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!
(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!
(Write "BVC - Harris" in the comment section of the check)
I left you slightly over a week ago, and, when I left, I slept for 2 days. I slept and ate and watched videos on my computer and pressed repeat. I was SO tired from weeks of traveling. Of course, I'm not done or anything. I was just taking a break and well deserved one at that!
Monday I started my life again. I woke up early and went into town to send my money to Tanzania for our Mt. Kilimanjaro trip and secure our seats on the bus for Mombasa! I got to town and went down to the Modern Coast Bus Lines booking office. It was kind of in the ghetto, but the buses were really nice looking. Did that and then I walked to the other side of Nairobi to find a western union to transfer the funds. The company we are using for Kili told us the price in dollars. So I went to barclays bank and took out some money from the ATM. First problem. My bank account wouldn't let me take out enough to pay for Kate, Caitlin, and myself. So I went to the western union and changed the shillings I had over into dollars and then I went home and watched entourage.
Next day. Took my time in the morning and went back into town. Took out the rest of the money in shilling at the barclays. Went over to the western union and changed it into dollars. Then I found out that they couldn't transfer USD to Tanzania. I had to changed it all back into Kenyan Shillings and then change it into Tanzanian shillings. Huge hassle. I know I got screwed somewhere in there. THEN they said they were going to charge me an absurd amount just to make the transfer. aaaaand I didn't have enough money on me to cover the extra charge. So I walked out of the western union with far too much money in my pocket and no plan. I went to Barclays to see about opening an account because I could just use the bank to make the transfer but I had to have an account with them first. They made me jump through all sorts of hoops but the last one was I had to have a friend with a Barclays account fill out a form for me. Couldn't find one. So I talked to the girls and we put the extra money together.
Wednesday. Went to town ONE MORE TIME to figure out the mess. Went up to the lady at the counter, and she recalculated everything. Turns out the lady the previous day was going to charge me 10k extra shilling than she should have. Ugh. Whatever. I sent the money, and then I went and sat in a coffee shop for four hours while I waited for the girls to show up in downtown from Karen. We got there and then took a taxi back to Amani and chilled/ate dinner. Then we met the German girls from next door. They had ordered a cab, and so we jumped in there cab and left for the bus station around 8pm. We got to the bus station kind of early, so we stood around and waited for a bit while people walked by giving us creepy looks. People will stare at me, but no one really wants to mess with me. I have no idea why. Hah. We got on the bus and went forward to Mombasa!
Thursday
We arrived in Mombasa in the early morning. Not really sure what time. Got a taxi to take us to the hostel. We booked the hostel online and we weren't really sure what to expect. We drove into a little town just outside Mombasa called Mtwapa. It didn't look good for us. Pretty low class. Lots of matatus and motor bikes and people just sitting on the sides of the roads being loud and obnoxious. I sat back in my seat and put my hand on my forehead. We took a right and I knew that was the direction of the beach so I became at the least hopeful that we'd be close to the beach. We drove down a broken, sandy road path for at least 7 or 8 minutes. Then we came to the top of a small hill and drove down into a little parking lot where the road dead ended. We got out. We were there. I walked in the front gate, and right there was the beach! We were actually right on the beach! Also, it was really quiet. I immediately fell in love. We checked in and I went into my room for a small nap. Then I came out and ordered breakfast because the hostel has its own bar and restaurant and everything was reasonably priced. I ate my food and begged the girls to take it easy in the morning. Of course, when you're one guy with 4 girls, you will NEVER win a conversation. So we went to the public beach which meant leaving the hostel. ugh. Anyways, we got to the public beach, and that was pretty awesome. The ocean was at low tide and the beach stretch out for what seemed like miles, and even when we finally got up to the water, I could have walked another half mile into the water and only be around waist deep. Had to watch for sea urchins though. Those things were freakin' everywhere, but they're cool to look at. We drank beers and ate lunch on the beach. Went back to the hostel. I think Caitlin and I had a drink but the others just wanted water. My plan was to live it up and I stuck to it! Got dinner and hung out for a bit before finally hittin' the sack.
Friday
Best day ever. Haha I sent the 4 girls to go off snorkeling in the morning. I didn't go for two reasons. 1) I didn't want to pay and 2) I wanted to take it really easy. Vacation, right? I woke up around ten. Got a late breakfast, and went back to bed a for a little bit. Then I went and I sat looking out onto the beach drinking a beer. I met some of the other people staying there. A lot of germans. There were a few there after taking a medical elective, couple more just in from Germany on a vacation, and then there were two on a trip from Tanzania. Germans are all over East Africa. Two moved in right next to me(I had my own room with a double bed for a single price, hell ya). Their names were Tim and Benny, and they were awesome. They were both 29 and on a bro trip for the first time in 10 years. They'd been friends for most of their lives, but they hadn't gone out together for a sweet awesome trip since they'd gone to Spain when they were 17. Anways, everyone chilled the rest of Friday. What an awesomely chill day. I felt great. I even got to go on a late night walk right on the beach! Paradise was at my finger tips!
Saturday
Slept in a small amount. Got a late breakfast and then went back to the public beach. I sat in the restaurant/beach hut with all the girls stuff while they went into the water. I drank some beers and I think I got a plate of fries. It was just really beautiful. The girls got back and I took some pics of Caitlin and Kate on a camel. Yes. A camel. Kate was bracing for death the whole ride while Caitlin I think tried to do a backflip off. Interesting experience. Check Kate's fb pics for the details. Spent the day and most of the evening there. Then they kicked us out because they were hosting a bikini party. They begged us to stay actually, but the girls weren't having any of it. *sigh* Like I said, I never won on this trip. Well not quite never ;). I'm tricky. Anyways, we got back to the hostel and as it was our last night we all sat on the edge of the hostel overlooking the beach and got a few drinks. A little while later, Tim and Benny showed up and bought a round. Then our Tanzanian-German friends showed up, too. Basically, we had a big bash on our last night and we made some good friends. Hopefully, they'll find us on facebook or something. They were fun.
Sunday
Put ourselves together after the previous evening's festivities. Got in the cab and went back to the bus stop in Mombasa. At 1:30 we pulled out. We were making great time until we were roughly 50km outside of Nairobi and we were stopped on the highway. massive traffic jam. So bad that people just straight up got out of their cars and trucks and buses and walked around for bit. I must have seen 3 separate multi-car pile-ups. We arrived in Nairobi around 10:45pm. Immediately got a taxi to Karen. I took a short shower and passed the heck out.
