when necessary, use words

home time

2006-11-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

my last day in kenya. i leave for the airport at 8 tonite. hop on a plane at 11. 28 hours later i arrive in regina. 6:28pm tuesday night. so far i don't feel excited or sad.. maybe it's too early in the morning for those feelings... but i do feel incredibly blessed to have spent the last 6 weeks in such a wonderful place, serving such an incredible god. this experience has been unbelievable. i've learned and changed so much. this place, this work, these people, have opened my heart and taught me things i never would have learned back home. i hope i have been a blessing to all the people who've been such a blessing to me. i look forward to coming home with a transformed heart. i look forward to sharing my experiences with others, encouraging them to follow god's lead in their lives wherever it takes them. i look forward to the work i can still do for projects here while i'm back home. i look forward to seeing where god is going to take me when i get back. i look forward to seeing aaron, my family, my friends, my church family, my fish. i look forward to cheese pizza..
here are a few things i'm really gonna miss here:
- my kids. their smiles, their high fives, their joy, their tears, their runny noses and muddy feet, their laughs, songs and dancing, their cute swahili accents, their sweet sweet hearts. teaching them and learning from them. being frustrated and overjoyed by them. their hugs and love.
- my roomates and other volunteers i've met from all over the world. we've become so close and it's going to be so hard to leave not knowing if i'll ever see them again. i went to church yesterday (it was amazing) and the sermon was about growing in community. having courage, love and truth. taking off the mask and being real without fear of being judged or condemned. the pastor told us to look at our neighbors and think - what if this person next to me holds the key to bringing me closer to jesus. people are put in our lives for a reason. i've felt a real sense of community here and have definitely grown because of the people i've been surrounded by.
- chai masala tea and fresh pineapple every morning.
- the beauty of this place. it's incredible.
- the slums. in a sense it's heartbreaking, but in another so inspiring. i've never once seen a beggar in kibera. everyone is at least trying to sell something - roasted corn on the cob, used shoes, random electrical pieces, or candy. whether its because they don't know any better (because they've never left the slums) or have simply accepted where they're at, the residents of kibera are some of the most cheerful i've ever met. they are happy with what little they've got, which is surely to be a culture shock to me going back to a place where people are never satisfied with their material goods, always seeking more and more.
- chapati and mandazi (yummy food)
- crazy new experiences constantly
- matatu madness
- the smells, the sights, the sounds, the laidback lifestyle, the slow pace, the kenyan way, everything..

well, maybe not everything. a few things i won't miss:
- not having water for days on end. back home its fine to go a few days without a shower. but here, i always feel grimy and showers are pretty needed.
- walking in welly's for hours and hours. although i'd take the rain over the cold any day.
- blowing kibera out of my nose.
- driving on the left side of the street. just can't get used to it.
- haggling. please just give me a store with price tags.
- sleeping with a mosquito net.

hmm.. i'm sure there are more things i'm going to miss that i won't even realize til i'm home. which is tomorrow night. see you then!

emotional wreck

2006-11-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

maybe right now isn't the best time for me to be posting a blog, considering my emotional state. but here goes. today was my last day of school. got up this morning, the sun was shining, i was in complete denial about saying goodbye to my kids so my spirits were high. we headed to school, armed with schoolbags filled with goodies we'd bought for our kids. the walk was long and sweaty so we were glad to finally be there. we walked into the class and were greeted with... emptiness. my worst fears comfirmed. yesterday the rains came down so hard that our school flooded. we didn't even have school because the kids were sent home. i was afraid that since tests were done and all that was left was handing out report forms, that the kids just wouldn't come. i couldn't believe it actually happened. standing there, in the muddy, empty room for the last time i couldn't stop the tears from flowing. mary, the head teacher was there and she said not to worry, she'd get the kids. so she went across the tracks and got one of my students, mary. mary was sent to get a few more students. one by one the kids came running up to the school. then they were sent off to fetch more students. it was amazing. only about 35 kids came but 4 out of 5 of my students came. i gave them each new school bags filled with goodies. they were soooo excited. wow. over and over they kept taking everything out of the bags, looking at it all and putting it all back in.
it was the last day for me and majo so we gave the kids in our classes gifts. but there were kids there from the other classes. you could tell they were hoping to get some gifts. they were outside playing but kept looking in the class to see everyone with their new bags. i only wish i could afford to get new bags for 100 kids.. maybe next time. i went and bought them all suckers and gave them stickers which cheered them right up.
it was sooo hard saying goodbye to the kids that were there and even harder dealing with the fact that i didn't get to say goodbye to so many of them. but i was so happy to see them leaving with such huge smiles on their faces. of course they don't understand that we won't be back. gah. it's so hard :(
there've been a lot of tears today. i'm not ready to deal with all the people and things and way of life i'm going to miss. i'm not ready to leave here. i'm not ready to leave my work, the kids, the project. we are having a lot of issues with the head teacher of the school and the future is so iffy. basically we volunteers are feeling a lot of frustration and helplessness. that's pretty common around here at all the placements. you can only do as much as you can. and sometimes that feels like its not enough. i know i'm being vague but its too much to get into over a blog.
wooooo, there's just too much going on today. too many emotions... i'll just end this on a happy note - pics of my kids with their bags!

quick update

2006-11-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

ok, don't have much time so i'll try to give a brief update:

-twice this week we had to take kids to the clinic. we took mary to get her eyes checked out. it's about a half hour walk to the clinic. when we got in to see the doctor we told him about her eyes and a rash she has on her face and knee. he wrote a few things then sent us to the lab guy. the lab guy handed us a little container, a piece of toilet paper and a stick. then he pointed us in the direction of the squat toilet and told us to bring him back a stool sample. what the heck does that have to do with an eye infection?? luckily majo isn't a queazy gal and she collected the sample. we had to sit and wait while the technician did his thing. except he decided to sit down in the waiting room and watch some tv before he examined the sample. things sure work different in kenya. eventually we talked to the doctor and he gave us a bunch of medications for her her eye, rash and some stomache issues, then we walked her home. the second boy we took to the clinic had malaria so we got him medication as well. both kids are doing so much better already.

