Pictures!

This is me, Kevin, and Shaban at Purpose Driven Academy
Here is David laying on my lap at "House 3" The first day I met David, I played this game where I shook his hand way too long and wouldn't let go...He now does it every time I see him:)
This is a pic of me and a little girl named Irene

How adorable is she? She is sister's with Lucy Ajix, and Amlango from the other pics
Here is a pic of the house we stay in...I figured I'd add it because I always want to know where someone is staying exactly...So, if you're anything like me-here you go:)
Okay, here is me cracking up riding a Piki-piki (or piggy-piggy as I've called it all week) That's Elisha driving, me in the middle, and Allison behind me. I've only rode on it twice and I've laughed hysterically both times...it's a great mixture of fun and tad scary.

Oasis of Hope pics

This is Leyla outside at Oasis
This is the front of Oasis
Another view of the front
This is the classroom at Oasis
Outside at Oasis-beautiful!

Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday

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 8^th 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 8^th 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!

Wednesday

Today we woke up and headed over to Oasis again. We helped wash the kids feet, and played with the kids. I wasn’t able to teach English today (but hopefully tomorrow). After Oasis we headed into town to meet Allison’s friends, Ben and Christine. We had lunch with them and then they took us to the secondary school they run called Gilgal. Gilgal is a school where students attend (as well as board) and the students pay whatever they can.

The students at Gilgal asked us a ton of questions. It was so funny because they were sophisticated questions like, “What has President Obama done to improve your economy?” “What is the life expectancy in America?” and “How does the climate and environment in America compare to that in Kenya?” Umm...hmmm??? These kids are incredibly smart, and spoke beautiful English.

Tomorrow we will have been in Kitale for one week. It feels longer. One of my favorite things thus far is how warm and comfortable the culture is here. We receive such a warm welcome everywhere we go. Total strangers smile at us and say “Habati?” (How are you?) all the time.

Today as we were driving home from Gilgal our taxi broke down. We had to get out while we waited for another one and literally 15-20 little kids surrounded us saying, “How are you?” A lot of the kids were touching my arms and hands. It’s weird to get attention solely based on my skin color for the first time in my life. They were all smiles and I enjoyed trying to make them laugh.

This is a picture of all the students at Gilgal listening to us answer their questions...

Here's me attempting to answer their question...I was honestly self-conscious that they would notice my grammatical errors! Smart kids!