Yesterday I was faced with a small dilema.

I was at Mercy Home. And it was getting late. And I had to walk up to Toll to catch a matatu (about 1 mile.) And it was POURING rain.

What to do? Wait out the rain? It might never stop. So I thought to myself, 'I'm from Canada, I can handle a little rain.' The girls were appalled that I was going to walk in such weather, but I set out anyway.

I had a nice walk up to Toll, and the rain slowed down to just cats instead of cats and dogs. (One of the boys at Mercy Home said that it was 'raining cats' one day, and I thought it was hilarious.) One of the day scholars was walking home too, so I had an escort. I nearly fell so many times while we were walking, because the mud gets so slippery here. After slipping and sliding my way up to the top, I flagged down a matatu (which had incredible timing!) and climbed aboard.
Usually the conductors on the matatus are slightly sour and stressed out. They are really intense and often fight over passengers, or try and charge me double because I'm white. This time though, I got a very pleasant one. (I think that he was a little drunk.) His favourite song came on on the radio, and he started singing along, and dancing in his seat.
There was just something so great about the simplicity of that moment. I felt so at peace, sitting, absoloutely drenched, beside a dancing conductor as we sped down the road in AFRICA, I felt so at peace. It was one of those times where I just had to turn off my thoughts, and soak everything about the moment into myself.

I leave Kitale on Tuesday, so my last day at Mercy Home is on Monday. The thought of going home is the very meaning of 'bitter sweet.'

A friend of mine here in Kenya told me that he once heard that:

"Disappointments are written in pencil, and they can be rubbed. Dreams and goals are written in ink, and they cannot."

When somebody or something disappoints you, move on, it's just part of life. But never let your dreams and goals be forgotten!

The ABC's of Kitale

A-ir plane. That's how I got here.

B-eep beep, move out the way, Nimechoka kupoteza time"...That is one of the two songs that seems to be played constantly here.

C-a? Cadees? The usual pronunciation of my name.

D-ada yangu. 'my sister' in Swahili. (I talk about her a lot.)

E-asy Coach. The busline that gets us to and from Nairobi.

F-reezing showers. We stopped paying for hot water about a month into our stay, because we worked out that we would each save around $150 over the course of our trip if we cut out that expense.

G-ive me 5 bob. 5 bob is 5 shillings, and we often have people come up to us out of nowhere and demand money.

H-alf cakes. A pastry type thing that I ate to much of when I first got here, and am now totally sick of.

I-roko's. The restaurant that we eat at quite often.

J-aza happa. What it says on the signs for phone credit topups. It means something like "fill up here."

K-itale, Kenya

L-ala salama! 'goodnight' in swahili. It literally means sleep peacefully.

M-zungu! We get this yelled at us everywhere we go. Mzungu! Mzungu! Mzungu! How are you Mzungu?! (It means European)

N-aenda town. 'I'm going to town' in Swahili

O-chanas. The Kenyan family we are staying with.

P-iki pikis are motorbikes, and my favourite means of transportation in Kitale.

Q-uiet evenings. We usually get back to the house around 6pm in the evening, and then have dinner around 8pm, so I have lots of time to read, listen to music, nap or whatever I please. When my Gramma was here, we played cards, but now that she is gone, there is only so much solo-clock that I can take!

R-ed dirt. Everything white becomes red.

S-hillings. The currency here. 100Ksh is approximately $1.50.

T-rans Matt. My grocery store of choice.

U-na fanya nini? 'What are you doing?' in Swahili. I find myself saying this to Frank (the Ochana's 4 year old grandson) a lot.

V-ision Gate. The name of the building that our favouite internet cafe is in. (I'm there right now!)

W-atoto. 'Children' in Swahili. Have you ever heard of the Watoto Children's choir? It is the Children Childrens choir I suppose.

X-I never did like the letter X.

Y-ori yori. The other song that is played nonstop here. "I'm with you my lovie lovie, with you everything is wellie wellie, you make my heart to go yori yori..."

Z-ebras. Many can be seen on the drive to and from Nairobi.

So there you have it. The ABC's of Kitale. And I have to leave it all on March 9th. I'm freaking out a little.
My flight lands in Vancouver on March 11th, and then I'll be back in Gibsons on the 12th. It's all going so fast! I'll be home before I know it.

24 hours

My tolerance for spending long amounts of time at Mercy Home is increasing.  The first time I spent the night there, I was so tired by morning, that all I wanted to do was go home, but I still had to sit through a 3 hour church service!  It was thoroughly overwhelming. 

            Since then though, I think that I have spent the night there around 7 or 8 times, and it has become more enjoyable every time. 

            I stayed there again on Friday night, and I think that with the combination of my time spent there on Friday, and my time spent on Saturday, I have set myself a new record of consecutive hours at Mercy Home.  

            I arrived at around 2pm on Friday afternoon, and ‘games day’ was in full swing.  The school from up the road (Baraton) was there for exhibition games in volleyball, handball, net ball, and football (soccer).  The scores of the games didn’t really count, but the best players from each team were chosen to advance to the next level of competition.  When they go up to Dekko school next week for the first round of official games, they will compete as a Mercy Home/Baraton team. 

            The most entertaining event by far was the boys’ football.  Half of them wear shoes, and half just play barefoot.  I saw one guy playing in cleats, and the thought of those stamping down on a shoeless foot made me cringe.  They go all out, and no one ever backs down from a tackle.  It was an intense game, and our boys ended up winning 1-0 after an amazing free kick Vincent took from about 35yards went soaring into the top corner of the net.  The celebration over that goal was incredible.  Every inch of the sidelines was covered with Baraton and Mercy Home children, and when he scored, the field was immediately covered in a sea of screaming navy blue and red bodies. 

