African Update

Hello Everyone!  It’s been very busy here at Tumaini!  Lots of things have been going on so I will briefly tell you about some of them!

Textbooks

The Dutch girls and I have been thinking a lot about what we can do to help the children here.  One problem we noticed was there is typically one text book for every three children.   When we read out loud they have to pass them around, and I don’t like to assign homework because not everyone can take a book home.  So with some of the money we all fundraised at home we went with Rose and bought new textbooks!  Now not only will there be more books for every subject, but we also bought the books for 8^th grade which will have its first class next term!  So thank you to all those who donated!

Musical Festival

We had a few groups who have made it to the semifinals!  If they place in the top 3 at the competition tomorrow then they will go to the Nationals!  The children have been working very hard and practiced ALL THE TIME, so I hope they do well!  I have videos and pictures of the performances and I will put them up as soon as I figure out how!  Also, Rose has started a blog for Tumaini, the site is smilesformiles.blogspot.com so make sure you follow it too.  We are in the process of trying to put up pics on that one too!

Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit…

Well in case anyone is wondering, the above saying is true.  It is now bean harvesting season in Western Kenya which means two things:

1.        I am eating a lot of beans

2.       My calling in life is not to be a farmer

After cutting the beans down at the farm (which we are not even asked to help with because it’s so much manual labor), we bring them back to the compound in a wagon led by either a donkey or cow.  Then for the past week every day we lay out the beans in the yard so they can dry out and right before it rains we cover all of them up, this process is repeated the next day, and the next…  And this is not a small portion of beans by any means!  Rose says it’s not enough to last a whole year, but I feel sure that it has to come close.  Today some were dry enough for us to start beating.  Literally we take the piles and beat them continuously with big sticks until all the beans fall out while dust and dirt is flying up everywhere.  But the children just continued to sing and dance the whole time they were beating.  When I first found out that I was going to learn to harvest beans I excitedly texted Gretchen to let her know we would plant some in the garden next year.  Sorry Gretch, I have changed my mind.

Cultural Miscommunications

Around here I am always the minority. Obviously I am outnumbered by the Kenyans, but not even the Dutch girls could understand why I was so excited about the results of the NBA draft (Go Cats!), even after I explained several times.  They don’t know what jorts are.

Another miscommunication I had was in reference to my intelligence.  Many times since I’ve been here Hesbon has said, “Wow Alex, you are very smart.”  I smile and say thank you not knowing what profound statement I have said to make him realize this, but at least he knows.  But, I found it odd when I would say nothing and still people would say how smart I was.  Come to find out none of the Kenyans consider me to be a genius; they just think I am very fashionable!  In Kenya “smart” means you look/dress nice!

This morning at church when Hesbon finished teaching about Daniel and the lions’ den he announced that our sisters  (me and the Dutch girls) would be sharing something.  This was news to me and I can tell by the way the girls look at me that I will be the one speaking.  They always use the whole language barrier thing as an excuse to put the pressure on me to speak for all of us.  I start to stress a little bit and rack my brain with what I am going to say.  So I go to the front and start telling the children about a book I read and how important it is to love your neighbors and treat others how as you want to be treated and I am sure I rambled on much longer than the children would have liked.  After I sit back down I realize that Hesbon was just asking us to tell about how we got lost during our walk the day before, not for me to give a sermon!    

Changes

Most of you would not recognize the Kenyan Alex, I’ve kicked a few habits and do things that some of you probably didn’t think was possible!

·         Today I cooked – literally helped Rose make chipates out of flour and water

·         Sleeping in means until 8 am, not 4 pm

·         Staying up late is past 10 pm

·         I exercise (walk, run, and a comical daily workout routine, well we try to make it daily)

·         I occasionally touch feet

·         I harvest beans and do dishes

·         Most shockingly – my room is always clean!

Also, during Arts and Crafts the other day a 4^th grader passed me a note saying, “Teacher Alex, I like you a lot.  Will you make friendship with me?  May God bless you and give you eternal life.”  It might have been the nicest note I have ever received, so I hung it up in my room.

African Child's Day

On June 16^th all of Africa celebrates African Child’s Day.  At Tumaini we were very excited to praise our children for how great they are.  We invited people from the community, including the children’s parents and families to come watch the children perform songs and dances.  After that, the Dutch girls and I helped serve the families lunch.  Although I was a little burnt out on serving when I left home (sorry Harry’s) it felt so good to be able to serve these people!  Later Rose told us they thought it was really neat to be served by Monzugus (white people)!  Here is a speech that was being read in the city that Vivian, one of our star pupils, read to us:

Ladies and gentlemen, children of Kakamega North District irrespective of your age, gender, race, religious affiliation, physical or mental challenges, I salute you on this historical day in the calendar of Africa and Kenya in particular.

