Week 2: Shimba Hills

Hello there! I am writing from the smaller Internet cafe today- the other one was closed when we went into town today. So, no pictures today - sorry. I will try to load pics when I go to the other one.

This week was quite different from the week before, and since we probably won't be going there again, I think it's different from how it will be in the future.
We left on Monday to go to a place called Shimba Hills, which is about an hour and a half drive from the base. (Most Kenyans measure distance by how much time it takes to get there, not by mileage or km.) Shimba Hills is beautiful and is not just away in distance, but it is far from everything in general. We went for a retreat type of week - to do some team-building, and to also work with an orphanage nearby. There is not much up there, so we had a lot of time to sit with each other and with God. It was a really good time of quiet, and we also had some good fun. And, for those of you interested, there was no water, electricity, etc. But we brought our own water, and the caretaker also had some water in this tank that was collected from the rain. And, one of the best things that Shimba Hills has is a BREEZE. It was so nice to have a cool night to sleep in.

We did a lot of trusting there. By Wednesday, we had run out of drinking water, and had to start using some of the extra water and treat it to make more drinking water. The whole area is full of drought, and on our village walk on the first day, each family we passed was struggling with the lack of water. We were told that the closest place to buy water was a 5 km walk to get water. So, we were allotted one to two pitchers of water each for a "shower," once a day. By Thursday, we were not allowed any water for that because there simply was not enough. It gave a pretty clear picture of the reality of how it was there. We went back to the base on Saturday and were able to have water, but this is not the case for the people in the surrounding villages. So, on Wednesday morning, with the first treatment for drinking water, we began to pray for rain. No sooner than we finished praying, we felt the first drops of rain! RAIN IN AFRICA!!!! It was so exciting. It was not much, but it rained some more that night. The roof leaked, but it didn't matter because we were so excited for the rain - mostly for the people nearby. It was not a lot of rain, but it was good to see it happen. I guess during the rainy season, it has flooded before, making roads inaccessible, but during the dry season, it's very dry. Something to be praying for, for the people there.

What did we do there? Well, on Monday when we got there, we took a village walk to a coconut farm. How interesting! Coconut trees have very deep roots, and can go very far down (imagine - we were on a hill, and so these roots must have to go quite deep to get to water - this is not close to the ocean like Likoni is). Not only are the roots deep, but the fruit is full of water! So the amount of water the roots can connect to is amazing. It was quite fascinating. For my fourth graders possibly reading this, the guy also showed us all of the ways you can use the coconut tree. It is like the Native Americans we learned about earlier this year, so it was so interesting to me. Every part of the tree is used - coconut fruit obviously, but also the branches for things like brooms, etc. Then part of the trunk comes off is a sieve like material. The bottom parts of the trunk are used for a lot of other things. It was cool, and then we got to drink coconut juice from the younger coconuts called madafu's, and then eat the softer fruit. The brown coconut that you are probably picturing has a much harder white fruit inside.

We also spent a lot of time cooking (we used a typical outside kitchen - this is used at the base too) , which was also quite an experience. I learned how to make mandazi, which is a plain doughnut type of thing, for breakfast, and mchele (rice with some veggies in it), beans, and chapati, which is similar to a tortilla. The outdoor kitchen is a fire with 3 stones around it. You put the pot on top of the fire, supported by the stones. It is incredibly smoky (we had a lot of tears) but we cooked everything there, so it was quite necessary.

On Thursday and Friday we got to go to the orphanage, which was a great joy. The kids are so cute. There is also a preschool on site, which has about 80 kids right now. The orphanage has about 25 kids living there. The other preschool kids come from the village nearby. The closest primary school is about an hour walk away, and so the vision for the orphanage is to build a primary school on site. It is also important to note that children in this area do not start school all at the same time, depending on the family. So, for example, one of the children at the orphanage, Isaac (so cute!), is 6 years old, but he is in the baby class at the preschool because his family did not send him to school when he was younger. By the time he gets to primary school, he could possibly be a 10 year old first grader. It is pretty common to see though, so I have learned to not ask questions associating age with year in school - because there is not one general age. Anyway, the kids were really sweet. We did some work for the orphanage on Thursday (we moved these big rocks for them because they are trying to dig a well, and then we sorted rice). We also got to play with them and they sang a couple of songs. On Friday night, we went and played a bunch of games with them. It was a lot of fun. The youngest at the orphanage is Eva, at age 2. The oldest is Jotham, at age 18. Such great kids, and yes, lots of laughter. :)

I had an interesting talk with some of the Kenyans about the school system here. It is very interesting, and I so wanted to tell my fourth graders how so very lucky that they are. Aside from the challenges to even get to school, once one gets there, it has its own challenges. Public schools became free about 3 years ago, which is good so that kids can go to school, but it has meant that up to 100 kids are in a classroom, with one teacher!! Kids go to school around 7:30 and then go home around 5. What a day. This is for a public day school though. Private schools have a smaller class size, and boarding schools have kids living there. Fridah told me about the boarding school that she went to for high school. The term was 3 months, and the children are not allowed to bring phones or contact home at all during the time. Families get to visit once during the term. (I thought this was a long time, but there are boarding schools for children as young as age 5, with the same restrictions!) Children are not allowed to bring their own food or clothes from home - if they do, it is taken away when they get there. They do a lot of studying, and are very disciplined, being taught to always have a neat appearance and a neat room, as well as staying on top of their studies. They are punished if they don't polish their shoes, make their bed, or go to class each day. We had a discussion about the discipline as well. I told about my class consequences, and then Fridah told me some examples of what could happen at her school. Examples include mixing cow manure with water, picking up the manure to fertilize the plants, or picking weeds until their hands bled. Of course, not too many kids broke a rule. :) Oh, and it brought quite a laugh when I told her about how I let the kids inside to play during our recess, especially since we play with our pet gecko. ha. Here, there are geckoes everywhere, so the idea of a gecko being in a cage was quite comical. :)

I think that's about it. We had some fun games, enlightening sharing, and good times of quiet, in any of the extra time not spent on what I talked about above. I learned a lot more swahili, and felt humbled in every moment.

We came back yesterday (Saturday afternoon), and did some laundry (no laundry machines for anyone interested).
Church has been super fun, and those of you interested can email me about it, since I am running out of time now.

I think of you often. Someone asked me what was the hardest thing here. I think it is the missing home and the frustration of not being able to communicate so often that is hardest. Some other things like the heat or water issues or cultural interactions with the Kenyans have been uncomfortable, but not the hardest. The best things have been what I have been learning, and getting to know and laughing with my new Kenyan friends. Oh, we have a new person on our team, Wycliffe. He is also hard to understand, but hopefully through time, it will become easier. Already, we are better understanding both Richard and Catherine.
Back at the base, we also have another class starting beside our own. So we have some new girls in our dorm, including another girl named Lillian, and some other guys as well. There is a family living on site as well, with 2 year old Daniela, and her baby brother Devin. They are a delight to be with too.

Take care! We start the classes part of the program tomorrow, as well as more of the practical work. The first two weeks of the program were team building, some practical work (we did a presentation at a church last week and worked with some middle schoolers today, in addition to the orphanage from last week).