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Published: October 19th 2009
Hello again everyone!
Thanks so much for the comments! I love reading them. (as you can imagine) things are quite different here and it is really nice to hear from home!
I will start with Saturday -
Saturday was wedding day! Pastor Margaret (our host mom)'s nephew was getting married. A Kenyan wedding is a VERY BIG DEAL! Brittney and I were so excited we were able to take part in the event. It is basically an all day event. The ENTIRE community attends! It was really cool...lots of singing and dancing! The church ceremony went until about 1:00 and then we all went to the reception. Everyone was fed and the speeches and gifts were next. There was more singing and dancing...and then MORE singing and dancing! It was great.
Afterwards when we were walking home, Brittney and I learned a very important lesson. We were both in 'picture taking mode' from the wedding, and stopped to take a picture of a Massai man and his cattle. He came right over and demanded money. At first we didn't understand what was going on...but he very soon became angry and a little agressive. He wouldn't let us leave. It was really quite scary, especially considering we couldn't understand what he was saying. It all ended ok once some of the people from the church caught up and told him we weren't going to pay (we didn't even have any money on us, but afterwards we learned that even if we did....it wouldn't have been enough). Apparently he was demanding we give him our cameras. Anyways...after about half an hour our heart rates finally came back down!
Since then we have not even taken our cameras out at all!! lol
Yesterday Brittney and I mastered the "matatus" all by ourselves!! There was not much going on, and we were just playing crazy 8's at the house, when Angelina, another volunteer returned home. She has finished her placement and was in Mombassa visiting for a week. She was excellent to learn from! She had some great tips about how to avoid being pick-pocketed etc. We learned where is and is not safe to walk and things like that! So...with her knowledge, we decided to take the Matatu (crazy...extremely packed...LOUD...little bus) to the Nakumatt Junction (the little mall near Lenana.
We spent a couple of hours there, checking out what all they have. I bought a huge loaf of bread and a thing of jam for the house, since Brittney and I seem to go through it faster than the others.
So we felt pretty proud of ourselves for getting out on our own. It went very smoothly other than the Matatu forgot to stop at our stop, so we had a bit of a walk once we realized we had gone by it...but no big deal.
Today was very exciting. We started our placement! We met Kilonze (the program organizer) at 9:00 at the Office and then we spent our first hour at the town nursury. This is where kids can go before they are old enough to go to school. Two women volunteer and are the teachers here. There was close to 50 kids there. First I was with the young kids, and they were learning the numbers 1 through 20 in English. The older kids in the next room are learning sounds and how to read. They were also doing some adding and subtracting. I marked their work for them, and they LOVE high-fives when they get them right. I read a couple of Dr. Zuess stories to the little kids and they loved it. I'm not sure if they completely understood everything I was saying...but they were going crazy laughing and jumping around!
After about an hour to an hour and a half Kilonze picked us up and we walked back to the office. There were 4 women there. These are some of the women we will be doing home visits with. They each shared their stories and we shared ours. It was really hard to hear what these women go through every single day. Each of them were HIV positive, and have been left by their husbands (either by death or them leaving) with anywhere from 3-6 children. One woman was fired from her job when she disclosed her HIV status. No one will give these women work, and it is a struggle every single day for them to be able to provide for themselves and their kids. They are given their medication, but need food with the medication, which is very rare.
They each explained other struggles. Women are much more impacted by this disease, however their outlooks are amazing. They are all so positive and religious. They explain poverty and HIV/AIDS as somthing they are passing through. They are so optimistic for a better future, even though there are so many problems that are all contributing to one another.
After that, we worked out a schedule of when we will visit these women and then went to the nearby school. It was unbelievable. The buildings were literally shacks. But all the kids love school so much! It's quite impressive! The principal took us around to each classroom and introduced us, and explained that we will be helping out with teaching as much as we can. I am really excited for this. I think I will enjoy the home-visits, but they are also very tough. They are draining, and quite depressing. The kids are hilarious and love to laugh. They are SO short on supplies though...so we will have to figure out how we are going to split up the materials we brought with us to donate.
Right now Myself, Brittney, Angelina and Maggie have taken a Matatu here, the closest internet cafe. We are on our way to the movie theatre. Monday's is the cheap day, and for 700 shillings (about 8 dollars) you get to see a movie, get a hot dog, chocolate bar, popcorn and drink! So we have decided to treat Maggie to a movie.
Tomorrow we have more time with the pre-school kids planned and then home visits with Kilonze. The women really appreciate being listened to, so I think that is our main purpose, as well as giving them as much information as we can. On Wednesday we are going to go to the Kiberia Slum. I believe it is the largest slum in the world. We are going with Judy, one of the women we met today, to go to the HIV clinic with her. Thursday we are going to spend at the school. And Friday more home visits.
It has only been one day of work, and it is already not easy. I will elaborate more as I learn more!
Today it actually hasn't rained too much which is nice, but it's SO muddy. Luckily Margaret and Maggie have a nice collection of rubber boots we were able to borrow.
Anyways...it's almost movie time and we need to get going!!
Hakuna Matata!
-Denise
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Dennis T
non-member comment
be careful!
Mark shared the site with me. Do not feel obligated to respond, I will just follow your trials and tribulations. But most of all, be careful. Like Cat Stevens once said "Baby baby its a wild world..." My best advice as to your "depressing" feelings in regards to the home visits, is to give it time. My comparable experience was with severely and profoundly handicapped kids often led me to feeling depressed and exhausted from the stress. After awhile, you will begin to see and focus on the people involved, and subsequently what has to be done, and what you can do to make things better. Your a smart girl so it will not take you long at all. You will learn their personalities, and begin to see them more as people rather than seeing their problems and/or ailments. BUT PLEASE! Don't venture out into the unknown. Make sure you ask someone first. That first day experience I guess taught you a good lesson, and as it turned out, a cheap one. God Bless Ya! Deno