- So the water in our house is on today...it's so nice to be able to wash your hands after you go to the bathroom. i've become very used to using hand sanitizer and baby wipes lately. actually most days since we can't take a shower, we wipe off with baby wipes. nice, huh? we received a new MST today, Patrick, from Germany. we are gathering quite the international team. but Julie is leaving on Saturday and Virginia next week.
- So today we taught about self esteem and pressures to look good. we did comparisons between african and american culture. the kids thought it was hilarious when julie and i said it's popular to have long thin legs and that are big calves were not highly regarded. apparently in africa men pay a higher dowry for women with big calves. man i would be worth a lot here! we talked about 1 Peter 3:3-4 where it says that God looks at the inside of us, not the outside. we did acroustic poems with them where they had to use the letters of their names and write positive qualities about themselves. they loved using the markers.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
We Have Water!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Juvenile Home
Habari (Hello). I pray that you all are well. It has stopped raining here but is pretty cold for Africa. I'd guess in the 50s--everything is in Celcius, so I'm never quite sure. but in any case the africans are freezing and all wearing sweaters. July and August are supposedly the coldest months. I'm just glad I'll never have to go out and scrape snow off my car.
Today began with a typical day of Kenyan transport. We were supposed to leave the house before 7 to get to a meeting by 9. We left at 7:10, walked to pick up a bus. The bus never came. So we walked some more and got on a different bus. The bus got stuck in traffic and then decides to turn perpendicular to all the traffic and cross traffic going the opposite direction to hit another road. this is very common and happens almost everytime i ride a matatu. anyway, we got into the city at about 8:55, then waited for 2 other Kenyans, Ruth and Dominic. Dominic never came, and we finally called and found that he had already taken another matatu to the place. So then we finally boarded another matatu and arrived around 9:30-9:45 at this Juvenile home for boys. The thing is no one even cares when you're late so no biggie. but that whole trip would have taken about 45 minutes at home :)
We went to this juvenile place with our director to get permission to have our team start working there. we spent a lot of time tramping around in the fields from place to place b/c it was out in the country. i was reminded of indiana as i walked through the fields of maize (corn) but their maize is spread apart and all different heights maybe because they can't fertilize and do all these things we do. so the fields look very wimpy. anyway, at the first part of the juvenile home, the pastor took us into the classrooms. i was the only muzungu, so naturally they were curious. we all quickly wondered why there were no teachers in the classrooms. the pastor told us they have no teachers! and yet they were behaving better than any other school i've seen here. much of that is probably b/c of the structure. the kids here either got in trouble with the law, or they were abandoned, lost, etc. but this pastor is trying to teach all of these kids who are all in different rooms. i really don't understand it. and this is a government run facility. i'm realizing more and more that despite its problems, american education is SO good. everything is so cut and dry here. it's like NO Child Left behind style in that there is no creativity at all, but that's probably b/c of a lack of materials and training.
then we went to another place there which was for children 0-6, again abandoned, lost, etc. we met the director and then went on a tour. the pastor took us into the sleeping quarters and was saying how it was nice and how at some places they won't give you a tour b/c things are so bad. what he said kind of caught me off guard b/c the moment i stepped into the room it smelled like urine. i felt like i wanted to vomit. all of the mattresses were all ripped with the foam coming out and nothing looked clean at all. of course clean is such a relative term here. and the thing is that kibera is totally worse and i know it. but the fact that this is a government place and that in kibera at least a lot of people have families. i cannot imagine being an orphan and stuck in this facility.
After more walking around and meetings with various people, we were finally given permission to start coming on thursdays. i think we'll be doing christian education with some of the kids and possibly some sports things too. i would really like to teach at that first school we saw, so i asked peter about that. he thinks that might be possible in the future as we build a rapport with them. but things here are so slow. so i think it will be several months till anything like that happens.
on the way home i cracked up b/c getting into the matutu, i had to climb all the way to the back and duck my head. i was squeezing between the seats with my bag, and i totally got stuck. there were seats on both sides and my bag was making me 2 big to squeeze through. imagine that my head is bent over and my butt is sticking up in the person's face of the seat behind me. Ruth (the secretary for ICY) was cracking up.
