So I Guess That's It Then

Well it has certainly been a ride. Today is 8 months to the day that I arrived in Nairobi back in August. My last couple weeks here I've been able to put up a basketball hoop, buy art supplies, clothes, and finish painting. I also got to have a lot of fun as well, as seen here:



I've been to Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa, and Naivasha to name some of the bigger cities. I've seen most areas of Southern and Western Kenya as well as parts of the East Coast. I went to Uganda and canoed across Lake Victoria and the Nile. I went to Tanzania and climbed Kilimanjaro to the highest point in all of Africa. I've seen the government buildings. I've been in mansions and affluent beach resorts. I've lived and worked in the slums. I've seen fights and gotten robbed. I've made friends and helped raise money. I speak more Swahili than I did when I first got here, and I taught English. I've traveled by train, bus, car, matatu, plane, boat, raft, motorcycle, and bicycle. I've walked everywhere. I've eaten chicken and goat intestines. I've stayed out all night, and I've also been locked in the flat(supposedly by accident). I've had local beers and local liquors. I've danced with girls from all over Africa and even parts of Europe.

Things I won't miss:

People always asking me for money.
Bribes.
Goat Intestines.
People thinking my name is Morris or Harold.
Those dumb birds that wake me up every morning.
The rat that lives above my ceiling.
Mosquitoes.
Paying for Internet by the Megabyte.
Power outages 2 or 3 times a week.
Macon.(and yes I mean Macon. not Bacon)
Sukuma Wiki.(worst vegetable ever)
Windows with bars.

Things I will miss:

Cheap beer.
Transportation costs and availability.
Hospitality.
Walking across highways with impunity.
People thinking I have money.
Monkeys.
Celebrations.
Cheap beer.
Avocado Trees.
Mango Trees.
Banana Trees.
Did I say cheap beer yet?

Things I am looking forward to:

Getting food after 9pm.
Driving my car.
Speaking English.
ESPN.
Going to the movies.
Making money.
Seeing my friends' children grow up.
Playing basketball with my brother.
Watching football.
Getting a beer with my dad.
Getting a beer with my friends.
Shaking hands and hugging everyone without fear of a horrible disease.

I had difficulty sleeping last night. I'm not sure why. I had literally stayed out all night the previous night and i'd only been able to take a couple hour nap during the day. So when I went to sleep at 11, I thought it would be for the night. 4:30am came around and I woke up wide awake. I lied there for awhile. Finally, I got up and walked outside. I looked up at the sky. It had a few clouds strewn about. But that red glow was there. Doesn't matter the whether. Could be clear or cloudy or rainy or bright with moonlight. There is always a glowing red tint across the whole sky. I'm sure it has something to do with the city lights and the red dirt on the ground. I don't know. But I do know that I won't see that in America. There will be many things that I might never see again. Some I'll probably do just fine without, and others I might always long for. The best I can do is try to appreciate what comes to mind to appreciate. I want to thank everyone who followed me on this journey. At times when it was hard and I felt alone, I'd check my blog account and see that my previous post had over 200 views. After that, I wouldn't feel as weak or alone because I knew that I had a ton of friends and family keeping up with me. Thanks for the money you all donated. I was able to do a lot of good things like I mentioned above, and those were just some of the more tangible examples. Much of the time it just allowed me to spend time with different people in different places, like being able to work at a school in Uganda or the Great Rift Valley. The organization FOCUS uses the term "radical" to explain how much availability their missionaries are supposed to have on college campuses. Between your donations and your prayers, I gain radical strength and was allowed radical availability for the people here in Kenya. I've been able to make connections with onsite organizations here that people from Belmont Abbey will be able to use hopefully for a good long while.

At some points on this trip I had doubts whether I was doing enough or whether my time spent here was actually worth it. If compared to all the experiences and influences of everyone else in world then sure my actions have barely caused a single movement in the great ocean of things. But if I take my efforts and see how they've affected individuals here, I truly believe that I have made differences and even some of the slightest differences I've made I pray and hope can have a good impact on the future. My goal here wasn't to change the world. It was simply to give my time, and hopefully have the talents and skills to help the people here in a good capacity. I can't know for sure if I've done anything great, but I do know that I tried my best. And I'm happy with that.

Thanks again for all of your support. Going on mission was definitely one of the largest learning experiences of my life and absolutely worth it.

Signing off,

Harris Moriarty

And in the End The Love You Take is Equal to the Love You Make

Ah the classic Beatles song, "The End". Ringo Starr finally rips out the drum solo he'd never been allowed to play, it's followed by the groups philosophy on life. What's interesting about the song "The End" is that it was actually the 2nd to last song on the 2nd to last album. I feel it's appropriate to cite now because I'm going to have at least one, maybe two more blog posts for this "album" if you will. Then I'll go home and figure out what I'm going to do next. It's definitely been a ride. Anyways, here's the update:

I got back into the swing of things. Started really committing time to St. Maurus and seeing what I can do for my last few weeks here on the whole. So far, I've bought two basketball hoops and two balls. I'm hoping to set one up at the Street Kids Project and one at St. Benedict's primary school. My Dad has also collected a bunch of rosaries to be sent over here to give out to different communities.

I was going to do some more painting at St. Maurus this weekend, but unfortunately just a *little bit* of gun violence sprouted up over the appeals of the recent presidential election. I've been in my room watching episodes of "The West Wing" on my computer for about 4 days now. There was also a major power outage that spanned from Easter Sunday into Easter Monday. During the day I started reading a book, but at night time it was really too dark to do anything at all. I just sat and thought about stuff(dangerous, I know).

One thing that flew across my temporal lobe was a question. How is it possible that people can disagree with me on things. Yes, that's broad. And of course I'm not always right, but even still. If you ask me a question, I will answer it with certitude and knowledge. Then I remembered when I was younger, I was so eager to explain my point on something as menial as going up to the front of class to sharpen a pencil that the teachers or other students would cut me off before I'd said a third of what I wanted to. I then also remembered someone once telling me that speeches should be no more than 5 minutes because people lack the attention span to care any longer than that.

So then I thought, well that's kind of a sad state of the public. Sure that doesn't apply to all, but it applies to many. Are you secure enough in your own mind to count yourself out of that many? I can't make the call on myself yet. I do seem to remember a lot though. Anyways.

This triggered another thought process. Well, I can't change the state of the public mind. So how do I go about it? What can I do? I guess the solution would be to try and explain things more simply or at least with fewer words. At this point I had an entire conversation in my head with a friend back home. The argument devolved into: "Dude, you're wrong." and "Dude, I'm not." Unfortunately the "I'm not" is technically shorter than "you're wrong". So I still hadn't found the solution. So I went a different direction. Instead of talking TO the state of mind why not talk ABOUT the state of mind. Anyone know the seven deadly sins off the top of their head? Sloth, Greed, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and Pride. Pride being the king. I don't know many people who can name you all the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit, but I guarantee that even if they knew them all they'd have to spend 10 minutes on each one explaining what it means. The deadly sins however are pretty simple. You gotta explain a little bit, but everyone will get it and be on board pretty quickly. No wonder they're everywhere.

