Fried Chickenfish and Ugali

I'm going to put pictures up later. Check out the slideshow!

Some administrative business:

1)      Expectancy of blogs – Here’s my plan as of the moment. I think I’m going to give summary updates of my stay on weekends. Posts during the week will be at random and on specifics topics I feel inclined to write about.

2)      Public to the world – This blog is for anyone and everyone who wants look at it, so feel free to tell people about it. Some asked if that was Ok. It’s definitely Ok.

3)      Follow the blog using the tool on the right that keeps track of followers. It lets me know who’s following, and it makes me feel good. Haha

4)   I have and address now! 

           Benedictine Fathers

     Amani Conference Centre
     P.O. Box 32101-00600

     Nairobi - Kenya

Anyways!

This week was pretty…. African. Let’s start at the beginning!

Monday

We went to Street Children for this first time. My new friend Augustine went through the system there growing up in the slum. He then went to high school and provincial college. He’s 23, a ton of fun, and he’s really giving back to his town. He’s basically volunteering at the center because they don’t have any money. They give him a small monthly stipend, and he keeps an apt in the slum to save money. He’s pretty awesome. He walked us from the Amani Centre, down the highway, into the slum of Mathare all the way into Mathare 3(there are four sections going deeper in). For the first couple of times in, we have to walk with someone who works there so that we have a connection. We got to the centre, and the slum name for it is “Mododo”. There were kids everywhere, and they all personally gave us tours of the whole place. It is four stories tall with a patio and a garden. The whole plot is about the size of both volleyball courts next to each other in the Belmont Abbey Quad. We got to know the kids, and we ate lunch with them. Then Augustine walked us back to the edge of the slum, and we went the rest of the way thinking our day was done. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong. I had gone to take a nap, and around 4:30 there’s a banging at my door. I open it to see Augustine dressed for soccer and insistent that we all go play.

I haven’t played soccer for more than about 10 minutes in roughly 13 years when I was ten playing in a U12 league because I hadn’t signed up on time and I broke my foot and never really looked back.

I attempted to explain this, but I was dragged outside regardless. There’s a big field about 3 minutes away and everyone uses it for everything. That night though we were playing soccer on it. I felt pretty out of place, but in the end it worked out. Tim and I were strikers and we were up 1-0. I fought for the ball at one point and made a pass to Tim in front of the goal and he scored! We looked like idiots jumping up and down so excited about the goal. Everyone else just kind of looked at us and laughed, but it turned into a really fun evening.

Tuesday

We went to meet the Street Children kids at the same field at 9:30, but they never showed! So then we went back to Amani, and sat around all day. Africa time. Ugh.

Wednesday

We met someone that morning named Br. Augustine who is a monk here. The monks here are surprisingly secretive and we don’t see them very often. There is one other monk here that has still evaded my view. Regardless, Br. Augustine was talking about all the different ministries going on with Amani that we had no idea about! Then Augustine(yes there are two Augustines and also three Vincents) came and picked us up. We went to Street Children and told them about the other ministries and they were very confused. So then we were confused. Anyways, I took my confusion and put it aside while I worked on the garden. It’s actually a very nice and well-built garden, but no one tills or tends it! We had to go through and open up the trenches so that there was no more standing water. Then what comes next is really crazy.

We walked back through Mathare on our own and nobody died. Whoa. Augustine says we are already Kenyans haha

We came back and chilled for a bit. I finally got to Skype with Fr. Chris and hear his wonderful words of wisdom. Then we went to dinner and met with Br. Augustine and Dan from Street Children and worked everything out! So in celebration and jubilee, Brother Felix took Tim, Henry, and me to a local pub and we had beers. I like beer, and I had missed it. Also it is crazy cheap over here. I bought a 16oz Guinness for 140 Kenyan Shillings. 81 shillings to the dollar. You do that math.

Thursday

Thursday was awesome. Kids came to play soccer that day. We played around with the kids for about an hour before Dan came and asked if Henry and I wanted to go to Tugoni. We said yes. Tugoni is sort of the father monastery to Amani. They pretty much fund everything. It’s up in the mountain range and about 20 degrees colder. So we drove there. Gosh driving is crazy here! But as crazy as it is, I can honestly say and recognize that people here are better drivers. Everyone has a much better sense of how big their cars are and where they can go. Very cool to watch. Anyways I only met one monk while we were there, Br. Caleb Wenceslas, because the Germans were there. O_o

So we left there and went back a different way to stop by a mall. This mall was a little piece of America. Minus the security guards that scan you before you walk in Haha I got a big fat juicy American burger. It was the best. Then we drove by the embassies so that we had an idea as to where they were. Then I came back and found that Amani was putting us in a little flat behind the monastery, out of the individual dorm rooms we had been staying in. I’ll give you all a tour later.

Friday

We went to Street Children. Spent all morning tilling the garden, and then we spent all afternoon playing games with the kids. On our way back, Vincent took us by a store where liquor was very cheap. So we got some and went back to flat with Vincent and Augustine and celebrated “Member’s Day”. Basically, you just have a chill hang out sesh at the end of the week drinking and playing cards. They have no concept of Poker here by the way. They asked if we wanted to play poker and we all said heck yea! Then they started explaining the game and we all realized it was UNO with playing cards hahaha It was a nice night.

Saturday(Today)

I woke up with a stopped up nose, but it’s all good. I’m gonna go to downtown Nairobi and then find a matatu to the girls and hang with them for the afternoon. It’s going to be an adventure!

Conclusion

All in all, it’s been a full week. Ups and downs, rights and lefts. It’s going very well though. I’m excited about the next two weeks. One more volunteer from St. John’s is coming, Mike something. And the week after that a German is coming, I think. But also schools open on Monday and that is going to bring a lot of good volunteer business to us. It’s gonna be awesome!

-Harris