Monday
Woke up at 9:30. checked my emails. Found out that the matatus are all on strike. So I have no plans to get back to Amani as of right now. A couple of the sisters might be driving that way tomorrow. So we'll see! I'm certainly not dropping 4k shilling to go back. I can tell you that right now. So I'm chillin' in Karen! All is well! Always looking for letters from friends and family. Just refer to the address above!
Fun Fact:
The power of the internet is ridiculous. I've had roughly 2500 blog views from these countries:
United States
Kenya
Russia
Germany
Canada
France
Nigeria
Spain
United Kingdom
Poland
Argentina
Switzerland
China
Ireland
Venezuela
Kinda weird, yea? If you're from one of these random countries, let me know who you are! Catch ya later!
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
Greetings ‘Merca!
Yes, I realize it has been far too long since my last post,
and I am eternally sorrowful for it. I’ve come to pay recompense to the masses
by posting a blog today though! So let’s get on with it.
It’s been what, 2 and halfish weeks since I last posted? The
week after the funeral was pretty low key. I kept my head down and did some
good works and whatnot. I’m planning on organizing a paint job for St. Maurus.
I need to buy paint though. Also they want me to fix some of their floors which
means I need to pay for cement, too. Man, my bills are racking up! Anyways,
schools in Kenya let out last week which meant it was graduation time for the
classes at St. Benedict’s primary school! What was weird though was that none
of the classes 1-8 had a graduation ceremony. Only the Pre-primary class had
one, but all the classes performed different acts during the graduation.
Apparently, no one cares if you graduate 8th grade, but, if you
graduate preschool, you’re on top of the world.
Soon after the school shenanigans, I began another little
adventure. The prioress at the convent where the girls stay in Karen invited me
to go with her, the girls, and her sister who is also a nun on a trip to
Uganda! This is gonna need a day by day I think.
Last Wednesday
I met Sr. Serva in downtown Nairobi at 9:30am. We were
meeting so that she could help me get my Ugandan visa. We went in, and the lady
told us to come back at 4pm. Super lame. Up side though was definitely that Sr.
Serva ended up buying me lunch at the Java House. It was really good, and I got
a pineapple milkshake. I went with her on a couple errands as well. We stopped
by the Cathedral book store, a linen shop, the bank, and we made it to prayer
service in the Cathedral as well. We got our Ugandan visas and went back to
Karen. It took forever traffic was awful, and it was also the scariest drive of
my life. Her name does not imply it, but Sr. Serva is 50-60some Korean woman
who loves to talk on the phone while driving. I think I cheated death about 11
times on the way back. We got to Karen and found out that instead of leaving on
Thursday, we wouldn’t actually be leaving until Friday. So I had a free day in
Karen!
Last Thursday
I slept in. Until noon? Somewhere around there. It was
awesome. Then I went into town with the girls to this little coffee shop they
discovered and we enjoyed the coffee and WIFI. I downloaded a rental of “O
Brother Where Art Thou” from iTunes because Caitlin, scandalously, had never
seen it. Then we walked back to the convent in 17 minutes which was a new
record for the girls (I’ve done it in 12 nbd). Enjoyed a relaxing evening and
packed for our journey.
Last Friday
4:30am came around much MUCH too soon. Sr. Michael Marie,
the prioress, had insisted on getting a really early start. We got in the car,
and I got to meet our driver, Evans. Yes, his name has an “s” on the end, it’s
not a typo. Evans and I would be spending a fair amount of time together being
the only two guys on a convent to convent trip. We started off towards our
first destination in Kerio valley. It was a little village called Chesongoch.
The last 40 km was on a miserable piece of dirt road. We finally arrived though
and let me tell you it was friggin’ hot. It has been a loooooong time since I’ve
been in an environment so sweltering. Of course, Chesongoch is the convent I’ll
be staying at during the month of January. Oh boy. We got there at lunchtime
and then I took a nap. I sweat myself to sleep. Then the girls and I got around
3 and Evans drove us to Endo which was about an hour away. It was another
little convent in the valley. We came back. Did some vespers and then the girls
and I watched Cool Runnings on my computer before we went to sleep.
Saturday
We got up and took some cold showers because they don’t have
hot water, but I didn’t mind because of the heat. We went to Mass and then we
got a tour of the dispensary the sisters run there. It was a really good
looking facility. They’d done a lot of building and money raising the past
couple years, and they’re even set up to facilitate surgery. The only problem
they have now is a lack of people! They need surgeons and other workers and
what not. Then we went back to the convent for lunch and headed out again.
We drove up a mountain for 15 km. That was interesting. The
sites were incredible though. We got an awesome look at the valley. I can’t
wait to live there for a month and get some good hiking in. About 4 hours later
we arrived at Kimumu which is another convent and we sat around and had tea.
Then they gave us a tour of the school. It’s a small building but they have
about 500 kids in their primary school there. We had dinner in Kimumu, and I
did my best to entertain all the sisters. I don’t know why but these religious
women just seem to love me. Then, because there wasn’t enough room in Kimumu to
house Evans, the girls, and myself, we went to another convent in a town called
Eldoret about 20 minutes away. It’s a beautiful convent. Small, but very
pretty. They had hot water. I took advantage. Since we’d gone up in elevation
the temperature had dropped significantly. I took my hot shower and passed out.
Sunday
Went to Mass at the Cathedral of the Eldoret Diocese. Sr.
Michael Marie needed more time with the sister at Kimumu so we stayed in
Eldoret another day. We came back to the convent and took naps. It was
glorious. Then we went out for lunch and ate to our hearts’ desires for about
10 bucks total. Then we went to Kimumu because we were supposed to be there by
4. We got there around 2:30 and hung out. Then we were told to go with this
random lady back to her home with Evans as the driver. So we went and we hung
out at this family’s house for a couple hours. They gave us tea, cookies, and
mandazi. Then we all sat around and discussed different things. I learned
something about American History that day, too. Please tell me if this was in
your history books.
