July 19 2007 

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m basically a hit in Kenya. Everyone at the house has discovered that I speak some Swahili and has been trying to communicate with me in it ever since. I usually stumble along and come up with simple sentences, but they absolutely love it. I think just the fact that a Muzungu knows any Swahili, much less took a class of it, is amazing to them.

Today we went to their newest project which is the beginning of a children’s home and orphanage. They already have an established orphanage that is across town that we’ll see tomorrow, but they have so many kids they needed another one. When we got there we did a mini-interview to get information on how they get funding, how they choose their kids, etc. for our VOLSET kids. Then all the kids came and sang for us, Erin and I taught them songs like the Hokey Pokey and Simama-Ka! (Stand-Sit!), and Festus taught them some church songs in Swahili and we played with them until lunch time. Then we all ate together (they feed their kids really well-rice, beans, and cabbage. It might not sound amazing, but it is great compared to posho and beans which is the Ugandan standard for every meal of the week).

me at the 2nd orphanage we visited in Kisii. I'm teaching the kids a song called Simama! Kaa! which is Stand! Sit! in Swahili (it's a freaking workout let me tell you)

Afterwards we went on a walk to go see two of the kid’s houses. One raised rabbits with his brother for money, and the other raised and sold fish. They boy with fish was amazing because the “pond” was just a 30 foot hole in the ground with 2 foot diameter, and about 4 feet of water in the bottom. The boy climbed down and caught a small fish with a mosquito net and then climbed out to show us - I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

After that we headed to downtown Kisii and used the internet really quick, and then went to this really big supermarket that was like the African version of Fred Meyers called Nakumatt (they have them all over in Kenya apparently). It even had ice cream sandwiches and cookies (we got both :) Then we walked back to the house which was quite a hike. There was a huge farmers market on both sides of the road and taxis coming and going. I got to use my Swahili a little but by telling vendors “Sitaki sukari/machungwa-I don’t want the sugar/oranges” and telling the taxi drivers “Tunakwenda kwa miguu!-we are going by foot!”

We went to Vincent’s home (a young man who works at the children’s home) for dinner. Unlike the Pastor’s place, his entire family (him, his wife, and his three young daughters) all lived in a one roomed house that was no bigger than my dorm room. Everything they owned, all their possessions were crammed into the small space. They had a couch, two chairs, and one bed. I have no idea how they do it, but it is really common for people to live in such small quarters. The food was good. Everyone here is so nice to us. They offer everything they have-even though it is so little, without a second thought. It is really refreshing and humbling all at the same time.