Relaxing Week

This week has been pretty slow. Not in any way a bad thing, it was very relaxing. I didn't end up starting my next project with John because he has been dealing with some personal things, but I did get the chance to visit a Children's Home down in Maai Mahui. Two missionaries from Kijabe starting this Children's Home about a year and a half ago, naming it "Naomi's Village".

Half of the Children's Home

The Girl's Dorm

 There is almost always a couple woman from the U.S. living on the compound and working there with the kids and the staff. One of them just left last week and the next woman doesn't get there for a couple weeks so I only met one of them. Her name was Heidi, and she showed me all around the Home and tried to convince me to take her spot when she leaves. It's a seriously nice place, I haven't stood inside a building as put together and, well, modern for about a month and a half.

Other than that visit, hanging out with some of the babies in the Nursery and visiting with a family nearby to the orphanage, I've just had the chance to relax and catch up on my reading. Its been really nice, during the day its usually sunny and warm until about two, then the intense rains begin and last through the night. It has been taking out power out but I don't mind that too much. I've been loving the rain! On the 22nd it was Joyce's (Mama Chiku, but I actually learned that Mama Chiku is Joyce's grandma, so I can no longer feel okay with calling her Mama Chiku) birthday, so I took time on a rainy day to bake her a couple loafs of banana bread. It was fun to finally be able to cook for HER instead of the other way around. It was a fun little celebration in the evening, some family came to the house and we just enjoyed our "banana cake" and the company of everyone.

Today I went with Kim to a neighbors house and we harvested Macadamia nuts for him. Macadamia nuts are incredibly good right off the tree, they taste completely different than they do in the stores. They are basically a miniature coconut.

Tomorrow I'll be going with John to Thika, which is his hometown. We're just taking the Matatu so that it'll be a really cheap trip, and we will visit his mother who lives there still. We are coming back to Kijabe on Sunday, it could be a day trip if we had a vehicle but I didn't want to pay for another vehicle so we'll be taking public transportation. I'm excited to travel to ANOTHER new place in Kenya! I'm really happy that I get to see all sorts of places this time around, and apparently all the mangoes and pineapples we get here come straight from Thika, so I'll be surrounded by delicious fresh fruits. Monday we will hopefully start our next (and most likely final) project which is the house construction. I can't believe how fast time is going, I only have about 2 more weeks in Kijabe then I head to Nairobi! I'm not sure I'm ready to leave... Kijabe has always been one of my favorite places on earth. But it will be fun to start the last part of my trip, and have whole different handful of experiences.

Final Goodbyes, and Birthday Celebrations!

This blog will mostly be pictures, the things I did this weekend are better shared in photos rather than trying to write about it... Returning to Siyiapei once again was a wonderful weekend. I was beyond happy to see the children and Evelyn again, but saying goodbye is never easy... and it's even harder when you don't know whether or not you'll ever see these people again. I remember the first time I met these children in 2010, when I said goodbye I had this same feeling in my stomach, almost a sickening longing to be with them as soon as possible. Back then, I thought for sure I'd never see these kids again, but sure enough a year and a half later I was able to be with them, so who knows right? Maybe this wasn't the last time.

On Sunday, the birthday celebration for a friend named Steve took place. Steve works at the church across the highway from the Children's Home, and the whole party is put together by the youth, who I figured were these kids but apparently their youth start at age 17 and up, so I ended up meeting a lot of different people I'd never met since usually I was just with the kids from the Children's Home. So the celebrations weren't actually just for Steve alone, I think they do the party every month and they celebrate everyone's birthday that is that month. So it was Steve, a girl Celetto that I had met previously, then two more guys (can't remember the names). The party took place in the bush (aka the middle of nowhere). There was a waterfall and a very brown "swimming hole". They use the water to pour all over the lucky people who's birthday it is. There was cake, soda, cookies, oh and two goats that they slaughtered on the spot and roasted. It was a really fun time, they set up speakers, played music, and had some performers (unfortunately someone had my camera during the performances and none of the pictures turned out) actually the majority of the photos were taken by friends. I think that's all I have to write about, so here are the photos!

