Area 2

Today I visited the Area 2 school.  We had lots of fun dancing, though we were having some CD issues.  In the afternoon I went to the Huruma school.  They didn’t have power, but it came back on as we were eating lunch.  Then, the amplifier they had borrowed was not working and they were having trouble getting the working one.  By the time we fixed all these technical difficulties it was late in the day, so we decided to reschedule for next week.

As I was waiting for all the issues to be sorted out, I wandered outside to watch some of the people in the area.  Five little girls from the slums walked over to me and all wanted to shake my hand…they are all so curious as to what white skin feels like.  After they giggled a little, one of them walked behind me and very quickly ran her hands through my hair then ran off.  It was so sweet and innocent…I am so different to them and they were just honestly curious.  Sometimes I forget how privileged I am to have seen so much of the world and how not much seems different to me.  I forget how small the world is to these children, how much is out there that they don’t even know exists.

Sick

Woke up this morning with an awful cough and not feeling well.  We rescheduled my teaching today for next week and I went to the clinic to get some medication then stayed at the hotel and rested.  Kenyan cough syrup tastes just as awful as American cough syrup =P

Mathare North

Very busy day today.  I visited the Mathare North school and spent the morning with  Amos, the school’s social worker.  We walked all morning long…from Mathare North to Mathare 4A and back again.  I went with him on a few home visits (it is his job to check up on children when they are absent from school and to just check up on families).  During the visits he would talk in Swahili to the parents since most of them don’t speak English, so I was left to my own mind.  At one house (by house I mean aluminum shanty) in particular they were talking and I was watching a little kitten giving himself a bath in the corner of the room when all of a sudden everyone started laughing and Amos pointed up at the rafters then at the cat.  I was very confused, so he explained to me that there was a rat up there and they were all laughing because the cat was ignoring it.  Needless to say the joke was not so funny to me.  I was very busy for the remainder of our visit surveying the room for anything that could possibly come at me. Eeeek!  Amos also took me to see a new project the school is funding.  They are building a washhouse in the Mathare 4A area.  The washhouse will have toilets, places to wash clothes, and a community center.  Doesn’t seem like much to us, but having a public toilet is a big deal in this area…it is a huge improvement over the “flying toilet”.  (In the slums many people use a plastic bag as a toilet, tie it up, and throw it out wherever….always be careful to watch out for flying bags!) 

In the afternoon I taught some dances to the children.  They were a blast!  Some of the preschoolers came out and watched…such sad little faces that wanted to join in.  There were even quite a few people that stopped while walking by to watch.  Seems like a little thing, but any outreach that these schools can get into the community may bring these people to church on Sunday.  I pray that the people of the community can see the Hope Schools as a place of hope, refuge, and a place to find God.

I have not been able to take pictures in the communities as I have been walking because it is too dangerous, but these are some shots from a window of areas I have been walking and visiting…

Pulling at my heart...

Wow!  What an awesome day!  Today has been my absolute favorite day since I have arrived.  I was able to walk around the slums with Isabella, the school's CHE in charge of children with disabilities.  She has about twenty children that she checks up on.  Both mental and physical disabilities are not culturally accepted or understood…it is widely believed that these children are a curse from God.  As a result these children are often hidden in their homes or abandoned.  Isabella does her best to educate and encourage the parents and community about these children and to show them that this is not a punishment and that God still loves them.

Today I was able to meet four of the children…and I fell in love with them all!  These children receive OT from a nearby hospital once a month or not at all….not nearly the help they need.  Isabella expressed a desire to do therapy with these children herself, but said “but I just don’t know what to do with them.”  She is such a willing person, it is disheartening that she does not have access to resources that she could flourish from.  After hearing this and meeting the children, I felt an immediate pull at my heart.  Though I don’t have all the education she could benefit from, I do have quite a bit of experience working with this population and can help her get something started.  So, I changed my plans for next week and I'm going to spend a couple days training her in some programs to practice with these children.  I was excited about spending the entire week next week at Joska (the boarding school), but I am even more excited about this.  I will still get to spend a few days at Joska and do some dancing there, but this will leave a lasting impact.  This really could be life and death for these children…they can so easily be abandoned or neglected…the door is wide open for God to do some work here.

Meet the children...

