Holiday In Zanzibar

Zanzibar was amazing! Extremely hot, but amazing! For those who don't know, Zanzibar is an island that is part of Tanzania. I went with one of the other girls in the program and then met up with a small group of more students in the MSID program later. We rode a bus from Nairobi to Mombasa and then flew from there to Zanzibar. As we landed, I could see tons of palm trees and beaches with clear aqua water, I knew it was going to be a great vacation! The first day, Emily and I walked around Stone Town, which has many old buildings. The architecture was really interesting-it's a mixture of African and Arab influences. That night, we stayed at St, Monica's hostel which was the site of a slave market. In the basement of the building we were in, were chambers that slaves were kept in, and a cathedral near that building stands where the slave market used to be. We got to take a tour for free since we stayed there. The chambers were very small with only one very small window-not much ventilation at all-it reminded me of what a cellar looks like and 75 men were crammed into one of the chambers while 50 women and children were in the other-they stayed there for 3 days without food or water. It was really hard to actually believe that people could be treated so horribly, even as we were standing in the chamber. The cathedral was beautiful! Hopefully, I'll get some pictures up soon of it! The next day Emily got on a dala dala, which is essentially a pickup truck with an extended truck bed with a bench on each side for people-the record was 28 adults and 1 baby! We were quite squished! We rode that for 2 hours to Kendwa, which is at the Northern end of the island where there are a lot of beach resorts. We spent the next 2 days relaxing at the beach, exploring the area and going into the village to see the great difference between the lives of those living in the village and those just vacationing there at the resorts, and snorkeling. One night, we even cooked on a small charcoal cooker at one of the residents homes so we wouldn't have to buy dinner at the resort restaurant. After 2 days, Emily and I went back to Stone Town for 2 days to check out a few museums, shop, and take a spice tour. The spice tour was great! We got to see how various spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and vanilla are grown and also got to taste a lot of the fruit that is grown in Zanzibar-pineapple, mango, bananas, oranges, marmalade oranges, starfruit, jack fruit, and some others that I can't remember the names of. Our tour guide also took us to see an old Turkish bathing house used by one of the Sultan's of Zanzibar wife and a cave where slaves were hidden before being shipped out after Britain abolished slavery. Now I'm in Mombasa for about 6 hours and then our bus will leave in the evening back to Nairobi. I feel very relaxed after the last few days in Zanzibar and am so excited to be going back to Minnesota to the cold! The heat is quite intense-You pretty much just sweat 24 hours per day and in Zanzibar there was barely ever electricity so the ceiling fans in our rooms didn't work and cold water was very hard to come by! Nairobi is much cooler, though, so I'll be feeling much more human and clean by tomorrow morning!! :)

I'll be home for Christmas...

Surprise! My plane leaves Nairobi on Dec 16th! I was really feeling like my time here was over as the semester was coming to an end and felt completely satisfied with the experience. After my host mom in Meru kind of went a bit crazy one night after seeing our househelp with her arms around my host dad, I figured that was my cue to leave. It was a very uncomfortable situation and I wouldn't be able to go back living with them next semester and I couldn't really go back to my internship because relatives of my host family work there and it would be really awkward, so I am going to be going back to the U Spring Semester! Im very excited to get home! I'm leaving for Zanzibar tonight for about 5 days to relax after completing the MSID program!! :)

Thanksgiving in Kisumu

The Thanksgiving celebration in Kisumu was great! It was a short trip, but it was well worth it! We really had a feast!-fruit salad, vegetable salad, green beans, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dinner roles, pasta salad, jello salad, banana bread, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and of course turkey. The day before our dinner, one of the guys in my program killed the turkey and then one of the host moms plucked the feathers for us. We had a total of about 30 people at the dinner, 15 of them being MSID students. All of the students got together and worked as a team to prepare everything. It was a lot of work! We were a bit concerned about how everything was going to turn out having to be creative at times, for example making pie tins out of tin foil, but the meal was delicious! Before we ate, we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for. I think it is one of the most meaningful Thanksgivings I've ever had. Yesterday morning, I made the 12 hour journey back to Meru by myself. I was nervous about how it was going to be, but it went well. Everyone is so willing to help people out here! I rode a bus to Nairobi and then had to find my way to the place where matatus going to the Mount Kenya region congregate. I asked a lady if she knew where it was and not only did she tell me the location, but she also walked me there and found me a matatu to take. When I arrived in Meru at 9;00 in the evening, one of the ladies on my matatu waited for me to be picked up and so did one of the taxi drivers who happens to be a friend of the founder of Ripples International.

