I hope everyone is well! I apologize, again for slacking on the blog. When I am exhausted from a long day, the last thing I want to do is type up a blog. But I finally did!! This is from June/July to now! Lots of different stories, experiences, challenges, rewards and emotions.
October 3, 2013: ONE FULL YEAR IN KENYA!!!!
October 3, 2013
I missed the kids SO much when I was in Kisumu at the camp!!! I was ecstatic to come back and see them. School went well this week. We have been doing some different activities in class, which has been fun. We have about a month and a half left of school until their final tests. They have been working hard and doing well!
Last night I was helping the kids at study hours when Baraka started telling me a story. Baraka, one of the brightest kids at my school, was explaining to me a few of them were studying when they suddenly saw a huge bright light outside. They thought maybe it was a motorbike or car coming into the school, when all of a sudden they noticed it was in the sky. He explained that the shape was in a huge circle with yellow on the outside and white on the inside. On the white side there were stars. He said it was hanging in the sky and suddenly as quick as possible vanished. I sat there stunned. Holy shit did they see a ufo!?!?!? I don’t know what I believe in, but I do believe there has to be other things out there than humans. I was astonished. He described it so clearly. I made sure it wasn’t a plane or the moon, and he made it very clear that it was not. The whole night I just kept thinking, what in the world did they see! The next day I texted some of my friends here and they said they saw the same thing. It ended up being a satellite from Canada but launched from California going into space. It was bright and glowing when it broke into the atmosphere. I showed the kids pictures and their mind was blown! These kids in Kenya saw something all the way from my home state!!! It blew my mind too. I still want to believe they saw something cool like a UFO or aliens…
Two weeks ago I took one of the students to the dispensary because he was feeling sick and I was his interpreter. After he was checked out and received medicine, the doctor asked if I would come once a week and teach him and his staff sign language. OF COURSE!!! What an awesome opportunity!! It is SO needed and SO important for them to know sign language. That dispensary will always be there and our school for the deaf will always be here. So by breaking that communication barrier it will make life so much more easier to communicate the sickness/illness correctly. I was ecstatic! It was my first day for class. At first the doctor sat down and expressed wanting to come in and teach different topics as a health program. Even better! We discussed topics that he will present on like hygiene, good diet, taking care of your body, HIV/AIDS/STI education and prevention and some other important topics. He will be doing majority of the work but I will help with resources and interpreting. I started the sign class too which they enjoyed! It is a very exciting project. And even better, the motivation came from him, not me.
I love to run. One thing I really miss is long distance running outside of a track and did that all of the time at home. It is my exercise but more so my mental recharge. I have run around the neighboring field a million times since being here. But I have never once ran through the village and the road. Why it took me so long to do it is beyond me!!! I FINALLY ran outside of the field through the village with the kids. OMG did it feel amazing. Yes people stared, yelled muzungu, but I didn’t care. It makes my motivation to exercise so much better.
September 26- 29
I received an email at the beginning of September saying that two volunteers were started a camp for only children who are deaf called Camp Uwezo. Since these 2 volunteers finish their service in December, they had to choose two volunteers in the next Deaf Education group to participate so next year they could lead. My friend Britani and I were chosen!!! I was so honored to receive this email and be part of such a wonderful camp. This camp was incredible. It was coordinated by Peace Corps but was run by Deaf Kenyans. I had the opportunity to meet deaf adults from all over Kenya with different stories, experiences and information to share. I learned so many new signs. I met some extraordinary people who had to work through school in a hearing world alone. I met people who were kept in hearing school even though they were deaf. I met people who now work in social work and advocacy for deaf, teachers, nurses, deaf empowerment etc. One woman discussed how her entire schooling she was deaf but remained in hearing school; therefore challenged herself to teach herself everything. She went to university because she taught herself everything she knows. I met another man who now works in Nairobi as a social worker who advises the youth. As a young child he became sick and became deaf. He talked to his dad saying he needed someone to teach him sign language. His dad said if you want it you have to figure out how. This encouraged him to write a letter to the school saying he needed this assistance to better his education. They granted him these resources. He went to college and then advocated for himself to get an interpreter. This boy is 22. His sign language is impeccable. Each and every Kenyan that I met had a wonderful story.
