corruption mixed with joy

So I was thinking if I ever need a back up job, I'll just be like one of the policemen here: stand by the side of the road and collect 50 shilling from every matatu that passes as bribe money. At that rate after an hour or so I could take the rest of the day off. Okay, maybe this isn't funny to joke about. but it's starting to irritate me a bit that this always happens every time i go to the juvenile. how can people do this and get away with it? i saw on the news the other day that kenya is the 16th most corrupt country in africa and the 33rd most corrupt out of 180 countries in the world. so it could be worse, but they're still staying pretty high in the race.

here's another corruption story for you--pirates are real. yes, true. this kenyan cargo boat just got hijacked by somali pirates a few days ago. and they're demanding a ransom of several million shillings. and this has happened many times before.

in good news, the last 2 days have been pretty fabulous. today has been the best day so far with the juvenile boys i think. they were such good listeners and i had a great time sitting and chatting with them before lunch and during art making. it broke my heart b/c one of the boys, denis, made this paper cube thing (very cool but hard to explain) for his mom. she was supposed to come visit him this weekend. victor let him use his phone to check and see when she was coming, but then it sounded like she wasn't.
i seriously just want to take this kid home with me. it's so unfair/unhealthy that they have no contact with the outside world. but i think maybe my mom talked with some of you about being penpals with these kids. please volunteer for this. it will be such a cool opportunity for them to have another perspective on life. and i think you will be blessed by them too.

another fun thing is that shinya, the japanese volunteer from juvenile, gave me a japanese fan as a gift today. people are so thoughtful here. also, one of the boys was talking to another volunteer and saying that he really enjoyed my English class and that it was giving him a different perspective/learning style. so that was a nice pick me up. please pray for javan, one of the boys there. his ankle is soooo swollen. and he hasn't been in class for over a week. i was able to talk to him outside his dorm. and the ankle is huge. they haven't taken him to the doctor yet. i wanted to ask today if i could just take him, but i wasn't sure if that was appropriate. maybe i should have?

yesterday, emma brought the clothes that she made for me to church. i tried them on right there and she was so happy that i liked them so well. i look very african now. i made her cookies, no bake (it's the only thing i can think of that doesn't require an oven). but they turned out really bad....too much milk maybe. and they were all sticky and melting together. but she seemed so happy about it anyway. and she kept saying "oh you're the nicest muzungu i've ever met" out of like 3 probably :) but in any case she was so full of joy that i felt blessed too.

saturday we made more of those paper bag trees (thank you claudia) and talked about the fruits of the spirit with the blue house kids. did i mention that now that all the good singer msts are gone, it's up to me to lead songs. and it can be quite atrocious at times. we gave them all oranges to go along with the lesson. poor victor carried 60 oranges all the way across town for me. i feel just like i did at home always carrying a huge bag and a cart. i'm also hauling around massive amounts of stuff.

and one lovely last story...i used the bathrooms in kibera for the first time. wow! how do you describe it? the grossest experience ever. there's just everyone's business all over everywhere, mix that with flies, and a putrid stench. good times.

Driving...Yes me driving

Um, yeah, I can't believe I forgot to mention that I drove a car on Monday. Now, put this into perspective--I haven't driven for 3 months, they drive on the left side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right side, which means the ignition gets started with your left hand. so i was really freaked out. i came down to breakfast and Peter starts asking me if I thought i would ever drive here. i said no b/c the traffic is crazy and people force their way into traffic, etc. and besides i don't have an international driving license. and then he says he was hoping i could drive b/c he had rented a car for the week and he was going to the hospital and needed someone to take the car back to town. fortunately, i got myself out of this situation, but he insisted that i practice driving in case i would ever need to. i tried telling him i have no license and i'm not insured, but he said, oh you're a muzungu, they won't pull you over, and you're covered by insurance through the car. so he made me drive about a mile up to the road to the gas station. i know that's not very far but i was sweating and my heart was pounding. i've never been so glad to get out of the car. and fortunately, it was right before this round about where no one stops and everyone practically runs into each other. no worries, it really wasn't that bad of an experience. and now i can say i've driven on the other side of the road.

i met for coffee with elizabeth, a girl i know here who has been living in the states for the past 10 years. she's now back in kenya looking for a job. i feel like we have a lot in common b/c she has been massively undergoing culture shock. she was having really bad headaches for 2 weeks. and after an MRI and other tests, they told her it was just her trying to adjust. and sure enough, her headaches went away after she'd been back for a while. we went to this church service together, and it might be the craziest thing i've ever experienced. there was a huge long prayer session and people clapped for like 15 minutes straight as they prayed aloud. but they were so fervent in their prayers. it's so interesting to me how we all worship and pray to God in many ways but that he understands and accepts them all.

