My Blog

Our dream was supposed to come true. Since March, we’ve been looking forward to traveling through Europe together and getting to know my culture. But everything turned out differently.

For the past five weeks, I’ve been back in my homeland, Austria. The urge to write again grew stronger with each passing day, and then I had an encounter that encouraged me to rekindle this passion.  

Again and again I catch myself thinking about it and how I made my way here. It is still surreal to me that I now actually live here in Africa.

Who would have thought, that we once again would get a culture shock in a country which we have visited so many times already. There we stood in the middle of Kampala overwhelmed with everything happening around us.

Do you know the feeling when you don't warm up to someone? That's what I do for two countries: Italy and Uganda. Both of these countries are unique in their own way, but I never get warm with them.

It is time to leave the country again and this time we travel togehter. Our destination - Uganda. The country, which changed everything and turned our worlds up side down.

Thorsten described Carina before we left another way we should take back, because one thing was clear, the way we took here, we could not take back.

When we were finally allowed to park the car, we had to wait an entire hour for our pickup service. In the meantime, we had called the Mara Elephant Project and told us that we could not continue with our car.

We have discovered the concept of “weekend trips” for us. Out of the big city and into the nature and diversity of Kenya. This time we set out on our way to Lemek.

A proverb says, "Calm before the storm!", but what does it look like if there is no storm? When the calm is always present, and the storm it is possible to wait and wait and waiting.

To stand out, to be special, to want to change the world, to stand out from the crowd, to notice, to attract all the attention, to get preferred – these are things that I did not necessarily want to fulfill all, and some of them are also very uncomfortable to me.

You might wonder why I took this step and exchanged all the luxury for a simple life? Yes, I ask myself this occasionally, especially when it comes to housing cleaning. A vacuum cleaner is simply irreplaceable and now it's called crawling around the floor and turning.

Have you read Monday's blog post yet? If so, you know that this is part two of our road trip from Kisumu to Kakamega via Eldoret. If you don't, I'll ask you to go back one article before that.

There are several ways to get from Kenya’s third-largest city, Kisumu, to the fifth largest city of Kenya, Eldoret. On the one hand by car, then there is still the possibility of using public transport and finally you can still fly by plane, and it takes crunchy 15 minutes.

Nam Lolwe is known in our country as Lake Victoria. Nam Lolwe is the Luo name for the third largest lake in the world. Dive with me into the beautiful world of this mystical and unique water. Where culture and life meet with nature.

I have become accustomed to new rituals and things that I can no longer think of as everyday. Today I want to take a look at these and give you a little insight into my new world of rituals and adaptations.

We knew what we were going to do. We could have guessed what was going to happen to us. We put on a thick skin. We were both aware that this relationship would not be easy, but we were not aware that we had to fight for it all the time.

Today the Blog Post is going to look way different and I am not sure, how it is going to turn out. But I am daring to try new things and open myself up a little bit. Enjoy!

I never thought I would ever write a report on this subject. Firstly, I know very little about it, and secondly, it never played a big topic in my life. In the meantime, it's part of my life, because it comes together in a package with my friend.

Prejudices, clichés, evaluations: a part of human being and not always possible to turn them off. However, I have taken it to my heart to clear at least some of them out of the way, and I try to do so with stories and experiences that I have been allowed to experience here in Kenya.

All of a sudden, everything goes very fast. You're not in Kenya for more than two weeks and you're already sitting in your own apartment, okay, fairly speaking, your own rental apartment.

What is a relationship? Relationships can look so different, but one thing is certain, we humans are absolute relationships, and that's good. Some fall in love in their youngest years.

The concept of home exchange may seem extremely strange to many, and I am quite honest, I can understand that very well. However, it is a very enriching and also cheap offer, where you have the chance to immerse yourself in a new culture or a new country.

What do I mean by writing this title? It could actually mean so much in my life. Here I go again – home flight to Europe, traveling alone, saying goodbye,... in this case the title means so much more.

After four months, it is said to leave the African continent and return to Europe. To be honest, I look forward to seeing family and friends, but I feel so good here in Kenya that I find it hard to say goodbye.

Surprise, well, you've probably already noticed, I've been back in Austria for exactly two weeks. Why?

My life is composed of music through and through. But I like to listen to them in peace and for myself, especially my personal "go to songs". They drive me, they give me courage and they calm me down. Of course, I also like to share my music when it suits me.

In the meantime, I know my paths through this city. Kisumu is no longer a stranger to me and I feel very comfortable here. Kenya’s third-largest city is an African city like any other, and yet it has a different flair.