How do you fight evil when it grows like a weed and good grows like an oak tree? Well, finally late into the night I had an epiphany. Love. Yea, it sounds silly, I know. But think about it. Love is 4 letters long, and it is its own definition. One word. I realized that reducing my state of mind to the simplicity of that word could be the key. Sadly, I also started to realize that people don't have the same understanding of love. People think "tolerance" or "punishment" or "ignorance" or "emotion", they think these are love. Love is even simpler and less political than all these things.

I can't give you the answer because I don't know it. Well not just anyway. I know this entire blog in fact undermines my whole argument! a 1000 word essay to discuss how the answer is one word? But it's because I don't know the answer yet. I thought maybe it'd be something nice to share out loud though. So people can read about what I'm thinking on this trip and not just what I'm doing.

Ok, well now that's done. Quick clean-up of things. If you're interested in any part of my trip whether you're thinking about coming or donating, please please please let me know. harris.moriarty@gmail.com. My dad is collecting rosaries at my house. 692 Ellsworth Avenue Great Falls, Va 22066. If you want to mail it straight here, send me an email and I'll give you the details. I'll try and post again soon.

-Harris Moriarty

The Last Week Before Next Week Starts

Ok. I’m trying to get back on track with my weekly blog since the last few have been sort of long and bloated. This past week was about getting back into the groove for the last month of my stay here.

Started off my days by waking up around 7 and getting some breakfast, taking a shower, etc… Trying to rebuild some form of routine. Anyone who knows me would also know that I have virtually no routine. Every day is a new adventure! However, I’ve been doing slightly more adventuring the past few months than normal, and I can feel myself on the brink of burning out(if I haven’t already!). So maybe a little routine would be a good thing.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week was Drawing at the Primary School at 11 every morning and traveling into Mathare to hang out with the St. Maurus kids after lunch. Sometimes I went out for a beer in the evening. On Friday, I just went to the primary school in the morning and took the afternoon off.

Saturday was preparation day. Preparation for what you might ask? Well, if you’re asking then you’ve apparently forgotten what day followed this past Saturday. Of course it was a Sunday. I’m not an idiot, but this particular Sunday was special because… it was St. Patrick’s Day! So we went to the market down the road and bought a crate of 25 Guinnesses, a handle of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey, and a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Unfortunately, all of that was NOT for us, rather a good bit of it went to guests that we had invited. I still got a fair portion of it though. We also went to a new bar down the road a friend of ours was just starting. There were like 12 bars on that block alone. Poor spotting, but apparently that’s how it is done here.

Sunday was the big day. We went into town and had a nice breakfast of eggs and toast. Coincidentally, the place where we went also sold Guinness, and they had no problem selling it to us at 10 o’clock in the morning. Then we walked around for a bit and went back to Amani. People started showing up within a couple hours, and everyone just sat outside drinking beer and eating food. It was like I was home except no one here has one ounce of Irish blood in them, and it was pretty much a foreign holiday for them. It was still fun though!

Monday I took it easy. Today, I got Tim to pick up my drawing duty, so I could go into town in the morning, sit here and write my blog, and then go to the sports equipment store and look into getting myself a basketball hoop or two.

Side adventures during those 4 days, we found a local basketball court. I haven’t gotten a chance to play on it yet, but I plan to. The St. John’s boys and I have developed a good relationship with the sisters next door. We've been visiting over there at the dispensary. Tim and Mike have been doing work in the Laboratory and Triage. I've just been chillin’ with the sisters. They’re pretty awesome. I had a good long talk yesterday with a local bar owner at the Choma Inn pub. It’s right around the corner from Amani. He’s a nice guy and surprisingly Americanized. He went to some school run by Baptist women, and on his bucket list he’s got riding a motorcycle from the east coast to the west coast of America. Point being, he’s a cool dude. His bar is nice. Future Missionaries, whoever you are, go check it out when you get here!

Still looking for someone with rosary connections back home or if they want to donate money so I can just buy them and send them.

Hopefully, I’m getting a couple basketballs and hoops today. I’m gonna try to test drive one of the balls today, too. I miss Basketball.

When I get back to the states, I’ll probably have some random trinkets and stuff from Uganda. If anybody wants to buy them from me, the totality of the proceeds go directly to a Women’s Center run by the Benedictine Sisters in Jinja, Uganda. It’s not some big charitable corporation where half the money disappears. I’d be literally putting that money right in the hands of the people who run the center. It’s the advantage of being here and seeing what’s what.

I’m going to be pretty stationary for the next month(or at least that what It looks like), so, if anyone wants to send me emails or anything, I’ll be here ready to answer questions about my trip and about me and whatever else you may think of. I got a month left!

-Harris

Meh. Uganda Wasn't So Bad

Woke up. Got outta bed. Dragged a comb across my head. Made my way downstairs and drank a cup… 

Woah. I accidentally break into song far too often. You should have noticed that something was off when I mentioned a comb. I haven’t combed my hair since 5^th grade.

What were we talking about? Oh right. Uganda. I went there.

On the morning I was leaving(I believe it was a Tuesday), I had to get up at like 5:30 because the bus check-in time was 6:30 and the cook at Amani wanted to make me breakfast. Got up to find out that the cook had slept in, but he was working really hard to cook food quickly and wouldn’t let me go. So I stayed and ate a good a breakfast, but I didn’t leave Amani until 6:15. That meant I had 15 minutes to take a bus into town and then walk across town to the bus station. Believe it or not, I was only a couple minutes late. I’ve been blessed with timeliness. Then I hopped on the bus and began my 12 hour bus ride to Jinja, Uganda. It was pretty uneventful, but twice I had someone decide to sit next to me and become a small serving friend as Tyler Durden would say. One was a Kenyan woman who was 26, married to a minister, and currently enrolled in business school on her way home to the boonies for the election. Then there was a 15 year old Indian kid with his mom. His mother insisted that he sit with me because she wanted the whole bench to take a nap. Cool kid though. Sr. Judette picked me up at the bus stop around 7:30pm and dragged me back to the convent. They set me up with this huge room with a bed that could actually fit me. They also brought me a full dinner for 4 people at 8pm. I was sure throughout my stay that they were fattening me up for some sort of tribal ritual.

Next day I asked what I could do at the school or the dispensary, and they told me that I needed to rest that day after my long journey. I offered to do my own dishes, and they refused. I inquired as to where to do my laundry figuring at some point on this mission I’d finally have to do my own laundry, but no they took it and did it for me. They also cleaned my room every two days. Sr. Judette would later say that I could look at my stay in Uganda as a small reprieve from my Nairobi duties.