God is Faithful

so here's what's been happening...saturday i was at blue house teaching the bible class. i read the Elmer book and had them make their own elephants. and we tied this into psalms 139:14 (i think) where it says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. so we discussed what God made unique about each of us. this lesson was so much more successful than when i read the story at sara junior. and these kids made beautiful drawings of elephants. they get so excited just seeing markers. and something about being there with them made me totally at peace. i felt like this is my calling in life...i'm supposed to help kids make art and tell them about God at the same time.

afterwards i went to dottie's. she lives on the outskirts of mathare, another slum here. i can't decide if her house is better or worse than i thought it would be. it's actually a real building, not just built of mud and sticks like most houses in the slums. victor was telling me today that it's illegal to build any permanent type house (meaning concrete, cement, drywall, etc) in the slums b/c it's technically gov't property. so that's why everything is built with mud. anyway, dottie's apartment building was made of concrete. but it's just so dirty with kids running around and screaming. she has one room to herself. she has a bed, and that's about it. but funny enough, she doesn't want any other furniture in the room b/c it would be too cluttered. we got cereal and milk to eat there and i bought her bowls and spoons b/c she has none. imagine not having anything to eat on! truly we are blessed my friends. i had a lovely afternoon just talking with dottie. we talked about all sorts of things and she was telling me about these out of body experiences she's had and seeing an angel. and i know you're getting skeptical now b/c i would be too. but the way she explained it all, i believe her. and i think God is so strong and present in her life b/c there is nothing else consistent for her to cling to. so despite all her hardships, in a way it is a blessing b/c she is so focused on following christ. she has all sorts of ambitions plans to start a daycare. right now she's teaching first grade. i gave her lots of kid stuff/art supplies that i had b/c she has kids just come over to her house to hang out. it's sort of her own ministry.

sunday i went to a salvation army church with popo. they're very into drumming, which was pretty loud and fun. they have this part between sunday school and the service where a lot of the people go out and march around the area beating these big drums and preaching. i didn't get to experience this but i've seen other salvation army churches doing this. they carry this big flag and they all wear white. during the sunday school, popo insisted that i get up with the kids and young adults to dance. he had this whole choreographed thing to this 8 minute song. nothing too complicated though. but everyone started peaking in the windows staring at the white girl dancing. i thought i was off the hook after this. but no, that was the practice, and they performed again during the service. so of course, they made me come up and do it again in front of a packed church. i felt a little goofy, but mostly it was fun. the pastor seemed impressed/surprised that a muzungu would be bold enough to do that.

yesterday i was teaching again at the juvenile. we gave out shoes to these kids...we gave them to different people last time. i felt so much joy in doing this. but the afternoon was really chaotic with the art activity. the head principal guy wanted me to make these collages with them for this contest. and the theme is this galatians verse about being one in christ. they totally didn't get how to put this into visual terms. and they stole some of the scissors. so it became a huge ordeal. i finally got all but one back. but it's so hard to teach them not to steal...i mean what would you do if you had nothing? it's like the robin hood story you know? i'm realizing how bad the message of that story is.

sometimes, it's things like the scissors being stolen or just being so discouraged from the poverty, or feeling like i really am not doing anything lasting. and i just cry out to God, that i'm tired and exhausted and feeling so powerless. and i pray, God, please, just give me some bit of joy today that can bring me back b/c i'm so discouraged. and you know what??? He always does. like today, i didn't want to go to sara junior. i tried to make myself sleep since i never can here. but i woke up, went running, and told myself, no you need to go. and as i walked in the door, they were so happy, high fiving me and remembering my name. and as i was reading the chicka chicka boom boom book they were able to chant along. and i know the little coloring activity we did wasn't anything great. But, they seemed to like it. and even if it's so not how i would teach something at home, i like to think that it gave them just a small piece of joy for the day. so yeah, God is carrying me through the difficult time and blessing me by these people.

by the way, please pray for PoPo, he has malaria.

love you guys.

Paper Bag Trees and Fingerprints

Today I went to teach the pastoral class at the school with the mean head teacher man...the one from last week that pulled me out of class and told me all those kids weren't supposed to be there. anyway, it went better today. i'm still very much afraid of this man. and it didn't help that when we arrived he was screaming at these kids for being late and sent them home. stupidest thing ever...why send late kids home from school? another boy was trying to sneak in late. they have this little assembly thing at the flagpole in the morning. so he was crouching down and trying to sneak into the group. and it looked like he was successful. i was really glad for him. BUT...no, then up comes this teacher with her whacking stick and she starts smacking his arms. and he had to go home. things went better though when we had class. everline, another girl on our team, was with me. and it really helped having her to speak swahili. and the teacher in the class kept things much better under control. and i think i'm winning her over b/c she gave me the curriculum book to take home to prepare for next week even though she said it had to be a secret b/c she's not supposed to.