The
Explanation Behind the Name America as told by a Kenyan
When the settlers of the New World began to expand their lands,
the Indians became agitated. One man had an idea to marry a pilgrim woman with
an Indian man. The Indians were pleased. The night after the ceremony one of
the settlers had hidden in a wedding present. He broke out and unlocked the
gates to the Indian village. The settlers came in, over took, and killed the
Indians of the village. The phrase “A Marriage Gun” was coined. Over time this
phrase turned into America hence the name of the country.
I had never heard that one before, but man is it a riveting
story. There were a couple other myths that I had to dispel, but it was fun
nevertheless.
Monday
We left for Uganda. Jinja specifically. The nickname of
Uganda is the “Jewel of Africa”, so I went into Uganda with this thought in
mind. It is indeed a pretty country. The whole country is covered in green and
there are rolling hills everywhere. Very pretty landscape, and there’s a ton of
food. The convent in Jinja was more like
a massive compound. Everything was gated and all the windows were barred and
there was this little courtyard inside. Despite that, it might be the prettiest
compound I’ve ever seen. From the view in the girls bedroom, you could see lake
Victoria which actually touched a piece of the sisters’ property.
Within about an hour of getting there, they had us back out
again to go see the source of the Nile River. Man, that was cool. They put us
in a little boat and motored around tiptoeing back and forth over the line
separating the Nile and Lake Victoria. I’m not really sure how to describe it.
We went back to the convent for dinner and vespers. Then
afterwards, another nun who was visiting showed a slide show of her travels
around the world specifically in Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. I want to go there
something fierce now. That place looks awesome!
Tuesday
We got up around 5:30 to see the sunrise over the lake. That
was cool. Later in the morning we got a full tour of what the convent does at
their hospital and there 900 kid primary school. I have no idea where all these
kids come from. In the school we went from class to class, and by the time we
were done it was recess or something so I started playing with the kids. Here’s
a snippet:
After that we scarfed down some food and hit the road back
to Eldoret. We stayed there for the night.
Wednesday
Back to Karen! We arrived mid-afternoon exhausted and
hungry. So we took some tea and took a nap. Then we went into town to buy a few
things. We came back and we cooked an apple crisp for the sisters to enjoy on
our Thanksgiving Holiday. I wasn’t there the next day to enjoy, but I was told
we did a good job!
Thursday
Happy Thanksgiving! I got driven to Nairobi and I went with
the girls and Sr. Serva to go deal with some immigration issues (ironic). The
girls had to renew their visas. Then we went out for lunch to celebrate
Thanksgiving and St. Cecilia’s feast day who is Kate’s patron saint. Then I
went to Amani think I’d have a few hours to chill. Wrong. I got back to find a
note saying I was getting picked up at 4:30 which was about 10 minutes from
when I saw it. We were having a big celebration at Dan the Pirate’s House. Tim
and Mike cooked all evening making deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, and lamb. We
also had a bunch of beer. We listened to loud music and danced around. Almost
forgot, when I got picked up, I was asked to drive to Dan’s house. I DROVE FOR
THE FIRST TIME SINCE AUGUST. It was awesome and driving around Nairobi isn’t so
bad! Pedals are still in the right places so it wasn’t too difficult. We got
back from the party around 2:30am. I was exhausted.
Today (Friday)
I slept in until 9:30 today and then got tea. I’m planning
on doing nothing for the next couple days. It’s been a really exciting past
couple of weeks though.
There are always more things that I could talk about, but I’m
trying to keep these posts shorter and to the points I’m supposed to hit if I
can (I know I typically fail at the short part).
Some Final Things:
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is doing
well back in the States. I’m still looking for some donations for some various
projects at St. Maurus, and I still want to buy a couple basketball hoops for a
couple different places.
Also, if anyone has any interest in seeing pictures of me on
Mt. Kilimanjaro, I’m also accepting personal donations J .
God continues to bless my mission with everything that I've needed to do to be successful here. I've made great friends, and I am becoming
better friends with some that I was already friends with. My family has never
felt so large as it does right now. I miss you all. Only 5 more months!
This past week was slow and fast and boring and super interesting. I'll do my best to put it all in words for you!
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
I left you all about 9 days ago on a Thursday. From Friday to Monday, I took it easy. I went to Karen to see the girls. Kate didn't feel super great, so Caitlin and I watched episodes of House all day Sunday. It was good, lazy fun.
Monday morning I left the girls in time to make it back to Drawing at 11am. I started working on different animals. I'm not really much for actually drawing them, but it was fun trying to get the kids to think of different animals and to teach them some animals that they'd never heard of before! I was going to go to St. Maurus that afternoon, but I got called to a staff meeting at Street Children to discuss some future issues and projects. It was long and boring, but it was actually pretty insightful. As of right now, the policy is that new kids have to stay in the center for one year for rehab purposes before the center can pay for them to go to school. We are now, however, looking into the possibility of taking the necessity of a year of rehab on a case by case basis. Some kids do not need to get weened off of sniffing glue because they never had a problem in the first place. There are also some issues with dealing with kids who are sponsored. Some of the sponsors have been sending their kids money for cell phones and other totally unnecessary things, and many of the kids get distracted from school or get in trouble simply because in most schools phones aren't allowed. Anyways, we got through a lot of information.
Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to St. Benedict's for Drawing and then followed up with St. Maurus in the afternoon.
Thursday is where the fun begins. From this point forward in this blog post, you will hear detailed descriptions of experiences and some possibly heavy insights into certain aspects of life here in Kenya.
Firstly, I'll begin by saying. DUDE, KENYANS SUCK AT TRAVELING ANYWHERE IN ANY CONCEIVABLE MANNER OF TIME. Ok. Glad I got that out. So here's the deal. Augus' uncle who had adopted him and his other siblings when he was younger was hit by a car and couple weeks ago on Heroes Day(a Kenyan Holiday). James Ogutu passed away on the scene. Augus invited the four guys here at the Amani Center to go to the funeral in town called Bodi on the Nyabondo Plateau. Only Mike and I were able to go. On Thursday night after dinner, Augus came over and led us back into the slums after nightfall. We hopped on a couple motorcycles and sped away through the slums. We stopped in an area of Mathare that had apparently alluded me, Baraka. It wasn't the worst that I'd seen since my arrival, but it was pretty darn close. The reason we went there that night was because we supposedly going to take a bus the next morning around 4 or 5. Well, Augus got some friends together as well as a couple bottles of Konyagi, and we all sat around drinking until most passed out. I had brought my computer, and I sat on that for awhile.