The internship phase for this semester is ending on Friday, so I will be headed back to Nairobi this weekend to take 2 finals and hand in assignments next week. Then I get a 3 week break before the start of the 2nd semester. I'm really excited for that! I need a vacation! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Yesterday, I went to the place where court cases are heard. One of the girls was supposed to have her case heard, but one of the lawyers couldn't make it, so it was postponed all the way to March! My supervisor said that this happens a lot. Some of the cases of the girls at the Tumaini Center are 3 or 4 years old, and they still aren't completed yet! The court compound was much different from the courthouses in America. There were many small brick buildings scattered about the compound for various offices and the court building. When we arrived, court was in session and there were many people smooshed in the room with a cluster of people outside of the door along with a police officer with a large rifle in one hand. Near the building were wooden benches under some trees where others were seated waiting for the next case to be heard. We waited for 2 hours to talk to the prosecutor, but there were so many people waiting to see him, that we just ended up leaving instead of waiting for who knows how long. My supervisor seemed really frustrated, but luckily we didn't go all that way for just the court case, we also did a home visit. From there, we went to the home of one of the girls to ensure that she would be safe when she leaves the center in December. The girl lives with her grandmother on a farm. It was quite a hike, literally, to the house! We followed a dirt path along a very steep hill that was surrounded by trees and various crops. There was also a stream along the way with a waterfall! It's a very beautiful area and it seems so peaceful! I got to meet the girls grandmother and other relatives, and they all seemed very nurturing. It made me feel a lot better about her going home knowing that she has so many people to care for her. 4 cups of tea later, were on our way back to Meru. The grandmother just kept pouring me another glass full, so I just went along with it. I didn't want to seem rude. Last night for dinner I had mashed potatoes and steamed cabbage. It was good, but not exactly the Thanksgiving feast I missed back home! I'm not going to miss out on Thanksgiving festivities though! This weekend I am celebrating it in Kisumu with some of my friends in the program. We're even going to cook a turkey!

Coincidence?...I think not ;)

I heard a Del joke at church on Sunday, I thought it was a pretty good one! Upon seeing a small baby, a young boy asked his mother when the baby would start talking. The mother replied that babies usually start talking around 2. Puzzled, the boy asked, "But why could Job talk when he was born?" The mother asked her son to explain. He answered, "I learned in sunday school that Job cursed the day he was born!" :)

Usually about once a week, I have one of those days when I am more irritable than usual and I just want to go home. I make up my mind that I'm leaving in December! It doesn't last long and then I'm back to my normal self. A few days ago, I was having a day like this. After work, I thought maybe a nice walk would cheer me up. As I was walking down the road, I asked myself if I should leave in December and then I was thinking about how nice and relaxing the walk would be...just then, a guy came up to me, huge machete in hand, and started talking to me. I was terrified for my life, or at least for the loss of my bag! The guy pushing a wheelbarrow in front of me, who was the only other person on that path kind of seemed a bit concerned too and then he turned a corner leaving me alone with the machete guy. He was really nice and just wanted to ask me out on a date! After politely turning him down, I breathed a sigh of relief and continued on to my favorite spot that overlooks the city. You can see mountains in the background and it was a beautiful sunny day, so it was extra nice. I thought, "well at least I have this spot to find some peace." The very next second, a guy said to me, "you shouldn't stand there, murderers hide in the bushes around here, its not safe!" I don't know if those two run ins were supposed to be a sign, but actually I thought it was pretty comical and I felt much better!

Country Roads, Take Me Home...

Yes, John Denver is even in Africa. Yesterday as I walked home, I heard this song blaring from one of the shops. Little things like that always make me feel more at home. Today, I even saw two people wearing Minnesota Twins t-shirts!

Let’s see, it has been a while since I last updated! Last Friday, I went to the class 8 graduation (like finishing 8th grade in America) for one of the four Tumaini girls that go to boarding school here in Meru. It was quite a celebration! There were many speeches encouraging the children to keep working hard as they go on to secondary school (high school) and success stories of past students. Then, all of the parents and guests were treated to cake and heaping plates of food to celebrate the achievement that the kids have made. The cake seems to be kind of a big deal in celebrations here. There is usually a cake cutting ceremony where a group of important individuals, in this case it was the principal, a teacher, and a few of the students, cuts the cake together and pictures are taken.

