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Published: October 23rd 2009
Hello again everyone!!!
I LOVEEEEEE getting your comments! Thank you so much everyone!!!
Brittney and I have discovered a great time saver for updating our blogs...we are going to pre-type our entrys at home while the computer is plugged in, and then we will come here to "Junction" to just copy and paste the entry in!
Here's what I wrote earlier today...
Hello again everyone! We have just about completed our first week as volunteers! On Tuesday we did our first home visit. It was about a 40 minute walk with Kilonzi. The lady we visited has 4 children of her own and has adopted 2 orphans now (one is her niece.) Her sister died about 2 months ago, and her 12 year old neice had no one else to take care of her. This woman cannot find work because she is HIV positive. Her 13 year old daughter is quite smart and does very well in school, and is also HIV positive. She adopted the one young girl, because very shortly after she was born her mother died. This little girl is also positive and has been talking about 4 or 5 pills everyday for her entire life.
If they can keep up with her drugs, they have been told she may become negative.
On Wednesday we visited the Kibera slum. It was certainly something to see! Apparently nobody knows exactly how many people live in Kibera, it’s anywhere from 500,000 to a million. We went because one of the ladies we met on Monday has to travel there to get her drugs once every 3 months. The drugs are free here for people living with HIV, however the cost to get there can sometimes be too much for these women. We took a matatu with this lady and Kilonzi and then walked for about an hour. She says she has never missed an appointment, which is quite amazing considering how much walking is involved especially on a day when she is not feeling well. It actually ended up being a great tour of Kibera because we had a local guide! We stopped and visited quite a few of Judy’s friends, and got to go inside their homes and talk to them briefly. Try to imagine the worst living conditions possible…and double it. That is what these homes were like. Yet the children are always so excited and
happy and playing.
In the afternoon we went to Junction (the very little mall) and used the computer a little bit. However, we couldn’t do much because the coffee shop people told us we weren’t allowed to plug in our lap top. We’re pretty sure there’s a bit of a double standard around here though, since yesterday we walked by and a couple people had lap tops plugged in. We also experience a double standard in the Matatus because we are charged a higher rate. Most people pay 10 shillings for a ride, Brittney and I pay 20 or 30….
Yesterday we went up to one of the local schools, which was really awesome! The kids were really good! Brittney taught a grade 5 class, and I taught a grade 6 class. First we taught English. My class was learning about prepositions and punctuation. After break, we taught “social” which is basically geography. They were learning about “Early Visitors to Eastern Africa” so we talked about traders, explorers and missionaries. However, as the kids got more comfortable with me, they really only wanted to hear about Canada. They wanted me to speak French to them (which didn’t go very well…but
they don’t really know that lol) and learn about Canada’s past.
Yesterday afternoon we went BACK to Junction, because we needed to get some groceries. Brittney and I decided we were going to cook for Margaret and Maggie a Canadian meal. We made Chicken cooked in BBQ sauce, garlic bread, roasted potatoes (momma’s recipe) and some mixed veggies. They loved it! Maggie went crazy about the roasted potatoes, so since there’s extras I’m going to teach her how to make them this weekend.
Today we did a whole bunch of home visits. These home visits went very well. The ladies are always so happy to see us! We don’t even have to talk about anything in particular, they just seem to enjoy our company. They are sad we are only going to be here another 2 weeks. It was actually quite a good morning. This afternoon we are going back to junction (yet again…) to post this on our blogs, and hopefully upload some pictures! We are also planning to buy some materials to make a food chart to teach the kids about proper nutrition.
Overall everything is going pretty well, other than we still stand out like sore-thumbs when
we walk just about anywhere (except maybe for Junction) because we are white. Its so weird, it almost feels like we are celebrities, but not quite, because sometimes the attention is bad (aka people assuming we are rich because we are white, and therefore we are at a much greater risk of being mugged). We just take lots of safety precautions, like not carrying a purse (yes mom…I’m getting lots of use out of my money belt) and not wearing jewelry. Health-wise I’m good. We are getting pretty sick of the food though (which is partially why we decided to cook a meal and give Maggie a break). And since exercise is not really an option here (for safety reasons) I have started stretching every morning, and actually I feel a bit better!! The weather is still quite rainy and over-cast almost all the time, although when we were walking in Kibera the sun came out a bit and I finally got a little bit of colour on my face
Well that’s pretty much all for now!!
Tomorrow, we are hoping to go to the Massai market! And dont worry....we arent bringing our cameras! just to be safe...
Hope
everyone is good at home!! Miss you all!
-Denise
I just figured out how to add photos so check those out!!!!
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Dad
non-member comment
amazing pictures
Hi Denise Thanks for posting again, and for including pictures. I think there are quite a few folks "back home" that are following your blog and Brittany's blog. The pictures really add to the postings, both of which are going to serve as a great trip diary for you. Glad to hear Maggie enjoyed some "Canadian Food", that was really nice of you and Britt to do that. There was snow north of Belleville this morning but none here in town. Lisa's microwave, broke, Evan had a good trip with me out to Dalhousie this week, Mom"s new job is challenging but okay and I'm just doing what I do. When you compare our family to those you are visiting, quite a contrast eh? Keep up the good work - Hakunna Love Dad