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...
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