before i begin, let me say that all the keys on this keyboard are sticking. it's challenging to get the shift key to work at all, so there will probably be a lot of typos in this post. anyway, today began with a visit to kibera. we went to see a group of women and men who are HIV +, and they gather together every wednesday to encourage each other. there is a huge stigma that comes with having HIV+, so many people never get tested at all let alone admit that they have the virus. therefore, i'm encouraged by the boldness of these people. one man there has lost his hearing, and so we must write everything down to him to communicate. we decided last week that it would be nice to cook a meal for these people when we come. the government provides free drugs to help combat the disease (not drugs that cure but rather just help strengthen the immune system). but most of these people are taking the drugs on an empty stomach, which is hard b/c the drugs are strong and make them very sick. so today we cooked rice and stew, with julius and ashley doing most of the cooking. rachel and i played jenga with everyone else while they cooked. this game continues to be a hit. one of the ladies took it really seriously and was determined to not let anyone knock over the tower. she got mad when people pulled out the wrong pieces. everyone was appreciative for the food when it was ready.
then we had to walk back out of kibera to head to town. jamhuri where we live is right next to kibera, yet getting into the interior of kibera is about an hour walk. it's hard to tell b/c of all the houses but kibera is actually very rocky and hilly. so it felt like we were on a hike this morning. it was good exercise. we dodged around trash and sewage the whole time and often i thought i would fall right into the muck until someone grabbed my hand at the last moment. there are random electrical wires running everywhere and alex is always telling us not to touch them. sometimes i can't tell what's an electric line and what's a clothesline. and b/c everyone is stealing the power by rigging up their own lines no one really cares about how much electricity they're using b/c it's free. so often the sun is shining brightly but they keep the lights on anyway. we have seen the artwork that's kept on the roofs of a few houses there. there are tarps with giant faces on them that you can see from a plane. gloria showed me a picture of this that was online before i left. the artwork has been up for a while so it's starting to fall apart now.
we went to hang with the street ladies afterwards. we decided to bathe their babies b/c they are a mess. the kids hated it probably because it is the first time they've ever been given a bath or at least it has only happened few times in their life. it was pretty crazy b/c we only had 2 basins of water abar of soap and i wash cloth. we were mostly just throwing water on them with their hands and they were wailing the whole time. we had a few blankets to wipe them off with and we tried washing out some of their clothes. people put insane amounts of layers on kids. like one boy i undressed had on a snow jump suit sort of thing and 2 sweaters. it was at least 75 degrees today, so clearly that's unnecessary. he was sweating badly underneath. we tried to tell the mom to not put so many layers on but she said it's cold at night and she's too tired to put clothes back on him then. so frustrating. this whole situation is depressing but somehow i separate that experience from the rest of my life and leave a lot of it there. perhaps that is bad, but that's the only way i can function. maybe i will cry about this months from now when i'm back in the states. but not now. the women used some of the extra water to wipe off their feet, and they seemed pleased. alex talked to them about what the drugs are doing to their babies, but i don't think they really get it. we have cracked down a little on not tolerating sniffing drugs while they're there. i even got brave enough to take away someone's rag today. doesn't matter though because she just got another one. i find these people very hard to love, even though i know that jesus does love them. i just feel so bad for the kids that it's difficult.
we came home tonight and judy, popo's sort of girlfriend, had cleaned our whole house. the living room was swept out and had been scrubbed, which was awesome b/c us three girls have been shedding everywhere. i made mzungu soup for dinner...hooray for comfort food.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Chocolate City
Hello again. you're probably wondering why i haven't been writing that much. it seems that there's been a lot of black outs lately. we tried to go to the cyber last night but the power was out. fortunately in the middle of cooking dinner it came back on. we only have a few candles and flashlights and i'd say we've been using them every other day at least. fortunately, the power has been coming back on pretty quickly but since it gets dark around 6:30 not having power is a bit gloomy. one day the power was out because this huge electrical box that sits on the power lines fell into the street down the road from our house. nothing hit it...it just looks like it fell. which is not so comforting, seeing as any of them could just fall off any day. there were wires lying there in the street and some probably toxic liquid seeping out.
we just came back from kibera. alex has taken to calling it chocolate city because everything is brown...the dirt, the houses made of mud, etc. he goes around saying, "chocolate city; what a pity." we visited a school in kibera. i felt like i was in a cave b/c it was made of rocks and seemed underground, but it wasn't. it's on the side of a steep hill and it was really difficult climbing up there dodging around all the trash and some pigs too. the school is one of the poorest i've seen here. we fit all the kids in a small room to do a skit for them and then did some art projects and games outside. the headmaster fed us rolls and soda afterwards. i always feel so bad when people do this for us b/c i know they can't afford it. but yet it's so offensive to them not to eat it. they tried to feed us porridge when we got there but we insisted over and over that we'd just had breakfast. the pitcher that the porridge was in looked so dirty that i was just praying we didn't have to eat that. even i have limits. we did eat with alex at this slum restaurant today though. we had probably the best pilau i've ever had here (rice with ginger, meat, tomatoes and onions and cucumbers on top).