Later she was helping me cross the street and she said to always stand to the right of people b/c if the matatu hits us, atleast it will hit them first before us. i thought that was hilarious. everyone jay walks constantly to cross the street, and the cars do not stop. someone even saw a sign that said, "No stopping for pedestrians." i'd rather be in a matatu than walking for safety's sake.
someone asked about the tribal situation here in kenya and kibera specifically. as far as i know, all the schools i'm in are a mix of tribes. in the countryside, schools are more confined to a tribe i think. africans can tell instantly what tribe someone is in just by looking at them or hearing a name. this consequently affected much of the election problems back in december. but there are muslims and christians here in the same schools too. i think in nairobi there is more of a diverse mix. to my eyes, it has been hard to tell where places where destroyed during the uprising this past winter. but Jane and Sally, 2 kenyans, said in kibera most places where the shacks have new shiny tin, that means that something had been burned there. we saw one church that had been partially burned, but otherwise an outsider would never know. Alex, a kenyan part of our team, was shot during this, and he has told us all about his bullet wound. apparently his mom was on CNN and victor (also kenyan) found out about Alex from that CNN newscast. peter said that during that time the only way to drive around was if you put a sign in your car that said "Press." people then left you alone b/c they knew you would go back and report things in another country. but locals did this too for safety.
so this is getting long, but i realized i haven't said anything about the people here. i love the ICY team. Peter, the director around age 32, is very funny and very focused on improving the ministry. Victor is in charge of all the MSTs like me. He is my age and hilarious. He loves joking around about some of our american expressions, like "expensive taste." for some reason he thinks that's really funny. Amie is my house mom and Peter's wife. Baraka their son, is learning more words everyday. all the msts are teaching him things like "I love you", etc. he's going to have good English. Then there's lots of other people in ICY. Locally we're known as Swahiba (friend) Youth Networks. There's probably 15-20 people that are associated in someway. it's hard to keep track of everyone. Dominic handles most of the scheduling and office stuff. Ruth corresponds with MSTs. So that's that. We end up having a lot of random meetings all the time. Some about camp in August, sometimes prayer meetings. yesterday at the prayer meeting Dominic prayed for 15 minutes straight and i thought i was going to fall asleep! so even though these meetings become very long and drawn out, i know that they really do center on Christ in everything they are doing. so in turn i think God somehow allows some productivity out of all this.
one last thing, i was going to sleep the other night, and the mosquito net drives me crazy. i'm on the bottom bunk so it's always falling in places and not working. i have to stuff it between the slats to keep it up. the thing was all around me before i started tucking and i told julie i never want to wear a veil at my wedding b/c it will remind me of this dumb net!
Today began with a typical day of Kenyan transport. We were supposed to leave the house before 7 to get to a meeting by 9. We left at 7:10, walked to pick up a bus. The bus never came. So we walked some more and got on a different bus. The bus got stuck in traffic and then decides to turn perpendicular to all the traffic and cross traffic going the opposite direction to hit another road. this is very common and happens almost everytime i ride a matatu. anyway, we got into the city at about 8:55, then waited for 2 other Kenyans, Ruth and Dominic. Dominic never came, and we finally called and found that he had already taken another matatu to the place. So then we finally boarded another matatu and arrived around 9:30-9:45 at this Juvenile home for boys. The thing is no one even cares when you're late so no biggie. but that whole trip would have taken about 45 minutes at home :)
We went to this juvenile place with our director to get permission to have our team start working there. we spent a lot of time tramping around in the fields from place to place b/c it was out in the country. i was reminded of indiana as i walked through the fields of maize (corn) but their maize is spread apart and all different heights maybe because they can't fertilize and do all these things we do. so the fields look very wimpy. anyway, at the first part of the juvenile home, the pastor took us into the classrooms. i was the only muzungu, so naturally they were curious. we all quickly wondered why there were no teachers in the classrooms. the pastor told us they have no teachers! and yet they were behaving better than any other school i've seen here. much of that is probably b/c of the structure. the kids here either got in trouble with the law, or they were abandoned, lost, etc. but this pastor is trying to teach all of these kids who are all in different rooms. i really don't understand it. and this is a government run facility. i'm realizing more and more that despite its problems, american education is SO good. everything is so cut and dry here. it's like NO Child Left behind style in that there is no creativity at all, but that's probably b/c of a lack of materials and training.
then we went to another place there which was for children 0-6, again abandoned, lost, etc. we met the director and then went on a tour. the pastor took us into the sleeping quarters and was saying how it was nice and how at some places they won't give you a tour b/c things are so bad. what he said kind of caught me off guard b/c the moment i stepped into the room it smelled like urine. i felt like i wanted to vomit. all of the mattresses were all ripped with the foam coming out and nothing looked clean at all. of course clean is such a relative term here. and the thing is that kibera is totally worse and i know it. but the fact that this is a government place and that in kibera at least a lot of people have families. i cannot imagine being an orphan and stuck in this facility.
After more walking around and meetings with various people, we were finally given permission to start coming on thursdays. i think we'll be doing christian education with some of the kids and possibly some sports things too. i would really like to teach at that first school we saw, so i asked peter about that. he thinks that might be possible in the future as we build a rapport with them. but things here are so slow. so i think it will be several months till anything like that happens.
on the way home i cracked up b/c getting into the matutu, i had to climb all the way to the back and duck my head. i was squeezing between the seats with my bag, and i totally got stuck. there were seats on both sides and my bag was making me 2 big to squeeze through. imagine that my head is bent over and my butt is sticking up in the person's face of the seat behind me. Ruth (the secretary for ICY) was cracking up.