This camp was made for deaf students who are the top leaders in their schools. I was able to meet some incredible students in upper primary and secondary school with strong leadership like qualities and learn about their lives in schools in Western Kenya. The lectures covered a various amount of topics from HIV/AIDS education, prevention, family planning, communication skills, leadership skills, STI’s, future careers etc. We also had many fun team builders, Olympic games and condom games. Condom games were held after learning about family planning, HIV/STI/Pregnancy prevention. The games were really funny like condom water balloon toss, pop the condom balloon, and a race to put condoms on a dildo. Yes I am sure as you are reading this you are probably appalled or questioning if this is appropriate. My mind at that moment was like this is so inappropriate for kids. But the reality is that kids here, at age 12 and up have sex. There are many young children who get pregnant or get HIV. Many of these children are not taught at home, especially those who are deaf. If no one at home knows sign language, how do parents communicate this? They don’t! So it is our jobs to teach them and inform them. Also, teaching them with visuals is also a major resource that helps them learn. By having condoms and dildos, this helps the children to understand exactly how these work. And of course the first and foremost job is to teach abstinence. This is always the first thing we teach, but also have to be realistic.
We also had a career panel. It was awesome to watch! All of the deaf Kenyans stood up and told us if they were born deaf or hearing, which most all were born hearing, and how they got to where they are now. Above I shared some of those stories. It was awesome to learn about each and every person’s story of how they got to where they are now. The week of Camp Uwezo was also International Deaf Awareness Week. Our camp participated in the Deaf Awareness Walk in Kisumu town. At the beginning of camp the children all made flags for their small groups, so the kids carried these flags. It was amazing to watch them story with one another and see how many deaf adults there are in Kenya and in the world. I feel like it made them realize they are not alone in being Deaf and that everything and all things are possible for them. The largest part of camp was that Deaf Can and all things are possible regardless of being deaf or not. A lot of these children are oppressed, told they can’t do it, told they are stupid etc. This camp was not only to encourage them as leaders, but take pride in being deaf.
I am so blessed to be apart of the camp, and even more blessed to now start planning it with Brit. I am honored to be coordinating this camp and I really look forward to it next year!
September 12, 2013
School has been going really well these past few weeks! We have started off to a good start. There are some days that I feel like we can actually get pretty far in the schemes and syllabus, and there are other days that I realize how much more work that we have to get done. It is so difficult to be expected to complete their syllabi when I need to go back to previous classes to catch them up in their current classes. Needless to say, this takes a lot of time to rewind to give them that basic foundation. But I have found ways that I am trying to go backwards while going forwards at the same time. Some of my kids just get it. They understand everything but just need a little guidance and a push, whereas I have a few students who struggle with that ability to connect those types of things. But this is the same everywhere! Every morning I have found time to sit and just be in silence, but mostly filling my peace with prayer. This has been an excellent start to my day allowing myself to start my day in happiness, peace and in the presence of God. This helps my patience and allows for me to be way more open for the coming challenges, awards, laughs and smiles. So when these daily challenges arrive, I feel more patient and accepting. This is not to say I don’t lose patience, because this happens on a daily basis, if not more. This past week has been more challenging in the sense of behavior. Holy cow! Sometimes I get frustrated with myself with my classes are not understanding a concept, but behavior, that is a whole other realm. I have always been a huge believer, after taking so many classes at UD about emotional and behavioral disorders, learning disabilities etc, that behind every behavior there is a reason. These reasons usually connect with their home lives. This does not excuse their behavior, but it does give a little more perspective on why they behave the way they do. So when I see my kids in tattered clothing, with difficulty in comprehension, but react to others, me or their work in a disruptive manner, I get it, or at least try to get it. I am not that child, nor ever have been or will be, who goes home and is isolated, who cannot communicate to one person, who is yelled at because sign language is not known, possibly beaten, possibly barely fed, with no care, love or comfort. But this doesn’t mean I never lose patience. I get more upset with them when they know what they are doing wrong but do it anyways. When we have discussions about respect and what that means, or how to treat other people, it astonishes me when they still act out in these ways. But it has made me realize how much I need to put myself in their shoes. There is one boy in particular. He is around 15 years old, and school is just challenging for him, but he has the confidence in his academics like he is at Harvard Law School. I love this confidence that he has. But he just struggles immensely. He sits next to a boy who tantalizes him all of the time. This poor boy is also bullied and fights with other kids. It makes me wonder what his life is like at home, how he is treated and how he truly feels about everything going on his life.