On that Thursday, I finally went to the school. Charles(the school religion teacher) took me around and helped me out that day. In the morning I played games with the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd graders. Then in the afternoon, Charles took me into town. It cost 500 Ugandan shilling to take a matatu(they call them taxis in Uganda). 500 Ush is the equivalent to roughly 18 or 19 cents. In other words, dirt cheap. He showed me a couple markets and the Internet café where again it was 500 Ush for 20 minutes or internet. I also bought the first 3 seasons of The West Wing for 2000 shilling(still less than a dollar). Then on the way back from town we stopped at a bar. I tried the Nile beer. Not too bad. It was a little bitter. I still like my Tuskers.

On Friday I played with the nursery classes. Some of those kids are crazy.

On Saturday, I was invited by a local priest of the Missionaries of Africa community to go to a local prison where he would say Mass and we would talk Christian shop with the inmates. I took a matatu into town and he met me with a few others on bikes. I had to ride on the back of a bicycle down to the lake. Then we took the worst looking boat I’ve ever seen. Counting the boat’s owner and his assistant, there were 8 of us and the two paddled us about 3 miles across the lake to a little peninsula where the prison was. On the walk up to the prison, I asked Fr. Hans what sort of prison it was. He said it was for people who stole things and who defiled children. Yea. That one took me a little aback as well. Apparently, it’s not too big a deal in Uganda, but it’s supposedly gaining awareness? I dunno. It was weird. Then we went in and had Mass, and halfway through the Mass the families of the guard(who live right outside the prison!!) came in to celebrate with us. It wasn’t seen as strange, and nothing bad happened at all. It was a very strange occurrence for me though. Anyways, we did our thing and then left. Here’s the cool part: The assistant to the boat owner had left for some reason, so I got to help him paddle across Lake Victoria. That was sweet.

On Sunday, the German girls showed up, and a priest from the Carmelites who had said Mass that morning at the convent elected to show us around. He showed us his home and on the same road were about 30 other religious and missionary communities. They were all surrounded this school called the Philosophy College of Jinja also known as the “PCJ”. I was actually invited to go play basketball there later that week.

I spent most of the next week playing with the kids in the school, watching TV shows on my computer, and listening to a Financial Markets class that I downloaded for free off of iTunes U. On Friday, however, there was a holiday. It was National Women’s Day in Uganda. All the staff of the dispensary and school as well as all the sisters went a few miles down the road to this retreat center for the day. They even asked me to spend a few minutes talking about American women. That was interesting. Not really though, after a while a debate broke out amongst the people there as to whether Islam is respectful enough of women. I sat down for that part.

For the last two days, the sisters let the German girls and myself join them in the cloister for meals. They played a lot of Wagner which I was totally OK with. He’s great. They also made us a cake and talked about how I should be a monk and also how I look like Jesus. Finally, it was time for me to go back to Nairobi. The elections were over, and, as I had explained to everyone I could, there was no outbreak of violence in Kenya. All the sisters said good bye and Sr. Judette and Sr. Philomena(basically my caretaker and good friend during my stay) took me to the bus stop. They waited with me awhile and Sr. Philo told me that she had already cried and wouldn’t burden me with her tears then. The sisters were totally awesome in Uganda. Anyways, my bus finally showed up and coincidentally the only other white person on the bus had been seated next to me. Her name was Kristin and she’s from Canada. She recently made herself a world traveler with trips to Europe, Southeast Asia, and Peru. Pretty much all the places I want to go. We talked for a while about the poor state of our bus and the heart palpitations that occurred whenever we went off road and the bus felt like it was tipping over. It was nice having someone to talk to. By the way, it was a night bus. We left around 8:30pm and I arrived in Nairobi almost exactly 12 hours later. I dragged myself back to the Amani center, got some tea, and then went to teach drawing at the primary school at 11. I actually almost missed it because my iPhone(which I used as a glorified music player and watch) is set for the time at home so I always just do the math in my head. Well, over the weekend Daylight Savings started! Made for a confusing morning, but at least now I’m only 7 hours ahead again. I’ve been gone since before the LAST time change. Talk about an interesting thought.

My trip to and from Uganda was incredibly enjoyable. Everything is so green there, and avocados were in season. I lost like 8 lbs. on the Kili trip. I think I gained 15 in Uganda. Food was great, the sisters were awesome, and almost everyone in Uganda speaks English. Things I want you all to think about:

1.       The prison needs a bunch of rosaries as well as some other groups. I know that the Legion of Mary led by Natia Meehan a few years back would sometimes make rosaries for different ministries around the world. If anyone is interested in making and/or buying some rosaries that I could send to the sisters there that’d be awesome.

2.      The sisters in Jinja are also sending me some trinkets that a women’s home hand made to raise money. The problem is that no one in Uganda or Kenya wants them. So if anyone knows a good venue where I could sell or accept donations for them back home would be great.

3.       I was told that an American guy and his girlfriend had stayed at the convent for 6 months or so a few years back. I know this because Sr. Judette told me he raised money for them back home to buy a bus to transport their kids to and from school. I have two points here. The first being that they really like having volunteers for their and if you’re interested let me know. Second, I may have some more fundraising ideas for the convent in Jinja as well as some of my projects in Kenya.

Things I liked about Uganda:

1.       So much fruit all the time. Avocados are almost always in season. I even had fresh apples for the first time in years. The bananas were great, and jack fruit is a new favorite. I have no idea how to describe it, but it tasted awesome.

2.       Instead of Kenya’s language spectrum of 47 tribal languages, Kiswahili, shang Kiswahili, and English, Uganda has 2 tribal language(Luganda and Busoga) and English. It was awesome.

3.       The use of motorcycles as public transportation is rampant in Uganda. I love it. Makes having long hair really worth it.

4.       Transportation and food was dirt cheap.

5.       I got to play basketball for the first time in almost a year.

Things I want to raise money for in my last month and 10 days in Africa:

1.       3 basketball hoops. I really wanna get this one done. It’s been my plan to do it the entire time I’ve been here. I just haven’t had enough info on it. Now I know that hoops themselves are fairly inexpensive. They go for about 1000 Kshillings a pop. What I haven’t figured out is how much it will cost to build the contraptions to hang them. I know what I want to do is get a few 2x4s and bolts. There’s pretty much nowhere to mount the hoops on a pole, so I’d have to attach them to walls.

2.       St. Maurus needs some cement for the slate floors. I don’t know how they got there, but there are some massive holes there. If I can fill them that’d be great.

3.       My dad was kind enough to send me some pencils and drawing books to help me with drawing class, but the kids really need drawing books. They use printer paper and sometimes use their school notebooks. I’d really like them to have actual drawing paper for the rest of the term if I can pull it off.

4.       I’d also like to get the kids at St. Maurus some developmental games. They love memory, so I got them a pretty nice set of memory cars last fall. But most of the older kids just sit there all day. I want to get them some games and some new educational posters to put on their walls.

