Closure

So, the last blog.

It is strange, as well as challenging for me to write this last blog. I find myself stuck at many points and forcing it at others. I am now sitting on my bed in the US, as opposed to 8000 miles away in a small internet cafe tucked away in one of the many buildings of Kahawa West, Kenya.

Over there I felt like I could just write on and on without having to stop for a single thought. There was so much going on around me that provided a constant fuel for thought and reflection. Over there, everything was worth writing about and sharing, the place mine as well have been Mars for how little my friends, family, and I knew about it.

Well, now the good thing is I feel like I do know a lot about it. I learned about Kenya and in the process learned a lot about myself and our country as well. I think that the biggest thing I learned is that people can be very different, yet be very similar at the same time. The kids I taught, the family I lived with, the workers in Dubai, and all the volunteers from various places of the world all had their own story and unique existence in life. However, no matter where you are in the world it is possible to connect to others and learn from one another.

There is no doubt that Kenya has many issues that need to be resolved; a corrupt government, a disastrous water supply situation, a reliance on crops that very well may be "ungrowable" in the future due to climate change, etc. However, you will never find people so full of spirit and hope as you will in the Kenyan people. This hope and determination is the reason why although surrounded by countries like Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia, they are a successful democratic society. Many would crumble under such circumstances but the Kenyans are fighting to better their country.

Our host Steven defines this Kenyan spirit. I promise you that you will never find a better man than Steven. He is constantly smiling, laughing and seeing the good things around him. Show him a banana fiber painting of a Maasai warrior and he will spend 5 minutes pointing out details you yourself never took the time to recognize (This is what happened when Tommy and I gave him such a painting as a gift).

Here in America we have characteristics that are just as honorable. We work hard. We are a society that revolves around our work; for better and for worse. The Kenyans know what it means to wake up at 5am to get water from their wells but may not yet have perfected their intellectual pursuit. We may know what it means to study diligently for 20 years of our life and then work 70 hours a week, but sometimes we lack that which the Kenyans have - the ability to appreciate every crumb of life.

This opportunity was an amazing one. It made me want to go to every other inch of the earth and explore. Everyone reading, if presented with the opportunity, should go to Kenya. Before leaving, many people were concerned with whether or not Kenya was safe. It is hard to learn about Kenya and what to expect when going there. I personally spent months before this trip looking for information, specific information, on what I could expect on this trip but was constantly let down. I left for Kenya with very little knowledge of what to expect. The picture I had created in my head was far from accurate. There is no doubt in my mind that many, many people do not go to Kenya, and other countries for that matter, because they are afraid. This is a pity because there is so much to see and learn, and as they say - you only live once.

Nearly every person I met in Kenya told me "tell your friends good things about Kenya." They are saddened about the misconceptions about Kenya. I would spend time telling you how wonderful of a place Kenya is, but I think my many blog entries said enough.

Thanks for reading everyone

-Kevin

Maasai Mara

The end of our trip was just as fantastic as the the rest. Thursday we headed to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. While there, we had a tour of a Maasai village. Each person going on the tour paid 10 US dollars - money that went to pay for a school the Maasai were developing.

During the tour we saw the men and women each do their own dance. They would walk in unison, jump, and make quite scary noises with their mouths. It was definitely incredible. Afterwards, the men showed us how they made fire out of two pieces of wood. I was able to try this out with them which was pretty cool. I contemplated just buying them a few bic lighters to save them a lot of hassle in the future...

After the fire making, Tommy and I were taken by 3 Maasai men into one of the huts. Their huts are completely made out of cow poop. Inside the hut it was completely dark. The huts were filled with smoke which quickly began burning our eyes. As we walked in we entered a room which had a fire being used to cook milk mixed with blood from the cows, something the Maasai drink each day. A few children, as well as a female Maasai sat around the fire. As we sat around the fire the Maasai encouraged us to take pictures with them and the children. They then showed us necklaces that had lions teeth on them. We were told that before a male Maasai is able to get married, it must kill a lion. The teeth from the lion are then worn around the neck of the man. The Maasai wanted to sell us a couple of necklaces with the lion's teeth, an offer I could not refuse. I know that many people may think that the killing of lions and the wearing of their teeth is cruel, but the Maasai live with and respect the animals of their region more than you could imagine. They only kill when necessary. I did not feel bad at all buying these lion's teeth.

After leaving the hut, a couple Maasai showed interest in the binoculars that Tommy and I had bought at Bass pro shops. They offered to trade us their Maasai clubs for the binoculars. This was another offer I could not refuse. Not only did I have very little use for these binoculars anymore, but I think it is the coolest thing ever to know that there is a Maasai out there using binoculars from Bass Pro Shops that I traded to him.

That night after leaving the Maasai village we went on a game drive. Entering the park we saw zebra, antelope, gazelle, etc. However, after not too long our van and driver noticed a bunch of other vans grouped together not too far away, a sign that something was going on. We drove up to be told that a leopard was in the bushes but could not be spotted anymore. Our driver, Patrick, drove around to get a better spot. He pulled right into the bushes and immediately we saw the leopard walking about 15 yards from our van. It was incredible. It moved so stealthy and showed immense power. It was amazing.

That night we went back to our camp, had dinner, and went to bed in our tent. The tent had 4 beds. Tommy and I had been paired up with two girls from the US that were also volunteering and staying at the hostel. We told them fake stories of relatives and friends that had been attacked by leopards while camping at similar camps around the area. We told them about Tanzanian tribes that came to the Mara sometimes to attack tourists. Tommy also told them about some spider from Kenya that embedded itself into people's skin. They bought everything and freaked out. Pretty hilarious.

The next day we went on a game drive through the park from 8-5. We saw every animal imaginable as well as had our first lion encounter. I lion had recently hunted a wildebeest. The lion stood eating from the wildebeest carcass while 20 or so vultures waited to get the leftovers. As soon as the lion left, the vultures made the move, but the lion came back to scare them away (Greedy lion...). Finally, the lion left and the phrase about eating like a vulture made complete sense. A pile of vultures converged on the carcass.

That same day we also saw two cheetahs sitting on a hill, elephants, and giraffes. Before lunch we drove by a heard of hundreds, possibly thousands of wildebeest, part of the annual wildebeest migration. We ate lunch by the river they must cross, dodging crocs in the process. We saw hippos and gigantic crocs in the river after we ate.

After lunch we drove around some more and then headed back for dinner. After meeting a kid from California, multiple heated political discussions, including the legalization of marijuana, we went to bed. We woke up at 6 to go on our final game drive. This game drive was only a couple hours long but we were able to see one of the coolest things during this time, a pride of lions. 15 or so vans parked on the grass as 4 female lions and 2 males walked right by us. At one point Tommy and I could have practically have bent down and pet one of the lions. Surprisingly, they do not even bother looking at the people around them, they just continued on with their business.

After that game drive we headed back for Maziwa. It was already Saturday. We went to visit our host family one last time and then were picked up by Ian and Ethel to be brought back to the hostel. It was really sad to leave Maziwa. We knew that we would probably never be back there, or at least for a very long time.

We stopped at a market on the way home and bought the last avocados we would eat in Kenya. We brought them home, cut them open and put them on our dinner, which was my favorite meal, chapati.

Before we knew it, it was Sunday afternoon and we were being brought to the airport. We said goodbye and were dropped off.

The 5 hours flight from Kenya to Dubai was not bad. I was able to watch a movie, 12 Rounds, which sucked but passed the time. We arrived in Dubai at 2:30 in the morning, spent about an hour figuring out what we were going to do, and then finally got a hotel at 4 in the morning.

Oh ya, by the way, it was 41 degrees Celsius in Dubai. When we left the airport I thought I walked into a sauna. It was ridiculous, and it was 4am!

The next day after sleeping from 5am until 2pm we were able to check out Dubai. We walked through the incredible heat to a mall where I ate at a sweet fast food place. Afterwards, we paid a boat driver 20 dollars each to take us on an hour long boat tour along the river/bay. In the distance was the tallest building in the world, among one of the coolest skylines I've ever seen.

