I just got out of my first EARO (East Africa Regional Office) all-staff meeting. The meeting only lasted an hour, but I feel like I learned so much about process, management, and my colleagues. Most importantly, I now understand that the people I work with are passionate and impressive.

Just a quick example: there is one EARO staff member who is in charge of security and procurement. For over a year, he tracked food aid shipments going from Mombasa, on the coast of Kenya, into South Sudan. He found that CRS's shipping partner was not functioning as efficiently as possible, and this information helped him improve the process of getting food to hungry people AND caused the shipping partner to significantly lower its rate, saving CRS almost $1 million per year. Because USAID is the donor on the South Sudan food project, this incredible man actually just saved the American government $1 million. He's better at cutting costs than most of those folks in Congress! And his is only one of many stories I heard today about people doing amazing things to make aid work more effective, more efficient, and more service-oriented.

CRS is striking the balance between well-respected best practices and innovative tools to really change humanitarianism across the world. The project I'm working on, the CIRCA project, is just one example of that balance.

CIRCA stands for Capacity-building for Inter-Religious Community Action. The underlying assumptions that support this project are a) that community members hold the best solutions to their problems and b) that increasing human capacity is a long-term preventer of conflict and humanitarian emergency. I really believe in both of those ideas, which is why I'm so excited to be a part of this project.

What am I actually doing, you ask? Well, right now I'm editing. The CIRCA Program Manager has written three units of a five-unit curriculum, and once I finish editing them they will be ready for publishing. After that, the PM and I will work together to write the last two units. This curriculum will be used by facilitators to train local NGO partners in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Egypt, Niger, and Nigeria about inter-religious communication and cooperation. Local community leaders bring vital knowledge of their context to CRS, and hopefully the CIRCA curriculum will give them the tools they need to sew seeds of religious peace in their communities. If (when!) CIRCA is successful in the long term, these communities will be less vulnerable to religious violence and extremism because they've worked together in this training and its connector projects.

Like I said before, I am honored to be a part of this project. Its assumptions are well-supported by academic and professional expertise, and its goals resonate with my passions and values. Plus, the actual work I'm doing (writing and editing) makes use of some of my best skills. What more could a girl ask for?!

Revelations

The following are short, completely unrelated revelations that I've had during my first week in Kenya. These revelations vary in length and level of profundity. Enjoy!


I have a white girl name. More specifically, I have an American white girl name. People who don't have American accents have a hard time saying "Meredith." Several people at work have just decided to call me Mary, which I suppose is a compliment, since I work for Catholic Relief Services.


Speaking of CRS, I am continually impressed with the level of professionalism this organization demonstrates, particularly in this office. Having quite a bit of experience with grassroots non-profits under my belt, I especially enjoy coming to work every day and knowing that the project mandate, the key methods, and the long-term goals will all remain the same. I've also benefitted from the increased capacity of a well-established, extremely respected organization. In short, I can't remember the last time I was this happy about my work environment and assignments. Everyone in the East Africa Regional Office of CRS has my utmost gratitude!


You can learn a lot about yourself from brushing your teeth with bottled water every day. Try it some time.


On Monday afternoon, I moved from a rented room that I found independently into a furnished apartment building with which CRS has a working relationship. I have a lot of feelings about this move. The primary motivator was a concern for my own safety, and I stand by my decision to take care of myself as best I know how. But the whole process was not without its challenges. First of all, as a classic type-A overachiever, I had a difficult time accepting the fact that I was unable to find safe housing for myself. I'm supposed to be able to do everything perfectly, right?! Secondly, I have a hard time with the fact that, at least based on my experience, housing options in Nairobi are on one end of the spectrum or the other. As an ex-pat worker, I could either live in a run-down, unsafe house, or I could live in an apartment that is nicer, larger, and more well-guarded than my apartment in DC. It's an interesting comment on income inequality both within Kenya and between countries. I expect to ruminate on those issues for the rest of my time here.

This contraption allows me to keep in touch with all of you!

I am much more deeply committed to finding sources of electricity than I ever would have imagined. Yesterday, I spent nearly half an hour at work finagling with an outlet, a power cord, my adapter, my surge protector, and my charger just so I could keep my computer running. I slightly rearranged the furniture in my living room so that the outlets are more accessible. This determination came out of nowhere, and it's very odd. There's probably a comment to be made here about American dependence on electronics, Millennials' attachments to social media, or my personal issues giving up Facebook. My rebuttal to those comments would be that I am alone in a new city all summer, so let me have the internet. Please and thank you.

