tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52102863604816133272012-02-16T16:21:49.793+03:00Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.comBlogger261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-67312384622684349812010-09-01T00:08:00.002+03:002010-09-16T06:08:32.573+03:00

It was a rather blustery night. The moon had not yet risen and in the pitch black dark all I could see was our front door ringed in an eerie orange light. The wind rattled the dry acacia fruits, the ragged grasses crackled and swayed, and the call of animals in the distance floated across the plains. When it rained, which wasn’t often, I would collect water from a rainwater tank behind the

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-52150253680504792422009-06-06T17:12:00.006+03:002010-10-04T15:52:17.669+03:00

I woke with a start. The blustery night had given way to an eerily calm, dark early morning. As we went to bed the trees rustled and the clouds raced across the moon. But now there were no sounds, except for the ones, which bolted me upright, wrenching me from my slumber. As the sun had descended we had dutifully helped Faith with dinner. In the fading light we had pounded corn to remove the

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-54286262784629652062008-02-27T04:00:00.013+03:002008-02-27T09:53:06.681+03:00

We are giggling uncontrollably at the mountains of freshly made deserts only feet from our table. An assortment of ice cream flavors is wonderfully garnished with cookies, bonbons and fresh fruit. Behind us a chef prepares stir-fry wearing a tall white hat. He tosses cubed steak into a wok that flames a brilliant blue with the emulsion of flavored oils. At some point a waiter arrives with our

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-9502063503126830152008-01-25T09:31:00.000+03:002008-01-25T09:48:57.102+03:00

Nobody was looking as we got off the plane. Nobody stared as I knelt to tie my shoelaces in the hallway. And nobody cared to notice as I hefted our bags from the carousel. In Orinie every move we made was watched and analyzed. Every item bought was a communication; every person talked to was some sort of political maneuver. Jennie and I were celebrities in our village. People liked to recount

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-31323811379441526452008-01-06T01:06:00.001+03:002008-02-18T22:26:40.834+03:00

For the holidays and election time, we were invited to stay in Karen at a friend’s home while he and his wife were away. Among other things there is a Rothschild giraffe rescue, an orphaned elephant reserve, and an abundance of colonial era relics that add to Kenya’s interesting, if not unique, brand of African culture. Most importantly, we were eager to soak up all the electricity and hot

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-43638732685570699022007-12-23T18:15:00.000+03:002007-12-23T18:48:00.244+03:00

We hiked the two exhausting hours out to the main road, dropped our luggage, and began looking for transportation into Kajiado. Looking north, I noticed a man laboring up the hill toward us on a mountain bike, loaded down with gear and towing a sizeable trailer. I turned to Jennie and said, in rather Kenyan fashion, “Look, it’s a mzungu!” Adrian was riding his bicycle from Switzerland to Cape

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-33246501519105070622007-12-12T23:23:00.000+03:002007-12-13T18:39:27.400+03:00

A cold breeze blew through the pitch as players anxiously perched along the penalty box, side-by-side with spectators. For the moment the ball was motionless—the goalie poised in anticipation and the shooter nervously eyeing his shoelaces. A whistle broke the silence and the shooter lunged at the ball, shuffling his feet before striking at its middle with a laced arch. The goalie dove right,

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-41403109750249767082007-11-25T14:33:00.000+03:002007-11-27T20:07:23.934+03:00

5:30 am. I awake with a start as a man’s shrill cry comes over a loud speaker calling devotees to prayer at a nearby mosque. In Arabic he repeats several phrases, singing that none are to be worshipped but Allah, and my personal favorite, prayer is better than sleep. Now fully awake, and musing about the muezzin, I climb out of bed and quietly step outside to watch the sunrise. Its morning in

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-47021641790913365292007-11-23T23:00:00.000+03:002007-11-23T23:18:27.252+03:00

Jennie and I want to acknowledge Carol Dunn, Mary Jones, and her grade school class for writing letters to the standard 8 students here in Orinie. In observance of the International Day of Peace, the kids wrote about themselves, their community and what the concept of peace meant to them.The idea came up a few months ago when Jennie and I cautiously wandered over to the school and promised to

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-7165579234938255802007-11-16T18:39:00.000+03:002007-11-16T18:59:54.331+03:00

Taketi herds about 75 goats for his family, which means that he is up by 5 am to drive them to the river for water. By 7:30 he is at school while the goats wander, and by 2pm he is back out into the bush rounding them up. He herds goats 7 days a week, and he does it well, at least that’s what I would like to believe. And though he is only 8 years of age, he has found a way to extort gifts from

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-91521483647361700942007-10-30T13:58:00.001+03:002007-10-30T18:59:31.883+03:00

We got home safely this week from Nairobi, but not exactly in the way that I had envisioned. Like normal we grabbed a matatu from the City Centre stage and suffered through the dust, noise and danger that is modern Kenya's finest mode of transportation. We arrived with our lives and person intact in Kajidao, and set up a meeting with one of our counterparts. Julius was also worried about the

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-55240517830043395302007-10-17T20:48:00.000+03:002007-10-17T20:52:36.274+03:00

I have started playing football in the evenings with the kids here. The field is rough, extremely potholed, lacking goal posts or sidelines, and definitely not flat. But they don’t care, they just play.As the sun sets, crowds of students battle in the rising dust. The action stops frequently to restitch the ball due to thorns and sharp broken glass. The kids huddle around and find some way to fix

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-25622959423221853202007-10-05T15:40:00.000+03:002007-10-05T16:24:26.416+03:00

Jennie has come through a rather nasty fight with a stomach bug. She spent the last few days camped out under the mosquito netting, feverish and reading a Jodi Picoult novel. Wednesday was site visit, which among other things brought, not one, but two boxes from France. Our supervisor Anne came by Land Rover to see us, and reaffirm that we are in fact, the most remote posting that she has under