Dubai is a great city. It is very rich and very clean. Everyone is very kind and as a customer you are treated ridiculously nice. Tommy and I discussed that unfortunately it is a place that people are either unaware of or are afraid to visit because it is nearly completely Muslim. This is not something that should be of concern as westerners received very hospitably.

After the boat ride we headed to the airport and got on our flight to Atlanta. After 15 hours, Tuesday morning Tommy and I arrived back in the United States. I can easily say that I have never been so happy to be an American. The trip was great, I loved every second of it (even when I was sick and puking), but we really do live in the best country in the world with a lot of things we definitely take for granted.

One blog left.

-Kevin

The Beach Boys

So yesterday I was still very sick and just layed in bed almost all day and drank water. Kind of a bummer but I feel better today.

Last night we just relaxed outside our room and played some chess and then cards. Our neighbor who has a connecting deck with us played some cards with us too. Tommy is about 90 percent sure she is a prostitute and I am only about 50 percent sure. Either way she was nice to us and never tried to make any deals or anything like that. She taught us a card game which through her explanation made no sense. We went to bed at about 10.

We woke up this morning and had to check out. Since our train does not leave until 7 the hotel told us we could leave our stuff by the barside. When we went to bring our stuff there we saw that the tide was very low. We decided to walk out into the ocean.

We headed out through the sand and plants. Two beach boys walked with us and showed us the different sea urchins, sea cucumbers, etc. that were now visible. We immediately knew that they were going to want some shillings for this even though we never asked for them to come with us and it tends to be very annoying. However, they were very helpful. We were able to walk a couple hundred yards from the normal shore in water that was never past our shins.

Anytime you read about Mombasa a reoccuring theme will always be the annoying Beach Boys. This cannot be emphasized enough. As soon as you step on the sand they all bother you. They want to sell you necklaces, keychains, drugs, massages, boat rides, you name it. It is not like you can say "no thanks" and they will leave you alone either. These are the most persistant dudes you will ever meet. Last night when we were walking back from dinner on the beach and it was dark out. The beach boys are pretty much all gone at this point, but one kid was still out trying to sell peanuts. This same kid has bothered us to buy peanuts every day we have been here. Last night we were like, "no thanks we dont want any peanuts" and the kid (probably like 13 or so) was like "you always say you dont want peanuts, everyday you say that." Well, that is because we really never want any peanuts. Last night I was feeling sick and tired so I just said "get lost kid." As Tommy mentions in his blog, these people may be poor, but I dont think that gives them the right to constantly harass every foreigner that walks on the beach. We are always polite and say no thank you, but after saying no thank you a certain amount of times I think it is best to just tell them to get lost.

I like Mombasa. but I like our little villages around Nairobi more. Everything there is more authentic and more "Kenyan". Mombasa was kind of stressful in its own way, although being sick the whole time I was here probably did not help my opinion of it. We leave tonight at 7 back to our host family and I am excited for this.

I am also very excited to be back home in the USA.

-Kevin

Mombasa

So Tommy and I went to the Nairobi Railway station at 5pm on Friday. The train was supposed to leave at 7 but did not actually depart until 8:30. This train ride turned out to be horrible.

We had dinner at around 9. The food was pretty bad. We had some wine with dinner as well and then went to bed. At 6am we were woken up by gongs for breakfast. Tommy and I both tried to go back to sleep. I was not able to and ended up going to the bathroom to throw up. The combination of a lack of sleep, horrible food, and a very rocky train ride was too much. From that point (7 am or so) until when we finally arrived at 1pm I was puking and feeling horrible.

By the time we got off the train I was feeling a little better. We headed to our hotel which for only 25 dollars a night each is awesome. There are monkeys running around and the Indian Ocean is within walking distance.

During the day I just drank a lot of water and attempted to eat food. I think I may have had some kind of stomach virus but I am not sure because the whole time I was on the train I could not retain any liquids or solids. By the end of the train ride I was puking out straight water that I drank 30 minutes before. I appologize for such details but it was a horrible experience I must share. I am sure I sound like a big wuss right now but oh well.

That night Tommy and I got pizza from an Itialian place. Mombasa has a lot of Itialian influence so the food is really good. I was only able to put down a slice or so but I could tell it was great pizza. We went to bed at 8pm.

Today I felt much better. We slept until 8 and then went out to enjoy the Indian ocean and relax. Mombasa is much different from Nairobi. It is quite amazing that these two places are in the same country. The architecture is different, as this city is mostly Arab. In general though it is just nicer. Although, Nairobi is a horrible city and it does not take much to beat it out.

Hope everyone is doing good back in the States. I am excited to get back home and tell everyone about these experiences along with show you all the pictures I have been taking. Also, I have nice little gifts for all of you who are reading!

-Kevin

Last day

Hello. Today was my last day in Waskam. I just wanted to check in real fast.

I went to Kiambu this morning and bought a soccer ball for the kids that should hold up for a long time. The cheaper ones only last a couple days but the most expensive ones all just get stolen by local guys that play. It is was an interesting balance that I had never had to consider when purchasing a ball!

In Kiambu I also bought 12 boxes of chalk and enough pencils to last a very very long time. The kids never had any pencils and getting a piece of chalk was constantly a struggle. I am glad I could help them out in that way!

My next goal, if possible, is to get that school some new textbooks. I did the math and it would not be very hard to do... If I were still at Loyola 2 kegger fundraisers could literally almost do the trick. I will figure out some other way.

Leaving the school was pretty sad. All the kids asked me when I would be back and realistically I know that will probably never happen, and if it does I will be much older. I gave them all my email address and really hope some of them actually are able to email me.

Oh, before I left I was also able to give Kimani enough money to save his sick goat. The struggles people have here are clearly much different than at home!

My ride back from school today was the perfect ending to Waskam. I hopped on a matatu that was just about to leave town and made it to Kiambu with only a few stops. Once in Kiambu I got on a matatu that was literally just about to leave. This alone could make a persons day. I cannot emphasize that enough. The ride home was also very awesome and smooth. All in all I made it back in 35 minutes, by far a new record and much quicker than my usual hour and a half trip! Good times.

Tommy and I catch a train for Mombasa at 7pm tonight. Mombasa is apparently worlds different from the Nairobi area as it has Arab roots. I am excited to see this.

Talk to everyone soon.

-Kevin

Fresh Rabbit

Today Tommy headed to Waskam school with me. Poor guy had to get up at 6 instead of sleeping in until 8:30 like he always does...

We got to school, brought in the water and waited for the children to arrive. We also planned out our lesson during this time. I was not sure if a big group of the students would be there today because of the custody battle going on in courts, but luckily we had everyone there.

All 20 of the older kids (ages 7-13) packed into one of the small classrooms. Kimani and one of the other teachers sat in and watched as well. Tommy and I started with a 20 minute lesson on the history of the US, including important dates such as the civil war, world war II, etc. This was very important, as these kids seemed to know nothing about the US except for a guy named Obama. Every question we asked was answered by a student saying "Obama?"

Aside from US history, we showed them where we were each from and pointed out major cities and the capital on the map we drew on the board.

After teaching them a bit, we moved on to some true or false questions. We would write on the board things such as, "True or False, the South won the civil war?" The kids actually did very well and remembered most of what we had taught them.

After true/false, we taught them "Hangman." None of the kids or teachers had played this game before so it was really fun. We used phrases such as "New York" and "George Bush." The kids got really into this game as we had them all pick team names and gave out points for correct letters and guessing the final word. The teams were very creatively the Lions, the Tigers, and the Chamelions. Tommy and I were the Super Giraffes and we got 5 points anytime the three teams collectively could not figure out the word before the "man was hanged." (Before anyone attempts to correct my use of the word "hanged" you best google it).