Setting Up

Watering the Birthday Guys & Girls

The cakes, that later ended up on the ground due to the table made of sticks

Enjoying the goat (really, it was good)

Declining the offer of the foot

Gnawing on the head

They wanted me to take part in the cake cutting/feeding

Happy Birthday Steve!

Cooling the Sodas

Lunch

The parts I will never eat

This will be made into soup (yu-uuuu-um)

The site, speakers, and friends

The Falls

A good crowd

The photos posted out of order, but hopefully you've got an idea!


I will also add that today I worked with John for a little while, we did his monthly delivering of food to the widows in Old Kijabe Town and Maai Mahui. I re-visited with Veronica. For those of you who know her personally, she seems healthier than a few weeks ago, her new medications have been helping.

Packing Food

Ready to deliver

Veronica, me, and her donkeys

Mission Completed

Cleaning, this is how he's sat on this furniture for years

Enjoying the cushions

John and I finished our first project yesterday. The cement floors inside Peter's house were dry, so we were able to move all of his furniture back into his house. Aside from moving his things back in, I cleaned all of his furniture which clearly hadn't been cleaned in years. There were large amounts of cob webs and dust all over his couch, chairs, and table. Plus, I thought that the furniture should be cleaned for the new cushions being added to them! John and my friend from the tailoring shop finished making the cushion covers out of the fabrics we bought for Peter's house, so we got to add those to his couches and chairs. When Peter first walked into his house after we set it up, he raised his hand to his mouth and couldn't believe that this was where he was going to be living now. And it was great to see him take his first seat on the soft surface, can you imagine having a living room with wooden seats for 15 years? Especially being someone who has joint problems? He was so thankful, and he sends all of his thanks to everyone back at my home (meaning you!) and he hopes that none of us will ever forget him.

Cemented floors, furnished house, clean table

Today I'm taking a short weekend trip back out to Siyiapei. I couldn't officially say goodbye to the kids a couple weeks ago, I knew I had to visit them one more time. I'm so excited to see them again, and I'm excited to see Evelyn also, and Steve who works over at the Church. Tomorrow (Sunday) is Steve's birthday celebration. It will be held at the waterfalls close by, and it's put together by the youth group at the church. It will be really nice to spend one last weekend with the community of Siyiapei, who I've grown really close to. Saying goodbye for real this time will be hard, but I will make the best out of the time I have there.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago, during my last night spent with the kids, I just had to post it in excitement for the reunification :)

(Gagging), Hacking, Digging, Shoveling Away Pt. 2

I took a short trip this past weekend with Kim and Tom to a friends house in Maasai Land. We arrived late on Saturday night, so we unfortunately missed the Maasai dances, but I felt okay about that since I've seen a lot of them. I did, however, get the delightful chance to eat a goat's head. When we pulled up to the butchery, since it was so late, my friends informed me that all they had left was the goats head. I wasn't too psyched about that, and I made that pretty clear, so they went back to the butchery and returned 10 minutes later with a bag full of chopped up meat, telling me it was just some sheep. We took it back to the house that had no electricity, so it was pretty hard to see... and they handed me a chunk of the meat and warned me that it was chewy, I would have to pull hard with my teeth. The second my molars pierced the cold, chewy meat, I said with a clenched jaw, "this is a goats head, isn't it?" (in fact I think that's what I'm saying in the picture below...) and Tom and Kim laughed for about ten minutes as they watched me try to eat this once very adorable face. They assured me that this meat wouldn't get me sick, but I wasn't very convinced seeing as the texture felt nothing near cooked, and well, it was cold. So after the delicious meal, I ran into the room that held my overnight bag, prayed that I remembered to bring the Cyproflaxin (a wonderful, wonderful antibiotic), found the Cyproflaxin, and took it with much thanks to my parents for training me to be an experienced world traveler. Thanks guys, I would probably be dead without you, or at least converted to vegetarianism...

