bathrooms in kibera

the wild things appeared yesterday at BOLM. we made paper plate wild thing masks and hung them up inside one of the buildings there. i think this was the first time some of them had ever painted and they loved it. i was so happy b/c they have lots of artwork up in their classroom from previous weeks. i feel so much more appreciated there than anywhere else. i totally want to adopt one of the little boys there. he couldn't stop laughing at Popo's jokes, and he has the most beautiful smile. sometimes i find it difficult to believe that these kids can have such smiling beautiful faces and positive spirits after everything they've been through. one of the teachers told us we could even stay there a night if we wanted. i really kind of want to. i think it would be very difficult b/c it's definitely roughing it conditions. but i'm sure it would be like a big slumber party for them. speaking of sleeping in difficult places, tara was telling me her experinence of staying in kibera. it was nearly time for her to go to sleep and she needed to use the bathroom. the girl she was staying with told her that all the bathrooms were locked and that she would have to just use the street! so the girl kept watch and tara tried to use the street. but she said, i just couldn't do it. and so she waited 9 hours to use the bathroom. then in the morning she experienced using the "showers" there. it's not a shower, but just a small outhouse like room where you take the basin of water. the door didn't lock, so you can imagine how she felt. i really admire tara b/c she's planning on eventually living in kibera for a long period of time b/c she feels that's the best way to minister to people there and really understand the needs and gain their respect. i was surpised b/c tara's been here lots before and still hasn't ever used the bathroom in kibera, but i have 3 times. she told me that was impressive. i think i'm learning to ignore smells :) be thankful for the running water that you have. oh, and i took a hot shower twice this week. that's a new record!

tara and I celebrated halloween by going to Java Coffeehouse to eat last night. it's by far the best american food here. it's a chain started by someone from california. i always appreciate being able to eat salad, and this is the only safe place to do that in the city. everyone here thinks halloween is evil here, so we don't really talk about it much. except with victor and ruth who are more understanding. but, i can partly understand why they have issues with it. witchcraft is a huge thing here, and yes it really exists. peter told us this story of during the election violence how someone stole a t.v. from the supermarket, and using witchcraft someone put a spell on this person. then the t.v. was stuck to this person's body. no one could get it off of him until he took it back to the owner. everyone here can vouch that this is true. crazy right? so that's why people are very skeptical about halloween, and there's some things i'd rather not debate about. so i just don't bring them up.

apparently joy has colic, which makes since b/c i often hear her screaming at night. but mostly i just fall back asleep. i think amie is awake for most of the night though.