Christmas in Uganda

Merry Christmas! I might be a little late on wishing that, but I truly hope everyone did have a good Christmas as mine was rather remarkable. For four days over Christmas I had the opportunity to travel to Uganda with the Madam and some of the Hope family to visit a girl and some families that the Madam has been working with. There is no limit to the scope of her vision and passion, and it was pretty incredible to get to see some of that vision and passion in action.

Background on Hope's work in Uganda is pretty simple.  A North American donor contacted the Madam and said he wanted to help children in Uganda(but not Kenya?) and would she go and find a child there that he could help. Over the course of several trips, she did find a girl who is disabled and through her this man sponsored the girl to go to a special needs school where she could grow and learn to smile. In conjunction with this, they sponsored children from ten families in a local village to go to school as well as planted orange trees as a fledgling micro-enterprise project. Once the trees are mature and producing, they will provide income generation for the family. Small, pretty simple, but good. Apparently the first time they went, it was hard for the families to see how a Kenyan could be helping them, but as Madam says, even when we do not have so much here, there is always something to give. While this was largely started with one donor, he is unable to continue, but the ministry there should still be able to continue and be an active part of the Hope family. He might have had the funds, but Madam has taken over the vision and as we all say here, 'God is faithful'.

As for me going, I feel pretty blessed. It almost didn't happen, for while I had been invited to come back in November, some transportation fall through at the last minute almost meant no room. As it was, there was only one spare seat between myself and the other volunteer, but as she had already been twice with the Madam, the seat fell to me. As it was, it  meant I spent the ten hour drive perched on the narrow middle front seat with no foot room between the driver and another man. Not the most comfortable, but so worth the discomfort. I was the last minute add-on, for the party was already pretty big with seventeen of us going involving small children(Madam's three musketeers and the baby of the board member), school children(three from Hope and the sister to the baby), a board member and his wife, the Pastor, Madam, myself, a photographer friend, the musketeers nanny, and two drivers as the transportation fall through meant taking two cars. It was quite the traveling caravan.

Our journey began around 10pm Wednesday and soon met with mishap as the car I was in ran out of gas on the way to Naivasha. The nearby town had none, so we tried anyways, but ended up waiting an hour and a half for the other car to go to Naivasha and bring some fuel back for us. So after midnight we were on our way again, and while we may have been driving at night, there was little hope for sleep as the roads to the boarder are quite poor and especially for me in my seat, I was a little worried of being launched through the window if I quit paying attention... We did have to swerve to avoid two crossing zebras at one point, but otherwise, made it to the border without further mishap. At the border, they were reluctant to let us pass(I think hoping we would give them a little something for Christmas, which we do not do...i.e. a bribe), but we made it through eventually. Then, in Uganda, the roads were much better and I was able to sleep some. We arrived in our destination of Iganga around three, bargained our way into a discount at the hotel, and all took a much needed rest. Thursday was a catch-up afternoon from travelling.

Friday was busy. Except for the transportation issues, the plan had been to arrive a day or two earlier, so we were packing everything in as best we could. At times this made things feel quite rushed, but I will hold that God is faithful and everything worked out all right in the end, and even better than might have been expected. Friday morning we went to the school to visit the girl, who I ended up spending a lot of time waiting with(we all spent a lot of time waiting; it goes with life here, and I am even used to it although I do like to make bets on how many minutes or hours a wait might be). Apparently when they first met the girl, our Ugandan sister, she did not smile, but now she has a beautiful smile and has even learned some English at the school so we were able to communicate some, and with lots of smiles. I am okay being the funny mzungu. Then, after a detour with our community contacts in search of a market that was not open, we headed to the village and got to see the growth of the trees of the ten families. We barely had time at any of the families, but it was alright as the other part of our mission was to invite them to a Christmas celebration the next day. The trees were looking good, and it was a whirlwind tour of what I imagine is a typical Ugandan village. The one community contact, a man whose family was also part of the orange project, enjoyed pointing out houses of his relative and local dignitaries. I liked him a lot. If you are working in a community, you need somebody in the community you can trust, and this was the man...

Saturday was Christmas, and our morning was busy with preparations for the celebration. I spent most of the morning waiting with our Ugandan sister, but that was good as in the busyness, she might have had to wait alone without me.  The plan was to gather with the families in the community and to have time of fellowship, a brief sharing of food(nothing too special but something simple and nice), a giving of gifts, and then to wrap up. As it was, we started later then we had planned, and by the time we were going, it was pouring in a true tropical downpour kind of way(Uganda, unlike Kinangop, was quite hot and quite tropical). I was worried we would get stuck, and not on the way too the celebration, but when leaving, our car did get stuck, but we were able to push it free of the mud. It was still raining when we arrived, and everyone crammed into the spare building of our community contact and celebration host. We were pretty tight, but everyone did fit, and we proceeded to have a brief time of fellowship, with singing and a message and a reiteration of the ties between this community and that of Hope. Truly, as the Church, we are all one, and that was the gist of the message, that God is love, and that we are to love one another, to love one's neighbors(in the case of Kenya and Uganda this could be taken quite literally). It was good, simple, and real.

The time of gift giving was good too. The families truly were grateful. The gifts were simple, some clothes and shoes for the students as well as pens, a toy or two, some basic food items, yet we know here at Hope and even moreso in the village, things can go a long ways. The woman, mothers and grandmothers, were truly grateful, and danced in celebration with our Madam. It truly was a time of fellowship, and was humbling to be part of. I think it passed very much in the true spirit of Christmas, and I don't wonder that each Christmas I shall be reminded of packing into that tiny room in the pouring rain and celebrating Christmas with my family from Kenya and our family in Uganda and being humbled to be a part of such a beautiful and global gathering and family.

Then, that afternoon we had business to attend to as our Ugandan sister had no place to be over the school holiday, and part of our trip was to figure out where she could stay until school started again. For myself and most of the rest this just meant following our leaders as they sought a place. Here again our community contact proved most valuable, mentioning a local Catholic children's home, which led to conversation with the Sisters that led to an agreement that the girl would be better served not at the school where she was(where while she had grown, there were things lacking that were to be desired) but at one of their sister schools where they even taught in the girls native tongue(like Kenya, Uganda has a lot of languages). This was better than we could have hoped, and again 'God is faithful', and so that very day we were able to leave her in their good care, knowing she would be well taken care of and provided for.

Sunday, meanwhile, we were on our way again, back to Kenya(although we did not leave until afternoon with one thing an another). All the Kenyans I was with wanted to stop in Uganda and do shopping before we left, apparently things are cheaper there. I was reminded of Canadians coming down to the States to shop... There are many differences perhaps with life here, but probably I am more struck how very in common so much of life is... The simple things, the funny things, the daily life things... I love just living in the shared humanity... imperfect, yet full of room for sharing together and grace...

We must have made quite a site in Uganda, all seventeen of us piling out of vehicles, and I am sure my whiteness did draw more attention to us than even our numbers. In some of our waiting in town, I had some pretty funny moments. In one, a boy stopped and seeing me(sitting in the car with the others waiting) asked for money or my watch. I said no, and seeing as he spoke good English asked if he was in school, and hearing that he was, told him to study hard so he could get a job and buy his own watch... Then, telling him to have a good Christmas, I hoped he would leave as I felt pretty awkward with all my Kenyan fellow travelers to have this boy staring at me. However, he kept staring, and after a while I decided I would have to do more to get rid of him. I asked if he thought I was an animal that he could just stare at me. To which he replied, yes. I said, no, I am a human being, go away... He went, but my fellow passengers found this hilarious, and I was happy enough to provide them with the entertainment.

Our trip home was quite an adventure too, through two major downpours and lightning storms. One could barely see, but our driver made a living through driving so kept on undeterred. Personally, I was praying we would not die a good part of the trip... Also, once it is dark, it is hard to see the speed bumps in the road, so we hit quite a few at full speed which always made for an unexpected start. On the way, we pass through Kisumu, and I got to see quite a bit of the town as we got lost looking for the major supermarket. It is on the shores of Lake Victoria, Africas largest fresh water lake, and I have been told, a source of the Nile. As one of my traveling companions told me, Kisumu is also the homeplace of my president. Obama's grandmother still lives there... We got back to Hope around 1am...

It truly was an amazing experience and Christmas. I feel so fortunate and blessed to have been a part of it. I may have felt out of place at times, and often did not understand the flood of Kiswahili that was spoken around me, but I felt a part of what was going on by the grace of my Hope family which has welcomed me from the beginning and continues to be patient with me. Now, once more, I am back at Hope, and I am looking forward to this last week of break before school resumes again.

Long and overdue, but this month has been busy...

So looking at my blog I realize it has been almost a month since I last wrote... which means I am left with a lot to write about and not knowing what all to include... so bear with me... First, a quick disclaimer, the large gap has mostly been due to a lack of internet, not blogging negligence; my internet went down and then I was travelling on vacation... so here goes...

