I know, I know I have been slacking on this thing but between being a peace corps volunteer during the week and tourist on the weekends I don’t have much free time. The week after I arrived here I was evacuated to another beach town on the north coast called Kilifi because Kenya was having a major election on a new constitution. Kenya does not have a very good track record with elections as the last one ended up with near anarchy and the withdraw of all PCV’s. I am happy to report though, that this one went very smoothly. A great sign for the Future of Kenya and its people.
Work wise, I have pretty much just been getting settled and familiar with my community. I am compiling a community needs assessment right now so pretty much that is the bulk of my job. Our bottled water production facility is about to become operational and that will be my main assignment while I am here. They refer to me as the “marketing manager” which is well and good for now but not in terms of sustainability, I will have to work on training a predecessor. Socially I am not exaggerating when I say I am pretty much a tourist on the weekends. I go snorkeling, hit up the casino and drink frozen cocktails on the beach…. (hate away other PCVs). Also I have been mingling with the plethora of British tourists who come here for their “gap year” or “gaap yaah”(think British accent). Gap year is when rich Brits come to Kenya for 1-3 months to help save the world before they start college. They do a couple hours of volunteer work during their stay to help justify this necessary excursion to their parents but mostly they just hang out on the beach and get wasted ( i.e. Cancun). Honestly though, its awesome to have other westerners to hangout with, something no one else in the peace corps has at their disposal. Hopefully this is enough to motivate you guys to come visit, oh yea and I see monkeys everyday on the walk to the beach. One last thing I have a knew address and do love to receive packages lol.
Michael Paladino
Ukunda Youth Polytechnic
P.O. Box 62
Ukunda 80400
Kenya
AFRICA

Miss everyone!!

Dino