Later she was helping me cross the street and she said to always stand to the right of people b/c if the matatu hits us, atleast it will hit them first before us. i thought that was hilarious. everyone jay walks constantly to cross the street, and the cars do not stop. someone even saw a sign that said, "No stopping for pedestrians." i'd rather be in a matatu than walking for safety's sake.
someone asked about the tribal situation here in kenya and kibera specifically. as far as i know, all the schools i'm in are a mix of tribes. in the countryside, schools are more confined to a tribe i think. africans can tell instantly what tribe someone is in just by looking at them or hearing a name. this consequently affected much of the election problems back in december. but there are muslims and christians here in the same schools too. i think in nairobi there is more of a diverse mix. to my eyes, it has been hard to tell where places where destroyed during the uprising this past winter. but Jane and Sally, 2 kenyans, said in kibera most places where the shacks have new shiny tin, that means that something had been burned there. we saw one church that had been partially burned, but otherwise an outsider would never know. Alex, a kenyan part of our team, was shot during this, and he has told us all about his bullet wound. apparently his mom was on CNN and victor (also kenyan) found out about Alex from that CNN newscast. peter said that during that time the only way to drive around was if you put a sign in your car that said "Press." people then left you alone b/c they knew you would go back and report things in another country. but locals did this too for safety.
so this is getting long, but i realized i haven't said anything about the people here. i love the ICY team. Peter, the director around age 32, is very funny and very focused on improving the ministry. Victor is in charge of all the MSTs like me. He is my age and hilarious. He loves joking around about some of our american expressions, like "expensive taste." for some reason he thinks that's really funny. Amie is my house mom and Peter's wife. Baraka their son, is learning more words everyday. all the msts are teaching him things like "I love you", etc. he's going to have good English. Then there's lots of other people in ICY. Locally we're known as Swahiba (friend) Youth Networks. There's probably 15-20 people that are associated in someway. it's hard to keep track of everyone. Dominic handles most of the scheduling and office stuff. Ruth corresponds with MSTs. So that's that. We end up having a lot of random meetings all the time. Some about camp in August, sometimes prayer meetings. yesterday at the prayer meeting Dominic prayed for 15 minutes straight and i thought i was going to fall asleep! so even though these meetings become very long and drawn out, i know that they really do center on Christ in everything they are doing. so in turn i think God somehow allows some productivity out of all this.
one last thing, i was going to sleep the other night, and the mosquito net drives me crazy. i'm on the bottom bunk so it's always falling in places and not working. i have to stuff it between the slats to keep it up. the thing was all around me before i started tucking and i told julie i never want to wear a veil at my wedding b/c it will remind me of this dumb net!
Monday, July 14, 2008
A Wet Muddy Day
Greetings from the land of swishy mud. It rained again today, and after being in Kibera my jeans are covered with mud. I'm thinking of Grandma, and how you always asked me if maybe my pants should be hemmed shorter so they don't drag. I think I'll take scissors and cut them off before wearing them again...my version of hemming here :) I'm wearing mom's green raincoat, which i'm guessing is probably from the 80's. Let's just say that I definitely stand out. Most of the day I'm in Kibera, so it doesn't really matter what you wear. But then in the afternoons we come back to the city and everyone's wearing suits...except for me in the bright green coat. Whatev.
We taught 3 classes today, and now my throat is scratchy b/c you have to yell for anyone to hear you. Even when I get my class under control, which is do-able, it doesn't matter, b/c many other classes are being taught right next door by other Kenyans and the kids are crazy loud. we taught this class about telling time today, and they're in 5th grade and have no clue and i'm not sure if our teaching clarified anything. but then again, this is africa and time is irrelevant. we're going to try to make paper plate clocks to take back for them to practice with but i can't find any brads here to assemble the hands with. i've decided even if i'm only in a class for a half-hour, i think maybe we are teaching them something. I think the teachers at this school are underpaid, undertrained, and worn out, so they like having a break when we come. they are supposed to have CRE (Christian Religious Education) everyday, but I think it only gets taught when the MSTs come. so i hope we're at least feeding their souls even if they never learn to tell time. i'm really struggling with some things that i see b/c there's not a good solution for fixing it. peter told us last night that 60% of people in kenya are living below the poverty line...the poverty line is considered earning less than $1 a day!!! i get mad at myself b/c i walk into these poverty situations everyday and yet i'm almost emotionally immune to any reaction b/c it's how it is and you see it so much.
on happier thoughts, i do want you to know that there are some truly beautiful pieces of Nairobi. all the trees are blooming with bright pink, purple, and orange flowers right now. there's lots of palm trees and some beautiful parks. and sometimes we go down streets that are filled with beautiful clean looking homes with the clay tile roofs (adobe right?) and people really do want things to be nice. for instance, i always see women sweeping the trash from in front of their houses in kibera even though the streets are just dirt. can you imagine sweeping the dirt? and eunice, our housekeeper scrubs the floor everyday. and the MSTs take turns daily cleaning the bathroom and doing dishes. and we take off our shoes before entering the house. so even if things don't appear clean, they really are trying.