Mmmm nothin' better than a nice, cold chunk of head.

 

 

So the next morning after changing a popped tire and jumping the car with a motorcycle (surprisingly and thankfully it worked, there were no other cars for miles...) we took a beautiful hike up some nearby hills and a Maasai man showed us the village's main water source. It was in a cool, jungle type area. I even caught a really distant and unclear glimpse of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately it wouldn't even show up on the camera, but it was cool to see nonetheless.

Yesterday, we were going to finish Peter's house, but John was in Nairobi till about noon so if we were to finish it yesterday, we would have had to hire the cement guy for both yesterday and today, so we decided to have one long day today with the professional cementer. So yesterday instead we went to a nearby town and bought cushions for Peter's couch and two chairs. He's been living in his house for 15 years without a single cushion. We also got some fabrics to cover the cushions, so when we get everything moved back into the house, the cushion and cushions covers put on, he should feel more at home than he's ever felt... and that makes John and I feel pretty dang good.
So, today we finished the floors. This involved a lot of mixing of cement, sand, and some soil. We mixed piles of these ingredients with water to make the first layer, which is a rough cement. Then the professional (they were all really serious about the "professional" so now that word is kinda stuck in my head...) mixed the pure cement with water making the top coat, which is much smoother. We are giving the floors two days to dry, then we will finally be able to move all of his stuff back in and welcome him to his new home.

The view from the second story of John's house

Both sides of John's shamba, it also stretches up the hill on those ledges pictured in the left photo, and he has another smaller one up near his house.

The animals

After finishing work, John and I visited his new home. It was nice to see his new, and very large, house that is in the middle of being built. He currently just lives in a small tin house on the property until he gets enough money to finish building his house. His land is huge, and it has so much space for everything he dreams of having. He has a large Shamba (garden) that he plans to plant cabbage, spinach, sukuma, and other vegetables in. He is not only using these shamba's for himself and for selling the goods to local restaurants, but he also plans to use these vegetables for his food deliveries to the widows in Kijabe Town. He delivers food about once a month, and currently he's buying the food, so he hopes to be able to start using his own crops to give to them. He also has two new cows, and a chicken coup with many chickens that produce the best kind of eggs you can get. Apparently each chicken costs 400 shillings (about 4 dollars) and each individual egg is worth 30 shillings, and they lay eggs every day. He must have up to 20 chickens, maybe more. So this will be a really good way of taking in extra money, because he sure needs it. As I said before, he lost everything in the fire including all of his previous chickens and animals. From his house I also go the chance to see the next project we will be working on, which is rebuilding his elderly neighbors house. She lives alone and her house is completely breaking down so we will take it apart and build her a good, sturdy house. Anyway, hope you're all filled in on what's been happening the past couple days!

Hacking, digging, shoveling away...

The living room, before renovation

John, Peter, and I

Today was my first official day working with John. There is an old man named Peter who lives up in Maingi, a town just above Kijabe, who John met three years ago. I guess Peter isn't very old in age, but his body is old. He has such bad leg and joint problems that he cant get a job, or even sweep his house (the African broom is a little different than ours, its about 2 feet tall and made from branches) because the bending hurts him. His house doesn't have a floor, its just uneven dirt.Which is not good on his legs. So, he told John a long time ago that for the 15 years that he's lived in this house, with no job and constant pain in his legs, he's needed a real floor. John wasn't able to help him until now, so today we started the job. John used a Jembe (I don't know how to explain it... its like a pitchfork/ice axe) to break the hardened dirt and dig about 5 inches into the ground, and me and one other boy that John has been trying to give work to (to encourage getting him off the streets) shoveled the dirt out of the house and into a wheelbarrow, and took the dirt to the yard outside. So we did this to his whole living room and bedroom. We also were able to order the stones to start making the floor, so a huge truck full of stones came to the house and delivered the rocks needed. We all got into the back of the truck and threw all the stones over the fence into the yard, ready to be used in a few days for the floor. The plan is to put the stones down, break them up to make them smaller and more level, use some of the dirt we shoveled out today to put in between the stones, then cover the whole floor with cement, to ensure a strong and reliable ground. This will also make it much easier for Peter to clean, we're going to get him a mop so he doesn't have to bend down and sweep.
In the middle of our day, when we went for lunch, John took me by his old house. He used to live in Maingi, until one day in August at about 4pm, someone set his house on fire. John couldn't get to his house till 6, and by that time it was almost all completely ash. His room was the one thing still
 