It will not be a sign of being disrespectful of your status in the society but allow me to set records right that:

v  A child is anybody below the age of 18 years

v  Has a right to access basic needs; food, shelter, medication.  Clothing and parental guidance.

v  It’s the responsibility of the government and you as our parents/guardian to ensure that our needs are taken care of.

Let me also remind you that in 1976, in South Africa during the reign of Apartheid, due to discrimination against blacks, it took the courage of African children to go on the street demonstrating against the discrimination, at which over 100 children were shot dead while over 1,000 were injured.  This led to African nation in 1991 to coin the Day of the African Child as a day to remember the courageous steps our fellow brothers and sister took to liberate themselves in spite of the ill treatment from the Boers (white).

On the same note as we gather today to remember them, it’s also worthy to not that there are so many children endangered and with special needs i.e.:

v  HIV/AIDS orphans

v  Physically and mentally challenged

v  Street children

v  Street families

v  Denied basic needs

v  Physically, socially, or mentally tortured

v  Sexual offences against children; defilement, early marriages, early pregnancies

It’s good to note that various stakeholders have taken time to support and address the needs of the children in Kenya and our district in particular; I salute you for the good work. 

Let me bring to your knowledge that the key issues affecting us in this district are:

v  Child abandonment

v  Child labor

v  Child neglect

v  Defilement

v  Early marriages

v  Early pregnancies

v  Child trafficking

This in turn has impacted negatively on our social, moral, physical and education development in the society.

It’s an appeal to the police to always diligently investigate our cases, apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators against children rights.  Our parent and guardians to provide for our basic needs, philanthropic stakeholders to assist at their ability, provincial administrators always are vigilant when handling our cases. 

It’s also good to note there are children living on the streets due to pull and push factors leaving them without their basic needs.  People see them as outcast, but they are our fellow citizens.

As we celebrate today, let us note that it’s our obligation as children, parents, guardians, media houses, provincial administration, civil society organization, police and other relevant stakeholders to combine efforts and address the needs of the street child and family.

Finally, allow me to say:

            “All together for urgent action in favor of street children”

Trip to Kitale

So the girls and I set out last Friday afternoon, very excited to see a different city and explore more of Kenya!  After boarding the matatu at the end of our road it continued to stop frequently for the next few miles.  As the bus got more and more full somehow Eline and I ended up squished in the very back with no air circulation and laughing hysterically because you could not see Femke's head in the front seat due to being sandwiched between the butts of two African men!  After 3 hours, more than 30 passengers in a 12 person van at a time, and having to stop and honk in order not to run over the wild monkeys in the road - we made it to Kitale!

We had already picked the hotel we were going to stay in, but had no idea where it was so we walked aimlessly and asked for directions until we found it!  For the 3 of us to stay for the night it was $7 dollars a piece, which we thought was quite the bargain!  Then when we saw that double beds in Kenya are evidently equivalent to a twin bed in America, so two of us would be cuddling close for the night! Our hotel had a restaurant so we were relieved we didn't have to go out after dark to eat.  Without knowing the size we each ordered the sampler platter, and oh man was it a platter!  On each of our plates was rice, chipate (like a flour tortilla), eggs, french fries, fried chicken, steak, sausage, and a banana!  We looked like the biggest fat kids you have ever seen!  Not only was there meat on our plate, but it tasted like real American meat!  I had tried chicken here once before and it was not appetizing at all.  So here sat the three white girls scarfing down everything on their plates like we've never eaten!  I'm pretty sure other tables were staring.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early so that we could see the sights.  The museum we planned to see decided not to open for the weekend so our driver, James, took us to a place called the Kitale Natural Park.  We paid an entrance fee and had a tour guide, so we are assuming it's going to be pretty cool...The first part we walk through (oh, it's sprinkling now and I left my raincoat at the hotel)  is the botanical gardens.  There are lots of neat trees and our guide tells us what purpose they serve in Africa.  There is even one that supposedly cures asthma, and Femke is tasting different leaves and what not.  Then we enter the area that has different trees that are mentioned in Biblical stories.  I am thinking, "Wow, this is going to be really cool!"  The second tree we walk up to our guide says, "And here is a sycamore, like the one Zacheus climbed up."  I looked at him like he was crazy and then realized he was being serious.  This so called "tree" looked a lot more like something I would call a one and a half foot tall twig.  Unless Jesus and Zacheus were along the same size as GI Joes, this tree would not come in very handy.