I make mistakes everyday. Every, single, day. Some of these mistakes stay at the forefront of my thoughts all day, and others I am able to easily let go and learn from. To an extent it is so important that they see me making mistakes as well. Whenever the kids do something wrong, they sign “sorry, forgive.” And this is something that I love and will return when I have made a mistake as well. Although some of these kids may not truly understand what forgiveness means because of their young age, they use it so freeing and give it so easily. They love so easily. Even if you do something wrong like get upset or impatient with them for doing something wrong, they forgive and love no matter what. Even when I have seen a child beaten for “bad” behavior, those kids still respect and love that person, which blows my mind when for me that respect and forgiveness can be so hard to give.
I have restarted my behavior chart. Smiley face for great behavior, sad face for unwanted behavior. We have been over it a billion times, but because it is something they are still getting used to, I have to restate what it all means. So when I had a boy lie to me about going to the bathroom, two boys fighting, one boy disrespecting and not listening to me, they unfortunately got sad faces. For me this is so difficult. Tough love I guess! After I put up that sad face, they are torn apart and it makes me want to just make them feel better and forget it all happened. But I am trying to stick to my policy and show them that this behavior is not acceptable. At the end of the week everyone got juice and a cool new pencil, but if you had behavior problems you only got the juice with no pencil. The kids were mad at me. This is so hard!! But the moment I step into that classroom Monday morning it will be a reminder, and I crumble up that old behavior chart saying that one is finished, now it is time to start over again. I am hoping with time it will be something that they can start to understand. I think sometimes communicating this one of the hardest part. How do you tell them they are disrupting their own learning? That they are wasting their own time and they are choosing to behave a certain way? And all in sign! After talking with some friends they gave me some good advice of how to explain this. To sign that there are two ways, one way is good and one way is bad and you have the choice to choose. Sometimes this can be very challenging though when I have eight year olds with very minute language. The week was very good though and I did not let this behavior get in the way! I did text my mom “teaching Kenyan kids who are deaf is the hardest and most challenging thing I have ever done.” It is challenging but an awesome challenge and I love it!
August 23- September 7, 2013
Evan arrived on August 23 in Mombasa. We had two full weeks with fun adventures awaiting us. It had been almost a full year since last seeing each other; so needless to say, it was amazing! We first started off in my village, where he caught up on his sleep from the crazy jet lag and over 30 hours of traveling. Sunday we went to church so he could experience what this was like since it is something that I experience, most of the time, on a weekly basis. One of my students was there so Evan had the chance to meet him, which was wonderful. That night we were just watching movies and decided we should go to sleep since we had an early morning. We walked into my hallway/kitchen, and Evan was like “uhh Mackenzie, there are a bunch of ants on the ground.” I just thought oh typical. I turned on the kitchen light, looked at the floor and and raised my head to the counter… These weren’t just little baby annoying ants, these were safari ants. The big ones that hurt really badly. And there were probably around 5,000 of them. We both just looked at each other like “ummm what do we do?” Evan wasn’t wearing shoes, so as I grabbed the Doom can (my best friend), I hear “ow, ow, ow!” I just start spraying this can all over the place. After about an hour and a half of cleaning everything up, we felt as though it was finished. We discussed how this all escalated and happened within an hour, so thank God we caught it when we did because we may have woken up with my room and possibly house covered.
Monday morning we headed off to Lamu. This road is one of the worst roads to travel on so it was quite the adventure and experience. Since these buses like going over the maximum number of people allowed on a bus, Evan and I had the cutest little kids on our laps for over half of the trip. They ended up falling asleep in our arms, and the little boy drooled all over Evan. So funny. We arrived and since it is an island, we were taken by boat to Lamu. The entire trip was just paradise. We went on a boat ride with a friend of mine from PC and her family (they were visiting as well), ate incredible coastal food (grilled fish, vegetable curry, coconut fish etc.), went swimming in the Indian Ocean, danced in the floating bar house, drank the best and most fresh juice I have ever tasted, and really just enjoyed the peacefulness that the island has. Evan and I had an incredible time together. We went out to a really nice dinner the night before we left and he ate crab. And the crab didn’t like his stomach… For about 24 hours after that, the poor guy had food poisoning. Since the food here is cooked differently, and we both were eating things we weren’t used to, let’s just say we got closer in ways that we didn’t imagine… We decided to take a very cheap, and timely flight back to my town.