School ended the last week of November, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the holidays, both here at Hope and the two weeks I had between a personal vacation with friends and the MCC East Africa retreat. Especially the first week of holidays here at Hope was fun. With no classes, there was a lot of opportunity to just be around with the kids, and I felt like I crossed over some line of belonging, if only in my own head. When they worked, I worked with them... and provided a certain amount of entertainment in doing so... When they watched tv, I watched tv... and it was good.

I was almost sorry to have to go when the time came for my vacation... Almost might be an overstretch. I was quite looking forward to my vacation to the Kenyan coast with some friends who work with MCC Uganda, including my SALT orientation roommate and a fellow Peace Studies friend from Whitworth. I did not mind that my ride out from Hope was two hours late though as it allowed me plenty of time to tell the kids goodbye, and more importantly, that I was coming back in two weeks. There is enough ambiguity in life here at Hope that I did not feel the need to add to it by mysteriously disappearing.

That was Friday, December 3, and I got to Nairobi before my friends, bought us bus tickets to Mombassa which was the first leg of our journey, and then met them when their bus arrived from Kampala. We stayed Friday night in Nairobi, and then Saturday spent the day in Nairobi, including getting lunch at a coffee shop where I suffered my first Kenyan misadventure(and hopefully last). The one moment I was not hyper vigilant about my purse, having put it between my feet instead of on my lap, it was stolen... live, learn, and life is too short for regrets... still, not the funnest incident as my purse had some money, my bank card, my camera and what I was most sad to lose, my journal I had started halfway through November... at least the likelihood of a pickpocket reading fifty pages of rather boring reflections and existential angst written in cursive is slim to none, but still... I rather enjoy reading those things and am sorry to have lost those weeks of my time here. Thankfully, I was able to cancel my bank card immediately, and sorted out how to still get money(thanks to one of my travelling companions and my dad...) and so the vacation was not thwarted. I personally decided I was not going to let it ruin my time... and it didn't... I have had my close calls back in the states even, so robbery is not just a Kenya or Nairobi thing, but wherever or whenever it happens, it is unfortunate.

And so Saturday night, we took our bus to Mombassa. Our tickets had been in my purse too, but the company we used had computer records of my buying the tickets, and our names, so we were able to retrieve them. Also, I was able to get my same cellphone number back as the phone company makes you register for SIM cards, so once I could prove my identity, they were willing to restore my number. I was overall very impressed by the infrastructure and service I met with after my misadventure, as well as the sympathy that I received whenever people learned what had happened.

So the downside to taking the overnight bus to Mombassa is you arrive in Mombassa at 5:30 in the morning... which is really early to be in a new place. Thankfully, we found a place to have breakfast(and even store our luggage) before exploring the old town and visiting a 14th century Portugese fort. Fort Jesus had been built by the Portugese, conquered by the Arabs and then taken over by the British. We had a great guide, and I enjoyed our tour. I had expected the fort to be very much like the castle forts I had visited in Ghana, and while serving some of the same purposes, there was a different feel. Old Town meanwhile was a great walk. The coast of Kenya has a very different feel than inland and a very different culture. It is predominantly Swahili(not to be completely confused with the language of Kiswahili, the Swahili are also one of the people groups in Kenya). The details are escaping me, but they are pretty heavily influenced by Arab culture as well as they were the main traders centuries ago. For instance, the next day we visited the Gedi ruins a few hours north up the coast which were the ruins of a deserted 13th century Swahili city. What is left of the city is beautiful and included artifacts from as far away as China. Little is known about it except that it appears to have been deserted, for whatever reason, voluntarily and not violently.

I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Mombassa even if it was short as we headed that afternoon north to Malindi(where the ruins were) and stayed at this very funky eco camp... It was lovely, a little random, but we were the only guests so very relaxing... Monday we went to the ruins... and Tuesday we headed to our main destination for the trip which was Lamu Archipeligo on the northern coast of Kenya. It is a Unesco Heritage site, and so a very well preserved Swahili town. Also, no cars are allowed on the islands so the primary means of transportation are donkeys and dhows, the local sailing boats.  On Lamu we rented this random house which was quite reasonable and again away from the major hub or tourists although Lamu is definitely a tourist destination. It was really very nice, included breakfast and house help who we rather enjoyed as individuals... I am sure they thought we were quite mad and I do not think we were there average guests passing through.

Some highlights from Lamu:
-how insanely beautiful the island was
-getting to explore the town which was old, with narrow streets, lots of donkeys and despite being a tourist destination is also very much a place where people live
-the fact that Lamu might be the one place in Kenya where it is safe to walk around after dark
- eating lots of good seafood, especially seafood curries and drinking lots of really good fresh juice
- going to the beach and getting to swim in the Indian Ocean which is warm
- renting a Dhow boat one day and sailing on the Indian Ocean and then going snorkeling over a coral reef(which is rather like being inside the aquarium at the zoo) and eating a delicious meal that was cooked on our boat... also, if you ever go snorkeling, remember to put sunscreen on the back of your legs or it hurts the sit down the next day...
- exploring all the little shops in town
- simply being on vacation with the good company of friends...

And so the days passed, bringing us to Sunday where we had decided to skip the sixteen or so hours on very bumpy and hot buses it had taken us to get to Lamu and fly back back to Nairobi for our retreat which started the next day. The retreat was lovely too, more good company and good food. All the MCC workers from Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Sudan were there, and it was cool to learn more about what MCC is doing in the region, and I still very much like their philosophy of partnership and how while certainly not perfect, how it works on the ground. One of my favorite things about the retreat was an outing one afternoon to Mt. Longonot in the Rift Valley. It is about a 45 minute hike up the mountain and then you can hike around the rim of a crater. It was pretty cool and had great views of the Rift Valley.

As this is much too long already(what happens when you try and cover a month in a blog...) I am going to try and wrap up. The retreat was good though, very refreshing and a good reminder of the greater community I am part of outside of Hope CC. Then Friday I was welcomed home here at Hope, and reminded of how blessed I am to be a part of this community here. I really am excited for the coming months, to see what they hold, and believe the relationships I have already begun are only going to get sweeter with time. And I promise to blog again before a month is up, and so to keep these shorter in the future.

And in light of the season, a very Happy Christmas! I would encourage everyone to truly have it be a season of giving, and to consider giving beyond yourself... to consider giving to your greater community and around the world... truly, from this side of the world, a little can truly go a long way, and programs like child sponsorship or providing a micro-finance enterpise through Heifer International or Kiva, really does make a difference... Give a gift that has the potential to change a life... 

Where has the time gone?

While some days have felt an eternity, overall, I am left wondering where has the time gone as the students took their final exams this past week. How have I already been here a term? I got to see the video of the 12 year celebration that we had one of the first weeks I was here, and it was so fun to watch the video because now I know the kids; their names, their personalities, who pals with who, and all that... When we had the celebration, I was still pretty lost. It really is beginning to feel like home here, if a very different feeling of home than I might have on the island, in Seattle, or Spokane... Home nonetheless though.

The exams went well, with the primary school finishing yesterday and the  secondary are writing their last exams as I type this. At least my fourth and sixth grade English students all passed. I still need to get a hold of the grade five scores. I monitored the fourth grade exams, and they are a fun class. There are two boys who kept trying, and succeeding, at making me laugh when we all were supposed to be quiet... While they were writing their kiswahili exam, I took it myself(the other teachers had told me I should) and I was happy to hear that I had 33/50 correct, or 66%, which is passing. Anything above 50% is passing...

The kids are pretty excited for the holidays, and I think they will be good. One lovely perk is that morning bell will be like the weekends which means more than an hour later each morning. As I only rolled out of bed when I heard the bell this morning which is still early for the secondary finishing, I am excited for this fact. Apparently all that happens, according to the kids, is kucheza(or to play...). They will of course have some chores too, but they were ready to play as everyone was out yesterday afternoon just having fun... I know the secondary will be happy to be finished today as well.

Personally, I won't be here for all the holidays. I have an MCC East Africa retreat in three weeks, and the week before am taking as one of my vacation weeks and going to the coast with some friends working in Uganda. I am looking forward to both my time here(although I am sure transitioning into the new schedule will take me a few days) and my time away.

Meanwhile, my biggest challenge will be fitting into the new schedule, but I am very good at just hanging out and watching kids play, which at least the younger grades appreciate. Also, the weather is finally consistently nicer. While I doubted it was possible, it does not rain every afternoon/ all afternoon anymore, and I have started having to apply sunscreen on a regular basis.

Finally, I love comments on my blogs and emails... just saying:)

A lovely weekend in Nairobi and then being sick...

So not this weekend that just finished but the one before I got to get away to Nairobi for a lovely weekend break...

