My week thus far...

First of all, some confusion about donations...you donate directly to my bank account...this is because I am the one who will be going to town to buy the sweaters and other supplies we need. Its not that I do not trust the orphanage but volunteers do not have a say in how donated funds are spent, so a lot of us simply purchase items we see are needed.

Second, thank you to my parents and grandparents for their generous donation. I have more than enough for the sweaters and will post what else I purchase for the orphanage soon.

So today is Friday and I have not updated since Monday, but there is not much going on really. I will try to recap my week. On Monday morning, I took Mwangi, the youngest of the kids, to the doctor. He was the only one of the kids who had not yet gone to the doctor so I offered to take him. Only when I returned did I realize it was my first time leaving the orphanage and going on a matatu alone (Mwangi does not count, because he is 2 years old and does not speak English). Of course, Makuyu and Pundamilia are safe areas to be alone in but still, most people here speak English only a little so its better to not be alone.

Mwangi was a champ on the matatu. He is in the stage where he repeats everything you say so I got him to say, “My name is Mwangi” which is so adorable. I also taught him how to say “blah blah blah” a few weeks ago and he always says it to me. He loved waving at people as we drove and he is just the cutest little boy in the world. At the doctor, he did not even flinch when they drew blood from his arm. Sometimes he can be very difficult and since he does not really understand us, he often does not follow directions, but he was really well behaved at the hospital. I was supposed to get a stool sample from him and enlisted the help of a nurse to explain what he needed to do (I do not know the word for poop in Kikuyu) and he tried valiantly to deliver, but alas, we will have to go back another day.

Tuesday I went back to Nairobi to buy souvenirs and gifts for people. After my awful experience bargaining on Sunday, I improved considerably and was able to get really good prices on most things I bought (but was still ripped off on others). It is exhausting bargaining. You pick what you want, and they are so so friendly, and promise a good price for any number of reasons (“You’re my first customer” “You’re a student” “You’re from the U.S.”) and then they give some insane amount. The rule of thumb is to divide their price by 10 and start there – they say ksh8500 ($105) and you say 850 ($10.50). They will laugh at you, get angry, act shocked, etc. It is like this long drawn out drama but ultimately it does not matter how angry they get, I choose in my mind the absolute limit and once I get there, I walk away. They’ll usually run after you eventually because they are desperate to sell their products, and they want you to think they’re doing you a favor. But they have a limit too, of course. Anyway I still have more gifts to buy but I get bargaining now and even though I do not really enjoy it, it can be fun when you get a great deal.

Wednesday, I went to Mathini, the village where WWB is building a new orphanage. Actually, I should say the village NEAR where the new orphanage will be, because the actual village is kind of far away. We leave a little after 8am, and we take a matatu there. It is a long drive, around 40 minutes, on a crazy bumpy road that feels like a wooden roller coaster in the matatu. Out here, it is even more rare to see mzungus (it is rare in Makuyu and Punda but they are used to seeing us volunteers from the orphanage, though that never stops them from staring…and laughing…and running up at us to touch our skin and then running away) and we are pointed at and gawked at as we drive by. It takes a while to catch the matatu (we have to get off one and take another one…matatus are like a bus system). When we arrive, its almost 11am, the guys begin carrying word and us females begin preparing lunch.

Now imagine you are going to build an orphanage or a house or something and you have to go a long way from home. You pack some water bottles, and some sandwiches, fruit, and maybe sodas, into a cooler, and you go to work. Not in Kenya. Here, we pack the following: several whole heads of cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, flour, sugar, salt, cooking fat, and seasoning. We bring pots, pans, knives, a ROLLING PIN, a griddle…we fry up the vegetables and make a sort of stew, then we mix the sugar and salt into hot water and pour it into the flour, mixing with our hands. We make small little balls with it and roll them out flat on a little stool, and then fry them on the little griddle, to make chapati. All of this is cooked on an open fire, in the middle of the bush. It took us three hours. It was an incredible lunch, much better than anything we normally eat at the orphanage. I had so much fun cooking with Martha and I loved learning to make chapati. I look forward to making it at home for my family, it is really really good. But really??? Three hours to make lunch? We could have packed something far more quickly!

