Introductions: Part Two

Laura is probably the one on the team most like me (Yes, Dad, she's a tight wad who hates shopping too :-P). We blame it on the fact that our mothers could be long lost twins... except that her mom grills her with a million questions to get all of the information she wants, and my mom just stalks all of my teammates online. Lol.

She is fairly positive that she wants to work in a Muslim context in North Africa for a good solid chunk of her life, so being able to come here on internship was a really cool opportunity for her. She is the one who makes all of our video blog entries, and she's about to start teaching computer classes to the teachers at Life Frontier School, so we make good use of her technical prowess, and her photography skills. She can draw a crowd with her camera quicker than the rest of us could even think to notice that there are that many kids in the area, and they love making goofy faces and posing for her. Probably one of the biggest areas where we differ, is that she is infinitely more patient and deliberate than I am, and she's been putting that to good use building relationships with a few of the older girls at Life and discipling them in their walks towards the Lord.

Rebecca is our resident artist and the one who designed all of the rooms that we painted at the school. We tease her about being "old" -- all of 26 years -- and about the fact that she's from a farm in Nebraska, but I don't think that any of us could imagine internship without her here.

Her and Ashley have this amazing skill of turning every conversation back to "...at the nursing home..." or "...at the assisted living..." that I really enjoy, because it gives me a chance to learn medical stuff besides that first aid and wilderness medicine that I've studied before. Yep. I'm a nerd like that. (Ashley told me last night that she brought a few medical handbooks back from the States, knowing that I would get excited and want to read them. Lol. )

Like the rest of us, she is also nice and stubborn, but she has put that stubborn to very good use in learning Swahili. Our neighbors love her for it, and they are always giving her new words and testing her ever expanding vocabulary. She keeps us on our toes by turning everything back to the need for prayer, and by asking Bible questions that force us to pull out the mental concordances and try to find the words for things that we may not have tried to verbalize in years. "What does so and so mean when they say....?" "What does in mean in such and such a book when in says ...?" etc.

Me and my smurf nose, I hope you don't need an introduction to, so, I think that you have officially met all of the girls. The boys will likely be over tonight, since we have the internet router at our house, but, for now, let's go to town and let you see what you can see.

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Day Three: Introductions -- Part One

Good morning. I hope you slept well and didn’t get too tangled in your mosquito net trying to get out of bed this morning.

Normal days around here move at a pretty relaxed pace, so I’ll let you take some time to get to know everyone.

Ashley is our resident southerner. She’d describe herself to you as a “homeschooled, Southern Baptist, Calvinist.” We joke that I was homeschooled, Esther was homeschooled for a few years, but Ashley, Ashley was HOMESCHOOLED. She’s okay with that, though. :P She may look like a sweet little, Southern Baptist, homeschooler, but she can be tough as steel and just about as stubborn (which is a good thing in a team of strong willed, passionate people).

At the same time, she has probably grown and changed the most out of all of us since being here. She still likes old movies – her idea of a good movie is one that has never been produced in color – and can talk your ear off about the Civil War if you let her get started in on that one, not that she’s passionate about the subject or anything. But, she now responds to the Somali version of her name (“Asha! Asha! How are you?”), plays constantly with the babies she didn’t know what to do with at the beginning of internship, works in our neighbor’s duka, and all of the people whom she has built relationships with since being here love her.

Esther is also from the South, but she’s from Texas, so, not only is she still proud of the Confederate flag, but she is also proud to be from the only state that can legally A) fly its flag higher than the US flag when they are displayed together and B) secede from the US and become its own country whenever it wants.

She’s our resident adventure queen, always looking towards the future and trying to convince the rest of us to do something “adventurous.” If Esther looks up suddenly and says, “I have an idea!” beware, something you would never think of is about to come out of her mouth (ie. Wanting to put on a bui bui, get in a taxi, and try to drive towards Somalia just to see how far “we” can get). She’s in love with this continent and always thrilled to be doing something “different,” so she’ll enjoy having you around, and will love to milk you for as much wisdom as she can get out of you.

She’s struggled throughout internship with the fact that so much of what we do here is just living life and building relationships in this context, that desire to be doing and seeing new things is just so strong in her that sitting out here where “things” don’t really happen rubs her the wrong way. God has used that to change her though, and she is much more content and willing to be wherever He wants her than she was at the beginning of this adventure – and she definitely has the cleanest Swahili out of all of us!

Melissa is the “baby” out of the team. I’m actually the youngest, but she gets teased about it all the time, for some reason. :P She’s also my fellow Washingtonian, although she comes from the other side of the state. We have fun trying to explain to people here that the weather in her place is more like Nairobi while the weather in my place is more like here, even though we live in the same state.

