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.