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. 

Dear All who are still reading this even though I haven't updated it in a long time,

My sincerest appologies for being an increasingly lazy blogger. 

I am still alive. 

I will try to give you a blog that is actually worth reading within the next few days.

Candice

This is for you Kat

I was thinking about how I hadn't posted anything in a while, and then got a little sad, because I couldn't think of anything exciting to share. The first thing that came to mind was our current bathroom issues. As of now, our shower and sink are clogged and drain at a painfully slow rate, and our toilet is just...ummm...being a little difficult, and we just found out this morning that the door no longer opens from the inside. This means that if you accidentally shut the door behind you(which I am in the habit of doing when I enter a washroom) it will lock you inside. I haven't done it yet, but I'm sure it will happen, and I'm sure I'll be home alone.

As I thought more about some exciting news I could share, I realized that I haven't posted anything since my Gramma arrived! She is safely here, and the kids have totally taken to her. (She was the unfortunate one who discovered the door problem with the bathroom. I woke up this morning to a rattling lock followed by a slightly panicky, "Candice?" and had to rescue her.) It is great to have her here, and I am able to see Kitale through fresh eyes, as if I were seeing it all for the first time again as I take her around to the places that have become so normal to me.

I also celebrated my birthday on the 15th. It was definitely one that I won't forget! The kids all sang to me during the come-together meeting (which happens every Friday.) It was also my Gramma's first day to go out to Mercy Home and meet everyone, so it was just an all round exciting day.

My flight home is scheduled for March.10th

Things I will miss...

I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the things that I miss most about home.  I still do, but I am starting to think more and more about the things that I love most about Kitale, and can only assume that I will miss the most once I return home. 

           

Here are a few of them:

-Learning and attempting to use Swahili.

-The kids at Mercy Home.

-Chai, half-cakes, mandazis, and chapati.

-Walking to town

-The street boys

-Pikipikis (motorbikes)

-Sudden rain storms

-Incredible hospitality and general friendliness.

-Shaking hands

            Nancy and I are leaving for Nairobi tomorrow morning at 7am.  Watching her get ready to leave for Melbourne, Australia to visit her son before she goes home to Canada is one of the main reasons that I have been having this mindset shift.  Seeing all the people that she has to say goodbye to makes me imagine that I am in her shoes.  It makes me realize how sad it’s going to be, and it also gives me new inspiration to make the most of my time here.  It’s easy to just get lost in the rhythm of life, and slip through each day without noticing how quickly it’s all going by!

Captain Davis

On Wednesday, we took the day off and took a trip to a game farm just outside of Kitale, and all had a great time being touristy! It was quite funny, because the only thing that they advertised was "horse rides" but they had all sorts of sweet animals like giraffes, ostriches, gazelles, elands (large elk-ish animal) rhinos, monkeys, and a bunch of birds. I guess that to Kenyans, horses are more exciting than those. They were quite surprised when we told them that horses are not such a novelty in Canada, so we weren't interested in horse rides.

However. I rode an ostrich instead! Pretty exciting. It was one of those times in life where I just couldn't not do it. David did it first, and it looked terribly awkward and uncomfortable. But really...when will I ever have the chance to ride on the fastest land bird in the world again? I'm thinking never. So I'm glad I did it. Mostly, the people helping me just kept it to a walk, but on my second tour of the ring, they let it run a bit. It felt so weird. It's kind of a cool thing to brag about. I rode an ostrich. That's impressive. No? Yes? Maybe a good way to start conversation and make friends?

I never would have imagined that Rhinos were SO big. I couldn't even get my mind wrapped around the pure solid mass of them. They each weighed 2 tonnes. Pictures can't do justice to their size. Their names are Mike and Celina.

 

My highlight of the trip was definitely Thomas (unfortunately I didn't catch his last name, but I'd bet money it was Sanz). He was a very friendly, very tall, nine year old giraffe. I fed him molasses, and got to pet him. He had a blue tongue. Did you know that a giraffe can live to be 70 years old? Giraffes are now my new favorite animal. I have never met a creature with such a quirky personality before. I've seen so many nature videos that have footage of giraffes, but none of them could ever compare with what it feels like to have something that tall come sauntering up to you and pick molasses out of your hand!

These guys (Moses, Joseph, and Juma) are always asking me to "help them with a picha."  They are tons of fun.  I have especially taken a liking to Joseph, he's a little goof. 

Ketchup

Wow, Christmas has come and gone.  This past week has been full of activity for us, so I’ll catch you all up a little. 

Dec. 22-I stayed up until 11:30 at night (I usually go to bed around 10-10:30 here) popping 3.5kg worth of popcorn kernels.  It took 2 hours.  For goodness sake that was a lot of popcorn.  And the lid didn’t fit on the pot, so I had to hold it the whole time.  And the handle was loose.  But, it was fun because they had Christmas carols playing in the next room, where the rest of the team was putting the popcorn into 100 bags for the children at Mercy Home.