You’ll probably hear her singing throughout the day, and she has a laugh that carries outside of our house loud and clear. The kids out at Life (and anywhere else she goes) love her and her crazy faces and cool finger tricks. She loves trying out new Swahili phrases (including ones that she finds written in matatus!), and she has grown up a ton since getting here, and there is a wealth of wisdom hiding under all of that goofiness – kind of like another Melissa I know.

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Day Two: Part Two

Sorry. I haven't really forgotten about you. We're almost at the end of that paint project that you came to help with, and it's more or less taken over my life for the last month or so.


Thanks for coming out today, though. Having the extra set of hands to help paint was really nice. Bekah is very much a questions person, so I'm sure that she knows all sorts of things about you after half a day of working together. If it weren't for the fact that she has a one year old and a two year old at home who can only be entertained by someone not-mom for so many hours at a time, she would have stayed all day to help us. In this case, the crazy interns aren't the only ones who like having a big project to work on.

I think that her and Jason are almost more determined to get this thing finished before the teachers come back next Tuesday than even any of us are -- which is saying something, because there is a lot of stubborn and determined on our team. Lol.

Annelise (the daughter of some South African missionaries who have been here working with the school for quite a few years) also came out and helped us. She's a good worker -- when she isn't totally bored from spending all day staring at the same dark blue paint -- and she likes coming out to paint. When you're nine years old, any excuse to play around with thick gooey substances is a good way to spend a day. Lol. (We even managed to get most of the paint off of her face / the rest of her before sending her back to her parents... :D)


You weren't quite as lucky in the matatu department on the way back to the house, so, welcome to the land where seats wobble, sliding doors don't quite close all the way, and it isn't anything abnormal to get a glimpse of the road through tiny holes in the floor. :)

They may look a little sketch on the inside -- something about the neon orange dashboard combined with the pale pink interior and the old school velvet paisely seat covers is just a little...special -- but the drivers know what they're doing. If you ever took the time to glance out the window as we went, you probably noticed that they have an amazing ability to dodge goats, donkeys, pedestrians, potholes, etc without slowing down significantly. :P Think of it as a twenty shilling kiddy roller coaster.


Now that we're back at the Witt's house, we're going to eat dinner and just hang around for the evening. Tomorrow morning we'll go to town and you'll get your first real glimpse of town proper.

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Day Two: Part One

Welcome to town. We're in the middle of a project, so we're going to put you to work this morning. The other girls are waiting for us back at our house, so I hope you're up for a little bit of a morning walk. Jason and Bekah's, where you stayed the night, isn't far from our house, so we'll be there in just a few minutes.

I know that you want to look at everything around you, but I might suggest that you keep at least half an eye on the ground. Some things, like punda (donkey) or goat poop are just nasty to step in. Other things, like methange thorns, can be painful if you don't pull them out of your shoe right away.


We'll stop at the duka by out house to pick up some bread to take out to the school with us for lunch. Hope you like peanut butter sandwiches. Normally, we have a friend who cooks lunches for us Kenyan style, but, because so many of us are out and about working on this project and other things, it has been easier this month just to handle lunches on our own. Believe me, we'll be more than happy to get back to pilau when the month is over.

On the way town, don't let your focus on the ground keep you from seeing everything around you. Don't worry too much about staring. Odds are good that there are plenty of people staring at you -- not only are you new to town, but you are also another new white person. Hope you're good with being the newest form of entertainment in town. Lol. (Just try not to make eye contact with the opposite gender. :P)

Public transport around here is called a "matatu," and we've been getting an influx of new ones lately, so the odds that we'll get a nice one for our ride out to the school are pretty good. Of course, the conductors of the nice ones are very concerned that the paint on us will rub off onto their seats...Lol. Kenyans have an amazing ability to stay clean while doing dirty jobs that Americans obviously do not share.

Haha. You survived your first matatu ride, including the jungle gym of trying to get in and out over 14 - 20 people. :P Hope you enjoyed it, because that's how we're getting home as well.

Rebecca has designed Bible story pictures to go on the walls of the preschool / kindergarten classes here at one of the schools, that we've been working on for the last two weeks or so. Today you get to help paint bushes, sand, clouds, and mountains, in the first two rooms to fill in some of the scenery around Elijah (1st room) and Joseph (2nd room).


Grab a brush and get ready for your first experience with super sticky / runny (Yep. At the same time, it's kind of like painting with gak sometimes. :P) Kenyan style oil based gloss paint.

We Interupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programing....

Field Trip: Day One -- Part Two

Now that you've had a few hours for the "Oh, wow. I'm really in Africa." culture shock to start settling in... we're going to culture shock you again.