Those are my ideas for now! Thanks everyone for supporting me in spirit for the past 6 and a half months! I really can’t believe I only have a little over a month left. I still have so little I want to do, and so much time to do it in! Wait, reverse that!(Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, in case you missed that reference).

Also, Keep Lauren Ellis in your prayers because she’s joining the Catholic Church at St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church on Easter Vigil! That was a lot of “church” references. Good things come in threes I suppose!

I think that’s it for now. Sorry for the lengthy post. It’s been more than 2 weeks!

-Harris Moriarty

To Mail Me Anything: 

Benedictine Fathers

Amani Conference Centre

P.O. Box 32101-00600

Nairobi - Kenya

To Donate Anything: 

Southern Benedictine Society

100 belmont mount holly road

Belmont, NC 28012

(Write "BVC - Harris" in the memo section of the check)

ALL ALONE! *spooky background music*

Oh what a beautiful mooooorning. Oh what a beautiful daaaaaay. I’ve got a wonderful feeeeeling. Everything’s going my way.

Or at least close to it.

Today, I am getting my visa to Uganda! Let’s not start here though.

Let me see, last time I checked in was a day or two after I got back from Tanzania and Kilimanjaro! Ah.. that trip was so cool it’s worth talking about again! But I won’t. For *your* sake.

Anyways, the past two weeks have been and interesting experience to say the least. When I got back to Nairobi, I found out that Tim and Mike(the two other Americans) were leaving for Ethiopia for a couple weeks on the 16^th. This meant that I was going to be all alone! And doing all the work! But it was OK. I didn’t mind. I’d stuck ‘em with the bill when I went to the Rift Valley for 3 weeks and then Tanzania for another. So in total, they covered about a month for me. The least I could do was return the favor a couple weeks!

So I got into a daily grind of teaching at the school in the morning and going into the slums during the afternoon. Oh by the way, I spent just about every dime I had on the Kili trip, so I had like no extra money until like 5 days ago when my stipend rolled in. *whew* So I ate every meal at the Amani Center. Didn’t go out to the clubs(which was probably a good thing). I just did my work thing, and spent a good amount of time watching movies on my computer.

But Then!

I went to Karen to see the girls off! Yes, it’s true. The girls are gone(FREEDOM! Just kidding. But seriously). I was only going to see them into the cab because the cab ride back was gonna be a little expensive for me, but Sr. Serva from the convent worked out some sort of deal with the cab driver and I was able to go to the airport. I didn’t have to pay a thing! I love free stuff. So I waved good bye to the girl, and they went home.

Then I went back to the grind. Now, there is a little bit of added drama here. I’d been planning this trip to Uganda for a couple months now, but Sr. Judette(head nun or whatever at the convent where I’ll be staying) hadn’t been in contact with me in weeks! I couldn’t reach her or anything, so I was beginning to think that maybe it wasn’t going to happen which would have really stunk. Because, if you’ve been paying attention today, you’ll notice that the American guys are gone. Henry left awhile back. And now the girls are gone. I was really looking forward to going on this dang trip if not just to get out of an empty house! Also there are these two really nice German who just *happen* to be visiting the same convent at almost the exact same time give or take a couple days. SO I REALLY WANTED TO GO. But finally, yesterday Sr. Judette calls me, and now I’ve got a bus ticket to Uganda, and I’m sitting in a coffee shop waiting for the Uganda High Commission to get their power back so I can get my visa. I could get it at the border, but I’d feel much better with it already in my passport now just in case something goofy happens at the border. Hence *almost* everything is going my way. But it’s still pretty close and no real complaints!

Now I haven’t just done *nothing* while being alone. I’ve gone to the local pub a couple times, and, being alone, I was actually able to make a few new friends that past couple days. It’s almost a little bittersweet that I’m leaving tomorrow! There was the group of Norwegians staying at the Amani Center this past week, and there was one kid who was half American. I mean, West Coast. But either way he and I hit it off OK, and they’re going to Kisumu for a week and back to Nairobi for a week. Unfortunately, I’ll be in Uganda then.

It’s OK though. I’m super excited about going to Uganda. I’ve been out of the country a couple times since being here(Uganda and Tanzania), but neither time did I get a really good look at the country for more than a few hours. This time I’m gonna go around a bit. If I’m lucky, I’ll find a cheap rafting company to take me white water rafting on the Nile! They got some big ole’ rapids there. When I’m not gallivanting about, I’ll be working in the school doing something with sports. I’m not sure yet. In Africa, you’re never quite sure what you’re doing until you’re doing it. But it makes life a little more fun sometimes that way, too.

Sr. Judette told me that one of the reasons she was having trouble contacting me was because the Internet was very sketchy at best out there. So I’m not going to plan on another blog update until after I get back to Nairobi on around March 10^th or 11^th. And when I get back, I’m looking to set up a couple basketball hoops. I found a store that sells them relatively cheap. I just gotta find a way to mount them now. But I’m a man! I can build them, right? Haha we’ll see!

-Harris

PS

There aren't any pictures here because I still haven't remedied my lack of cameraness. All the pictures from Kili were from the girls' camera. So we'll see! Well, at least I will anyway.

To Mail Me Anything: 

Benedictine Fathers

Amani Conference Centre

P.O. Box 32101-00600

Nairobi - Kenya

To Donate Anything: 

Southern Benedictine Society

100 belmont mount holly road

Belmont, NC 28012

(Write "BVC - Harris" in the memo section of the check)

Kili or Bust

The long awaited blog about Mt. Kilimanjaro.  How do I even start? This was definitely an interesting achievement. Let’s give some background.

Left to Right: Kate, Caitlin, Me, and Paul(The Guide)

Anyone actually know anything about Kili? Other than that it’s just really freakin’ big? OK, well let’s see. The mountain itself has actually 3 peaks. They say that the “Shira” peak was first. Just a random volcano. Then during one of its eruptions, it created the second peak, “Mawenzi”. Then again later on the mountain erupted and between the two peaks “Kibo” was established. The name “Kibo” is actually Swahili for “I admire”. From a distance it looks like it’s just the top of the mountain, but, when you get up there, it looks so strange. There’s this massive “alpine desert” as they call it and the Kibo peak is just sort of sitting in the middle. The next point to mention is probably that there are 4 sections to the mountain. When you start, you are in the rainforest. Then you move into the moorlands. Then the alpine desert and finally the ice cap. Lastly, because of the snow on top, the people of the area used to go to the mountain to pray for rain or crops and things of that nature, so the mountain does hold some religious effects for the natives. Kibo is the tallest peak. Uhuru meaning "freedom" is name of the summit, and it sits at 5895m or 19 and a half thousand feet. It is the highest point in all of Africa, and it makes Kili the tallest free standing mountain in the world. This is where we were going.

Anyways, let’s break down the days.