After a while of hangman, we moved on to trivia and asked questions and gave out points for correct answers. I threw in a math question and at the end Tommy had one member of each team sing an American song. One kid sung a song I was unsure of, one sung Amazing Grace, and the last was the best of all, Sweet Home Alabama. After the first two songs I decided to get the third one on video and I don't think the kid could have picked a better song to sing.

The final activity of the day was a dance and singing competition. We had each team arrange an organized song and dance and they performed it for Tommy, Kimani, the other teacher and I. These are all on video as well.

All in all I think the kids had a blast and learned some American culture in the process. It was really fun.

After teaching Tommy, Kimani and I had tea and then headed off for Kimani's house. He showed us around and then we sat down for lunch. The rabbit which yesterday I had watched hop around was now in a pot in front of us. It was delicious. We also had avocados on the side and a potato, corn, spinach side dish. It was all kind of mashed together but tasted great. For a drink we had tea made fresh from their cows milk. Pretty amazing.

After eating he gave us a tour of his Shamba (farm). I had already seen all of this, but I think Tommy enjoyed it. We then walked up a big hill and took a path shortcut to Kiambu town. From there we grabbed a cab to Nairobi city.

We had been in Nairobi once when we got a matatu for Hells Gate, but this time was different. I think we were in the heart of the city and it was incredibly chaotic. When we got to the desk to book our train ticket to Mombasa everything went smoothly until we went to pay. As you will find, in Kenya no one really excepts credit/debit. Therefore, we had to walk to an ATM. The ATM was close but on the way we basically had to play a game of Frogger. The longer you are in Kenya the more and more you will come to depise the Kenyan government for all the little things they cannot get right (stoplights, crosswalks, SPEED LIMITS). We made it back to the train station and booked our ticket and headed back to Miziwa. I love everywhere I have been in Kenya so far, but I have no desire to go back to Nairobi. Unfortunately, we will be back tomorrow at 5 to hop on a train to Mombasa.

Tomorrow is my last day at Waskam. I am going to get them a soccer ball tomorrow as well as give Kimani 300 shillings to save his goat from some medical problem. Every single person Tommy and I have met here needs money for something and they are definitely not too shy to directly ask you for the money to help. It is sad because although we can help some people, realistically Tommy and I do not have very much money ourselves.

Just as Tommy's main concern is to help out at his hospital, my concern is to improve the education here in Kenya, specifically at Waskam. I really believe that just like everywhere else, education is the road to improvement and prosperity. I have been making a list of the concepts the kids have been struggling on in my classroom (mostly math and English since that is what I have taught most) so the teachers know what to focus on. Also, I am trying to think of a plan to help supply the school with more books and supplies. If I can do one thing it would be to get them some more books (they do not have even close to enough for each student) and better assessment tools (the tests they took were horribly designed). I have everyone's emails so I can keep in contact with them about this. Everyone reading, feel free to give me any suggestions as well.

As always I am exhausted and am excited for some time to relax. Also, apparently there are more non-Kenyans, specifically mizungus in Mombasa, so it will be nice to not to feel like an Alien for once. Constantly being stared at is not so great.

I will touch base again soon. For all of those that have followed this experience so far, THANK YOU!

Also, thanks again to anyone reading who contributed to this trip. I really appreciate it and I think you were a part of something pretty important here. Even though it was only 2 weeks, I think that may be all it takes to show young kids what else is out there in the world besides the life they may be living. It may be beautiful here, but there are SO many problems that they all, if they wish, deserve to get away from.

-Kevin

Kimani

Today turned out to be an awesome day. I woke up at 6 feeling pretty good. Yesterday I drank about 3 liters off water from 3pm till I went to bed at 9. I think dehydration was definitely the issue.

Today at school I graded papers and hung out with the kids during the morning session. They had just finished 2 straight days of testing so today was pretty relaxed. While grading papers the main lady Hellen talked to me for literally an hour straight. She is a really nice women but she tells me nothing I do not already know. Thankfully, there is Kimani.

During the first tea break I sat around with Kimani and had more talks about Kenya and the US. Kimani is by far the smartest teacher at this school and he also understands the most English. He always teaches me alot and similarly I teach him a lot. The comparisons and contrasts we make between the US and Kenya are fascinating because you can see how each ones weaknesses could be solved or helped with ideas from the other countries strengths. I always enjoy these conversations.

After tea, since not much was going on we decided to take the rest of our break and go for a walk through the village. This turned out to be amazing.

We ended up walking to Kimani's house. He lives a 10 minute walk from the school in the most beautiful part of Kenya I have seen yet. His house lies on a slight hill with nature and animals all around. His house was clearly hand built with whatever materials could be found and the fences and gates for his farm animals were made with sticks and branches. There was an amazing amount of beauty and relaxation sitting in his land. Everything there was his and besides little things like sugar, he needed no one to live.

Kimani has 8 chickens that wander around, two cows along with a calf that was just born a month ago, 8 rabbits, 2 goats as well as two baby goats and 2 dogs. the structures he has made to hold all these animals was awesome. He kept opening doors that led to more homes for more animals.

The baby goats were the coolest things he had. When he let them out they just jumped all around. They run too, but seemed to take any and every opportunity to jump from one place to another. They were so small and cute.

The calf was also cute. It was lying down in its cage when I first saw it and I believe that is the first time I have seen a cow that is not standing. Although the calf was less than a month old, it was pretty big. Not nearly as big as an adult cow but to think that these things are born like they are... well it just blows my mind.

We had a snack consisting of an avocado that came right from one of his 15 or so avocado trees as well as a small pineapple (possibly the best pineapple I have ever had).

After gathering up some of the animals we left his house for a trek through his "shamba" (basically a farm). We walked through a cornfield which had random avocado trees growing all over.

After a bit we came across his wife and another relative doing some laundry in a little stream that went through their land. His son, Jonathon was also there. After greeting them we continued on to my favorite part of this excursion...

We came across a lady and a man, both probably 75 years old tending to their farm. They owned beautiful looking crops and were working hard to keep it that way. The man grew sugar canes and in Swahili Kimani asked if we could have some. The man, Kimani told me, is basically his father and they have a very close relationship, so the man happily said yes. He walked over to what looked like to me was just some kind of bush and pulled out a long cane looking stick. He then took his machete and hacked off the ends of cane and then cut it into 3 pieces. One piece would be used to regrow the crop, one was for us to eat, and one is sitting in my lap to eat later.

The man then took the piece we would eat and cut off the skin/bark whatever it would be. He cut little strips up and handed them to me. I have never eaten anything right out of the ground that was so delicious. Sugar cane is clearly what is used to make sugar, but when you eat it straight it is even more delicious. You simply chew on what otherwise looks like a piece of stick. It tastes sweet and is very juicy. After the flavor dies out you spit the piece out and get another. I must have eaten like 4 pounds of sugar cane on our walk back to the school.

When we got back to the school Kimani, Hellen and I discussed tomorrow's plan. Tommy will be coming to teach with me tomorrow. We will do an English lesson, an American geography lesson, and whatever other lessons we feel like doing. We will teach from 7:30 until the 10:30 tea break. From there we will leave with Kimani to his house. I am bringing 300 shillings because Kimani offered to slaughter one of his rabbits for lunch tomorrow. Yes, I am super excited to be eating fresh rabbit meat for lunch. Sorry all you animal lovers out there. We will also have fresh avocado from his trees and traditional Kenyan food, as Kimani put it. I have become friends with Kimani and am very grateful that he has showed me his house and is offering to give us lunch tomorrow. The 300 shillings is all he asked from me as his animals are important for his food and income. After eating lunch Kimani, Tommy and I will go on a little walk through the town to Kiambu. It should be awesome and I am sure Tommy will enjoy a change of pace from his hospital.