It's time to hop back in the taxi and drive to Eastleigh, where we'll pick up the bus to North Eastern Province. You'll know when we start getting close, because things will start to look more like the middle east than anything you probably ever imagined this part of Africa to be. The streets down here are swarming with people. Long flowing veils cover all but the hands, feet, and faces of most women, and even many of the men are covered neck to ankles in the long white or cream colored conzuls.

When we get out of the car and head into the bus stage, you'll notice that the language sounds different, almost harsh and angry compared to the softer sounds of Swahili. It is Somali, the mother tounge of almost everyone here, and you'll be running into it a lot until you get back to Nairobi.

Luckily for us, most people speak Swahili as well. Somali is NOT easy to learn. Lol.

Just to confuse your jet lagged self even farther, once we get out of Eastleigh, the first several hours of the trip are through downcountry Kenya.

Coffee and pinapple plantations are everywhere, so soak up the scenary. This is your chance to experience a little of the Africa that you've seen in movies, lush, green, mud houses that stand out in redish brown contrast to the plants around them and well organized villages.

As we go, the landscape will get drier and more desolate, and the villages will shift to clusters of low, round huts, thatched or covered with pieces of bright cloth or plastic, easily moved when the herds need new grazing, almost always tucked away within sight of a large water hole.

Herds of camels are still visible at dusk, even though most other wildlife is starting to disapear back into the bush.

By the time we get in at 7:00 or 8:00 pm, night will have fallen, so you'll get your first glimpse of my current home in the morning.

Field Trip: Day One

Karibu Kenya!

I hope your flights went well. We have a few hours until the bus leaves, so, if you'll throw your suitcase in the back of the taxi we'll go run a few errands before we head to that end of town.

Keep your eyes open. You'll notice a lot of things that are different than America. More people are out on foot, and the traffic is crazier -- there is logic to it all, though... I think.


Enjoy yourself for a few minutes. We're going to stop by Java House and get some food, because I haven't eaten beef in a while -- and they have milkshakes, both things that you can't get outside of the big city. Lol. The people sitting around you now are the upper class of Nairobi, thus the very western feel of the place.

No worries. You'll see plenty of non-western things before you get back on the plane. I just want to give you a chance to realize that not all of Kenya is like "my place," as it would be referred to in good Kenyan English. Right now, you're sitting in a busy coffee shop, where you can order a latte or a milkshake and a bacon cheese burger or a quesadilla. The only real clue that you're in Africa is the language(s) you hear around you. Most of it is Swahili. The rest are Bantu languages ("mother tongues" for the different downcountry tribes). You might even catch a little German or Chinese. This restaurant is popular with the ex-expatriate community (people living in a country different from the one that issued their passport).

If you'll follow me after you finish you food, we'll stop by an ATM so you can withdraw some cash. The current exchange rate is at about 76 Kenyan shillings to 1 US dollar, so you won't really be spending as much as it feels like you are. Lol.

Even though this part of Nairobi feels safe, and it more or less is, you're more likely to get pick pocketed here than on the other end of your long bus ride (plus that jet lagged look on your face marks you as an easy target. :D). So, you can tuck most of that away into your bags where it will be safe. A thousand or so in smaller bills will be plenty to cover you for the rest of our journey across the country.

Field Trip!

So, seeing as I have no way to teleport you guys here and give you a hands on tour of my life -- although, that would be incredibly awesome...do you think God is down with granting superpowers?? -- we're going to play a game.

The basic premise of this game is that you are going to pack your imaginary suitcase and get on an imaginary plane headed to Nairobi. I'll be at the airport there to pick you up, and we'll travel together from there, until we get to here. Ready?

Today, your job is to pack your suitcase. (Seeing as this is your imagination, we're going to pretend that you already have a passport and the travel nurse has already gotten her hands on you. :P)Step One: Throw out that antimalarial prescription slip from the travel nurse. You can get them WAY cheaper here. Pharmaceutical companies in the States just like your money.

Step Two: Ditch the water filter, super intense bug spray, and anything else that makes you feel like you're going on a jungle trek. I can almost promise that they won't do anything but take up space in your bag.


Step Three: Dig out the t-shirts and flip-flops/sandals. Girls, time to pull out the ankle length skirts. Hate to break it to you, but, your knee caps are hot. You're gonna have to keep them hidden. Guys, if your knee caps are visible when you're standing up, find longer shorts. The girls aren't the only ones with...umm...attractive...knees.

Step Four: Throw in some stuff to keep you entertained on the plane and enough pesa (money) for your visa.

You, are officially ready for your trip to Kenya.

Hold on tight to your plane tickets.

Drink plenty of water on the flight.

Don't get lost between terminals of the London-Heathrow airport.

I'll see you tomorrow when you land in Nairobi.

Perspective

A down country woman was telling us earlier this week about how people come here for jobs because they make extra money here. Apparently, the extra salary is considered an incentive to work in a "hardship area."