- the kids finished exams this week. english and reading are definitely the biggest struggles. we did lots of correcting and writing up final reports. i felt like a real teacher writing the encouraging little comments on their report cards!

- the americans here decided we should still celebrate thanksgiving. so on sunday we had a feast. about 6 americans were up at 8am cooking turkey and all the fixings. it was crazy! there were nearly 30 of us, representing 6 countries. it was such an amazing sense of community. all sorts of people, different ages, various backgrounds, all united with one common goal - to help people here. so good.

- yesterday i went on a tour of kibera. one of the guys who helped with shoot locations on the movie 'the constant gardner' took a few of us around. it was interesting to see some other parts of the slum. it is so amazing to me the conditions that some people live in. the trash, the sewage, the smell. its so sad. the kids couldn't get enough of us and kept following, asking us to take their picture and chanting 'how are you, how are you'. i bent down to say hello to one little girl, but clearly it was her first mzungu encounter. she was absolutely terrified. she screamed and ran away. woops.

- on wednesday, a guy who works for 'feed the children' came by our school. he gave us some information and gave us a contact number. we called and set up an appointment with a man named ramby campbell. we talked with him about setting up a feeding program for our school. his program has a requirement of 200 kids, but our school only has about 90 permanent kids. so he took us next door to talk to another man who runs a similar program for smaller schools. right now, their program is at max capacity but we were told to write up a proposal and get the school on file so that when there is an opening we can implement the program. but they have some requirements that we don't meet - must have a kitchen, toilets, water, and storage. we've got none of those things. but there is a public restroom very nearby, and a kitchen across the tracks we could rent. the main issue is storage. we're looking into possibly building some storage. but we don't own the land or the building - it is a church we rent to use throughout the week. so we have a meeting on sunday with the church people to discuss adding storage and perhaps improving the building. so please please please keep this in your prayers. a feeding program would be sooo incredible and is so needed. we are also going to go see some land located just outside of nairobi to possibly purchase so we can build a new school and get the kids out of the slums. that's going to take a lot of fundraising. so pray please!

- when i left, aaron gave me a little box full of homemade envelopes. he had written a letter for me for every day i'm gone. (i know, greatest boyfriend ever) well, my once full, microwave popcorn box of letters now has veeeery few letters left. my time here is ending. tomorrow is my last day of school. i have no idea how i'm going to say goodbye to my kids. seriously. i'm in such denial right now. it's going to be so incredibly hard. i'm going to miss everyone here so much. my kids. the volunteers. irene (my host). the people here have been so amazing. i love them.

so much for a brief update. there's just so much going on all the time. i apologize in advance because i'm not going to be able to shut up about kenya when i get back. and to you zambians, i can't wait to talk africa with you!

much love!

giraffe centre

2006-11-19T03:25:00.000-07:00

yesterday i went to the giraffe centre with a few other volunteers. it was so fun! what is the giraffe centre? its a centre in one of nairobi's suburbs created by the kenyan conservation organization. the purpose is to educate kenyan school children about their country's wildlife and environment, and give visitors an opportunity to come into close contact with the world's tallest species. and did we ever come in contact with them. up close and personal. they are incredibly beautiful animals. we got to feed them. their tongues are sooo long! we took pics with them, but watch out for headbutting. haha. giraffe kisses were great. except their tongues are a little rough - kind of like a gigantic cat's tongue. good times!

meet my kids!!

2006-11-15T02:29:00.000-07:00

i want to introduce you to my kids. but first i wanna tell you a bit about kibera and the school.
saint charles school is located in the slums of kibera in nairobi. there are approximately 1.2 million people (of which 570,000 are children) living in aproximately 2.5 square kilometers. imagine, that's the entire population of saskatchewan squished into that little area... kibera is heavily polluted by soot, open sewage routes, human and animal feces and dust. the combination of poor nutrition and lack of sanitation accounts for many illnesses. not only is death by disease and conflict common inside this slum, but it is estimated that 1/5 of the 2.2 million kenyans living with HIV live in kibera. saint charles was formed in 1999 with 15 children. today it has grown to about 100 students crammed into a small tin shack. it offers baby, nursery and pre-unit classes although lacks proper teaching facilities (or materials, space, teachers, toilets, etc..) the kids attending saint charles are all from very poor backgrounds. some are orphans. a chunk of them are hiv positive. most of them are sick with one disease or another. (for what do they know of hygiene? what is handwashing? the kids were out playing on break the other day, splashing around with sticks in a hole that had filled with water. at the end of break we saw several kids washing their hands in the water... a nice thought.. until we realized the water that had filled that hole was from rain that had run down off of the 'poo hill' - which is exactly what it sounds like. the hill where the kids squat. it's hard not to cringe when you see those kids sitting with their hands in their mouths afterwards. but its not uncommon. i find all sorts of trash in their mouths. they find things on the ground and stick it in their mouth. they blow their noses on their sleeves or let it run down their face. not to mention there is constantly trash being burned outside that burns the lungs to breathe in, but the kids do it daily) aaaanyways... so this is saint charles. a place in great great need of a new building, a toilet, supplies, desks, teachers, etc. and this is where i have been volunteering. i have 5 kids in my class who should be at nursery level but are a little behind the main nursery class. i sat down with a translator yesterday and asked each of them a few questions about their family and how long they've been at saint charles and that sort of thing. then i asked them what they want to be when they grow up. ask a 6 year old in canada what they want to be when they grow up and they will give answers like: a doctor! a ballerina! an astronaut! a teacher! ask a 6 year old child in kibera the same question and you are met with a blank stare. eventually they gave answers such as washing floors and dishes; selling charcoal on the side of the road; a housekeeper. only one boy, austine, dared to dream big - he wants to be a bus driver. all they know is what they see their parents doing. all they know is the slums. they cannot imagine a life other than that. and sadly, without any help, that is most likely the life they will end up living.