But that is the way of life here. And to be honest, the day in Mathini was one of the most fun days I have had here. At the orphanage, many of the staff seem overworked and burned out. I think this is especially the case with Grace and Jane, who do most of the housework and chores there, and they really never get a day off. The men, who work far less, are much more prone to idling around, joking and laughing. They say Africa is slow, not busy, and it is sometimes called lazy. I’d venture to say that African MEN are lazy and its women are always busy! Regardless, we had a lot of fun joking and laughing at Mathini. Like my days on field work with Eric, it gave me a chance to ask questions and learn more about life here. Martha explained to me that it is not illegal for men to beat their wives or their children here. She asked what it was like in America, and I explained that women have legal rights against men to not be beaten, but sometimes do not take advantage of those rights, and that children can be removed from a parents care for excessive emotional abuse, let alone physical. I also explained that you can be put in jail for being excessively cruel to your pets, at which Martha just laughed. She thought I was joking.

Thursday morning I woke up feeling kind of sick. It is winter here, and it is cooler, like September or April weather. But it is too cold for the kids, and they all get sick around this time. Runny noses mean germy kids, and we are constantly holding hands and playing with these germy kids; all the Purell in the world does not kill all the germs. I took some vitamin C pills and stayed in bed and I am feeling much better.

Each day I feel I get closer and closer to the children. I have been trying to read some of their files to learn a bit more about them. Most do not have a listing for their parents death, which leads me to assume it is HIV/AIDS, but some have meningitis or typhoid listed as their reason for death. A lot of the kids here are siblings, which I did not realize. Some of their folders listed their preferences (favorite foods and such) and their likes and dislikes. A few of the kids broke my heart – one of them, their biggest fear was that no one at the orphanage likes him. And he is the sweetest boy in the world, so quiet and shy but so adorable and sweet. Another wrote how much he missed his sister and grandmother, who live nearby but cannot afford to support him. Most of them say they hate talking about their problems. One, Damaris, was forced to move to Makuyu area with her grandmother when their home burned down with all of their possessions in the post- election violence. Its really frustrating sometimes because I want to talk to them and make their lives better but I know they are not comfortable talking. Once, I asked Anastacia about her brother and she completely closed up, even though he is still alive and lives nearby. I think I have to just settle for being someone fun to hang out with and a role model for good behavior to the kids; I am not here long enough to become someone in which they can confide.

Other than all this, we’ve been watching a lot of soccer games here. Or as they call it, football. I never watch soccer at home but its fun to get into a sport with all the kids and of course fun to watch such a big event. This is the first time the World Cup has been hosted in Africa, and we are all rooting for African teams. The African teams have not been doing all that great but we cheer for them anyway. Every afternoon, we sit on wooden benches in the hall and watch the games, and many of the older kids are really into watching. The younger ones just cheer for whomever we support. Soccer is a remarkably simple game to watch and understand, unlike football and many times unlike basketball. It is certainly more exciting than baseball. It kind of reminds me of hockey on grass without sticks. And without fighting. (Speaking of sports, I have to say I am really glad I am not in America to listen to the speculation about Lebron James, virtually none of the other volunteers follow the NBA – but a lot of people in Nairobi do, and they like the Lakers…coverage of the finals has been in the papers).

Some of the volunteers and I plan on going to Nairobi for the final game, whoever plays. Of course, I never stay awake until the end of the last game (which starts at 9:30pm here, 2:30pm Ohio time). I’ve fallen into a wonderful habit of getting 9 or more hours of sleep per night. I get in bed at 9pm, and I fall asleep by 9:30 or 10. I wake up at 7am or so. It’s awesome, but it means that I simply am unable to stay up past 10pm.

Well, that is all I have to say for today. Not much that is super exciting over here, but I feel pretty comfortable and I feel as though I have fallen into a good routine. Life is good. I leave a week from today for Mombasa; we will take an overnight bus from Nairobi to Mombasa, arriving Saturday morning, and I will be there for 4 days and three nights. After this, I will come back to the orphanage for one day, and then leave for Uganda to go white water rafting on the Jinja with two of my classmates from Pittsburgh. I am really looking forward to both of these trips.

Thanks everyone for reading!