Today after lunch all the teachers and I talked about getting married and all that jazz. Here in Kenya they get married pretty quickly after meeting someone. Therefore, because they are not with a partner for very long before marriage, they said that many people's true colors come out after marriage, causing problems. Also, although it is not legal, many men have many women as "wives." Kimani was funny because he said it was a good thing because one of them may not be able to fulfill one's desires. I told them about how marriage works here and they seemed pretty surprised that people could be together for many many years before actually getting married.

Another thing that always shocks Kenyans is how open America is to homosexuality. When I tell them that homosexuals come out to the public they look at me and are so surprised.

The biggest problem, by far facing Kenya is the corruption. The government is an utter joke. If you saw how Tommy's hospital was run you would laugh and the fact that my school, which is not very good, is way better than public schools is equally as sad. All the government officials are very selfish and are willing to accept money in almost any circumstance, never with the countries well-being in mind. I have yet to meet a single Kenya that does not have disgust towards their leaders. It really is sad because as Kimani told me today, "almost all the problems Kenya faces are self inflicted wounds."

Well I cannot wait to get home and cut open this sugar cane. So yummy. Tomorrow will be a great day and then that brings me to Friday.

Keep checking this as only a few blogs will be remaining.

Asante!
Kevin

Short day

Well, today was more testing at the school. I took 3 tests to obtain the answer keys and graded a good 20 tests. One of the tests was a science test for 5th graders. I had no idea what the answers of half these questions were. This was a combination of me forgetting all that stuff and the fact that the questions were specific to the area of Kenya.

One of the English essays I graded gave me some props. I was reading it and it said something like, "I go to Waskam school. I like all my teachers here. There is a new teacher from a different country. He teaches better than the rest..." haha. I felt bad for the other teachers but it gave me a little boost of energy to see that. Sometimes it gets exhausting trying to teach kids that hardly speak your language and therefore do not understand much of what you are trying to tell them.

Today Tommy stayed home from work because he was not feeling well and I left at noon because I too felt run down. I do not think I have any sickness so do not worry, I think I am just exhausted and dehydrated. The days here are pretty long, involving a lot of walking and matatu rides. The biggest problem I think though is that water is not readily available. We drink from bottled water and most of the day we do not have access to any. After thinking about it, in the past 3 days I hardly had any water and on Saturday we biked 15 miles.

We just grabbed a good meal and we plan on going back and drinking plenty of water. I think this will definitely make me feel better.

This blog is sort of going to just be filled with a bunch of random things if you all do not mind.

On the way back from Lake Naivasha on Sunday Tommy and I both bought goatskin bongos. When I first saw the bongos the man offered me one for 3500 shillings (50 bucksor so). I said no thanks. Later on Tommy and I were able to bargain the price down to two for 3000. So, Tommy and I payed only 19 bucks for a bongo made out of goatskin. Pretty sweet.

Last night we played the bongos for a while. We had Faith singing along with us. Then, I played a few kikuyu beats that Carolyn taught me. She sang and danced along to them. It was really fun.

When Tommy and I got to Maziwa on Monday we went grocery shopping with Steven and bought Chili sauce. Since then in just 7 days worth of meals we have finished that bottle. Everything we eat tastes so good with it. The family thinks we are nuts.

Today when I came home from work I was in a matatu by a village waiting for more passengers. All of the sudden their was water drippin through the floor and steam coming from the front. The matatu started making a bunch of noise and everyone ran out. I am guessing it just overheated but it was still pretty scary/hilarious. When it first happened it was scary. But when everyone got out we were all just laughing. We got into a different matatu and went on our way.

Since being in Kenya I have been called the following names:
Jim
Bob
Jimbob
John
James
Mizungu

I can't really blame them for trying those names to get my attention. It works and it probably does cover 10% or more of the males in America.

There are a decent amount of drunks that are in the towns and villages of Kenya. There is one in mine that is drunk 24/7. From what I can tell he is harmless, but he is really annoying. They always want to talk to you forever because you are white and since I am at school I never really have time for this (nor would I want to talk to him if I had the time). He always just says "Hi John. How are you John?" "I am fine John." "You are fine John." Alrightttt buddy.

So apparently both Danielle and I have interesting things going on in our lives. I am over here in the amazing country of Kenya, and she is greeting MLB all stars and hall of famers. Last night she apparently escourted Hank Aaron to his limo. No big deal.



This is a matatu. There is NO exaggeration here. Most of the them have some kind of a name on the back that tells you about the people inside of the matatu. Matatus also may have, as shown above, bright paint jobs. Matatus have designated routes that they follow, similar to CTA buses, but they will stop anywhere and everywehere along the way to get more passengers and drop people off. The law required that each passenger have a seat, therefore limiting the passengers to 14. However, as you have noticed, this actually never happens and you will end up finding people pretty much sitting on your lap. Matatus are my love/hate relationship of Kenya. They are fun and exciting. The drivers and side workers are young cool guys. However, going from point A to point B could literally take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 and a half hours. This gets frustrating especially after a long day of working when you just want to get home and blog for everyone!

So I have 3 days left in Waskam school and then Tommy and I head out of Maziwa to do a little bit of traveling. I love it here but I am pretty excited to see other parts of the country.

That is all for today.

-Kevin

Grading Tests

I had already started this blog but Tommy stepped on the power strip and turned it off, shutting down everything in this little internet cafe. Not surprising.

Once a month the children are tested on all the subjects. Today was testing day which made it pretty boring because I just supervised and graded tests when they were finished. The one thing that I wanted to write about today, though, was the tests that the children took. When I wrote in the title "grading tests" I meant I was grading the tests themselves. These things had so many typos and so many things that were just plain wrong. It was just another thing that showed me that the educational system here needs drastic improvements. When it comes to things such as not having enough textbooks I can understand the issue. Textbooks are expensive. However, tests are tests. They are pieces of paper and it should not be hard to find ones or at least write ones yourself that have proper English.

On each test there would be numbers skipped, answers missing, double answers, grammatical and spelling errors and stories where you had to fill in the blank that made no sense. I copied one down to share with everyone:

Adenge was clever girl. She usually won when they played these games. That day she had been able to make a list of words which sounded like man. She had also made another list of things which looked like a circle. Joina had been winner and now Adenge was crying. The teacher told her not to be annoyed. Another time she would win.

The bold words are the words that I filled into the blanks from a choice of 4 words. To be quite honest I do not know if I got them all right because it did not make any sense no matter what word I put in. Try taking that sentence with the bold words out and see if you can think of words that would work. Also, this was the first one I saw and copied down. The next two fill in the blank sentences were twice as worse.

Another problem was that there were no answer keys. The head teacher handed me all the tests and had me do them. I did 3 math tests, and 3 English tests. Each one was riddled with errors.

Seeing this really made think of how I could help out here in the future. I could simply send the school emails with tests of the appropriate age. I do not see how students are expected to learn when the tests they are being graded with are incorrect.

Working at this school is both awesome and frustrating. It is awesome because I am able to help out a lot. It is frustrating because I am becoming more and more aware of how horrible of a school Waskam is. I say that with concern. Waskam is a private school, apparently better than public ones. Many many times throughout the day I am standing there looking for someone to tell me what is going on. Most days I will just start teaching the students something until someone comes in and informs me. However, today it was just a free for all because I had no information and no tests to give out.

Tomorrow they have some more testing and then Wednesday Tommy and I are preparing a bunch of lessons on English and social studies (Basically to teach them about the US). That should be awesome.

Last night after blogging we got home and Tommy was surprised with a cake and some other treats for his birthday. Mrs. Kamau called me outside and at first I was a bit worried at what she had to say to me. She simply wanted me to get Tommy into our room for a few minutes while they set everything up to surprise him. Tommy knew what was going on right away though clearly because right after I talked to her outside I had to come up with the bs reason to get him to leave a conversation with Steven.

Although not much of a surprise, what they did for Tommy was really awesome and nice.

Steven is the kind of man that really just makes you appreciate life. Everything he does and says is with a huge smile on his face. He himself sees everything as beautiful as one could possibly see it. Tommy and I bought the family two paintings made out of banana fibers, one of a male masai and one of a female. When we showed Steven he looked at it as if it was a newborn kid of his and pointed out every possible detail within the painting. He is an incredible person.