The next morning we were picked up around 6:30 am for our safari! So exciting!! We both had never been on a safari, so being together was even more amazing for this trip! We arrived after a few hours of driving to the parks. We saw some crocodiles at first and walked up pretty close to them. We started to drive through the park and saw some elephants very far away. But as we drove further and further in, we saw giraffes, elephants, antelopes, and zebras so extremely close to us. One elephant even looked as though he was about to charge us! It was absolutely breathtaking and incredible. Writing out this experience does absolutely no justice to how this experience really was. But we saw families and families of elephants. We were on our way up to lunch when we start to pull up and see some cars watching something. Evan was like “omg a lion!” And I of course was like “ha ha ha very funny.” But we got so close, about 30-40 feet away from a lion holding down its prey. It was holding down a waterbuck. You could see the exhaustion in both the animals. The waterbuck was still alive and just waiting for energy to be restored. We just sat and watched for what could have been hours. The waterbuck would regain energy and start to try and gallop away. You could hear all of the other animals such as monkeys start yelling, almost like cheering it on. But the lion would jump on it and hold it down again and eventually broke its legs. After a while the lion was exhausted and went to lay down under a tree. We had to check into our hotel and eat lunch before our evening game drive. We stayed at the nicest places with the most beautiful views. We had an incredible time. The second place we stayed was the best place I have ever seen. It was a lodge overlooking so much land. The savannahs were one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen in person. After many game drives and elephants we arrived to the hotel. It was actually our one-year anniversary so it was the most amazing experience. But now my standards are set pretty high for anniversaries… jk. But we had a few hour break before our next game drive so we checked into our own little private and beautiful lodge and sat on the front porch with a glass of wine. We were over looking not only land, but also a water hole where animals were coming back and forth from drinking water. Sitting on that porch with Evan was probably one of the top highlights of the trip. We went on a rhino game drive but unfortunately did not see any. We ended up watching elephant families the majority of the trip because they are fascinating to watch. The food was delicious and we enjoyed it a lot. We ended our trip by going to this spring. We drove through land that was once a volcano. When we arrived we walked to this lake where hippos lived but only saw them from afar. We also saw lots of fish and crocodiles and it was absolutely beautiful. As this came to an end, it was time to go back to my house. I was so sad to leave! We had so much fun.
After arriving back to my house, we just relaxed and enjoyed the 2 days before my kiddies were to arrive. One boy Baraka (one of my favorites shhh) came and met Evan. I was literally jumping for joy! We played cards with him for such a long time and had a blast. Evan and watched movies and just really enjoyed each other’s company, as we did the entire trip. Wednesday morning I hear knocks on the door, which is the usual, and open it to kids saying “where’s Evan, where’s Evan!!!!” So eventually they all got to meet him and just loved him. On Thursday a lot more kids came so we played cards with them, storied and just had so much fun. Evan ate ugali for the first time, which was great watching him trying to figure out how to eat it with your hands. We also went into the village and got viazi (delicious potatoes that are fried with this pili sauce), and all of these donuts. Friday morning we woke up and went to my class to start teaching. I had one girl in class one, and four kids in class three. We started reviewing and just working on different things. I was teaching place value to my class three and Evan helped me a lot with different ideas of how to teach it! Sometimes when you are teaching and in that routine, an outside person can see something in a totally new perspective. So Evan helped and gave me some great ideas to use for place value!! He helped Rehema my class one girl with identifying animals out of a pile of random flash cards. It was so cute watching him with her and with all of the kids! They love him so much! Just watching him with the kids made my tear up because I knew that the next day was the trip back to the airport… a day I never wanted to come. After class we ate some rice and beans with the kids, which is always delicious! When the school day was over we decided to fill up some water balloons, which then became lets keep going and fill these up again! We snuck outside and just threw them at kids and the balloon popped on them and got them so wet. At first they were like not okay with getting wet from the balloons, but then eventually they couldn’t get enough! My class 3 boy, Randu, Evan’s new best friend, helped us fill up balloons. It was so much fun. We got into a water balloon fight and everyone was just cracking up laughing. At one point two of my kids got about 2 feet away, no exaggeration, and threw it literally as hard as they could at my face. I was crying laughing because it was so funny. Of course by the end of it, it became Evan versus Mackenzie, which was hilarious and fun. Two big kids, and I’m pretty sure we enjoyed it the most out of everyone. I have some more balloons Evan left so I will be sure to bust those out again. As we got back into my house, we heard the chicken squawking and opened the door to the children holding it and sharpening the knife. Welcome to Kenya Evan! Evan was given the sharp knife and he beheaded the chicken. The kids loved it! They were all surrounding him and helped him with it. It was great. Became an amazing and delicious chicken pilau!
