Sunday
Had a very laid back morning, coffee and gossip with the girls. I had told Geoff the night before that I was down to go get the maize and beans for the family in Mithini whenever he was. So around 10am when they asked if I wanted to leave in 5 minutes I was ready and waiting in the car. We drove snail speed down a road that should really only be taken by professional dirt bike riders, but is taken by matatos going 30 +mph. When we got to the market Zach and I went on a quest for the best price for maize and beans. For those of you trading beans on the stock market the going rate here the middle of nowhere Kenya is 3000 Ksh (37 USD) for 50kg. Or if corn is your thing you can get a 50kg bag for a whopping 700 Ksh (8.75 USD). Eye opening to think that for about 45 USD that family of 8 will eat for about a month or longer.
We decided that it wasn’t a good idea to bring all the food to the father because we thought he might sell it and use the money for drinking. So we thought it would be best to bring it to what I knew as “the farm”, and then the father could come get food on a weekly basis. Turns out what I thought was just a random farm in Mithini with some guy named Joseph that worked there is a 8 acre parcel the Geoffrey bought about a year ago. He is building another entire orphanage in Mithini. This community is in desperate need of one. How is it that I have been here 2 ½ weeks and I am just now hearing about this? I asked a few of the other volunteers and they didn’t realize either. This piece of land is crazy amazing, it have fruit trees, multiple streams, and the ground is made of sand that is good for building. They have a garden started so that when everything gets built and they start to house children the crops will be ready. A rough plot for the first building has been made. I am so excited about this whole project. Geoffrey is really inspiring, he has so many different community projects going on. The children just run at him with open arms screaming “daddy Geoffrey!!”. After hanging out at the farm for a bit we heading back to the orphanage, also at snail speed.
Monday
I was determined to see Susan in school by Monday morning, done and done. Walked an excited, nervous little girl to school this morning. All the kids were about 30 minutes late because she wasn’t used to the whole getting ready for school routine and it took her a while. Not that being late here means anything; they are all on Africa time.
After taking Susan to school I went to Mithini with Kristin and Elise my two favorite Aussies. Martha, who does what we call “field work” took us. Field work is where Martha goes into the communities and checks in with the families that have children that have been sponsored to make sure everything is going well. She also goes and meets new families that she has gotten negative reports about so she can find a sponsor for them. The two families we visited did not have sponsors. One was a family with 7 children and one with 4. Both were terrible stories, there living conditions were frightening. The second house we visited I found myself somewhat frozen. I didn’t know what to think or say, I couldn’t really say anything. Kristie and Elise both started crying but I could barely even blink. If I went into detail about the family’s story or the living conditions one might think it could be something like a set up maybe. Like when you take a tour and then they take you to a village that is really poor and you pay to take pictures of them or something. But it wasn’t like that, this was the real deal. We left around 9:30am and got back around 5pm I think, everything in between was walking. When we got to the top of the mountain and looked out I could see all the distance we walked, kind of impressive really. The people in the community do that every day no problem.
Tuesday
Today I stayed at the orphanage while everyone else went either to school, Mithini, the garden or field work. I wanted to work on the website stuff without any distraction. I got some done but it is hard when the internet is super sketchy here. I did manage to upload some pictures though, 6 at a time mind you. Around lunch time the girls came back from the garden and we all decided we have had our fill of maize and beans so we headed into town for lunch and a stop in at the mini mart. I had chapati and cabbage, the same thing I order every time. The girls went on into Thika and I decided to head back to the orphanage. Sat next to a guy who kept giving me the eye. Not the creepy eye, or even the I’m gonna rip you off eye. But the hummm whats the ipod thing you have kind of eye. So I took out my right ear phone and gave it to him with out even making eye contact just like it was no big deal. He got the biggest smile on his face and started bobbing his head just to the same beat I had been tapping my hand on the seat in front of me. I turned it to a Michael Jackson song and showed him the screen knowing he would know who he was. We rocked out to some MJ beats until my stop.
In the afternoon we all just kind of hung out in the office for a while until dinner. I am getting pretty good and imitating the Aussie and English accents. Ok well not good at all, all of my accents turn into Indian apparently. Listening to Matthew the British guy say “hauling ass” in an American accent is just about the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. Although it is a toss up, Elise miss pronouncing matato is right up there. She says maTOETOE, annnnnd she adds an eerrrr to the end of everything. Like Americaer. OR Chapatier. Kristie love listening to me imitate her and dies laughing every time. I think her laughing so hard after is the funniest part. We all have our little something’s don’t we… Felix the tall strapping German says “oh yeah” to EVERYTHING. It has kind of stuck with all the volunteers and it is our response to pretty much everything.
I should be booking my ticket to Prague right now but I don’t feel like dealing with the credit card disaster that lies ahead. I am the moron who forgot to call and tell them I am going to be in a different country and now they have put a hold on my account. Uh, Bank of America and I have a love hate relationship.
Tomorrow is gonna be a sad day, my co pilot Nate is leaving. Sad face. Double sad face because I just found out that the Aussies don’t like Austin Powers movies. Who am I going to make childish jokes with and recite Super Troopers and Ace Ventura line by line with? If I randomly spout off “spread it on!!!!!!!” no one will laugh.
