Hey, Kenya, what the hell’s going on over there?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Kenya has long been one of the safest and most politically stable nations in Africa, a distinction that, given the media’s typical coverage of Africa, is not unlike being declared the smartest individual to be arrested on Cops. Kenya usually places just behind South Africa in the amount of tourists that visit each year, thanks to its relative stability, its Indian Ocean beaches, and its wildlife safaris. All that peace and stability was disturbed, however, by the disputed presidential election that took place on December 27, 2007.

In a nutshell, the incumbent Mwai Kidaki was declared the winner of the election and he was sworn in on December 30. But the supporters of his opponent Raila Odinga, in addition to a number of outside observers, said the election was marked by corruption and possibly rigged. Immediately after the results were announced, rioting broke out among various ethnic groups, with Kibaki’s influential Kikuyus clashing with Odinga’s Luos. Hundreds were killed in the ensuing violence.

A spokesman for the Kenyan government recently declared, “We are not in a civil war,” which is the second-to-last thing you ever want to hear from your government spokesmen.

What does all this mean for Kenya’s positive reputation among tourists? The news is not pretty. “The Kenya Tourist Board had projected a total of 314,995 tourists would visit the coast in the first quarter. It has now revised that figure down, by more than half, to 134,450.”

The chairwoman for a group of Kenyan tour operators had this to say about one coastal town: “Mombasa is down on its knees and we are now digging our grave, if something does not change immediately.”

At this time, the US and British governments are strongly advising tourists to forego all but essential travel to Kenya.

The New York Times has more coverage of how tourists are affected by the recent violence, and check out Jerry Guo’s recent post on Kenya here.

Is the Peace Corps sending too many inexperienced volunteers abroad?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

During my final year of college, I was faced with the decision that hits every young person of a certain age: What the hell am I going to do with my life? I knew that I loved travel and I had a vague notion that I ought to be doing good works on this planet, so I rather seriously considered joining the Peace Corps. I even went so far as to submit the application and participate in a telephone interview with a recruiter, before deciding that it wasn’t for me.

A week ago, a former Peace Corps country director wrote a New York Times Op-Ed entitled “Too Many Innocents Abroad,” praising the aid organization’s new plan to recruit older volunteers and questioning whether there aren’t too many recent college grads “finding themselves” abroad:

“[E]ven if the Peace Corps reaches its goal of having 15 percent of its volunteers over 50, the overwhelming majority will remain recently minted college graduates. And too often these young volunteers lack the maturity and professional experience to be effective development workers in the 21st century.”

Indeed, many volunteers, especially those just out of college, quit before their two-year commitment is up. A lack of maturity probably contributes to this in many cases– two years is an impossibly long time for a 22-year-old– but so does the feeling that they’re trying to grind away at a mountain with a fingernail file. One of the most brutal realizations that occurs to lots of PC volunteers, from what I’ve heard, is that their work in-country probably won’t make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. There’s nothing that sends a person packing faster than feeling useless.

Of course, one way to improve the odds of volunteers feeling like they are affecting real change is to recruit only the highest-quality, most experienced volunteers. This is almost sure to lower their numbers, so that fewer countries are served by the Peace Corps, but it might be a worthy trade-off if it means that each volunteer accomplishes more.

Note that, despite the oft-cited criticism of the Peace Corps that their volunteers receive more from the cultural exchange than the people they are serving, I have a hell of a lot of respect for PC volunteers. Dedicating two years of your life to helping others, no matter what the results, is mighty admirable– for people of any age.

Hat tip: World Hum.

Where There is No Doctor: a medical handbook for everyone

by Jamie Rhein on

Every Peace Corps volunteer in The Gambia was given a copy of the book Where There is No Doctor: A village health care handbook so we could find the answer to our prayers in its pages. When one lives off in a village without easy access to medical help, one has a lot of prayers. Rashes, infections that won’t go away, stomach ailments, fevers etc., etc. Knowing how to pay attention to one’s body just to see if “this too shall pass” in a day or two and how to treat ailments oneself–or if a visit to the Peace Corps nurse is needed was part of the two year job that was once called, “The toughest job you’ll ever love.”