The next day was the day I never wanted to come, but unfortunately had to. The kids all said their goodbyes, which made me cry, and we got into the taxi that was taking us to the Mombasa Airport. Some of the teachers even came to send Evan off! We had a great lunch before the airport and really just enjoyed everything up to the last moment. Saying bye was so hard because we had worked so hard with so much love and effort the past year and were finally able to celebrate that by being together, but this amazing time unfortunately came to an end. But I am flying home for a couple weeks for Christmas and will see him then, so this was our motivation to keep us not too sad! We had the most incredible two weeks of our lives and am so blessed and fortunate to have him visit for this amount of time.
August 17, 2013
Kenya Red Cross came to my village and delivered Toms to all the schools and the community members. I always heard about how Toms says if you buy a pair of shoes, than one pair will be given to a child in Africa. I have never owned my own pair but know of many people who do. It was an awesome experience to be on the other side of this experience and seeing the actual shoe being handed out to African children and mamas. I helped check the kids feet for jiggers and then if they had jiggers and their feet were cleaned, we fit them for shoes. They were all so excited. After I saw some kids carrying the shoes on their heads, and still walking barefoot. They just don’t want to ruin them! The kids were stunned when I told them how much these shoes cost at home. They were so incredibly grateful for these shoes and I was so blessed to be able to experience every moment of it.
August 15, 2013
Had my first jigger! I looked at my toe and saw the huge black dot and when I pushed on it, it hurt. One of my class 7 girls took it out for me. Didn’t really hurt at all. She just had to take out a flee and its eggs out, no big deal. But I wasn’t bothered by it because this was just one more small experience that adds to this whole experience, and gives me just a little more perspective on what these kids go through in their whole life.
We have been working in the shamba for the last few weeks to get the land ready for replanting of maize. The kids work so incredibly hard. We have tomatoes, so many different types of greens, okra, and so many other veggies! The kids love it because they get food, and they get to see the product of their hard work.
Sunday we went to church and all of the girls were asked to dance. I saw all the little girls in their lesos (material) wrapped into skirts. The older girls were then invited as well. This made me so happy because the congregation was including the Deaf into church. It was incredible to experience this. Omg was I like a proud mama watching them dance during church. I was just that embarrassing mom giving them thumbs up every 5 seconds with a huge smile on my face. Took pictures of them too. The church was so appreciative of them participating. With the kids attending church every Sunday, this has helped with this integration. Then I began interpreting some parts for the kids, and now the kids are invited to participate with other activities. It makes me really happy! The village is able to learn about the Deaf and see that they are just as capable at anything like they are.
Some of the boys at church who were also in my sign language class have been practicing this drama for a long time. Some of the kids and I went to watch them. I didn’t understand a lot of it but it was fun to watch. It was about how some of the kids are given alcohol or drugs to sell for their parents to make money and how early pregnancies are happening. It was interesting to watch! They were doing the production for the hearing school next to us. All my friends were happy I came to watch!
The kids love cards. Oh my gosh! I have a bunch of decks of cards and it has been non-stop. They play the simplest game in the world, but they love it and have played all day everyday. You have three cards and take one from the deck and discard one. When you have two pairs of the same number, you win, or if you have 4 numbers in a row, regardless of the suit, you win! That’s it! And they play all day. I have taught them go fish now so that is another game they play. They keep track too of points and who is winning the most. It is so fun to play with them!
We had tests last week and the kids went home Friday the 16th. We have had movie nights every night, which has been fun. I try and change it every night from fighting for the boys, cartoons for the little ones, etc. The tests went well. I was so proud of the class 1, they killed the math test!! One of my students is so smart. Fingerspell SUN one time, sign the word sun, draw a picture, and he remembers it just like that. My one boy who is 21 in class 1, struggled with the tests but for his reading I drew pictures of all of the words we have been working on. He signed every single one of them correctly. I was SO happy! All the kids were surrounding us as he signed the words, and they all were so happy for him cheering him on. It was great.
Been running a lot with the kids, which has been really fun. They all join me so it becomes more fun and we all get exercise! I have been doing insanity and a few times kids have opened my door and look at me weird haha. But then they all come in and join me! Makes it fun!
All of the kids have gone home, but class 8 is staying. I am really excited because I will be teaching them all next week! I am so used to teaching the little ones so this will be awesome to get a different day-to-day experience of working with the older ones. Of course I am always teaching the older ones after I teach my class, but I get to work with them all day. Since I have the younger kids, I have to deal with behavior on a day-to-day basis, so it will be nice to not have to deal with any behavior issues this next week!