then i went to get my visa renewed with steve. a 3 hour event. we got there and everyone kept cutting in line...if you don't push your way forward someone will just get in front of you. we were sent away and told we needed passport photos. so this took a while. and then upon returning we found that they closed for lunch. so after i came back by myself i gave them my stuff. then sat and waited. meanwhile they kept calling people back to some random room. i was worried they were going to interrogate me...and they had my passport, and i really wanted it back. but no worries, they just take you back to finger print you. so now i have been finger printing and there can be no more opening of books at the nakumatt (like walmart) or they may be able to trace me :)

yesterday at the juvenile we made those paper bag trees to go along with the theme of growing in Christ. they seemed to love doing this. and we had a really good discussion with them afterwards in small groups. a lot of the boys are really seeking christ and asked about whether Jesus could forgive them for the crimes they've committed. it was especially cool b/c one of the boys in our group is muslim, and he was asking most of the questions.

speaking of muslims, have i discussed this? there are lots of muslims here. and i just keep thinking about how oppressive it must be to be a muslim woman. i see them walking with the garments on their heads. and 1 it's hot here, so that can't be comfortable. and to never have your whole head showing is so restrictive. even worse are the women who have to cover everything except their eyes. i can't imagine trying to get in and out of a matatu like that. also ramadan is going on right now, which i think means there are many more prayer times at the mosques. my mom called one night and asked what the noise was...it's from the mosque. so you knowledgeable people, i'm thinking denny fritz, i would love to learn more about what exactly goes on during Ramadan. i need to read up more on Islam so that i can understand some of the children i'm encountering in class.

yesterday afternoon i was at the other juvenile home, let's start calling it the kabete rehabilitation center. i ate lunch with them, which was a bit awkward b/c i'm never sure what exactly to say and they aren't either. but i think it will get easier. i brought the baseball stuff for them to play with. the japanese guy has played before so i think he enjoyed it too. and then we had art class...self portrait drawing. i gave them back their journals they wrote in. i wrote comments on each one and them seemed very facinated by this. i'm guessing they don't get much positive feedback, at least not written. so i'm glad i did this. it took ages, but it was worth it. and one kid asked if i was going to read them the rest of the story of james. i thought they were talking about the book in the Bible, but then i realized it was james and the giant peach. so i guess they liked the story.

all righty then. have a happy weekend.

A New Week

Well, I think my spirits have been lifted much after a crazy discouraging last week. Things are going a bit better. On Saturday I was in Kibera at the Blue House and Stuart, Victor, and I acted out the Rainbow Fish book and we taught the kids about how God wants us to be cheerful givers. You know, this is kind of ironic because I'm often feeling like people here are way more willing to give things away even though they have nothing. For example, on Sunday, I went to this girl, Emma's house. She was a camper at the Abide Camp, and she's a tailor. So I bought fabric for her to sew me a shirt and skirt. She is so excited about this...i'm the first muzungu she's made anything for. So she had me come to her house, so she could measure me. While I was there she fed me lunch. I always feel so guilty about this b/c these people have hardly anything, but at the same time it would be so offensive to not eat. Anyway, she fed me omena, which are these teeny, tiny fish. You eat the whole thing, the eye and all! They weren't too bad really; i just tried not to look at them staring at me as I put them in my mouth. Emma said her family was so excited to have a muzungu come over.

So back to Saturday, we did the skit and then had them do a little art project drawing with fish and a Bible verse. i'm definitely filled with the most joy here when i'm making art with kids. afterwards we ate cereal for lunch. this was a truly glorious experience. the milk here is almost all whole milk, so i only drink it in tea. but we found crunchy nut cornflakes (kelloggs too!) and skim milk. the skim milk is still very unamerican and not great but with sugary cereal you can't tell too much. then we went to a park with victor, stuart, sally, and chad and played baseball. it was funny watching them learn to catch and throw. soon we had an audience of people watching, who also wanted to try. so a few other strangers tried it out. i'm planning to teach the kids at juvenile this week. i think they might like it too.

Sunday was a day of being very singled out. i'm usually the only muzungu at church and so the pastor made some comment about how we love people of all colors...white, black, yellow, blue, green. and of course everyone turned to look at me. then later the other pastor was talking about flying to the u.s. and how there's all these speed bumps in the air, meaning turbulence. and then he looks at me and says, isn't that right? in the afternoon popo, eric, and i went to watch steve's football game, and i felt like i stood out a lot more than normal. people kept walking by and making rather scandalous comments, but whatev. as we were leaving, i spotted this really tall guy who i thought was another muzungu. but popo corrected me that he was just a very light skinned kenya. turns out about 5 minutes later the guy is plotting with his friends about stealing my bag. but fortunately, i was with 2 kenyans who know swahili so we just walked quickly ahead. but seriously, i'm really just wishing right now that i could be black for 1 day. even in kibera today, i found myself getting super annoyed about all the kids chanting, "how are you; how are you; how are you." that is so selfish of me, and i know they're saying it b/c they're excited to see someone different. but 1 day i would just like to walk around and be known for being amy, not for being white.

