Politicians and Goodbyes

Earlier this week, the whole UW group met Washington Congressman Jim McDermott. Apparently he is the guy that started the AGOWA conference (big meeting that brought Hillary Clinton to talk to Kenyan leaders and other African countries this week). He came to Africa for the conference and wanted to 1)visit a grassroots childrens organization and 2)meet the UW group he heard about. Apparently his wanting to meet us made the UW group slightly famous in the UW embassy. He was referred to Hamomi which is a school/feeding center where we have two UW interns working.

We arrived at the school early and got acquainted with kids and staff. The Congressman then showed up in a 3 car motorcade. This is a slum. Three suburbans are quite noticeable. A USAID lady showed up before the Congressman did and in a very bossy manner, told us all what was going to go down. When the Congressman showed up with a lot of other people (couldn't figure out who was who)we were given a tour of the school. It wasn't on the "program" but I got the preschool teacher to lead all the little kids in singing for us! So cute. They sang/shouted an alphabet song and then did Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

After the tour, there was an 'assembly' and each grade did a performance. From poetry, song, dance, skits, it was great. Some of the performances were standard African pieces. Others were blatantly directed at the Congressman, asking for help. In one poem, the kids essentially described the Congressman as their "hero" if he helped them gain education.

It was definitely interesting to meet the Congressman. However, I found it interesting that he was fixated on the the fact that our UW group consists of mainly women (13 girls to 2 guys). He seriously mentioned it like 5 times. The last time he asked, he requested one of the guys to answer. It was all I could to bite my tongue and not blurt out that perhaps it was an accurate representation of those whom are engaged in public service. Males are outnumbered by women. Take my school as an example. The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs (ie public service) has a rough girl to guy ration of 3:1. Or maybe it is 2:1. Can't remember! But the point is, there are more girls overall in the public service sector.




A, the other American intern at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (we have shared an office) ended her internship this week. So all of us interns (there are like 9 of us!) took her out for a going away. There was lots of laughing, triple decker pizza, gift giving, fun, and way too many pictures because the boys got a hold of the cameras and decided it was photo shoot time! Here is a glimpse of our night thanks to over eager photographers. :)