Movie Night - NOT

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Charles met us at our hotel at 8 (well actually it was 8:15 - it’s African time you know) so we could take a matatu to the nearest town, Busia, for a few things. I was excited to ride in one of these wild minivans. They squish you in, usually drive with the side door open and people hanging out, but it’s super cheap and pretty quick to get things. We ended up negotiating a deal with a taxi driver. Okay, so we won’t be squished at least. We got our bus tickets back to Nairobi on Sunday, stopped at the bookstore for some minor office supplies, the market to get some DVD movies for the kids to watch, found a couple CDs of some local musicians that Heather and I wanted to try out. Things were going great, until we said the last stop we needed was a wine/spirit store for some wine for our up-coming safari. The driver asked Todd, “is freedom not enough for you??” as we drove looking for a store. He was pretty cynical on the way to Busia, talking about politics and corruption in Kenya, but we didn’t think he’d be so bold, especially for a Kenyan. We weren’t sure if he had a political beef with us, or if it was a religious comment or what. But when we got back from buying a couple of very dust bottles, he then wanted to renegotiate our fare (there are no meters here, it’s all negotiation before you accept the ride) because he’d had to ‘wait’ for us - he knew we had several stops to make, and we’d only taken about an hour to do everything. Todd was very straight with him and said we’d be happy to take a matatu back if he was upset with us. They finally came to an agreement, but it was a very quiet 15 minutes back to Bumala.

We got up the school by about 11. Heather and I blew up balloons and strung them together, finished hanging the artwork that had fallen down overnight, etc. Then we remembered that we had some shoes to give out to the kids. So just as lunch was arriving, Charles started bringing in the older kids in pairs to try on shoes. We matched up 27 pairs of the 34 pairs we’d gotten on Wednesday with kids. Charles is picking up the rest on Monday, and exchanging the other pairs we had that were too big. The kids were so happy to see their new shoes. Then we had a pile of uniforms to hand out to kids who desperately needed new ones. The tailoring class had sewn up 8 girls dresses and 8 boys shirts in the last 3 days. We got pictures, and then we sent them off so we could eat our cold rice and millet.

When we had gotten to the school, there was no power. Oh yeah, this Friday was Energy Conservation Day!! We’ve been talking about showing a movie all week, and nobody remembered that there would be no power. Typical Africa. This also meant that I couldn’t set up the computers on a network and get them connected to internet. Oh well, I guess I’d have to forego the third project I thought I could do (bunk beds, Dr. Opondo and now computers). So our afternoon was now completely free. Charles and Todd were a little busy with the construction crew working on the new latrines, we’re expanding from 5 stalls to 17!! They started the foundation today. The electrician came to fix a couple sockets that weren’t working, but of course couldn’t because there was no electricity.

Todd and Charles had talked about meditation earlier in the week, so they and Heather thought they’d do a session in the afternoon. I wasn’t into this, so I held my own ‘meditation’ session in the dorm room with all the mattresses we’d bought for the bunkbeds. I love falling asleep to the sounds of children.

By 4pm, we were all refreshed, and it was time for a ‘football’ (soccer) game against the neighboring primary school. We had a girls team and a boys team of the older kids. A few volunteers that work at Scona High came in July/August and brought some old school uniforms. They’re still in mint condition, and our kids look great in them. The next-door school has a huge field, it must be regulation size, and the kids used the whole thing. Again, I was amazed they could play so hard in the heat of the day, without any water breaks. I was melting after only 15 minutes. I could also hear drumming coming from our school, so I headed back after the girls were done their game. When I got back, the dancers that weren’t on the soccer team were practicing. Heather and I got grass skirts too and danced for 10 minutes before we were too exhausted, and then sat and continued to watch them for another 20-30 minutes. Charles’ son Fulton, who’s 3 years old, was right in there playing on the drums too. He’s so adorable. Once Todd returned with the soccer teams, who’d both lost (although they were playing against kids that were a couple years older), we headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow is the community celebration. It’s going to be a long, tiring day, and we need some quiet time. The teachers are staying at the school all night and cooking all the meat and rice and ugali that will be needed for the expected 1000 people. I don’t envy them at all.

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