stuart left on sunday, which is quite the bummer. everyone really enjoyed him; i think b/c he's very witty and mulitcultural seeing as he grew up in south africa, then lived in america, and now in britian. he's really wise for his age (i can't believe he's only 20) and has such a passion for the Lord. one cool thing that he sponsored while being here was buying like $500 worth of Bibles for one of the pastors in Kibera to give to people who recently have become Christians.

monday, i taught english at the juvenile, and it was super awesome. i had them write about themselves, and i only briefly started reading these essays. but a lot of them talked about how they got in trouble and why they are at this home. victor went with me, which was really helpful for clarifying directions in swahili. there is a japanese guy volunteering there too, and we sat and talked with him for a while. he is an amazing guitar player and has a beautiful voice. he sang us a japanese song. it's hard communicating with him b/c his english isn't very strong yet, but we can manage broken conversation. i'm hoping he continues to become curious about what our organization is doing b/c he's not a christian...so there's lots of seed planting opportunities.

Last night Tara and I cooked fajitas, another glorious experience...yeah, i get pretty excited about any form of american food these days. we had guac and salsa too, and everyone in the house seemed to love it. peter, amie, and baraka are gone on a short holiday, so things are a bit quieter, which is actually a nice break for me too. oh, and by the way, i freaked out on saturday night when i saw this mouse crawling up the extension cord onto the kitchen table in the house. i watched it scurry across the floor. and the loveliest part is that no one ever caught it. they weren't sure where it went and then it came out again later and no one really cared. i was totally being stupid about it, but i think my family knows how much i just hate mice. and there's always lots of random food out everywhere in our house, so it could totally just start feasting. i woke up the next morning dreaming about the mouse and scared it had crawled into bed with me. i also refused to sit on the floor the next day. but no sign of it lately, so i suppose i'll live :) as the mouse appeared that night, amie was helping me take out my extensions. i had those braids in for 5 weeks! and as we took them out my shirt was just covered with dandruff. sick! it's wierd seeing my real hair again, and it's gotten a lot longer.

today i did a lesson with the elmer book at sara junior. i think this was rather a flop, and i find myself so frustrated by the education system here. it's hard to give kids any freedom here with a lesson b/c the curriculum is so structured and cut and dry. but i did teach a few kids to use scissors. i'm never sure what is okay to do with these kids b/c i don't want to step on the teachers' toes. but sara mostly said any supplimentary activities would be good, so i try to walk the balance beam of new exposure vs. not being too radical. afterwards popo and i went to visit lilian and her baby, sheila. i discovered when i left that sheila had peed all over my jeans :) a lot of times kids don't wear diapers here. please pray for lilian b/c she is being forced to move from her house in 3 months. and it's really hard to find somewhere new to go b/c there aren't many free houses in kibera.

on the way home i saw this man washing his face using this puddle of water in the sidewalk. it was such a sad thing. and we were really close to my house in a "nicer" part of town. and speaking of water, i realized last week that when it rains here, it absolutely pours. we collected the rain water in buckets outside, and the buckets were over half full from one rain. we're talking like 8-10 inches of water at once! it has been hailing a lot here too. what's really lovely is that the rain water is totally brown from all the pollution in the air. and guess what, we washed our dishes with that! part of it we boiled before using, but part of it not. it really is a miracle that i'm not getting too sick here. praise God.

a crazy morning

Today has been a struggle for me. We went to teach at St. Brigid's this morning. I had the younger class of 1st-4th graders. This is the out of control place where i can't ever get their attention. I was trying to teach about Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. And then in the middle of this, the head teacher comes in and pulls me outside. He looked really upset and said, "there are kids in here who aren't supposed to be here." to which, i basically said, um this is where i was told to go and i have no control over who's in here and who's not. then he comes in and starts pulling kids to the front. he made all the muslim kids come forward first and then all the catholics. this was the most singled out stupid system ever. b/c the thing is everyone who was in the class was in there by choice. i certainly didn't make anyone come in. and then he made all those kids leave. the only thing good about this is that i had a much smaller group to work with. but then apparently he yelled at dominic saying everything we teach needs to be following the nationwide pastoral curriculum and that we are not there to preach. this is stupid b/c our team has been going to this school for the past 5 years and no one said anything. and i'm so sick of how every curriculum is standardized here. folks i'm appreciating u.s. education so much.

so this happened and then i went to buy a novel that i could read to the juvenile boys. i was having a hard time figuring out what would be at an appropriate level b/c all the books are wrapped in plastic. how can you tell if the vocab is okay or not without looking at the inside. so naturally i decided to unwrap the plastic. well then this store clerk starts giving me this death look and watching me like a hawk. so i basically kept 2 books and walked away to look for other things in the store. then i came back to put one of the books back b/c it was going to be way to hard. only this lady is still staring at me. and i was going up the stairs and she starts yelling at me to give her the books until i come back down. this was ridiculous b/c no one else had to give her anything. so i just said, no that i was going to buy them. i felt like she thought i was shop lifting or something. so i took the books to the counter, but i decided to only buy one, and i left the other one by the counter, half way unwrapped in the plastic. so i probably should never go in that store again b/c they'll recognize me as the book unwrapper girl. so stupid. and for some reason i got so upset about all this. dumb i know.

