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!