8am Friday morning comes around. During the night, Augus had apparently procured for us a car being driven by his cousin, Jack. Jack as I came to learn was an incredibly nice man, and also a bit simple. He lives the Kenyan phrase Pole Pole. We got in his car at 8:30. Then we drove to his house where we sat for another hour drinking tea and watching music videos for christian music on the television. Then we left his house and piled into his car. The seats were really cushiony but there was really only room for 1.8 people in his backseat. Jack was driving. His wife was in the front passenger seat, and Mike, Augus, and myself stuffed ourselves in the back. It was tight. We left his house, and we made at least two more stops on the way out of Nairobi. Then we finally began the *7* hour journey. I put the 7 in asterisks because that's how long it was SUPPOSED to take. All in all, it took about 11. We were moving nicely, and then we stopped for food where we met up with a bus that had been rented by Augus' Uncle's church. We saw all of them and chitchatted for awhile. Then we got back in the car, and roughly and hour later we went over a bump and heard a loud crack. Yay. Soon, we pulled over into a local mechanic. They removed the front left tire to find the actual frame of the car had cracked, so the man welded it as well as doing a few other things and we got back on the road. We came to where we were supposed to turn, however, and the road was closed. No one was entirely certain which direction to go. So we stopped about 4 times to get proper directions. We traversed the same 30km stretch of road 4 times, and somewhere in there it started pouring rain. Finally, we found the correct road. After driving for another long stretch of time, we got to the bottom of the plateau. It was night time, but even still it was obvious we were getting pretty deep into the Bush. The last bit of the journey was to get to the top of said plateau. We took one "road", but the rain and mud had caused massive rifts and gulleys. We struggled through the road for sometime, and finally were forced to turn back. On the second road, we found more luck, the problems arose when the road became too steep, and the car kept trying to slide off the side of the mountain. We pulled into the driveway of a local "house" and asked if we could leave the car over night. Then we collected our things and hiked through the rain and mud for probably a mile. We met up with a few of Augus' friends who had come down to assist on our hike up because we didn't know the exact way. Only problem was that in the dark, they apparently didn't know the way either. We went up and down the mountain for another hour before we finally found where the funeral party was located. We set up our tent, and then I went out to meet some of the family members. I got brought to the matriarchal house and met a lot of old ladies who only spoke Luo with very poor Swahili. There was very little conversation, but they enjoyed looking at me and laughing. Then I went to bed. Fun Fact: in each family area I guess you would say, the home of the "First Wife" or the Head wife faces directly toward the valley. All other houses face hers. It's important when traveling around to know which house to pay homage to first.
Funeral Saturday came along. I woke up and crawled out of my tent to see a few cups of tea awaiting me. I stood up and stopped. The view. was. incredible. I wish that I had had my camera with me. In the rush of Thursday night heading over to the slums, I'd left it sitting on my bed. Even so, my camera could not have done this view justice. Directly in front of me was the rift valley. Must have been 300 km across. Running right through the middle was the Nyando River. To the left was Lake Victoria, but only a piece of it. And on the far side extending across the whole horizon were the Bondo Mountains. I got to see it all just as the sun rose behind me out from the facade of the plateau. So beautiful. I sat and watched for a good amount of time just appreciating it.
Then I heard the microphones. In front of one of the little houses there, a few tents with chairs had been set up. The ceremony was beginning. The ceremony here was different than ours in so far as it was a Seventh Day Adventist service and the whole things last about 8 hours. They do welcoming announcements and tributes from all sorts of people and requiems and choir singing. The people who simply attend, however, do not sit for 8 hours. They mill about having different conversations and preparing food and whatnot. I was asked to go with a number of other guys to go get water from a local stream. I couldn't believe that people were gonna drink this water. The rains had churned everything up so the water was almost totally brown, but I filled my 20 liter jerrycan like I was told and brought it back. It was a long walk, and 20 liters of water is pretty darn heavy by the way. After awhile though, I drifted over to the tents. I sat and listened to a few of the tributes. I didn't understand a word anyone said, but even still. There was a man who went up to the microphone, and he began talking. I tried to be as attentive as possible. I was trying to read his face and his body language. I could here in his voice that he was losing control. Gradually, I began to hear his voice crack and his voice get louder until finally he was at the point of breaking down. At the time, all I remember is feeling for him. I had no idea what he was saying, and yet despite the language barrier *I* was getting teary eyed. Even just thinking back the moment now brings some swelling to my eye lids. After this man who I later found out was the deceased brother, another man came around passing out programs to those who didn't have one. I grabbed one and flipped through it. Oddly enough, the whole thing was written in English. Jame Ogutu was a family man with 3 sons and 2 daughters. Not accredited were his brother's children whom James had adopted. He finished secondary school and taught in the school systems as well as drove a bus for the rest of his life. And he never missed a day of Church. On the back was a small note written by Augus' eldest brother:
"It is with sorrow and grief that I honour God your Kind and Keeper for your demise. It has been tough to accept it Dad but you said it before your departure. The love and understanding that has been between us was great and still needed it. You lived a humble life but you made our entire family and me in particular what I am. We were wished extreme poor and hard life but dear Dad you taught us to: Love the Lord whole heartedly, Pray and Fast, be Humble always, Give to the Lord and others, Work with people with no grange, be appreciative even in the little things, be people of integrity, be full of compassion as Jesus is, Love and take care of our families. Dad the list is long. I cannot mention it all. you have left us in the hands of which you loved and trusted most, the Almighty God. You have fought a good fight. You have kept pure the faith of the saints. You have gone to your Father King and faithful friend you loved most. We will for life miss you. You molded us to what we are by the power of your God. Receive your crown and enjoy the life in that eternal house."