Another person I am becoming more and more found of is Carolyn. She does so much for the family and especially for Tommy and I. We have been very careful to thank her as much as possible as she does not seem to get nearly as much appreciation around the house as she should. She cleans, cooks, and washes. You name it, she does it. Today she even did some laundry for Tommy and I even though I pleaded for her to simply show me how to do it on myself.

Alright, that is all for today. Thanks for reading.

-Kevin

In response to my Grandma, yes some of the kids are adopted. Faith and Grace were both adopted by our host family. However, I think many kids are never adopted. They are raised in Morningstar, the name of the orphan home, and provided with an education until they are old enough to get jobs and live on their own.

Cher

Yesterday was our first Saturday in Kenya. Tommy, Peter, and I woke up at 5:30 to begin our trip to Hell's Gate national park. Tommy's 22nd birthday is today and he wanted to go there to celebrate. In order to get there we had to take a matatu from our house to Nairobi, take a 3 hour matatu ride from Nairobi to Lake Naivasha, and then take a cab from there to Hell's gate. It was all worth it.

This was our first time being in Nairobi. Although we were only there for 20 minutes while we went to an ATM and transfered matatus, I got a pretty good feel for the city. There were many buildings, although none as tall and as big as the ones in Chicago. Many parts of the city were very nice and would not look much different from parts of Chicago. There were people everywhere. Cars seemed to drive wherever they wanted. It was hectic.

The matatu ride from Nairobi to Lake Naivasha took so long because we stopped at every town to see if people wanted to get in, and if they didnt our worker seemed to nearly push them in. At one town there was a crazy struggle involving 4 or 5 men and a women. I think the men all wanted her to take their matatus and she was very indecisive. It was strange.

The ride was full of beautiful views. We had to drive up a mountain and then back down. The weather got increasingly cold and the fog got thicker and thicker. At the top of the mountain you could look down and see the Great Rift Valley. It was incredible because you could see for literally miles and miles. Goats, Donkeys, cows, and other farm animals lined the road and every mile showed a new village with a completely different personality.

When we arrived in Lake Naivasha we got a cab right away and took it to the place we would stay. On the way we saw a nice place which we went in to look at. It was a resort that had zebras and giraffes walking around right outside your hotel room. This place was well out of our budget but it was cool enough just to see it.

The place we did stay at was called Crayfish. It was a very cool campground looking place that also had rooms with bathrooms in them. We checked in and immediately grabbed lunch as we were starving. We had sausages, lamb, chicken, and cumcumbers. It was delicious and cheap.

After eating we reserved our bikes for our ride to Hell's Gate, if you are still reading you will be glad because this is where it gets interesting. We got our bikes and headed for Hells Gate. The ride to the gate was 4km. 2 km were on a road through a village and the second 2 kms were down a sandy, rocky road. Halfway down this horrendous road my bike literally fell apart as I was riding it. I am not kidding the thing self destructed. This was our first taste of why this place is called "Hell's Gate." At this point Tommy's bike also became recognizably worthless. We walked our bike about a mile to the gate. On the way we saw some baboons climbing up the mountain about 100 yards away. It was awesome.

When we arrrived to the gate our plan was to leave the bad bikes, get new ones, and call the hotel to tell them to get their bikes. Unfortunately we did not have enough money on us because to buy two new bikes would be another 1000 shillings. Things were quickly becoming more and more horrible. haha. We had to devise a new plan.

I got a ride back to Crayfish alone while Tommy and Peter waited at the gate. I told them that their bikes crapped out on us and asked for my money back so I could go back and we could get new bikes. The manager told me he would bring me back with two new bikes. After 45 minutes I was finally in a car with some guy and 2 new bikes. I got to the gate and from here life was good.

We entered the park and I immediately felt like I was in Jurassic Park. There were clans of baboons to our right, 10 yards away, and herds of zebra to the left, 30 yards away. It was like nothing I had seen before. We continued to bike through the park and saw impala, antelope, warthogs, gazelle and cows. The landscape around us was almost as amazing as the animals.

After biking for another 5 km or so we saw the coolest thing I have ever seen, 4 giraffes on the side of the road, literally 5 yards off of the path we were biking on. Seeing them in the wild was so strange as we grow up seeing them in zoos, almost thinking of them as fictional beings beyond that setting.

We took some pictures with the giraffes and continued on.

Another 2 km later we were at the gorge. We payed a 17 year old massai kid to take us through the gorge. This was my favorite part so far. We climbed, jumped, ducked and weaved our way through a natural obstacle course. After a bit we came upon a waterfull. We also found a hot stream of water. The water was probably around 105 degrees. Then we entered a canyon area. Our guide told us this was where they filmed Tomb Raider 2. Awesome.

We climbed more and then headed back. All and all this was exhausting. The massai was hardly out of breath. The massai told us there are cheetahs and leopards in the park but they are only out at night and in the morning. It was so crazy to think we were biking through an area inhabited by those kinds of animals. Also, apparently in the existance of the park they claim that elephants have been seen "at least 3 times." The park is huge so you would have to bike forever to get far enough into it to see elephants.

The bike ride back was still beautiful but we were exhausted. We stopped a few times to walk and rest. We finally made it back after biking about 15 miles through some tough paths.

Back at the resort we had dinner which came with our room. Then we took an hour nap... We were so so tired. Our bodies were also used to us going to bed at 8 so that did not help.

We woke up at 10 and headed to a pub within the campground. At midnight we toasted to Tommy's birthday and then headed to a disco (Also within the campground).

The disco was very very cool. Locals came within the campground to go to this dico. There were probably 200 people, Tommy and I were 2 of the only 3 mizungus (white people) in the disco.

They played a lot of raggae, but also a lot of American music. The DJ made an announcement saying happy birthday to Tommy.

Dancing with Kenyans is easily the most tiring thing I have ever done. We danced for about 3 hours straight and much of it requires jumping up and down.

My favorite part of the time in the Disco was when I danced in a circle with 7 Kenyans I had met. We all put our arms around each others shoulders and danced in a circle singing Believe by Cher. I know this probably sounds ridiculous but it all happened and the crazy vision you may have in your head of me dacining with 7 Kenyans to Cher ACTUALLY happened last night. Weird and crazy things come true in Kenya.

One thing I definitely have going for me here in Kenya is my knowledge of soccer. Many people, including those I danced with immediately loved me because I knew about the players and teams from Europe.

At about 3am we went to bed beyond exhausted. We woke up today, had our breakfast and headed back to Kahawa West.

Yesterday might be the coolest day of my life. If I had to leave today I would be satisfied.

After getting home I headed here with Tommy to update our blogs and check up on our emails and such.

Tomorrow we are back to work. I am excited to go to school tomorrow, I love it there.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

-Kevin

Hells Gate National Park from google images search

Friday

Hey everyone.

Today was, as always, a wonderful day. I woke up at 5:45 and felt awesome. I do not know what it is but when I wake up here at 5 in the morning I feel great. I do not look or feel tired. Obviously we are going to bed at 9 which is good, but when I wake up at home I always feel like it takes an hour or two to wake up and not look like a zombie.

Today I made breakfast with Carolyn and did most of the cooking myself. I talked to her about her life in Kenya. She is 22 and in my opinion is a near slave to our household. She does not like the mom we live with and she says she is mean to her when Tommy and I are not around. They pay her 2000 shillings a month... that is 26 dollars a month, less than a dollar a day. So sad. I know our host family does not have much either so they probably cannot pay her much more but it is still sad because she says she is trying to save to go to college. That must be so difficult when you are making so little.