I poured over that book. Once, just a week after I moved to my post, convinced that I had maleria, I read the book to check my symptoms, began treating myself and took the next possible vehicle to Banjul, the country capital where the Peace Corps office, thus the nurse, was located at the time.

The journey was a combination of a sedan car taxi service from my village to Kerewan, the province capital, a ferry crossing at Kerewan, a pick-up truck style taxi ride (in the back of the truck) to the mouth of The Gambia River and then another long ferry crossing from one side of the river to the other, and then another taxi ride to the Peace Corps office. I can still feel every bump of the road and taste the red dust that dusted me by the end of the ride. I looked and felt like hell.

Another volunteer from my training group was also down for possible treatment. He had been bit by a monkey and wondered if he should get rabies shots. I can’t remember the details about his shots, but I do remember that I did not have maleria. I did have wicked dreams because of the medication I had already taken.

After I lived in the village for awhile, my visits to the Peace Corps nurse were infrequent, mostly just for booster shots. Where There is No Doctor came in handy. I learned that an infected blister will clear right up if you soak the infested area with hot water, for example. Pushing against the wound to get the pus to come out is a real no no.

Besides teaching me about my own body and health in an accessible way, it was a good read for understanding health concerns on a village level. The book was written for health care workers in the field who were in a village to help assist with medical care. If you’re going to be traveling in a remote area or, even if you’re not, Where There is No Doctor is a wonderful resource to have on hand.

Eco-Travel Toolkit

by Neil Woodburn on

Now that green is hip and cool, eco-friendly travel has appropriately transformed itself from hippy yurt farms to eco-luxury resorts that help save the planet while also coddling guests with comfort and style.

But that’s not all. Sustainable travel now encompasses the entire travel industry. This is hardly a surprise; those that express an interest in seeing the greater world, tend to also possess the desire to help protect it.

One of the better resources I’ve come across recently to help conscientious travelers seek out the greenest and healthiest travel alternatives is the Eco-Travel Toolkit published in Plenty Magazine (tagline: It’s easy being green).

The Eco-Travel Toolkit breaks green travel down into six categories; Where to Stay, Green Getaways, Up & Coming Destinations, Where NOT to Go, Getting There, and Seals of Approval. Each category is loaded with a bevy of links pointing green travelers in the right “Al Gore” direction–such as towards the very “first five-star green lodge” near Petra, Jordan (due to open in 2009).

While green travel isn’t for everyone, there will come the day that travelers may accidentally find themselves staying in a green lodge without actually knowing it. In the meantime, you may want to check out the Eco-Travel Toolkit and help edge things along.

Gap year resources

by Neil Woodburn on

If the new year has come around and hit you in the gut with the reality of facing another 12 months chained to a cubicle, you might want to explore your gap year options.

A “gap year” is nothing more than a gap in your career where you bugger off and travel the world, live abroad, or otherwise engage yourself in experiences far more worthwhile and rewarding than simply working for the man.

Gap years, which have become quite popular in England, are slowly gaining ground in America where I live–although most professionals I know would still consider taking a year off as nothing short of career suicide.

There are others, however, (and you know who you are) that sit around and daydream of the possibilities, mulling over what they’d do and where they’d go if they were to ever summon up the courage to take that first step out the door.

As a public service to those of our readers trapped in this purgatory of travel lust, we’d like to provide you with some motivation in the form of a very detailed Telegraph article, A comprehensive A-Z of gap year options from Arizona to Africa.
This great resource provides purpose and meaning to the Gap Year so that your wanderings are not aimless and hollow. In other words, you won’t be a bum. Instead, you can travel the world while bettering yourself or the community at large through a variety of programs such as teaching in Ghana, conservation projects in Africa, language classes in Guatemala, volunteer work projects in Cambodia, science fieldwork in Greenland, and a ton of other options as various as the world is large.

In addition, the Telegraph directs would-be travelers to a handful of helpful, sites designed to aid those seeking that elusive gap in their professional careers. Just make sure you don’t surf them at work; GapYearForGrownups.co.uk is not the site your boss wants to see on your computer screen when he barges into your cubicle.