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.