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:)