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!

Yesterday..continued...

Continuing…Yesterday was so great! After helping Leyla teach English we went outside and played with the kids. I met a boy named Peter who was about 4-years-old. His skin was really dry and cracking so Leyla suggested we wash his face and put oil on it. I went looking for Patrick (who was supposed to give me oil) and accidently opened a storage room door. Out ran a dog and a little baby puppy. Of course, I went for the puppy. I swooped up the little guy and then I heard screams of fear & laughter as the dog ran through the yard. The kids were going crazy! It was quite the event. After all the craze, I was able to wash Peter’s face and rub oil on it. I know it sounds like a very simple thing, but it was so precious. He just sat there with a cute little smile on his face while I did it. He found me today and I sat and held him for a while. I’ll have to get a picture of him to show you.

Last night, we went to “The Boy’s House,” to help tutor them in math. I helped them make Chipati for a little while and then the power went out, so we hung out in the kitchen using candlelight. The boys all used to attend Oasis but are now in either 7^th or 8^th grade at public school. A man named Robert looks over them. It’s been really great getting to know the boys and hearing some of their stories. They are a funny group with a lot of potential…I’m looking forward to getting to know them better.

PICS from the BOYs HOUSE

(So far everyone has guessed that I'm either 16 or 17 years old.) Stone thought I was "cheating him" when I told him I was 22 last night:)

Stone and myself cooking in the kitchen.
Allison, Martin, Stone, Justice and myself with Moses in the background with the hat.

More pics

This is me at Discover to Recover...I let a boy named Peter play with my camera and he took this photo.
This is Lucy, Amlango's sister, from the previous picture. She's been wearing this same adorable dress all week. Lucy and her friend, Ester, have been carrying each other over their shoulders all week for fun, and today Ester tried putting me over her shoulder:)
Here is a pic of me, Richard (Freda's husband) and Allison at the Health Clinic. Richard told us he tries to walk the property (over an hour walk) every day...incredible.
Here is Amlango, Ajix, Alice, and Dorcas...making funny faces. These are the girls I met at the "girls house" our first night here.
I just had to include a picture of the property surrounding Sister Freda's clinic. It was incredibly beautiful.

Habari-How are you?

I woke up today in the best mood! I feel so much better today (cold wise) than I’ve felt all week, and I’m excited to start the day. We are just about to leave to head out to Oasis but I figured I’d try and post a few things. Today I read Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do what you want, because you are my God. Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” I love this verse, and this is my prayer for my time here in Kitale.

Two days ago we went to Sister Freda and Richard Robinson’s health clinic. We walked around their beautiful property and then shared lunch with them. It was great to meet them because I have heard so many wonderful things about them for years. Sister Freda gave me some medicine because I was feeling pretty sick that day…but thankfully it worked☺

On our walk, I carried an adorable little girl, Dot. Dot is 5 years old but she was so malnourished as a baby that her growth was stunted. She is oh-so-cute!

After lunch it started pouring. It may have been the hardest downpour I’ve ever witnessed. It was beautiful.

Yesterday, we headed over to Oasis. I was able to help Leyla teach again (yay!...I loved it). I taught the days of the week, which maybe half the class already knew. I also made the mistake of trying to teach the children the different seasons. But, I soon learned that they don’t acknowledge 4 seasons like the U.S. does; they only have the dry season and rainy season. My bad! It’s difficult because the class seems to be at all different levels. But I’m looking forward to figuring out new techniques that are most effective.

Leyla lives in the other house on the compound with us. Leyla is Jeffery’s (from Oasis of Hope) sister-in-law. We’ve been eating dinner and spending a lot of time with her and Emanuel (who also lives in the other house on the compound). Emanuel is from Rwanda and is trying to learn English so he sits in on Leyla’s English class.

Okay we are leaving now…more to come later!

This is a picture of Janet holding a baby named Verity...every time I even looked at Verity she would burst into tears! AH! Sorry! (Sorry = Pole, but pronounced Polley)

Here we go!

