Day 4 - African Children's Day

For breakfast, a few in our group cooked up eggs and bacon and chopped up some fresh mangos. Yeah!

We began the morning by leading devotions for all the CPA kids. We spent the entire week talking about the story of Moses and looking at the attributes of God that were evident in the story. Today, we talked about Exodus chapter 2 and how God was faithful to keep his promises to his people. My favorite part of this study was teaching the kids “Pharaoh, pharaoh.” They stinking loved that song and we sang it a dozen times while we were there.

Today was a special day for me. Myself, Carrie, and Corrie drew short straw and got to go with the older CPA kids to African Children’s Day near Naivasha. It was about an hour drive to an area near Lake Naivasha set up with tents. I think that it was at a boys’ school or home. As soon as we got there, the kids went off looking for a bathroom and I, desperately needing to go, followed them. We ended up finding a small building with three blue doors on it that had a, uh, distinct odor wafting from it. I knew what this was. It was an outhouse.

Normally, I would be terrified of the prospect of using the restroom in a communal hole in the ground. Today, however, I was excited that I could check this off my bucket list. It was exactly as I thought it would be. Spider eggs everywhere, wet floor, hellishly dark hole in the middle of the floor. I took a picture to document my experience and scared myself by imagining my phone slipping from my grasp and slow-motion tumbling down into the abyss.

It was so bad, most of our kids didn't even use it. They went around back and used a bush. Not me though. I wanted the experience, and I definitely got it. Made it out okay though. I found out later that most rural areas don’t have running water and therefore rely on outhouses for their excretory needs. You get used to it.

The celebration itself was such an event. There were at least 500 people there. 90% of them were children from different schools and homes in the area. Of the 500 people, about five of them were white. We stuck out. I didn’t hear it, but one of the girls who was with us and serving as a missionary at NV for a couple months told me that the MC of the event pointed out the “mzungu” or white people with Naomi’s Village. I felt like I was an animal at a petting zoo. The entire time we were there, I had boys coming up to me and just touching the skin on my arm. Some of them knew a little English, but a lot of them were clueless when I tried to say hello. And I’m just as clueless in Swahili, so it took a lot of pointing and facial expressions to communicate. We marched down the only road in this little section of town with livestock all around us with hundreds of kids chanting. It was a pretty cool experience and the video doesn’t really do it justice.

After everyone – including the NV kids – had performed, we hopped back in the bus and they gave us each a half a loaf of bread and a Capri Sun pack of milk. Apparently, this was our lunch. Well, I have a slight intolerance to lactose, and you know, bread is okay. So, I didn’t eat that much. Luckily, it was just a snack. 

We headed to Naivasha proper to grab some chicken and chips. I had samosas and a coke. Pretty good. Samosas are like Kenyan empanadas or Hot Pockets. We didn’t get back to NV until 6:00. It was an exhausting day, but filled with good experiences that I’m sure I’ll never forget.

My last duty for the day was praying with the younger boys as they went to bed. Everyone told me this was their favorite part, but I didn’t believe them until I got to do it myself. It was awesome to kneel down beside their bed and ask them if they wanted to pray. They all want to pray every time. Then to listen to them list off their aunties and uncles and everything they’re thankful for is a humbling experience. Then I got to pray over them and ask the Lord to heal their hearts and for blessings over all the kids. This was my favorite part of the day.

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TOMORROW: I teach a first grade class, and we visit a public primary school!

Day 3 - School and Soccer

We started off the morning with a light breakfast (coffee and frosted flakes for me) and prepared for our first meeting with the CPA teachers. Our prayer for these meetings was that the Kenyan teachers would be open to sharing and learning without being overwhelmed by us or the training sessions. With that in mind, we opened the first day by doing some icebreaker activities and just spending time getting to know them. We spent about 90 minutes doing this, then broke for chai.

I'm still not sure if this is a distinctly Kenyan custom, but NV takes two chai tea breaks a day. One around 11AM and the other around 4PM. I wish this could be a permanent part of my schedule because it provides two short times during the day to mentally refresh.

After chai, we reconvened and shared stories about our experiences in the classroom. It was during this time that I started to realize I was going to be learning just as much as the CPA staff.