Today at school I taught Esther, Moreen, and Carolyn. They showed me the homework I assigned and we continued to work. Another boy joined the class today and he was very intelligent. It is very difficult because, today for instance, when I started my English lesson we had 2 4th grade textbooks, one 7th grade book, and one 8th grade book. My students were 6th, 7th and 8th graders... therefore, we ended up reading 4th grade for a while, which was still challenging enough for them, but we had to crowd around a couple of desks.

On every Friday the school starts with an assembly. All the kids stand in rows upstairs and sing and pray. These kids have amazing voices. One thing I was going to mention in prior blogs that I forgot about was Faith's voice. As I have said, Faith is 8 or so, I may have said older before but I think I was wrong. Regardless, she has one of the most powerful voices I have ever heard. She is extremely intelligent and very street smart. During recess she starts songs with all the kids. Every song starts with her singing and it is just unbelievable. Today when they were singing there was another girl, Esther, one of my students, who had an even more amazing voice than Faith, understandably as she is an 8th grader. I seriously was in awe when I heard her. I will be bringing my camera next Friday to get a video.

During the assembly they all have to stand in front, one grade at a time, and sing a song to everyone else. The older kids go and then the little kids go. It was actually incredibly sad at one point because the little 8 year olds sang a song about "being careful what you do because mother and father are up there watching you." Seeing all those little orphaned kids stand there and sing about that was very powerful. I was just taken away by this.

Each teacher sang as well and it was very cool. No, I do not know enough Swahili to sing their songs but I will try to learn.

Later in the day during the tea break when I stood up I began to stretch my leg. All the kids saw me and did the same. This led to me leading a stretch session for about half the school. It was hilarious because although these little kids are very strong and fit, they are not very flexible!

I left school at lunch time today to head to Tommy's hospital. When I got there I saw no sign of workers. This is because apparently the whole hospital goes on break from 12-2. ha. Finally I found him in the maternity ward. He told me to "come look at this." I walked in to see the end of a delivery. The baby was out but the lady was still lying there. Thanks Tommy.

After that, Tommy and I hung out at the hospital waiting for one of the workers to get back. Tommy showed me the work he did and his boss or whatever named Janet gave me the most tedious job of cutting slips of paper to make them fit in the file cabinet. The guy we were waiting for was called Chris (He also had a Kenyan name which was more interesting but I forget it). Chris took us for a walk through a slum right by Tommy's hospital. It was an incredible experience. We would have been safe to go alone, which as Tommy and I talked about, is not the case in America. Here people are very nice no matter where you are. I think if we walked through the worst neighborhood of, Detroit for instance, we would be in trouble.

The slums had houses made of dirt and pieces of metal found wherever. It is right next to the sewage dump where there is a big lake of sewage. Goats, pigs, roosters, chickens and dogs could be found all over. It is something I surely will never forget.

My first week at Waskam school has been amazing. I knew that coming here would be different, but I hadn't realized how much I would learn and thankfully how much I would be able to teach; to my students, other teachers, and my host family. I have taught them about what it is like here in America and they have taught me about Kenya and more. The International perception of Kenya is skewed and this is just another problem here in Kenya. People think it is a horrible place when in reality it full of the most beautiful landscapes and people I have encountered in my life.

I say this and it has only been less than one week.

Thanks as always and keep the comments coming I will try to answer all your questions.

-Kevin(Students standing in the field by my school during recess. They are probably saying "Mizungu!" It took me forever to get this very very low quality image on to this blog, days in fact! So enjoy! I have many more and hopefully will be able to share them soon.)

Multi Tasking

Well I was not going to blog today because getting home from work gave me the biggest headache I have possibly ever had. I left school at 3:20, got to the Kiambu matatu at 3:35 and sat in it until 4:15. The ride home then took over half an hour for a total of an hour and a half in a matatu with a new record of 22 people.

Aside from the way home, today was great. I taught 3 girls most of the day. It was funny because one was grade 6, one was grade 7, and one was grade 8. They all sat on the same desk/bench with their books and I sat across from them in a chair. I had to start one up on geometry, the next up on volume and area, and the third on time conversion (am/pm to 24 hour time). It was a really cool and awesome challenge to keep them all busy and multi-task like that but I think I did a pretty good job.

I keep wondering what they did before I was here. They only have 3 or 4 other teachers right now. They must have just had kids of all ages together in a room. I dunno...

Most of the kids from Waskam are sponsered by Americans. Its costs roughly 4000 shillings to send one kid to school for a year, that is about 33 dollars. To send a kid through primary and secondary school it is about 400 dollars.

Someone just sat next to me in the internet cafe that smells horrific.

So they sell coca-cola all over Kenya. The first time I bought one I was telling the lady how it is better here then in the US (outside of the US in many places they use real sugar), and she asked me if coke was not only in Kenya. I told her no its all over the world and she seemed shocked. Then she asked me, "What about Fanta?"

Sorry because of time this blog will not be as long or detailed. I appologize.

One thing Tommy and I wondered about before we left was what we would eat. I am seriously loving the food here. I know I have said this already, but they cook such simple foods but they are delicious. I watched the school cook make our daily lunch of rice and vegetables today. There is onion, tomato and cabbage cooked with cooking fat and then steamed rice. It is great. I will be making many of these meals when I get back home.

I had a really good talk today with Kimani about the US and Kenya. We taught each other about our countries and I learned a lot. He told me how the government is corrupt and how the country is very poor but there are many billionaires that control the market. He also told me how the matatu drivers just pay the police when they get pulled over and everything. It was interesting because it made me really think about capitalism and how it is nonexistant in Kenya. For instance, they have ONE beer here. It is called Tusker. Whenever another company comes they get wiped out by Tusker. Kimani told me that there was another beer recently that was good but Tusker was able to lower their prices and use their power to wipe out a new company. I told him about our monopoly laws and he said they would help in Kenya.

Well I am going to leave now with Tommy to catch a matatu back to our town of Maziwa. It is a 10 schilling 5 min ride. Better than walking through town like we did the first day.

Thanks for reading and commenting as always and sorry again for a lame post. I will make my next one good to make up for it.

Great day

Hey everyone. I left school at 3:30 as opposed to 4 today so I could get home before dark. Yesterday we left this internet cafe at like 6:30 and cut it pretty close walking through the village right when it was getting dark. Also, my matatu rides from work were much faster. They dont leave the towns until they are full. I take one from my school to Kiambu. In Kiambu it sits until it is full and luckily today I was the 18th passenger (ya these things should have like 9 people in them) so it took off right when I got in.

Today was an awesome day. Once again I woke up naturally, or by the sound of animals, I guess that is naturally...at 5. Tommy and I go to bed at 8:30 or so every night so waking up this early is not so bad. I actually really love getting up and it still being dark. I grab a cup of tea and watch and help Carolyn the young girl who helps around the house cook and stuff. Then I take a splendid bucket bath and head to work.

My school day started off by helping Steven carry the schools daily supply of water into the school. Buckets and Buckets at a time. Kenya's biggest problem has got to be the water situation. No one has water and you see people all over driving and walking long distances to get it. Luckily there is a well in Steven compound, the compound I live in so he brings the school water every day.

When school started Kimani did an hour long science lesson. From there he left and I took over. I find it incredible how much responsibility I am getting at this school. It really makes it clear that these schools need help since I just got here and I control my own classroom. I couldnt be happier though because I know I am actually doing a lot in the little time I am here.

We were supposed to finish up solving equations today (x-5 = 7 what does x equal etc). However, the kids could not even understand negative numbers. They are fifth graders. I taught them it a bit yesterday but it didn't really stick. Today I FINALLY got them to understand that 3-7 is negative 4 and not positive 4. It made me feel really good because that is obviously ridiculously important for understanding math. It really bothers me that they have gone through years of school and do not know things like that. I think I know why they do not though. Kimani and one other teacher I have watched teached do this thing where after every point they make they ask "Isn't it?!" very aggressively. All the kids answer "yes." I know many many times they do not understand what is going on and have just been programmed to say yes. I noticed that happening when I was watching so I really made a point to make sure they understood and did not just say they did.

