haraka haraka haina baraka

"Hurry, hurry, has no blessings."

This phrase was shared with Gala and I by our piki piki driver yesterday. In the attempt to stray from the cliche, I didn't want it to find any significance for my life in Kenya. But it does.

Life here in Kenya is slow.
(In the absolute best way possible.)

Each morning my eyes open to the sound of children singing or playing directly outside our window. The sun is already shining and our wake up call alarm usually sounds not too long after. (If it's a good day we might be able to get one good snooze in there, Lord knows how much I love that snooze button.)





From my bottom bunk I unsuccessfully attempt to gracefully crawl out of my mosquito net and immediately put my shoes on. (You gotta keep your feet clean when you can!)
If there are two things I've learned, they're that wetting your toothbrush more than once is a luxury, not a necessity, and that it is possible to live without running water. You just do.

In the mornings I usually like to steal a briefly unnoticed glimpse of the action outside. (Directly across from our 'house' is the dining hall/art and nursery room/multipurpose space, and it's always crawling with children.) The kids have been up for a few hours and have scoured the trash heap for anything resembling toys and are busy playing away.

I'm usually spotted by one of the few kids who waits outside our door for us to wake up, and we exchange smiles as they giggle at my teddy bear pajama bottoms. 
Put some toast in the toaster, get dressed in clothes that I probably wore yesterday, and make sure I've got a headband on and I'm ready for the day. (Sharing a small mirror with Paulie D and J Woww is always an entertaining experience.) I make sure to take that darn malaria tablet with a breakfast of toast and peanut butter (we found some Skippy!) and drink what feels like a gallon of water to prevent feeling sick the rest of the day.  

After ringing the bell we all head to classes. I'm usually greeted by a few of the nursery kids with hugs around the knees and tickles and giggles. Teaching Math and English is a dream. I've finally learned how to speak slowly and clearly enough that they can understand me, and we've even managed to make a few inside jokes in Classes 3 and 4. I have pretty much complete say in what I teach (from a skeleton curriculum, obviously) and we have a blast. 

After homework time and a small break it's back out to play with kids. We've been getting creative the last few weeks with play time. We've graduated from water bottle volleyball to soccer ball volleyball, Teacher Chloe has fashioned a swing out of some rope, and even Scuba Ruth came to visit.

It's not just rained, but poured around 5 or 6 the past few days, and the first day I was in an intense round of volleyball peppering with Richie, our Kenyan coordinator's son. While the rest of the children bolted inside at the first drop of rain, Richie and continued to play until the rain made the soccerball to heavy to bounce. I was already sopping so I decided to get my shampoo and take advantage of the "running water." It was simply glorious. The next day around the same time we were greeted with another thunder storm, and the rest of the teachers decided to put on a friendly volleyball game for the kids, watching from the dry dining hall. Dripping would be an understatement, but absolutely worth it!

 

This might seem like a lot, but settling into our routine was fairly easy and quick. I love life here at Mama's. I wrote in my journal the other night about how important the relationships that I'm making here are. The opportunity to learn and gain practical teaching experience on top of all that is extremely unique! 

There are too many kids that I want to update you on a tell you about here, but I will tell you that Boi is adjusting to life here at Mama's very well. He now even responds to "How are you?" with a soft, quiet "I am fine" with a smile. 

We've had a few older girls dropped off, one a week before we came and one just 2 days ago. They are both 12 years old, absolutely gorgeous, and extremely quiet. We've been told that they've both suffered from physical abuse before they've come here, and I have such a burden for them to feel loved and accepted! They need to know the all-encompassing love of Jesus. (Nothing sweet Eunice can't help me with :) ). If you could keep Whinny and Rebecca in your prayers this week, I would greatly appreciate it!

I am not looking forward to leaving, even if it does mean I can actually drink the milk and get some ChicfilA on demand upon my return. 

I hope to write sooner than later, and hopefully my next video will be better than this one! I got a lot of video of a dance party the other night, so stay tuned! Much love ya'll!

habari

  

Hello to my faithful friends and family! Things are well here at Mama Orphan's as we finally have power and internet again! I'm pretty sure we didn't go much longer than 24 hours without either, but on top of not having running water we have felt pretty disconnected from the real world. (Not being able to make toast was probably my highest complaint, but other than that we made do quite nicely :) ). I also haven't had any issues with taking my medicine, so thanks for the prayers and happy thoughts!