I think I died a little inside when I read that. Here's the thing. Kenyan people are pretty resilient. They are surrounded by poverty, failure, corruption, and death. Dan the pirate says that Kenyan men are bred to be super serious and never show emotion. In the villages, when they are 14, they have to be circumcised in front of the family, and they're not allowed to flinch. That's what a Kenyan man is supposed to be like. I think what threw me the most was that these big, kenyan men were breaking down over the death of this one man. At the burial, there was even a man who used my sleeve to sob. I could tell he was trying to hold it back, but he was experiencing true sorrow. My first thought was: I'm not allowed to cry because frankly I don't have the right to! Not only did I not know this man, but the men who are cracking around me are giving up years and years of personality formation and throwing it to the wolves to grieve for this man at this moment. The second thought was: I wish I had met this man. They buried him behind his house and the entire yard was full. I started considering the reach of this one man, and I realized that even I was there. This man had been so influential that two Americans who had no business being there had been sucked into his vortex. What a guy he must have been. He was 54. In 50 years of living his simple life in the slums and going to Church everyday, he had managed to reach me about 12000 miles away. If one guy can do so much and have so much effect who is to say that someone like me can't and isn't. He did nothing spectacular. He just lived a good life. Maybe if I just try to live a good life, the rest will take care of itself, too.
Anyways, a break from that. One thing about the funeral that really irritated the heck out of me were the preachers. They had about 6 preachers, and they went up in twos so that one could preach in english and the other would translate to swahili. So this part I got to hear and understand. THEY DON'T SAY ANYTHING. They talk in circles and they repeat themselves and they yell really loud but nothing actually gets said. Nothing is explained and no information is given. There's no learning. Actually sorry, I lied. They try to teach some things. Like, how all Catholics are misinformed. That's what they teach to their "flocks". How to pass judgment on someone based on their title. What gives? Their whole argument was that in the Bible it doesn't say anything about one church. What makes theirs so great then? And they also say that the Bible specifically says Jesus came with only three things and nothing else: Divine Power, Blood, and Stripes. The preacher explained the first two and then just sort of forgot about the third and went off on a praise tangent. What the heck are the stripes? WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE GUYS EVEN TALKING ABOUT!? I dunno. I was confused, but a good portion of the crowd seemed happy. So I just left and went somewhere else for awhile. Also, all the preachers here call themselves Bishops. It's ridiculous.
After the burial, everyone broke up for awhile. Some went to get food or set up for the evening festivities. I went to go alone into the town to see if I could charge my computer somewhere as it was pretty much dead. I was about halfway there when one of the guys I'd met at the funeral came and dragged me away to somebody's house. He wanted to bring me to the "Men's Club" as he called it. It was someone's backyard that wasn't kept very well. A bunch of guys were just sitting on some rocks and they were passing around some sort of local liquor. Basically moonshine. Oh and did I mention the marijuana? Did anyone else know that Kenya is full of that stuff? Literally grows everywhere. I spent about 20 minutes there and was able to get away and get to Bodi. I paid some lady like 30 shilling to charge my computer for awhile. Sat around a bit and saw some other people from the funeral that I actually recognized from Nairobi. We went into a local pub and watched Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1. I was bummed. I went to get my computer and then started back toward's the tent which was about a 30-40 minuted walk. Of course, on my way there it started pouring so I had to sprint. I got to my tent and got dry. Turned on my computer and I'll be darned if the thing hadn't charged at all. In fact, it had probably lost charge. So that was sad. It died about 10 minutes later. So I left the tent and ran over to the little house. There were maybe 150 people stuffed in there. I walked around and chatted with everyone for a bit and then Augus found me, brought me back to the tent, and gave me so freshly cooked fish and rice. It was so good, I couldn't even believe it. Easily the best fish I've ever had in my life. By this time, it was close to 10pm. One of Augus' brothers came in with a bottle of some kind of liquor and we passed it around for a bit. Then everyone left for awhile, and I went to sleep. By the way, lightning storms on top of plateaus are pretty scary but it's a little exciting, too!
Woke up Sunday morning around 6. Jack had told me he wanted to leave by 9:30. I got some of my stuff ready and took breakfast and tea. After mulling around for a bit, I found Jack and he was talking with his father and brothers about something. So finally, around 10 he said it was time to go. We walked back down the mountain to his car and would you believe it? It didn't start! Not only that but the driveway was downhil to where the car was which meant we had to PUSH it up the driveway. We found 5 or 6 people walking down the mountain to come help. The real problem was the ground was so incredibly muddy, we couldn't find good traction. It took about an hour to get it up. I'm pretty sure I almost died twice by that beast of a car falling back over top of me. Augus and Mike stayed in Bodi, but I needed to get back to Nairobi to deal with a couple things regarding my work visa, so Jack, his wife, and now his two sisters who needed a ride down to the bottom got in the car. The two sisters both had newborns with them as well. Jack put the car in neutral and we rode the mountain with all it's slipping and sliding mud and huge bumps all the way into a small town. The two sisters got out and walked to the local matatu station and we pushed the car into a mechanic. Mechanic worked on the car for about 2 hours. Then we just *had* to get the car washed. Pressure washer wasn't working so it was done by hand by one man. Then we finally got into the car and went on our way, and we were making such great time! A minor rain shower here and there had shown up but nothing serious. We were about 50 km outside of Nairobi when on the left we see the big bus stuck on the side of the highway that looked an awful lot like the bus transporting all the people from the funeral. Of course we stopped. Turned out the bus had run out of fuel. The fuel light had been on for over 100km. Driver thought he could make it to the next petrol station. Idiot. Some four wheel drive car came along and tried tow the bus but the hooks kept snapping. That's when I remembered I had two carabiners in my backpack. I always keep a couple just in case! They each hold a few thousand pounds. Figured two should do the trick. So we hooked them up, and they got about 150m down the road. This time the ropes had snapped. At this point the driver of the car who had just been a passerby decided it was time for him to go home. It was late. It was pretty dark. Storm was coming in, and the wind had brought the temperature down a lot. it was probably close to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. We needed a new plan! Jack and I hopped in the car and found the next local town. Wow was this town a piece of crap. Literally drunkards and prostitutes everywhere. I had no idea where we were, but I definitely didn't like it. We walked around asking for some help and we got directed to a mechanic. The issue with the bus apparently was that it was a diesel so even if we just got fuel we'd have to do something called bleeding to make sure the pipes that were only supposed to have fuel in them didn't have air too. So we loaded up the bucket of fuel and the mechanic into the car and got back to the bus. Bus got fixed. Then we went about going over the last mountain. Of course, in the time we'd been figuring out the whole issue, a bunch of storm clouds had rolled through. The entire descent from the mountain was done almost completely blind. The fog was terrible. We passed a lot of cars that had fallen off the side of the road., but we made it back. I got dropped off at the Amani Center, and I collapsed into my bed.