most of the rest of the day was spent planning activities for next week. ruth and i are teaching a class to the ICY students on the book of Jonah. i really enjoyed sitting with her analyzing and studying the book. and peter was giving me some helpful background information. i learned that sackcloth was used in Biblical times for cleaning feet so therefore, putting on sackcloth during fasting and prayer was a sign of humility. i like learning all this stuff b/c it really puts the Bible in a better perspective for me.

I'm an art teacher again

today was one of the most rewarding days i've had so far i think. it was pretty jammed pack, and i always feel good about having a full day where things get accomplished. we went to the juvenile home this morning. despite waiting an hour for the kenyans, yes it was really testing my patience, we did make it in time. it's a good thing heidi is around this week b/c she adds such a positive energy to the team. while we were waiting, i was getting so frustrated, and heidi said, let's pray. she's so good about that i've noticed. she's always making sure we pray for whatever activity we're doing or for different needs on the team. i think i really struggle with prayer sometimes. but i'm learning more and more what a vital part of the christian walk it is.

at juvenile, we talked about how God can answer prayers either by saying, "No, Grow, or Go." I discussed the grow thing and talked about how i really wanted that job at the art museum. and i applied for that job 3 times before it actually happened. looking back, i have realized that God really wanted me to grow as a teacher and in experience before i had that job. the same thing happened with coming to Africa too. i remember dreaming and praying about being here for over 2 years. and now here i am. popo put on this funny skit for the kids. it was all in swahili, but i got the jist. basically these 2 characters were fighting over 2 mandazi (like donut). one piece had a bite taken out and they both wanted the other full piece. so then popo came along and remedied the situation by taking a bite out of the other piece. but one was still bigger than the other. so then popo would bite one piece and the characters would keep fighting that they still weren't even. and by the end, popo ate both entire pieces and there was none left. it was really hilarious, although i'm not explaining it well. somehow i think this related to the lesson on prayer, although i have no clue how seeing as none of it was in English.

in the afternoon we went to the other juvenile home where i'm teaching. it was so odd upon arrival b/c all the kids were eating lunch but we couldn't find any teachers or staff anywhere. basically they leave these kids unsupervised for over 2 hours! and yet they behave. we were pondering why exactly this is seeing as they seem very disciplined but yet have so much freedom. i think it's b/c they get caned for getting in trouble. the pastor constantly carries around this big stick, so i suppose that's a bit intimidating. anyway, during our waiting with the kids at lunch, we were quite perplexed as to what was going on. we entertained the kids with all sorts of songs. i was really digging out the old camp favorites. heidi was cracking them up with her over dramatization of skits. finally someone came and we had 2 art sessions with the kids. i had them decorate construction paper to be used as journal covers. you know mom, that package could not have come at a more perfect time. they loved doing this were really well behaved. by the second class they were so focused they hardly talked. i had a nice conversation with a boy named Javan. he is super talented with drawing. his uncle is an architect, and it is clear that Javan has learned about architectural drawing from him. he has a whole notebook of sketches of houses and floor plans. he even drew the school building and it looks a lot like the real thing. his designs are very creative and depict upscale kenyan houses. i was super impressed. i gave him some colored pencils to keep b/c he really wanted to color his drawings. i'm not sure if this is a good idea to give something to only one kid, but you know sometimes being fair means not exactly being fair to everyone...if that makes since. i just saw an opportunity to nuture talent. i asked him if he'd make a drawing for me if i bring him some paper. i can't tell you how grateful i am to be helping kids here make art and get to talk about God at the same time. it was a truly wonderful afternoon, and i feel so blessed by these children.

by the way, another blessing, did i mention we have a microwave now? we're coming up in the world. but you know what's funny? i haven't even used it. it's amazing what you get used to living without and don't even need anymore.

A Fresh Start

Well, I've gotten off to a better start this week. I'm pleased to tell you that I have Not been living in a constant state of fear. Peter and I were discussing the Mombasa incident and he was really surprised. He said crime is much less common there than here in Nairobi. And armed robbery is punishable by death so it's not as common either. so i'm glad i could shake the stats up a bit :) in any case, i've put it behind me and am pressing forward with a cautious attitude but without a spirit of fear.