But first the sick for any alarmists out there... While no fun, all I have is a cold, and this past Saturday I was able to get some antibiotics and cough medicine and am feeling much better. The medicine was all over the counter, and cost 750 shillings, which is a little less than 10 dollars. No big deal. For me, at least, I can part with ten dollars pretty easily, and I feel way better. I was thinking though, what about all the people who ten dollars would be a big deal to? I heard that the builders who come and work on the school make around three dollars a day, which goes farther here than back home perhaps, but still... And the antibiotic is to be taken twice daily after a meal. What about all the people who really only have one meal if that a day? While here at Hope, we are more fortunate than that, many people in the surrounding community are not. So as I take my nasty cough medicine, I can't help but feel very privileged and distressed for how something that should be so basic and simple, health, is neither basic or simple. There are so many disparities around the world, and what for me is no big deal and now I am feeling a lot better, for so many people would be prohibitively expensive... For many people, they wait until things get bad before they seek medical attention, here certainly but also this is true for the uninsured in the States, and so when they finally go in, it is a race against time for the doctors, especially places where the medical facility may be underequipped or understaffed... Some things to ponder the next time you go and get medicine for something as small as a cold... please do not take it for granted...

Nairobi, meanwhile, was lovely even if our time was short. The other volunteer and myself were very much excited to have a little break away, and I was able to restock up on reading material which adds greatly to my daily level of sanity. We got a mtatu from here to Naivasha, the nearest bigger town hub, and then from Naivasha to Nairobi arriving in a slightly drizzly Nairobi around 11. While I had been looking forward to a break from the rain, the overcast was better than the general Nairobi heat this time of year. Especially for our plans, which were pretty minimal but involved a lot of just walking around downtown for the sake of walking around. While I always roughly knew where I was, it was fun to wander and explore. Nairobi is a busy place even on a Saturday afternoon. For lunch we met up with my old Swahili teacher which was fun. We always laugh a lot when we are together. And for lunch, we had fries and milkshakes... being here is making me acquire a taste for junk food.

That afternoon Lynne wanted to do some souveneir shopping, and rather by chance we stumbled across Nairobi's City Market, which is one of the places where those are sold. It reminded me honestly very much of souveneir and craft markets I have visited in South Africa or Ghana. Many of the same things are sold, everyone claims to have made all their wares themselves which is not completely true, and it is all about haggling. Some people try and sweet talk you into their shops while others try the no hassle approach which is a little more enjoyable. Not that the haggling and sweet talking doesn't work either. I ended up buying a scarf from a woman partly because I liked the scarf and partly because I had enjoyed chatting with her. I also had a very funny exchange with one man. I was wearing my brown blazer and several of the vendors commented on it, one wanting to trade one of his wares for it, anther just telling me it looked 'very smart'. A third man, however, told me he liked it and that it looked like something Michelle would wear. 'Obama?' I asked. He agreed, to which I added, "if it looks like anything she might wear, I must look classy.' To which he replied, 'if you want to stay in Kenya, we could make another Obama...' To which I replied, "No thank you, but thank you...' It was quite funny... Another man asked if I lived in Kenya, to which I said yes, to which he said he had thought so, I looked like I did... I am not sure exactly what that means, but I took it as a compliment... At the very least, I don't look lost, and over the years I have learned my way around African market places...

Then, after picking up some bread, cheese, mangoes and an avacodo for our dinner, we headed to the Mennonite Guest House where I stayed when I first arrived and where we had booked rooms. First of all, after living mostly off some form of beans and maize for two months, we had an amazing picnic dinner! Also, at the guest house we ran into some of the other MCC workers, so it was fun to reconnect with them. They were in town because the Guest House has a hymn sing the first Sunday of every month that they make a point of attending, and which I attended the next morning as well as several of the other service workers who were around Nairobi... It was lovely to reconnect with all of them and to get to be part of that larger community. Between the social reconnecting with my teacher and the service workers, a good amount of exploring and getting lost, and restocking up on books, the weekend was exactly what I had needed.

Then, getting back before I was too sick was good too, and while only a cold, I spent most of last week sleeping. Fortunately for me, because the grade eights were taking the KCPE, their national examination to enter high school, the rest of the school was closed, so while I had a creaky door frog voice, I did not have to teach, or miss, any classes. Now, this week is going to be full of review with the primary exams starting on Thursday, or Friday or Monday... starting soon(and if I know the day before it comes I honestly will be pretty impressed...) I hope my students will do well in English, and in all their subjects... and now I ought to be writing lessons, not blog posts...

Telephones, rats, and other reflections on the week....

Greetings from Kenya,

This week has seemed to go by fast, but it has been good. A definite highlight would be after my slightly homesick blog post of last week discovering that Safaricom(my Kenya cell phone provider) had just lowered their rates for calls to the US to 3ksh a minute, and the exchange rate being something like $1 to 80ksh, that is a good deal. So I was able to call home and talk to my family for the first time since being in Kenya. It was pretty glorious... I had had my share of disappointments between realizing the computer I am borrowing would not let me download skype and that the phone card I was looking for was elusive... So yes, being able to talk to home makes one feel much closer, and so homesickness goodbye...

Another highlight of the week was less heartwarming, and has to do with rats. We, in our visitor quarters, had what one would call a rodent problem... They had been here for sometime, but there visits were becoming much more frequent... So we got the cook who is the nicest man to come and set a trap, and the other night we caught a rat(and here we had been thinking they were mice... ignorance was bliss). And it was a big, mean looking one... Like the rat villains in Disney cartoons... And by the next morning it was clear we had more than one rat, as its friends had come in the night to gnaw on it... THankfully, the cook was willing to take away the dead rat and reset the trap... Which sprung that evening, but did not catch anything although I might have at least got the rat some because this morning I go into the sitting room and there is this rat, just chilling on the floor, watching me. What do you do when there is a rat on the floor? Welll, normally probably it would run away, but if it didn't run away? Personally, as he had escaped our trap but we did not want him anymore, I decided the best course of action would be to pick up a table and throw it at the rat... Not perhaps as tidy as a rat trap, but it did the job, and I am hoping the cook will be able to come and take this carcass away too...

Another highlight is yet to come in that tomorrow I will really get to go to Nairobi, and then will come back the next day. In addition to restocking my book supply, I am looking forward to having a little freedom, connecting with a few friends, and being less conspicious(while I will still stand out as a white person, at least I will be the anonymous crazy mzungu, right?)It was a wrangle getting permission, but I think everyone is ok with the plan.

And on the news front, the eighth graders begin their national exams this coming Monday and for the four days they are sitting, we are not allowed to be in the proximity of the dining hall(and so will not have class as the school is adjacent). I will be curious to see how the week enfolds, and think it a little unfortunate as the rest of the students will be taking their exams the week after and probably could have used the prep time. And the holidays are fast approaching, and I will be curious to see how those enfold as well.

Otherwise, this week has been a good business as normal kind of week with classes and my continuing in a more regular schedule with the babies which has been good. It is the moments with the kids that remind me why I am here, and make me so thankful to be. Whether its playing basketball, which I am getting pretty good at, or having the kids sleep on me while we all wait for dinner, or any of so many little things, life here is rich and full and while I may not always be sure where exactly I belong in the mix of it all, that just keeps life interesting.

Anyways, love to everyone back home, and I still love getting emails(and always reply), so if you got this far...

Thoughts on homesickness and being, carrots, and other things

This week has followed the course of other weeks, had its share of moments to treasure, but also had its shares of ups and downs as I have had my moments of homesickness and wrestled with the idea of being. Here are some thoughts from the other day...

'Thankfully, homesickness passes, or in the children I remember why I am here. No, I am not necessary, but in this dance of life, I can take part in mutual blessing. There are and will be the moments of loneliness here, but also the reality of love in community. My job is to teach, but also to be present and be; to see in love, to acknowledge, to laugh, to smile, to affirm, to live... In this land without familiar seasons I know to mark the passing of time, life almost has a timeless quality, and yet in it, I am reminded that our life has seasons and I feel so blessed to be here at Hope for this season. Personally, I know it will be a season of rich growth, for in stepping outside all that is known, familiar and comfortable, I have whether I like it or not, given up en element of control... In a way, I have said, 'God, here I am, do what you will, and help me, by your grace, because I don't know if I can do this on my own...'. Stepping out in faith, it is an opportunity for growth in faith, and that is a terrifying, and exciting reality. It is certainly a level of vulnerability I am not entirely comfortable with, and yet, this I do know, it is good...'

That said, learning to be is not very easy. I am good at busyness, not always presence, but I am learning and know it is a lesson I need to learn.

On a less serious note, one highlight of my week has been this morning as the high schoolers have been digging under and harvesting the carrots. Or, perhaps, the younger children have been harvesting and devouring the carrots, each with their pile, delighted to be able to eat the bounty of the earth. To dig under, they use hoes swung high above their heads. I half offered to help, but the girl I asked turned me down and I didn't try asking another. Part of me wants to try and help(I am after all a farmer at heart) but the other part of me is a little nervous about looking weak as I know these kids are way stronger than me... I will try and help another day, perhaps when all of Hope has not turned out to watch and share in the bounty. Truly, I have never seen so many carrots before in my life!