It was definitely a big weekend. A lot to take in. I hope that this story wasn't too overwhelming for y'all but man I had to tell somebody! I learned a lot this weekend. I learned that some emotions are not bound by language. Kenyans are not resilient to sorrow. Traveling takes forever here. And one man can truly make a difference. Not necessarily a physical one, but the kind that matters, "You lived a humble life but you made our entire family and me in particular what I am." Regardless of what you or anyone else might think, everyone has the potential. It's just a matter of what we do with it. Do we live for ourselves or do we live for others or some mixture of the two. I think it's the last, and I think I'm zoning in on the balance. Keep us all in your prayers and stay tuned! I'll be here for 5 and a half more months!
Before I disseminate my life, here's important information:
To Mail Me Anything:
Benedictine Fathers Amani Conference Centre P.O. Box 32101-00600 Nairobi - Kenya
To Donate Anything To My Mission:
Write a check out to: The Southern Benedictine Society. Then write "BVC - Harris" in the comment section. Then mail it to:
Southern Benedictine Society 100 belmont mount holly road Belmont, NC 28012
OK. That was important. Now, what did I do this past week?!?!
Last Thursday and Friday, I just went into the daily grind teaching at St. Benedict's. St. Maurus was closed on Thursday afternoon through Friday for Hero's Day. I didn't know Kenya had heroes nor do I know who any of them are!
Saturday is where my fun started! I got invited by one the member's of the parish here to come and hangout with the high school youth on Saturday. We played a soccer tournament, sack races, volleyball, relays, etc. It was epic, and I got fried. As in sunburn. It was my first African sunburn! My team finished second. we had two draws in the soccer tournament that were killer. Then I went back to the crib for some refreshment, and, while I was there, the girls called and said the convent next door had some sisters driving to Karen and they were just about to leave. Now, I had planned on going to Karen on Sunday, but I couldn't pass up a free ride. So in about 3 minutes flat, I got my stuff together. Ran out to meet the van just in time. I'll tell you what. those sisters are so funny. I had a great time on the ride over to Karen. I learned 11 names that day! I can't quite put them to faces but I know the names!
On Sunday, I finally conceded and went to the giraffe center with the girls. It turned out to be a really small facility, but it was still pretty fun. We fed a few of the giraffes. They have wicked* long tongues, and they're really slobbery. They attendants also said that we had to be careful because sometimes the giraffes head butt people. That would have been pretty darn funny.
Monday, I went to Dagoretti with the girls. They spend their Mondays and Thursdays there. It was a really good time. Most of the morning was spent with the babies in the nursery. I've never really been known to be all about babies or anything, but man I had a good time with the little ones. We picked them up and just hung out and then later we fed them. Really cool experience. We spent the afternoon with the abandoned and orphaned children at the center. They were fun, but a couple of the kids were really annoying. I guess no parents isn't fun. Then we got taken to a multi-sensory room. Pretty cool. I basically got a massage from one of the workers there by way of one of those big exercise balls. That was different.
Tuesday, I brought the girls back with me to Nairobi in time to make it to Drawing at 11. I think the girls liked it. Then we spent a little time at P.E. where the kids jumped all over everybody and experimented with everyone's hair. It was pretty great. Then I took them on the long walk to the Mogra Rescue Center so that Miss Anne Trufant would kill Kate for not going to see it. We had a good time touring around it, and they gave us tea which was great. That night we watched Good Will Hunting. Kate hadn't see it in awhile and Caitlin had NEVER seen it. So of course we had to watch it.
Wednesday was a big day. I took the girls into Mathare. We went by St. Maurus school for the handicapped. The girls were a big hit with one of the Down syndrome kids named Joseph. He was hugging everyone like crazy. Then I took them to the Mogra Star Academy. They were so thrilled to have us that they gave us a full school tour. We stepped into like half the classes and the kids would sing us a song and then we'd introduce ourselves. It was pretty epic. Finally, I took the girls into The Street Children Project. Mike was working on the garden with Vinny and a couple of the boys. Then with the Mathare tour finished, I took the girls into downtown Nairobi to catch the matatu home, but not before we stopped at a burger joint where there was a buy one burger get one free deal going on. The girls split the deal. I had two burgers. Glorious! Then I went back to Amani and I passed oooouuuttt. Man that was a busy couple of days.
Today, we took it easy. Just a normal day at the office: Drawing and St. Maurus. Tomorrow I'm considering a similar schedule with possibly a quick trip next door to the convent at some point.
Extraneous thoughts:
Sister Lois at the convent is a very cool person. She lingers and she talks a lot, but she's so loving and if you give her words a chance they just might bring forward a sense of wisdom you were looking for. On Sunday night, she came into the guest house at the convent and sang us a song in Kiswahili. Then she explained the song to us, and it was a simple song about how one day we will find a place where no evil things can come. The song states that we may even look for those things, but they won't be there. It's a safe place surrounded in good. Most people like to think of heaven as up in the clouds with singing or a big friends and family gathering. I think it's possible to over think that stuff though. You start wondering about whether all your friends and family will be there or whether you'll actually enjoy sitting on your butt singing and playing the lute. In simple terms though, I'd like to think that heaven is just a simply good place. Not easy to over think. Just a good place. It's a calming thought.
Sorry for the lack of pictures this time around, my internet situation has changed. I'm working on a data plan now, so uploading pictures will take up too much data at the moment. I'm looking at strategies for later though. Don't worry! Remember donation details and mailing address are at the top! Stay Tuned!!!!
-Harris Moriarty
*denotes spending way too much time with Caitlin O'Malley
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Last episode Harris was found dancing around a campfire in the middle of an African jungle. When things didn't seem crazy enough, a lioness was stealthily stalking Harris as he made the dance of the gods. All of a sudden, Harris' friends showed up on a Tuk-Tuk in time to throw Harris a spear to thrust into the side of the mighty beast. He was then taken to a mental institution for throwing a fire poker into his daughter's cat.
Now back to where we left off!
