Back at school!

I know, I know,it's been a while! My amazing summer in Kenya is over, and I'm back on the mountain (also known as Sewanee: The University of the South) as a junior (!!!!)
The year has gotten off to a great start, and I'm rather excited about my cool new single room (which just happens to be so far from everyone else that I'm forced not to be lazy).
I'm going to give this regularity thing another go!!
For now, I'll leave you guys with a cool quote from One Tree Hill:
"If you believe in it, see it through. Eventually someone else will see it too."  Karen

Photography blog link

http://art2.sewanee.edu/art/rwalia/

Links to more Mara pics

Ritesh Pictures

Kavita Pictures

Roshni Pictures

Roshni Pictures Part 2

Bharat Pictures

Maasai Mara

I'll let the pictures do the talking for now!

Matatucessator

A question you often see floating around on the internet is: what superpower/ device (think Adam Sandler from Click) would you have if you could choose any?
Today, I'd like something that you could use from a distance on vehicles that have absolutely no road sense at all, like our dear matatus. The purpose of this device would be this: when the vehicle it has been shot at has been switched off for more than a certain period of time, say an hour, it cannot switch on again until and unless the person who used the device reverses their action with the same device. The purpose of this time period would be that cars would not stop on the road and obstruct traffic. Rather, if they have stopped for around an hour, this would most likely be in a parking spot or somewhere out of the way.
Having them unable to use their vehicles would be an effective (and annoying!) form of punishment, especially for those who drive recklessly to make money, such as matatus and the famous buses.
Obviously, the device(s) would need to be in the hands of HONEST and responsible citizens... I can only dream what kind of mayhem would ensue if this was not the case.
Now, while I know that this device is purely imaginary (at least for now) it did give me some measure of relief and moments of pure childish glee just imagining that I was using it as I was on my way to work in the morning, as I watched buses drive on pavements just to get 4 or 5 cars ahead, and matatus force their way into different lanes... on roundabouts. I'd like to think that they wouldn't be given way and allowed back on the road, but the harsh reality is that whoever attempts something so brave would probably get their car hit, especially so for those of us who drive around in smaller vehicles.
Have an imaginative day, won't you! As for myself, I'm going to have fun on the way back pretending to use my new Matatucessator! Sigh... one day!
(matatu + cessation)

Wealth; why does it disturb us?

The world has a history of 'hating' on the rich. From Robin Hood to modern day news articles, the rich are viewed (unfairly) negatively.
Recently, the Nation featured an article about a helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing in a farm in central Kenya due to bad weather, as the pilot was taking his children to school. After that, there was some debate that went on, and a rather opinionated article followed, that noted that when most people cannot afford to take their children to school in cars, we have someone who takes his to school in a chopper everyday. The author sounded rather disgruntled, and I felt that they thought that this pilot (Alan Root) should not taking his kids to school like this.
I ask, why not?
If someone has wealth, in most cases this means it has been earned. Whether through generations, or from rags to riches, someone has worked hard for this money, and once they have it, why should they not use it as they see fit? Sure, we do have cases where rich people have been made rich not due to their hard work and honesty, but because of the corruption which is rampant here and elsewhere- but it is not fair to judge and punish all the wealthy based on these select few.
Money is not the social evil we all believe it to be. It only becomes this when we choose to portray and use it as such.
Instead of begrudging someone their right to spend their hard-earned money, why don't we congratulate them and wish them well? What goes around comes around folks...
Have a well-earned week ahead!

Faith in humanity: Restored!

For all the time wasting I do on Facebook, links like these do make the time worth it!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/pictures-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity

Traffic Trend

Ideally, this is what it would look like!

