A Mango?

Last night when it was dark, I went to this little fruit stand around the corner from our house. I told the man I would like to buy a mango. There was a bit of communication problem about the cost, but I finally understood that he said 15 shillings. I gave him the money and he handed me the "fruit." Liz, another MST, and I were walking home, and we thought the "mango" seemed a bit funny. First it was the wrong color. It was green, but I knew there are 2 kinds of papaya, so I thought maybe the same was true of mangoes. Then she said it was pretty hard for a mango. I went home and asked Virginia about it, and she also thought it looked a bit funny. And then I thought, you know it's huge, but it almost looks like an avacado. It was super big though...3 times the size of our avacadoes. So I went to Amie, my mom, and told her I had a stupid question to ask. She said, "Oh know, it's not stupid." Then I held up the specimen and asked, "Is this a mango?" She cracked up laughing and said that no, it was actually an avacado. But then she told me the man at that fruit stand doesn't speak Swahili or English b/c he's actually Somali...so that made me feel better. All the Kenyans had a good laugh about this.

We went to New Life Orphanage again today and this time got a tour first. I'm so impressed by the work that is done there. About 25% of their intakes are HIV positive kids. and guess what???they have a drug that can change the kids to make them HIV negative...Yes, it's true. I guess this isn't approved in the U.S. yet, but it is working here, if they catch it early enough in the child. How incredible that there is actually a cure for small children!!! I learned too, that many of these kids are found in dumpsters and by toilets. I'm so thankful for this place that God has provided.

I'm also really grateful that God has given me a boldness and confidence with leading here. There's been a lot of situations lately where I have to plan out a teaching lesson or skit, and I feel comfortable leading the group of MSTs. I'm really thankful b/c i know it took a while for me to get out of the shy mode of being in a new place. I'm starting to understand where things are in the city and know my way around, thanks to great people like Juli, who is now gone, and Virginia. The Kenyans keep telling me I will be truly African by the time I leave.

A few stories about security here...first of all, security is funny, rather a joke here I think. Like we live in this "gated" community of townhouses. But that description sounds so so fancy. It's not at all. Quite the opposite....it looks very run down. But anyway, we have this guard by the gate. But he never asks anyone who they are. Except that one night it was me and another white girl and he tried to make us pay money to come in. We just walked right through. So basically these security people get paid to sit there all day. Funny. Then at our office building downtown, you have to get padded down with the metal detector before going in. But the security people love the muzungus, and sometimes they don't even check us. they just say hi and talk to us instead. and all security checks stop after about 5:00 even though the building is still open. and the police randomly stop matatus at night to look for drugs and weapons. it goes like this...they pull over the vehicle, and everyone gets out. then they have a male and female police that frisk down each respective gender. then everyone gets back in the car. it's totally normal and happens a lot. i'm so glad someone warned me about it before it happened to me a few weeks ago. otherwise i would have freaked out. but no, it's just normal.

our matatu today had a 24 inch t.v. screen in it. you know just in case the rap video wasn't blaring loud enough; that way you could clearly see what was going on.

tomorrow we're going to the juvenile boys home to do a lesson on self esteem and our identity in Christ and play games with them. Please pray that this is a positive experience. it's our first time at this place, and of course first impressions are so vital to the success of programs.