Fun, Forms and Feelings

I've now completed about two weeks of work at the JVA Nairobi office. It's about a 30 minute/two matatu commute from my apartment, depending on traffic. The security is quite tight because of the nature of work we do, but the guards are all super friendly, as long as you have your identification badge! I have never worked at a place where the day was so precisely scheduled, and where all staff so willingly break off work for lunch and quitting time. It goes- 8:00am, clock in; 10:15- tea break; 1:15-lunch; 4:15- outta there!

It seems that Mark, Lyndsay and I came on board at a good time, because during my first full week, there was an all staff training for the field team. Apparently, it is extremely rare to see all of the Kenyan and expat staff that do the circuit rides together in one room at the same time. Even if most of the training was so detailed that it went right over our heads, we had a nice time getting to know everyone. The training week culminated in a 'wellness' day for all Nairobi staff. ('Wellness day' = staff party, except with lots more organized teambuilding activities!)
Pic - some of the staff during training

Pic - staff scaling an inflatable slide during a relay activity. My team, the red team just happened to take home the top honors of the day! :)

After taking the weekend to recover from our wellness day, we reported to work bright and early Monday morning. Mark and Rosie were due to head to the field early that week, where they would receive further on the job training. With most of the other staff either traveling or on out of the office comp time, it was just Lyndsay and I who were there training with Njeri, one of the Kenyan staff, and a great lady. She taught us one of three types of interviews we will be conducting with the refugees- Formfilling. We will learn the others- prescreening and casework- later in the field. These are the three interviews JVA does with all refugees to prepare their cases for review by US immigration officers for approval or denial.

Formfilling is generally done by Kenyan staff, but caseworkers are required to learn both so we understand it, and can help out if necessary. I won't go into the millions and millions of details and codes involved. Suffice it to say that there are many many different forms and database pages, as well as 47 pages of codes to use in filling them out. Gotta love government processes!

At first I was mostly just nervous to be face to face with the refugees, asking them questions. I quickly got over that, but then I was sure I would go absolutely crazy trying to document all of their answers. Njeri says it takes the average formfiller about an hour to fill in all the paperwork and data after the interview- it is taking me about 4 at the moment! Ah well, I guess practice makes perfect. And it had certainly better- one little error by us could cause the refugee's case to be delayed by months...or years...! No pressure or anything.

So, there's this heavy detail-oriented/administrative side to the job. But on the other end of the spectrum is the refugee, and their story. Even asking them routine questions about the whereabouts of their relatives can be very intense and emotional. The most common code for these is, "UNK = unknown." Parents, siblings, kids- since fleeing their country, many people have no idea where any of them are, or how they're doing. There are also some really difficult stories of persecution at the hands of various groups in the country of origin- detention, rape, death threats...one man we interviewed this week actually broke down in tears as he showed us the injuries he had suffered due to expressing his political opinions.

All in all, the "fun, forms, and feelings" of the first two weeks at work made for quite an intense learning experience. Now, I begin the next phase as I leave for my first trip to the field this afternoon. I'll be spending 3.5 weeks in Ethiopia, helping to process cases there. I look forward to updating you on how it goes, and in the meantime, enjoy your October!

Blessings,
Tammie

That's sooo vanilla!

Greetings from Kileleshwa! That’s the name of my new neighborhood in Nairobi! It’s pretty residential with lots of trees and ‘luxury’ apartment complexes. And guess what? I somehow find myself staying in one of those! It has two balconies, wood floors, a ‘servants quarters’ (that’s the room I’m staying in by the way!), a pool, an electric fence, and 24-hour guards. We’re also very fortunate to have a matatu stage (stop) right in front of our building, so getting to work isn’t too hard, except for the infamous Nairobi traffic!
Pic - Me in front of the apartment complex. Can you believe the name of it is 'Vanilla Park'?? Oh, the irony. Actually, we're the only wazungu there...


Somehow, having four other roommates (Mark, Elyssa, Lindsay, Rosie, and myself, all new JVA caseworkers) has made it remarkably affordable, even if we have to enjoy it au natural for awhile until we can afford furniture! There are no appliances or furniture, so we’ve been having an interesting time over the last two weeks negotiating with each other and the carpenters/salespeople on prices and models of things. The good news is that this process has been a very nice bonding experience for the roommates.
Pic: Me, Lindsay, and Mark amusing ourselves by playing jump rope with the clothesline in our empty living room. "Hot fudge, call the judge, mama's gonna have a baby!" (Remember that one?)


Now, something we've found out already is that here in Nairobi, even a luxury apartment complex is not immune to its fair share of 'issues.' There are a number of problems we’ve been working for days with the property manager to resolve, including the fact that the place was never properly cleaned (as in mud an inch deep in the laundry sink), and that the water often does not work (as in about 50% of the time), and that some of the fixtures aren't too sturdy (as in gaping hole in the cement where the toilet paper holder once was). My first ‘shower’ here was actually with a bucket, just like back in good old Masaka. Seems the developers unfortunately were more into appearances than quality of materials!

Despite its quirks, it looks like Vanilla Park is going to a nice place to recuperate after our 3 week stints in the field. The roommates are also a great blessing- it’s worked out so well so far to be able to share our new experiences in adjusting to life in Nairobi. It’s always nice to have great people to share new experiences with!
Pic - Mark, Elissa, me and Lyndsay just after signing the lease. Rosie arrived about a week later.