yesterday we went to State House Girls School (a boarding high school) for sunday service. what i love most about church here is that people dance as they sing and worship. everyone is so expressive and free. the 4 MSTs that are here (including me) got up in front of the 1000 people and talked about the pressures of the western media and how it has affected our lives. i talked about celebrities being airbrushed in magazines and a constant expectation to look nice and how God looks at us from the inside not our outward appearance. Julie talked about being anorexic in high school. So i think it was a good discussion. there is less of a pressure here with looks...maybe because people can't afford lots of food and b/c as Peter put it, it's okay and good for African women to have a big "bum" :)
We taught 3 classes today, and now my throat is scratchy b/c you have to yell for anyone to hear you. Even when I get my class under control, which is do-able, it doesn't matter, b/c many other classes are being taught right next door by other Kenyans and the kids are crazy loud. we taught this class about telling time today, and they're in 5th grade and have no clue and i'm not sure if our teaching clarified anything. but then again, this is africa and time is irrelevant. we're going to try to make paper plate clocks to take back for them to practice with but i can't find any brads here to assemble the hands with. i've decided even if i'm only in a class for a half-hour, i think maybe we are teaching them something. I think the teachers at this school are underpaid, undertrained, and worn out, so they like having a break when we come. they are supposed to have CRE (Christian Religious Education) everyday, but I think it only gets taught when the MSTs come. so i hope we're at least feeding their souls even if they never learn to tell time. i'm really struggling with some things that i see b/c there's not a good solution for fixing it. peter told us last night that 60% of people in kenya are living below the poverty line...the poverty line is considered earning less than $1 a day!!! i get mad at myself b/c i walk into these poverty situations everyday and yet i'm almost emotionally immune to any reaction b/c it's how it is and you see it so much.
on happier thoughts, i do want you to know that there are some truly beautiful pieces of Nairobi. all the trees are blooming with bright pink, purple, and orange flowers right now. there's lots of palm trees and some beautiful parks. and sometimes we go down streets that are filled with beautiful clean looking homes with the clay tile roofs (adobe right?) and people really do want things to be nice. for instance, i always see women sweeping the trash from in front of their houses in kibera even though the streets are just dirt. can you imagine sweeping the dirt? and eunice, our housekeeper scrubs the floor everyday. and the MSTs take turns daily cleaning the bathroom and doing dishes. and we take off our shoes before entering the house. so even if things don't appear clean, they really are trying.
yesterday we went to State House Girls School (a boarding high school) for sunday service. what i love most about church here is that people dance as they sing and worship. everyone is so expressive and free. the 4 MSTs that are here (including me) got up in front of the 1000 people and talked about the pressures of the western media and how it has affected our lives. i talked about celebrities being airbrushed in magazines and a constant expectation to look nice and how God looks at us from the inside not our outward appearance. Julie talked about being anorexic in high school. So i think it was a good discussion. there is less of a pressure here with looks...maybe because people can't afford lots of food and b/c as Peter put it, it's okay and good for African women to have a big "bum" :)
Friday, July 11, 2008
A VERY large class
Today i taught the pastoral education class at a local school. I taught the story about Jesus walking on the water and Peter coming out to him. The kids in this class were about 2nd-5th grade. They lump all of them together and consequently there were probably 75 kids in the class! it was nuts. i had 1 african in there helping me too. but when there aren't enough seats for everyone it is so difficult. they sit on the desks and share seats. plus kids constantly come in and out of the room. the lack of structure here is so challenging, even for a crazy art teacher like me. i taught them this song at the end, which was going pretty well. and then i asked them to stand up and do it with me...stupid idea. some of them stood up on the desks, so then i had kids towering over me and everything kind of crumbled from there. i hope that despite all this maybe some seeds are being planted.
yesterday 3 of us took Melody, a girl from Kibera with cerebral palsy, to physical therapy. i must say that i was pleasantly surprised that the doctors' offices are semi clean, really no worse than what i remember seeing in Italy. definitely not up to american cleanliness standards, but cleanliness is very foreign here. although on that thought, despite all the dirt and trash, people do care about looking nice and keeping their houses nice. all of the africans living in our house are always ironing their clothes (i hardly even do that in america) and often are wearing suits, especially to church. last week amie, my house mom, had to tell me i wasn't "spreading the sheets." i really had no idea what she meant. i knew she was referring to how i made the bed, but i didn't get it. so after some explanation i understand that everything has to be tucked in really well and nothing can be on the floor. this is very difficult b/c we are living out of our suitcases b/c there isn't anywhere to put stuff. it's funny that i'm 24 and people are checking to see if i clean up my room :) anyway, back to this girl, Melody. B/c of her cerebral palsy, she cannot walk at all. she is about 7 and has to be carried everywhere. our organization is paying for her to receive therapy. despite her condition she smiles and likes to sing "Jesus Loves Me." We got to push her around in this walker thing she is strapped into. Again, I'm so inspired and uplifted to see someone who is struggling still find joy to smile. Know that you are blessed my friends.