this is austine. he is 7 years old, has one brother and two sisters and a mother. he had been to class one at a real school but when his father died he was taken out of school. his mother could no longer afford the funding to keep him there so he stayed at home for a while before he started coming to saint charles. this is his first year at saint charles. he's definitely a bright boy and catches on quickly. it is clear he has forgotten much of what he learned in class one, but it hasn't taken him long to catch on again. (if anyone is interested in sponsoring a child so that he can go to school, let me know. it really doesn't take much - the kids need uniforms and books and the tuition is incredibly cheap. it's just more than what most families can afford).

this is vivian. she is 6 years old and has one sister who also attends saint charles. she lives with her mother and her father is sometimes around, although the marriage is very unstable. she's been at saint charles for 3 years. she learns better when i sit down with her one on one but it's hard to find the time or space to do it. during class she gets distracted easily and sometimes finds it easier to just copy from another student than to add her own bottlecaps. its hard to reprimand her though, cuz she gets such a sad, hurt look on her face. she's definitely been improving though. when i bring out the stickers to give to the students who have finished their work, it's instant motivation for her.

this is david. he is 6 years old, lives with his parents, two brothers and a sister. he wants to be a 'salesman' like his dad (who sells random things on the side of the road). david really struggles in class. i think he is dyslexic as he mixes numbers up and draws letters backwards. he gets very distracted in class and often spaces out. he's always the last to be done copying off the board. but he surprises me how smart he is in some areas. he couldn't name the colors after an hour of working on them, but when we started reading some basic sentences, his was the first voice to shout out the answer. david loooves sharpening his pencil and i catch him breaking the leads on purpose (and then eating them..) just so he can sharpen it.

this little gal is lavine (i know, sometimes its hard to tell the gender since all the kids are bald. my first week i had to keep checking if they were wearing skirts or shorts). she is 6 years old, lives with her parents, 2 sisters and one brother. she wants to sell charcoal when she grows up because that's what her mom used to do. she's a smart cookie. my little parrot. she likes to repeat what i say and is the only one to make a real attempt to communicate in english. she catches on to math pretty easily, but struggles with english - she still can't spell her own name. she's very outgoing and loves to laugh and play.

and last but not least, is mary! mary is 7 years old, lives with her mother and 3 sisters and 2 brothers (keep in mind these families all live in tin shacks no bigger than 10x10.. its amazing they can fit so many in them..) her father is an alcoholic and only comes around occasionally. mary used to attend saint charles but moved on to standard 1. but, as you can see from the picture, she has problems with her eyes and wasn't doing well at school. her mother took her out for that reason, plus lack of funding, and mary stayed at home for quite some time before coming back to saint charles. she's smart but very very quiet.

so those are my kids. and this week they've been making me so proud. on monday they read their first sentence! 'the cat is in the box'. yay! they also managed to read 'i go to school' and 'i am a girl/boy'. they still don't understand the concept of sounding out words, but slowly slowly they are learning. and exams started yesterday. i wasn't sure if my kids would be able to handle the nursery exams, but i handed them out anyway. first was math - and they did amazing! david did so well! i was beaming from ear to ear. today we did english... a bit more of a struggle. a few did alright, a few not so much. at least now i know what sorts of things the kids are expected to know. (probably would have been good to know beforehand! but things aren't quite that organized).
anyways, this post turned out to be incredibly wrong.. thumbs up to you if you got through it all. please keep the kids and the future of the school in your prayers. thanks so much :)

time is flying

2006-11-12T04:53:00.000-07:00

i'm sorry if my last blog gave anyone a bad impression of kenya. this place is incredible, but i'm not gonna sugar-coat anything and make it out to be paradise. stuff happens. just hopefully not to me! this past week has been fairly uneventful. i went in to the city center 3 times. i'm definitely not a fan of the hustle and bustle of the city. plus for the most part its fairly dirty and ugly. i'd rather be in the slums... i feel safer and more at home there. my favorite part of walking to work is the chorus of 'how are you' from all the little kids as we walk by. its so cute. as soon as they see a mzungu they start chanting/singing it. i don't think they even know what it means but they wait for us to acknowledge them or give them high fives and then they are so happy. sometimes we can hear little voices from a distance shouting 'how are you' and we can't even see them. but it turns into a domino effect among all the kids and there is this chanting coming from all around us and the valley below us. its so great.
anyways, school was good this week. we learned about some body parts. did a lot of math. finished the alphabet. gonna work on some more colors and addition tomorrow. the weather has still been rainy. so school has been muddy and all the kids are sick. unfortunately i picked up something and was in bed all of yesterday feeling terrible. but today i'm doing much better. a few of us were planning on going to an elephant orphanage and i was so excited, but was way to sick to go. but at least my sickness was only a flu bug.. there are a few people here who just found out they have typhoid and one guy has malaria (don't worry mom, i've been vaccinated). so i can't complain to much.
i think this may be my last week of teaching as the kids start exams soon. it's still pretty up in the air what i'm going to be doing my last week. unless mary needs some help with giving exams. i would love to be able to spend as much time as i can with those kids. they're just sooo great.
well, that's all for now. here's some pics.