August 4, 2013
After church the girls and I bought chapatti flour! We were going to cook it for all of the kids. It turned into making mahamri instead, which is like a donut but better. It took about 4 hours but it was so fun cooking with them. The boys watched a movie while we cooked! They said I was oppressing them, a daily word that I hear, because they weren’t cooking with us. I was like what do you mean? You get to sit here watch a movie and then get fed a donut without doing anything. And then they were like oh ya true. But it was really fun cooking with the girls. The next day everyone had tea and donuts for breakfast!
July-August 3, 2013
OMG being back with the kids has been nothing but amazing. I realized how much I love them (which I always knew I did a lot) but the extent of the love I have for them was realized when they were home for the strike and I was alone. It felt like part of my heart was missing. I always miss them when they are home, but I never knew how much I missed them until I saw them too. I was walking back from the matatu on Saturday because I was in Nairobi. The past month has been one of the hardest and toughest times of experiencing loneliness I have ever experienced in my life. And seeing those kids faces only made me feel so much better and so at home. I knew the moment I would see them I would cry. I was walking up and saw the kids notice me. They began screaming and running with the biggest smiles on their faces. I had tears rolling down my cheeks and tried so hard to wipe my tears away so they wouldn’t see this emotion. Usually the older kids will wait for me to walk through the gates and the little ones will run and scream towards me, but this time it was even the older kids running for me. They grabbed my bags and hugged me with so much love. I depend on these kids for happiness. The only affection that I get here is from these kids. And I realized that the lack of affection this past month of being alone showed me how much I have missed it. Needless to say, the past week at school it has been nonstop laughs, hugs and just lots of love and just being with them has wiped that loneliness way faster than you can even say the word laugh.
This past month has been a test of my faith, my strength and everything else that goes along with it. When the kids left for the strike I was basically living alone. I had sign language class two hours everyday, which was wonderful. It has helped me make friends with my peers in the village. I would run with the neighboring kids and hang out around the fire pit. It was great to hang out. It was also extremely slow paced. Being completely alone with no distractions was very difficult for me. I am used to always being busy, playing and teaching the kids from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. I am an extremely affectionate person and I depend on this. When the kids were gone, I felt physically, emotionally, and mentally alone beyond explanation. But the moment I saw these kids my feeling of loneliness faded away.
Friday after school I went to sign language class and taught some sign language. I taught them signs like HIV, sickness, stigma and vocabulary that goes a long with that topic. Patience, once of the girls, is my age and we have become friends. She walks 8 kilometers, about 5 miles to school and then another 8 k home everyday. She was telling me about her sweetheart (boyfriend) here and how mine, Evan, was visiting soon. I told her that she has to get married to him before my time in Kenya comes to an end so I can come to the wedding. She said it was impossible so she would call me when I am back at home and I will have to fly to the wedding. We always tell stories in sign language class to increase fluency, plus it is fun! They are so excited to meet Evan.
At school, it is literally a daily discussion “so when is Evan coming?” and I love it!!!! They are so funny. Literally everyday I have to write on the board how many more days until Evan comes. If they see a muzungu they ask “is that Evan???.” Yesterday the kids and I were storying, as usual, and Baraka, class 4 boy was joking around with me. They all have asked, so where is he sleeping? On my couch, duh! So yesterday Baraka was like okay, so Mackenzie you get to go to the girl’s dorm and sleep there, and Evan will sleep with us in the boy dorm. And then the kids were like “oh he is sleeping on the couch” and I said yes! And then Baraka, who is 16, said, no when it is night and no one sees, Evan will tip toe (as he is acting this out) into Mackenzie’s room and sleep there. He said Why? Because Mackenzie’s mom won’t be there to complain or say no!!!! hahahaahha literally the funniest thing I have ever heard. I told my mom and she thought it was pretty hysterical. Baraka is a nut and if I picture him at my school when I was in high school, he would be that boy that always makes everyone laugh, is the class clown, and has a lot of suave and swag. And that is what he is like here. These kids are the funniest people I have ever met.
On Friday all of the kids had to work, so after class and their work all of the older girls came into my house and I cooked tea for them. I read this book about girls on the coast who struggle with poverty, surrounded by sex, and HIV, and no support from families. It was a very easy book to read and I enjoyed it. My counterpart read it and she really enjoyed it as well. I decided to give it to Rehema, a class 7 girl who is so intelligent. I told her to write a list of words that she doesn’t understand. Yesterday we started reading it, signing word by word, together. We got interrupted by the boys, who said I was “oppressing” them because I wasn’t giving them tea. I told me that the night before they came to my house and we played cards! But still they wouldn’t give it up and said I was oppressing them and they were not happy with me. This is a daily word that I hear, and it makes me laugh every time. I think in my head “oh please.” Funniest kids I have ever met.
