New Experiences, New Lessons

Now that I feel like I have gotten more settled in Nairobi the weeks have been flying by! I can`t believe that it has been almost 4 weeks since I left home.  I wish I could say I miss home, but I don`t.  Maybe the people in it, but I feel assured that everyone will still be there when I get back :)

The last few weeks I have spent doing my placement in Kibera, going to different families to see how they are doing and handing out flour and beans.  Since that is only twice a week, I am tagging along with another volunteer to his orphanage & school placement where we help teach class and then run around like crazy people at break time in a small court yard with far to many children.  Their winter break is starting at the end of this week so  the number of children at the school will be cut dramatically, so there will be a little less chaos. 

This last weekend I went on an excursion with 10 other volunteers and 4 kenyans to various areas outside Nairobi.  We first visited the KCC slums and the school there that was started a number of years ago by a volunteer much like myself.  He`s done some amazing work in the community and you can really see how these children`s lives have been improved from education.  After that we rode bikes through Hell`s Gate which is a National Park that is the inspiration for the gorge where Mufasa was killed in the Lion King, and has THE Pride Rock, I touched it, no big deal.  We also went for an amazing hike with the most beautiful surroundings.  Kenya is so lush and green, it was amazing to see, pictures truly don`t do it justice. 

The next day we took off early to an IDP camp to see how many people have been living their lives since 2008 after being displaced from their homes due to election violence.  These tents were meant to be very temporary, but have been forced to last much longer than intended due to various circumstances.  It was heart-breaking to hear the stories of some of the people living in the camp.  These are people who had it all before; a home, a job and a family. Some or all of these things were taken away from them because of the post election violence.

To open our eyes further, we were then taken to the garbage slum, which is exactly as it sounds. Small shacks built on piles of garbage that keep getting larger as this slum is on a garbage dump site.  This slum was much different from my experiences in Kibera.  It`s hard to put into words the feelings I had as I saw these people and the conditions they live in.  The women are the backbone of the community, making and selling various crafts to support their families.  While some of the men work in the near-by town, some or all of the money is spent on home-made alcohol which often leads to further issues within the slum.  Watching the women line up to recieve clothing from the volunteers was a confirmation to me that i have way to many clothes at home and could afford to thin out my closet.  You could tell by what the women were wearing that they take whatever they can get from donations and make due.  The hardest part for me came when the volunteers were to hand out cookies to the children.  At first the children lined up in a proper line and took their two cookies each and ate them.  But then we had leftovers, and when they realized, the volunteers and I were swarmed, jumped on and grabbed by the children trying to get whatever they could from us.  Their desperation broke my heart and I can`t even image what their lives have been like to bring them to behave like that for a single cookie.

These experiences are teaching me more about the world than I ever would have learned in a classroom.  I am hoping to continue to learn more about this country, what it has to offer and what I have to offer it.  I haven`t spent any of the fundraisied money yet because I want to ensure that it is going to the right place, and will do more conintuous good, rather than a quick fix.  One of the volunteers and I have talked about building a community chicken coop at the IDP camp and buyin swine at the garbage slum as chickens and goats don`t live very well among the  garbage, but I will keep you posted!

This weekend I will be taking a more touristy tour and go on a three day safari, hoping to see the big five! Can`t wait to report back.