Monday, February 4, 2013

The Alpine Desert

I’d gotten my Tanzania visa all set up, and we were leaving early the next morning. So I went to Karen to stay with the girls that night. Caitlin’s birthday was on the 6^th, the first day of our ascent, so we did a little celebrating with cake. Cake is really dense here. Yes, that sounds weird, but I know of no other way to describe it. Kate also put all the monies into little organized envelopes. She likes to be organized. Glad someone does. Anyways, after that I listened to some music on my iPod and went to bed.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I was forced to wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:45. How terrible. Loaded into the taxi and went to the shuttle stop. Then we sat there for like 2 hours. Hurry up and wait. My favorite. Shuttle finally got there, and we loaded in. We met a few Canadians going to Tanzania as well. It was a father and his two daughters maybe 12 and 14. Apparently, they had raised money for a well or two down there, and their dad has thought it would be fun for them to actually go and see the place where the wells were. Pretty sweet.

Just hanging out on a mountain

Border was about 2-3 hours away. This is the part where I mention that in order to get into Tanzania, you have to have proof of yellow fever vaccination. Well, guess who never had that vaccine let alone proof of it. Well actually, I kind of had proof. I borrowed Tim’s vaccination papers in hopes that they might just scan it and gloss over his name looking for the words “official yellow fever vaccine” stamp. I had this whole plan to distract the teller with my plans for Kili and then pretend to forget the papers and then pull them out of my bag and all this stuff. At the very least I was a little nervous that I’d spent all this money for nothing, but I got to the teller, he took my passport, stamped it, and sent my along my merry way. I was meant to climb this mountain.

Shuttle went around Mt. Meru which was so big I initially thought it was Kilimanjaro itself. It wasn’t big enough. I remember seeing a sign for Moshi being 60km away and then I looked up at the horizon, and I realized that I wasn’t looking at the sky. There was this massive shadow that spread across maybe 80km. Even from 60km away the mountain didn’t fit in any one window I was looking out of no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t actually just look at the whole thing because it was so big. Gradually we got closer. I wanted to see the top, but it was completely covered in clouds. Wow.

We got the Moshi and went to the Kessy Brothers Agency. We talked itinerary. We talked money. We talked gear, and then we went to the hotel to rest for the night. We met a couple Italians using the same agency. They were going the same route as we were, and they bought me a beer. Instant friendship. I took the last shower I would take for a week and tried to get some sleep.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Hotel offered free breakfast. Finally something done right in Africa. Tour agency picked us up around 8 I think. Maybe 9. Went back to the office and we packed everything up. We loaded our stuff, 9 porters, 2 guides, a cook, and ourselves into the shuttle and set off for Kilimanjaro national park. Once in the park, we had to sign in and Paul, the head guide, had to do some administrative stuff. The porters started going up to the first stop so we would meet them there. Baraka, the assistant guide, started us up the path maybe an hour after we’d gotten there. It was pretty quiet at first. Then we started seeing some people on their way back down. Some were happy and fine. Others looked like they’d been punched in the face repeatedly. There were also a lot of monkeys in the woods.

We reached the first hut in the early afternoon and settled in. I sat out in the sun for a while and listened to some music. At dinner we went to a little dining hall that had been built there. We met all the other groups who were going up with us. There were the Italians, Norwegians, Canadians, Japanese, and even 3 Kazakhstanis. By the end of the trip we would have developed a relationship with each group.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

My good friend, Baraka(Asst. Guide). The
other guides call him "Obama: President of
the Mountain".

We had to go almost 12km on this day. Not too far on a road, but uphill is a little different. Baraka and I, however, took off, and we screamed up the mountain. I don’t know why, but I felt good that day. It was a lot colder at the next hut sight though. Like maybe 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  We got to talk to some of the groups more here. We were neighbors with the Norwegians. The whole group centered around one guy whose name was Kurt. This was his second climb, and he had decided to come back and bring his whole family with him. I spoke with him while he was charging his iPhone with a solar charger. More about them later.

We got in pretty well with Canadians. This mother had brought her daughter, her friend, her sister from Holland, and a Kenyan politician. Her daughter was 13, and, by the end of the climb, she would be the youngest Canadian female to ever climb the mountain. Pretty cool. Anyways, this group hella fun. We got along great with them making jokes and stuff. Really good characters.

The Kazakhstanis were a couple doors down. It was an old uncle and his two nieces. This old guy would not be stopped. He seemed maybe in his 50s or 60s. Smoked I don’t know how many packs a day, but he was as tough as nails. One of the nieces had been having a fair amount of trouble, and the other one was stronger but she’d see trouble later.

Friday, February 8, 2013

These were called the "Zebra Rocks"

This was acclimation day. We went up to see some cool rocks and then came back down and relaxed. We needed this day, too. Caitlin’s weakfish stomach was having a little difficulty switching cooks and she spent most of the afternoon into the next morning in bed. Nothing much happened on this day. It just added to the anticipation of the climb the next night. Yes I said night. More later. Anyways, only bad thing that happened to me was I ate something and got the worst heartburn of my entire life. I think I slept for about an hour that night. Miserable. Absolutely miserable.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

We got up early and left for the Kibo huts at the base of the 2000m high peak. It was about 10km away, but it was another 7 or 8 hundred meters up in altitude. It was going to be interesting from here on out. We started on our way. Of course, Caitlin still felt like total crap, and, after about an hour or two, Baraka took on her day pack to try and help her out a bit. He looked pretty funny with one pack on his back and one on his stomach, but he never once said anything. Took it all in stride. We got to lunch and we could see the huts, but they were still an hour or two off. Caitlin wouldn’t even sit at the little makeshift table. She just collapsed onto the ground. About 10 minutes later the Norwegians showed up at the same spot, and Kurt’s daughter was also having a rough time except that her ailment was altitude sickness. Dizziness and headaches and all the sort of thing. No bueno. I felt bad, but we pushed on. I walked next to Caitlin for the rest of the way just to try and push her along a bit. I don’t know if I actually said or did anything that made a difference, but she made it to the huts regardless. Good timing too because it started snowing just as we got there.

They put us in this big group room. There were 12 beds. There were the 5 Canadians, 2 Spaniards, and 2 French Canadians. Just enough room. I slept for maybe an hour that afternoon. Everyone was pretty jazzed up about climbing this mountain. We could see the peak, and it was really high up. Pretty daunting. We ate dinner, and I got heartburn again. It was so confusing to me. I’ve had heartburn maybe 6 or 7 times in my whole life, and two days in a row I get right before I make this crazy climb. What luck! Anyways, it wasn’t as bad as the previous night, but I only got around 2 hours of sleep because we had the wake up at 11pm.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Yes, you read correctly. I’ve alluded to it twice now. Time to explain. The final ascent of the mountain began at midnight. I don’t know whose idea it was, but that is how it is done. We stumbled out of bed and put all of our gear on. The porters had carried the cold weather gear the entire trip simply so we could wear it on this night. We walked away from the hut at 12 and didn’t look back or even forward. Wasn’t worth it. Couldn’t see anything anyway except for the headlights of all the people ahead of and behind us climbing the mountain.