it's been raining a lot so it was a muddy mess there. twice this week we were caught coming home in the rain and all our clothes and belongings were soaked. it's hard to tell in the morning that it's going to rain. it just suddenly happens. our house is wet too. we had to switch bedrooms because our room was so damp. the ceiling had absorbed so much moisture that it was getting ready to drop water droplets on us. everything in that room stays damp. i left my passport in a drawer for a few days and pulled it out to find it looking funny. all the pages were bent apart from water. it's fine, though, still usable definitely but i put it back in my suitcase. even the floor in our room gets a little damp at night. does cement not dry out well? our whole building is made of cement. they are adding 2 floors of apartments right on top of us. that seems to be the trend when they need more room. and by the way, i totally retract the statement i made about hot water. i had a warmish shower once, and the rest the time it has been cold. so i've taken to not washing my hair everyday. the water does work though, which is a miracle. the toilet flushes about 1 out of 3 times (it's constantly leaking in back, maybe that's the problem) but the sink water always works. only once has the water gone off.
yesterday was the craziest day we've had here so far. it started on our way to town. we had a crazy bus driver who nearly hit a matatu head on (ashley says we're always playing chicken with other cars.) but it got worse in town. he cut another car off going into the roundabout and we sandwiched a motorcyclist in between us and a matatu. i think the only thing that saved the cyclist from being hit was the small metal box on his bike that hit the bus first. we heard slamming breaks and yelling people and looked back to see the cyclist very scared. there are stickers on the buses with numbers to call to report reckless driving but alex says it doesn't do much good.
when we finally got to town we went to minister to street women. this experience was probably the hardest thing i've ever done. the women were all on drugs again and feeding their babies. we were holding the babies and one of them couldn't even latch onto my finger when i stuck it out (a normal reaction, right?) and even it's eyes didn't seem to follow what was going on. he was totally emotionless. we think he had poop or something else gross on his back. and the women let all the kids pee their pants and i guess eventually change them later. they don't have diapers. the same baby boy vomited all over the church floor later. it was all i could do to not puke as well as i thought about the whole situation. the smell of urine, vomit, and drugs was over powering. i think maybe that kid is sick from the drugs that the mother is taking. we decided to paint the finger nails of the ladies. we did a skit about love and talked about showing love for others. we brought baby wipes to clean their hands and nails. we filed and painted them. we used up all the baby wipes in the process. i've done this for people in america, and it was a much more enjoyable experience. these ladies didn't seem that grateful really. they kept making demands, like paint my baby's nails too, or i want this color, not that one, and next time you bring us chicken to eat. i know that it's easy to be taken advantage of but i think God wants us to continue loving them anyway. we know that we can't bring them diapers or chicken or new clothes b/c they will probably sell them for drugs. but we can try to keep loving them and teaching about the freedom they could have through Christ. we're going to wash the babies tomorrow, and i'm glad that the first thing alex insisted was that we wear gloves...important, yes!
yesterday afternoon we our skit and program at rhema house. on the way back to town the matatu decided he didn't feel like taking us all the way to town, probably because there was too much traffic.so he dropped us at some random place and we had to walk to town. as we walked, we passed dozens of street vendors with tarps of clothing and shoes. i was commenting on it being like a giant yard sale when suddenly people started running in every direction. it looked like an ant hill with ants moving all over the place, and i was caught in the middle. i had no idea what was going on, so my first instinct was to run like everyone else was. i guessed that someone had a gun. but then alex grabbed me and said just stand still. so i stood there panicking while people were running into me and around me. finally it died down and i learned that the problem was that street counselors (like policemen) were around and that the vendors had no permits. so they packed up their goods and took off to avoid being fined. and people started running in the process. alex thought my reaction was hilarious. he kept laughing and laughing. he said one time that happened to him when he was looking at a shirt to buy. the vendor took off and left him with the shirt, so he got it for free. jane said once she was left with one shoe.
while all this traffic and running is chaotic, i'm enjoying my kenyan experience much better this time. alex and popo keep things much more light hearted and we have fun hanging out at night. we dance a lot and play games at night. the food is better to me too. probably because we make sure to have fruit more often and we've had lots of different things so i'm not tired of anything yet. we're eating a million carbs again though. when i first arrived popo told me that i'd increased (meaning gained weight). but i had to explain that it was because my jacket pockets were full of my camera, money, etc. indeed with all that stuff in there i look pretty huge. it's also honest to say i look ridiculous. we still have no mirror (just a small shard that we've been using), so my hair is a mess, my clothes don't match, and i'm covered in dirt.
saturday we went to juvenile. there are actually several kids there that i remember from last time. i love being there. after our skit and lesson the boys showed us around the place. they've started lots of great new programs where they teach the boys various skills. some are learning masonry work. my favorite part was this huge room where they make pottery. it was covered with huge pots that they're going to sell in mombassa. they've created their own kiln outside by stacking up old pots and mud and creating almost a hut with a fire inside. they say that they leave the pottery in there to fire for 3 days. one boy, anthony, has made all these sweet sculptures of people and animals. i hope that i can pay him to make me something. they were so proud to show us their creations. and they seem more obsessed with mzungus than last time. they were hanging all over us and everyone wanted to hold our hands.
sunday we went to lamuru girls school an hour outside of nairobi. no one new how to get there so we got pretty lost and went in a big circle. we finally arrived and did a sunday school with young kids. afterwards we went in a huge assembly hall for the church service. there were over 1000 girls singing, and it was beautiful. popo and his dance team performed and rachel gave her tesitmony. popo also made us stand up and "freestyle" dance in the background for 1 song. let's just say we looked ridiculous. his friend, james, gave the message to the girls. he's a great storyteller and talked about christ waiting for us, welcoming us to him. he intertwined this with a story about, Rita, this girl he likes. it was funny and the girls were all cracking up.