On the Monday after Bondo, St. Benedict's was having an off week for midterms and mid-semester break. So I slept in the morning, and I went to St. Maurus. It was a good half day of work, and it was about this time I began thinking that the week would be the first routine week since I'd gotten to Nairobi. At dinner, however, I met a nice Australian guy name Nimal. He's going into the seminary, but he decided that he wanted to do a little mission work first. He bought a plane ticket to Kenya and somehow found the Amani Center. He had told me about at place somewhere around Mathare that he wanted to go, and I told him I would take him in the morning since I know Mathare pretty well by now. He also asked if I could charge his iPhone.
Tuesday morning hits pretty hard at 6am. Anyways, I met up with Nimal and we set off. Turns out, we were going to the Mother Theresa Center. I'd heard about it, but I hadn't gotten a chance to go yet. They invited us in, and we went to Mass. After Mass is where some new experiences showed up. They put me to work with the handicapped kids. I had to wash them. Rub down their whole bodies with vasoline. Clothe them. Feed them. And then finally clip their toenails. It was different than anything else I've done. I went to see the nursery which had 8 little babies. 3 of them had AIDS. Then I went to the Women's center. There's about 30 women who live there. They're either sick, elderly, or pregnant. All in all, it was a really cool and changing experience.
Wednesday and Thursday I went to St. Maurus and did my thing there.
Friday. I went to Karen. I was there until Monday morning. On Saturday we got to go to this big party held my the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya. Lots of cool speakers. It started raining though and I got soaked which was sad because I'd only brought the one pair of jeans. Made life a little interesting. The sisters at the convent are really great. They treat me super well, and they think I'm funny!
I came back on Monday in time to get a little Drawing action done at St. Benedict's and then I went to St. Maurus directly afterward. Eleanor, a lady staying at Amani, had given me a hand painted Memory game set for the St. Maurus kids. They love that game and they were thrilled. I was feeling charged up, and ready to go! The next day, I did a similar routine except that evening I went to FIFA game kenya vs. South Africa! Super epic. Kenya lost 2-1 on an own goal. It was depressing, but I have the one goal we scored on video here:
It was crazy exciting.
Today I went a little easier. I did St. Benedict's in the morning, and chilled in the afternoon. Gonna hit the ground running tomorrow.
Ok. Before I go though, everyone should know that if you are looking to donate this is what to do. Write a check to Belmont Abbey and write BVC - Harris(or someone else) - Name of center you're donating for(optional) in the comment part. Here's the Abbey's address:
Southern Benedictine Society
100 belmont mount holly road
Belmont, NC 28012
I hope everyone is doing well! Send me letters or something! I haven't gotten a single one yet!
Benedictine Fathers Amani Conference Centre P.O. Box 32101-00600 Nairobi - Kenya
GoodNESS! It’s been two weeks since my last post! I’m sorry
for the delay. Things have been moving and hustling over in these parts.
Points of Interest:
1)The teacher’s strike is over. All the kids at
Street Children finally went back to school! Out of the 118 kids there, only 15
didn’t make it to school this year. That’s OK, though! Some still need to be
rehabilitated and take a few tutoring sessions.
2)The nurses have started their strike! Yay! This
was apparently a big year for union deals with the government. They want a
raise, and they want fewer hours. Who doesn’t?
3)It’s starting to get hot. Average temperature is
up, up, and away. Gets down to the 50s and 60s at night, but spikes around 90
at midday.
4)I got my first fungal infection ever, and it’s
one that I didn’t even need to go to Africa for! I could have just wrestled in
high school. Anyways, I got ringworm, and I’m basically putting straight acid
on it. They call it Whitfield’s ointment. Supposedly, it’s the best.
Anyways, let’s give a quick summary of events.
Week of 9/24
We sent the kids to school on a variety of busses and
matatus as far as 400 kilometers away that week. Sad to see them go, but happy
that they’re gone gettin’ edumacated. I picked up a little more time at St.
Maurus. I’m hoping to start seeing them more and more. This upcoming week, I
don’t have work at St. Benedict’s, so I’ll get to go a few times. Street
Children is working on a shamba or a
garden. They have sikumawiki(lettuce), passion fruits, and all sorts of other stuff
growing there.
The end of the week was the best, though. On Saturday, the
girls came to visit from Karen, and we went out to the club! We had a group of
12 people go. It was ridiculous. Too many people to keep track of, but they all
got back home in the end. And that’s what matters! It was good to hang out with
my American friends even if one got food poisoning. They went back on Sunday,
and I went back to the flat. I think I took a nap. Maybe watched a movie or
something.
Week of 10/1
What a good week! Continued to get good hours at St. Maurus,
and I taught my drawing class a bunch of national flags. I must have repeated
the American flag a hundred times. They couldn’t get enough of it! On Thursday,
Henry and I went to St. Maurus early in the morning. We got to be present for a
few physical therapy sessions for the physically handicapped at the center. It
was a real sight to see. I’ve had to do some physical therapy in the past, and
I’ve help a few others do it as well. The stuff they have here, though, is so
rudimentary. For a lot of the kids, they strap them down to a table that stands
up to help them strengthen their leg muscles. It’s possible that it could work
eventually, but they only do it once, maybe twice a week. Most of these kids
need daily attention. Everything they do there is simply maintenance. I can’t
fix the world, however, so I just do what I can to help. Sometimes that’s
helping hold the kids down, or just playing football(soccer) out in street. I
don’t know if anyone has played soccer with these kids in years.
On Friday, I went to St. Benedict’s in the morning, but I
took the afternoon off because I knew I was going to have a long weekend. At
9pm Friday night, Tim, Mike, Henry, Dan(not the pirate), Vinny, Augus, and
myself boarded a bus. It was a small bus, and one of the most uncomfortable
experiences of my life. They seated three to the right, and two to the left. We
pulled out of the station around 10:15, and began the 8 hour journey to Bondo,
home of Dan the Pirate, Elder of the Luo. I wish we could have been traveling
in the day so I could have seen what was around me better. The moon was fairly
bright, and I could see mountains off in the distance. We arrived in “downtown”
Bondo around 6:30am after which we took a cab the last 20 minutes, away from civilization
and into the rolling hills of the “bush”. Dan the Pirate was there waiting for
us as we approached.
The occasion was the reburial of his mother. I’m not quite
sure if it was his blood mother though. From what I gathered they don’t put a
whole lot of stock in direct lineage. If you’re part of the tribe then you are
a son/daughter to everyone in the generation above you and a father/mother to
everyone below. Dan explained to me that they have no words for Aunt and Uncle
in the tribal tongue of Luo. Luo is the third largest of 47 tribes in Kenya.