And finally, it looks like I may have negotiated and compromised my way into getting permission to leave for a weekend, so hopefully next week I will get to go to Nairobi for a little break and to run some errands. I say hopefully, because in reality I have learned to never believe anything here until it actually happens. To embrace this element of a complete lack of control, or ever knowing exactly what is happening, is much wiser than to fight it, and by embracing it you are left laughing instead of frustrated.

Celebrations and a brief excursion

This week has been rather full of celebrations, and I even managed to make a brief three hour excursion off the compound.

The celebrations were mostly Wednesday, which was Mashujaa, or Heroes, Day, formerly called Kenyatta Day. Jomo Kenyatta was Kenya's first president and a major leader during the fight for independence from British colonial control. However, as part of the new constitution passed this past August, the name was changed to include other independence and contemporary heroes.

For us here at Hope, the day meant no school, watching the national celebrations on TV, and feasting on one of our pigs. The national celebrations reminded me a little of watching the constitution promulgation on TV back in Nairobi, although with less speeches. Rather, it had a big military parade, and then different musical song and dance acts to follow(which was what reminded me of constitution day). It was fun although a little long. Meanwhile, while watching the celebrations, I kept half an eye on the last minutes of our supper as they were butchering the pig out the dining hall window. Honestly, it is nice to eat the meat of an animal that you know had a good life, and even one where you saw it alive(and being butchered) that very same day. And one that is so very appreciated as we do not have a lot of meat in our diet.

Then, on Thursday we had a going away celebration for one of the young men who finished form four last November and will be joining the Kenya army on Monday. Unlike back home, where with our military habits we always seem to need more soldiers, it is quite an honor to be accepted to the military here as well as being a very good job. In our district, 1000 youth applied, and only three were admitted. They accept people based off of a combination of their academic performance as well as their physical performance. He is quite excited, and I hope it is all he hopes and more. The Mennonite side of me made a face the first time I heard, being on the pacifist end of things, but like I said, he is excited and I am sure will do well for himself. For the celebratory meal, we had one of our sheep. All in all, it was a good week for eating.

Then, as for the brief excursion off compound, it really was brief and a whirlwind from beginning to end. Around quarter to nine this morning, the other volunteer and myself were told to be ready by 9, we were going to Naivasha, the nearest bigger town. We were ready by nine, probably actually left by 9:30, and took the very bumpy road there. We were asked what errands we needed to run(aka told we could go to the supermarket) and were given at tops thirty minutes. Thankfully, I finished my shopping quickly, because within fifteen minutes, we were being urged back to the van. Madam had an errand to run, but also needed to be back here at Hope as there were visitors coming from Nairobi. However, we were a little delayed on our way back to Hope as on the very bumpy road one of our tires went flat. Thankfully, we had a spare, and the driver and the young man joining the army were able to change the tire very quickly.

Then, back to Hope where we met the visitors, who were an MCC service worker, one of the country reps, and some MCC partners who run schools in Nairobi slums. They had heard good reports about Hope, and wanted to meet with the teachers and Lucy to hear how she kept up morale and made things work. I was allowed to join them for their Q&A and lunch, which was pretty interesting, and reminded me again really how amazing Lucy is. She is driven by a vision and a passion, and nothing is really allowed to get in the way, which can be intimidating at times, but also really is probably the only way she is able to do all that she does. It was a good reminder to remember the bigger picture outside of myself; the bigger picture here at Hope, with all of MCC Kenya's partners, and of people doing this week all around the world. It made me excited for all the opportunities in the week ahead.

Some thoughts on school...

So my commitment to blogging once a weekend will probably get dull at some point, as life here is very routine... However, I suppose, even as it becomes routine and normal for me, I will be able to continue to find things to muse about which are less familiar back home...

This week however was pretty eventful in that we had midterms. For the secondary students, Tuesday through Friday, and for the primary students, Wednesday through Friday. For me, I monitored the fourth grade exams, which meant I spent a lot of hours watching the fourteen fourth graders and had lots of time to think of all things present, past, future and hypothetical... From my marking, most of the students passed(which is 50%) or above... Some who were really struggling in most subjects did very well on their kiswahili exam which mostly means that a lot of learning is lost to language as the classes are taught mostly in English and the exam questions were written in English(except for Kiswahili).  Now we have five weeks or so until the final exams where the hope is that all students will pass.

I enjoyed monitoring midterms and had more opportunities for interacting with the rest of the teachers than I have had these past five weeks... and I think earned their respect by my diligence to the task, or at least I tried to. There are eight teachers for primary(and I do not know the secondary ones) and they are very committed to their job and to the students. The class sizes vary. For example, there are fourteen fourth graders, more fifth graders and third graders, but less second and first. None of the classes are too big by anyone's standards which must make learning easier. The students vary in ages depending on when they came to Hope, and ability and commitment to education of course.The school itself is made out of tin, and so when it rains, which it does daily, teaching must be very hard. I asked one of the teachers, and she said that when it rains, the students do homework, the teachers can't teach over the racket. It made me appreciate my far removed little classroom where the rain is not so noticeable in the downstairs of the boys dorm(there were no spare rooms in the tin school house so we made do...).

Meanwhile, our new secondary school building(which will be beautiful and made of stones) remains pretty much the same as when I arrived(lacking a roof, that is), waiting on funds I believe. Hopefully, it will be able to be completed by the beginning of the new school year in January, or many of the form two students(who provide a lot of student leadership) will have to go away to boarding school because the upstairs classrooms of the dining hall lack proper science labs.

That really was the majority of this weeks focus, and today being Saturday was laundry day(for me, that is, as the kids do their laundry everyday). And basketball in the morning after laundry before the rain. Persistent rain, for which I think the kids are very thankful for their new gumboots, and I, meanwhile, continue to wear sandals and be muddy by preference. My preference being for sandals over gumboots, not muddiness over cleanness. From the sound of balls hitting the backboard, perhaps the afternoon rain has let up already and it is time for to go explore and see what is going on.

and it feels once again that things are starting to settle

So my achievement of this weekend was posting pictures on facebook... I tried to post them on here, but it was taking too long, so if you want to see pictures of my life here, and you have a facebook account, check them out...

That said, life here is a combination of so full and so ordinary, that I hardly know what to write. With school, I settled into my new timetable and am learning how to handle having some free time. It probably isn't even very much free time in the day when I do not have classes and may or may not have grading to do, but when given the choice, I do not do free time, for better or worse, so it is a new concept to me. Left to schedule my own life, I would try and be going from morning devotions at 6:30 until after dinner at 8:30. As the other volunteer wisely pointed out after only a few weeks of living with me, learning how to live with free time might be good for me. And free time here is slower, more reflective and cannot be filled with the constant distractions of back home. For example, when I had free time last year and did not know what to do, I could fill it with going and doing something. Here I have to be more creative... It will be a good challenge for me though.

Meanwhile, I love my new classes if only because I know that the kids can for the most part understand me. It is slightly challenging coming in mid-term and trying to figure out what the kids know and need to work on and even what they should have been taught this year. Also, managing time in a 35 minute class can be hard, and if I make it where the kids do not have time to finish an assignment, they are obviously upset with me. Thankfully, for all the subjects, we have Kenya issued curriculum which is not bad at all. I am skeptical of some of the subtle social messages I see in the texts, but other messages like an awareness of AIDS, environmental concerns and other social issues is good. The English chapters break down into a reading passage with reading questions for comprehension, a vocabulary exercise, and then some grammar points and a prompt for writing. I do not always use the prompts, but have had all of my classes write me compositions which are fun to read. One today was simply amazing with the poetic metaphors and descriptions, even if they were written to such an abundance that he forgot to include a subject or verb in his sentence...

And I like my schedule also because it means when the kids get done with class, I have energy to engage them. When I was teaching standard one, as often as not I would be exhausted and hide away. Last week however I was intentional about once I saw the kids out playing, to go join them. I have even taken up basketball, the choice activity here, and if one knows of my little league days and how completely hopeless I was, that is my labor of love. I have played hours and hours in this past week, and am still pretty terrible, but for me, it is about the relationships formed, and that has been invaluable.

Otherwise, last week was marked by the visit of Madam's Canadian partner, which was mostly good in that it helped finish our chicken house and included ice cream and gumboots and lots of love and messages of grace for all the children. However, it also included the drama surrounding the misplacing of some rather important papers which never turned up although everything was pretty much gone through and consequences were threatened if they should be found in anybody's possession. So yeah, that was no fun...

Otherwise, I have begun again to try and learn the rest of the kids names. I still need to get my sewing/mending project started, but have been waiting for things to slow down a bit on the visitor end. That will be today as Friday people left, and today the basketball grandfather leaves, which will leave me and Lynne, the other longer term, young volunteer. We also have in our visitors quarters as of last night, Madam's sister, her husband and their baby who are here because they think(we all think) Madam needs to take a break.  However, they are a different sort of neighbor that other North Americans.

And this week has started out well, with all my classes showing up today... And I realized today that it was exactly two months ago today that I left Seattle... I have been here at Hope for five weeks, here in Kenya for seven... and it feels once again, that things are starting to settle...