Monday I went to the juvenile home again to teach. I was worried i wouldn't get to do anything again, since i waited for an hour and a half upon arrival. but thankfully we did get somewhere. i was able to teach 2 English classes. they went really well for teaching on the fly i think. Heidi, one of the Brits, came with me. she's super fun...20, blond, bubbly, smiley, etc. so a good person to come around...a lot like Ashley, my sister now that i think about it. the other exciting thing is that they're going to let me teach art with the kids too. i was really surprised when the head teacher told me how he thought art was really important even though it's non existent in primary schools here. his daughter struggles academically but is very talented at art. so yeah for that. i go back there tomorrow and i'm planning to make journals with them. i'm thinking of trying something like the journals they wrote in during the Freedom Writers movie...true story too. there's a lot of hurt in these kids lives, so i'm hoping maybe they'll open up some by writing. we'll see. i love that here i can talk about God in schools and it's fine. b/c God is really the only one who can see these kids through the crap that they've been through.

today i was back in the schools in kibera. i'm so happy that the schools are open again. the more i spend time in a classroom, the more i feel like my calling is in teaching. so heidi and i had fun teaching english. we also made these kids write. i'm amazed at how challenging it is for kids to do anything that is not an exercise from the book. they seriously never do anything unless it's in the book. this has to be the most boring way to learn ever but that's how the whole country is.

yesterday i spent all morning at the post office--2 1/2 hours! i did find all of my packages from home. what a process though. they make you cut open the box yourself and then they write down everything that's in it. then they decide how much to charge you based on what you have and the weight. it's pretty random i think. then i had to go over to the bank and pay for it there and come back. sillyness. the man in front of me received DVDS of ann of green gables, or something, and it was a really long movie so it had 2 DVDs in each case. so when they itemized it, they counted each movie as 2 instead of 1 so that they can charge more. corruption at its best i think. i had to have victor come help me carry all my stuff b/c it was so heavy. we had to go all the way across town with this stuff...i have very nice arm muscles now :)

one last story of muzungu privilege...last week my phone wasn't working so i went to the customer care center to get it fixed. last time i went there i waited in line for 1 hour--and i had a kenyan with me. this time i went with another muzungu. i asked the lady working there for a number so i could stand in line. she thought i wanted a new phone number. but i explained, no i needed help fixing my phone. then she told me to wait a minute. and came back and proceeded to pull me to the front of the line. she pulls me to the counter where a man is helping another customer and he says, "can i help you?" so basically i cut in front of 30 people. then i didn't know the password for my phone, and he looked it up and told me...which i've been told they will never do for the locals. they would ask all sorts of security questions and really give them a hard time. so pretty much this whole situation made me feel terrible...i hate when people cut in line, and the fact that i got to b/c i'm white is crazyiness.

Mombasa

Well, I had a very relaxing weekend at the beach...Mombasa is so beautiful. It looks like a postcard everywhere you go. We left Wednesday night, and it took 8 hours to get there. We stayed at this very modest and simple inn (complete with running water though) and there was a woman across the street at a small house who made us breakfast and dinner everyday. I drank the most gingery tea you can imagine. We went to 3 different beaches. The first day started out with a sand castle building contest--guys against girls. ours was looking really sweet. we were making an african looking villa type thing. and we were using seaweed to make grass and palm trees around it and a thatched roof with palm trees. so it was super sweet until we took a break for lunch. i think the boys were kinda over the whole thing so they took to destroying our masterpiece before we could finish it. typical right :) the second day the beach we were at was a lot more touristy but still nice. the water was always super warm and very blue looking. and then we come to the third day... i was really excited b/c i negotiated on my own for 2 things at the market, a first for me. then we went to another beach--very beautiful. there was a long, long way out to the actual deep water. mostly it was very shallow with sand and shells everywhere. tara and i tried going out to the deeper part where there was a rock reef. the whole way out there was only about knee deep. but then we met this kenyan boy, rodger, who told us the tide was coming in, and we wouldn't make it. he was so right b/c we turned around and shortly later the tide was already up to the shoreline. rodger introduced us to his family. a lot of the villagers there, including his mom, were out collecting shells that they sell to a man who uses them for decorating sandals, necklaces, etc. kenyans are so hospitable and so rodger's mom put a whole bunch in a bag for us to take home, for free. i always expect people to be trying to selling me something for a special muzungu price. but no, she was just being nice. i felt bad b/c this is probably a big income source for them and she just gave the shells to us. but you can't exactly say no either or it would be offensive. anyway, so things seemed fine until....

