Kenya 5

November 26, 2008

Today was another incredible day of class. The students are learning the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and making up movements to go with it. We gave our students an assignment to tell us a struggle they had and then follow it with the words, “And still I rise.” One small boy got up in front of the class and said, “Last night I looked for dinner, but didn’t get any. I went to bed hungry, but still I rise!” We found out later that the boy hadn’t eaten since we gave him lunch the day before, so Dorette and Said took him outside the classroom and gave him some food. The boy came back to class very excited and active and thanked Dorette several times. When we read the students’ journals we found that several talked about going without food and not being able to study. I told Brenda, one of the local teachers, that although some children in the US go to bed hungry, most actually overeat and would not be able to relate to that at all.

I also talked to Brenda about the possibility of sponsoring one of the children. I have been to Mathare. I have met these children. I would much rather help one of these kids then to get a child I have never met or seen their environment.

I went back to Andrew’s familiy’s house and his mother gave me many things to take back to him and his sister. In addition, she went to the Masai market yesterday and bought me jewelry for my family and t-shirts for me. The hospitality is incredible here. Celmali and Carl and I noticed that, unless there is a special occasion, Americans don’t know how to receive gifts.

Kenya 4

November 25, 2008

Today, I woke at 5am hot and with a mosquito in my ear. Since I could not sleep, I made a cup of tea and enjoyed the silence. Most of our kids came back today and we also got six more girls for our class. Duncan was not able to make it, and I am hoping we see him again tomorrow. Our class went very well, but we have a lot of work to do between now and Friday. I am impressed with the hope that exists in children who live in such conditions. I also love the fact that they see the things in their area that need to change and they want to be the change agents.

After class, we took a walk around the Mathare Valley. I am pretty sure this is worse than Dharvi slums in Mumbai. The river that runs through the valley is extremely contaminated with human waste and garbage. Small business are everywhere in the Valley. Some make chipati, some make beer, and others fry French fries or dry maize. This seems to be the only was people are able to make money. Most of the houses were made out of scrap metal or dung. The smell is almost unbearable and the filth is incredible. Any churches in the valley are locked up and have fences around them. We were told that the churches will not work together and that some won’t allow people to come to the church unless they are wearing suits and dresses.

Mathare is a place that is dirty and ugly. Mathare’s people are the most beautiful people I have seen. The children are smart, eager, gorgeous, and I fear for them. No one should live like this. With so many Christians in the world and so much wealth owned by those Christians, there is no reason there should even be a place called Mathere…..at least not one that looks like this. These people are children of God just as I am. They are entitled to the same rights as I have. As Christians, we should be fighting for these people and making their lives more just. I was shocked and saddened by the lack of the church’s existence in the valley.

I thought a lot about the verses in the Bible that speak about helping the poor, the last will be first, and the poor will inherit the earth. I wonder how those verses apply to the people of Mathare. As I write this, I am watching the news talk about an additional 800 billion dollars that is about to be put back into the economy. I wonder what that much money could do for places like Mathare.

After we walked through the valley, I slept for three hours, got up and ate dinner, and then went out with Pat, Dr. Corbitt, Dorette, and Carl to Fairview for coconut sorbet and beer☺ There isn’t enough time to wrap up a day like this.

Kenya 3

24th
Today was day one at the school and the first day I went to visit my Friend’s parents. When we arrived at the school, we found out that we would have three Kenyan teachers with us for class. Brenda is a drama teacher at a local church, Said is a musician, and Godfrey is a photographer. We have 16 students who are beautiful and wonderful! These kids are so eager to learn and begin listening right away. Today, we worked on acting out the poem, Still I Rise by Maya Angelou and worked on movement and mirroring. Our metaphor today was that Theatre is like a mirror of our lives because it tells the story of life like a mirror tells the story of our face. The children began telling their stories by telling us things they have seen or been through in life.

After class, we went to David’s family’s café to eat native food. We had Chapatis, greens, corn, and beans. Everything was delicious!! We then went quickly from poverty to wealth, going to the YAYA center, an upscale mall.

At night, Andrew’s dad came to pick me up and have me over for dinner. I was able to see Andrew’s house, and meet his cousins and brother. For the most part I spoke with his mom and dad and barely spoke to the children at all. I was treated like a queen here and they served me a generous dinner and even brought me water and a basin to wash my hands for dinner. We had a wonderful conversation about politics, global concerns, and mostly, Obama. Andrew’s dad says that Americans have got to got back to the basics. Here, I understand what the basics are and I like them. The room is simple, the food is simple, the life, in ways, is simple, and all is good. How is it that I survive on so little here, yet need so many more amenities at home? He said the world is a small village and is the US sneezes, the whole world has a cold. This is why they watch our economy and life very carefully. I never thought of 9/11 affecting them very much, but he said, that hurt everyone, not just the US. I think that when missionaries “brought the gospel to the world,” they only focused on saving souls instead of changing lives. Along with Christianity came corruption and the people here see that. How we have failed Christ. Perhaps it is those people who we were out to “save” who will eventually have to save us. Though no one is perfect and corruption in general is bad here, there is so much we can learn from the sense of community, strong family values, and basic respect for others that Kenyan people share.