Dec. 23- I went to the Street Children’s outreach at Faith Community Church again.  I’m not sure if I’ve written about it, but I’ve been once before (In Oct.) It was their special Christmas party.  The street kids are one of my favourite parts about Kitale, so it’s awesome to hang out with them all at once.  This time, I was on baby-washing duty.  Only one of them cried because she was being washed by a ‘mzungu.’

            - Then I took a matatu out to Mercy Home where the rest of the team was, to join in the Christmas/Birthday party that was happening there.  Most of the kids don’t know their actual date of birth, so they just have one day of the year to celebrate.  There was a talent show, special lunch, and organized games.  I got recruited into the 100m race, which really shouldn’t have been a problem for me...I was wearing a skirt, so the girls got me a pair of shorts to change into.  I am ashamed to say (but will tell you anyway because it’s funny) that I did a face plant in the first 20m.  And pretty much EVERYBODY was watching.  Good one.  A little bit embarrassing, but mostly just hilarious.  I have never had so many people come up to me and say “Sorry” in my life.  I was telling my family on the phone that I feel like I’m about 6 years old, because my knees are totally gross and scabbed over. 

Dec. 24- David and Trudy slept over at Mercy Home, Stellah left to go and visit her Grandma, and Geoffrey has been sick for the past week or so, so it was a fairly subdued Christmas eve.  Nancy and I decided to go outside and stand by the “bonfire” which was actually a pile of burning garbage in the corner of the yard.  It was very enjoyable, we sang silent night and took some pictures.

-          We all sang Christmas carols and read the Christmas story together in the evening.

-          Nancy and I hung out in her room and made “sausage rolls” (because we missed the traditional appetizers of home) This might sound impressive, but, in reality, it was crackers, with tiny bits of leftover sausage extracted from the stew in the freezer.  We never actually ate them, but we convinced Dane that they were good, so he ate them. 

Dec. 25- CHRISTMAS!  I woke up around 7am.  It felt so strange, because I was super excited even though everything was so different than Christmas morning usually is.  Helen had prepared a nice breakfast for us, so I waited until Dane and Nancy got up, so that I could eat with them.  Then I called my family.  It was sad to be away from them at such a special time, but it was great to talk to them.  And also, now I know that next year I’ll be able to appreciate everything that Christmas at home is even more! 

            -After nearly 2 hours of being awake, (this is proof that I am growing in maturity over here in Kenya) I took about an hour and a half to open up all the letters and gifts that had been sent to me in various packages from friends and family.  (THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYBODY!)  Even though Christmas is so much more than gifts and cards, I’m not going to lie, it made it extremely exciting. 

            - Then I went out to Mercy Home to hang out with the kids for the rest of the day. 

            Alright, I’m going to close this off now.  There is a lot more to tell, but I can only type for so long.  All in all, I had a wonderful Christmas season, though very strange and different from what I am used to. 

Playground

KRISMASI NJEMA! (Merry Christmas in Swahili)

Most days of the week, our team starts off by having a meeting together. We usually take about half an hour, talking about the previous day, planning the upcoming one, and then spending time in prayer. Some days though, they tend to drag on because we get a side tracked. Today was one of those days. We were talking in Dane and Trudy’s room for about an hour and a half.
The conversation was extremely varied. Aside from planning the Christmas party that is going to take place tomorrow, we covered many other subjects, such as, the promise of hamburgers coming to Kitale, the lack of lettuce here, cow impersonations, inflatable bicycles, and the possibility of getting a playground built at Mercy Home.
Hamburgers are exciting. The lack of lettuce is distressing. Cow impersonations are fun. Inflatable bicycles would be a genius way to avoid swimming for those who struggle with floatation. And a playground at Mercy Home is a perfectly legit thing to discuss at a team meeting.
Dane has done some work to find out the cost of such a project, and we have found that it would cost approximately $750 (Canadian). Our team feels that it would be a wonderful thing to have built before we leave, because the kids don’t really have anything recreational to play with. The five of us are willing to pool our resources and come up with the money to do this, however, I know that many of you have been wondering if there is any way that you can help. This would be the perfect way to assist the work being done here in Kenya, without having to physically be here. Please don’t feel ANY pressure to donate, and if you do want to give, don’t feel you have to go overboard. Something like $5-10 would be totally sufficient. The team will cover all the extra costs, so the playground will be built regardless!

Since my Gramma is coming to Kenya in 3 weeks (!!!) money can be sent to my parents by mail in the form of a cheque, or given to them in person, and then they can forward it to her.

Thank You!