We exit the gardens and head onto the tour of the forest and wildlife. After walking over several wooden bridges that all felt like they were going to break at any moment (and it's still drizzling) the tour guide says we will be seeing monkeys soon...about a mile later we have seen no animals, and he seems unaware.  Most of his sentences began with phrases like this, "And over here where we are digging; this is going to be a river where you can take boat rides."  "And this fenced in area that has a sign saying 'Snakes,' that is where we will be putting snakes soon."  When we got to where the monkeys were he said they must be hiding.  Just as I thought the tour is coming to an end we got to a field with lots of cows and bulls.  He takes us very close and says that these cows can't reproduce because their female parts aren't positioned right.  I just thought, "hmmm, that's interesting."  We round the corner to an area with some goats and the guide says casually, "All these goats are hermaphrodites."  The Dutch girls look at me confused because that's an English word they've never heard.  So I ask the guide, "Is there something wrong with all these animals?"  "Oh yes, of course," he responds and then precedes to show us a few sheep that  have two or three legs.  Some with shriveled legs, and others that simply drag limbs.  When we reached the odd looking animal that he says is a mixed breed of a dog and cow, I had had enough.  For those of you who don't know exactly how weird I am - let me explain.  One of my biggest fears is a half man half horse, aka centaur.  Yes, I am aware they don't exist, but the idea completely freaks me out.  I refuse to watch the Chronicles of Narnia because of this phobia and close my eyes in certain scenes of Harry Potter.  So you can only imagine the state of panic I am felling with all these odd animals!  I then ask sarcastically if next we are going to see a two headed goat.  He replies seriously, "Oh no we don't have that.  Just the bull with 4 horns, 3 eyes, and a deformed mouth." I am absolutely horrified just imagining the nightmares that are soon to come.

After leaving the twilight zone, we ask our driver to take us somewhere to see animals we actually WANT to see.  The next place was unbelievable!  We pulled into a long driveway then went into what you thought would be a backyard, but instead it was  this beautiful landscape with zebras and giselles just galloping about, and the trees literally looked like they were off the Lion King (Dev, I wish you could see it!).  They also had two rhinos that came so close I could touch.  After this I assume we are leaving when our guide says that now it's time to ride the ostrich.  Yes, he said we were going to ride a bird.  So sure enough there is an ostrich with a saddle on his back being supported by what looks like toothpicks as legs.  Despite my suspicions the guide assures me that it can hold me up. A man helps me on and I am straddling the bird while holding its poor wings as reigns, and it very unsteadily takes off.  The two men that I assume are standing there in case I fall are actually helping to hold up the ostrich!  Talk about feeling fat! So now I am sitting on top of this poor bird and have no choice but to finish the ride!  As if my weight wasn't enough, the men then insist that it's perfectly fine for Femke and Eline to ride it too!  This might go down as one of the most absurd days of my life.

Also, in case you haven't heard - Hell has frozen over.  I painted about 12 little girls toe nails.

More from Tumaini!

Well I have survived a little over 2 weeks in a foreign county!  I wouldn't even say I have just survived, but I think I am adjusting well to the different life style!   Somethings are harder than others (like eating ugali EVERYDAY) but most things are pretty interesting.  I like not having a blowdryer and only washing my hair every few days.  And  because of this, I also like not having to look in a mirror! It's raining hard outside right now (which it usually does once a day here)  so I am writing, but Femke is in the kitchen with Paulie learning how to cook a chicken.  Not like we cook a chicken though.  This one started out alive (about 20 min ago) then Paulie broke it's neck to kill it, plucked all the feathers out, chopped off the head, and that was when I decided to quit watching!  I was scared if I saw what comes next I wouldn't want to eat tonight!  You definitely see some odd things here, for example while riding on a matatu (the public transportation) Femke saw a cow scratching it's ear with one of his back legs!  One of my favorite parts about the Kenyan culture is their little regard to time and schedule.  It drives the Dutch girls crazy!  If something is supposed to start at 9:00, you can be certain it will  begin between 10:00 and 12:00, so those of you who know me well know that I am in Heaven!

