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.
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