Thursday, June 7, 2007

Hey everyone,

Well, it has been quite an eventful week... so I have LOTS to share. On Monday, Asgar found out about a family emergency in the UK (which I won’t go into details about). He needed to fly to the UK immediately so he booked a flight for Tuesday. He will not return until after I have left. It was a very strange feeling to know that my one contact in Africa was leaving me here alone... and I wasn’t prepared to say goodbye to him so soon… so it was hard! But, even with all he had to deal with, Asgar took time to make great arrangements for me. I am staying at his house, and Lisa is staying here with me. This weekend, we had planned to go to the Mara, so Asgar’s employee/friend, Evans, will be taking me and Lisa there to camp.
Apart from that news, this week I have been doing my volunteering. The first place was the orphanage in Machakos. Renee came into Nairobi and I met her at the train station to take a matatu to Machakos. In Machakos we took another matatu up a mountain to the orphanage- the view from the top was beautiful! I was a bit nervous to go to the orphanage; I wasn’t sure how the kids would react to me. But, it ended up being the best experience of my trip so far. The children ran right up to me and hugged me and grabbed my hands. They were so kind and friendly and outgoing. There are 25 children there (ages 5-13) almost equal ratio of boys to girls. The youngest ones don’t speak English, but the older ones do. Each night, the kids have to walk down the hill a ways to a “river”. The river is basically a hole in the ground with water… there, they fill their huge containers with water and carry it back up to the orphanage to dump it into larger tanks. Renee and I walked with them to get water. Then, it was dinner time. Although Renee cooks for herself and doesn’t eat the children’s food, that night the kids put together plates for us (rice and potatoes). It was so sweet to see them giving us what little food they had. We ate a bit then gave the rest back to them. After dinner, I gave them all the gifts I had brought (pencils, markers, crayons, colored pencils, games, a map, a globe, soccer ball, footballs, DVDs, CDs, books, etc). The looks on their faces when I showed them this stuff made my whole trip. All the stuff I just mentioned was theirs to share but I had also brought along sweatbands for the boys and necklaces for the girls (by the way- thanks Aubrey and Megan!). I laid the stuff out on the table and the kids crowded around to choose an item. This was the best part of my night… when they were putting on the necklaces and sweatbands they just looked SO happy… I cried; it was the best feeling in the world to watch their faces light up. The next morning we got up at 5 and left at 6 to walk to school with them. It was about a 20 minute walk through the mountains to the school. The kids held my hands the entire way- which was a very good thing too, because it was a steep climb and I nearly fell countless times (my shoes have lost all traction). At their school they have grades 1-8. Each grade has their own small classroom and they sit 3-4 to a desk. When we arrived around 6:30 none of the teachers were present; the kids get there early to clean up the place. I visited 4 of the classrooms and in each classroom they sang for me (in Swahili). It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard- each song has a soloist that sings half of the time, the soloists were amazing (again, I almost cried while listening). At 8:00 they have assembly. At assembly, all 600 kids (yes, 600 at this tiny little school) gather together and are led in song by one of the students. Then a bible passage is read by another child and a prayer is led by a third. During the assembly the kids were SO well behaved- none of them talked or goofed off like kids in the US do- it was incredible. Afterwards, Renee and I left. Before we left though, all the kids had to walk by me and grab my hands or hug me- it was adorable. The entire time I was at the orphanage and school all the kids wanted their pictures taken. They love posing for the camera (one girl, Sara, always gave a thumbs up) and like to look at the pictures right after they are taken. The kids also took to calling me mzunga (not to be confused with mzungu) which means doll.
So, back at the orphanage… The orphanage has a girls dorm, newly built boys dorm, kitchen, and dining/study room (located in the old boys dorm). Until the new boys dorm was built they ate on the floor of the kitchen (which is an extremely small room). By the kitchen was a small closet called the ‘library’ where they had some books and toys. It was very disorganized and filled with trash. Renee and I moved the shelves and everything to the new study room. We went though it all, threw out stuff, organized the books/toys, and put them back on the shelves. More than half of the things on the ‘toy’ shelf were the items I had brought. It was an overwhelming task but it looked amazing in the end. I wish I had more time to stay at the orphanage, I fell in love with the kids. At the end of my visit, I took a matatu (by myself for the first time!) back to Nairobi. Since Asgar is no longer here, I have to get used to matatus... I don’t know if that will happen- I reeaally dislike them.

Today was my first day at Beacon of Hope. I took a cab to the site. Unfortunately, in Kenya, there are no physical addresses, just P.O box numbers. So the only info I could give the driver was the name of the place and the street… we ended up getting lost. Eventually we pulled over for directions. It was much further than I thought it was, and on the drive I was nervous and really wishing I wasn’t alone. But, once I reached BOH I felt much better. Jane (the director and my contact at BOH) was not there when I arrived. However, there were about 10 mzungus volunteering there – they are from a church in North Dakota. One of the women gave me a tour around the place. There are counseling rooms, weaving rooms, classrooms, a clinic, and a play area out back; it is a very nice facility. First I played with the kids- all of them, like at the orphanage, were so friendly and attached themselves to me. There are three classrooms; the kids are ages 2-6. They don’t speak much English so I used my limited Swahili to communicate- it actually seemed to work! In the classroom I helped teach them a song then drew with them. In the afternoon I worked upstairs with the infections disease nurse (I did organizational stuff, helped package pills, etc). I also sat in on the consultations when women/children came in with problems. BOH offers testing, medicine, and help for not only the women in their program but for anyone else in the community wanting to stop by. It was difficult to listen to the women’s problems and watch them scrounge for a few bob (shillings) to pay for medicine. At the end of the day, while I waited for my cab, I got to chat with the pastor and another couple from the church. They know people from Black Hawk church quite well so it was really nice to talk with them... just like it was really nice to talk with Renee. Although I’ve had Lisa and Asgar here this whole time to talk to, I hadn’t realized how much I needed to talk with other mzungus. Being here and experiencing this new culture and seeing the conditions in small towns/schools/orphanages is very difficult, and I haven’t been able to talk with anyone about what I’ve been feeling. But, other Americans are experiencing the same feelings and reactions that I am so it was great to finally get all my thoughts out!

With all the traveling I’ve been doing I just haven’t had a moment to rest and it’s really catching up on me (I got sick again last night). What I really need is a few days of rest buuut tomorrow (and hopefully some days next week) I will be at BOH again. Then, this weekend (Saturday-Monday) I will be in the Mara. So no rest yet! I’ll write again next week and I’ll try and post pictures of the orphanage tomorrow.

2 comments:

Stina said...

Dev, again, I love you soo much and I am so proud of you!! I really wish I could have been there with you, but the day you come back (and have had some rest) I will be more than happy to sit down and talk with you for hours!! I miss you, and I just want to keep telling you that I love you!! Get as much rest as possible!! :)

M & M Fisher said...

Hi Devri,

I just spent some time catching up on your blog postings for the last few weeks. It really sounds like you are having an eye-opening experience. I'm proud of you for taking such an adventurous trip (I'm not sure I could do it, but you always have been more brave than me)!

I hope you are taking a lot of photos and video clips. I'm sure the kids would love to learn about you experience and daily life in Kenya.

I hope you are feeling beeter since your last posting. Take care of yourself and be sure to get plenty of sleep. May God bless you for the rest of your journey.

Uncle Mark