As we are nearing the end of week 2, we are finding our routines for the week and settling into teaching. I have been really loving getting to know my Standards 3 and 4 Math classes, as well as learning how to get them excited about math! We are finishing up a unit on money in Standard 4, so we made our own currency (I keep saying dollars instead of shillings!) and had a little store today! They really enjoyed it I think, most of them never having had the opportunity to make a purchase in their lives. We might have to make a field trip to the YakoMart, our local grocery/everything store, but for now JoHannahMart will have to do.

As for teaching English, well, we're getting there.

Last weekend we rented a car and drove to the Kakamega Rainforest! It was a good first outing for us, and I got to drive! I don't consider myself the best driver, and I have no idea what the stipulations are for getting a Kenya drivers license, but nobody died! We did a lot of hiking and learned a lot about trees and plants in the rainforest, as well as saw a lot of monkeys and baboons! We got quite close to a huge baboon, it was a weird/awesome experience. We also stopped at the Kakamega YakoMart and found American peanut butter and ketchup! (It's the little things, guys!)

Today I had my first experience washing my laundry by hand, and I don't think I was too bad at it. (I'd like to thank my grandmother for the previous experience...) All of these things (hand washing laundry, bucket showering, brushing teeth from a water bottle, etc.) haven't been too difficult to adapt to, but make the thought of throwing a load into a washing machine or turning on the tap to brush my teeth or take a shower (showers can be warm?) seem like things that only happen in movies... it's a good thing I'm used to keeping my showers few and far between!

Eunice and I are somewhat progressing in Swahili... make that not really at all actually. We've ditched the studying the last few days and taken up some more enjoyable activities, such as reading and telling stories, basically just laughing a lot. She has promised to take me to the best market stand in the neighbourhood so I can buy an avocado tomorrow, she tells me they're the best! She is in Standard 5 she goes to school everyday, leaving nightly study sessions the only time we hang out. The Standard 4s have noticed that we have become friends, and one student asked if I like Eunice more than tomato sauce. I suppose you could say that I do.

Last story! There has been a few new kids introduced to the orphanage since we have been here, the most recent is a child who was found in Uganda. He is probably about 5 or 6, but only speaks Ugandan. My heart was broken the first time I saw him, so scared, not knowing anyone or having anyone to communicate with very effectively. He was extremely cautious of us, the wuzungus (white people), as most kids here are at first anyway. Yesterday there was no power (as there often isn't), so the kids so lovingly coaxed (more like yelled "Teacha! Teacha!" at us from the window) us into helping them up the stairs and to tucking them in using our head-lamps at bed time. It was mild chaos (the best kind), as we had never seen the children's dormitories even in the light. Once we had most of the crazies rounded up into bed, I felt a small hand take mine. It was the new boy. In all the hustle and bustle of making dinner and getting to bed without power, he was never told what to do. He was never given a bed. (I haven't yet been that close to crying the whole time I've been there.)
Not knowing who to ask (the kids are all kind of on their own most of the time, and the care takers are usually tending to the little babies, cleaning up after supper, etc.), I found Eunice. She grabbed the boys other hand and we attempted to calmly assure him we would take care of him, though he had no idea what was going on either I'm sure. We went back upstairs and Eunice, talking with a few other older kids, found him a bed with a blanket and everything. I bent down to tuck him in, and his huge black eyes showed no emotion as I attempted to sound calm and comforting. Searching his eyes for something (anything!) that would tell me he was alright, I kissed his forehead and it happened. He giggled. I smiled (and might have shed a tear), and kissed him again and again until he, giggling and giggling, seemed calm and somewhat happy. By that time the room was mostly quiet and we slipped out, bidding our babies sweet dreams.
(Today I learned that this boy is to affectionately be called 'Boi'. I'll post a picture soon!)