Things begin to settle and then turn upside down...

So while last weekend I could honestly claim things were beginning to settle here, this last week has succesfully turned things upside down. Not in a bad way even, but it is back to the feeling of what exactly am I doing...

To move away from being melodramatic, the only thing that really changed was my classes. The teachers, headmaster, Madam, and I had a meeting and agreed that probably too much was getting lost in translation with my first grade class. As I was never sure how much if any of what I said they were able to follow... having the classes change seemed the best decision for everyone, especially as it came from the teachers here and they take their responsibility for the school seriously(and have to answer for it if any of the students lag behind). So now, as of today, I am teaching fourth, fifth and sixth grade English to part of each of those classes. For whatever reason, they only are giving me part of the students, but I will take what I can get... The ones they do not give me are the ones who need special attention, and with most of the students with me, they can give more individualized attention to those who need it.

The class change decision happened Wednesday evening, and then Thursday morning spur of the moment I ended up going to Nairobi to finish my work permit and alien registration at immigration. It was honestly a blessing to get away while they figured out the details of my switch of roles. And Nairobi was pretty relaxed as I did not end up going to immigration until Friday morning. Lucy the Madam is adament against me riding mtatus here in Kinangop, so my going Thursday last minute was mostly to coincide with catching a ride with her. I needed to go to immigration with MCC though, so Thursday I just hung around the MCC office, read, rested, went for a walk in Nairobi, met up with my swahili teacher for a soda, and then stayed the night with the country reps so I could get up early and go to immigration. It was probably the first time I had sat without feeling like I should probably be somewhere or doing somethings(or without being tired after a full day) since I came to Hope... It was also my first time to be away from Hope since coming. I thoroughly enjoyed it although I was also glad to come back Friday afternoon.

The drive from here to Nairobi is so beautiful. Perhaps the most striking moment is when the road goes along a bluff overlooking the Great Rift Valley! You can see the countryside stretching away from you for as far as the eye can see, although it is slightly hazy, and Mt. Longonot sticking up rather randomly in the middle. The rest of the drive is beautiful as well as Kenya truly is such a beautiful country. Leaving Hope through Kinangop, it is rural farmland framed by the Aberdares, which despite living in the shadow of, I have yet to grow tired of. You pass a fair share of donkey carts along the way, and bicyclists, and other vans and cars, but the donkeys are my favorite. If your cart has two donkeys, it is pretty slow, but if it has three, it can keep a pretty good pace.

Then just being back in a city is always fun. The allusion of anonymity. I say allusion because while walking around, I ran into this nice Kenyan couple I had met while staying at the Mennonite Guest House. We were both just in town for the day, but yeah, the world is always smaller than we think it is. And it was great to have a chance to catch up with my swahili teacher, and to here a little more about Inspiration Centre that we had visited together in the Mathare slums as she has been going to volunteer. We talked about the advantages and differences to serving in ones own community or in a cross-cultural exchange way such as SALT or IVEP. I think at home in some ways we are often more effective and necessary although that depends on how much you are part of a community or are willing to work to be part of a community. Cross-culturally there is definitely room for mutual blessing, but I am not as sure about how necessary it is, or how necessary I feel here. I am reading a book about a doctor who has worked around the world, both in the states and here in Africa, doing what he calls 'poverty medicine', and after years of service, he captures his undertanding in the title of his book... 'The Wedding Goes on Without Us'. I like that, and know it is a healthy place to start when doing any type of service at home or cross-culturally. It is not that what one does is not in some ways necessary, especially for this doctor as he has the ability to save lives, but rather the importance of realizing the blessedness, the richness, that exists completely apart from you, and which being part of is a  blessing we can receive.

Anyways, moving on from random ramblings as I do have class in half an hour, Friday afternoon it was lovely to come back, and as part of Madam's trip to Nairobi, we brought another visitor. Making our number 4. The basketball girl left last Monday, and her father came last Tuesday and has been the resident grandfather to all the children. He was the one who dreamed up the basketball court here and made it happen, and he continues to dream of sharing his passion for sports with Hope CC here. The kids love him. The fourth visitor meanwhile is Madam's Canadian partner, Mama Irene. She first came here to Hope in 2007, and was the one to introduce the basketball people, and the volunteer who has been here, to Hope. She also has been able to contribute tremendous support to the growth of Hope through financial partnerships and organizing back in Canada. It has been fun hearing from her and Lucy in their conversations how much of what I take for granted here(our beautiful dorms, the new kitchen, the soon to be restarted chicken project) are all really very new. It is fun to hear more of the journey of faith that takes place here every day, and how many people and partners Lucy has invited along in the journey.

That said, the weekend passed nicely if wetly... The rains persist, and I persist in wearing sandals and having muddy feet...

This week holds new classes, a new schedule, and learning how to use the time given me as I will be teaching less. I hope to spend more time with the babies, and to be excited and ready to play when the kids do get out of class. With my old schedule, class ended and I retreated, exhausted to revamp before coming back outside to play. Also, there is talk of setting up a space and time where the kids can do sewing(mending to start with, and then growth is possible), and I am the nominated head of that. I am a little nervous because while I do know how to sew some, it has been awhile since I did any sewing, unless you count hemming pants crookedly... Still, as I like to say, I am not a visionary, but if you give me your vision, I am the one who will be here the longest, and so have the staying power and can do the work on the day to day to keep things going.

Now, to get ready for class, but before this week became to fully launched, I wanted to do a brief(or not so brief) update of life here and my upside down schedule...

Three weeks here and life begins to settle...

My title says it all, three weeks here and life begins to settle... which is far from saying that life is ordinary or dull. Rather, I am beginning to settle in and feel quite at home. I am no longer the guest, names are getting easier, I am understanding the routine, and each day I am getting to know the kids better. And despite the fact that I have not left the compound for three weeks tomorrow, I have only brief moments of restlessness that quickly pass. Life here is its own community, and never dull, and there is always something I can do if I feel restless. Or if I feel tired, I can always hide and make myself a cup of tea before reentering the community. Tea is my after class routine along with reading the news headlines from around the world... While life here is completely self-contained, I would feel so lost if I did not know what was happening around the world.

Probably the highlight of this past week was Sunday when we had the 12th year celebration of Hope Community Center. It was something like a birthday party for everyone and also a celebration of our Madam. Some of the children performed songs and poems, the dining hall was decorated with balloons, and we all had cake and pig with our beans and maize(the same pig we saw take its last walk before church that morning). A local official attended, and the occasion was videotaped by a friend of Madams, and I personally hope to get a copy of the finished product. I have personally taken no pictures yet(except for one beautiful sunrise here) although I am sure I will. The event started on African time, which means hours after I had heard it would start, but we all just hungout and watched tv in the dining hall; or perhaps the preparations began when I was told, and so the event did happen on time... who knows, that was one cultural difference that you always here about. Life here is neither ruled by the clock nor the calender.

The other big happening of the week was some shifts in my class. While the three 3-year olds in my class are great, precocious children, the dynamic of having them with students who were realistically doing standard one level work, was unmanageable. Had I been given them and some of the older two year olds, it would have been a better fit. However, I am ok with not having that particular combination because while I loved teaching preschool last year, it is not something I think I could sustain for more than a couple hours a day. Still, I decided to ask that they be removed(mostly because while pretty well behaved one on one, they fight like siblings all the time when together and would cry when things were not to their fancy). Mostly, I did not know what to do with them, and so realized that their being in my class was not really good for anyone. On the same day I came to that realization, another standard one was shifted into my class, brining my grand total of students up to eight. I am enjoying teaching, but I think eight students is about how many I would ever care to have. I have heard most classrooms here in Kenya range from 50-100 students, so I am counting my blessings. Still, all the classes here are small because we have all of 200 children ranging over all the grades and including those still in the nursery. Perhaps more would be more manageable if every lesson was not happening including a language barrier. My English/swahili blend is functional, but barely fluent.

Life here goes well beyond the classroom though, for after class their are children to hangout with, babies to play with, and life to be lived together with the children in community. From daily devotions to meals, my task is to be present and engaged, and it is a happy task indeed. Speaking of meals, I have also after the first two weeks of struggling to finish any of the food given me, have not had the least trouble finishing any of my meals this week. Perhaps the key is to not eat between meals, and to know how long until the next meal is to spur on your appetite... whatever it is, on the food front, I am going to be ok.

Otherwise, this week has been good for the North American volunteer numbers have increased to three, including for the week a young woman from Canada who has been here several times before and coaches the kids in basketball. That said, this week has included lots of basketball. She has made two teams(based on age) and is working on a plan to bring them to Canada to play basketball sometime this next year. I hope everything works out and they all are able to go, for what a great opportunity. Seeing her coaching them, I now better understand the enthusiasm the children have for basketball, a sport I would not especially associate with Kenya. She will leave this Monday, but then her father is coming for a week or two to do more sports with the kids, and this coming Friday, another woman who helps run Hope from Canada will be coming, and so this week will be busy too!