also today in kibera, i was so surprised to find the Victorious Youth Center. It's a art center place where necklaces are created to be sold in shops and markets in nairobi. i was surprised b/c this place is in the youtube video that i randomly found and showed my class at school when we were learning about kenya. even the people in the video are the same as the ones we met today. and now i can say i've been there. we bought some goods from them b/c that only seems fair after being given a tour around the place.
we just came back from kibera. alex has taken to calling it chocolate city because everything is brown...the dirt, the houses made of mud, etc. he goes around saying, "chocolate city; what a pity." we visited a school in kibera. i felt like i was in a cave b/c it was made of rocks and seemed underground, but it wasn't. it's on the side of a steep hill and it was really difficult climbing up there dodging around all the trash and some pigs too. the school is one of the poorest i've seen here. we fit all the kids in a small room to do a skit for them and then did some art projects and games outside. the headmaster fed us rolls and soda afterwards. i always feel so bad when people do this for us b/c i know they can't afford it. but yet it's so offensive to them not to eat it. they tried to feed us porridge when we got there but we insisted over and over that we'd just had breakfast. the pitcher that the porridge was in looked so dirty that i was just praying we didn't have to eat that. even i have limits. we did eat with alex at this slum restaurant today though. we had probably the best pilau i've ever had here (rice with ginger, meat, tomatoes and onions and cucumbers on top).
it's been raining a lot so it was a muddy mess there. twice this week we were caught coming home in the rain and all our clothes and belongings were soaked. it's hard to tell in the morning that it's going to rain. it just suddenly happens. our house is wet too. we had to switch bedrooms because our room was so damp. the ceiling had absorbed so much moisture that it was getting ready to drop water droplets on us. everything in that room stays damp. i left my passport in a drawer for a few days and pulled it out to find it looking funny. all the pages were bent apart from water. it's fine, though, still usable definitely but i put it back in my suitcase. even the floor in our room gets a little damp at night. does cement not dry out well? our whole building is made of cement. they are adding 2 floors of apartments right on top of us. that seems to be the trend when they need more room. and by the way, i totally retract the statement i made about hot water. i had a warmish shower once, and the rest the time it has been cold. so i've taken to not washing my hair everyday. the water does work though, which is a miracle. the toilet flushes about 1 out of 3 times (it's constantly leaking in back, maybe that's the problem) but the sink water always works. only once has the water gone off.
yesterday was the craziest day we've had here so far. it started on our way to town. we had a crazy bus driver who nearly hit a matatu head on (ashley says we're always playing chicken with other cars.) but it got worse in town. he cut another car off going into the roundabout and we sandwiched a motorcyclist in between us and a matatu. i think the only thing that saved the cyclist from being hit was the small metal box on his bike that hit the bus first. we heard slamming breaks and yelling people and looked back to see the cyclist very scared. there are stickers on the buses with numbers to call to report reckless driving but alex says it doesn't do much good.
when we finally got to town we went to minister to street women. this experience was probably the hardest thing i've ever done. the women were all on drugs again and feeding their babies. we were holding the babies and one of them couldn't even latch onto my finger when i stuck it out (a normal reaction, right?) and even it's eyes didn't seem to follow what was going on. he was totally emotionless. we think he had poop or something else gross on his back. and the women let all the kids pee their pants and i guess eventually change them later. they don't have diapers. the same baby boy vomited all over the church floor later. it was all i could do to not puke as well as i thought about the whole situation. the smell of urine, vomit, and drugs was over powering. i think maybe that kid is sick from the drugs that the mother is taking. we decided to paint the finger nails of the ladies. we did a skit about love and talked about showing love for others. we brought baby wipes to clean their hands and nails. we filed and painted them. we used up all the baby wipes in the process. i've done this for people in america, and it was a much more enjoyable experience. these ladies didn't seem that grateful really. they kept making demands, like paint my baby's nails too, or i want this color, not that one, and next time you bring us chicken to eat. i know that it's easy to be taken advantage of but i think God wants us to continue loving them anyway. we know that we can't bring them diapers or chicken or new clothes b/c they will probably sell them for drugs. but we can try to keep loving them and teaching about the freedom they could have through Christ. we're going to wash the babies tomorrow, and i'm glad that the first thing alex insisted was that we wear gloves...important, yes!
yesterday afternoon we our skit and program at rhema house. on the way back to town the matatu decided he didn't feel like taking us all the way to town, probably because there was too much traffic.so he dropped us at some random place and we had to walk to town. as we walked, we passed dozens of street vendors with tarps of clothing and shoes. i was commenting on it being like a giant yard sale when suddenly people started running in every direction. it looked like an ant hill with ants moving all over the place, and i was caught in the middle. i had no idea what was going on, so my first instinct was to run like everyone else was. i guessed that someone had a gun. but then alex grabbed me and said just stand still. so i stood there panicking while people were running into me and around me. finally it died down and i learned that the problem was that street counselors (like policemen) were around and that the vendors had no permits. so they packed up their goods and took off to avoid being fined. and people started running in the process. alex thought my reaction was hilarious. he kept laughing and laughing. he said one time that happened to him when he was looking at a shirt to buy. the vendor took off and left him with the shirt, so he got it for free. jane said once she was left with one shoe.
while all this traffic and running is chaotic, i'm enjoying my kenyan experience much better this time. alex and popo keep things much more light hearted and we have fun hanging out at night. we dance a lot and play games at night. the food is better to me too. probably because we make sure to have fruit more often and we've had lots of different things so i'm not tired of anything yet. we're eating a million carbs again though. when i first arrived popo told me that i'd increased (meaning gained weight). but i had to explain that it was because my jacket pockets were full of my camera, money, etc. indeed with all that stuff in there i look pretty huge. it's also honest to say i look ridiculous. we still have no mirror (just a small shard that we've been using), so my hair is a mess, my clothes don't match, and i'm covered in dirt.