The pace of things around here can be quite challenging as I expected it to be. Last night Julie and I went to meet our friend Steve, and seriously it took 30 minutes for the bus to get around 1 block. But I suppose it was worth it b/c we went to a "posh" but reasonably priced place where it was okay to order a salad. salad is not something africans really eat, nor is eating lettuce in kenya as an american a good idea, but it was fine here. i've never enjoyed salad so much. i love eating the local food and know that i haven't been here that long, but sometimes you just want to embrace a bit of your own culture. in other travel news, we usually walk about a mile in the morning (i love walking! especially after all that rice) to get the matatu and then drive 25 minutes into the city. then we get another bus into kibera. one girl calculated that for every week we're here, we spend 1 day of it traveling. that might be exaggerated but really we are in a bus a lot. it's good think time though. and i'm so thanking God that i haven't been getting car sick despite the bumpy roads, and very loud music. and actually i'm grateful for being short b/c even i hit my head on the ceiling of the matatu when i'm in the back. yes, it is scrunched.
yesterday 3 of us took Melody, a girl from Kibera with cerebral palsy, to physical therapy. i must say that i was pleasantly surprised that the doctors' offices are semi clean, really no worse than what i remember seeing in Italy. definitely not up to american cleanliness standards, but cleanliness is very foreign here. although on that thought, despite all the dirt and trash, people do care about looking nice and keeping their houses nice. all of the africans living in our house are always ironing their clothes (i hardly even do that in america) and often are wearing suits, especially to church. last week amie, my house mom, had to tell me i wasn't "spreading the sheets." i really had no idea what she meant. i knew she was referring to how i made the bed, but i didn't get it. so after some explanation i understand that everything has to be tucked in really well and nothing can be on the floor. this is very difficult b/c we are living out of our suitcases b/c there isn't anywhere to put stuff. it's funny that i'm 24 and people are checking to see if i clean up my room :) anyway, back to this girl, Melody. B/c of her cerebral palsy, she cannot walk at all. she is about 7 and has to be carried everywhere. our organization is paying for her to receive therapy. despite her condition she smiles and likes to sing "Jesus Loves Me." We got to push her around in this walker thing she is strapped into. Again, I'm so inspired and uplifted to see someone who is struggling still find joy to smile. Know that you are blessed my friends.
The pace of things around here can be quite challenging as I expected it to be. Last night Julie and I went to meet our friend Steve, and seriously it took 30 minutes for the bus to get around 1 block. But I suppose it was worth it b/c we went to a "posh" but reasonably priced place where it was okay to order a salad. salad is not something africans really eat, nor is eating lettuce in kenya as an american a good idea, but it was fine here. i've never enjoyed salad so much. i love eating the local food and know that i haven't been here that long, but sometimes you just want to embrace a bit of your own culture. in other travel news, we usually walk about a mile in the morning (i love walking! especially after all that rice) to get the matatu and then drive 25 minutes into the city. then we get another bus into kibera. one girl calculated that for every week we're here, we spend 1 day of it traveling. that might be exaggerated but really we are in a bus a lot. it's good think time though. and i'm so thanking God that i haven't been getting car sick despite the bumpy roads, and very loud music. and actually i'm grateful for being short b/c even i hit my head on the ceiling of the matatu when i'm in the back. yes, it is scrunched.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Nairobbery
So I debate telling you this story for fear that you will worry, but it was quite the excitement for the day. 4 of us were finding a matatu to come back home in and there is always a huge crowd of people in this area of the city. i haven't worried about my bag being taken as much b/c i wear it across my shoulder and it has pockets and a zipper. i had heard stories from the africans about people having their bags slashed open and then the pick pocket takes whatever falls out. Our African friend Jane said that this happened to her friend and her Bible fell out. She said she hoped the pick pocket came to know Jesus :) Well today, I was falling Julie, an MST, and I saw this man get very close to her and i noticed i could see partway into her back. hers is one of those drawstring sacks made of a thin slick material. i really couldn't help her b/c i was too far behind. but when we got on the bus it was very evident that the bag had been slashed. fortunately, there were 2 layers so nothing fell out, and she wasn't carrying anything too valuable anyway. but this is why they call it nairobbery my friends. don't worry though, mostly we're celebrities as americans.