On Saturday, my host mom took me to a harambe. This is an event where the community pools its resources for a certain cause. The harambe was for the reconstruction of housing and administrative offices for nuns that are affiliated with the church that my host family attends. It was a long process! There was first a catholic service featuring a lively choir with dancers dressed in vibrant blue robes. I really enjoyed the African touch in the service; it wasn’t as boring as I had anticipated! Following the service, a group of women entertained us with dance performances and then there was a series of speeches, which were mostly in Swahili, so I really don’t know what they were talking about, but some of them were pretty long winded! When the speeches concluded, there was a performance by a girls marching band featuring drums, piccolos, and recorders, and then 2 more dance performances. Finally, the main event began! For 2 hours people lined up one by one to put their donations and the donations of various organizations, community groups, and congregations into a basket as a man read out loud into a microphone how much each person was giving. The event started at 9:00 and didn’t finish until 4:00 in the afternoon!

Today for work, I spent the day celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children. We started off the day by joining with other organizations in the area that support children and marched with banners to the venue where the celebration was to be held. It was great to see all of the kids there marching for their rights as they are the ones who have been personally affected by the neglect children’s rights abuses. The ceremony featured many speeches, but this time most were in English. The speeches were very inspirational, especially the address by Mr. Chidi, the founder and CEO of Ripples International. He emphasized that children are largely ignored and left to suffer in silence as people turn a blind eye to them. This is a really big problem in Kenya as even the police for the most part don’t care about protecting children. The police system is so corrupt that without money, officers will do very little to help you out. He said that there are so many people living their lives for the sole purpose of making money to have nice things instead of taking the responsibility to protect those that are unable to protect themselves. I definitely agree with him. Even in America, there are so many kids that are abused and then betrayed by the government as they are lost in the shuffle of all of the children that need care and support. If America is such a rich nation, why is this still continuing to be a problem? I wish you all could see how amazing the girls are at the Tumaini Center! Each one of their lives is so much more valuable than anything that money can buy. Along with the speeches, the kids also provided the entertainment. There were songs, poems, dances, and skits. The Tumaini girls did 2 dances and a poem. They did a great job! This morning as they practiced before we left, they taught me the dances as well so now I am an expert at Kenyan dancing! I’ll give lessons when I get home ;)

I forgot to mention this in previous posts, but many of the girls are going to be going back home soon- by the end of December for sure so that they can start up the new school year in January. It is going to be so hard to say goodbye to all of them! The three babies are going to be relocated to the New Start Center (the Ripples International baby orphanage and rescue center) for three years so that their mothers can attend school. I hate thinking about them being separated from their mothers and not having the attention that they are used to, but it is for the best and their mothers can and are encouraged to visit them as often as they can.

Being sick abroad = :(

I am happy to report that I made it to work on Monday and felt 100% better! It was only a 24 hour thing, but nonetheless, it was not very fun to go through. Being sick so far away from home was really hard for me. On Sunday afternoon, I was laying in bed in tears wishing my parents were there to take care of me. I had a fever and felt absolutely miserable! If there was a plane outside of my house flying to America, I would have jumped on it without even a second thought! I prayed that God would strengthen and comfort me; I felt really alone in my suffering. Almost immediately, I fell asleep and when I woke up an hour later, I still felt really sick, but I felt well rested and completely at peace. The house was quiet (which rarely ever is true of my household!) except for the faint sound of of dishes being washed in the kitchen and saxophone music playing from the radio-like what my mom listens to sometimes! I closed my eyes and it seemed like I was at home! The rest of the night was fine, I woke up around 3 am and realized that I wasn't sick anymore! :) God is truly faithful, never leaving us, even when we are suffering!

My internship is going very well! I am spending a lot of time with the girls as my supervisor has been really busy with meetings and training this week. I have been doing a lot of reading, singing, and playing hide and seek! Yesterday, they taught me how to make dolls from just scraps of fabric. They really like singing and learning songs from me-everyday they show me that they remember parts of them even with the small amount of English that some of them know. I've been teaching them 'This Little Light of Mine', the "Don't let Satan 'whoowh' it out!" part is their favorite! I love all of the girls, but I am especially fond of Mercy who is around 9 or 10 years old. She is so eager to show me what she knows, especially in reading and math-yesterday she and I read together for 2 hours! I was really impressed by her reading ability! I could tell that she loved having one on one time with me. Today I found out that she has been at the center for a year and she is an orphan-when she got to the center, she had never gone to school and didn't even know how to hold a pencil! I was amazed! She has made great progress in just a year!