Days 3-6

Day 3 Anajali

Today another team joined us at Anajali to help build a new latrine. Wellington the headmaster was busy all day helping them sort out their supply issues, so I spent the whole day helping with the crafts. In the afternoon, I took on a little more than I could handle. I tried to teach 12 class 7 girls how to make friendship bracelets. I had a couple of helpers, one of whom knew how to make the bracelets. However, an hour was just not enough time to show all 12 girls how to get started. Some of them picked up quickly but others did not. I felt like I had let them down and was quite upset with myself. The rest of my team pointed out to me that before we left the girls all wanted to have their picture taken with me and their unfinished bracelets. That made me realize that I had not been a failure, I had just been focusing on the wrong goal. I exchanged mailing address with one of the girls Lillian, and hope to keep in contact with her.

Day 4 Anajali

Today there were two teams with us the team building the latrine and the medical team. Once again Wellington was busy. So we were unable to find time for me to show him how to use his new laptop. I may be able to go back on July 17, but if another team is going I doubt he’d be free the either. I will just have to wait and see. If I can’t I’m sure God will send somebody else. I ended up in three classes in the morning because Tony and I finished our two classes before Mom and Helen started their second. In the afternoon I got my second chance with class 7. We made paper beads, and paper planes. I was happy that they finally had something finished they could take home. Once finished they all took their paper planes outside in an attempt to fly to Canada. Then it was time to say good-bye. We went to each class and gave them a Canada pin. The 7&8 classes got crosses as well. We gave each teach a bag of usefully things for their classrooms. After we finished saying good-bye we returned to the central portion of the school to find that the older classes were preparing a farewell concert. They sang and danced for us, and at one point we were all up and dancing with them. It was hard to finally say good-bye. The primary teacher told us that when she explained to her students that it was time for us to leave, they all wanted to know what craft they would be doing on Monday. She didn’t have the heart to explain we weren’t coming back on Monday.

Day 5 Kitui

We set out about 8:30am for a 3hr drive out into the Kenyan country side. This was my first real experience with typical Kenyan roads. Um, how can I describe them? BUMPY! And driving on a two lane highway was like a combination of leap-frog and chicken. There were several pot holes that sent my mom and I, a few inches off our seats, each time we tightened our seatbelts a little more. Once there we were greeted by about 70 smiling children about to have their midday snack of porridge. We flew kites, played soccer and skip rope. We also had a large parachute with balls to play with the smaller ones. They had a blast with that. This was the first day we had seen the sun and it was quite warm, it didn’t take long for the adults to seek refuge in the shade. The children went on for another hour or so. When it was almost time to leave we were ushered to a table and chairs set up behind the main house. The children marched out and sang for us. What I love about their concerts is all the songs have movements that go along and it’s fun to dance along with them.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a handy craft co-operative. We all picked up some beautiful carved wood items.

Day 6 Church

This morning I was up bright and early ready to attend the Nairobi Baptist Church. I was looking forward to an upbeat worship service. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding and we ended up at the more sedate service. We still had a wonderful time of worship though. The topic was about how Christians should behave in the business world.

Many people went to the Yaya market do some shopping, but I went back to bed to rest. I’ve come down with a cold and don’t want to miss any work days to it.

Day 2 at Anajali

Today was Noah's ark day. Each class contributed to a large mural, by colouring in or drawing or making animals to go in the ark. They also traced their hands on colourfull paper and cut them out. The hands went together to create a rainbow. The film team was on hand so they took photos and some footage of the final assembly process. This was my first opportunity to interact with class 8 and it was a pleasure. I met one boy in particular, Francis who had drawn a picture of a home with two trees. He entitled it, Francis' Homestead. At the end of the day he gave it to me as a gift.

Today was also a bit of a trial. All the teams here in Nairobi are starting to feel the stress. We realized last night that our focus was being taken away from God's purpose and focused on our own. We were all so worried about getting things done the way we think they should be done, and weren't concentrating on what God wants us to accomplish. I think our team has found new focus in this regard, however please pray for the other teams, that they will remember that they are to focus on God's glory and not on accomplishing tasks. Please also pray for health for the whole mission team. Many of us have not felt well since arriving. My stomach was off the first couple of days and when that began to mend, I woke up this morning with a sore throat. The devil really is trying to drag us down with illness and team division. Please pray that he will not be successful.

