Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
“One Stop Shop- One Day Sale”
11/6 Fiona has been teaching the skills children a business class in the
afternoons. Their final project was to have a “Business day” in which
they would open their business, sell, and close all in one day. They
passed out many fliers around the area and put up posters to
advertise. Some of the students were discouraged as a few of the
locals said they would never buy from a street kid but the staff has
been very encouraging and the kids were still excited for today.
Unfortunately the rain put a damper on things but we did have a few
visitors and Laquita and I made sure to be active customers for each
skill. If I haven’t explained this before, the older children here
choose a skill out of catering, dress/jewelry making, mechanics,
computer, salon, wood work. They learn their skill at the school and
are able to practice it at these shops that MITS opened a few years
ago. Here’s some pics of the event….
far away view, the shops are in the middle, main highway on
right, we live in a gated area to the far left (that you probably
can’t see).
afternoons. Their final project was to have a “Business day” in which
they would open their business, sell, and close all in one day. They
passed out many fliers around the area and put up posters to
advertise. Some of the students were discouraged as a few of the
locals said they would never buy from a street kid but the staff has
been very encouraging and the kids were still excited for today.
Unfortunately the rain put a damper on things but we did have a few
visitors and Laquita and I made sure to be active customers for each
skill. If I haven’t explained this before, the older children here
choose a skill out of catering, dress/jewelry making, mechanics,
computer, salon, wood work. They learn their skill at the school and
are able to practice it at these shops that MITS opened a few years
ago. Here’s some pics of the event….
far away view, the shops are in the middle, main highway on
right, we live in a gated area to the far left (that you probably
can’t see).
close up view of some of the shops
another view
computer students did a “Photo for life” where you could take
a photo taken and printed out (I didn’t want to be in it by myself so
the others jumped in) 
we ate some cakey, samosas, and chai tea from the café. Here
Veronica and Mary are preparing the food.
Fashion show with Jackie, Howa, Njoki, and Cecelia 
Mechanics did a car wash but the only cars we have are our
toy cars, so we took our hummer mudding
and had the mechanics crew clean it up! Some of them our
eating sugar cane here.
then we finished out the day by getting our nails done.
(We also bought some jewelry and clothing items but I didn’t get a
pic.) Also, sorry if these pictures are poor quality but that’s the
only way I can send them through.
11/2 & 11/3
11/2,3- Tuesday and Wednesday
Since the rains have come we’ve been planting some of the seeds I
brought. Here we are “stick planting”. We take a stick, poke it
into the muddy soil, drop one or two seeds in, then use the stick to
cover it up with dirt.
Since the rains have come we’ve been planting some of the seeds I
brought. Here we are “stick planting”. We take a stick, poke it
into the muddy soil, drop one or two seeds in, then use the stick to
cover it up with dirt.
One of the farm workers here, named Ken, has been helping me out a lot
with planting the seed. I was trying to tell him what everything was
to the best of my knowledge (because I don’t know what some of the
stuff is that I brought) but instead I found that it was easier for
him to just look at the seed and then he would know where and how to
plant it. …atleast we’ll find out later if this method works out.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The Little Ones…
I love the little kiddos here. There are six of them and they are
almost as cute as my sisters’ babies. The mothers stay in our area
but in a separate dorm room with eachother. Its impossible for me to
tell which toddlers belong to which girls because the mothers will
always hand their babies off to someone. Of course I LOVE this. My
second day here, I was just sitting on our couch when one of the
mothers realized she needed to leave, came right to me, handed me her
baby, and then walked out. Not to say they don’t take care of their
children, but just that they are very trusting of other women. I know
in the states you sometimes have to wash your hands five times and
show a blood test before holding someone’s baby.
I also love how much the little ones just want to be around us.