me and majo and the kids

i'm not sure what this kids name is. we just call him 'chunky'.

muddy feet!

kennedy

the ngong hills

half over

2006-11-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

i've been so blessed to be able to do some amazing things on my weekends and get to see different parts of kenya. this weekend i went hiking the ngong hills with about 15 others. it was quite the experience. 7 hills to hike, then sit for lunch and hike back. so, 7 hours, 20kms, and 14 hills (and to a prairie gal, the hills=mountains). it was so rough but so amazing (i feel like that's the theme of my time here...) the view from the tops of the hills were absolutely incredible. i can't even explain. i would post some pics (although they would do no justice) but this computer wont let me. i'll try tomorrow. it was breathtaking. some hills were so steep, some were bare, some like a forest, one like a little jungle, some had goats and cows grazing. so awesome. we tried to stick together as a group but everyone has a different pace so we just met at the tops of the hill. i didn't mind spending the time alone, enjoying the awesome beauty, praising god. only 11 of us continued to the 7th hill and back. 4 others stayed behind. after an amazing journey we were relaxing at the final hill, waiting for the last few hikers to get there when reality came crashing down. a jeep pulled up with some park rangers. they got out and sternly told us that we shouldn't be out without a guide (hadn't we seen the signs??) because 4 people had just been attacked a few hills over... we asked a few more questions and came to realize it was the 4 from our group who had stayed behind. we were so caught up in the beauty of our surroundings and the peacefulness of it all that we let our guards down and forgot where we were. as amazing as it is, we are still in africa. a very dangerous place. nairobi is not called nairobbery for nothing. theft is a constant concern. the terrorist threats for eastern africa are real. the car jacking and murder just outside some volunteer's house are not to be taken lightly. this place is beautiful but it's dangerous. in a panic we hurried down the hill into town, paranoid of everyone we passed, feeling a lot of fear and worry. we got to the police station and met up with our friends. they had been robbed at knife point of everything on them - ipods, cameras, money, passports, visas, even their shoes. the girls were groped a bit, but the police told them they were incredibly lucky to not have been raped. we were all in shock that something like this actually happened. i immediately felt extremely homesick. homesick for the safety of canada. i've come to feel like africa is home and gotten very comfortable here. this definitely shook me up a lot.
no more taking risks here that's for sure.

this week

2006-11-04T00:36:00.000-07:00

another week gone and we're into a whole new month. we ended october here with a halloween party. do they celebrate halloween in africa you ask? well. no. but the irish, british, americans, canadians and mexicans in africa celebrate it. mostly it consisted of terrible costumes, tons of decorations, too much junk food and lots of visiting about our time here. the next day came november, and with november the rains. what a change in weather. the 45 minute walk to school in the pouring rain has been an adventure. i thought i stuck out before being a mzungu walking through the slums. but imagine a mzungu decked out in a long white poncho and big white rubber boots. hello sore thumb.
school has been good this week. i have such a mix of emotions when i think of teaching - extreme frustration and pure joy. i love my kids. absolutely love them. but this week i've taken on the task of teach them multiplication and how to read. trying to explain new concepts to them when they don't understand english is such a draining task. here's how our reading sessions went:
-ok everyone. what are some words that start with the letter 'a'?
- hut! green!
-no no. 'a'. think of the sound.
- red! hut!
-how about the word 'apple'?
- apple! apple!
-good. copy it down.
-now how about the letter 'b'?
- ball!
-yes! good job! (round of cheers and high fives)
-ok, what is another word that starts with 'b'?
- ball! ball!
-no, a different word.
- ball! ball!
-ok, we have that word already, think of a new word.
- ball! ball!

an so on and so on. thankfully a new group of volunteers has come and i've got a new roomate who is actually a teacher. she brought lots of material and has good advice on how to teach.
break time for the kids this week has been pretty random. when its pouring out they don't get to play. when the rain stops its nothing but puddles and mud and soggy trash. but they do play a fun game of kicking mud into the puddles.
again i'll end with some pics and try to update more often. have a good weekend everyone!
oh, one more thing. a huge thanks to all of you who have been leaving comments and sending emails and praying. your prayers and encouragement have been amazing. sorry i haven't had the time to send many personal messages but know that i appreciate you all and love you so much!