saturday we went to juvenile. there are actually several kids there that i remember from last time. i love being there. after our skit and lesson the boys showed us around the place. they've started lots of great new programs where they teach the boys various skills. some are learning masonry work. my favorite part was this huge room where they make pottery. it was covered with huge pots that they're going to sell in mombassa. they've created their own kiln outside by stacking up old pots and mud and creating almost a hut with a fire inside. they say that they leave the pottery in there to fire for 3 days. one boy, anthony, has made all these sweet sculptures of people and animals. i hope that i can pay him to make me something. they were so proud to show us their creations. and they seem more obsessed with mzungus than last time. they were hanging all over us and everyone wanted to hold our hands.
sunday we went to lamuru girls school an hour outside of nairobi. no one new how to get there so we got pretty lost and went in a big circle. we finally arrived and did a sunday school with young kids. afterwards we went in a huge assembly hall for the church service. there were over 1000 girls singing, and it was beautiful. popo and his dance team performed and rachel gave her tesitmony. popo also made us stand up and "freestyle" dance in the background for 1 song. let's just say we looked ridiculous. his friend, james, gave the message to the girls. he's a great storyteller and talked about christ waiting for us, welcoming us to him. he intertwined this with a story about, Rita, this girl he likes. it was funny and the girls were all cracking up.
also today in kibera, i was so surprised to find the Victorious Youth Center. It's a art center place where necklaces are created to be sold in shops and markets in nairobi. i was surprised b/c this place is in the youtube video that i randomly found and showed my class at school when we were learning about kenya. even the people in the video are the same as the ones we met today. and now i can say i've been there. we bought some goods from them b/c that only seems fair after being given a tour around the place.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Unwelcome, unwanted guest
Have I mentioned that our Kenyan friends and hosts are eager to please? Yes, they're willing to do just about anything to accomodate us. Unfortunately, they don't always know when we're joking. On Wednesday Ashley made some comment about how the house was so nice that all we need to make it more like home is a cat. She then said that she was kidding and Rachel made some comment about being allergic to cats. I guess popo missed hearing those parts because when we came home on Wednesday night he carried in a box and said he had a surprise for us. Inside were 2 cats meowing insanely loudly and obnoxiously. yes 2 cats. and not just any cats, but slum cats from kibera who were so little that they wouldn't even drink any water. ash tried to make a bottle by punching a hole in the top of a water bottle and dropping water into their mouths but it didn't work. and although it was kind of funny i immediately insisted that we had to get rid of them. for one, they weren't litter box trained and were going to pee all over the mattresses that are all over our house. and 2 rachel is allergic. and 3 they wouldn't stop meowing. they were so loud that popo recorded them on his phone as his ringtone. we were at this children's home yesterday and his phone rang and the director started looking around the house because she thought a cat had come in. anyway, popo took them right back to kibera the same day and we all had a good laugh.
we've been staying busy with many activities. yesterday we went to juvenile, to the intake center where the boys come for 3 months. we did a skit about the good samaritan. i was the man who gets beaten up on the road to jericho. we've done this skit 4 times now, and we have some funny pics of people "kicking me." we split the kids up to talk about ways they can be good samaritans. the juvenile boys are really well behaved compared to last time. there's only about 50 of them, and they were listening so well. ash taught them sharks and minnows, and it's their new favorite game.
in the afternoon we traveled to dandora to find this children's home called rhema house. i learned about this place through Brent at Small world connections. there are about 15 kids there i think, but many of them were still in school. we did the same skit and met the director. we are going to try adding this place to our schedule. it's in a very simple building and they don't have much. but the director feels called to help these kids. the hardest part about going there is that it's far outside the city. and yesterday the exhaust fumes were really getting to ash, rachel, and i. it's one of the worst days in terms of fumes that i remember, even from last time. our noses are full of black snot from all the exhaust.
we've also spent time with 2 other outreaches involving street women and boys. these are completely new experiences for me, since i didn't do this last time. wednesday we met with the street women. it's crazy because the whole time they were sniffing "glue" (that's what they call it but it's actually something more like turpentine). they pour it on a rag and hold it up to their mouth and sniff it that way. so they all smell like chemicals, and most of them were high the whole time we were together. they were breast feeding their babies at the same time, which is pretty disturbing. alex said they use their babies to get money from people and they spend 200-300 shillings everyday buying "glue." that's a lot considering most people don't even make that much money a day. anyway, we did the good samaritan thing with them too and had a discussion. they started getting very mad at alex when he said something about them using drugs. everyone was yelling in swahili, and we were trying to figure out what was going on. some of them kept insisting on us getting them shoes b/c their shoes are all torn and ripped. alex said even if we bought them shoes they would sell them to have drug money. he said that him and the pastor helping to run this ministry agreed that they wouldn't buy anyone shoes unless they'd stopped using drugs. we did feed them lunch though.
our time with the street boys today was sort of similar except alex made them give up their glue rags. he kept throwing the rags on the roof of the building...we were sort of on this terrace between 2 buildings, 3 stories up in a building downtown nairobi. the boys instantly loved seeing 3 mzungu girls and were hanging all over us smiling. 2 dutch men came along too. they are in kenya adopting kids. you have to stay w/ the kids for at least 6 months before the government lets you take them home. anyway, the street boys are pitiful, but i liked being there. they are covered in dirt. their clothes are so dirty you can barely tell what color they used to be. the dutch men provided money to feed them lunch, ugali and beans. they were gulping it down.
