What a week it has been! Monday was my last day in Washington until November and right now it feels like ages ago. Since then I have traveled over 20 hours by plane and find myself immersed in a new culture on a new continent. Now that I am in Kenya I can’t believe what I have chosen to do. Somebody should have told me I was CRAZY! Just Kidding!!!! I think that I will fall in love with this place. I am living with a wonderful host mother Elizabeth, and her 19 yr old grandson Collins. It is really nice to have a teenager to talk to and ask about things. He also has a pretty good taste in music so we have talked, and listened to a lot of good music together. My host mother is very kind and has cooked very good meals so far. Finger food is common here so I am becoming more comfortable having sticky fingers after most meals. Meals typically consist of rice or ugali (a sticky corn flour cake) and a meat dish. Life at the house is very enjoyable and I have finally started to get accustomed to the time change.
Getting around town has been a very interesting experience. The common means of travel if you don’t have a car (which I would not think to drive) is in a Matatu. These are old Nissan 12 person vans that run constantly and are crammed with people that just holler when they want to get on or off. Typically you barter with the conductor for the cost of your ride, and apparently if you are the only white person on them the drunks like to hassle you. That was my experience yesterday, but all I could understand the man was saying was Obama, who is very popular here, this being his home country. I have taken a couple trips in Matatus on my own now and am getting more used to them. I am just glad the conductors tap you on your shoulder when its your stop, otherwise I would probably be writing this blog from the back of one.
Last Friday I went to the Hamomi school for the first time. The walk there was a walk I will never forget, when I saw what the shopping center outside of a slum consists of, and saw first-hand how the people here live. If you have seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire you should have an idea of what a slum sort of looks like. There are open air shacks lining the streets, and vendors with all sorts of goods for purchase. I think I saw everything, including the kitchen sink, on the one street. I have not gone inside any homes in a slum yet, but I am sure I will at some point. The Hamomi school sort or prepared me for being completely shocked when I do get that opportunity. The classroom buildings are made of patches of old tin roof, and the rooms are no bigger than a 12 by 12 slab. That really isn’t the important thing though because great things are going on at that school. The children are all very excited to learn, and enthusiastic to be at school. The school is run by an extremely kind man by the name of Masumba. The teachers are ALL volunteers and are there because they want to be. It is definitely not an ideal environment for anyone, but everyone, student and teachers together make the best of it every day and are appreciative of everything they have. We brought donations that day and it was wonderful seeing the excitement of the kids as they received a new t-shirt or pair of shoes. Some even got sunglasses, which was super exciting for them. Once a pair was given out it was shared among all the kids which I thought was very cool and no one was selfish about what they were getting. After being introduced to all of the classes and meeting all the teachers we discussed what I will be doing while I am there. It looks as if I have taken on a job as a math and PE teacher! I am SUPER excited to take on the challenge of teaching the kids math, and introducing them to Frisbee and hackysack games during PE. I start Monday morning and will have an update of how things are going very soon hopefully.
For now I want you all to know that I am doing very well, haven’t even gotten a stomach ache (knock on wood) and am starting to get more sleep at night. I will have another update soon, and hope you are reading this in good health and with high spirits.
No comments:
Post a Comment