a bit about the food i've been having...it's pretty good, i love chipati, this thick crepe like tortilla thing that they eat plain or with salt or vegetables. i'm eating TONS of carbs all the time, which probably means i'm going to become quite lumpsome, as our African team leader, Victor calls it. the morning starts with a cup of chai and bread and butter or peanut butter...they do sell it here, not jiff, but it's fine. and lunch isn't until about 2 p.m. i've had a variety of lunch foods ranging from chips (fries), they seem to be common here b/c they're cheap, to Samosa, an Indian food I tried today. it's a flaky fried outer triangle shaped thing (sort of like egg rolls but bigger) filled with meat and onions or vegetables. i've also had chicken dishes, pizza (yes i know american food in africa), cabbage, kale, and tomato stew. and for dinner, we have sort of a house keeper/nanny, Eunice, who does all the cooking. normally we have rice and something. last night was this amazing egg and tomato mixture, i thought it was chicken. usually it's beans and rice, and sometimes beef stew and rice. there's never much meat in things though b/c it's so expensive. i haven't had ugali yet, the maize and water mixture that supposedly is less than stellar, so that's fine by me. sometimes we get a real treat of mango or pineapple--it's so much better here than in the states since it's locally grown. i rather like everything else...but seriously so many carbs...i thought i was supposed to loose weight here!
we taught in 3 schools today. wednesdays seem to be busy days, which is good. i love that you can pray in schools and talk about jesus here...so different from back home. often we're teaching regular subjects like English but it can always be done in a christian context. we've been going to sara junior school, and sara, the girl who started the school is coming to visit next week. she is british i think, and about my age. she raises support for the school. a big part of our time there is helping 65 kindergarten and preschools get lunch. and i've been helping Nirea, the cook, do the dishes the last few days. It is so humbling working with her knowing that everyday she comes and does this and has only a bar of soap and piece of sponge to wash dishes with. Julie brought them ladles to serve the rice with b/c we had been just scooping it out with another bowl. seriously guys, we do not know how blessed we are in America. be thankful for your utensils today.
a bit about the food i've been having...it's pretty good, i love chipati, this thick crepe like tortilla thing that they eat plain or with salt or vegetables. i'm eating TONS of carbs all the time, which probably means i'm going to become quite lumpsome, as our African team leader, Victor calls it. the morning starts with a cup of chai and bread and butter or peanut butter...they do sell it here, not jiff, but it's fine. and lunch isn't until about 2 p.m. i've had a variety of lunch foods ranging from chips (fries), they seem to be common here b/c they're cheap, to Samosa, an Indian food I tried today. it's a flaky fried outer triangle shaped thing (sort of like egg rolls but bigger) filled with meat and onions or vegetables. i've also had chicken dishes, pizza (yes i know american food in africa), cabbage, kale, and tomato stew. and for dinner, we have sort of a house keeper/nanny, Eunice, who does all the cooking. normally we have rice and something. last night was this amazing egg and tomato mixture, i thought it was chicken. usually it's beans and rice, and sometimes beef stew and rice. there's never much meat in things though b/c it's so expensive. i haven't had ugali yet, the maize and water mixture that supposedly is less than stellar, so that's fine by me. sometimes we get a real treat of mango or pineapple--it's so much better here than in the states since it's locally grown. i rather like everything else...but seriously so many carbs...i thought i was supposed to loose weight here!
we taught in 3 schools today. wednesdays seem to be busy days, which is good. i love that you can pray in schools and talk about jesus here...so different from back home. often we're teaching regular subjects like English but it can always be done in a christian context. we've been going to sara junior school, and sara, the girl who started the school is coming to visit next week. she is british i think, and about my age. she raises support for the school. a big part of our time there is helping 65 kindergarten and preschools get lunch. and i've been helping Nirea, the cook, do the dishes the last few days. It is so humbling working with her knowing that everyday she comes and does this and has only a bar of soap and piece of sponge to wash dishes with. Julie brought them ladles to serve the rice with b/c we had been just scooping it out with another bowl. seriously guys, we do not know how blessed we are in America. be thankful for your utensils today.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A Week's Recap
Hello my swahiba (friends),
So much has happened lately but i have not been able to post anything due to some recent blackouts. Yesterday I was right in the middle of typing this when the electricity went out. The same thing happened later that night and we sat around singing by candle light for an hour. It felt like an indoor campfire. Yesterday we went to New Life Orphanage and we were able to play with the babies there and feed them lunch. It is one of the nicest places I've seen in Nairobi so far, which is largely because it is financed by Americans. Everything is super clean and even the walls were painted with fun pictures. The kids are all between 0 and 5 and were abandoned. How could you ever just drop your kid off?
