Day Three

I over-slept my alarm and thanks to kind roommates, they woke me up and had coffee ready. I quickly jumped in the taxi and off we went to go sit in traffic. In Nairobi, a complex transportation system of buses, minivans, and private hire taxis exist. Navigating the public transport is not easy and as a foreigner if you don’t know what you are doing you are a prime target for theft. So for my second day in Nairobi, I decided to go the expensive route and hired a taxi. I was headed to the organization I worked for this summer – which I’ll call NY NGO - to have an interview on a grants volunteer position for the Somalia program. The interview went well and I enjoyed the humor of the Italian country director. The position is a great entry point to the organization but the pay is quite low and I have think carefully how much more time should I invest in another internship/volunteer post. I have deferred my graduate loans twice now and I’d like to begin payments this year.

After shoving a chicken pie down my throat at Java Café – the Starbucks of Nairobi but better – I head back to the organization to meet with the education manager. The education sector in the Kenyan office consists of just this one manager who is struggling to enlarge the program and simultaneously release a massive policy on referrals for youth to Kenya. His suggestion is that I try to create a volunteer position in 6 months. While it sounds enticing, I can only afford to live as a volunteer starting from now to 6 months. I will though maintain contact with the manager and see if any consultancy opportunities arise in 6 months. Honestly, the grants volunteer position has become very appealing as it would challenge my skills and enhance my experience in designing project proposals with a budget line.

I finish the day with drinking wine with my friend who I met in Bosnia , Cynthia ,and her friend who is going through a break-up with another development worker. Building a long-term relationship when working in development is super complex and simply risky. Feelings are schizophrenic and evolve rapidly. I have fallen for someone in one week and then the long term reality check happens the next day and I quickly move on. In contrast, I have also fallen for someone and lived in the fantasy of us working together across the world and building a family in transit. In other words, I wanted the fantasy to become my reality. So in this case, I played the role in this journalist’s fantasy that only went to so far as a few weeks at a time. Looking back, I was never part of his reality.

Yet again I have entered this relationship environment again moving to Kenya and moreover I’m dating another expat working in a different country in East Africa. I don’t have all the answers as to why, how, and where it will go but I do believe that the potential of a relationship to work out long term is possible in my surroundings. Or maybe it’ll happen outside of East Africa. The point is, I still have faith in love or maybe figuring my career out has taken the attention away from the discouraging love affairs that happen living abroad.