We had lunch around 12:45. It was at this meal that I realized I was going to be a lot of beans over the next several days. After lunch, the kids had soccer time. About half of the kids played and the other half wandered around collecting bugs. This was my first interaction with a lot of the kids, and it was amazing to see how quickly they take to the teams that come in to NV. They see a lot of different people and they're welcoming to everyone that comes through. If you spend more than a few minutes with them, you become "uncle" or "auntie." They're really sweet and any hesitation I was still feeling evaporated when a couple of boys grabbed by hands and started running to the field with me.

After soccer (which - by the way - I stink at), a few of us took charge of the classes while the CPA teachers were in a training session. I had grade three. The age levels varied, but there were five students in the class. Three boys and two girls. They were older for the most part (10 and 11) and very eager to show me what they were learning. We talked mainly about science. We took a walk around the grounds looking for ways that work was made easier. We found ladders, slides, swings, shovels, and wheels. It was fun, and they grasped the concept quickly. After science time, I realized I didn't have enough to do to cover another 30 minutes, so I took out my phone and showed them some pictures of my class and students from home. They were very interested to know about them and what we did in school. Did the children live there? What did they eat? And anytime they saw a picture of an African-American student, they asked "Is he Kenyan?" It was a lot of fun.

Around 4:00, we had chai then played a little outside. My next assignment was to supervise children in their play room while they were pulled a few at a time for showers. We played a matching game, and I read a few stories to them.

Dinner was at 7:00 after which we helped with dishes and cleaning the dining hall. At this point, I was EXHAUSTED. I think it was a combination of jet lag and going for twelve solid hours.

One thing I noticed this day was how tough the NV kids are. They are WAY tougher than my American students. These kids get pushed down, tripped, fall, get kicked, and they stand up, brush themselves off, and keep playing. It makes supervising play time much more enjoyable.

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TOMORROW: I take a trip to African Children's Day and have my first outhouse experience.

Cornerstone Grade 3

Day 2 - On Our Way to NV

I'll try to make this quick. I need to go to bed.

We had breakfast at Gracehouse in Nairobi. I ate an omelette, their version of bacon, potatoes, fresh fruit, and a random sausage that one group member decided had a "feathery" texture on the inside. It wasn't too bad with hot sauce.

The bus from Naomi's Village arrived to pick us up and we headed to exchange money and eat lunch at Java House. Java House is kind of a mixture of Starbucks, Panera Bread, and Steak and Shake. But they also had quesadillas. Very western style food, but very good.

Naomi's Village was around an hour or so away from Nairobi, so we had a bit of a drive. The driving. Oh dear lord. I was getting myself ready to see Jesus face to face. There seems to be no real driving laws in Kenya, only driving suggestions. Passing is the name of the game in Kenya. On the highway, some people drive 80KPH, and some people drive 30KPH. So there's a lot of passing. There's a lot of oncoming traffic. There's a lot of averting your eyes so you can't see what's happening. Need to pass someone even though a motorcycle is flying towards you from the other direction? No worries. The motorcycle will just move to the shoulder to let you get by. Want to pass a huge truck on switchback curves next to a steep embankment? Just do it! You'll probably be fine. As the trip went on, I started to understand their method of driving, and I was a little less scared. That first drive though was terrifying.

The other thing I noticed on the drive were the buildings and people. Along the road/highway, there was mile after mile of cinder block shacks people were selling things out of. Mostly they were selling the same things. Fruit, sodas, snacks. There were a few that sold cell phones, tires, drugs (pharmaceutical kind, I think), and other things that I would NEVER GO TO EVER. These were some seriously shady looking places. And everyone walks. And lots of people just sat next to the road doing nothing.

This was the first time I noticed the poverty that the majority of these people live in. I'm hesitant to comment too much on the living conditions I saw because I was only there for a week and a half. I don't know the ins and outs of Kenyan culture, and what life is really like. But from what I saw on the drive to NV, the living conditions for a bulk of these people make the American poverty line look appealing.

First Impressions of Naomi's Village

We pulled onto the property and I was amazed at how green everything was. Now, I think that they were coming out of their rainy season, but everything was so lush and green. It was really beautiful. And it sits on the valley floor surrounded by these sweet looking mountains that were all misty and stuff. It was like Lord of the Rings up in there.

We got situated in the guest house (which was fantastic) and settled in for our orientation. Bob and Julie Mendonsa - the CEOs and founders - walked us through all the basic rules and routines. They covered a lot of information, but I won't bore you with that.