Photo taken by Yeisha Hirani, 2012

Long way to go

While I'm loving my work, there's one thing I can honestly say that I hate; the traffic that I have to sit through everyday!
For a distance of thirty kilometres or less, I can sometimes take up to two hours to get there.
However, I decided to do what I like to do in such situations; make the best of things. I opened my eyes and realised just how much goes on around my little car that I was previously oblivious to.
Yesterday for example, on Uhuru Highway, I was alongside a van that had www.privatesafaris.co.ke proudly printed on it, and was full of a group of tourists who could not have been more obvious if they tried. Reason? At least three of them kept whipping out cameras as soon as something out of the ordinary happened (which is pretty often mind you), such as matatus driving off the road, and people doing the "Kenyan run" across a busy road not too far from a zebra crossing (crosswalk).
After this chuckle-inspiration, I turned my attention to the left to a 22 wheeler whose truck was emitting noises that made me think a metal eating monster lay in its belly. Of course, the truck's age probably had something to do with it...
It wasn't just the amusing instances that caught my eye, but the sheer number of people on the road. It made me think, just how often do such a large number of people collect anywhere else apart from on the roads? And in spite of all of us suffering through this together, we are all so obviously wrapped up in our own lives, in a little (or big depending on what you're driving) cocoon of steel and glass. Does anyone realise the power of all these people who spend these one or two hours together? I wonder what the reaction would be if I were to roll down my window and strike up a conversation with the person in the car next to me. Ideally, people would catch on and do the same. We would be a community, united, even if just for a short while. Realistically, someone would probably make a snatch for my bag or phone, or in less dire circumstances, recommend me to the nearest mental asylum.
Let's wake up Kenya, to the enormous potential and power that lies within us!

First leadership evaluation done

Things have been quiet on my end for a while! Between falling sick, having a wedding in the family, and going off to some meeting or the other, things have been pretty crazy.
Ashamedly, I haven't been to visit the homes since the last time, and so don't have any pictures to show.
Some good news though; the evaluation was finally completed, and the first young adult just breezed out of the room having finished it!
The meetings with potential partners are going well too; people seem interested in what BTCKE has to offer, and are being very helpful (much to my relief)!
I'll keep you posted; thanks again for supporting Be the Change- Kenya!

Leadership Definition

After some reflection, I came up with a definition of leadership. Of course, I feel that a leader is different based on the different situations that they face, so this was a broad definition. What do you guys think?

A great leader is someone who, in addition to enabling others to find purpose when faced with uncertainties, also embodies certain qualities. First of all, they know how to work well in their teams. They recognise and respect talents and work of all team members, and are able to effectively deal with the breaking of norms without offending or alienating any one teammate. A good leader is self-confident, motivated, and works hard to develop the team as a whole.

They have vision and do their work because they believe in it, not because they have to. They are able to plan well, and inspire and energise others in their team to commit. A good leader accepts responsibility for the team’s failures as well as successes, and views these as learning opportunities.

Finally, a good leader is one who is not afraid to be unconventional in order to bring about change.

Moi Avenue Blast

Prayers go out to all those affected by the blast on Moi Avenue not more than two hours ago. I look forward to a Kenya where such things don't happen anymore. While it may be hard to fully understand the implications of something like this right now, my heart goes out to all the people on site right now in the middle of all the chaos. May God give us all the strength to emerge from this as a country.
The BBC article is given below for those who want to take a look.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18232621

Freethinking

IshouldgetbacktoworkbutI’mreallythinkingabouttheMarsbarwaitingformeoutsidehowwonderfulchocolateisohlookarandomwireonmydeskIwonderwhatitisohyayanauxiliarycablethatmeansIcangooutandplaysomeofmyownmusicinthecarwaitit’srainingoutsidecan’tgoforadriveheyI’mstillinmyPJ’sIlovelazyFridaysandsolookforwardtoseeingmyfriendstomorrowmaybeI’llcatchamovielaterontonightIshouldrewardmyproductivitywonderwhatthedogsareuptoIlovethewaythemindworksspeakingofmusicwhateverhappenedtothatCDohlookthereitislet’stakealistentoitlatertodaymaybegeteveryoneelsetolistentoowhatisfamilyforifnottoimposemymusicontherainjustincreasedexponentiallythisdefinitelymeanstrafficsgoingtogetmuchmuchworsesighifonlypeopledidn’tdrivelikematatuswellthatMarsbardefinitelybeckonsnowthinkingstops.

Justice for a special dog

http://www.causes.com/causes/645034-justice-for-a-special-dog
I can't believe someone would do this to a dog for fun... putting a firecracker into his mouth and then making sure he couldn't open it. Vucko, the German shepherd that this happened to in Bosnia, apparently wandered around in agony for 5 days unable to eat, before he was picked up and taken to a vet. Unable to have reconstructive surgery done, he had to be euthanised.I even can't begin to express how angry this made me. What is the world coming to?!
Read more about the story here:

http://www.care2.com/causes/vucko-the-dog-face-blown-off-with-firecracker.html
We may not be able to help the poor dog now, but let's spread the message so that something like this does not happen to an innocent animal again!