In funny news, I experienced my first matatu (van) wreck yesterday. Now don't be alarmed (mom) b/c it really wasn't a big deal. I was riding home in the matatu and we kept getting closer and closer to the other matatu, which is really common. I knew we couldn't fit through where we were driving. The other matatu's mirror hit the back of our van where i was sitting but we weren't going really fast, so no big deal. the police came running over and we pulled off to the side. and then the other driver gave our driver a few hundred shilling for the damage (less than $10 probably) and then we drove on. It's not like they'll actually fix their cars anyway b/c it probably happens a lot.
last week was safari, which was pretty sweet. i know i'm not an animal lover, but i did love seeing these animals in their natural habitat. the cheetahs and giraffes and elephants all walked right in front of the road in front of us. we stayed at this nice camp and had running HOT water...quite a blessing. then we went to the masaai village and they took us in their huts. it was completely dark inside and i felt a bit like i was being kidnapped. but no worries, they don't want to hurt you; they just want you to buy stuff :) we even got to do some of their dancing with them. i wonder though what they think of americans, especially the women who have the worst life ever...they are forced to marry and do lots of work. the men were basically like, here come dance for these white people.
4 people from my team left last night, which was sad. there have been 10 muzungus (white people) here so far. actually we're not all white, but the africans call us that anyway. we have 1 canadian and 3 asian americans among us and represent all parts of the u.s. from california, iowa, maryland, florida, etc. so quite a nice blend. more people are coming next week.
today we taught at sarah junior school (3-6) year olds. it is very hard to adjust to the chaos of schools here. mostly i think our being there really helps give the teachers a break. there are 2 of them for 65 kids! julie and i are planning to do a rainbow art activity and noah's ark lesson with them next week. we usually sing with them and attempt to play games, but seriously it's impossible to even get them into a circle, plus there's no room. and we feed them lunch. i always imagine this event to be like jesus feeding the 5000 b/c we divide one pan of rice among all of them. but somehow it works and they all get a good amount.
i'm in Karen, outside of nairobi now. it is wierd being here b/c it is the super posh area of nairobi. there are lots of british muzungus here and to me it doesn't feel like africa. it is so clean and every house is gated. i feel stuck up just walking through here. but it is a nice refresher to be near a toilet that flushes :)
So much has happened lately but i have not been able to post anything due to some recent blackouts. Yesterday I was right in the middle of typing this when the electricity went out. The same thing happened later that night and we sat around singing by candle light for an hour. It felt like an indoor campfire. Yesterday we went to New Life Orphanage and we were able to play with the babies there and feed them lunch. It is one of the nicest places I've seen in Nairobi so far, which is largely because it is financed by Americans. Everything is super clean and even the walls were painted with fun pictures. The kids are all between 0 and 5 and were abandoned. How could you ever just drop your kid off?
In funny news, I experienced my first matatu (van) wreck yesterday. Now don't be alarmed (mom) b/c it really wasn't a big deal. I was riding home in the matatu and we kept getting closer and closer to the other matatu, which is really common. I knew we couldn't fit through where we were driving. The other matatu's mirror hit the back of our van where i was sitting but we weren't going really fast, so no big deal. the police came running over and we pulled off to the side. and then the other driver gave our driver a few hundred shilling for the damage (less than $10 probably) and then we drove on. It's not like they'll actually fix their cars anyway b/c it probably happens a lot.
last week was safari, which was pretty sweet. i know i'm not an animal lover, but i did love seeing these animals in their natural habitat. the cheetahs and giraffes and elephants all walked right in front of the road in front of us. we stayed at this nice camp and had running HOT water...quite a blessing. then we went to the masaai village and they took us in their huts. it was completely dark inside and i felt a bit like i was being kidnapped. but no worries, they don't want to hurt you; they just want you to buy stuff :) we even got to do some of their dancing with them. i wonder though what they think of americans, especially the women who have the worst life ever...they are forced to marry and do lots of work. the men were basically like, here come dance for these white people.
4 people from my team left last night, which was sad. there have been 10 muzungus (white people) here so far. actually we're not all white, but the africans call us that anyway. we have 1 canadian and 3 asian americans among us and represent all parts of the u.s. from california, iowa, maryland, florida, etc. so quite a nice blend. more people are coming next week.
today we taught at sarah junior school (3-6) year olds. it is very hard to adjust to the chaos of schools here. mostly i think our being there really helps give the teachers a break. there are 2 of them for 65 kids! julie and i are planning to do a rainbow art activity and noah's ark lesson with them next week. we usually sing with them and attempt to play games, but seriously it's impossible to even get them into a circle, plus there's no room. and we feed them lunch. i always imagine this event to be like jesus feeding the 5000 b/c we divide one pan of rice among all of them. but somehow it works and they all get a good amount.
i'm in Karen, outside of nairobi now. it is wierd being here b/c it is the super posh area of nairobi. there are lots of british muzungus here and to me it doesn't feel like africa. it is so clean and every house is gated. i feel stuck up just walking through here. but it is a nice refresher to be near a toilet that flushes :)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Puppet Show Day
Today we put on a puppet show for the kids of Kibera. I played the part of the rain in the story of Jesus walking on the water. It was pretty hilarious, b/c our Jesus puppet was one of those cone shaped people on a stick that pop up. Our Jesus had a beard, and we put a wash cloth on his head for the head piece. You get very resourceful. Our Peter character in the story was played by a wolf puppet. Something seemed a little wrong with that picutre, but I think we got the message across and the kids liked it. We had over 100 kids watching us though, and we did this outside in a dirt area. Everything is basically dirt here. Mostly I have been really laid back about the time thing. Because time in Africa is a joke. It takes 1 1/2 hour to get home and we spend a good part of the day waiting. However, I became frustrated today when we were at the school b/c it's impossible to communicate effectively with such a large group. We tried to pick kids to come up and say our Bible memory verse. But 25 kids would storm to the front at once. Structure is non existant here.