we've been having good food prepared for us. julius is staying with us and gets up early to make tea for us. ash is already sick of white bread. we eat it for breakfast and lunch with jelly and butter. we made mzungu spaghetti last night and it was really good. we've been teaching our friends all kinds of new games. our house feels like a youth hostel b/c there's different people staying there every night. most nights alex, popo, and julius are there. but last night Tall, a friend of Alex's, stayed too. other people like eric and steve come and hang out and eat w/ us when they have time or aren't in school. we're all having trouble sleeping through the night. we have bad jet lag. last night i woke up and thought it was morning (this happens every night so far b/c there's a light outside my window that i think is the sun.) anyway, i woke up and heard popo on the phone and said, "oh, good i slept through the night." and ashley and rachel both instantly said, no silly it's night time, popo's just being ridiculous. 2 nights ago i woke up and went out to the living room where he sleeps. he was up and eating, so i thought i was morning, but it was only 2:30 a.m. we don't have watches or a clock so i never know what time it is or the day for that matter. i might have to buy one b/c this morning we were an hour late meeting the dutch guys because we weren't woken up in time, and i have no alarm clock. we are also mirror fasting. there isn't one in the house, or anywhere we go for that matter. it's kind of nice not worrying how we look, but ash says we need to go get one today. they're only 60 shillings in kibera (less than a dollar). our bedroom is sweating. as in it's very moist for some wierd reason. the ceiling gets damp every night. alex says it's because they're doing construction on top of us. the toilet and the sink leaks too...TIA. so there is just water everywhere all over the bathroom. but we don't seem to mind too much. everyone is pretty chill about it.
we've been "scrambling" to get into buses, as alex calls it. everyone runs toward the bus at once shoving each other. sometimes i think that we won't all make it on the same bus, because there's about 6 of us traveling together, and it's easy to get separated. but we always do, and everyone knows the route back to our house now, so i think it's fine.
i'm feeling really blessed to be experiencing everything with my sister and friend. i don't think i could do this again by myself. some days are hard, but we have devotions every morning and pray that God would give us strength to go through each day and would use us to tell others about him. please continue praying for our strength, health, and purpose. also, special prayers that we would sleep through the night and get good rest. Asante sana. we're off for a relaxing afternoon of swimming. and don't worry, the pool has chlorine:)
we've been staying busy with many activities. yesterday we went to juvenile, to the intake center where the boys come for 3 months. we did a skit about the good samaritan. i was the man who gets beaten up on the road to jericho. we've done this skit 4 times now, and we have some funny pics of people "kicking me." we split the kids up to talk about ways they can be good samaritans. the juvenile boys are really well behaved compared to last time. there's only about 50 of them, and they were listening so well. ash taught them sharks and minnows, and it's their new favorite game.
in the afternoon we traveled to dandora to find this children's home called rhema house. i learned about this place through Brent at Small world connections. there are about 15 kids there i think, but many of them were still in school. we did the same skit and met the director. we are going to try adding this place to our schedule. it's in a very simple building and they don't have much. but the director feels called to help these kids. the hardest part about going there is that it's far outside the city. and yesterday the exhaust fumes were really getting to ash, rachel, and i. it's one of the worst days in terms of fumes that i remember, even from last time. our noses are full of black snot from all the exhaust.
we've also spent time with 2 other outreaches involving street women and boys. these are completely new experiences for me, since i didn't do this last time. wednesday we met with the street women. it's crazy because the whole time they were sniffing "glue" (that's what they call it but it's actually something more like turpentine). they pour it on a rag and hold it up to their mouth and sniff it that way. so they all smell like chemicals, and most of them were high the whole time we were together. they were breast feeding their babies at the same time, which is pretty disturbing. alex said they use their babies to get money from people and they spend 200-300 shillings everyday buying "glue." that's a lot considering most people don't even make that much money a day. anyway, we did the good samaritan thing with them too and had a discussion. they started getting very mad at alex when he said something about them using drugs. everyone was yelling in swahili, and we were trying to figure out what was going on. some of them kept insisting on us getting them shoes b/c their shoes are all torn and ripped. alex said even if we bought them shoes they would sell them to have drug money. he said that him and the pastor helping to run this ministry agreed that they wouldn't buy anyone shoes unless they'd stopped using drugs. we did feed them lunch though.
our time with the street boys today was sort of similar except alex made them give up their glue rags. he kept throwing the rags on the roof of the building...we were sort of on this terrace between 2 buildings, 3 stories up in a building downtown nairobi. the boys instantly loved seeing 3 mzungu girls and were hanging all over us smiling. 2 dutch men came along too. they are in kenya adopting kids. you have to stay w/ the kids for at least 6 months before the government lets you take them home. anyway, the street boys are pitiful, but i liked being there. they are covered in dirt. their clothes are so dirty you can barely tell what color they used to be. the dutch men provided money to feed them lunch, ugali and beans. they were gulping it down.