Today was Saturday which is always a great relaxed day. I played with the babies outside for a couple hours this morning, caught up on emails, read my book, helped Madam organize some of her extra supplies, got to know one of the highschool girls better over lunch, watched basketball... and updated my blog! That said, I should now wrap this up because I have been asked to give the message at church tomorrow and need to prepare. I am not sure what passage I will use, but am sure it will include something about love, grace, peace or justice... meaning, I have a lot of solid passages to chose from as that is the heart of the Bible and its message. Hopefully the rain which has held off these last three days will continue to hold off and we can all go watch basketball after church again as that is my favorite Sunday afternoon routine.

Another week... exciting title I know...

The end of week two at Hope Community Center finds me amidst the most torrential thunderstorm, downpour I have ever seen. Thankfully it began during lunch, so everyone was in the dining hall, and all the smart people are still there watching TV. I had plans to lesson plan and blog this afternoon, so I ran back to my room getting thoroughly soaked, and in honesty it is good I did because my room is flooding and I was able to get everything perishable off the floor before it got wet.

Now, so long as the power doesn't go, I am going to try my hand at blogging. This past week has been as busy as the first, although I am beginning to get the hang of things here, or as best one can. I have accepted that I will probably always be a little unsure of what is going on, but I am completely confident that there will always be somebody to tell me where to go, what to do, etc... Even if they are only seven. And that is the beautiful thing about being here, getting to know the children and begin to form relationships with them. I love when I finally master somebody's name and quite mixing it up with somebody elses, and they love it too along with my horrible attempts at swahili which everyone, including me, finds amusing...

Last Sunday was very enjoyable, and I know that I will continue to look forward to weekends here. We had church in the morning , which like devotions is very community with everyone participating. In truth, except for the babies, everyone did participate, and even the babies attended. After breakfast everyone broke into Sunday school classes led by the older children and prepared either a song, dance, verse or something. One of the older girls who I have gotten to know had me come with her class and sing and dance along with them at their turn to present. They also had me give the message, which considering I was informed I was doing at breakfast, I feel I did pretty well with although it could have been better. Then, after church, everyone, including the babies again, went out to the basketball court and watched some of the boys play and really just hangout without chores or studies.

Sadly, for me Sunday ended on a less positive note of my first food poisoning, which left me out of commission on Monday too. My teaching assistant took the class, but I was sorry to not be there. The first few weeks are some of the most important for setting boundaries and expectations. Thankfully though I was back up to speed by Tuesday and got some solid days of teaching in.

My class is great, I like all the kids, but also quite challenging. With the range of age and ability being several years, it is a constant juggling act between keeping the little ones in line when they can be quite naughty, from slipping out of their seats and singing under the table to fighting with each other in the most sibling of manners, to keeping the older most able who are quite good at sums and are beginning to read engaged. I want to be fair to everyone in the class, and this week there were some trying days where I was quite short with my students. It didn't help that I pulled my back two days straight picking up one of the little ones when he was throwing a tantrum.

One thing which continues to amaze me is the commitment the kids have to their education. They take it very seriously, and realize that it can provide such opportunity. Still, there are definite challenges like having to share all the curriculum which means a lot of me writing the book on the board so everyone can see.  And if you get caught chewing on your eraser, you are in trouble, because supplies are short too. At the same time, none of the classes at the school here are too big, and the teacher to student ration must be better than so many of the schools in the area. At least the public schools will have up to 100 students(private ones are smaller, but cost), and here I don't think any class is bigger than 30.

Thinking of supplies, let us skip ahead to yesterday, Friday, when  my MCC country reps came to visit with the heads of MCC's Global Family Education Fund(the part of MCC that Hope receives support under). The heads had been leading some trainings at another MCC partner in Western Kenya, but wanted to see Hope while they were here. It was nice to see my reps again, if only briefly as I was in class most of the time.

However, the most exciting part of their visit was that they had been waiting on a shipment of computers from Canada that had been filled in with school kits, and it had finally arrived, so each child at Hope was able to receive their very own school bag with four notebooks, four pencils, an eraser, a ruler and twelve colored pencils. I know these details because when I was at my MCC orientation they had us volunteer at MCC's Material Resource Center and I was checking school kits, so fast forward a month and I get to see these kits lovingly prepared by Mennonites across America and Canada being received by students who need them and will use them well. My students were so proud when they showed me in class that afternoon, and many of the kids continue to wear their bags proudly(and perhaps so that nothing will go missing although I hope they are above taking from each other).

Today a volunteer is arriving who will be here two weeks and teach the kids basketball. She will be a great hit as they love their basketball court and I believe it was her father who had it built. I was talking with the Madam, and it sounds like there are going to be a fair few visitors passing through during my year here. I have really enjoyed the other volunteer here as she has been great at teaching me the ropes and giving me an in with some of the kids. She is also great for commiserating with over the terribly big food portions served at meals although finally today I got up the nerve to beg the cook for less and was able to finish my food and not feel ghastly full.  There is hope for the future yet! If I can make that a regular happening, my biggest struggle here shall be removed.

Anyways, the downpour is over now, my room only slightly flooded, and if I am going to be a good teacher this week, I should look at doing some lesson planning. Tomorrow is the annual celebration, and should be a lot of fun. I look forward to it, and have been told by my friends, that I should rightly so. That will be included in next weeks blog, so stay posted...

p.s. funny story, one of my three year old students definitely peed on me yesterday... I'd picked him up to hold in my lap so he wouldn't disrupt the class, and then pee! I was not a happy camper...

p.p.s. also, this morning, some of my third and fourth grade friends decided I had dirty ears and proceeded to clean them with twigs... you would think personal hygiene could slide with bucket showers and all, but they don't let anything get by... at the same time, they write me really sweet notes about how happy they are that I am here

p.p.p.s I might get the chance to go to a grocery store sometime this week which is very exciting as it would mean supplementing my diet of beans and maize and beans and rice and beans and ugali(maize stiff porridge)... especially since the supplement here of eggs is what I got food poisoning off of and so I have no intention of eating again...

p.p.p.p.s I like emails, so if you made it to this many p's...

Greetings from Hope CC

So I have been here at Hope a week tomorrow, and this week has been so full and good. It is Saturday now, so I am taking advantage of the afternoon downpour to update my blog. Thanks to my MCC country reps, I have the loan of a computer for the year along with an internet connection, so I am not nearly so cut off as I anticipated. I am enjoying being able to keep up to date on world news as well as staying in touch with people back home. If you email me, I will reply timely:)

First of all, coming here last Sunday, Kenya is a beautiful country! And Hope is in a very beautiful part of this beautiful country, in the Aberdare foothills. From my window in the morning I can see the sun rise, and yes, I am up before the sun rise as the day starts here at 6:30... The mornings are brilliantly sunny, and brilliantly cold, and then by around 1 heavy clouds have rolled in and the heavens let loose. The other day the tap was down, and I was able to collect two whole buckets of water simply from the roof runoff! It was exciting because I was able to take my bucket bath that night. The water works most of the time, but it is definitely hit and miss. By nightime it is clear again, and far from the city, the stars are incredible.

Hope is near the not so bustling metropolis of North Kinangop, although I am not sure if we even drove through it on our way here. Us, as in the MCC country reps and myself, as they brought me here. When I need to get back to Nairobi for any reason(such as my work permit and alien card within the next few weeks), the mtatus do run fairly regularly and the trip should be around three hours. In the meantime, I doubt I will have much need to go to Kinangop, and so my life is confined like that of the children to within the walls of the Center.

Life within the walls is anything but dull though, and I got here right before the term started. I arrived Sunday, was given ten students Monday to make a hybrid standard one/nursery school class(ages ranging from 3-6, and yes, that can be a challenge), and Tuesday morning realized I was supposed to start class that day instead of the next five minutes before classes started. I like to think I am pretty good at winging it, and I think my students still like me, so I must have done a good job. With such young ages, in addition to the challenge of age range, there is a language barrier. I have definitely had to use my broken swahili suplemented by a lot of English since getting here. The Swahili helps a ton, because at least people can see I really am trying. Thankfully, I also have a teaching assistant, mostly to help with my three unruly musketeers(the 3 year olds) who have the run of the Center and are a handful if so very cute!

In all, there are almost two hundred children here ranging from the 20 or so infants up through form two in secondary school. Forms three and form go away to boarding school because Hope doesn't have the facilities yet and there is even one young man who will be starting college next week. There is a new school being built so secondary can be extended here through form three and four which will hopefully be finished by the start of the new school year in January although that partly depends on funds... Hope is very donor driven, which is a blessing but can also be dangerous when the economy drags back home... Instead of one long break like back home, schools here get August, December and April off, which I think really makes almost more sense. The children love to go and play on the building in progress and make me come, and it makes me so nervous because they are playing so near the edge on the second or third story, and while the building is definitely stable, the scaffolding looks very precarious and there are no sorts of guard rails!