Here is pic of Janet holding Verity, Sarah, Kamau (with the awesome fighting pose in front) Sarah behind him, Alice holding the cups to her face, Ajix, Amlango, David and myself. Janet, Sarah, Alice and Janet are all from the girls house that I mention below. I promise to upload more pics, it just took forever...

We are here! Yay! I’m so excited to be here…the past five days have been SO great (except for my tiny-baby cold). I’m so sorry it’s taken me almost a week to update everyone…it’s been part procrastination part Internet problems…but mainly just procrastination. So much has happened in the past 5 days and I honestly don’t even know where to begin….but here it goes. Sorry if this blog sounds a little mechanical, I’ll get better at this whole blogging nonsense I’m sure (no disrespect to fellow bloggers).

First off, we made it here safe and sound. The traveling was actually not that bad…I met some nice people on the plane (a nun…actually my first time talking to a nun) and I was able to sleep some.

We arrived in Nairobi on October 1st and spent the night there. The next morning we took a 1-hour flight to Kitale, getting us here in the late morning. The moment I got off the plane I noticed that everything around was lush and green and the weather was lovely (not too hot or cold). The air had a sweet smell…Jordan thought it smelled like Nutella (just to give you a mental picture). We drove the short distance from the airstrip to Pastor Steve’s compound (absolutely beautiful…pictures to come later), quickly put our bags down and walked to Oasis of Hope*

When we arrived at Oasis, Jeffery**warmly welcomed us. (Karibu =Welcome…I’ve been working on reinforcing the 5 Swahili words I know). We poked our heads into 4 different classrooms and I saw a sea of adorable faces smiling at us. They were beyond excited to see Allison and to greet Jordan and I as well. On their break we played games with the children. It amazed me how quick the children took to total strangers. Within minutes I had several girls around me holding my hand and walking me around the center.

Later that night we headed over to what’s called “The girls’ house.” The girls’ house is where 10 girls who used to go to Oasis of Hope, but are now enrolled at public school, live. They all live with a sweet woman named Rebecca who watches over and cares for them. They cooked us potatos, lentils and Chapati (which I’ve been calling Chabati all week)…imagine a delicious homemade flour tortilla-ish thing.

That’s just day 1…I’m going to have to learn how to not be so specific.

I’m getting quite tired so I’m going to have to cut this short, but let me tell you the highlights of the past 3 days.

I’ve loved loved loved getting to know the children at Oasis. It’s only been 3 days but learning names and faces and little of their stories has been incredible. A lot of time is spent just loving on them-giving them hugs, playing games with them and today I was actually able to help teach an English class which I absolutely LOVED. They were so attentive and eager to learn and I really hope I’m able teach often.

We also went to a center call Discover to Recover today. Discover to Recover is a center where many children are either infected with HIV or have parents who are or were infected and have passed away. I totally got choked up there for my first time in Kitale. As soon as we entered, I was blown away at how many children wanted to be held and to be hugged. I don’t know any of their specific stories but my heart broke a little today in seeing the need for physical touch (for lack of better words). These kids are so wonderful and I’m so happy I’m here.

I have left out so many details about so many other great people I’ve met*** and all the wonderful things God has begun to do in my heart. Jordan, Allison and I keep praying for God’s will to be done and that we would serve God in which ever way He desires. I’m loving being here already. Thanks for your prayers…I can feel them!

Much much more to come later, but I’m off to bed for now:)
(Hi Angela…I love you and miss you!)

*Oasis of Hope is a drop in center for street kids. The majority of the children who are at the center attend Monday thru Friday from about 9 am to sometime after lunch and return to life on the streets at night

**Jeffery is the co-founder of Oasis of Hope, and I’m sure I’ll be mentioning him many times

***Dan, Leyla, Ayub, Emanuel…just to name a few…but I won’t do them the injustice of blogging when I’m exhausted...they deserve better.