Here I was reading while everyone was just hanging out in our room
(this may seem rude but when the girls start speaking Swahili a mile a
minute to eachother me and L decided its ok to do our own thing)- so I
was reading in the corner while Larry decided he should prop himself
up beside me and sit for a while.
almost as cute as my sisters’ babies. The mothers stay in our area
but in a separate dorm room with eachother. Its impossible for me to
tell which toddlers belong to which girls because the mothers will
always hand their babies off to someone. Of course I LOVE this. My
second day here, I was just sitting on our couch when one of the
mothers realized she needed to leave, came right to me, handed me her
baby, and then walked out. Not to say they don’t take care of their
children, but just that they are very trusting of other women. I know
in the states you sometimes have to wash your hands five times and
show a blood test before holding someone’s baby.
I also love how much the little ones just want to be around us.
Here I was reading while everyone was just hanging out in our room
(this may seem rude but when the girls start speaking Swahili a mile a
minute to eachother me and L decided its ok to do our own thing)- so I
was reading in the corner while Larry decided he should prop himself
up beside me and sit for a while.
Unfortunately we have had a few puddles incidences in our room. I
never thought I’d say this before, but Africa has made me very
thankful for diapers. One of the boys hardly ever has one on and he’s
barely one so you can imagine how that works out.
Birthday Celebration
I realized I may have skipped over the birthday celebration so here’s
how last monday went…
When I woke up Laquita gave me a birthday breakfast of toast with
“25” written in jelly. Then we started out the day by going to the
streets. Today our group had a late start and the first visit went
extra long so we only made it to three bases total. The first base we
visited was the one in the alley way, called “Lilyput”. When we
arrived one of the street men started dusting off this old chair that
they are proud of and was shaking off some blankets to lay on top of
it. We realized that he was doing this for either me or L to sit in.
I got appointed the throne after Laquita exclaimed “It’s her
birthday!!” .
how last monday went…
When I woke up Laquita gave me a birthday breakfast of toast with
“25” written in jelly. Then we started out the day by going to the
streets. Today our group had a late start and the first visit went
extra long so we only made it to three bases total. The first base we
visited was the one in the alley way, called “Lilyput”. When we
arrived one of the street men started dusting off this old chair that
they are proud of and was shaking off some blankets to lay on top of
it. We realized that he was doing this for either me or L to sit in.
I got appointed the throne after Laquita exclaimed “It’s her
birthday!!” .
This time around we were each asked to share something. For thefirst visit, since they already new it was my birthday, I just talked
about how I have another birthday that is more important and that’s
the day I decided to start following God. At the second base I shared
the verse of “If God is for us, who can be against us” and in the
third one I prayed after L gave a message. This time they translated
it for me. I’ve been learning to speak a lot slower here but it’s
still difficult at times.
We went back to the Eastleigh center and had lunch before heading back
to Kamulu.
That night we had a birthday cake (bought by Laquita!) and somechips (that no one in America would EVER eat- unless you like the
taste of Styrofoam) and cookies. All the girls came over and shared
in the celebration. The power went out beforehand so we had to light
our propane lantern and by we I mean Laquita did all the work while I
stood a safe distance away. L also bought me a singing candle but
this cake had some rock hard icing so I ended up just holding the
dripping candle while standing in the middle of our room as everyone
sang happy birthday around me. It was great having all the girls
together in our room but I think they were a little confused about the
occasion. They don’t really celebrate birthdays here. Some of the
girls came up to me at different times and shyly whispered in my ear
“Congratulations” followed by a hug. I thought it was sweet.
Thank you everyone back home for all the birthday wishes!
Stockings...
So along with our new hair they gave us some “stockings” which the
girls wrap around their heads at night. We think these are cool and
“Africany” so we want to wear them all the time but apparently that’s
not fashionable here. I think it would be like someone coming to
America and thinking denim overalls were the cool American thing. But
I would still let them wear their overalls so they should let us wear
our stockings.
girls wrap around their heads at night. We think these are cool and
“Africany” so we want to wear them all the time but apparently that’s
not fashionable here. I think it would be like someone coming to
America and thinking denim overalls were the cool American thing. But
I would still let them wear their overalls so they should let us wear
our stockings.
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