We took a short tour of the grounds and got to see the kids for the first time. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and hesitant at first to engage with the kids. Part of it was a fear of not being understood or being able to understand them. Most speak English really well, but their accents make it difficult at first to understand them. I got used to the way they pronounce their vowel sounds pretty quickly though. I also learned to slow down and really pronounce my sounds clearly so they could understand. I didn't realize how quickly I speak and how many syllables I drop when I'm speaking with another Texan.

For dinner we had rice, beans, and cabbage. Hint: if you go to Kenya, learn to enjoy beans. It wasn't bad, and it filled me up pretty well. I had my first real interaction with a kid during dinner too. Kevin, the son of Bonface who is in charge of pastoral care, and I played a modified game of peekaboo in which he would hide his face in his sweater, then pop out, point at me and say "You!" To which I naturally responded, "No, you!" This went back and forth for a while until I conceded that indeed, it was me.

After dinner, we debriefed for the day and plotted out what we wanted devotions to look like for the week. Then I slept.

I won't post anymore this week since I won't have computer access. I'll continue next Saturday.

Ryan

Day 1 - Plane Scones

We arrived at the airport at DFW on Sunday afternoon. Each of us was carrying three bags weighing fifty pounds. The majority of the luggage was filled with supplies for Cornerstone: paper, pencils, crayons, books, math manipulatives, paper, journals, paper, etc. Getting all the bags checked took a bit of skill as we had to redistribute weight on the fly to ensure that everything was under fifty pounds. We managed to get everything checked in a reasonable amount of time and made it through security with plenty of time to spare.

Now, I don't mind flying too much, but I've never been on a flight longer than four hours. Our flight from Dallas to London was around ten, and from London to Nairobi was eight. I had it all figured out though. The plan was to sleep the first leg and stay awake on the second to minimize jet lag. I even came prepared with a box of Zzzquil and a Sigur Ros album to help me get to sleep.

Nope. Not happening.

Seats in coach are not designed for people taller than 6'. I tried every conceivable sleeping position on that first flight and could not get comfortable. I faced left, I faced right, I faced straight ahead. I tried laying my head on the tray table, I tried laying my head on my chest, I tried laying my head on the guy next to me. No luck. Instead, I groggily watched half of Looper (couldn't get into it) and spent the remainder of the flight staring at the plane's path on the screen, trying to urge it on faster. They did provide us with food on both legs. I took my scone with a bit of clotted cream - despite the title of the blog. I couldn't make a play on words with "clotted cream."

Getting through security in Heathrow was an, uh, intimate experience for some of our group. Luckily, on the way there I avoided getting to second base with their version of TSA. Not everyone was so lucky. They were also very concerned about removing every item of several peoples carry-ons and swabbing them with wipes. Again, I avoided this. It must be my winning smile and charm.

British Airways was a blast. Of disinfectant. Before every flight they popped a can of aerosol and walked up and down the aisles "disinfecting" the cabin air. It was hilarious.

Arriving in Nairobi was a little intimidating. We had strict marching orders from Megan to not make conversation with the customs officers. No problem here. I got my visa and headed to baggage claim. We NEARLY collected all 39(?) pieces of luggage without a problem, but our LAST bag was searched. With some skillful convincing by our fearless leaders, we were able to get everything through the security checkpoint and loaded onto a van and bus to head to Gracehouse Resort in Nairobi.

Ryan

Tomorrow: My first impressions of Kenya and Naomi's Village

An Introduction

Journaling is not something that comes easily for me. Any previous attempt at it lasted three days at the longest. I think the biggest part is that I hate my handwriting. Also, I'm lazy.

That being said, I knew that if I didn't keep a written record of everything that we saw and did in Kenya, I would forget it. So many things happened that had such an impact on me, that trying to rely on my memory to share stories with others wouldn't do it justice. So with that, I am going to try to dedicate a separate blog to each day that I was at Naomi's Village. My goal is to review the notes I took during the trip and publish once a day. That probably won't happen because I'll be at kids camp with my church all of next week. We'll see.

A quick shout out to everyone who prayed for us and sent notes of encouragement. I guess I underestimated how much a short term trip can shatter your worldview, and I did not adequately prepare myself through prayer. So thank you for praying. I think that the Lord was gracious to allow me to soak it all in and avoid being overwhelmed by it all.

Also, if you sponsored me financially at all (by buying a t-shirt or sending me a check), THANK YOU! This wouldn't have been possible without you. You not only blessed me, you blessed Naomi's Village and Cornerstone Preparatory Academy. I am truly grateful.

Ryan