tara and i decided to take a walk down the beach. it wasn't even a long beach, we weren't really that far from the rest of the group playing in the sand. but we were far enough away...here's what happened. i was walking along picking up shells. and i happened to be wearing my camera in its case across my shoulder. i NEVER do this, but we were on the beach with hardly anyone around. and it was so beautiful, so i naturally wanted to take pictures. we got near the end of the beach, and suddenly, these guys (about 4), who i think had been out in the water fishing came up to us. i still wasn't paying much attention, stupid me, b/c i was looking down in the sand for shells. so picture me, with 2 handfuls of shells. i look up, and these guys are pretty close. i hear them say something about my camera. and all at once, they surrounded me. someone grabbed the case and yanked so hard (i now have a burn mark on my neck from the this). naturally the strap broke off, and they took my camera. i looked up b/c at this point, i was practically on the ground from being yanked, and then i said something stupid like, "give me back my camera." something you only say b/c you panic...i mean clearly they weren't going to give it back. but it was bizarre b/c there wasn't really a good place for them to escape to. so i dumbly started lurching toward this guy as he was still pretty close. and i'll never forget looking up and seeing someone with a knife. no worries, it wasn't super close to my face or anything. tara told me later that she was ready to throw a big shell at their faces until she saw another man with a machete...lovely, right. so at that point, i pretty much froze or screamed, i don't remember. but i definitely stopped and then they ran away. and then i was just so much in shock that i started crying. it happened so fast that it totally seemed surreal. but i'm so grateful that we didn't get hurt. and praise God, i had just taken all of my pictures off of my memory card except for the ones that weekend. and i didn't have any money or my extra memory card in there. i'm also really thankful that the camera strap actually broke as quickly as it did. it had plastic snap sort of things connecting it, so it wasn't that hard to break. i think if it would have been stronger, it could have been a much bigger struggle to take it from me, which could have resulted in something much worse. okay, so i know you're really freaked out about my safety now. i'm doing much better today...i was so in shock for about 2 hours yesterday. i really don't care about the camera, but it has made me panic stricken about everything. like i woke up on the bus ride home last night. i must have been dreaming about this, and so i lunged forward and instinctively grabbed my bag and clutched it tight. i just don't want to walk around paranoid all the time. and really i don't think i was acting dumb by having my camera. everyone else had theirs out a lot this weekend. perhaps it was dumb to walk by ourselves down the beach. but really you can' t beat yourself up over things. so i thank God i'm okay, and pray for safety and wisdom about what i do in the future. i hope those guys at least do something good, like buy food for their families, with the money they'll make from it. you know this incident really makes me think about materialism. material posessions can fade so fast, and everything we have now will be gone when our life on earth ends. so i was reminded, not to be attached to what i have.

anyway, pray for my safety, but please, please don't worry. i trust that God is watching over me.

A Bit of Culture For You

Please don't be upset with me...but if you sent me a letter or something else, my mom just informed me that the address i gave her was incorrect. i'm so sorry! i don't know if this was my mistake or my organization's. in any case, i'll have to visit the post office to see if anything can be recovered. if not, someone else is probably enjoying whatever you sent.

i'd like to share a few more interesting things about life here. first, i forgot to mention that i often pass by this outdoor meat "market" place every morning. i think i never write about this b/c i desperately try to block it from my mind. picture a muddy parking lot with pick up trucks everywhere. on the truck beds are huge slabs of meat, or usually the entire animal after it has been skinned. and then walking around are guys carrying these huge pieces of meat on their back...typically an entire skinned cow looking all red and yummy! it's less the raw meat that bothers me, but the sanitary conditions. it looks really unclean around there. and i think about the fact that meat that i eat could very well have come from there. it's best not to think about where things come from sometimes. ignorance is bliss!

also in the mornings, we often pass this garbage dump. there is trash all over the sidewalk and all over an open field of land. the concept of burying trash doesn't exist. what really gets to me is that there are always people walking through the trash...looking for things, i'd assume. and the smell is overwhelming above all. the other thing that often happens with trash is that it is burned in the most random places. you'll drive down the street and see huge black smoke. at first i would think something is wrong. but no, they're just burning stuff right on the sidewalk.

a funny one--there are people paid to specifically control parking violations. they wear yellow shirts that say on the back "corruption is evil parking attendant." i hardly think that parking is the corruption problem that people need to be worried about.

then we have the traffic police. they carry these baton like things that essentially act as a whip...they stand by the bus station and hit the buses, as if they're whipping an animal, when they want the bus to move. it makes these loud obnoxious beating sound. dominic said someone should sue them for the way they treat the buses. sillyness. also, did i mention there are hardly any traffic lights in the city. i honestly think brookville has more. and thus there are major problems with traffic. there are tons of roundabouts everywhere and the cars simply force their way in.

A Day of Blessings

What an amazing morning...some how i had enough energy to get up early this morning and go running with Tara. She's another American here who is not with our team but she stays at our house sometimes and lives nearby. I felt so refreshed waking up and getting exercise. And then an amazing thing happened--the shower worked, and it was HOT!!! such a glorious feeling. I must say the best thing about not having other MSTs around the house is that the water lasts for a lot longer. another huge luxury is that i rode home in a mercedes last night. yes, for real. victor has a friend who's a chauffeur for a big company. hence the car. this guy met us for tea and then gave us a ride home. very nice.