About 30 minutes in, Caitlin, still reeling from the previous two days of being out of order, knelt on the ground and had some minutes of personal questioning time. Paul, who I had not really built a relationship with up until this point, showed why he was the head guide. He told Caitlin to suck it up and keep moving. She did, and I didn’t hear a word out of her for a couple of hours.

The first part of the night’s climb was the hardest. We had to climb straight up to the ridge and then hook a left up the ridge to the summit. It was literally straight up. The angle of this beast must have been close to 60 or 70 degrees. We zig zagged across it watching for loose rocks which were everywhere. About two thirds of the way up, Kate, who had had no real issues up to this point, began to have a few things go wrong. She got a really bad headache and even threw up a couple times. For a moment, I believe she thought she wouldn’t make it, but Paul stepped up once more. He said, “There’s no crying in baseball!” Wait. That was Tom Hanks. Sorry. Um. I think he just said, “No crying.” That was embarrassing. Anyways, she pushed on as well. We finally got to the ridge. It was called “Gilman’s Point”. It’s the first milestone, and, if you make it there, you get a little certificate when you get back to the bottom. Paul hugged the girls, and the group felt rejuvenated.

We pushed onward. The next 30 minutes were relatively easy but super scary. We were literally walking alongside a cliff. Couldn’t see a darn thing, but it was mostly flat. Then it opened up, and in the waning night we could see the peak, and off in the distance I could see the sign. It started getting hilly again, and with every step I felt like my muscles were giving way. My worry here was no longer could I make it all the way up, nothing was stopping me from that, but rather how in God’s name am I going to get back down!

We got to the sign. There were some germans hogging the sign taking a bunch of inane pictures, and the girls sat down. I said no way. I just wanted to touch the stupid sign. The germans gave me some weird looks. Didn’t care. At 6:20am I smacked that Uhuru sign, and I looked to the east. Almost at that exact moment the sun popped over the low hanging clouds. I could see everything. I looked around and saw the massive glacier just chillin’ on the side of the mountain. I could see a few hundred miles in every direction. Caitlin had mentioned months earlier how cool it would be to have an epic kiss on the summit, so, even though my lips felt like they were falling off, I went up and planted one on her. This random guy said congratulations in my periphery and then I went and sat down and just stared at the sky. I remember posing for some pictures and I’ve even seen them, but pretty much everything from that point to when I got into bed for an hour 4 hours later after descending the peak is a blur.

I knew I had brought my pocket knife the entire way for something.

I got awakened at 11:15 for a late breakfast and then pushed out the door to walk the 10km back down to the huts at a lower altitude. It had been almost -40 degrees at the summit accounting for the wind, and then, even though I’d remember the huts there being cold, they were a lot more tolerable. We saw the other groups make it back to those gradually. Some had gotten there before us, but we had actually done pretty well timewise so most groups were behind us. The Italians, Spaniards, Canadians, French Canadians, all the Norwegians but Kurt’s daughter, the Kazakhstani uncle (we passed the stronger niece curled up in a ball on the ground at one point her altitude sickness was so bad), and the Japanese. Almost all of us had made it. Some of us exchanged information, and then said good bye because when we left in the morning we would never see them again.

Monday, February 11, 2013

It was Kili Time.

And leave we did. Holy crap. We hiked down in 5 hours what we had hiked up in the first two days. Caitlin and I literally ran the last kilometer. We caught hell from Kate for that. Definitely deserved though. I dunno what got into me. We weren’t supposed to reach the bottom until like 4pm. We got there right around 1. We got our certificates. Ate some lunch and were driven back to the Kessy Brothers office. They were really excited for us and for their business. Successful trips are always a good thing. They gave us each a free T-Shirt and then took us out for some beers of the “Kilimanjaro” brand. They also have a “Serengeti” beer that’s pretty good, too. We went back to the hotel. I took a shower. A loooooong shower. Then I took a nap and then went to dinner. We got some celebratory drinks afterwards courtesy of Kate. Thanks Kate.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Once again, I had to wake up at 5:45 to get a dang cab to go to the shuttle back to Nairobi. It was OK though. It was a nice ride. It was a little longer than last previously, and the border took longer than before. We got to Nairobi around 2:15. I said goodbye to the girls and then booked it to the immigration offices because my *Kenya* visa expired THAT day. Got that all fixed and good to go so I could stay for another 3 months. Then I went to the Nairobi Java House and got a milkshake.

Yes I know there were a couple days before and after this epic tale that I didn’t talk about, but those days were mostly filled with me telling people I was going to Kili and then telling them about how I climbed it. Also, this blog is much too long as it is. It was an epic trip, and so much more happened than I can write here. Typing the story just doesn’t do it justice, but I hope I communicated the obstacles and the successes and the experiences well. Kate and Caitlin both have their own blogs with their own perspectives. Maybe reading all three will give you a better idea. All I know is that week is gonna stick with me for a while.

If you’re interested in a Mt. Kili trip or a crazy legit safari or both, we found the Kessy Brothers to be incredible. One of the cheaper agencies, but they give you everything you need and provide a truly great service.

Elections and another trip to Uganda are coming up! More about that later… Haha

-Harris

Us with our certificates and the guides. Good times.

Oh Chesongoch, My Chesongoch

Oh. Yea. Got my hair braided.

Ok so I have a lot to fill everyone in on. So much freakin’ stuff has happened since the last time I posted!

Week of New Year’s

So our friend Augus invited us to one of his friends’ homes for a little New Year’s party. We got there around 6:30 or 7, I think. Anyways, we chilled for a couple hours and had dinner. It didn’t sit very well unfortunately, so I decided to go back. Vinny, who was also at the party, coincidentally had to leave as well to go pick up his kids from their grandmother’s house, and Henry decided he’d rather go back as well. Tim and Mike were on the coast doing their thing. We had to take a matatu to downtown Nairobi, and then pick up another matatu back to Amani. While we were in town though, there were some activities had, and Henry wound up with a broken leg. We dragged him home, and then after all the stuff had happened I decided to go to the pub around the corner for a drink. They were throwing down of course and one lady came up to me and poured a whole canister of glitter on my head. Took weeks to get it all out!

Over the next couple of days, I tried to convince Henry to get his leg checked out, but he was convinced he had just strained it our something. Long story short we finally had a day where we went to the dispensary next door. They sent him to get x-rayed, and they told him it was a fracture. He ended up having to have minor surgery. He ended up going back to the States earlier this week, in fact. I, however, was in Chesongoch when he left. It was a bummer, but everything happens for a reason!

During this time I also did some more work on the wall. It was a ton of fun, and the kids from the area loved to come and help out. The girls came for a couple days and added some of their own flare as well!

The Great Rift Valley

By January 7, I was in the valley, and boy was it a little different. I’d visited a couple places like this before, but living in place like that is a lot different than visiting. It was a million degrees outside, and there was no water, and more importantly no toilet seats.

