crazy landlady and street boy in the house

we have a crazy land lady.  on monday we had lots of people over for our 4th of july bash.  honestly, the house is very small and in the u.s you would never try to cram this many people in there, but it's super normal here so it shouldn't be a big deal.  we had a fun time at first.  we invited our neighbors over.  they are eritreans.  we met them a few nights ago because our gas cooker went out right in the middle of making tea, so we asked if we could borrow theirs.  they let us and we gave them a thank you card and tootsie pops in return.  so they came to the party and brought popcorn and we taught them to play jenga.  us girls are really tired of this game, but everyone likes it so we just pretend that we do too.  anyway, popo and friends came in later around 6, and they were being a little loud (but pretty typical to most kenyans) and the land lady freaked out.  she insisted that everyone had to leave immediately.  popo and his friends were really hurt b/c they think the main reason she was mad is that she's scared of them since they're from kibera.  but the story gets more ridiculous.  the land lady also locked out the man who lives in the apartment across from us because she wanted him to leave.  she put a new lock on his door and the lock is underneath a steel panel in the door and you have to reach your hand up inside so it's almost impossible to cut it off.  well the man came home yesterday and couldn't get into his house.  so he came back with 3 police officers and i think they arrested the lady.  then she came home later and had someone cut out his whole door (it's metal) and the apartment was left standing wide open with debris everywhere.  all the people in the building kept coming in and asking what was going on.  then, the lady put a new lock on the outside door that leads to the street and no one could get in or out the building.  ash and rachel left to get drinks and this other man who works in the building was letting people in and acting as a watchman for the gate.  he tried to steal ashley's key saying that it no longer worked but ash took it back from him.  then alex came in to witness all the nonsense and he started yelling at the man about how ridiculous it is that everyone's being locked out of their houses and that we're paying to stay here.  they also keep purposely turning the water off everyday and we don't know why.  we have to ask them constantly to turn it back on or it will permanently stay off.

besides that drama, we have another challenge.  this is the story of peter.  peter is one of the street kids we've been working with.  alex met him a few months ago and took him to stay at his house b/c he hasn't been doing drugs and wanted to go back to school.  alex worked out something with the dad so that he was able to go home, but the dad started beating and abusing him and peter ran away again and was on the street.  he came to our street boys meeting last week and that was the last time in a while that alex has seen him.  but it's more complicated than that.  the worst part is that he was hit by a car atleast a year ago or longer, and he was never properly treated.  his leg is bloody and swollen everywhere.  he met up with us on monday so that alex could take him to the doctor, only he'd suffered another injury at this point.  someone had thrown rocks at his head and he was cut on his head too.  obviously living on the street is rough.  alex sat with him at the doctor all day and he was never properly treated still.  kenyan hospitals are a complete joke in my opinion.  most are very dirty and you sit for hours waiting and will probably not get a proper diagnosis.  i was taking popo to the doctor on tuesday anyway, so we decided to take peter with us.  i think you don't mess around with your health here.  you might as well go somewhere that you can be correctly diagnosed.  so popo and i took peter to nairobi hospital.  it was an all day affair of waiting, paying, having his wounds cleaned and bandaged, getting x-rays and then seeing the doctor again.  peter doesn't speak much english so communication is difficult.  the whole time at the hospital everyone is looking at me with a look of "what are you doing stupid white girl?  why are you trying to help this one boy?  you think you can just save everyone here?  yeah right"  of course this isn't at all what i'm thinking.  it's more like, well i hope that this boy has a chance and that i'm not spending money to help him and that he just runs away again.  but really, i can't be okay knowing how bad his leg is and letting it stay like that.  after speaking with the doctor, he said that he has a bone infection that's really bad.  he referred us to an orthopedic surgeon.  i knew it was bad at that point.  popo didn't even know what an orthopedic surgeon is, meaning they don't send many people there.  we went to speak with the surgeon, and basically he needs several surgeries to fix it.  we're supposed to meet with him next week again.  the first thing running through my mind is, how much is this going to cost?  fortunately, healthcare is much much cheaper here but i don't know about for this.  we won't really know anything until next week.  in the meantime, they gave peter some antibiotics and a tetanus shot.  he covered his eyes during the whole time they were cleaning the wound and started crying at one point.  i stood there and rubbed his arms...i didn't know what to do.  is this what it feels like to be a mom?  we took peter back to our house b/c he can't stay on the street in this condition.  alex says it's fine for him to stay with us b/c he lived with alex for a long time and never tried to steal from him or do anything bad.  i feel fine about it.  there are other street kids i wouldn't be ok with living with but i think peter is fine.  we left him school work to do yesterday and told him he had to wash his clothes, and he did.  popo was with him for a while and then we locked him in the house.  he couldn't leave, so it seemed fine, and we locked up all our stuff just in case.  he also did his dishes this morning, so i don't think he's a bad kid, but just has a bad past.  ash went with him and popo today to have his bandages changed.  she was going to help him with school work.  we worked with him yesterday, and it was pretty discouraging.  he's 15 (although he doesn't know his birthday) and he can't read at all.  he can count a little and add a little, and that's about all.  please pray about this situation.  i do realize it's very bleak, but i also think he deserves a chance.