On Monday I was sitting around the fire with the kids, storying and laughing. One boy tried signing to me very discreetly that he wanted to go get tested at the VCT (voluntary counsel and treatment) center for HIV. He said he was feeling sick. I told him I would go with him and get tested too. A few blogs ago, back in May, I wrote about how a little boy’s finger that was pretty much severed off. When I brought him to the dispensary, and he got stitches, I noticed that I had blood down my legs and all over my hands. Because of the statistic of HIV here, I figured if one of my students was getting tested I would do it with him too. I was and am SO proud of him for being responsible to get tested. We walked over together and I was also his interpreter. I told him I would get tested with him. He said he has been tested before and was negative so I said only if you have gotten a cut and someone elses blood has mixed with yours or had sex without a condom then he could get HIV. He said he did none of the above but wanted to get tested anyways. I hope that this experience is a reminder for him when he may be in difficult situations in the future. And I also hope that this will give other people the incentive and comfort of going. I decided we would quietly sneak out of school and go so no one would know. He didn’t want anyone to know what was going on, naturally. So we snuck out and of course the moment we got back it was where were you, where were you? But a teacher came to the dispensary looking for us because the chief decided to call all special schools to meet at his office for registration. I apologized for quietly sneaking away without saying anything to anyone, but said that the boy wanted it to be confidential. The teacher said I did the right thing. So since the chief called we had to stop classes, again, and walk about a kilometer or two to his office right then and there. It was pretty much a school field trip, and the most pointless thing in the world. Our entire school had to go when really it should have been a principal only activity. They didn’t even have all the information for all of the kids so they couldn’t even complete it. Why they couldn’t just fill the paperwork out and deliver it is beyond me. The kids haven’t had school for over 5 weeks and let’s call in the middle of the day and say come now? It was really fun though because the kids and I had a blast. Walked through a dirt road, through shambas tall with maize (corn), passed villages with mud huts, all holding hands. Then I thought it would be fun to start racing. Of course, once again, I got everyone in trouble. I always am the leader in this. Woops! Sorry I’m not sorry for having fun! The teachers told us to stop running so we had to walk slow. We got to the registration sat there for a few minutes, had no idea how to answer any of these questions because the kids didn’t even know, and then we turned in what little paperwork we could do, then walked back.
One of my little girls in class 3 was complaining of pain in her shoulder. I looked at it and it looked like a zit. Since I am not used to dealing with these types of issues, I didn’t know what to do but tell her to talk to the house- mother. The next day I had a knock on my door for some Band-Aids, and at the same time the teacher showed me two living worms that were taken out of her arm, and most likely had more in her arm. They said fleas would bury themselves in the skin and then grow and if you push on it, you can see it moving. Poor little thing. These kids deal with so many things.
Friday night was our usual Friday night family dinners, and the men cooked!! With the gender roles here I was quite surprised. We got into many discussions about this. In the past, the gender roles were separated with extremely thick lines. But now, because Kenya has progressed, the women and men share some more roles now. My headmaster said that he will help clean dishes or clothes. But he said that if their baby was crying and he was sitting right there with the baby, while the woman is working on something else, he will call her to come take care of the baby because it is not his responsibility. They have asked me many times and don’t believe it that where we are from there is no such thing as dowry. Usually the father charges the future husband over 1 million shillings, or cows or goats. So they say if the father has a lot of daughters, he is rich! The more education the daughter has, the more the dowry is because the father had to pay a lot of money for the education. My teachers also said that women were seen as objects. Oh thanks, that is nice. The dowry is basically paying for the girl and then when they are married the husband gives the girl’s family a bottle of alcohol for “paying” for the future children. If they are divorced the man gets the amount of money or animals that he spent and no matter what, he keeps the children.
When the mother cooks, which is always the case, and they kill a hen, the elder man always gets the good parts, for example the gizzard. They said even if that man is travelling they have to save it until he comes home. If the gizzard goes missing, the woman has to go back to her house and kill another chicken for the gizzard. Crazy!!!