we've been having good food prepared for us. julius is staying with us and gets up early to make tea for us. ash is already sick of white bread. we eat it for breakfast and lunch with jelly and butter. we made mzungu spaghetti last night and it was really good. we've been teaching our friends all kinds of new games. our house feels like a youth hostel b/c there's different people staying there every night. most nights alex, popo, and julius are there. but last night Tall, a friend of Alex's, stayed too. other people like eric and steve come and hang out and eat w/ us when they have time or aren't in school. we're all having trouble sleeping through the night. we have bad jet lag. last night i woke up and thought it was morning (this happens every night so far b/c there's a light outside my window that i think is the sun.) anyway, i woke up and heard popo on the phone and said, "oh, good i slept through the night." and ashley and rachel both instantly said, no silly it's night time, popo's just being ridiculous. 2 nights ago i woke up and went out to the living room where he sleeps. he was up and eating, so i thought i was morning, but it was only 2:30 a.m. we don't have watches or a clock so i never know what time it is or the day for that matter. i might have to buy one b/c this morning we were an hour late meeting the dutch guys because we weren't woken up in time, and i have no alarm clock. we are also mirror fasting. there isn't one in the house, or anywhere we go for that matter. it's kind of nice not worrying how we look, but ash says we need to go get one today. they're only 60 shillings in kibera (less than a dollar). our bedroom is sweating. as in it's very moist for some wierd reason. the ceiling gets damp every night. alex says it's because they're doing construction on top of us. the toilet and the sink leaks too...TIA. so there is just water everywhere all over the bathroom. but we don't seem to mind too much. everyone is pretty chill about it.
we've been "scrambling" to get into buses, as alex calls it. everyone runs toward the bus at once shoving each other. sometimes i think that we won't all make it on the same bus, because there's about 6 of us traveling together, and it's easy to get separated. but we always do, and everyone knows the route back to our house now, so i think it's fine.
i'm feeling really blessed to be experiencing everything with my sister and friend. i don't think i could do this again by myself. some days are hard, but we have devotions every morning and pray that God would give us strength to go through each day and would use us to tell others about him. please continue praying for our strength, health, and purpose. also, special prayers that we would sleep through the night and get good rest. Asante sana. we're off for a relaxing afternoon of swimming. and don't worry, the pool has chlorine:)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Arrival, marriage proposals, and jenga
we have officially arrived. after 3 planes and 27 hours of flying and layovers, we finally arrived this morning at 5 a.m. By the time we made it through the long bathroom line, the visa line, and claimed our baggage, it was almost 6:30. Alex, Popo, Steve, and Victor were all there waiting to pick us up (they arrived at 5 a.m....definitely on American time, and didn't sleep much the night before because they were excited). I started screaming and running towards them when i saw them. i must say i have so much peace about everything right now. I started having moments on the plane where I was questioning things and wondering if it was all going to work out, but it has beautifully so far. I really like the house where we're staying. it's in a suburb called Jamhuri, which is right next to Kibera (biggest slum in East Africa in case you don't know). We can actually walk right to Kibera, which is a huge improvement over last time. The house is small but painted bright blue and green colors. Pretty much everything except the kitchen and bathroom is covered in mattresses. Mattresses in the bedrooms and in the living room; and by the way they're not the comfy American ones, but rather simple thin foam ones which is precisely what i expected. we have no furniture except a t.v. and a broken trunk that popo stepped on during a dance party last week, but We have hot water!!! yes, you heard me right. The bathroom is just one floor for the shower and for the rest of the room, so the floor will probably be all wet most of the time, but i don't care. at least the water is running. truly i'm blessed. After the boys picked us up, we returned to the house and put things away. there is a very SMALL closet that we were able to put most things in. we have to prop the mattresses against the wall during the day so we can walk around the room because it's so tiny. Then julius made us tea and triple layer bread and butter sandwiches. As always, Popo and Alex are hilarious! i couldn't stop laughing at their funny jokes all morning. Alex led us in a short devotional about not worrying, trusting God, and being joyful. he said something about no matter if they have food or no food, house or no house, they are always trying to be joyful. i can see it shining through everything they are doing. i can tell Alex has really grown in his faith since i last saw him. he is so passionate about serving. he walked us through the whole week's schedule and we even wrote it down! i'm impressed. and they are doing a good job watching out for us wherever we go. alex led us on a short tour around Nairobi since Ash has never been here and Rachel only briefly. I feel like they are doing a million times better at having things organized and watching out for us then the last organization i was with. I truly feel so blessed right now and that this is exactly where i'm supposed to be. i love these people and can't wait to spend the summer with them.
we had a dance party in the living room to kenyan music and ash and i did this partner dance that we still remember from our days together on Dancz Catz and Dance Energy. popo thought it was really great. then we pulled out the Jenga game. OH my goodness...this was the best thing ever to bring along. we pulled it out of the suitcase in the airport in ghana during our layover. all these ghanians gathered around to watch. everyone was fascinated by this concentration game the white girls were playing. we ended up getting several people to join in and play. i know that this is a simple basic game, but people here really like it. one of the ghanians who joined us was phillip. we briefly talked with him before he asked if i'd like to marry him :) seriously, less than 3 hours in the african continent and i was already getting proposed to. after politely declining he really wouldn't steer away from the discussion. he said, "Why not?" and i explained that i didn't even know him. He said it only takes 1 day to get to know someone and decided, but i said, no in my country it takes many days. we eventually moved on and offered everyone some of my homemade cookies i brought. everyone was excited to try them, but i don't think anyone liked them. they kept saying, "Oh, it's soooo sweet. so much sugar."