"Kipsongo City"

December is the Kenyan equivalent of summer holidays, so the kids are off of school for a whole month. The past week was “home-visit” week for the kids at Mercy Home, so they went home to visit whatever relatives they have. It was a really neat week actually, because it meant that our schedule was a little more relaxed than usual, and we were able to go and see the kids where they originally come from. Most of them are from the Kipsongo slum (which is the place that I talked about in my entry about the Truman show.) Over the course of the week, I have been to Kipsongo three times to visit kids there, and to get shown around. One of the days it started raining, and the place just turned into a big mudfest. The dirt here is different than the dirt back at home, and when it turns to mud, it is incredibly slippery. I came mighty close to bailing hard on multiple occasions that day.
Some of the houses are made from packed mud, with thatched roofs, but others are like patchwork-plastic igloos. They are dome shaped dwellings made of discarded plastic bags and torn rags. It’s amazing to think that people actually live in them. As it turns out, most of the street kids (who I love!) come from Kip, and they just make the 1km ‘commute’ into Kitale every day to see what they can scrounge up, because there isn't much to live off of in Kipsongo.

We have had two of the kids from Mercy Home (Alphine, 16 and Joshua, 15) stay at our house over the course of the week. It has been super fun to have them here! It’s been neat to get to know them. Alphine has been my roommate, and part time Swahili teacher. They are going back to Mercy Home today, which is a little sad.

It is Nancy Miller’s birthday on the 23rd, so if you know her, be sure to send her an email or comment on her blog or something!

Pictures

Joshua, Lydia and me on the shore of Lake Victoria!

Most of our team (Nancy isn't pictured) after we received a chicken from a lady we met at church.

Receiving a chicken is apparently an honour. We got him about a month ago, and still haven't eaten him. I have grown rather fond of him.  His name is Fred. This picture makes me laugh whenever I look at it, so I thought I'd share it with you all.

I Love Peas

We had been counting down the days here until we were allowed to start singing Christmas carols at evening devotions, and December has come!  For some reason I am hugely into them this year. 

            One of my very favourite moments in Africa happened the other day.  I came home from Mercy Home, and could hear Christmas carols as soon as I stepped through the door.  The sound led me to the kitchen, where I found Helen and both of  the Davids opening pea pods and singing in the semi-darkness.  (The power was out again.)  Opening pea pods happens to be one of my favourite things to do, as of quite recently, so I sat down on the floor and joined right in.  It was just so peaceful.  The power came back on, but we turned the lights off again because it was so much cozier without them.  I think we sang every carol I know, and then some.  It was so simple, but it gave me so much joy.

            I spent the night at Mercy Home on the 2^nd.  This was my second time, but the first time I didn’t enjoy myself nearly as much .  I was in a way better state of mind this time, and was actually excited to do it.  I had so much fun with the girls, playing cards and just chatting.  I actually had a really good sleep too.  I remembered my trusty earplugs, (If earplugs were animate I think that I would marry them.) and got to sleep on the top bunk, which was nice.  I ended up staying there for the whole day yesterday, and didn’t feel like I needed to get home to rest.  (The first time I did it, I couldn’t wait to get back to our house!)  Benta, the social worker, who works there, braided my hair...which took over 4 hours.  I think that there are 62 of them.  Oh my goodness it hurt.  I don’t have a very sensitive scalp, and I thought I had a fairly high pain tolerance...but it hurt SO bad.  Boys, you will never understand.  (Unless you grow your hair out and get it braided I suppose.  Which I don’t advise.)  So you will have to take my word for it. 

            I have had a really great week.  It took was some hardcore homesickness, but I have begun to realize just how necessary God is in my life.  He will remain the same, and He will bring me comfort no matter how far away my family and friends are.  It has been incredible to notice how much better my days are when I start them off by giving them to God!

Pictures

I ended up meeting David in town eventually, so there are pictures today after all!  The picture of the two boys by the water was taken at Lake Victoria, during our trip to Kampala, Uganda.  The next picture of the river, happens to be the NILE RIVER!!  Cool?!  And the monkey took that banana out of my very own hand!  (She was outside of the church that we go to early on Sundays, before the church service at Mercy Home.)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. I have BIG news.

I just found out...

That my Gramma is coming to Kenya for 5 weeks!!!
She is arriving in Nairobi on the 13th of January, so she will be here for my birthday! I am so ridiculously excited. This news came at perfect timing, because I was really starting to feel homesick...just thinking of Christmas and all. I was trying to imagine how I was ever going to get through another 3 1/2 months, and then there you go. My Gramma is coming.

And thank-you so much to everyone who contributed to the Christmas package that my family sent! I am being very well disciplined and self-controlled and I am going to wait to open the letters and pressies until Christmas day. But anyway, thank-you so much, it made my day x a billion.

And sorry that I haven't been able to get pictures up lately. I had extremely good intentions today...but David took the picture converter devise thingy to Mercy Home with him...therefore leaving me powerless to upload. They will come soon!