We were a little surprised. Then we found out that they offer the same thing to get people to work in Helena, Montana.

No wonder we feel like hicks when we get off the bus in Nairobi and see everyone else dressed for New York city. Lol.

Bible club

I was able to go to school today and “observe” Ashley for the first time as she did a Bible club with the kids. Her and Melissa took that on as one of their ministries several months ago, and they’ve been doing it steadily on Wednesday afternoons, teaching lessons and doing Bible drills with the kids. Up until now, I’ve kind of stayed out of it, so that they could get their feet under them and establish themselves with the kids and come up with their own way of doing things – not that I have a tendency to take over in teaching situations or anything like that…Lol. :P

Because Melissa is in the States for a few weeks to help out with her brother’s wedding, though, Ashley wanted an extra set of hands for this week’s club. Naturally, I was more than willing to go with her. (“You want someone to go help teach elementary and middle school students? Ummm…let me think a minute. Yep!”)

Club meets outside, in the “forest” – a grove of trees that was planted behind some of the classroom buildings. The kids trickle over one by one and rifle through the boxes until they find “their” Bible, then they settle in the cool sand under the trees and flip carefully, searching for the last week’s memory verse so that they can look over it again before club starts, hoping for the bragging rights of being able to remember something that the other students have forgotten. A few curious ones from the other clubs hang around for a few minutes and some Muslim students rifle through the pages of an unclaimed Bible, amazed to see so many new books in these boxes, curious to see what makes it so different from the Quran. Wind ripples through the pages and defies the students efforts to find the right passage, while a two inch long cockroach scurries out of one of the boxes, quickly buried in the sand by several squealing girls. Today they have been marking lines in the field for the track and field day that is coming, so a few patches of bright red and yellow clothing stand out against the pale blue stripes of the rest of the group.

Ashley lines them up to do Bible drills and they flip as quickly as the wind will allow them, whispering the page number to each other as soon as they find it, not wanting their friends to have the “shame” of being the last one still hunting. A few of them are obviously lost, swimming in pages and pages of the small script, struggling even to find the center where they might be able to locate the book of Psalms, but they are learning.

Ashley teaches a quick lesson, and they come forward to write their names on a paper heart, a visual reminder of God’s love for them, careful not to press too hard or get any sand on the marker tips.

We gather them together to practice the books of the Old Testament, and I give up on trying to be quiet and observe, jumping in doing my best not to totally overwhelm whatever it is that Ashley had planned out in her head. They read through the list as a group, accents lilting over the names in a way that is probably far closer to the original pronunciations than what we grew up learning, tongues stumbling as they sound out “E-ccle-si-as-tes”

After a few more Bible drills, one of the girls prays to close us, and the kids scatter, making their slow way back indoors to finish up the day with one final class period. It’s already four o’clock, and, so far, they have been in school for eight hours today with another hour to go.

Next week is exams and then mid-term break, but they’ll be back next term, interested in what they’re learning – and more than a little spurred on by the white teachers and their boxes of new Bibles.

Lol. Can you tell I enjoyed myself? (Ashley asked almost as soon as club was over, and, yes, I plan on going back next term. :D)

The South Africans are Coming!

(Jaco, Heleen, Musa, Sueane, and Anelise)
So...these aren't the South Africans who have invaded. These ones live here and have lived here for ten years. The husband, Jaco, was actually the internship director for our internship director Jason, back in the day.

Another bunch of South Africans, though (who I don't have pictures of), have invaded temporarily. When we got to yesterday yesterday for Ashley and Melissa's Bible club, there were white faces everywhere. A group of about twenty 7th - 11th grade students from a Christian school in the Eastern Province of South Africa came here for a missions trip over mid-term break.

The kids loved having them around -- and some of their students were amazing to watch in action with the local students. I don't think we were the only ones a little shocked by the number of white faces, though. Probably half a dozen different times, groups of kids -- or teachers! -- came up to greet us saying, "We have many wazungu today, but they are so many that we can not remember their names. You, you we know." After so long being stuck in the status of "new person," it was rather refreshing to be considered an old, familiar face. Lol

They put on a brief presentation in the dining hall that the kids enjoyed, and I think it was really good for the upper primary (middle school) students to see other people their age doing things -- like giving presentations -- in a way that would be considered an "adult" job here.

Anyone in this part of Kenya who is still in primary or secondary school tends to be considered a child, no matter how old they actually are. (One of the teachers referred to the group of South African students as "only small boys and girls," even though the youngest was thirteen and the oldest eighteen. No wonder they were surprised when we got here and several of us were nineteen!) So, it was good for them to see that "children" can make choices and do things that are bigger than their individual selves.
Just for the record, though, names that involve clicking noises are really hard to learn!