The long term effects of me being here are so blatantly obviously for me. I have struggled with this a bit, wondering if completely opening up and pouring out will benefit anyone, knowing that I will be leaving in 4 short weeks. I do know, however, that my God is sovereign, and I am here for a reason. (Sorry that was cheesy, I don't know how else to say it!) I am already so grateful for this experience, and am excited to see what the next 4 weeks hold.

I miss you, I love you, but it's bed time here in Busia! Lala salama! (Sleep well!)

asante sana

Our first week at Mama's is coming to a close! We have said that we can't decide if it feels like we've been here for ages or since it's so new everyday, it seems like everyday is just as new and exciting as the last.

I don't think I can quite put into words how much this opportunity overwhelms me. Teaching in Africa is something I've hoped and dreamed of my whole life! I have been so flooded with amazement every teaching session I've had so far. God is so good.

I've had a bad bout with some intense sickness the last few days. (Darn you, doxycycline!) I have never been more thankful for fever-reducing and pain killing medications! Thank you to everyone who's prayed for me, I finally have been able to eat food other than crackers and haven't had a bad visit to the bathroom in awhile.

We've had our first rain experience today!   We haven't had running water since our first night and have had trouble getting ahold of a plumber, so God sent us a nice downpour instead. No complaints from me about bucket showers, after being sick it's made me feel like a new person! 

The way it works here is we all teach our subjects throughout the day to children that are nursery age to Standard 4 (about 12 years old). The rest of the older children go out to schools in the area. Since it is a registered orphanage some of the older kid's schooling is payed for by the government, and others are on sponsorship from donors mostly in the UK. In the evening the students have required homework time, which we help out with and do specialized tutoring sessions.

This is Eunice. She was dreadfully shy to us (me) on the first few days, running and hiding whenever we would speak to her! It took her a few days but she's warmed up to us, and she helps us out a lot translating for the younger kids. In exchange for some math tutoring, Eunice, along with some other girls, have been working on Swahili with me! They laugh at me a lot, but I'll get there.

I wish so badly that so many of you could be here. There's always a baby to hold, some cheeky 4th years to play empty-water-bottle-volleyball with (that is, volleyball with anything from the garbage heap), someone who wants to braid your hair, or even just someone who wants their hand held. I am so grateful to be experiencing this, and appreciate all the love and support from back home! Cheers for now, much love, and asante sana! 

nakupenda

I Well, safe to say we're in Kenya! The journey here was, to put simply, LONG. (4 flights lasting 20 hours total!)

But praise be, we've made it. The team of teachers I've been teamed with is a really great group of girls coming from England, Wales, Scotland, and Cyprus!  I'm learning a lot about the UK, as well as beautiful Kenya.

We arrived to learn that our project coordinator has malaria, pretty badly too. She's had a quick recovery after an overnight at the hospital, but will need a few days and a shower (if the water ever comes back on!) to feel 100%. 

I'll have to keep this short before the Wifi cuts out again, but here's a few pics and hopefully I'll get a video posted here soon! Thanks for your prayers, they're greatly appreciated! Nakupenda! (I love you!) 

"I don't want an adventure of a lifetime, I want a lifetime of adventure."

Im laying on the floor of my bedroom.

God is one crazy awesome guy. 

Thinking of all the places I've been, people I've met, and life I've been able to enjoy (even in just this last year!) makes me laugh... so stinkin amazing!

My next adventure starts in a few hours. (Technically it started about 6 months ago, or maybe even a few summers ago, or maybe the day I was born, but let's not get too technical here.)

There are a whole lot of things going on inside me that words can't exactly explain, but a few things I do know:

-If you're reading this, I'm grateful for you. God totally rocked my world when I asked for His providence for this trip, and He used so many of you to do so. Thank you is not a strong enough phrase.

-I need prayer. Looking back I see that the only way I've gotten where I am at this exact moment is because of it. I am learning what it looks like to deny myself so I can show Jesus. I am learning that nothing worth having comes without hard work. I am learning that I have a lot to learn. 

-I am an extremely mediocre writer. (And that's putting things modestly.) Thank you for bearing with me as I attempt to chronicle this crazy adventure. I promise I will let the pictures do the talking eventually. 

So whatever this Eat Pray Love meets Jesus Calling adventure holds, let's do this. Holla Jesus, we're listening!