            That night, the kids were wired.  The girls dorm was alive with talk and

re-inactions of the day’s events.  It had the same atmosphere of a locker room full of excited players after winning a big cup game. 

            That night, I slept in the same bed as usual, but I didn’t sleep well at all.  All of the other times I’ve slept there, the lack of a mosquito net hasn’t been a problem, but this time, the little buzzies wouldn’t leave me alone.  (Most of the girls do have mosquito nets, but the guest bed on the side does not.)  Thankfully I had my trusty earplugs, but unfortunately, I had no bug spray.  I tried my best to stay as covered by the wool blanket as possible, but eventually I would get so hot that I would have to throw it off.  Whenever I was covered, I was sweltering, and whenever I was uncovered, I got bit.  Pick your poison I suppose. 

            Anyways, morning eventually came, and though I didn’t feel rested, it was welcome. 

            Usually students from standard 4 and up have school until lunch on Saturdays, but because of the excitement of the day before, they were given the day off.  It started slowly, with laundry and cleaning, then chai break.  At around 11am, we started doing a dress rehearsal for the afternoon ‘Jamboree,’ that Dane and Trudy had suggested because it is their last weekend here.  I didn’t actually realize that it was the rehearsal, so I sat through an hour and a half of it. 

            Then we took a break for lunch, Githeri as usual.  Githeri is a mixture of maize (corn) and beans, which I don’t exactly enjoy, but I don’t dread either.  I think I would dread it if I had to eat it everyday like they do though. 

            After lunch, the real show started.  It was so entertaining!  The kids did songs, traditional dances (which are unbelievable!) poems, and dramas.  The dramas were hilarious.  Armstrong, Lochina, and Alice Hawa managed to get me to join them in singing “Above All,” by Michael W. Smith, and we made up some actions for the chorus. 

            The show probably lasted a little over 2 hours, and then we gave out jam sandwiches and candies.  

            Then, after over 24 hours spent at Mercy Home, I went back home for some much needed rest!

The Bible

Read it.  I have been so lazy about my bible in the past.  It's taken some time away, and a bit more free time than usual for me to really dig into it.  But it has been incredible.  And such an eye opener.  It has also been quite a humbling experience to realize just how much there is in that book that I had never heard of. 
For those of you who are Christian, then I challenge you to read your bible even more than you are already. 
For those of you who aren't, but are interested, then I encourage you to ask someone about it.  Ask me.
It is life, and life to the full, hidden beneath an often dusty cover. 
It's the only TRUTH that we can completely rely on! 
It truly is a gift that God has given to us, so we need to take full advantage of it!
Read.  Read.  Read.

BodaBoda

Today was my Gramma's last day to spend in town.  I asked her if there was anything else that she wanted to do or see in Kitale before she left, and she said that she would like to see the Kipsongo Slum. 
So we got a ride into town in the morning, and then walked about a mile or so down to Kipsongo.  We just walked along the main road, so it was a little difficult to get a full understanding of what it's actually like.  When we were just about ready to head back home though, this lady came up to us and told us that she had some 'ninis' that she wanted us to see.  "Nini" is the word for "what" in swahili, so whenever a Kenyan doesn't know the English word, they substitute with nini. 
After much protesting and excuse-attempting on our part, we were welcomed into her home (which was actually fairly nice for that part of town) and she brought out the 'ninis' which turned out to be sea shells from Mombasa, on the coast of Kenya.  They were quite nice, but she wanted a ridiculous amount of money for them.  I finally just asked her what she would give me for Ksh200 (about $3) "for the sake of peace."  I totally got ripped off, but decided that I would have to just look at it as supporting someone in need...not getting a good bargain. 
On our way back, I introduced Gramma to the 'bodaboda,' which is just a bicycle taxi.  They are so much fun, and very relaxing.  I feel a little guilty sitting on the back, while the guy driving is just going all out to get us up the hill, but at the same time, I'm quite impressed that they are willing to work for a living, instead of just sitting on the side of the road like so many of their friends do.  Bodabodas are yet another thing I'll miss in Canada!
From the internet cafe, we are going to take Gramma out for lunch at the coffee shop.  It's the "mzungu hangout place" because it's quite expensive, and has fairly western food.  We don't go there often, because of the prices, but it's always nice for a treat! 

The Swings

Things never go as planned in Kenya.  As Dane like to say, "Our days often go pear-shaped."  We've just gotten used to it, and we never expect things to go as they should.  When someone tells you that something will cost Ksh1000 to fix, you can usually predict that it will be at least double.  And if someone tells you they will pick you up at 12pm...12:45pm is usually a good estimate.
But we had a refreshing change from the usual "pear-shapedness" during our swing set project.  As it turned out, it was actually cheaper than we had originally thought it would be, AND the cost was completely covered by donations from home!  (Thanks guys!)
The swing set is now successfully installed at Mercy Home, and the kids are crazy about it.  It was definitely something they were really missing here.  Kids are kids, no matter where they grow up.  Can you imagine a school in Canada without anything for kids to play on?  No swing set?  We'd sue.  So, needless to say, the kids are over the moon, and there is always a very long lineup to get a try.  I tried them for the first time the other day, and they are indeed very fun.
We had a man from Kipsongo do all of the welding and constructing, and then David, my Gramma and I all painted it.
I don't have any pictures of the finished project, but here's two of it in the making.