10/13/10- wednesday “First day”

Jessica has been journaling everyday and will share with us when she has the opportunity. Internet access is extremely difficult and slow, so she will have to just send them along when she can. In case you are wondering how difficult internet access is, here is a picture of Jessica teetering on a 12ft ladder with her laptop in order to get an email to go through. The picture is followed by her account of her first day. - Haley
I think ever since I had to ask for some time extension since I wasn’t done with my thesis that somehow translated as me getting a PhD because when Charles was introducing me he kept going on about my knowledge and how I was probably the most educated person to ever visit MITS. (of course I didn’t argue).
In my opinion, the two best (American) people I know to be out here would be my aunt Debby and my sister Haley-- because Debby knows a ton about gardening and taking good care of plants, while Haley is super full of mommy knowledge and kid nutrition. So y'all come out here, k?
We met with the Coulstons (American couple- Charles and Darlene) to go over exactly what our purpose here would be. This is good because when Laquita first started it wasn’t exactly clear but now we know. Mainly we our using our “education” to form short term and long term goals with the Staff and outline how to achieve these goals. In my case, I will be working closely with the crop manager- Victor and trying to form connections with the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI) and possibly the CIMMYT center- both of which are in Nairobi. We already have a good farm out here, especially due to the irrigation that is set up, but we just want to make sure everything is maintained well and sustainable.
The visitors from Uganda arrived this afternoon. They are all Texans (one Aggie!) aged, 27, 31, and 34 that have lived in Africa for a while mostly working for orphanages. One has been here before so she just brought by her two friends and they are staying until Saturday. MITS is pretty laid back about visitors and very accommodating.
Tonight we played sports and did exercises with all the kids. They are SOOO sweet. I really can’t imagine them living on the streets because they really do all get along pretty well with each other, of course this is just from one day. I just think its nice how they introduce themselves and take care of one another. Some of the girls kept asking me about a wedding and it took me a while to gather that there will be a wedding in December between a staff member and another Kenyan. Darlene keeps a closet in her house full of donated wedding dresses that have been used for these occasions. All the girls wanted to know if I was coming and I just said I didn’t know if I was invited (because I really haven’t met these people they’re talking about) and finally the question got boiled down to if I’d be here in December, so when I said yes they said that of course I would go. So Laquita and I are going to get some true African dresses made for the occasion. The students that have “catering” as a skill are going to work the event by cooking and serving.
When we got back to our apartment some of the toddlers (children of the girls) came over to play while some girls braided each other’s hair. The little ones LOVE the cars William (nephew) donated but they’re not too sure about the squishy dinosaurs and some actually cried because they were afraid of them.