Coming back to my hotel, I had “a moment,” and watched Novelas with Carl. Then, Dorette and I brainstormed about class tomorrow. We are both excited about our plans for the day. I am extremely gassy and have a rash on my face and chest. I am hoping this is something that will easily go away…

Barack Obama is like a god here.

Kenya Day 2

23rd

Today we got to go to our site and meet the teachers we will be working with. Mathare Valley is one of the worst and largest slums in Africa. Of all the children we are working with, 30-40% are sexually abused, 70-80% have witnessed violence that led to death, 75-80% have HIV, 25% are children of prostitutes, 90-100% are beaten by their parents as a means for correction, and many are victims of incest. Common in their life are gang fights, fires, Marijuana, alcohol abuse, and sniffing. Most of these children are living in homes with one parent and often have to do the cooking and care for their younger siblings.

These facts were overwhelming to me. It is sad enough just to see how they are living, but to think about the trauma they have experienced in their lives at such a young age, it is easy to understand why it may be hard for them to grasp the concept of hope. How can I, an American who has grown up with three meals a day, two parents, a large clean house, good education, and clean clothes, ask them to have hope? My initial response is to just scoop them all up and take them home with me. But how can I assume that they would want that? Mathare is all they have ever known and I could not remove their past just from removing them from Mathare. If there is a way I could give just one of these beautiful children hope and the motivation to be better than what the world is telling them they are, then this whole trip is worth it.

My day closed with Vicki, Dr. Corbitt, Dorette, and I going to the Fairview Hotel for drinks to celebrate my birthday. After that, Carl, Celmali, Dorette, Liberty, and I prepared our lessons for the huge task we have ahead of us.

Kenya Day 1

November 22nd
I started my 31st birthday in the Amsterdam airport sitting in a retro overly priced McDonalds sipping on a fruit smoothie. Here, I did school work nearly 4,000 from my school! In the airport, I noticed and took comfort in the simplicity and cleanliness of the Netherlands. It made me resent my cluttered America. On my flight from Amsterdam I sat with a woman from Georgia who was headed on Safari in Kenya and a woman from Ottawa who was headed to Uganda. Though we were all from The US, our English dialects contrasted beautifully.

I enjoy international travel. You get free alcohol, a wide selection of movies with your own screen, and food is delivered almost every 45 minutes or so. For the most part, I slept, ate, drank, and felt a little infantile. The flight attendant would wake me up each time she had food, I would get up and eat it and go right back to bed. This lasted all 9 hours of our flight.

Arriving in Kenya was incredible. The warm air hit my face and it smelled fresh. Getting a VISA took forever, but customs didn’t even open my bag and I got swiftly through the doors. A very pleasant man named Boniface came to pick us up in a stretch Land Rover and we were on our way. Like my trip to India, we arrived at night, so there wasn’t much to see. However, as we turned to go up the hill to our Hostel, we got a flat tire. Boniface tried to get someone to come pick us up, but ended up driving us the rest of the way with the flat.

Later I learned that he had to get us to the hotel so that thieves didn’t come and take all of our stuff. Our Hostel is nice. Simple and clean. I am totally beat and not very creative right now, so I will write more tomorrow.

Kenya Journal

Nov. 21-22

As I packed my car to leave for Kenya, a hard snow fell. I worked diligently to scrape my car and then started on my journey form winter wonderland to sunny Kenya. I drove to Philadelphia, met up with Vickie and Carl and drove to Newark. Here, we met Dorette and boarded our plane to Amsterdam. After only a few hours of sleep, I was too tired to be excited. I felt like I was just going through the motions and none of it was real. I have wanted to come to Africa for as long as I can remember. Now, at 31, I was finally doing it. Not only was I going to Africa, I was going as an Artist teacher. I am not sure it could get any closer to what I consider a dream. To be honest, I am a little sad that I will not be at home to celebrate my birthday or Thanksgiving, but I also know that I need to be willing to make sacrifices if I am going to do mission work. There are people who say they want to go to Africa or India, or somewhere else in the world to do mission work and there are people who do it. I used to be someone who just talked about it. Then, I realized that I must work hard and make sacrifices if I was actually going to do it.