I went with the girls, and we got to work in the Pre-Primary school and the dispensary run by the sisters there. There were only four sisters (Jacinta, Bernadette, Angela, and Tekla), but they do all the work! Sr. Angela taught in the school; Sr. Bernadette and Sr. Tekla in the dispensary; and Sr. Jacinta made the whole thing work.

We got to play with the kids on a regular basis and even do some classroom work. Those kids have far too much energy. No matter how much I ran or carried them, they always wanted more. It was hysterical.

At the dispensary, we sorted a lot of pills. They told us later that we actually sorted enough pills to get the dispensary through the next year apparently! We also made cotton balls and folded gauze strips. They also had us painting a lot. We painted the maternity ward, some of the staff quarters, and even the front gate of the convent. I kept pushing to have a good, old-fashioned paint fight, but the girls wouldn’t have any of it. I did manage, however, to turn the shower on while they were painting one of the bathrooms. I prefer to remember their screams of shock as screams of laughter. It’s all about the perspective, right?

*I* know how to strike a pose.

If there’s a specific day to note, though, it would definitely be the day we hiked the mountain. It stands a little over a mile high, but it was not a mile hike. I guess I’m used to paths and stuff. This mountain path, if you can call it that, was this winding trail that went through all the little villages and maize fields on the side of the mountain. There was also this massive escarpment that we had to cross like three times. It was also incredibly steep. Steep as in, I almost fell off the side like 4 times. I attribute that to my shoes as opposed to my talent as a walker.

It was the tallest mountain peak on our side of the valley. The other side bordered the Sudan, and there were some pretty big mountains there. I still felt accomplished.

That is Sr. Tekla. We had fun with this.

Finally, the day came to leave. It was a very interesting experience there. I became pretty good friends with Sr. Tekla, and, despite the fact I’d barely been there three weeks, she cried as we drove away. It’s a different life down there. Back in America and even in Nairobi, people seemed to always get bored. They come home from work, and they don’t know what to do with themselves. The Marakwets(the tribe mostly associated with the area where we stayed) don’t seem to differentiate work from pleasure. Not that they don’t have either, but they seem to have a seamless transition between the two. Living life as whole instead of in parts. Sometimes it was difficult for me to figure out how to work with that, but by the end I could see the benefit of it. It was pretty cool.

Post Chesongoch

Anyways, I came back from the valley a few days ago, and I’m already gearing up to leave again. I got my visa for Tanzania today, and I will begin my ascent of Mt. Kilimanjaro on February 6^th. I won’t lie. I’m slightly nervous but totally stoked. Kate got me some Diamox pills to help with altitude sickness, and the company we’re using has all sorts of gear ready to do. 3 porters for each climber, a chef, an assistant guide, and a head guide. It’s a full entourage on a 5 or 6 day hike. We’re supposed have a midnight hike on the morning of the last day, so that we reach the peak at sunrise. I can’t wait.

Side Note:

The application deadline for volunteering in Africa through the BVC program at Belmont Abbey is coming up. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Even if you don’t know if you want to go, just apply. You can always say no when the time comes, but give this a chance. Apply. Find Fr. Chris or Michael Becker. Feel free to ask me or the girls anything(although I think I’m better :D). You’re finishing college. Do you really want to go into the real world and tie yourself down just yet! Go experience something new! Broaden your horizons! Heck, if the experiences don’t do anything for you, learning a new language and spending the better part of year in 3^rd world country never looked bad on ANY resume.

Anyways, thanks for tuning in this time around. I'll send out another update after I climb Mt. Kili!

As always:

To Mail Me Anything: 

Benedictine Fathers

Amani Conference Centre

P.O. Box 32101-00600

Nairobi - Kenya

To Donate Anything: 

Southern Benedictine Society

100 belmont mount holly road

Belmont, NC 28012

(Write "BVC - Harris" in the memo section of the check)

 Here are some bonus pics:

Clearest Rainbow I Have Ever Seen

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!
Merry Christmas You Old Building and Loan
Merry Christmas Mr. Potter!
Merry Christmasss!!!!

Ah the classic finale to the greatest Christmas movie of all and also my mother's favorite movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart.

I'm 8 hours ahead of the East Coast right now which makes it almost exactly 7am there. Most of you will wake up in the next 2 hours or so I imagine. Just so you know, the world didn't end, christmas is here, and even in Kenya you get Christmas cookies and I've heard the sisters are going all out tonight and cooking turkey and stuffing!

Anyways on with it! Last week we did some more painting! That exterior wall is really coming along now. The whole thing is black with a red stripe going along the top and a green one going a long the bottom. Then we started filling in the wall sections. So far we've got a map of Kenya, the flag of Kenya, a cross, and two Benedictine quotes. I chose the quotes as well as I could. One is the overall motto of the Benedictines, "Ora et Labora". It means prayer and work. I put it there for a number of reasons. One, it's a Benedictine establishment. Two, it's a quote of the founder of the order. And three, I think it reminds us why we do what we do. The paint job isn't just about painting a wall. It's about the activity itself. Painting can be pretty monotonous and boring or it can be therapeutic and healing. Everyday that I painted, kids flocked to me for the chance to hold a brush or just to hang out with the big white kid, the "mzungu". Most of those kids either aren't in school for holidays or the aren't in school all together. I gave them a week with a protected place to play and maybe even sort of learn a trade. It was a big deal.

The second quote I put up was from St. Anselm, another early Benedictine. He is the namesake of my High School and this quote is my school's slogan, "Pax in Sapientia". Literally, it says peace in understanding, but you can also say peace through understanding which I believe to be more accurate. There is a lot of misunderstanding and disagreement in Kenya. From matatu drivers to the intratribalism to even the Catholic Church, understanding is something that is missing. I thought I would post that quote as a hopeful reminder that peace is only totally found when both sides try to understand the other.

This above painting went from Wednesday to Saturday. On Sunday, I went to Karen to spend the remainder of the Christmas Holidays with the girls!

Monday was where some fun started. I got the girls some chocolate ice cream on Sunday and hid it in the refrigerator, so when Christmas Eve came around, everything was closed, and there was no real celebration during the day, I broke out the small pints and distracted them for awhile. It worked pretty well I gotta say. Throughout the course of the day we went to maybe 5 different prayer services. We had vigil mass around 10pm and afterwards there was a little get together in the refectory with cookies and muffins and hot cocoa. Then we went back to the apartment. I exposed my second surprise to be a bottle of white wine! So we popped it open and watched "It's Wonderful Life" as is tradition in Kate and my's families. Caitlin just went along for the ride.

We all passed out and woke up again at 7 to go to 7:30 Lauds and Mass. At a good size Brunch and then I took a 3 hour nap. Glorious. That pretty much takes you up to right now.

I know this post is little early in terms of how often I post, but I figured I give you all some reading material for the lulls in your day if there are any!