Besides those fun times in the airport, the ghana experience was quite funny. apparently, no one knows what to do with people who are on connecting flights. there is no set system. we had to get in line w/ all the people who were actually staying in ghana in the same immigration line even though we had no visa and weren't declaring anything. we kept hearing different stories about whether or not we should fill out the customs form--yes, no, yes, etc. the immigration guy let us go through no problem, but we still didn't know where to go. luggage was sitting everywhere, and we spotted ours, which was wierd since it was supposed to go through all the way to nairobi. workers started pulling connecting flight luggage aside and scanning it (don't they normally pull off the connecting flight luggage before sending it on the baggage cart conveyer belt? someone told us to collect our luggage and check it back in; someone else told us to leave it there (that's what we did). there were no signs for connecting flights. all the white people seemed to be walking right past the declaration stage of customs (which was the next stop). it seemed that it was optional if you wanted to tell them what you were bringing in. several people helped us navigate out of the airport. we had to actually completely walk out of the airport, turn left, and go up some steps, before we were at the entrance of the airport and could walk back in and then we still couldn't check in yet. i'm pretty sure that even though we had no visa that we could have easily left the airport in a taxi without getting into any sort of trouble...just to have lunch or something. but we had too much carry on luggage to drag around and i didn't want to go outside too much since the risk of malaria is greater there and i'm not taking malaria medicine since nairobi is low risk. this is one of the smallest airports ever. kenya airways shares a desk with other airlines, and they just change the signs based on when flights are leaving and people need to check in. there are only 5 gates total, and all of the planes require that you load from outside on the tarmac after getting dumped off by a bus. so the 7 hours we were there were pretty long because there was only a short stretch to walk back and forth. i tried walking around other places but kept getting yelled at that i couldn't go there. ashley correctly pointed out that all the people working in the airport (the people who ended up playing jenga with us) were just hanging out. true, there wasn't much for them to do. they were mostly on cleaning crew, but it seemed over staffed to say the least. phillip told us he takes a 3 hour bus ride one way to get to work every morning. that means he has a 6 hour commute in total!
also, plastic wrap is the latest trend for luggage apparently. people were paying to have their luggage saran wrapped in ghana. and let me tell you, they put a lot of bright blue saran wrap on, around and around (there is a special machine for it). phillip said it kept people from opening the bags and stealing things. i hope it doesn't prevent the transportation department from checking for dangerous things too :)
we had a dance party in the living room to kenyan music and ash and i did this partner dance that we still remember from our days together on Dancz Catz and Dance Energy. popo thought it was really great. then we pulled out the Jenga game. OH my goodness...this was the best thing ever to bring along. we pulled it out of the suitcase in the airport in ghana during our layover. all these ghanians gathered around to watch. everyone was fascinated by this concentration game the white girls were playing. we ended up getting several people to join in and play. i know that this is a simple basic game, but people here really like it. one of the ghanians who joined us was phillip. we briefly talked with him before he asked if i'd like to marry him :) seriously, less than 3 hours in the african continent and i was already getting proposed to. after politely declining he really wouldn't steer away from the discussion. he said, "Why not?" and i explained that i didn't even know him. He said it only takes 1 day to get to know someone and decided, but i said, no in my country it takes many days. we eventually moved on and offered everyone some of my homemade cookies i brought. everyone was excited to try them, but i don't think anyone liked them. they kept saying, "Oh, it's soooo sweet. so much sugar."
Besides those fun times in the airport, the ghana experience was quite funny. apparently, no one knows what to do with people who are on connecting flights. there is no set system. we had to get in line w/ all the people who were actually staying in ghana in the same immigration line even though we had no visa and weren't declaring anything. we kept hearing different stories about whether or not we should fill out the customs form--yes, no, yes, etc. the immigration guy let us go through no problem, but we still didn't know where to go. luggage was sitting everywhere, and we spotted ours, which was wierd since it was supposed to go through all the way to nairobi. workers started pulling connecting flight luggage aside and scanning it (don't they normally pull off the connecting flight luggage before sending it on the baggage cart conveyer belt? someone told us to collect our luggage and check it back in; someone else told us to leave it there (that's what we did). there were no signs for connecting flights. all the white people seemed to be walking right past the declaration stage of customs (which was the next stop). it seemed that it was optional if you wanted to tell them what you were bringing in. several people helped us navigate out of the airport. we had to actually completely walk out of the airport, turn left, and go up some steps, before we were at the entrance of the airport and could walk back in and then we still couldn't check in yet. i'm pretty sure that even though we had no visa that we could have easily left the airport in a taxi without getting into any sort of trouble...just to have lunch or something. but we had too much carry on luggage to drag around and i didn't want to go outside too much since the risk of malaria is greater there and i'm not taking malaria medicine since nairobi is low risk. this is one of the smallest airports ever. kenya airways shares a desk with other airlines, and they just change the signs based on when flights are leaving and people need to check in. there are only 5 gates total, and all of the planes require that you load from outside on the tarmac after getting dumped off by a bus. so the 7 hours we were there were pretty long because there was only a short stretch to walk back and forth. i tried walking around other places but kept getting yelled at that i couldn't go there. ashley correctly pointed out that all the people working in the airport (the people who ended up playing jenga with us) were just hanging out. true, there wasn't much for them to do. they were mostly on cleaning crew, but it seemed over staffed to say the least. phillip told us he takes a 3 hour bus ride one way to get to work every morning. that means he has a 6 hour commute in total!
also, plastic wrap is the latest trend for luggage apparently. people were paying to have their luggage saran wrapped in ghana. and let me tell you, they put a lot of bright blue saran wrap on, around and around (there is a special machine for it). phillip said it kept people from opening the bags and stealing things. i hope it doesn't prevent the transportation department from checking for dangerous things too :)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
1 week to go
I'm leaving in 1 week....wait, what? Is that true? I've been talking about going back to Kenya for so long that it's a little surreal that it's actually happening. I've known for the entire last year that I was going, and now June has finally arrived. One would think with all this time to prepare that I would be ready. And in some sense, I suppose that I am. I'm ready to see Popo, Alex, Jane, Sally, and Victor. I'm ready to hang out with kids again and teach them about the Lord. I'm ready to learn Swahili songs and funny games. I'm so ready to hear Popo's laugh and the way that he says, "Oh, hallelujah."
