My initial goal was to update my blog daily but clearly this idea hasn’t been all that successful. So I have opted to give some highlights…
I’m settling in here more each day and I’m thankful that this isn’t just a two-week trip. I’ve just started to get comfortable here and I couldn’t imagine having to leave in 2 days. I was able to help Leyla teach at Oasis again on Friday. We reviewed what we taught them earlier this week and I was pleasantly surprised that the class seemed to remember most of it. (Yay!) Tomorrow, Leyla and I plan to teach them body parts…I’m thinking…”Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes…eyes and ears and mouth and nose…” haha…
On Friday night we went to “House 3.” House three consists of some younger boys who also used to attend school at Oasis but are also now at public school. A really sweet man named Anthony watches over them. Allison and I helped make Chipati. I mentioned before that Chipati is sort of like this homemade tortilla but it’s much thicker, like pita bread almost. I can eat two (max!) because they’re so filling! After dinner the boys danced for us...so fun! I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face! The dancing was great and well choreographed, but Kamau, the youngest of the group (5-years-old) could not stay in sync with the rest of them…So instead, he decided to do this belly rub thing and grab his belly (that was sticking out so far because he had something like 4 Chipati and 10 cookies!). My story doesn’t do it any justice but I have a video of it I will definitely share with anyone who asks me when I’m back!
Kamau above in blue with his big belly...and David next to him in Orange (I laugh just looking at this picture!)
Yesterday, we went to Purpose Driven Academy. I really enjoyed it because we were able to talk with some older kids (who all speak English well). I met this teenager named Kevin. Kevin is going to take the KCPE test this year because he is in 8th grade, and it’s a really big deal in Kenya. The test significantly affects the direction of a child’s future depending on how they score. It would be sort of like colleges looking at only our SAT scores, not our grades, but instead of college, it determines what high school they go to (this is the same test I mentioned in my support letters). Kevin asked me to wish success over him. Not really understanding what he meant, I questioned him further. Then he explained to me that it is tradition for friends/family to write cards to wish an 8th grader success on their test. I thought it was so cute that he wanted a letter from me only having known me for less than an hour. So Allison, Jordan and I are going to give him a card, and I also think some of the children at Oasis are going to help make cards as well.
Today we went to Oasis church. It was so great! The children led it this week so there was a lot of dancing and singing. I loved the energy at the church and it’s really great to be able to see the kids and know their names (big contrast from church last week having only been in Kitale for 2 days). Today we played “Down by the banks” (Sorry if you’re over 40 and don’t know what that isJ) but we sang their Swahili version and the kids laughed at me trying to learn the lyrics.
Oh, and also today...I did a load of laundry without using a washing machine for the first time in my life! It was actually sort of fun…
You are now officially caught up…Thanks for reading and for your support!
0 comments:
Post a Comment