They can be classified into three different kinds. One of the kinds is Bantu,
based in Sudan they have an Arabic background. The other two I can’t remember
the names of, but one comes out of central Africa and the other from Germanic
tribes from which arose the Luo. Dan is between the ages of 35 and 39. No one
can confirm his birth date, and he has heard many different possibilities. He
is the youngest of 17, and the youngest of 5 of his blood mother. His older
brother runs the farm. They have goats, cattle, and a slew of different crops.
He is an Elder of the tribe because, although his young, he is from a specific
generation that allows him special privileges. For instance, he never has to
prepare his own food. People just bring it to him. It’s pretty cool.
The ceremony itself was very short. This guy played a funny
instrument, and everyone sat around. I think in the past they actually dug up
the body, and then they would put it back in. Apparently, western influence
knows no bounds. Regardless, the party afterwards is what is ridiculous. It is
hours and hours and hours aaaaand hours. We started at noon and went until 3am.
Tons of alcohol. Almost all of it was home brewed. They had millet based beer
and local vodka that seemed a relative of the moonshine from the Dukes of
Hazzard. I thought I might go blind. The only thing that compared to that was
the slaughtering of the goats. Let me say this clearly, none of the goat is
wasted. Not one bit. I was all but forced to try this dish called ajuri. It is basically the stomach cut
up into little pieces, and then they were mixed in with a “green sauce” from
the… lower intestine, and then it was further mixed with about a liter of its
blood. I tried it. Tasted good. Don’t think I’ll go back.
They turned on the speakers at 9 and they were on until
three. I spent most of my time hanging out by the campfire. There is nothing
like sitting by a fire and looking up in the night and seeing millions of
stars. Not to mention a beer in my right hand.
Lots of time to think out in the wilderness.
We got up on Sunday morning and had a late breakfast. We
took two motorcycles, one tuk-tuk, and a matatu and went to Kisumu. It’s the
third largest city in Kenya under Mombasa and Nairobi. It’s right on Lake
Victoria. It’s a beautiful city, and the parts not next to the water are
surrounded by large hills with massive boulders on top. Pretty cool. We ate
some fish and chicken outside the bus station. Then we boarded the night bus
back to Nairobi. This bus was more comfortable in nature. Only two to the right
and left. We dropped into Nairobi at
4:30 in the morning, and I was in bed by 5:30.
Kenya is very interesting. Sitting by the fire in the middle
of nowhere under endless stars is a pretty good place to ponder that thought.
My first thought was of my friend Danny back home. Getting married in November.
Wish I could go. Started thinking about other friends and family. Thought about
skyping my Mom the other day, and I realized I had a ridiculous trash ‘stache
going when I did that haha! I’ve never been homesick, so I don’t know what it
feels like. I thought maybe I was getting homesick! I’ve seen homesickness
before though, and I don’t think I have the symptoms. I think it’s just a
realization that I’ve spent a lot time garnering investment in myself from a
lot of other people. Well I suppose it goes both ways! It seems I’ve invested
myself in so many people that I just have a lot of thoughts about how
everyone’s doing! I got friends raising kids, getting married, graduating
college/high school, and so much more. In Kenya, those basic activities all
happen but under such duress. There are so many generations of people that have
grown up in Mathare that they don’t even know what to do with themselves! Most
of the teenagers sit around in alleys drinking illegal booze, smoking
cigarettes, and when they go home they have sex with everyone they can. They
live in squalor and disease, and there isn’t much to change them. Everyone here
is bound by two masters: Catholicism and their tribal culture. It’s almost
impossible to appease both. So most give up and forsake them both. There’s
corruption everywhere, and even the people who say they want to help just take
the rug out. St. Benedict’s primary school was given enough money to build a 3
story and a 4 stream school. It is now a one story school with 1 stream. Now
the school struggles to hire enough good teachers and field enough students.
I’m not sure what to make of it all. I know that all seems a
little negative, but it’s just a learning thing. I’m still trying to fit in
here. I’m different from Henry, Tim , and Mike as of course all people are, but
somehow I’m missing some sort of connecting membrane with them. We play
cribbage and go get beers in the evening, and we talk about movies and past
experiences at meal times. I’m just not quite sure that I am on the same page
as they are. Something is off. So, I’m left here with my thoughts, my movies,
and my fantasy football team. Still just trying to make sense of it all. I’m
left with the song by David Cook called “Come Back to Me”. In the song there is
a line that goes, “When you find you, come back to me.” For some reason that
line and that song have always plucked at the strings of my soul. Is it because
subliminally someone is calling me back? Do I want someone to call me back? Is
there a friend? Or a girl? Or maybe God? I don’t know. There’s a realm of
questioning around my brain. I want the answer, but how can I find the answer
without a question? I could so easily say the answer is 42 or blue! I don’t
know! What do I even look for? Where do I begin?
I figured out how to put some books on my computer, so I’m
staying educated! I’m following the presidential debates even though they don’t
hold a candle to Lincoln-Douglas. Where are all the good speakers who also have
great ideas? Seems we only get one or the other. Leaders with no direction.
Thinkers with no guts. And then I go to St. Maurus to see kids who can barely
talk or even move sometimes, and they just want to come up next to me. They put
their faces on my arm and close their eyes while forming a smile with their
lips. They’ll sit like that for an hour if I let them. Doc Holliday said, “Apparently,
my hyposcrisy knows no bounds.” It’s a great line. A man haunted by evil
motives always found solace in his friend and as he stuck by his friend he gets
lucky enough to find reconciliation in the end. All my mental, spiritual, and
physical failings haunt my waking day, but even so I still get to be a part of
making one person’s life better or if even not that maybe just… maintainable.
I guess this is just a dumping ground for thoughts. I’ve
figured out that blogs are pretty good for that. All I know is that my actions
are being directed by a higher power. I’m doing my best to continue allowing
that to occur. Maybe down the road it’ll pay off for myself or someone else. I’ll
leave you with a quote from Venerable Solanus Casey. He was a simplex priest of
the Capuchin Order. Friggin’ great guy:
“God condescends to use our powers if we don’t spoil His
plans by ours.”