The workers here range from teachers, to nursery workers, to cooks and shepherds. There is a big garden with peas, tomatoes, maize, potatoes, cabbage, spinach and carrots that the children are mostly in charge of. Livestock like cows, sheep, pigs and goats that again the children help with. Also, there is a new chicken house which once the chickens come, the children will continue to be in charge of. They do their own laundry, help out with all the chores, truly look after each other, and function very much as family to each other. They also lead the daily devotions before each meal, and truly have ownership of their lives, and in school, such a desire to learn. One challenge to teaching is how limited resources are. You learn to make do, but I definitely do a pencil and crayon check each day to make sure none have walked away by intention or accident.

I have done pretty well to get a start on learning names and making friends, mostly with the younger children because they just love having you around. The girls all play this rock games where you throw one rock in the air and while it is in the air you have to move a pile of twelve in and out of a whole by different numbers(starting with one at a time, two at a time, etc...) It is harder than it looks I found out when I tried. The boys and some of the girls prefer to play basketball and they say they like football(soccer), but I have yet to see one... In addition to the younger children, I have gotten to know a few of the older girls who look out for me and are very helpful for all the times I don't know what is going on, which is fairly often although I am definitely beginning to get the hang of the schedule.

I think the rain may be letting up, and if they are not napping, I have plans to go and visit the nursery, but I just wanted to write a quick and not so brief update of life here. Also, one other perk which I did not expect is that at least through October I am not the only volunteer here. There is a girl from Canada who has been here for four months, which gives me company in the evening in the visitor section and has also been very helpful in getting the hang of life(laundry and bathing techniques, for examples) and getting an in with some of the kids. After October, I may be the only one, but by then I plan to be fully integrated into life here, and especially during the weeks, the days are full.

Anyways, that is the news from Kenya, and I will try and maybe even take some pictures and upload them someday, or at the very least update my blog again sometime in the not too distant future. Blessings to everyone back home!

A reflection on Nairobi as I prepare to head north

I will have been here in Kenya two weeks tomorrow! The time has gone by fast, and at the same time it feels like I have been here much longer. I have seen a lot, and yet very little, and what I have seen can be summed up as a sampling of Nairobi. Nairobi, capital of Kenya, is home to some 3 million people. Kenya's census just was issued, and Kenya is home to 38 million people or so. This is a pretty sharp population increase, and will definitely continue to put pressure on the social sector. Sorry, I will try and not go too sociological on you... but censuses remind me of being in school and taking classes like Cities and Urban Life where census numbers were an active part of our homework.

Nairobi is definitely urban. The city center is so busy, especially if you are down there when people are getting out of work. Today I was meeting somebody and spent at least twenty minutes just watching people pass by in their fancy suits, often uncomfortable looking shoes, to brave the traffic jams and public transit back home. Traffic is ridiculous, a take what you can get kind of affair! I can't help but think if they took some kind of turns, everyone might get where they were going faster, but whether or not this is true, the drivers prefer there creative driving; going over sidewalks, going the wrong way to get ahead, nosing in front of another driver and always being within inches(and I mean inches) of the next car. Still, I have learned my way around the mtatu world, and even know that is better to look for one where the windows actually open(in case it is hot) and one where the music isn't too loud( and if you aren't in a rush you can chose between different genres). Yesterday on a mtatu I  was able to refresh myself on all of the summer pop and rap hits(Eminem and Rihanna, the song 'I want to be a billionaire' and 'Airplanes') For those of you fortunate enough to have heard these hits, America at its best. I confess, I actually enjoy the music, but it is a guilty pleasure made guiltier by the fact this is what we most notably explort...

Still, people move to Nairobi despite the traffic for the job and economic prospects it affords, and for many a comfortable middle class life can be achieved. There are thriving shopping districts, multiplie shopping malls, an active nightlife, multiplie universities... all the things one would think to find in a city back home. Thinking of the danger of a single story, I would urge people in their thoughts of Africa and Kenya to include the major cities of Africa, as hubs of industry and development.

For others, and this is the majority, life is lived in Nairobi's rather notorious slums. This is also part of Kenya, and at times a mere road can seperate the sprawling slums from the sprawling lawns of ministerial estates. Corruption is alive and well. The disconnect of the rich from the poor as well, but that is hardly unique to Kenya or Africa. It can be all too true at home as well, with neighborhoods seperated by physical or mental barriers. Where people struggle, where schools are lacking, where all is not just or as it should be. I had the opportunity to visit a ministry in Mtharare(a slum that is home to half a million people), and what most struck me from talking with the man was the similarities to how things fall around the world. The injustice may be more visible in the depths of poverty, but that does not make other injustices less unjust... So yeah, please do examine our own hearts, and homes, and see what we might be able to do, for the world, and for those in our own communities as well.

The ministry itself was amazing to visit, and to see the vision at work, the kingdom of God at work, as they lived out Christ's church in the slums. With half a million living in Mtharare alone, it only began to scratch the surface, but there are no save all solutions for the world; rather it really falls to a great many people doing waht they can, and that will make change. As far as the ministry, Inspiration Center, was concerned, they focused on what they could do, and especially focused on education. There are three primary schools within the area of Mtharare, and these offer a less than adequate education. For those who might make it into secondary school, the fees can be prohibitively espensive. That is one are where the Center tried and help, sponsoring a good handful of students at boarding schools around the country. We met one of these students who was on holiday, and he said that for himself, and for the others, when they finished they wanted to come back and work for the Center and their community because of the impact it had had on their lives. This was such an encouraging model of youth empowerment and ownership. I truly was very encouraged by Inspiration Center, and apparently they have a blog, if you want to check out the link.... http://inspirationcentermathare.wordpress.com/...

It is hard to see people living in such conditions, for in reality it would be a hard hard place to live and grow up, and without education there are so few options... And in reality, I am sure this will be the backdrop to some of my students previous lives before they came to Hope as many of them were street oprhans...

Speaking of Hope, I am so excited to be heading there in two days! This time Saturday will see me at my new home, woefully not fluent in Swahili although I have learned a lot, and so happy to be there! I will miss the big city with all its bustle and excitement, but North Kinangop wherever you are, here I come!

The next time I post, I am sure I will be at Hope, and now I need to quit monoplizing the guest house computer! good buy, and like always, if you read this much, you really should send me an email:)

Constitution Day

Today is a big day in Kenya, for it is the day that the new constitution has been signed into law. The papers claimed it was an event to rival the independence ceremony of 1963, and while I do not know what those celebrations looked like, from watching the celebrations today on the Kenya news channel, I can imagine. Today was being herladed as the dawn of a new Kenya, a time of unity, and this constitution was some 20 years in waiting from when they first pledged to make a new one and today.

Perhaps some people will have seen headlines over the last few months about the constitution. It was voted on on August 4, and the people voted around 60%(I believe) for it to pass. Sadly, what sells back home is controversy, and while there was some controversy during the constituional campaign, the actual election was completely without incident. There was peace where during the presidential elections of 2007 there had been unrest, and especially in those communities, it seemed experience had committed them to never again. From what I can see and understand, the constitution will be good for Kenya. It offers an extended bill of rights, and from what they said to day, includes a pledge to take on corruption and negative tribalism.

In itself, it is a document, and a long awaited and much needed one. What remains to be seen is what the people who are sworn to uphold the document will make of it. Will it help address those things which seek to bind Kenya, or will it remain an empty promise. Hopefully the former, but every good and hopeful document needs committed people behind it. Still, a great day for Kenya.

The ceremony itself was held in the Central Park in downtown Nairobi, and getting around the city is not really possible, so our swahili lesson was canceled. Honestly, I did not mind because it allowed me to watch most of todays proceedings. There was incredible support from around the region. In attendance were such dignataries as the Ugandan president, the Rwandan president, the Sudanese president, the Zanzibar president, the Comoros president, former Ghanaian president John Kuofor, the former Tanzanian president, former Kenyan President Moi, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who played a very active role in the peace negotiations following the election violence of 2007. President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga both gave speeches, and while Kibaki cannot run again in 2012 because of term limitations, it does seem like many people say that Odinga could be the next president, for he has tremendous support and always brought the greatest cheers and seemed to really speak to the people. From the people I have talked with or overhead, he seems a great favorite.

The actually ceremony did not begin until around 10, but it looked like on tv that by 7 the crowd was already very great downtown, and it eventually became so crowded that they were forced to close off the park to anymore people. Our teacher had said people were talking about sleeping downtown in order to get a place for the ceremony. IF they did, they would have gotten rained on, because we have had pretty regular and unseasonable rain this past week, including parts of last night, and despite Kenya's proximity to the equatory, Nairobi has been in the mornings quite chilly. North Kinangop where I will be working is supposed to be quite chilly as well, so hopefully I brought enough warm clothes.

Truly, a momentous day to be in Kenya and to watch history be made. The dawn of a new era, a second republic, a day when Kenya pledged to truly be united... It is a hopeful time, and I truly hope it is hope that may be realized, despite the challenges that will inevitably arise.

Happy Constitution Day Kenya!