For those of you wondering how the competition went...we made it to regionals in eight categories! Everyone was so excited  because it is our first year participating!  Today was the first out of two days at the regional level, and we had six of the categories qualify for the the next level!  So if they make it past that, then they go to state!  The children were so excited that they stood outside singing and dancing until the rain started!  I have a video of one of the song and dances they competed with so I will post it as soon as I learn how!

The most special part about this place is the people.  Today when I got to school Mr. Shane (one of the teachers) brought me into his classroom and had the students welcome me and then gave me an avacado for no reason at all.  When we were at the competition in Malava the head teacher had promised to show us monkeys, but when we got to the area he thought they would be and they weren't, he continued to search so finally we got to see the monkeys, all because he refused to break his promise!  There is one little girl who is seven years old, and she is absolutely beautiful and always smiling.  She loves for me to play a card game that we made up together with her or help her color.  She is very good in school and is one of the students who has progressed to the next round in the poem competition.  I recently discovered that before she lived at Tumaini, when she was five years old a man abused her while she was walking home one day.  When Rose and Violet heard about this they went to ask her family if they knew any details about it, and they family members brushed it off and said she was probabley making up stories!  How cound any human being think a five year old could make up something like that?!?  This absolutely broke my heart, but when you see her now and how happy and safe she is, it makes me so thankful for these children that they have a place like Tumaini to go.  Not all the children here were abused that way, there are some who were abandoned at a young age, some where the parents have died and relatives won't take them in, and some where the parents couldn't afford to take care of them.  I don't tell these stories to make anyone feel bad, I just want everyone to be aware of how blessed we are!  These children make me realize everyday that there is always someone out there that could use a little help or encouragement.  And seeing what they have lived through and how much they still enjoy life makes everyday here that much better.  So please keep these children in your prayers!

Stay tuned because the Dutch girls and I went away for the weekend and I have some pretty funny stories!

T.I.A.

SaSa!  This is another way to greet people in Swahili!  I am actually sitting on a huge rock outside of the orphanage writing this right now, and two women just stopped to talk to me.  They began by asking me if they could have my bracelet and then they would be my friend, so I gave her my markey cancer center bracelet and we talked.  This is not the first time a local has asked me to give them something in exchange for their friendship.  Although I find it odd, it appears to be a normal gesture in their culture.  Sometimes when it's something I need to keep I just laugh and say no.  Then they laugh and we continue talking.

Here at Tumaini the days are pretty laid back.  I live in the Guest House with Rose, who is the director of the school and orphanage, her son Moses (who is 10 yrs old), little Sara Beth (a 2 and a half yr old Rose has taken in as her own), Christy ( one of the orphans who helps look after Sara), and their housekeeper Paulie (that I love!).  She is 26 years old and does most of the cooking and cleaning.  There are also two Dutch girls here volunteering like I am.  Femke is 22 yrs old and is here for two months, and Eilena is 24 yrs old and will be here for 3 months.  I was really glad to find out they were going to be here as well.  This way I am not the only one being submerged into a completely different culture and we can talk about all the different aspects of being here.  Femke speaks English very well, and Eilena is getting better everyday!  It's funny because sometimes I will be sitting in a room and there will be one conversation going on in Swahili and another in Dutch, so I just sit and laugh because I have no idea what anyone is saying!

A normal weekday here consist of waking up and going to school to find out what the schedule is (it basically changes to however the teachers see fit for the day).  Usually in the morning the Dutch girls and I will teach a few P.E. classes.  We change what we do based on the children's ages.  And we switch between teaching them games from America and Holland.  We have taugh them games like Red Rover, Dutch dodgeball, a Dutch way of playing freeze tag, relay races, and the funniest was teaching them to do wheel barrow races where they hold each other feet and try to walk on their hands.  They love to do anything with instruction or organization as long as it is fast pace.  Like any children they get distracted if it bores them, so we are learning what works best as we go.

In the afternoon there are a couple different things I teach.  Sometimes I teach reading or dictation.  This is where I read aloud and the children have to write down what I am reading and we go over it together.  There are very good at this, and even though my accent is different than theirs they usually understand everything.  Typically there are a couple words they have never heard, so we go over the spelling and I tell them what it means.  For the reading part, the children and I take turns reading out loud and then I ask them comprehension questions at the end.  I am always amazed how intellegent and well behaved they are.  From Grade 1 through Grade 7 they are always eager to learn!  They soak up everything and love to participate.  From about Grade 3 on they speak English and Swahili, and some even younger than that!