But in so many other senses, I'm not really ready. I have 4 days of school left and other random things going on that are juggling for my attention. My room is a hodge podge of junk that I'm bringing with me or deciding whether or not to bring with me, and I want to just stuff it all in the suitcase and be done thinking about it. I know that this summer is going to be a time of re-learning how to be flexible. I know I have been a lot more rigid than I want to be lately, and I also know that's about to be stripped away (or if not I'll be miserable). Tonight was the first true test of flexibility. I got an email from Alex, who is arranging our living accomodations. He's already thrown a house warming party at the apartment we're renting, so apparently it must be nice since everyone came over to enjoy it. This part is all fine and well.
The slight adjustment in plan is that we're not able to rent the apartment from the middle of june to the middle of august as we'd hoped. instead we had to rent from the beginning of june to the end of july (which is pretty normal as far as rental situations go). so we are homeless for 2 weeks in august...ok not really, but sort of. so alex's plan is that we go to western provence for 1 week to treat people with jiggers (a type of flea that infests people's feet, causes infections, pain, and impairs their ability to walk) and do children's ministry there. and for the second week of august we'll go to mombasa and stay with his friend from alaska (yes he knows lots of people) and do some sort of minsitry there. i actually love the villages and mombasa is great, so this could be a nice change of plans. i was joking with regina that i'm excited to go to mombasa because I can retake pictures this time. last time i got mugged there and my camera was stolen so all my pictures were gone. so yes, i'll be flexible and this will all work out i'm sure.
the only part that makes me nervous is that mombasa is so much more hot and humid that it is a higher risk area for malaria, so i'll definitely need to take the malaria medicine before i go. I hadn't planned to take any medicine at all because of the entire fiasco with the drugs last time. many of you know that i was super sick from all the medicine. nairobi has a very low risk of malaria because of the higher altitude and cooler temps at night, and the doctor i saw in nairobi who specialized in tropical medicine said i shouldn't take anything in nairobi. and i didn't the entire last 2 1/2 months i was there. but now it looks like i'll have to take something for atleast the last 3-4 weeks. so i guess what i'm saying is please pray that i don't get sick and experience all those side effects again. i just don't think i have it in me. and pray for rachel as she's figuring out what to do. she also had bad side effects to her malaria medicine again, and she was going to take mefloquin this time until i begged her not to. Mefloquin is CRAZY! that's my soap box statement for the day.
Please pray for safe travels next week, for healthy bodies, for a peaceful week, for open hearts to serve, for positive spirits, and for the love of Christ to pour out from us. Stay tuned for more stories from Nairobi soon.
But in so many other senses, I'm not really ready. I have 4 days of school left and other random things going on that are juggling for my attention. My room is a hodge podge of junk that I'm bringing with me or deciding whether or not to bring with me, and I want to just stuff it all in the suitcase and be done thinking about it. I know that this summer is going to be a time of re-learning how to be flexible. I know I have been a lot more rigid than I want to be lately, and I also know that's about to be stripped away (or if not I'll be miserable). Tonight was the first true test of flexibility. I got an email from Alex, who is arranging our living accomodations. He's already thrown a house warming party at the apartment we're renting, so apparently it must be nice since everyone came over to enjoy it. This part is all fine and well.
The slight adjustment in plan is that we're not able to rent the apartment from the middle of june to the middle of august as we'd hoped. instead we had to rent from the beginning of june to the end of july (which is pretty normal as far as rental situations go). so we are homeless for 2 weeks in august...ok not really, but sort of. so alex's plan is that we go to western provence for 1 week to treat people with jiggers (a type of flea that infests people's feet, causes infections, pain, and impairs their ability to walk) and do children's ministry there. and for the second week of august we'll go to mombasa and stay with his friend from alaska (yes he knows lots of people) and do some sort of minsitry there. i actually love the villages and mombasa is great, so this could be a nice change of plans. i was joking with regina that i'm excited to go to mombasa because I can retake pictures this time. last time i got mugged there and my camera was stolen so all my pictures were gone. so yes, i'll be flexible and this will all work out i'm sure.
the only part that makes me nervous is that mombasa is so much more hot and humid that it is a higher risk area for malaria, so i'll definitely need to take the malaria medicine before i go. I hadn't planned to take any medicine at all because of the entire fiasco with the drugs last time. many of you know that i was super sick from all the medicine. nairobi has a very low risk of malaria because of the higher altitude and cooler temps at night, and the doctor i saw in nairobi who specialized in tropical medicine said i shouldn't take anything in nairobi. and i didn't the entire last 2 1/2 months i was there. but now it looks like i'll have to take something for atleast the last 3-4 weeks. so i guess what i'm saying is please pray that i don't get sick and experience all those side effects again. i just don't think i have it in me. and pray for rachel as she's figuring out what to do. she also had bad side effects to her malaria medicine again, and she was going to take mefloquin this time until i begged her not to. Mefloquin is CRAZY! that's my soap box statement for the day.
Please pray for safe travels next week, for healthy bodies, for a peaceful week, for open hearts to serve, for positive spirits, and for the love of Christ to pour out from us. Stay tuned for more stories from Nairobi soon.
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