Week update

It's been a pretty eventful week, last week seems like so long ago! I'll put some pictures up from work soon; silly me left my camera on, and the battery drained out so I wasn't able to take as many as I had planned.
On Monday I headed into town (which in Nairobi is an actual area, not just a general reference to leaving the house to go someplace) to meet my supervisor and some of the other people I'll be working with. Having inherited my father's sense of timing, I arrived half an hour before the meeting, so sat there for a while and whiled my time away. The meeting went well and I got a feel of what my week would look like. Two days a week I work in the office with the Young Adult (YA) stuff, and then two days I work from home and in town (the general definition this time), with meeting people, brainstorming, recruiting, planning and executing events. The rest of the time I use for planning and reflecting on my own time, and some days I'll attend weekend events.
So the next day, I headed to Ongata Rongai, and finally got to the office after being stuck in about two hours of traffic. I spent the day looking at the biographies of the Young Adults, as well as getting briefed on more of BTCKE's work. Wednesday I worked from home, planning the leadership evaluations and learning more about the YAs. One of the questions that obviously arose is, what defines a leader? The Ganz definition is someone who takes responsibility for enabling others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty. The definition of leadership however, may change depending on the role one is thrust into. How would you define a leader?
Today was interesting because I actually got to visit one of the homes that BTCKE partners with, called 'Nyumba ya Tumaini' (http://bethechangekenya.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/meet-nyumba-ya-tumaini-2012-partner/). Most of the kids were at school, but I got to meet two of the newest children, Peter and Charles, who were shy but not wary, and were able to tell me what they were doing and what sports they enjoyed. They were excited to see the pictures I took of them (to be put up soon!!) too! Since they were new additions to the home, they weren't at school because they still had some stuff to sort out, such as uniforms, new shoes, getting desks at the classroom (a problem that I hadn't exactly expected!)
Leaving the home, Sarah (one of the two directors of BTCKE) and I got stuck in the mud, and had to wait a while to be pushed out, but all in all it was a fun day, and we had some interesting conversations on the drive back and at lunch (which was at a cafe that had no fries or ice- interesting experience but worth it).
Right now I'm sitting at my sister's office at Inuka Kenya Trust (a nonprofit too, http://www.nisisikenya.com/), and we'll head home to some much deserved chai (Swahili for tea) soon!
Much love from this corner of the world,
R

Be the Change- Kenya Intro

I got an intern introduction! Check it out here: http://bethechangekenya.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/meet-roshni-btckes-new-program-intern/

Photography Project

 I'd been meaning to put this up for a while!
Photography project

Be the change you want to see in the world

This summer, I'm interning at a great new nonprofit organisation called Be the Change- Kenya (BTCKE). This attempts to empower local people to best be able to help run local organisations and to reduce dependency on international aid. Right now, Be the Change is working to help eradicate child poverty in Kenya. They train directors of children's homes, and partner with various young adults who work with these homes. These young adults are also trained in various skills such as leadership.
While I'm here, I will be working on two things primarily; I will be meeting with and evaluating the young adults that BTCKE works with, and I will be helping to increase the development work that BTCKE undertakes by recruiting local partners, and helping to spread the word.
This summer, let's do something to help! More information can be found at their website below:
http://www.bethechangekenya.org/BTCKE/BTCKE.html
If anyone is interested at all in helping, please do not hesitate to get in touch! Many Nairobians who work in fields such as management consultancy and the like have volunteered to coach these  young adults and directors. If not this, then we are looking for people to host small awareness events, and donors too!
It's time to step forward and facilitate change ourselves; waiting for someone else to take initiative will not get us anywhere!
Looking forward to being the change,
Roshni Walia