I just read a couple of comments from my blog yesterday and surprisingly today answered a lot of the questions and comments people had. For instance John and my Aunt said something about playing soccer with the kids. Well, today during lunch the little town by Waskam school realized white boy could play soccer. The kids were playing right outside the school during recess. I intercepted the ball and started juggling and all that. A couple local kids maybe around my age or a little older saw me and came over with their own ball. I was showing them some tricks and suprisingly with work shoes on, dress pants on, and not having played much soccer lately, I was doing some awesome tricks. This developed into them asking me if I wanted to buy the ball. I said no because I was leaving in 2 weeks. Then they told one of the teachers that I wanted to buy it. To make a really long story short, most of which is me standing there while the teacher bargained with the locals in swahili and then finally telling me that I should just buy a new one cause the locals might just steal it right back. Basically, I will be buying the kids at my school a new soccer ball either today or tomorrow. I had not even thought of this myself for some reason but after today I realize it would be the perfect gift. Some of these kids are good but they are playing with a really old ball.

Also, I learned some Swahili today. I can officially count to 19 in Swahili. I am proud of myself.

I come home from work so so dusty and dirty. This place is so dry and it is dusty everywhere. Plus, playing soccer today did not help the cause. I am filthy

So today I realized one of my favorite things about Kenya. Driving to work makes me smile because all over the town and on every road there are little kids walking to school. There are literally 3 and 4 year olds walking to school BY THEMSELVES! I swear. And you all said Kenya was dangerous. They are the cutest things walking down the road just following the path they were taught in their school uniforms.

Also, I still havent gotten over the fact that when little kids see me they yell Mizungu and chase after the matatus I am in. On my way home today I was in a matatu with like 17 people and 20 kids were all clearly staring at me and following the matatu as far as they could.

Riding in a matatu might be the craziest/coolest/scariest experiences ever. Each one has some "hip" 20-30 year old dude that hangs out the side wearing an American baseball cap. He bangs on the side of the van to tell the driver to stop to pick someone up. Taps coins on the window when a passenger wants out. It is just one of the many many things here you wouldnt understand or believe until you saw it.

Well thats all for today. Thanks as always for reading. I am working on the pictures. I tried yesterday but it just was not happening on these connections over here. I will try this weekend when I have more time.

-Kevin

P.S.

For those who were interested, the weather here is about 50 degrees in the morning and night and gets up to 75 during the day. It never really feels very hot though. This is their coldest month of the year. It is pretty funny how everyone is freezing here because its 55 degrees.

Hive, eagle, higher

Today was my second day in Kenya and my first day working in Waskam school. (wow this keyboard at the internet cafe could not be worse)

My day began at 5 when I woke up to dogs viciously fighting about something outside as well as a cow mooing. I was planning on getting up at 6 anyways so I just stayed up. Went out of the room and had some tea with my host Steven and his son Samuel. After that I had a very nice bucket bath where I even managed to shave. It was very nice.

For breakfast we had some pancakeish things with jam that were really really good. Kenyans have this way of cooking that is really simple yet really really good.

At 7 o'clock Steven, his wife, daughter Faith, son of whose name I forget and I got into his car to head to school. Faith goes to the school i work at and Steven brings the schools daily supply of water every morning. His wife works in Kiambu and his son helped out a bit around Waskam.

I was worried coming here that I would not be able to do much to help, but today definitely erased those fears. I watched one of the teachers do an algebra lesson for about 10 minutes and then I completely took over. I taught four 12 year old kids algebra for literally 4 hours. They really needed help with some basic things (for instance -4-3 being negative 7 and not just positive 7) We spent a good 30 minutes on this. We had a short tea break in there which I thought was really cool. Then at around 12:50 after teaching math all morning we had lunch. I had rice and cabbage.

After eating, the students ran around and had a recess of sorts. It was really cool to watch them run around and play jumprope and suff. I actually should have some photos of the kids posted soon.

This keyboard is really driving me nuts but I guess beggers can't be choosers.

After recess I kept teaching the same kids but this time I moved on to English. It was really crazy because within being at this school for 10 minutes I literally had my own classroom. They simply do not have enough teachers. The one teacher, Kimani, said I did really well and was able to jump right in. The kids know decent English so communicating with them is not too hard but it was still challenging at times.

My English lesson was pretty baller I must say. I had them read a couple stories and I kept track of the words they were all struggling with, hence my title "hive, eagle, higher." Those were just three of the words. I wrote all of the words on the board and we went through and said them out loud together. At this point after being with them for about 6 hours I had them cracking up as we all said words and when one of them would totally butcher a word. It was all in good fun though and after me drilling them for about 15 min on these words they pretty much had them mastered.

After English they went outside again and ran around and played soccer. A local public school nearby had their recess at the same time so there were kids running around everywhere.

I finally left the school at 4 (My day is 7-4) and hopped on a matatu with Faith. We took the matatu to Kiambu where Faith's mom got her and from there on got on another matatu by myself to come here to Kahawa west to go to this internet cafe where I met Tommy.

I am already getting really comfortable around here. There are many misconceptions, one being that it is dangerous. Yes, it can be dangerous but really only after dark. During the day 40% of the people look at you (When I am in Kiambu I lliterally am the only white person amoung prob 2 or 3 thousand Kenyans... no joke, 40% dont mind you at all and 20% smile at you and love talking to you... almost seeing you as kings or something weird.

The family we are staying with is really nice. The two girls, Faith and Grace, are really funny. They are prob 11 and 13ish and Tommy and I just make them laugh every second we are by them. We can do anything and they will crack up. It is really fun.

That is all I have off the top of my head. I am going to post this now to make sure I dont lose it and then I will load some photos I took and maybe write more.

Adios!

-Kevin

Day 2 Kenya

Hello everyone!

Alright so after two crazy days here in Kenya we have finally managed to get to an internet cafe to update our blogs. The problem now is that I have way too much to say and do not know where to begin. I will do my best.

After landing in the airport Tommy and I went to the ATM to get some schillings. Then after waiting in the visa line for about 45 minutes we got to the front to see that they didn't except their own currency. Ha. We had to walk back and exchange schillings for US dollars and it all worked out. After getting our visas, we met Ian, his wife Edith, and their daughter Glory outside the Airport. We were taken to the hostel where we would be staying for the first night.

The drive from the airport was unreal. I have never seen so many people out doing so many different things. The area we had to drive through seemed to be pretty much a slum. Ian told us that it was not even a busy day being Sunday which is shocking because there were so many people. I remember visualizing what I thought Kenya would be like and this was so much above and beyond what I had imagined in terms of how different and shocking it would be.

At this hostel there were 13 other volunteers. However, 10 had gone to Mombasa for the weekend. After eating breakfast Tommy and I took a much needed 2 hour nap. Afterward, we woke up and went to a place called Paradise lost with the three other volunteers Ray, Robin, and Emily.

This was the perfect way to start our trip in Kenya. We walked a few blocks away from the hostel and then got into a Matatu, the local "taxi". Sort of. This experience is something you really cant explain, you just have to try one. They are basically small vans that get packed, like 20 people packed. One worker hangs out the side sliding door and bangs on the door whenever it drives by a person. For a 15 minute ride or so it is 20 schillings which is about a quarter. Riding in these things is a huge rush because you constantly feel like they are going to crash.

After the matatu ride we got out and walked about 3 miles through some of the most beautiful scenery ever. It was pretty tiring after such a long trip from Chicago, but so worth it. We got to Paradise lost and it was amazing. We rode a camal and sat by a lake. Then we went into a cave that old Kenyan tribes used to use to stay away from animals.

We walked another 3 miles home and used another Matatu ride. All in all the trip to Paradise Lost was a great experience and definitely something I will not forget.

When we got back to the hostel we were in much need of a shower. There was no running water at the hostel so we had to bucket bath. It was actually not too bad, though, and after not showering for about 48 hours I had no problem with it.