colors and burns

2006-10-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

wooo. ok. been awhile. lots to write about. i'll try not to make it too long... school was good this week. challenging as always. on wednesday i came all prepared to teach a small class, and as soon as i walked in, mary asked if i would teach the babies. ooook. so i had to entertain 55 or so little kids, who speak no english and only know numbers and letters, for 3 hours using only a piece of chalk and a blackboard. talk about exhausting. i drew pictures. we did body parts. i made them dance a little. by the end my throat was aching from yelling over top of all the noise in our little tin school room. but as of thursday, i have my own class. yes! i am working with four kids - vivian, austine, lavine and david. i'm so happy to be working with such a small group, though its still incredibly challenging and frustrating. on friday i tried teaching them 8 different colors. after about 45 minutes they still thought every color was red... then we made a tie-dye butterfly craft and they loooved it. so much fun. it's amazing that although i'm only at school for 3 hours, i'm absolutely exhausted by the end. this week i got to visit another school and an orphanage in kibera. similar sort of thing as st. charles but with even less space outside for kids to play. these kids need to get out of the slums so bad. tomorrow after school i'm going to go help out at a baby clinic and make posters to raise awareness about tb. my weeks feel so busy and the weekends are a much needed break. yesterday i went out to maasailand with some friends. it was a couple hours drive from nairobi, towards the great rift valley. breathtaking scenery. terrible roads. but it was really neat. go here to read more about the maasai people: http://www.maasai-association.org/ one of their beautification traditions is to get burns. (mom, don't read this part...) so about 8 of us indulged... two of the elder men did it. they rub a stick on a piece of wood to heat it up. then press it on your arm for about 5 seconds (oooouch). then they put aloe on it, you wait until they blister up, then pop them and leave them til they heal and leave circular little scars. i know, it sounds weird. not as weird as the kids around us who were eating blood soaked meat chunks (and all the volunteers who tried it!) yuck. ha. it was so cool to spend some time with the tribe and see their little community and eat a meal with them. very intriguing people. today i went to church in the city center with irene. it was... interesting. worship was great. singing, dancing, clapping. so much fun to just let go and worship god however i wanted and not be looked at funny (ok, maybe i still got looked at funny, being the only white gal bopping around in a room of about 500..) i started crying the first song. i didn't realize how much i missed the community of other believers and being able to worship god and give praises to him for all the stuff going on. the rest of church was a lot of stuff i'd never experienced before. very charismatic. anointing. testifying. and laying on of hands - the stuff i'd only seen on tv where the pastor touches someones head and they go into convulsions and fall to the ground. and there was a huge focus on money. i don't know if it always is. or if its because these people have so little that they long to be blessed financially. 4 hours later i left my first african church experience. that's right. i said 4 hours. i don't ever wanna hear anyone complaining about how long their hour and a half service felt..
so here's some more pics from my week. enjoy!
oh, and an update on francis and james - francis called to say that james is living with the pastor of his church and to please send money. it's so hard to know if he is telling the truth and whether james is safe and if it's the right thing to do to send any money. it's hard not to be skeptical in a place with so much corruption (today we drove by a building called 'the integrity centre' - an anti-corruption agency. its such a serious problem here and across all of africa). so please continue to pray for james.

wait

2006-10-24T03:04:00.000-06:00

those first two pics should be switched..

pics and weekend

2006-10-24T02:10:00.000-06:00

ok, as promised, here are some pictures:

this is my school, st. charles and some of my kids. some can afford uniforms, others cannot.

here is what i see on the walk to school. the slums of kibera.

walking two of the children home. most of the kids have never been out of the slum. this is the only world they know.

and in a stark contrast... here is where is spent my weekend:

chillin on the shores of the indian ocean. i had the most amazing time, just enjoying god's creation. some highlights:
swimming in my first ocean, staying in amazing little huts for $10 a night, getting sunburned beyond belief, feeding monkeys on the porch of my hut, eating breakfast in a 5 star hotel, getting to know other volunteers better, spending a good chunk of the holy day ramadhan in a very muslim area of mombasa.
sweet stuff, but here was the most touching part of my weekend. on sunday me and 3 other gals went into mombasa to go to some markets and hang out til 10:30 when our bus left. we found a cafe and parked our butts there for a good 5 hours (this was the muslim area. very neat experience to watch them celebrate) we sat at a table and after a string of sketchy characters sitting with us, a young boy came and sat down. he was quiet and polite as we chatted with him. we asked if he was hungry. nope. asked if he wanted a drink. nope. ice cream? nope. anything? nope. finally he said maybe a toy. two of the girls took him across the street and came back with a new outfit. we talked to him some more and found out he is 11, his parents were killed, he is now homeless, has no family, nowhere to go, no longer can go to school. it broke our hearts, we all started crying. he was very quiet and hard to communicate with so we decided to ask our waiter if he could translate for us. he came over and through our tears we were wondering what we could do for this little boy. naturally the first thing i do is pray. and what is stacia's first reaction? she gets on the phone with irene, our program volunteer to see if there's any way we can bring him to nairobi to an orphanage, while the other girls start talking to the waiter to see if he could do anything. after lots of talking, our waiter, francis agreed to take in the boy, james. we gave him some money and some to james. the girls got francis' phone number with promises to call to see how he was doing. and talked to james trying to reassure him that it was safe and that no, francis would not beat him.
it was so amazing to watch these women work to ensure this child was taken care of.
all i could think of was 'it is better to die standing than to live on your knees' as one of the girls has this tattood on her back. though she doesn't take it in any sort of christian context. the words hit me hard. here i am sitting back and praying for god to do something while these girls just do it (with no thoughts of god on their mind). how often do i do that? instead of automatically doing what is right, i waste time praying, waiting for god's words, wondering what god's call is. i'm not saying praying is a waste but sometimes its easier to fall back on and wait for someone else to do the serving. i was absolutely inspired and moved to tears by the outpouring of love by these women who were doing more of god's work than a lot of christians. it was so hard to leave the scared little boy sitting there, trusting that francis would really take care of him. so please keep him in your prayers? there are a million heartbreaking stories like that here. here is francis and james