Then my friend Dume, proceeded to tell us about a meeting he is having today (Saturday) with a few students and their parents. Why? Because three class 6 and 7 girls are pregnant. Three!! We got into this discussion of how this happens. For obvious reasons, hormones but here there are a lot more reasons. The teachers were saying if the girls are smart enough they will have the child then go back to school, but most of the time, the girl marries the boy, gets impregnated again and again, and then never returns to school and the boy will potentially leave. They said that a lot of times, the girl will allow herself to be seduced by a boy because of the poverty they are surrounded by. If they get pregnant, then the boy has to help pay and therefore they arise from poverty just a little bit. Dume said the girls that are pregnant you can see the poverty because they come to school in tattered uniforms. There was a girl at my school before I came, who was 24 in class 8 and got pregnant for the 3rd time by a different person. She had been expelled from previous schools after all of her pregnancies. But now she does not go to school and has three children at such a young age with little education. Since I have 10 girls from the hearing school in my sign language class, I decided that since they do not get life skills lessons (teachers told me there is none of that), that part of learning these signs it will be also geared to life skills. So while learning signs about pregnancy I will also give them the advice of abstinence, or if you are going to do it, use a condom. I will teach them about HIV and other STD’s. I figured this could hopefully maybe be productive and beneficial.
July 21, 2013
I never knew the true importance of what human interaction and affection was. Of course I always knew it was important, but I really learned what it was. I never understood what it feels like to truly feel alone. I never really comprehended what it felt like to feel so connected, yet so disconnected from the world surrounding you. But I comprehend it now. For the past 4 weeks, I have felt more alone than I ever have in my entire life. I have finally truly felt what it feels like to have such a lack of affection from another human. I have kept myself busy by running with the school nursery kids, teaching two of my students who didn’t go home, helping at the preschool, sign language class and eating (of course). I have made new friends in the village and feel like I am finally gaining that full respect of being the muzungu in my village. I connect so well with the people surrounding me. I have enjoyed sitting with my Kenyan peers using only sign language to communicate different times of our lives and our hopes for the future. I have sat with the priest and other community members eating ugali and kuku (chicken). I have sat around the fire every night roasting maize (corn) and attempting to speak in broken Swahili. I have showed other friends movies and have had story times. I have taught my new friends cards. And Baraka kicks butt!
But the moment I walk into my house, that crazy feeling of what alone is truly defined as hits me like a mango falling from a tree. When all the children are here and we have school constantly, I don’t have time to think or time to feel. I love it! When the children are here I am in Disneyland because we laugh, have fun and tell stories. Of course there are those frustrating days at school with trying to get a new concept comprehended or the typical 20th time the student needs their pencil sharpened. But it is majority laughs and smiles. And in these days of school, life skills class, KSL community sign class and my attempt to get a work out in, I crave that 1-hour of alone time until study hours. But now that there is no one there it is a whole different ball game. I love sitting with Kenyans and hearing their stories, or them telling me things about their culture and traditions. I love running with the kids. I love playing football. I love teaching maths, English and the subjects. I absolutely love teaching sign language to my class.
July 18-20
I have been helping at the preschool. Um so much fun. We played football so basically it was me with a bunch of 5 year olds. I feel like I relate to children sometimes so much more often than I do with adults. Okay and those of you who know me really well are thinking “ya you have the maturity of a 13 year old” which is why I get a long with kids so well. I am always making a fool of myself, making funny faces and talk when I am not supposed to talk. I eat with my hands and I eat fast. I don’t like to sit and I like to play. I don’t like to share (okay that’s a lie) or follow directions. So needless to say, my 5-year-old self had a blast with my new buddies. They would yell “teacher, nipe (give me)” over and over and it was great. I put the football in the back of my shirt and ran around and they all laughed and screamed and chased me.
July 17, 2013
I have received generous packages of school supplies. I was helping at the preschool and the 30 kids were sharing like 7 broken crayons. I had an extra box of crayons and decided to give it to the Catholic preschool. When I gave the box to Patience, she was so extremely grateful. Just like a few days before, I had given a test for sign language and they all were allowed to keep the pen that I gave them for the test. She is 25, and jumped up and down like I just gave her a million dollars. It was so sweet. So when I gave the class the box, everyone was so excited. The kids marveled at the new crayons and were ecstatic about having such beautiful and nice crayons! Simple living, and I love it.
July 9, 2013
I was sitting around a fire and a boy named Kombe, was sitting with me and we were talking about hobbies, music we liked and different cultural things. He explained so many different Giriama traditions to me and why things are the way they are. People don’t celebrate their birthdays, and usually do not even know their birthdays. Kombe told me people celebrate death more than a birthday because “death brings people together.”
Kenz in Kenya 