I posted that quote at the beginning because I can actually picture myself saying it all if I was back in the states. Don't be surprised in late April if you here of some crazy kid running around Charlotte, North Carolina screaming "Merry Christmas!" at everything.

Also since today is a day of Thanksgiving, I would like to appreciate all the donations that everyone has sent me. I'm not entirely certain of everyone's comfort level with me posting their names, so I won't do it. But you all know who you are and so do I and so does God! You're all amazing. And all of you who haven't been able to send money, don't worry! Your thoughts and prayers have been carried by the wind and skies over to me and they lift me everyday. I feel like I have the energy of a thousand people on some days.

Merry Christmas, America!! Sing an extra carol for me! I miss and love you all!

God Bless and Enjoy You Christmas!!!

Harris

It's a Wonderful Kenyan Life!

To Mail Me Anything: 

Benedictine Fathers

Amani Conference Centre

P.O. Box 32101-00600

Nairobi - Kenya

To Donate Anything: 

Southern Benedictine Society

100 belmont mount holly road

Belmont, NC 28012

(Write "BVC - Harris" in the comment section of the check)

Hey everybody!

It’s been forever I think since my last post so it’s about time I do so. In fact, I’ll do you one better and post two! I’ll give the general summary post, and then if you look at the tabs above you’ll see one tabbed “MCF”. Definitely click that after reading that. I got a chance to have a pretty in depth interview with a beautiful woman who lived through the election violence in 2007, and the interview goes into that and what she’s had to deal with since then.

Firstly, let’s get back on track a little bit. I got a good amount of rest after the Mombasa trip. In fact, probably too much. I had wanted to get going on my painting project at St. Maurus, but I was dealing with some banking issues, so I didn’t get started until later in the week. I got back to Nairobi on Wednesday of that week. I had stayed in Karen to help the girls pass out all the gifts to the elderly that they raised so much money for! It was very impressive. I think they got around 5 grand in donations, and now that whole group is going to have a wonderful Christmas.

I got back to Nairobi and started making arrangements for the painting job. I went down and got a decent idea of what we wanted to do. The walls originally were painted yellow with a broad white stripe going across the middle. In the stripe were a bunch of children holding hands all the way around the wall. Good design and good idea. Couple problems though. For one, all the children were white, and, secondly, the paint job was over ten years old and the paint (as well as the wall) was horribly chipped in cracked all over the place. So on Monday, I got the funds I needed and I bought two huge buckets of spackle and 3 4 liter buckets of black paint. I spackled the whole wall that day. Used up every bit I had. On Tuesday, we sanded and washed the wall and popped open the first can of paint. I got about half the wall although I was skipping the pillars. The next day, myself, Henry, and a bunch of random kids who showed up to help finished painting the first coat. We finished all the pillars and the remainder of the paint by the end of the week.

I didn’t originally plan on it, but I’ve decided we gotta put a second coat on. On a couple of the wall segments the little children underneath are poking through. Pesky kids. I went back to the paint place, and they told me they won’t have the base they need for the paint until tomorrow (12/19/2012). So I got a few other things and put the project on hold for a few days. I’m planning on putting a red and green strip across the top and bottom to be in line with Kenyan colors. I also want to put some good quotes from their culture and the Bible up there as well. Maybe across the top. Big additions that I’m planning on is putting a painted version of the Kenyan flag on one of the walls, and then I want to take another wall segment and dedicate to St. Maurus. Then when all the kids come back to school, I’m gonna have them put their hands in white paint and have them put their hand prints on the wall and maybe put their names under them as well. I’ve the creative juices flowing. Any suggestions would be welcome!

On the Saturday, I went to Karen because I hadn’t seen them in 10ish days, and they also wanted to see the elephant orphanage. It was pretty cool. They facility houses about 25 elephants ranging in ages 3 months to 3 years. We only got an hour with them though because the end game is to let the elephants out into the wild at some point again, so they limit the amount of outside contact to one hour a day. Kate kept scaring off the elephants otherwise we’d have gotten some pictures touching one. I did touch one’s butt though. That was cool. After the orphanage trip we went to see The Hobbit! I was definitely a little surprised they even had the movie, and there were only maybe 8 people in the theater total. I greatly enjoyed it though! I know there are haters out there, but I think peter Jackson did a fine job translating a great book into a great movie even if he did take some license in some areas.

I took it easy Sunday, and yesterday and today I’ve been working on the article on the interview I got last week. I’ll save most of the details for the actual article, but it’s an intense story of a 16 year old girl who was just trying to get home the night after the election results in 2007. She unfortunately got a lot more than just a little trouble. It’s a pretty graphic story. Some people may rather not read it, but I’m gonna post it anyway. It won’t be on this main page, but rather another page listed on the tabs above “MCF”. I’ll also post a bit of information on what MCF(Mathare Children’s Fund) does as an organization.

Anyways, it’s been perfectly eventful as well as uneventful depending on the day.

Here are some extraneous thoughts.

1)      How can a paint warehouse not have the base paint for black? Or red? They were missing that one, too. Although, I was able to get green. Things are always at 80% here. No one is ever at the top of their game, and it doesn’t really seem like anyone cares to be at least business wise. When it comes to the bar, they go pretty all out.  It’s just difficult to get anything done in any sort of a timely manner. Still trying to switch to that mindset. America did a number on me, I guess!

2)      The past two months there have been no fewer than 3 different Norwegian schools come to stay at the Amani Center. The first two just came and saw the slums, walked around a bit, went on a safari, etc. This third one was here for two weeks, and they left this past weekend. They were different. I got a chance to talk to one of the teachers last week for a moment. They had a pretty cool little thing going. Basically, they bring 20 students and each of those students paid for one Kenyan to stay with them. They spent two weeks basically on retreat and studying… music. A couple of the girls kept asking me to come to their concert this past Saturday. As I already noted above, I went to the elephant orphanage. I did, however, get an invite to a parent’s only show. The parents of Kenyans wanted to see what they had been doing the past two weeks. The whole group did maybe 2 or 3 different song acapella. The real trick though was that everyone split off into groups of 4-8. They had written their own music, and the musical talent there was unbelievable. These were highschoolers mind you, but they were switching instruments left and right and the lyrics were fantastic and there were some incredible singers. I saw saxophones, basses, acoustic and electric guitars, pianos, jimbes, bongos, and drums. They did all kinds of music. Beatbox. Rap. Classical. Christmas. Pop. Reggae. All across the board. It was really cool to see the kids mixed together and sharing their talents. It really was awesome.

3)      On the Christmas note, if anyone wanted to send me some Christmas music, that’s be awesome because I’m missing the automatic music on 97.1 WashFM for the entire month of December.

4)      Hail to the Redskins.

Remember to take a look at the interview article by clicking on the MCF tab at the top of the page.

Thanks for listening! God Bless and I'll post again around Christmas!

-Harris Moriarty