Surprises of Kenyan exercise classes and races...

Today is one of those days that I'm just blown away with how full life is with surprises. Over the past week I've had a great surprise of teaching exercise classes in Kenya! My first week here I was telling the head Kenyan physio that I teach exercise classes and he was so excited because he said he's been trying to 1) teach the rest of the physio staff basic exercise moves to share with patients and 2) show the hospital administration how important exercise is and how many workers at the hospital are interested in it so that they can have exercise options/a gym at Kijabe. Immediately the head physio made posters and told me to personally hand them out to every department at the hospital. So I went around and shared the poster:

Exercise class for all Kijabe women

All ladies and fitness levels are invited for cardiovascular endurance and full body strengthening

Good shoes and exercise attire recommended

If questions contact Dr. Anna Greenwald in physio dept

I was curious to see how many ladies would attend the first class because Kenyan women have ever been to a gym or done any type of exercise/aerobics other than walking to and from work everyday. Even though they have very little experience with exercise they do have a lot of interest in it and honestly they also have a need for it. The majority of Kijabe village does not eat as healthy (the majority of their diet is fried food) or as little as they used to and also they do not have to walk as far of distances as they used to due to the increase in buses and 'mutatus' or taxis. I have seen a lot of patients who are overweight in the wards/clinic but even if the patients are not overweight I would say that 95% of the patients here have no idea how to use their muscles to protect their joints and if they did they could prevent a large majority of the back/leg/arm musculoskeletal problems that they have.

The first exercise class I had on Tuesday had over THIRTY Kenyan women! They all came in their long skirts and their blouses and we had the first exercise class ever held in Kijabe village. The women got SO into the workout moves. I had a really hard time not cracking up throughout class because their interpretation of the moves I was doing was absolutely hilarious. After class all the ladies came up to me and told me "We love it. We have to do it everyday." I told them I would be leaving in a few weeks and they said "Okay, we will videotape you and do it everyday after you leave." I had no idea how excited the Kenyan women would be about this!

We had another class during lunch break on Thursday and even more women came with the same energy and excitement as before! When walking through the hospital now I have all these Kenyan women come up to me and say "Thank you so much. I love your class. Please don't ever stop doing it." After class on Thursday I went to talk to the hospital administration about videotaping a class and showing it to staff on a regular basis and they said "We will look into it. But we need you to lead the warm-up for our race this Saturday." I wasn't really given a choice but of course I love exercise so I was okay with leading an exercise warm-up before the race. The "Kijabe Rift Run" race has been done annually over the past few years to raise funds for prosthetic limbs for patients at the hospital. The motto for the race is "Run to Save a Limb".

So I showed up this Saturday morning to lead the warm-up and run the race and o my lanta was I in for another HUGE surprise! There was a group of 100+ Kenyans waiting for me right on the side of the interstate with booming African booty-shaking music and a mic. They first had me stand about a foot from oncoming traffic on the interstate but then they had me stand on an elevated riser that was projecting from a Coca-Cola semi truck. They told me the warm-up would only be 10 mins so I started with my normal routine but of course everything runs on African time so I was up there for 30 mins leading both the kids and adults in an aerobics class! Everyone got really into it and they were all shaking and moving in ways that I can't even attempt because my body doesn't move that way since I'm not African...

When I signed up for this race I had no idea how long it would be or what the terrain was like but I found out while running that it was at 9,000 ft elevation on all hills for 12 kilometers (~7 miles). I was one of the only "mzungas" or whites that did the race so through every village we ran by there would be lots of children and adults who had stopped their work and would wave and clap and yell at me and some even ran to give me high-fives. I had no idea where the running route went so I just stuck with a Kenyan high school boy named Ian who was running the same pace as me. I was very humbled because he ran the whole thing barefoot (like almost all of the Kenyans did) and the roads were absolutely horrible- very rocky and bumpy so his feet were bleeding by the end. But we chatted the whole race and it was fun to get to know him. After I finished the hospital staff and Kijabe villagers were cheering so loud and a Kenyan with a mic came up to me and was so excited "You won the race for females! We need to interview you. Come with me now!" So he grabbed my hand and interviewed me in front of hundreds of people that had gathered for the festivities. The post race celebration was a banquet because the governor of Kenya was there to dedicate a new wing of the hospital so when they announced the race winners they called my name and I had to walk in front of the hundreds of Kenyans to get my medal and certificate and a picture with the Kenyan governor. After the awards ceremony was over I had over 50+ people come shake my hand and look at my certificate and then there were tons of school kids gathered around me who wanted to wear my medal so they passed it around. I have never felt like more of a "celebrity" in my whole life and I'm sure that I never will again which is fine because I don't necessarily enjoy being the only muzunga in front of hundereds of Kenyans! (As I am telling this all now it still feels like it was a dream but I promise it wasn't because honestly, how could I even make all this stuff up in my wildest of dreams?!?! haha)

What a CRAZY week! There were lots of hard moments in the hospital but what a blessing to have the exercise classes that the ladies are so excited about and that I think can be beneficial in the long run to the Kijabe workers health and well-being. Also, how crazy that I just literally got thrown into leading the warm-up of a race and got to be in a picture with the Kenyan governor? Wow, life is full of surprises!

I can't wait for the exercise classes this week as I think that they will continue to grow more and more. I had one of the Kenyan guy runners come congratulate me today (he won for the males because he ran 5 min miles in that ridiculous elevation and hills which is insane) and he asked if I would start leading classes for the males as well. So we'll see if that works because there are cultural barriers here that might prevent that from happening.

PS- For those of you who have attended my workout classes before I want you to know that the classes I lead here are VERY different from the ones I lead in the US. I have them do a lot more clapping and dancing and a lot less BURPEES and plyometrics! We all know that they would never come back if I had them doing burpees in their skirts ; )