The pop radio station here is 107.5, which is the same as the pop station in my hometown of Franklin, Tennessee! Who would've thought that Nairobi and Franklin would have anything in common except for me?

Growing Up Fast

Sometimes it's hard to be a grown up. And by sometimes, I mean right now. Right now, it is hard to be an independent American woman in a foreign city that doesn't seem to know what to do with me. Or, if I'm being honest, I don't know what to do with it.

My eighteen-hour journey across the world was fairly uneventful. The Zurich airport was beautiful, as was the empty seat next to me on the way to Nairobi. Though the traffic on the way to my home stay was atrocious, we made it without any major incident. I must have thanked God at least thirty times that I won't have to drive while I'm here though - I consider myself a courageous person, but I don't think I was born with enough bravery to take on Nairobi's drivers.

The house I'm staying in has many bedrooms filled with many people. The homeowner is a lovely woman who I already consider a friend, and the other folks living with us quietly keep to themselves for the most part. I have a basement room with an en suite bath and built in closets. Though it's a simple and somewhat bare room, I feel sure that it will serve me well while I'm here. The bed is plenty comfy. I even have a TV, a luxury that I don't even have in Washington!

There are two reasons that this house makes me nervous, though:
#1: I was unable to get the hot water to work this morning. I know that makes me sound like such a diva, but cold showers are just not something I'm used to. Hopefully it won't take me long to adjust.
#2: I'm told that my office is a 20 minute walk from the house, which I thought would be no big deal. But today I learned that Nairobi doesn't believe in sidewalks, and my mom always told me not to play in the street. Hopefully at my first day of work tomorrow I can get information about transportation to and from work.

Earlier today, I went on my first Kenyan Adventure: to the mall! My host called a friend of hers who drives a taxi, and he took me to the nearest shopping center. I got a Kenyan cell phone, an outlet converter, a new book, and some groceries. This adventure is a great example of me not knowing what to do with Nairobi. Cars undergo a full search by security officers upon entering the parking lot, and every shopper must go through a metal detector and bag search to enter the mall. The cell phone and computer stores have well-armed Kenyan state police standing outside. There are cameras everywhere. I wasn't very comfortable with all of this security, but I understand why people in Nairobi would take comfort in it. After the Westgate Mall shooting, I'm sure everyone here felt much safer with the visibly heightened security, kind of like Americans felt right after the post-9/11 airport security measures took effect. Even with that knowledge, I still have to say that I am not, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, comfortable around machine guns. And I'm okay with that.

Tomorrow is my first day of work. I am nervouscurioushopefulscaredexcited to get started. I guess part of being a grown up is having complex emotions like that, huh? I know my work will be rewarding and teach me so much, but I'm starting to realize exactly how big a challenge this summer will be. Things aren't perfect right now, but I will work hard to make them better. 'Cause I'm a grown up!

24 Hours

There are 24 hours left until I leave for Kenya.  I will use these last 24 hours to pack, clean my apartment, eat spaghetti, go for a run, and finish reading Amy Poehler's book, Yes Please. To me, these last hours are actually the worst part of the whole trip. All of my planning and coordinating and purchasing and questioning is finished, and now all I can do is wait. In these last 24 hours I will get a lot of things done. But in many ways, I'll just be waiting for takeoff. And then, of course, I'll just be waiting to land.

There are about 42 hours left before I land in Kenya. Once I land, Nairobi will be my city for 10 weeks. I predict that these 10 exhilarating, terrifying, adventurous weeks will teach me more than I've learned in the past year. Though I've not been to Nairobi before, I have heard that the city is an amazing, vibrant place to live and work. I can't wait to meet all kinds of people, shop in local markets, and relax my life's pace back to Africa Time. I'm sure I will love getting to know another one of the world's great cities, and I am particularly excited to start contributing to Catholic Relief Services' great work through my internship.

In about 96 hours, I will officially join the CRS Nairobi team as the CIRCA Project Intern for the summer. In many ways, this is a dream come true for me. CIRCA works to reduce communities' vulnerability to conflict and extremism by improving inter-religious relationships. I really believe that this job is perfect for me. I love learning about other cultures, helping folks understand each other, and writing personal stories. And I get to do that all summer! I am so grateful to CRS for giving me this opportunity.

I will spend roughly 1,680 hours in Nairobi this summer, and though I am so excited for this adventure, I also recognize that 1,680 is a lot of hours to be away from the people I love. I hope to use this blog to stay connected with the people closest to me in addition to chronicling the work I'll do with CRS. 1,680 is definitely a lot of hours to be gone, but I've still got 24 more before I go, and I want to make the most of them. Time to get started!