life here

2006-10-19T06:57:00.000-06:00

life is so different here in africa. different from normal. different from what i expected. first off, if you're picturing nairobi like the typical africa scene with the flat lnds and random trees and grass huts(much like my profile pic) then you are waaaaay off. it is green, lush, foresty, with palm trees and the most amazing bushes and trees covered in flowers. its so gorgeous.
and no, i don't live in some run down shack. i'm incredibly blessed to be living where i am. i mean, all the host families are wonderful people with decent accomadations...but some are so tiny and cramped and no hot water for showers. i happen to live with the program director, irene and 5 other roomates (3 gals from mexico, one from toronto and one from cali) in an apartment that would be considered nice by canadian standards. it's amazing.
my days start off at about 7am. i get up do morning devos then hang out with my roomies. have some breakfast- usually fruit, tea, maybe bread or some little donuty sort of things that i forget what they're called. then me and elyse and majo walk to the java hut (africa's equivalent to starbucks - pretty much the mzungu (white people) hangout) to meet up with a few other volunteers and we all start our trek to kibera. it takes about 45 minutes to walk there.
apparently school starts at 7:30 but we come at 9. today i felt much more useful at school which was great. i helped 4 kids - prolly 6 or 7 years old - who were a little behind so couldn't be in the other class. i wasn't really prepared for that so i didn't know what to teach them (there is no syllabus or anything. the volunteers just fly by the seat of their pants and teach them whatever). we learned about shapes today. and the colors of chickens. and some math - basic addition by counting bottle caps. yes, this is reeeally behind where kids should be at this age. some of them can't even write their own name. they are so basic. technically its not a school i work at - its a day centre, trying to prepare kids before they actually go to school. anyways, break is at 10. we go outside to play in the dirt and trash. i brought a soccer ball today (thanks carly!) and the boys went crazy. unfortunately they don't really have anywhere to play except on this hill surrounded by barbed wire that is used by some building next door. but they played and loved it. i had kids hanging aaaall over me today. they all want to hold my hands, or pet my tattoo. i got pulled down to the ground and surrounded by about 20 girls stroking (aka pulling) my hair and chanting something that was either swahili or 'washing your hair'. i couldn't really tell. the kids don't speak much english. another of their favorite things is to count all the freckles on my arms. over and over they count. or look at their reflections in my sunglasses. these kids are amused by the simplest things...
after break (which is also bathroom time...except we don't have bathrooms, so the kids just do their business right there, where they play) we go back in for more teaching. teaching is sooo hard with so many kids crammed in there and so few teachers and so little space. we could definitely use more help there. so if anyone wants to come...? school is done at 12:30. after that i usually go to an internet cafe and java hut with some other volunteers. and we run in to more volunteers aaall over the place or keep in touch with our cell phones which is really great (seriously, if anyone is thinking about doing something like this, i would highly recommend this program). we hang out for the afternoon and make sure we home before dark (6:30). evenings i stay in with my roomates and relax. we're usually in bed by 10. so that's what my days have been like. but i'm hoping they'll change soon. i'm looking to go work somewhere else for the afternoon. there are so many different places that have volunteers/need volunteers so it shouldnt be hard to hook that up.
wow, this is getting long. like i said, i could go on forever about this place...
tomorrow is a holiday so me and 7 other volunteers are heading to the coast for the weekend. should be great.
so that's a general idea about what life has been like my first few days here. but if you really wanna know, you should just come here. have i mentioned that everyone should just come here? in fact, if i could just get all my friends and family and aaron to move here, then that would be perfect. keep that in mind all you reading this..
prayers for: oh wow, everything. all the work going on here. my school desperately needs a new piece of land. there are lots of kids here in need of sponsorship just so they can go to school. we need more volunteers. i'm working with volunteers from all over the world and have been able to share my story with some of them so god is definitely working in those situations as well.
anyways, i gotta get going. have an awesome weekend everyone. much love.

first day of school

2006-10-17T03:10:00.000-06:00

today was my first trip into kibera. i strongly suggest you check out the wikipedia link although it does nothing to tell you what kibera is really like. tin shacks, garbage everywhere, animals running lose, burning trash, mud roads.. i'll try to post some pics sometime. it was quite a shock walking through there.. we got to the school - i use the term 'school' lightly.. its a tin shack prolly the size of my living room back home. we fit 100-150 or so kids in there ages 3-7 (about 50 of them are orphans). there are no partitions and there are 4 classes going on at once. it is loud - especially when its raining - and its dark. i helped with the babies (3 and 4 year olds) today. they are learning numbers and letters. i write a row of letters in their book, they copy it and then crowd around me to write another row. over and over. while others are at the front pointing and repeating the numbers on the board. 'numbers are 1, 1, 2, 2...' in their cute little accents. at break time the kids all went outside. to play in the dirt and trash, right next to the railroad. there are no bathrooms so kids just squat right outside. the girls did singing and dancing, which was great, and the boys kinda ran around and hung onto all the volunteers. we had to leave class early today because it started to rain. and apparently getting out of kibera once it pours is impossible because the 'roads' turn to pure mud.
i wish i was a better writer and could really illustrate what its like here. but i'm not. so i'll really try to post some pictures soon. please pray as i start this teaching business because it scares me. and for the kids. there is so much corruption in this place it is ridiculous... they have police stops often and try to catch drivers making some sort of 'mistake' so that they can demand money instead of being taken to the police station. back home we think of the police as being a safe place to go.. not here. and there is corruption even in the schools and orphanages. the directors asking volunteers for money for rent, and then stealing that money.. gifts for the children being taken by the teachers.. teachers charging children money to go to school with the promise of buying supplies or food, but never following through. it is truly heartbreaking.
i feel like i could go on forever about this place and i've only been here 4 days...

quick update

2006-10-16T03:27:00.000-06:00

ok, i don't have a lot of time but i thought i'd update quick about my placement. i'm super excited about it. starting tomorrow i'll be teaching at a school in kibera called st. charles. i'll work there for 4 weeks, then the school is going on break so i will go to an orphanage for the last 2 weeks.
crazy, i never expected to be teaching, but i am sooo looking forward to it.
anywho, i'll update more after i've been there a few days.
bye bye :)

i'm here!