Work Day 1

Well my first day started out a little rough. I woke with a bit of a belly ache and didn't feel like eating much for breakfast. I had some toast and a boiled egg. We headed out to the Anajali School in on the out-skirts of the Kibera Slums. We were greated warmly by the schools head master Wellington, who proudly introduced us to each of his 11 classes. The first three are preschoolers and they were all in the same class. Then there were classes 1 through 8. Each class had a song or poem prepared for us. It was so great to see them singing and dancing with such enthusiasm. Unfortunately around class 5 I started to feel the effects of my belly-ache and small breakfast. I got weak and faint all of a sudden and had to ask to be excused. I was escorted back to the head master's home where I could put my head down and rest for a bit. I was still able to hear the greeting song from the 8th class which was absolutely beautiful. After our introduction we had some time to plan before we went into the classes. For our first day we went into the first 6 classes and talked about Canada. The children in the 5th level were taking social studdies and had lots of questions about Canada's industry and resources. They directed the discussion which was so refreshing to see. The children here seem so keen to learn and are aware of how lucky they are to have a chance to go to school. Schools in Kenya are free, but the parents have to purchase uniforms and supplies in order for their children to attend. Many parents struggle to feed their children let alone pay for school supplies. Because of my weakened condition I spent much of the afternoon in the Library with the school's library teacher Sam. We cataloged many of the books that we had brought with us to the school for their library. Sam and I had a good chat about Canada and the climate differenced. He was just so thrilled with all the wonderful books. We've managed to fill another three shelves plus we'll be bringing more today. I've also volunteered to show Wellington how to use his computer. So I'm not sure how much time I'll actually get to spend with the kids. I'm not too disappointed though. As many of you know I'm a little awkward around them. I would like to spend some time with them though. They are so wonderful and friendly. As we left last night we were overwhelmed by a chorus of "How are you!"s from dozens of children who were playing just out side the school compound.

I'm feeling much better this morning I think I should be able to eat a proper breakfast and thus be more helpful today.

Greetings from Kenya!

Well, we arrived in one piece, thought I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a bit of an adventure. Our arrival in Cairo was a bit confusing, at one point they insisted on taking our passports and tickets and sent us into a big holding room. That was very upsetting. Then somebody explained that we had all obtained visas prior to arrival. Then they sent us back to were we started still without a clue as to where we should go. Because our layover was almost 12hrs we had been given hotel and dinner vouchers. We didn't realize that we would have to leave the airport to do this we thought we were still considered "in transit", It's a good thing I got a multiple entry visa!

Once at the hotel we were assigned rooms. The room I got had somebody in it already! oops! Anyway we fixed that and I got my own room. I got a shower and had lunch with my parents in the hotel restaurant. Despite the fact that I was obviously with my parents the waiter wasted no time in flirting with me. However I think he was running on less sleep than we were so it came off pretty clumsy and silly. No need to worry Austin, there's no competition here. Anyway, not wanting encounter any more trouble we arrived back at the airport with plenty of time to relax and wait for our flight to Nairobi. We arrived early this morning about 5am. We went about pulling our bags off belt.
However, about 15 people didn't get their bags in the end. No surprise I didn't get either of my bags, par for the course for me. :P I am use to this however so I do have a few changes of cloths with me in my carry on baggage. The bags didn't make the connection in New York to Cairo. They will hopefully arrive tomorrow though.

My observations so far ( a little clouded by lack of sleep and irregular meal times) is that there is a sharp divide between classes here, there are some obviously well off people driving new cars and others who walk along or across busy roads or cram into tiny buses. All the housing compounds are surrounded by brick walls and barbed wire. Thankfully we have some time today to adjust and figure out what we will be doing and where we'll be doing it. The schedule here seems to work "from day to day".

I'll say one thing for our hosts, they are amazing! With very little notice they had a warm meal ready for 100 guests when we arrived from the airport, we didn't arrive until after 9am because we had to report our late luggage and that took longer than one might think.

Anyway I'm going to sign off for now. Just wanted to assure you all that we're safe and in one piece. The people are charming and friendly.

Less than 24hrs to go!

Well, I got my new PIN in plenty of time (see previous post). I hope I don't need to use it but it's nice to have the backup source of cash. I've since discovered that the bank card will be the cheaper way to go for getting money.

My bags have been mostly packed for weeks now, but I'm finding that I've forgotten what I packed. I'll have to poke through tomorrow morning for one last check.

This will be my last post before I leave, so next time I post I'll be in Africa! Maybe I'll even find time to post during my layover in Cairo who knows.

Thank-you for your support. God Bless!

Ack! Less than one week to go!

Yikes! I found out yesterday that I don't actually know the PIN code for my credit card. This is a huge snag since I was counting on it to get local currency when I arrive in Kenya. I've ordered a new one. Let's just pray it arrives in time. I may be able to use my bank card at some machines, it may be more expensive to use it on larger withdrawals though. For now at least I picked up some extra US currency to purchase shillings.

Most everything is packed, except for the stuff that I use on a daily basis. I picked out some books, to read during the quiet times.

Right now I'm some combination of excited and scared out of my wits! Which is resulting in a strangely calm outward appearance.

Anyway I've got to dash off to church now.

God Bless.

A bit off topic, but exciting none the less

I am happy to announce that on Saturday June 9 I became engaged to the love of my life Austin Hung.

Find details here