After cleaning up, we had a great dinner which consisted of a potato concoction (potatoes, bananas, onions, and butter) along with beef and cabbage. I was really really good. Then, Tommy and I went to bed at 8pm. I passed out within minutes. It was the first time I went to bed at 8 since literally elementary school or possibly before.

The next morning, Tommy and I were awoken by dogs howling extremely loud (there are stray dogs all over) and a rooster that was really annoying. The funny part was Tommy and I layed in our room with no clue what time it was. After a while we realized it was 5am but we felt well rested considering we went to bed at 8. We waited for noise outside our room and went out to see what Ester and Phyllis, who help out around the house and cook, we making for breakfast.

Ester and Phyllis were easily some of the nicest people I have ever met. They were so friendly and willing to share with us what they were cooking, where they were from, etc. During the time we spent in the hostel Tommy and I spent most of it in the kitchen with these ladies.

Also, the hostel had a cat named Paka (which means Cat in Swahili) and it is my favorite cat ever. No joke it loved me and I loved it.

Tommy and I has some nice fresh fruit and some eggs for breakfast. Then, we were picked up by Steven, our host for the rest of the trip.

Steven walked into the room and I immediately knew he was going to be an awesome host. He was so funny and smiley and would just laugh hysterically and random things.

We left the hostel, which was an amazing place. It was really cozy and homey and had a lot of other kids our age who were going through the same thing as we were.

We drove about 20 minutes to his estate. This place was much different from the hostel. Steven has a wife, 3 kids and 2 adopted kids. So with Tommy and I there are 10 people. The house is pretty small. It is inside of a compound which used to be a school. Tommy and I have a nice little room with a bed to ourselves so it will be nice. It was just pretty eye opening to see how little they had. No running water. They use firewood to cook often. Inside the estate there are other families that live there. Also, my favorite part was that there are 3 avocado trees in the compound. It was so cool to see. This description of our living arrangements will be better suited by photos.

After seeing the house and all, Tommy and I left with Steven to see where we would be working. First, we went to the hospital Tommy would be working at. It was pretty small with many people inside. Every single person just stared at us as we walked through.

We left the hospital and headed for Kiambu town where Steven's wife works at a school. She is a special ed teacher which is very cool. The drive was pretty cool and one thing I quickly realized is that Kenya is not flat like I had imagined. It was in fact one of the most hilly landscapes I have ever seen.

In the town we got groceries for the house as well as a phone which we will be attempting to use pretty soon.

When you are in the towns of Kenya you stick out like a sore thumb. We were literally the only 2 white people among tons and tons of Kenyans. These towns are extremely crowded and busy with shops and stalls everywhere. When little kids see you they get really excited and say, "Mizoongu" although I am not sure of the spelling, it means "white man." They don't say it disrespectfully though, and they love waving to you and shaking your hand and just literally following you around. It was really crazy and awesome and just different. Another thing I will never forget.

Tommy and I also each bought some fruit in Kiambu. Tommy got 3 mangos for 50 schillings, about 75 cents and I got a mango, an apple mango, and an avocado for 50 schillings as well.

After leaving Kiambu we headed to the school I would be at. The school is called Waskam school and hosts many orphaned kids. There are about 50 kids of all ages. In the past weeks, there has been some issues at the home the kids stay at however, so some of them have been pulled from the school by the government. The school is small but really cool in its own way. I met a few teachers and some kids. I will be getting up at 6 and leaving for the school at about 6:50 tomorrow morning. I am really excited for this.

After seeing that, Steven dropped Tommy and I off at this cafe. I realize I just wrote a lot, but it is nothing compared to how much I would like to say about what I have experienced in the past 2 days. I have many awesome photos already but no way to load them on to the internet. I will try to come here each day after work to update my blog.

Thanks everyone for reading and thanks for the comments!

-Kevin

Hello hello. I don't know why you say Dubai I say hello!

Hey everyone.

After a long 14 hour flight Tommy and I have arrived at the Dubai International Airport. We grabbed some excellent indian food and then while walking around saw that they provide free internet to travelers. Everyone here is extremely nice and one of the first things we noticed is that because of their thriving economy they are able to have workers all over the place to help you with whatever you need.

We left Atlanta at 10pm Friday and arrived here at about 8pm, basically losing a whole day (4th of July) in the process. I am not comlaining, it was well worth it. We now are waiting for our 2:30am flight (6:30 your time).

On the flight the movies were NOT working, haha. So no TV, movies, or music for 14 hours as neither of us brought ipods. They did however have games, including a trivia game which Tommy and I won the first 5 rounds of and I had the overall score on for the entire flight.

This blog is a bit of a rant, but basically I love Dubai so far. We have not left the airport but I already can get a sense of not only its wealth but also of how nice and generous people are. On the way home Tommy and I have a very long layover here so we will venture out into the city at that time.

I will update again soon.

-Kevin

Day Before

Jambo!

It is the day before Tommy and I take off for Kenya and I just wanted to touch base with everyone. We take off from O'hare tomorrow at 12:55pm, will be in Atlanta from 4pm until 9pm, then Dubai from 7:50pm until 2:30am on Saturday, and will finally arrive in Kenya at 6:40am on Sunday. With all the layovers and flights this trip is roughly 34 hours, 42 with the time change... wow. I have never been on a flight over 4 hours long (the furthest I have flown is to San Diego) so this whole experience itself will be interesting.

As for the trip, it is hard to say what Tommy and I will experience. We know we land at 6:40am, get our visas, and get picked up. From there everything is a bit of a mystery and will certainly be one big adventure.

Aside from learning the culture of Kenya and teaching the kids as much as I can while I am there, my goal will be to take as many pictures as I can and to document either by blog or journal everything that happens so I can share it all with everyone.

Wish Tommy and I luck and keep checking this thing for updates!

-Kevin

Current Weight: 190

Placement

I received my placement today with some information about my volunteering experience. Here is the description of where I will be teaching:

"Project Summary:

Waskam school is located at Riabai in Kiambu approx. 20 kms north of Nairobi. The school was started on 6^th January 2009. 30 pupils have been admitted to the school since then i.e. 13 girls and 17 boys all of ages ranging from 3 yrs – 15 yrs. The school has a kindergarten and pre-school classes ie. Baby class, nursery and pre-unit. It also has classes grades one to six. The school targets the orphaned, the under privileged and the average children from neighboring communities.

The mission of the school is to provide quality education, promote innovativeness, creativity and inculcate moral values for sustainable individual and societal development.

The objectives of the school include promoting self-reliance in our children by providing basic primary education. To identify needy children from the community, streets and the slums in order to assist them in providing education. To love the unloved and extend a helping hand to desperate children in the society.

The school has six teaching staff and three non-teaching staff that include a cook. The school runs a feeding program for the children during the day. "


Here is what their school day looks like:

Project activities:

A typical Day in Waskam School

Morning:

• 7:00 a.m – Arrival
• 7:00 – 8:00 lessons.
• 8:00 – 8:30 school morning assembly
• 8:30 – 10:00 lessons
• 10:20 – 10:50 break
• 10:50 – 12.-:50 lunch

Afternoon:

• 12:50 – 1.30 lessons
• 1:30 – 3:45 lessons
• 3:45 – 4:00 break

It seems like an awesome school to be at! More information to come.

-Kevin

My blog

Hey everyone,

     This will be the site where I am going to keep a blog of everything that I am doing in Kenya.  Hopefully I will have access to the internet in some way while I am there so that I can let everyone know what I am up to on a consistent basis.

     I am currently planning the trip and working on some fundraising for the trip.  So far everyone has been extremely generous, so thank you!  I am very excited for this opportunity.

-Kevin

P.S.  My friend Tommy will also be volunteering in Kenya with me.  Tommy is a nursing student and so he will be volunteering in a hospital during the 2 weeks I am volunteering in the school.  I will most likely be telling you all about some of his experiences as well, as I am assuming he will have some interesting stories to share. Here is a photo of him and I.