I should describe Kibera more. There are 1 million people living in a 4 km area. Everyone lives in tin buildings that look like they are held together by nothing. it gets hot inside because the metal absorbs the heat. There is this "stream" of sewage looking water that runs through all of Kibera. Everyone throws their trash in there and it's really disgusting and often smells. I always hope that we go there at a time when people are cooking and selling food on the street b/c it smells better. There "houses" are all directly next to each other with little alleys running everywhere. You should go watch "The Constant Gardner" b/c this movie is filmed there and gives a pretty accurate picture to what it looks like. Yesterday in my CRE (Christian Religious Education) class that we taught grade 8, we asked the kids what they would like to see in Kenya in the next 5 years. Someone said they would like to see all of Kibera turn into an actual city and the houses rebuilt. Supposedly many governments (like the US) donated money to rebuild Kibera. However, the Kenyan government is not letting this go through b/c the Kibera residents pay rent to landlords. And the landlords would lose lots of money. It is slum lords to the extreme here. I can't even describe it, and it seems incredible to imagine anyone paying to live there. Even though Kibera is very close to the city center, many people never make it into the city b/c everything they need is in Kibera and it is too expensive to get there. I was told today that students in ICY (my organization) Bible class that they have often live in Kibera and walk 2 hours to get to class b/c they can't afford the bus fair. It probably costs 50 cents - $1.
I talked to Peter, the director, today a lot about ICY and ways to get more people here and clarify what the organization does. Then he asked me how I saw my gifts fitting into camp and other things we do here. I told him I would really like to use art through the ministry we are doing at the Abide Camp in August. He thought this would be good, so I think I'm going to do some type of art with them to go along with different Bible lessons we teach. I'm so excited for this. I brought many art supplies with me and Victor, of the ICY team, tells me there are places to buy more art supplies here. Please pray for using art in this ministry. It is a bit unconventional for African culture, but I think it can work. I'm most concerned about the other people that will be helping and trying to lead such a large group at once.
One last funny thing is that on Sunday, Peter was preaching at church and out of the blue he asks someone to close the window. He said, "There is cannabis coming in and I do not want to smell it and start preaching heresy." We all got a kick out of that.
I should describe Kibera more. There are 1 million people living in a 4 km area. Everyone lives in tin buildings that look like they are held together by nothing. it gets hot inside because the metal absorbs the heat. There is this "stream" of sewage looking water that runs through all of Kibera. Everyone throws their trash in there and it's really disgusting and often smells. I always hope that we go there at a time when people are cooking and selling food on the street b/c it smells better. There "houses" are all directly next to each other with little alleys running everywhere. You should go watch "The Constant Gardner" b/c this movie is filmed there and gives a pretty accurate picture to what it looks like. Yesterday in my CRE (Christian Religious Education) class that we taught grade 8, we asked the kids what they would like to see in Kenya in the next 5 years. Someone said they would like to see all of Kibera turn into an actual city and the houses rebuilt. Supposedly many governments (like the US) donated money to rebuild Kibera. However, the Kenyan government is not letting this go through b/c the Kibera residents pay rent to landlords. And the landlords would lose lots of money. It is slum lords to the extreme here. I can't even describe it, and it seems incredible to imagine anyone paying to live there. Even though Kibera is very close to the city center, many people never make it into the city b/c everything they need is in Kibera and it is too expensive to get there. I was told today that students in ICY (my organization) Bible class that they have often live in Kibera and walk 2 hours to get to class b/c they can't afford the bus fair. It probably costs 50 cents - $1.
I talked to Peter, the director, today a lot about ICY and ways to get more people here and clarify what the organization does. Then he asked me how I saw my gifts fitting into camp and other things we do here. I told him I would really like to use art through the ministry we are doing at the Abide Camp in August. He thought this would be good, so I think I'm going to do some type of art with them to go along with different Bible lessons we teach. I'm so excited for this. I brought many art supplies with me and Victor, of the ICY team, tells me there are places to buy more art supplies here. Please pray for using art in this ministry. It is a bit unconventional for African culture, but I think it can work. I'm most concerned about the other people that will be helping and trying to lead such a large group at once.
One last funny thing is that on Sunday, Peter was preaching at church and out of the blue he asks someone to close the window. He said, "There is cannabis coming in and I do not want to smell it and start preaching heresy." We all got a kick out of that.
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