Throwin' stones

John looking at what used to be his home

standing, the house was flaming so they didn't have much time, but him and his neighbors attempted to save his valuables. Instead of saving them, some of his neighbors ran away with his things and they were never to be seen again. So, literally everything he owned was either ash or stolen. John puts every pint of energy into helping improve other peoples lives, to imagine that someone would do this to him is heartbreaking. No one deserves devastation like this, but John is the last person on this earth who this should have happened to. Anyway, he has now moved up towards the highway to a different neighborhood, and he's working on building his new house which will be made of stone and I'm sure will be a strong and wonderful house for him and his family.
So we had a good day of hard work, and we will hopefully be finishing the floors next week. I'm hoping life is good for all of you back at home!

All that remains...

Settlin' In

Hello all! So sorry it's taken a long time, with the combination of getting settled in and the inconvenient power outages, it's been hard to get on the computer. But I'm now back in Kijabe, which is really easy for me to call home. Mama Chiku, the whole family, and the entire community have been so welcoming. Before I arrived, Joyce (Mama Chiku) told me that I have to be prepared to live like a Kenyan. I think they had some doubts, but I've already made it very clear that living like a Kenyan isn't hard for me at all. In fact, I think its a fun way to live. So at the house I have a room all to myself, its small, only really fits the bed, but im not complaining... I'm never in there except to sleep anyways.Outside, we have chickens, sheep, kittens, and two really sweet dogs. I love the presence of the animals and waking up in the morning to their sounds. And we have unlimited eggs, which is always a plus. The surroundings are lovely as well, there's shambas (gardens) everywhere around, and a nice view of the valley. My favorite part of the house is the living room... it's so home-y, and screams Mama Chiku. There are couches hugging every wall, it could probably seat about 20 people. Anyway, that's pretty much it for my living situation which I've already melded into very nicely.

So officially start my work with John tomorrow, but I did get the chance to go with him the other day and visit Veronica, a woman that we worked with last time. She was a prostitute in Maai Mahui, and John moved her out of the center of town to a piece of land that a house was eventually built on for her, including a Shamba. Last time, there wasn't much in the garden, but this time when I went I hardly recognized the place. There were flowers and trees surrounding the house, and the Shamba looked really lively. It's beautiful. When I visit again I'll make sure I take a picture, I didn't have my camera so the only picture is this one John took of me and Veronica. Anyways, Veronica is now suffering from AIDS. She's had HIV for about 4 years now, but the past few months have started to become rough for her. And when I saw her, it was very apparent. She has lost so much weight, struggles to stand up, and her body language always looks pained. Moving around seems like a chore now. But somehow, she's still able to keep a beautiful, happy, and carefree smile on her face at all times.
The same day I visited Veronica, John also took me to visit some ladies who work in sewing shop outside of Maai Mahui. John started this business for the woman, who used to participate in prostitution as well. So he gave them all the opportunity to make their livings a much safer way. These are all wonderful women, and I can tell that they are so excited to be working. John introduced me to a woman named Pauline (another Pauline...) and she lives in Kijabe and has her own tailoring shop here, but three times a week she visits the shop in Maai Mahui and she is the teacher for the women. Yesterday she took me down there and I spent the day in the shop, keeping the women company, and I learned how to hem a dress! I've never known anything about sewing ... thanks a lot mom ;) (just kidding), so it was fun to learn how to do some things, and I'm sure it'll be useful someday.

Me and My New Found Family

So that's pretty much all I've been up to, my work starts either tomorrow or Monday and I'm excited to start the projects with John.