Uhuru gardnes

Nairobi traffic and a fieldtrip to Uhuru gardens...

Yesterday we got a good taste of Nairobi, or at least Nairobi traffic before a holiday. Even our teacher seemed surprised at how bad it was, but they already had closed several larger roads in anticipation of today. I was curious whether she would actually try to brave Nairobi this morning for our lessons, and wasn't surprised when she called to say there were no mtatus out. I will write more about constitution day later though. Right now I want to give account for yesterday...

The reason we got to experience our airless, exhaust heavy, ganster music laden bumper to bumper, at times standstill, at times slightly terrifying mtatu ride home was a trip and picnic at the Uhur Gardens. Uhuru means freedom and the gardens mark the place where the Kenya flag was first lifted for independence in 1963. The gardens are beautiful, mostly just grass and trees, but with a monument at one end commemorating the 20th anniversity. Our teacher said that in her experience most Kenyans don't like parks and probably even those nearby would likely have not visited the gardens... There were some people there, but mostly school groups on holiday playing soccer. Rather than having one long holiday like back home, schools take off every August, December and April. I rather like that model, and it means I will be getting to Hope right as school resumes.

Habari Yako! Greetings from kenya

Habari Yako? Greetings from Kenya! Internet here is patchy, so I am glad this is finally working. I arrived in Nairobi Friday evening after 24 hours of traveling. However, all our connections were smooth, and I still get excited to be flying over oceans and deserts and thousands and thousands of miles... Even so, it was really nice to finally get off the plane.

Getting our visas went smoothly and MCC's country reps picked us up and brought us to the Mennonite Guest House where we are staying until we head to our assignments. We being the other Kenya SALT participant and myself. We will be working in quite different parts of Kenya, but for now it is intensive Swahili in Nairobi... I am learning a lot, but don't feel like displaying my extensive knowledge right now, maybe my next posting. Blogging was going to be my excuse to not study... so yeah... I head to Hope September 4.

The guest house where we are staying is really very nice, and includes full board and has an amazing library that I am allowed to borrow books from throughout the year... Between those and the books at the MCC office, I will have plenty to ready in my down time. If I have very much down time. Once I get to Hope it sounds like I will be pretty busy, but I didn't come to Kenya to read too much, but rather to work with the children at Hope. The guest house also has a pretty steady stream of people passing by from mission and service workers who have made their lives in Kenya to a group last night who were from Eldoret, a town in Northwest Kenya, and were going to Holland to do some music ministry. Again, it is always nice to see the exchange go both ways. Talking with the other guests is also an excellent way to learn Kenyan geography as I like to find where they are coming from on a map afterwards...

Sunday after church the country reps oriented us. Truly I am so impressed by MCC's model of partnership, and they have a lot of partners throughout Kenya working in education(like Hope) or food security with sand dams, or health and there are other areas that I'm not remembering currently. Then Monday we started Swahili. It really is intensive, with us spending 3-4 hours in the morning on content and then in the afternoon doing different things around Nairobi with our teacher, who is a university student and fun to spend time and a great resource on Kenyan society, politics, life, etc..., The first afternoon we spent the afternoon in the office learning about Kenya, and then yesterday we took mtatus(the classic mini-bus transport) downtown, walked around, got sim cards for our cell phones and had Ethiopian food(which was quite good except it made our teacher feel quite poorly, so today she ended up going home early and loading us with homework...) I tried and learn swahili some before I came, which is helpful now, but it is so much easier to learn from a teacher and a native speaker.

The next week and a half with be more of the same. September 3 before I head to Hope MCC has an all country meeting, where the 15 or so different service workers will all come into Nairobi and check-in or something. I'm still learning the ropes. I'm not even so sure what all I will be doing at Hope, but I appreciate a more open ended job description so I really don't mind. I will take things as they come, and try and learn as much as I can while I am here in Nairobi.

For anybody who followed the August 4 Kenya referendum, or didn't, the new constitution was passed, peacefully no less, and so Friday is going to be a holiday to celebrate Constitution Day( a new holiday for a new constitution). I am not sure what all it will entail, but the paper says it will be a show to rival Independence back in 1963. They closed off most of downtown today and tomorrow so they can practice, and even last Sunday we went to the Anglican cathedral downtown and during the service they were cleaning out their guns and everybody looked a little alarmed. It is not everyday that guns are going off during church. The constitution, if it lives up to expectation, will be a big deal, and will hopefully bring some needed reforms. President Kibaki campaigned on a new constitution, and while it took more than the initial 100 days he promised, it really is a big deal.

Anyways, I think others want to use the guest house computer because they keep coming around the corner to see if it is busy, but I did want to write a quick update, and will definitely write more soon. So that's all for now, but everything is just beginning, and I feel like this is where I am supposed to be right now which is exciting.

Greetings from Akron PA

Hello friends,

It seems hard to believe, but a week ago I was boarding a plane, and now after a week of orientation, I am preparing to board the final leg of my journey to Kenya tomorrow. Orientation has been truly wonderful though. A good time of preparing, learning, fellowship and cultural exchange. I feel much better equipped to work with and represent MCC now, and am honored to be working with such a grounded organization, and with such an amazing group of people.

Orientation has conisted of a series of sessions teaching us what MCC is about, from history, to mission and values, to the scope of their work. If you want to learn more about MCC, I would really encourage visiting their website. For me, not coming from a Mennonite or MCC background, I found everything quite compelling. It is a very grounded peace, development and relief organization though, respected in the countries it works in, with a philosophy of partnership and exchange. The rest of the sessions talked more about cross-cultural exchange.

That exchange has been my favorite part of orientation, for in addition to the 50 some people doing my program and going to many countries around the world, the orientation is also for the 50 or so some IVEP and YEMAN participants. IVEP, or International Volunteer Exchange Program, is an older program than SALT and it takes young people from countries around the world, and places them with organizations and in host families here in the US and Canada for a year. YEMAN, or Young Anabaptist, Mennonite Exchange Network, meanwhile takes young adults from countries other than the US and Canada and places them with partners in other countries than the US and Canada. For example, Zimbabwe to Mexcio. For this week though, we are all one, placed into community together, sharing life and fellowship and all preparing for our years ahead. Getting to know the other SALT participants from around the US and Canada has been a lot of fun, but getting to make friends from Zimbabwe or Zambia, Indonesia or Nepal, has been equally and especially fun. At the same time, it makes leaving tomorrow, while exciting, also a little bittersweet as we must all say goodbye to our new friends. Living in a cross cultural community for a week has been a great way to learn and share about the regions we are going to and coming from. It is one thing to learn about Kenya or Africa from a book or presenter, and quite another to learn from a peer and friend who is from there. At the same time, it is good to be able to share about the culture you come from.  Living in a cross cultural community also makes any conversation about oppression and hope, or peace, better. It keeps us from speaking only from one cultural lense.

One of my favorite sessions was on stereotypes, on the danger of telling a single story. In one of our sessions yesterday we watched a video of a speach by Chimanda Adichie called 'The danger of a single story'. Here is the link, and if you have time, watch it. 

http://www.ted.com/talk/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html.

She is an amazing Nigerian novelist(I would also recommend her books), but in her speech she is talking about the dangers of single stories, having only one story for a place. For instance, here in the west, we often have only a single story of Africa and that is one of disaster and catastrophe, but to tell a single story is a lie. It is to take away others ability to contribute, to be fully human. Truly, I can only sum it up, but do watch the link, and maybe I will blog more about that alone someday. However, it is my warning, when I get to Kenya, I am not an authority on Kenya. I can only speak from my experience, tell my story, and it is a single story, and I hope it will stand in contrast to the single story told by the media. In truth, I hope it will help dismantle that story, but do know, that is only what I see or know, and will all come from my cultural lens.

Let me end with something lighter, what I like to call, our comedy of errors. For while this week has been incredible, it had also had some unusual moments. On Friday, our second day here, we were instructed not to drink the water, because ecoli bacteria had been found in a local well! While at least the SALT participants came equipped with a healthy share of anti-diarrheals, we did not anticipate having to use them before we even arrived in our host countries. Thankfully, preventions were in time, and nobody became ill, but still... not what anybody had expected. Then, Monday evening during dinner all 100+ of us were stuffed into a basement they did not know existed, because there had been a tornado warning(meaning a tornado had been spotted nearby). It was my first tornado warning, but all the IVEP participants who will be living in Pennsylvania were assured that neither the water situation nor tornados are common. THe last comedy of errors was completely my own, in that in the busyness of getting ready to week, I had managed to swap one of my sandles with a friends(they were the same make, different sizes) and, my head being full, not noticed, at least until somebody pointed out that one of my shoes was bigger than the other. Thankfully, thanks to the US postal service and my brother, everything was able to be sorted out, and I will be going to Kenya with a good pair of walking sandles that actually match and fit!

And with that image, I am signing out. I will write another update once I am settled into language courses in Nairobi, but this afternoon we have a commissioning service, and I have some things I need to do before.