend school, but whos close ones readily raised money for their local church. I maintain that much progress has yet to be made in Kenya and surely in all of Africa.
I will not forget the harsh image of reality nor will I forget the fear of danger and paranoia. Having visited the doctor several times before leaving to Kenya, I was well aware of all of the possible diseases I could contract in Africa. My doctor at Wellesley had immunized me for Polio, Yellow Fever, Typhoid, and H1N1. I had also been taking Lariam for 2 weeks before arriving in Kenya and was well informed about all of the health risks at hand. It wasn’t the disease that scared me the most, though, upon ariving in Kenya. The traffic and the people constantly hasteling foreigners posed a much greater threat. Most illnesses can be treated, but a car accident or an aggressor can take someone’s life away within seconds.
(Posted by Caroline Dupraz)