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-55985937594045597152007-09-24T11:29:00.000+03:002007-10-02T20:13:02.101+03:00

I have avoided talking about work like the plague itself, because it's so hard to give the proper context. You can obviously understand when I say we are building a garden. But what you don't really get is what that entails here on the ground. For starters, we seem to be at the nexus of the known goat universe. Everyone here owns and grazes goats. And this presents certain unforeseen barriers to

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-49474895266732607552007-09-23T21:15:00.000+03:002007-09-28T16:17:16.637+03:00

Last post I mentioned the "big five" thinking that it would make me sound safari savvy. The problem was that I hadn't really done my homework. It's actually a game hunting term used to refer to the five largest, and most difficult animals to kill in the region. So the "big five" refers to the Lion, African Elephant, African or Cape Buffalo, Leopard and the Black Rhino. While my inner vegetarian (

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-67614895205169591572007-09-14T10:30:00.000+03:002007-09-14T10:54:06.505+03:00

Since I'm always writing about us, I was worried that we might come across as a bit ego-centric. So here is a thinly veiled attempt to write something that isn't directly about us, that in actuality, is really about us--enjoy.This region is known for its amazing array of wild animals. Of course there is the “big five.” What you won't read about in the travel guides however, is the assortment of

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-77046309098932242102007-09-05T20:13:00.000+03:002007-09-05T21:12:50.484+03:00

The house is starting to come together, albeit slowly given that most things must come in on our backs. The situation is such that we have a 2 hour walk of approximately 13 kilometers from our front door to the main road. From there we catch a passing Nissan bus called a matatu another 35km north to the market village of Kajiado. We can get most of our supplies there, food, furniture, tools and

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-55881343752101672462007-08-30T19:20:00.000+03:002007-08-30T19:40:29.061+03:00

It’s been about a month since we last wrote an entry, and in that time we have sworn in as volunteers, moved into our new community, and realized that we now live in Africa. And I mean this quite literally, because it is a shocking revelation to sit up in your bed and see Acacia trees and Masai men wandering with their herds—Africa is now truly just outside our window. I can’t say with any

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-58854819900980351482007-07-26T16:31:00.000+03:002007-07-26T16:50:01.793+03:00

Just a quick hello... Jennie and I are set to swear-in next week as training comes to an end. It's been a crazy 10 weeks, and as we reflect on what we have done, we just really want to thank all of you for being supportive. In truth coming here has been hard, and frustrating, and at times it has been one of the best experiences of our lives. I think that the next two years will prove to be no

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-8916346623883870022007-07-18T14:39:00.000+03:002007-07-18T14:59:41.710+03:00

My apologies for the last entry. The formatting was really strange, and the pictures were a bit random. I think it represents what "can" be done given the worlds slowest Internet connection, one bad photographer, three chimpanzees, and a blog all locked in a room. In the future I will host our photos on a third-part site TBD. In the meantime, enjoy my senseless anecdotes.So with that said, we've

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-29207748158469661482007-07-08T11:39:00.000+03:002007-07-08T12:04:39.617+03:00

This is a shot of our language group. Every morning we study at our host home with a Kenyan language tutor for several hours before working on our technical skills. From left to right are: Nate, Jennie, Hannah and Simon, our instructor. I shot this photo on our first week of training, in the front yard of our host families garden. Our host family brothers took us to a nearby rock, where legend

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-57854625204108179752007-07-02T15:54:00.000+03:002007-07-07T17:12:24.553+03:00

The past couple of weeks have been ridiculous! Really great, but totally, absurdly, ridiculous... Let me just set the stage for you. We have been going along our way learning Kiswahili and our technical skills. The material is dynamic and applicable to the lives of our future community. Its been really fun. And then, Friday happened.So we were informed that some media might come and observe our

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-32248846988652366772007-06-12T15:25:00.000+03:002007-06-12T15:48:04.838+03:00

Okay, it's been exceedingly hard to get Internet access. Jennie was successful once when we arrived, but only got off half an email before drawing a crowd of leering school kids that sent her running from the terminal.We've been training for several weeks now, and though it's only been a short time, for us eons have passed. We are like children again--everything is incredibly, tryingly,

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-17025601881096950692007-05-26T16:54:00.000+03:002007-05-26T17:22:20.878+03:00

We made it! We flew into Nairobi two nights ago, and already we are hard at work learning the language and cultural customs. We are stying in a protected compound for the time being, but will move to our host family homes tomorrow. For this afternoon we have ended classes and are wandering around a local mall, where I am using an Internet cafe to post. The city is amazing and alive with people.

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-89151458510031324682007-05-16T22:08:00.000+03:002007-05-16T23:19:05.590+03:00

Jennie and I have happy feet, thanks to the people at Chaco footwear. First of all, they make some great sandals. Second, they give a 50% discount to Peace Corps volunteers on their entire line. Best of all, they are supportive and helpful. They shipped out the right sandals fast, followed by an email just to thank us for being volunteers. The sandals are made in the US in Paonia Colorado, and a

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5210286360481613327.post-30701468462389319622007-04-22T06:34:00.000+03:002007-05-16T23:19:45.376+03:00

Jambo! Thank you for checking out our blog. In a few short weeks we'll be departing for Kenya to start our 27 month service as Peace Corps volunteers. We are incredibly excited (and a little anxious) to get started. Before we head out, we want to thank everyone for all the support and encouragement along the way, and introduce you to the blog we'll be keeping while in Kenya.We hope to use this

Nicholas Demillehttps://profiles.google.com/114233813817628957062noreply@blogger.com7