I took Melody to therapy today, and I got to actually watch all of her session this time. Usually there are to many people there, so i wait outside. but it was good for me to see what they have her do. i don't know too much about kids with CP, so i definitely learned a lot today. it's really hard to watch her struggle. even crawling across a mat is so hard for her. i try to draw and color with her whenever i go b/c it helps with her coordination and motor skills. being with her really made me grateful that i can walk. it's such a simple thing that's so huge in my life, but i don't even think about it. i can't imagine what melody's aunt goes through as she carries her around all the time. i carried her part of the time today, and she is so heavy. even just getting into a matatu is a struggle. and to think that her aunt does this all the time. i'm not sure what will happen as she gets bigger b/c right now she isn't really capable of walking at all. sam made this really good analogy about a girl in his neighborhood. she is crippled and someone is always helping her around. he said when he sees these 2 together it reminds him of how our heavenly father is walking along side of us, constantly helping us. very cool analogy i thought. there are so many crippled people here everywhere, by the way. so much more than at home. i always see people walking on the side of their foot--somehow their feet are deformed. and there's all sorts of people who can't stand up and are in this hunched position moving around. it's really sad. i don't know if it's lack of modern medicine that causes these things to persist or just birth defects?

the ants go marching one by one...okay not ants actually, but cockroaches. they are everywhere in the kitchen of our house. i know that sounds really gross but it's not really even bothering me. they don't look like our cockroaches, so i thought they were just some other bug. but i see them crawling across the counter, up the wall, one day out of my laundry too. i hope this doesn't make you absolutely disgusted of where i'm staying. b/c actually our house is really nice for kenyan standards. but i want to give you a better picture of what i'm experiencing.

we have a new house girl now, which is good since amie is due to have her baby in october. the girl's name is everlyn. i think she is absolutely scared to death. wouldn't you be if you went to live with strangers and had to cook for them and take care of their kid and please them? that's a lot of pressure. she doesn't speak much english, so communication has been slim. baraka has somehow become obsessed with throwing balls at people's heads and the t.v. i was trying to distract him, so i made him balance it on his head. good going amy...the next thing i knew he was trying to balance a glass cup. whoops!

someone asked about where i go to type emails. there's a cyber cafe around the corner from the house. or right now i'm at the office. sometimes i go to a place near the office. or we have a wireless modem thing that we can even take to the house and use. although there is usually a forever long line of people wanting to use it at the house.

i'm going to mombassa, the coast tomorrow night, until sunday morning. so i'll be away for a bit. i'm excited to soak up some sun and experience the indian ocean!

Kenyan Football

Happy Labor Day, i think? I'm really not even sure if it's today or next week. i'm very out of touch with life in the U.S. Saturday was a great day for me b/c it's the first weekend that I didn't have to get up early and be here. I pretty much wake up everyday by 7 b/c the birds chirp really loud outside my window and the matatus are really noisy. i don't think i've every slept past 8. but in any case, it was wonderful to just get up pray, do devotions, and then i went running. this girl followed me all around the neighborhood in her flip flops and asked me about my sisters and told me about her pet rabbit, Latifah. only i think it's a wild rabbit b/c it's randomly all over the neighborhood. we got to see a group sending people off to a wedding. family comes to the bride's house early in the morning and they sing all these songs. they decorate the car (often a mercedes) with ribbon and roses.

in the afternoon, i went to watch steve play soccer for the World Hope team. po po and his friend went with me, which was fun because they're big fans of kenyan football. on the way there, po po said, oh yeah, i know you're friend, steve. he's always in the newspapers. so yeah, i know someone who's basically famous here. they play in this huge stadium, but there were only about 100 people there. it's only $1.50 to get in, but i think that's probably really expensive for local people. and also people are more fans of the national team. we sat by this little boy, soccerdome (AKA nicholas) who plays for the world hope sponsored kid's team. he was really funny. the first thing he asked me was, "do you have a fiance?" b/c all the fans bring their fiances. and kids here are so obsessed with white people's arm hair. he's like "muzungu skin is not like ours. it's so hard." and then he asked if i was going to take a shower tonight b/c my heels are permanently embedded with dirt. i tried explaining that it doesn't come off, but he didn't understand. people really try to be clean here. so yes, soccerdome was quite the entertainment for the afternoon.

today i went back to the juvenile home to talk to them about teaching. there are 2 teachers for 4 classes, so they seemed very open about this and liked that i'm a teacher from the u.s. i'm going to start on monday. just teaching on mondays and thursday afternoons. i told them i can teach english, math, and CRE (christian religious education). i'm excited but trying not to have any expectations, so that i'm not disappointed. we'll see how it goes. what gets me is that this is a government school. they should be able to hire teachers. i think the government actually does have some money; it just never goes to the right places. some of the kids don't speak much english, so that'll be a challenge. the head teacher wants the instruction to be in english though to help them learn. please pray for this opportunity and that they are able to learn something and be shown love.