2006-10-14T08:04:00.000-06:00

after a 25 hour trip, i arrived in nairobi. was picked up at the airport and taken to a hotel with 3 other volunteers. this morning we were picked up and me and one other volunteer were dropped of at the host house we will be staying at for our orientation which starts tomorrow. it is in jirumu(?) which is a suburb of nairobi, very near kibera, one of the biggest slums in the world. we've been doing a little wandering today, seeing sights i can't even explain. this place is like nothing i've seen or experienced. its crazy. my first thoughts on the place - parts of it are so much more westernized than i expected, while other parts are the exact opposite; there are more white people than i expected; there are palm trees!; it is so sad and so beautiful all at once; the smell is.. interesting. those are the thoughts from my first half day in nairobi. i'm still not sure whether my placement will be in nairobi or somewhere rural. i guess i find out tomorrow. if i'm rural, i won't be posting much, but if i'm in the city, there are internet cafes near by and they are cheap. well, that's all for now. i'm looking forward to sharing some sweet adventures. thanks for the prayers!
much love
kwaheri

one more week

2006-10-05T12:06:00.000-06:00

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes
where the poor play house.
God is in the silence of a mother
who has infected her child with a virus that will kill them both.
God is in the cries heard
under the rubble of war.
God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives.
and God is with us if
we are with them.
-Bono

These were the final words in a book i just read called 'Hope in the Dark'. Amazing book.

Brief outline:
Twenty-five years ago, AIDS was unknown in sub-Saharan Africa. Today it’s overwhelmingly the continent’s biggest killer. In Hope in the Dark, photojournalist Jeremy Cowart documents the hope and pain of Africa’s AIDS generation—a generation beset by poverty and fear, a generation in which children in some countries are more likely to die of AIDS than not. But despite the sickening odds, Cowart captures brief glimpses of beauty, optimism and joy as he makes his way across the continent. Through this collection of startling, remarkable images, his lens uncovers not just the magnitude of the problem, but also the places where God is undeniably present in the midst of it.

Check it out. Buy it even. Part of the proceeds go directly to African relief agencies.

Flipping through those pages brought tears to my eyes. I look forward to checking it out when I'm back, when the images and words will likely have a whole new meaning.

wake up billie joe

2006-10-01T20:37:00.000-06:00

goodbye september.
what a weird month it was.
it started off great. my birthday, brianne and arlen's wedding, nice long weekend with the friesen family. then on the 7th, things got strange. the company i worked for was having some issues, so in the middle of the day, they kicked out their employees and locked the door. that happened to be the day that means was heading out on tour - i figured i might as well join them since work was on a hiatus. so we hit the road. from banff to winnipeg and everything in between. a lot of laughs, good times and memories later, we ended up back in regina where i found out that the company had been seized by revenue canada. (did you catch it on the news? fraud, jail time, missing accountant.. straight outta the movies)
officially unemployed.
and out 2 paychecks. yikes. not the best time to be flat broke and in debt. but its been good in a sense. definitely has me living simpler and re-evaluating want vs need. and hey, it'll all work out, right? bahaha. you know when something crappy happens in your life and you're just lookin for a bit of time to wallow in the suckiness of the situation, but everyone just keeps saying 'oh, it'll work out'; 'trust god'; 'don't worry about it'. of course i know it'll work out in some way or another. of course i know god's got it under control... but it sure sucks right now and the glass is half empty so let me just be grumpy for a bit... don't worry, i'm over it and a-ok with it all now, feel free to encourage me all you want. i promise i won't give you a dirty look (sorry to anyone who was on the recieving end of that look a few weeks ago..)
anywho. last weekend i got to volunteer at a friendship retreat for refugee women and children. such a cool experience. i met some really great women (and adooorable kids) who have overcome so much hardship and tragedy and are smiling so big just to be in this country. helping out with the kids program definitely gave me a taste of what it will be like in kenya as far as language barrier goes. but hey, smiles, hugs, laughter and high-fives are universal, so i should be ok.
here's a pic of one of the kids who stole my heart last weekend. this is andre. he is from congo and came to canada 5 months ago with his brother and 4 older sisters after their parents were killed. oh man, his smile makes me melt.

the rest of my september has consisted of sleeping in, finishing up final preparations for my trip, spending some quality time with aaron before i go, battling the flu and doing some odd jobs like painting wilf's house. doesn't seem like i did too much, but the month sure flew by.
and that brings us to october. and 11 days til my departure date. woo wee. i'm excited. i'm scared. i'm nervous. i'm a lot of things. mostly just pumped to have this awesome opportunity to serve god, to serve kids, to serve the least of these. thank you soooo much to all of you who have been praying and encouraging and supporting me. maybe if you could continue to pray for everything to work out, for safety and that my plane doesn't crash (note to self: don't watch plane crash movies two weeks before you fly...), for rent money and for the 45 other employees who were suddenly left jobless with bounced checks. thanks so much. xo

2006-08-24T21:30:00.000-06:00

oh wow. i am sure terrible at this blog thing. i'm great at reading everyone else's, but updating my own, that's another story. so, here's what's going on with my trip:

-i leave october 12 @ 11:20am and return november 28th @ 6:30pm.
-funds are nearly in. praise god! woot woot. still waiting on a few details of exact costs, but i think i only need a few hundred more dollars above and beyond what i can still put in.
-i am now immunized for polio/diptheria/tetanus, hepatitis a and typhoid fever. i'll be adding flu, yellow fever and malaria to the list on tuesday.
-passport application is in and should be mailed to me by the 7th

it feels like i should have more info.. but somehow i don't. i think i will find out more about my orphanage and that sort of thing in september. or possibly not til my training which is my first few days in nairobi. i'm starting to get pretty excited about it all - it's not too far away. i could definitely still use your prayers. there's lots of stuff that still needs to be worked out before i go. mostly in my heart. i've been so selfish lately. with my time. with my money. with pretty much my whole life. how am i gonna go out there and serve little ones, serve god, when i've gotten into the habit of serving only me me me?