Adan -

Adan is 7 years old and has Cerebral Palsy.  He was so sweet...he would just giggle and giggle every time I sang to him.  Adan lays on his back and pushes with his feet to transport himself.  This would be very effective except his house is only 4ft x 4ft so there is no room for him to move and get stronger.

Helping Adan stand...he loved being on his feet!

"If you're happy and you know it..."

Maria -

Maria is 10 years old.  She was abandoned and is being raised by someone else in the community.  Maria was 5 years old when she contracted Malaria.  The doctors made huge incisions along her hip and back.  It appears as though the doctors hit her spinal cord because after the surgery Maria was left paralyzed from the waist down.  She has very little mobility in her upper body.  I could not get Maria to respond to sound or light, but whenever I would touch her cheek she would give a little smile and lean her head towards my hand.

Simon -  

Simon is 10 years old and also has Cerebral Palsy.  Two years ago he got a sore on his mouth that has spread and is eating his lips and tongue.  Simon couldn't see me, but he tried very hard to talk to me, and was very close in repeating "How are you?".  Feeding is very difficult for Simon because his mother does not have the proper tools.  I played some music on my iphone for him and Simon kept smiling and grabbing for the music.  When I held him and danced with him I saw his mother smile for the first time.  It was a smile I will never forget...she seemed relieved that she was not being judged for having a disabled child, and happy that someone could love him and hold him, and give her even a moment of relief from the neverending task of caring for her child.

Helping Simon get a drink of water

Simon had very little core control and needed constant help holding his torso up

Baba Ndogo

Today I taught at the Baba Ndogo school.  It was a little rough – the children were young and didn’t understand much English and partway through teaching I completely lost my voice, but we made it work and had fun with it.  The real highlight of my day was spending the morning with Robert.  Robert is the CHE (Community Health Expert) from the Baba Ndogo school.  His job is to educate the community on how to live healthy lives.  I was able to attend the group that he is training.  I found it fascinating the basic concepts that needed to be taught.  Things like boiling water and washing utensils…so simple to my American mindset.  The group he led was great…8-10 young adults that were very interested in learning.  I asked him how he motivated them to come and his only response was that “God motivates them.  There is nothing that I can do to motivate them.”  His teaching was great and I thoroughly enjoyed his class.  Health, he taught, is fourfold.  It is harmony in the four relationships of a person’s life: God, self, others, and environment.  How true this is, yet how often I forget about all those relationships except self.  Health is not just a physical condition; it is mental as well as spiritual.  How much healthier would we be if this is how we taught in America?

Sunday

Sundays are always fun days in Kenya.  In the morning, we went to church and it was the shortest church service I’ve ever experienced in Kenya – only 2 hours!  Every service I have previously attended has been 4 hours…a little too long for my American attention span =)  After church we went to the Masi market and bartered for our souvenirs.  I must say, I have gotten much better at this over my past few visits =)  This evening we were able to relax a bit at the hotel and tonight my parents left to go back home.  It was great to spend the evening relaxing and preparing for the busy week to come.  For this week, please pray for my health.  I have been developing a cough over the past couple days and it has gotten really bad tonight.  I’m not sure how I am going to be able to teach and dance tomorrow (every time I move I start a huge coughing fit) and am not sure if there is anywhere I can get any good medicine.  I am praying that the medicine I do have will be enough and that tonight’s sleep will be healing.

Monkey Park

There was no school today, so I had the day off.  My mom and I went to the mall this morning and did a little souvenir shopping.  After we got back to the hotel, we had some time to rest before the men were done with their training.  During my nap I woke to what I thought to be firecrackers, but as I began to think clearly I realized that firecrackers are not a normal thing around here.  I jumped out of bed to look out the window and saw people running in their homes and closing the doors.  Later, we confirmed that this was gunfire – only blocks away – very scary!

This afternoon our entire group was able to relax and visit “Monkey Park”.  It was quite an experience.  The monkeys were very determined to get at the corn and peanuts we had any way they could.  Can’t say I’ve ever had a monkey on my shoulder, much less multiple monkeys climbing all over me!  All in all, we had a great time.  It was wonderful to enjoy some more of this beautiful country.  It is always refreshing to see that Kenya is not all slums and gunfire…there are so many beautiful things here too if you take the time to look.