Spring break 2012 conclusion

So spring break is over, and I''m headed back to school. That's the only reason I'm up at this ridiculous hour; my flight's in half an hour, so I had to be up at 2!
Has it been a successful break? Yes, definitely!! I spent the early part of my week recovering from a flu that was bound to come (exams, weather change, etc), and the later catching up on movies and sleep and good food. From Thursday night onwards I moved to my cousin's place, and we went to the Big Apple on Friday night.
What a night!!
First, I met another first cousin at a place called Raaz (which means secret).
http://www.raaz.us/
Visiting an Indian restaurant is something that I always look forward to while I'm away from Tennessee, as I don't get much of that on the mountain. The appetizers and chai we had were great, and from that we moved to an upper end Asian restaurant that was full of lights and noise and people; just the way I like it. The food (and drinks; surprisingly I didn't get carded, teehee!) were absolutely amazing, and if you can stomach the noise I would definitely recommend it.
http://www.taorestaurant.com/
I personally ordered the Kung Pao chicken, which was great, but everyone had a variety and we all shared. After that, of course, we were full to the brim, and decided to walk it off, when someone in the group had a brilliant idea; karaoke!!
Hunting for a karaoke bar, we ended up in a place in "Korea-town" where I had an amazing time watching people really get into it!! Again, there was a 21-age restriction, but the group pleaded for me, and since the manager saw that I was only a year away, I was let in. Lucky me right? :)
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-spot-karaoke-and-lounge-new-york
My favourite was a couple who was completely off-key, dancing not quite to beat, but having such a great time that it was infectious. Karaoke with a group of people all more than 6 years older than me was quite an experience; I didn't know most of the songs, much to the shock and horror of my co-karaokers!
I did know a few, and my particular favourite was the end song of Dirty Dancing (which is one of my favourite movies, as I finally got around to watching it this break and plan to do so again ASAP).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpmILPAcRQo
About to board, so I'll head off now. More from the South!

First memory recollections over spring break

Most people have no problem calling up their first memory. The other night, I was lying in bed, and (unsuccessfully) trying to fall asleep. I started to think about my first memory, and came up blank. Sure, I have lots of memories of my childhood, but I couldn't tell which is the first one.
Logically, the first thing to do would be to trace back, which I did.
I moved back to Nairobi with my family when I was around nine years old. I had plenty of memories of this time, so I went further back. After I came back from India, I was in Western Kenya; again, lots of recollections here. Visits with my cousins, letter writing, my dogs, school, friends, and plenty more. Before this I was in India for around five years, and here too, my memory functions wonderfully!
Before that, I was in Kikuyu, and here I start to get a little rusty. The day I found out that we were going to India? Or is that a dream? Running outside and falling and splitting my head open? Well, that's happened a couple of times, and I'm not too sure how great a first memory that would be. Travelling alone with my dad? That might be me remembering a story I was told. Or not.
Here's hoping that somehow it comes back to me!

Fresh start at 20

I know it's been a while, but I thought I'd start off afresh now that I've finally hit the big two zero, and maybe move it away from being a wedding blog to more of a regular blog. As I write this, I have just walked out of the "Wolfgang Puck Cafe" in the Cincinnati airport, Ohio. Invariably, I'm stuck here due to some weather delay or the other, and the extreme sleep deprivation that this sophomore currently has is not helping keep me alert at all!

Back to the cafe. For which, of course, I'll have to start at the beginning. Me being me, I was up till around 12 30 at night, and had to wake up at 4 in the morning so that I could get to the shuttle which would take me to Nashville for my flight. Solution? Sleep with the next day's clothes and the lights on. Well, it worked, but I'm still tired as hell!!

So I got to the airport, through security, and onto my first flight, for which I was asleep before take off. I wake up to the air hostess saying "Bad news guys; the airport is closed." Wait, what?! Turns out that there were around 14 airplanes waiting to get into the Cincinnati airport due to bad weather conditions, so we had to stop at some random airfield in Louisville, Kentucky for fuel. Once we finally made it to Ohio, I learnt that I was on the 2 pm flight, and would thus need some lunch.

After stumbling around the airport sleepily for a while, I looked up and saw Wolfgang Puck. Bingo! Food, done. I was rather pleasantly surprised by the ambience, and did not feel like I was at an airport at all. After a couple of minutes wait I was served by a lady who at the time seemed to be the only one working there. I decided to get an orange juice, a Caesar salad and a spaghetti with basil, tomatoes and garlic. Sitting next to me were a group of businessmen who had a lot of (rather) interesting stories that I obviously heard. Strangely enough, even though they came after me, they were served their drinks first. I let this go, as I was starving, tired, and by this time, my allergies were acting up too. The orange juice was great (isn't it always?) and the spaghetti was pretty good too. What really did it for me though was the salad. Now, I'm not a salad person. I'm not the kind of girl who walks into a restaurant and orders a salad as a meal. I mean, I'll eat them, but I won't seek them out. The salad came with the main meal, so I decided to go for it. It. Was. Divine! I'm a fan, and will definitely return to Wolfgang Puck just because of it.

The businessmen (and women) unknowingly kept me entertained with tales of spinning on the highway and bumping into a parked cop car, thus proceeding to drop said cop's doughnut (I'd be mad too!!), and having to go to court behind someone who did a rather fine impersonation of a playboy bunny.

That being said, my flight is FINALLY boarding. I'm about to go and enjoy my spring break. Have a great day all!!!