here's one of my biggest struggles lately: i know i need to make changes in my life, but i don't know where to start. the more i realize the sins i am a slave to, how far i am from the character of christ, the injustice in the world, my part in that, and just how much needs to be done, the more overwhelmed i get and i end up not starting at all. i've become addicted to reading blogspots. there are several people's blogs that i read daily (some people i don't even know..), that challenge me and stretch me and convict me and encourage me. i sit, eating my oatmeal in the mornings, reading these blogs and nearly pumping my fist in the air thinking..yesssss, the kingdom.. yesssss, god's calling.. yessss, let's start a flippin revolution man!!!... and it's great to have these thoughts, it's great to have discussions, it's great to feel passion.. but with no actions.. then hey, it's... not so great. it's not as though i don't want to do something.. i just don't know where to start. i want someone else to start something, then hey, i'll just join in. i mean, i'm not much of a leader, i lack initiative... ideas... motivation... and good excuses. ah, i know, i know.. i'm just making stuff up, trying to justify my laziness. i'm not doing what i've been called to do. i'm not being who i've been called to be. and all i can do is selfishly make excuses and try to blame others? geez, what a mess.

so i'm starting with baby steps, working on aligning my life with jesus', finding my place to help in this great story, trying not to get overwhelmed and trying to remember mother theresa's wise words:

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

2006-07-04T22:57:00.000-06:00

yikes.
this is huge.
i just booked my flight.wow. what a scary moment.
with a click of a button i've reserved a $2000 non-refundable ticket to nairobi.
two things make me a little uneasy about this.
1. this is really real now. not that it wasn't before. but it brings this distant dream one step closer to reality.
2. its $2000!!!! i've been struggling with this for almost a year now.. this is not going to be a cheap trip. not by any means. so far, between $5000-6000. i struggle with the fact that all that money is being spent just so i can go over there. do you know how far that much money could go? do you know how much food it could provide. the children it could sponser. the micro-loans it could start. the relief it could provide. wouldn't it make more sense to just send the money over, instead of sending me over?? part of me thinks 'absolutely'. but i think sometimes that's just the easy way. sure i could write a check and i'd probably feel good and be fooled into thinking i've helped the poor. it would help, but it would also keep me at a distance, ignorant to the state our neighbors are really in.
i can't do that. god won't let me. when i think about not going to africa, it feels downright disobedient. i've just got to go.
'there is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than there is for bread.'-mother theresa

2006-06-23T19:49:00.000-06:00

Woah. That's where i'm headed. I'm going with an organization based out of New Zealand called Global Volunteer Network which places people in a range of volunteer opportunities all over the world. I will be working with a Kenyan organization, Volunteer Internship Community Development - Africa (VICDA), for 6 weeks starting October 1. The goal of this organization is to offer underprivileged children a future. The hope is to provide the children with the basic necessities of life - love, food, clothing and shelter - and also provide them with an education. During my stay, I will be caring for orphans who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, street children and abused children at one of four orphanages in Nairobi. The other volunteers and I will take on the role of a sibling to the children, a relationship we often take for granted, but these children are without. We will assist with the daily running of the orphanage; cleaning, bathing children, cooking, helping with homework, possibly teaching some school lessons, and just spending time with the children.

So, how did this all come about, you ask? Well, let me tell you. It started back in the summer of '04. I remember talking with Chelsey, while we were still in Estonia, about working at an orphanage in Africa. Then about a month later, I was hanging out in Red Deer at an Every New Day show, when God told me I was going to Africa. No, there was no booming voice.. no elaborate visions.. no email from the big Guy. Just a feeling in my heart so strong that there's no other way to explain it. So, right away i assumed to know His plans and thought I was heading to Tanzania.. that fell through and instead I ended up in Estonia again (no complaints here!). But I knew God would hold true to His promise that I would serve in Africa. So I waited patiently and prayed diligently. Finally it was my time. And God lead me to this program.

The need for love in Africa is so huge. There's no way to ignore our suffering neighbors. 36.2% of the population live on less than $1 a day. 33% suffer from malnutrition. Less than 50% have access to hospitals or doctors. Children account for half of all civilian casualties in wars in Africa. Between 12 and 14 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Nearly 2 million children under 14 years old are HIV positive. Every day 6000 people die of AIDS. One in six children in Africa die before the age of 5.

"He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord" Proverbs 19:17
"I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the afflicted, and executes justice for the needy." Psalm 140:12
"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker." Proverbs 14:31
"Open your hand to the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11

God has clear plans for what we are supposed to do. We need to take action. Get involved in the fight against poverty. Understand that the personal choices you make have an effect on humanity as a whole. Evaluate your lifestyle, make some changes! Resist consumerism, lower energy consumption, walk or ride your bike, get in the know about what corporations are further oppressing the poor and don't buy their products. For a really great read on the issue, check out 'Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger'. Be prepare to be disgusted, convicted, blown away, but mostly be prepared to make some major changes.

Anyways, I digress... all I'm trying to say is that we are called to be his body, his hands, his feet. We are called to love. We are called to help the 'least of these'. And so I will. I'm gonna hop on a plane and travel 30 hours to a desperate land and pour out my love. I don't know what to expect, but I know that God will be with me, guiding me, leading me, showing me where he needs me.

I'm not much of a writer, but i'll be rambling on this site about my journey over the next few months. I'd appreciate you checking back on how things are coming along. But mostly I would REEEEEALLY appreciate your prayers. Seriously. They are crucial. I have so much to prepare... it's scary.