yesterday we saw the street women.  one of their babies had pooped in his pants and it was wretchedly smelling.  no one had anything to change him into, so they just left him like that.  it made me want to gag and i feel so bad for these innocent kids.  our team took turns watching the babies so their moms could listen better to our message without being distracted.  there are a few women who aren't using drugs, so that's a little encouraging.  we've tried to be more strict about kicking out women who are using drugs during our time together but it's hard. they put the drug on their clothes and huff from there.  what are we supposed to do?...rip off their shirts?  a new woman named Winnie has been coming.  i don't think she uses drugs but has aids.  she is very quiet but has good english and i think she finds the time together encouraging.  we also met with the HIV womenin kibera yesterday.  we shared tea and chapati with them.  eric says that's a big deal b/c people often won't even eat with them because of the stigma against them.

alex's girlfriend, ruth from wales, has been staying with us.she has been in kenya and uganda for 10 months and is briefly going back to wales today.  she brought her friend, we'll call her Stasi, from uganda to stay with us.  stasi is an awesome cook and prepared matoke for us yesterday (smashed plantains).  she is very quiet, humble, and helpful, and has an inspiring story of how she has overcome obstacles.  she will be with us for a few more days.  she also brought us homemade peanut butter, which i mistakenly thought was melted icecream at first b/c it was in an icecream container.

today was sort of a wash of a day.  we went to the market to get shorts for the boys to wear tomorrow.  there are people everywhere selling stuff and walking on top of each other and mounds of clothes everyone.  most vendors specialize in one thing like sweaters, coats, shoes, etc.  one vendor came right into my face loudly, laughing and said, "ha ha.  mobile boutique." and tried to get me to try on this jacket.  i started cracking up laughing.  we then went to find the street boys.  we found a few and took them for chips and talked with them.  stasi took away their drugs and poured them in the trash can.  we tried to take them to the park but alex said we couldn't b/c the police might come and take them away b/c they're not allowed to be there.

i haven't mentioned that nairobi feels mostly the same.  i remember where things are and how to get around pretty well.  there are a few new bridges and roads being built (often through funding from the Japanese and Chinese), but otherwise it's the same.  there seems to be less open corruption with the policemen, which is encouraging.  i haven't seen any officers bribing matatus for money.  alex says it's less but still there, although more secretive.  we went to my favorite slum restaurant for beans and chapati today, and alex asked the owner if he remembered me from 2 years ago.  the guy said, you used to sit at that table over there, right?  and yes, i did.  i told him he has the best beans and chapati in nairobi and he laughed.  as we left there, alex said, oh this used to be the most dangerous part of nairobi here.  people were always getting shot here.  and i said, how long ago was that.  he said a few years ago.  don't worry though, the boys are very protective of us.  we call alex gramps b/c he wears this hat like grandpa back and it's more funny b/c his girlfriend's name is ruth.