One more piece of chocolate and off to bed.
We decided that it wasn’t a good idea to bring all the food to the father because we thought he might sell it and use the money for drinking. So we thought it would be best to bring it to what I knew as “the farm”, and then the father could come get food on a weekly basis. Turns out what I thought was just a random farm in Mithini with some guy named Joseph that worked there is a 8 acre parcel the Geoffrey bought about a year ago. He is building another entire orphanage in Mithini. This community is in desperate need of one. How is it that I have been here 2 ½ weeks and I am just now hearing about this? I asked a few of the other volunteers and they didn’t realize either. This piece of land is crazy amazing, it have fruit trees, multiple streams, and the ground is made of sand that is good for building. They have a garden started so that when everything gets built and they start to house children the crops will be ready. A rough plot for the first building has been made. I am so excited about this whole project. Geoffrey is really inspiring, he has so many different community projects going on. The children just run at him with open arms screaming “daddy Geoffrey!!”. After hanging out at the farm for a bit we heading back to the orphanage, also at snail speed.
Monday
I was determined to see Susan in school by Monday morning, done and done. Walked an excited, nervous little girl to school this morning. All the kids were about 30 minutes late because she wasn’t used to the whole getting ready for school routine and it took her a while. Not that being late here means anything; they are all on Africa time.
After taking Susan to school I went to Mithini with Kristin and Elise my two favorite Aussies. Martha, who does what we call “field work” took us. Field work is where Martha goes into the communities and checks in with the families that have children that have been sponsored to make sure everything is going well. She also goes and meets new families that she has gotten negative reports about so she can find a sponsor for them. The two families we visited did not have sponsors. One was a family with 7 children and one with 4. Both were terrible stories, there living conditions were frightening. The second house we visited I found myself somewhat frozen. I didn’t know what to think or say, I couldn’t really say anything. Kristie and Elise both started crying but I could barely even blink. If I went into detail about the family’s story or the living conditions one might think it could be something like a set up maybe. Like when you take a tour and then they take you to a village that is really poor and you pay to take pictures of them or something. But it wasn’t like that, this was the real deal. We left around 9:30am and got back around 5pm I think, everything in between was walking. When we got to the top of the mountain and looked out I could see all the distance we walked, kind of impressive really. The people in the community do that every day no problem.
Tuesday
Today I stayed at the orphanage while everyone else went either to school, Mithini, the garden or field work. I wanted to work on the website stuff without any distraction. I got some done but it is hard when the internet is super sketchy here. I did manage to upload some pictures though, 6 at a time mind you. Around lunch time the girls came back from the garden and we all decided we have had our fill of maize and beans so we headed into town for lunch and a stop in at the mini mart. I had chapati and cabbage, the same thing I order every time. The girls went on into Thika and I decided to head back to the orphanage. Sat next to a guy who kept giving me the eye. Not the creepy eye, or even the I’m gonna rip you off eye. But the hummm whats the ipod thing you have kind of eye. So I took out my right ear phone and gave it to him with out even making eye contact just like it was no big deal. He got the biggest smile on his face and started bobbing his head just to the same beat I had been tapping my hand on the seat in front of me. I turned it to a Michael Jackson song and showed him the screen knowing he would know who he was. We rocked out to some MJ beats until my stop.
In the afternoon we all just kind of hung out in the office for a while until dinner. I am getting pretty good and imitating the Aussie and English accents. Ok well not good at all, all of my accents turn into Indian apparently. Listening to Matthew the British guy say “hauling ass” in an American accent is just about the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. Although it is a toss up, Elise miss pronouncing matato is right up there. She says maTOETOE, annnnnd she adds an eerrrr to the end of everything. Like Americaer. OR Chapatier. Kristie love listening to me imitate her and dies laughing every time. I think her laughing so hard after is the funniest part. We all have our little something’s don’t we… Felix the tall strapping German says “oh yeah” to EVERYTHING. It has kind of stuck with all the volunteers and it is our response to pretty much everything.
I should be booking my ticket to Prague right now but I don’t feel like dealing with the credit card disaster that lies ahead. I am the moron who forgot to call and tell them I am going to be in a different country and now they have put a hold on my account. Uh, Bank of America and I have a love hate relationship.
Tomorrow is gonna be a sad day, my co pilot Nate is leaving. Sad face. Double sad face because I just found out that the Aussies don’t like Austin Powers movies. Who am I going to make childish jokes with and recite Super Troopers and Ace Ventura line by line with? If I randomly spout off “spread it on!!!!!!!” no one will laugh.
One more piece of chocolate and off to bed.
There is a saying "Youth is wasted on the young" in your case it cannot be further from the truth. Your days seem both exhausting and inspirational. I dont know how you do it, but I know why you do.
ReplyDeleteGood post, and I am sure the Aussies and the Britians will learn to love your cheesy movie jokes. Love Christinna
I hate bank of america by the way, a-thank-you. And I used to think you were crazy, but now i can see your nutz! Alllll righty then!
ReplyDelete