You know what, we'll just stay on the street, where we're already so good at the subject. There is so much to tell about Kenya's street life, but I will tell you about it another time.

The street madness goes on! I'm writing in my bedroom overlooking a non-asphalted side road that leads to a market and there's a dead end, i.e. an impasse. Here small trucks go and go, heavy loaded with straw, wood and other stuff.

When I first visited East Africa nine years ago, I soon realized that road transport here is a different caliber. It is an absolute chaos in which, surprisingly, there is order. On the streets you can find everything, really everything.

This time the blog post is a little different. I'll take you on a picture trip to the beautiful Kenya. These pictures were taken during the safari trip two weeks ago with my family. Have fun! Enjoy the beauty of Kenya and join the picture travel!

I thought I'd write in person today. In this report, I want to give you an impression of how I am doing in my new home country. So far, I've been telling a lot about everyday life, and like a lot of things going on here, if you read between the lines, you probably read out a lot more than I know.

Anyone who has ever visited an African country knows how clean and well-maintained the people here are. Hygiene is a priority for most people here. Therefore, it is not uncommon for many people to shower up to twice a day, and this is also due to dust, heat and other factors.

What does being a child mean to you? Playing, laughing, singing, making nonsense...? Childhood means something different to everyone and each generation experiences childhood in a different way.

Behind every story is a person. I experience new things here every day and I have had so many interesting conversations about life and culture in Kenya. I therefore believe that it is only fair for these people to have a seat here and to be able to speak through me.

This is a very hot topic, especially in our Western society and also for me personally. At the same time, it is very good to write and talk about it publicly and to highlight several points of view of this topic. Because what is the perfect body? Who defines this and why is it preparing for so much pressure?

When I landed in Zambia with Lisa last summer, I was full of anticipation and euphoria for a new country and new volunteer experiences. We landed in the evening and were just tired.

Cultural shock! What is cultural shock? Before any trip to another country, especially “exotic” destinations such as Africa, Asia or South America, it says, “wow, you will experience a cultural shock!” The cultural shock is described as a feeling of confusion and fear.

From time to time we enjoy a meal in a restaurant here in Kisumu. The restaurants here range from fairly simple cuisine to luxurious cuisine.

Finally, done! Five years of training at the Institute of Elementary Education have been completed. Graduation certificate in hand, education in pocket, off to new shores. I'm going to join the adventure volunteer in Uganda.

Volunteering: the new trend to travel the world and immerse yourself in new cultures. For solo travellers, especially young women, a fantastic way to travel safely and safely. But is it a fair exchange?

Wazungus or Muzungus. As you know now, white people from America, Australia, and Europe are called this way. But behind the term is much more than just a word, which can sometimes be really annoying.

I've been living here in Kisumu in southwestern Kenya for a month now. Kenya is located in the east of Africa and has everything to offer. The national colours are black, red, green and white.

Puh, this week the articles are very personal. At the same time, it is very important for me to be authentic and to put things on the table as they are, to clear prejudices out of the way or not.

A country in Africa has been on my list for a long time. Until now, there was always something in between, so I didn't fly there. Also, if I have never been there before, I had “Unfinished Business” in this country and it was finally time to embark on the journey into uncertainty.

Here comes a very personal contribution. When I was in Uganda then, in 2015, I spent more than half of my time in a hotel next to the organization. And what happend there, changed my whole life!

I was lucky to spend a week with a host family in the middle of Kampala. I still remeber the exact moment when the organization dropped me off there. 

Lisa and I still had time for the dream island of Zanzibar this sommer. Zanzibar is a small isalnd in the Indian Ocean and belongs to Tanzania. However, the inhabitants of the island would like to be independent.

We, the seven young women, spent a beautiful afternoon with Eugen and the guides at the Mount Meru waterfall. It was the last day we had  together and we wanted to take advantage of this.

During my time at school, the desire for a new environment became more and more crystallized. I wanted to leave Innsbruck, surrounded by mountains, and go out into the world. I realized very soon that I wanted to go to Africa for six months.

Since my return from Tanzania in 2021, I have been playing more and more with the idea of going to Africa and staying there for a longer period of time. However, I didn't know which country.

Oh, wow! What a time. I can hardly believe that I am going to Africa again and I can finally live my dream of volunteering in Africa. After I was paid, packed and well informed by IVHQ, it finally started.

This summer, I embarked on my third trip to Tanzania. This time with Lisa and Emanuel. Arusha, a city in northern Tanzania the tourist metropolis of the country, is now like a second home for me.

„I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me!” Kwame Nkrumah

When I was eleven years old, my family and I flew to this beautiful continent for the first time...