June 1st was a very exciting day for us all because in 1963 on that day Kenya gained it's independence from Great Britain!  So there was a celebration in Malava and we took some of the children to town to sing for the festival!  The teachers and students who weren't participating could not afford to come to town for the celebration.  Children from a few different schools performed, and even a school for children with special needs.  This was a big deal because there are only a few of them in all of Kenya.  I learned that most people in Africa still find it shameful to have a child who is mentally disabled, and usually keep them locked in the house.  So having schools like this is slowly showing people here that you shouldn't be embarrassed if you have a challenged child.  After the singing, a city official read a speech that the President was giving in Nairobi.  This man talked for a very long time!  And the speech was in Swahili - so not much fun for me :)  But at the end lots of people came up and shook our hands, and welcomed us to their country.  Even a policeman asked us to keep his number in case we had any kind of problem.  It's funny the way people in America perceive Africa, because I've not had a single second where I have felt unsafe or unwelcome. 

So our next big day is this Monday June 6th, tomorrow!!!  It is the chorus and poem competition for the district!  Our children will be competing against about 30 other schools.  Everyone is very excited because this is the first year Tumaini has participated.  So everyday the children have stayed after school for hours practicing, and I was able to help select which children will be performing.  Today they made final changes and got costumes together for some of the songs.  Its fun to watch how much they have improved over the last week!  If they win, the children will be able to go perform in the state house in Nairobi!  So wish us lots of luck!!!!

Also, when I return to the U.S. I will NEVER EVER complain about washing clothes again.  And today I learned that for the remainder of my time here I will wear EVERYTHING at least twice before washing.  This is what you decide after spending 2 hours handwashing your clothes!

I HAVE MADE IT!!!

JAMBO EVERYONE!!!  This is how you greet someone in Swahili!  One of the many words/phrases I am trying to learn for my time in Kenya.  I want to start by saying thank you so much to everyone who has supported me since I decided to go on this journey.  And thank you again to everyone who has continued to pray and worry about my well being since I have left America.  I also apologized that it has taken me a few days to get a post up!  But I am happy to tell you that I am doing great!!!

I will start from day 1 of my travels and try to get you up to date with where I am now.  After leaving Mom, Dad, and Ashley at the airport I flew to Chicago, where I saw the last of beautiful America and headed to my layover in Europe.  I was only at Heathrow a couple hrs and then boarded another 8 hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya.  When I landed in Nairobi a lovely lady named Eva (who is a good friend of Sara Beth's)  and her husband were waiting outside the airport with a sign that had my name on it!  The took me to their home where they had dinner waiting, a place I could take a shower (a real one with running water!), and a bed for me to sleep in for the night.  The amount of hostpitality I was shown was unbelievable, and a wonderful start to this trip.  We woke up early the next morning and I flew to Kisumu, which is in the western part of Kenya.  The plane was very small, but a very smooth ride!  Much better than a small plane in the U.S.!  The airport in Kisumu- well the runway and area that you pick your bags up off of a wagon would be a better way to describe it- was great!

Once again someone was waiting with a sign for me.  This time it was Hesbon who works and lives at Tumaini where I will be staying.  We drove about 2 hours to Malava, Kenya (which is where Tumaini is) to reach the final destination.  Let me explain- Tumaini Miles of Smiles is the name of the school and orphanage, and it is located on the outskirts of the town called Malava.  The closest "city" would be Kakamega.  So in Kentucky terms:  Kakamega would be Lexington, Malava would be Lawrenceburg, and Tumaini is way out 62!  Haha, but that is the best way I know how to describe it!  When we pulled up to the school in the car the children were pointing and smiling while yelling "Monzugu!!!" (not sure about that spelling), which means white man!  Hesbon said I would here this a lot, and oh boy was he right!  We carried my bags in and walked over to the school because the children had prepared a song for me.  This actually ended up being several songs welcoming me to Tumaini, and it was the sweetest gesture they could have made!  I was immediately in love :)  I then walked to each classroom (there are 8 total; preschool through 7th grade) and met the teachers and introduced myself to the classes.  The teachers were just like everyone else I have met in Kenya, very friendly and welcoming! 

I want to continue on and tell you about daily life and my experiences with the children so far, but unfortunately my time is cut short because I need to charge my computer, and that is a little more difficult here!  But I will post again soon and tell you about the children and all the wonderful things that are going on here!  I hope you will continue to read and fall in love with these children like I have!  I love and miss everyone :) 

Oh and please tell Harry's ppl aka Wilsons, Joe, Luther, Curries, Brian/Paul, etc that everything is great!  Thanks!