The mornings keep coming faster and faster. I don't know how much sleep I got last night, but I'm fairly confident that it wasn't enough. Today we're leaving at the same time, 7:30am. This time, however, we've got some heavier packs. We'll be doing some digging at the site, but Andrea's been working on a project for the last several weeks and it's all coming together today at the school.
She spoke with Karen at St. John Fisher School of Nursing, who's been talking with Job at Mbaka Oromo. From this point out I'll just speak plainly. When girls are in school and have their periods, they are forced to stay home until it is over. Having conversations with your parent about this sort of thing is virtually unheard of here, and it is really unfortunate. Anyway, Andrea does some investigating and finds a company that makes reuseable pads! She then orders a couple hundred based on the number of girls we'll be talking to today. That's the bag that I'm carrying. The day before we brought up another duffle bags filled with disposeable pads as well as a bag filled with underwear. This was going to be a big deal for these girls, and we asked our friend Noel Shinali to help us when the time came to talk to the students. But for now, let's get back to the walk.
It was a day identical to yesterday. Cooler in the morning, but it would soon start to get hot. We were going to be spending the entire day at Mbaka Oromo, so everyone carried extra water, too. Conversations continued as we walked through the university grounds and beyond. The groups continued to change as well, as people would drop back or speed up. The youngsters continued to walk ahead of most of us, and waited at the turns.
Andrea and I were walking in the back, just behind Nancy and Dave when we met a man called William Odhiambo. He knew me, but I didn't know him. "Mr Adams" he called me, but it sounded like "Meestah Ahdahms." He thanked us for the work at the school and told us how Jim changed the lives of him, and more importantly, his children. He had one in university, one in Chulembo Secondary School, and two still at Mbaka Oromo. We called Nancy over so they could meet. He was very appreciative for the meeting. He continued to walk with us while pushing a makeshift cart. "Thanks to Jemo, my boys will help me get rid of this," he'd say, motioningh to the cart... a toothfilled smile across his face the entire time. Eventually he said goodbye and went left at a fork that we took right. The kids were waiting for us around the next bend. It gave us a chance to rest and grab a quick drink of water before we continued on. We were a little more than 1/2 way there, and the sun was rising quickly. We pushed on and before we knew it, we arrived at the school once again. The bell rang as we came over the crest of the hill, and students came pouring out of classrooms - most girls dressed in their blue and yellow dresses, the boys in kakhi shorts and white shirts. they ran through the courtyard to greet us. We sat and talked with them, and Andrea and Karen searched for Susan, Emmah and Danton. They found them once again, and long hugs followed their happy, hellos.
We dropped our packs at the administration block and met all the teachers. The headmaster, William Kabbis, was ill, so the second in command was running the show. Although best known as the choir director, Charles Odiero was up for the task. He called for an assembly where the students sung songs and clapped. Those who had never seen this before were amazed at the beauty of their voices and the exhuberance of their clapping. It's always pretty neat to hear them, so we enjoyed it too. Charles then talked about the visitors for a while, then asked me to say a few words. I picked up a small boy as I walked to the center of the courtyard. He buried his head under my chin and it was quite a while before he picked it up again. I spoke to the children for a little bit - it was never my strong suit - this is what Jim was very good at. I would normally sit off to the side. I finished speaking, and as I walked back toward the admin block, Charles asked me to introduce everyone. It caught me a bit off guard, but I obliged as best I could. Charles then added some more, before releasing the children to their teachers.
Noel had arrived by now, and we spoke with her about the best place to talk to the girls and dispense the materials. It went great! The girls were very receptive. Noel, Andrea, Katie, Karen, Nancy and Sue made a huge difference in the lives of these young women. The questions they asked were appropriate and interesting, and they left each session smiling. At one point, I walked into the classroom as a group of girls were leaving. The underwear and pads were laid out on table by size to make them easier to hand out. The ladies were smiling. Andrea said, "We didn't consider sizes of underwear when we asked for donations." At that point, she turned toward Karen who was holding an enourmous pair in the air. Everyone giggled, including Job. Karen kept telling him that those were for him. Two sessions later, all of the reusable kits were gone. There were some disposable pads left over, and Caleb will hold them at the library for when someone needs them. What a wonderful things these ladies just did! I was very happy for Andrea for getting so much together in such a short amount of time... she wasn't sure how it was going to work, but after it was all done, the result was clearly visible on the girls faces. "We need more supplies for the girls at the secondary school," she said, disappointed that she couldn't accomodate everyone. "We'll have to make sure that Karen and the nurses bring more when they return in April," she continued. And they will.
While those sessions were going on, many of us went to the duplex site and dug out as much of the earth as we could before being exhausted. The sun was peaking, and the heat was unrelenting as we tried to dig at sandsone with makeshift hoes and shovels. Some would take the wheelbarrows and dump the read earth into a ditch, while others kept filling the same wehelbarrows. It was nice to see that everyone wanted to do something to make a difference. Even the committee members joined in. That was something I had never seen before! Everyone was laughing the entire time.
The clinic committee had prepared lunch for us, much to the dismay of the primary school. There is some politcal squabbling going on between the committees for the clinic and the schools. William was once part of the clinic committee but since his departure, tensions have grown. We worked our way through it and went to the secodnary school for lunch. Kuku (chikcen), ugali, beans, rice, pumpkin (watermelon)... everyone ate and talked as we sat around the tables.
Afterward, we went back to play with the children and sit in the shade before beginning our walk back to the Guest House. Children were climbing trees and swinging from branches. DJ and Katie tried climbing with them, but that didn't last long. Richie is an absolute hit! He's acting like he's been coming to this country for years! And he even speaks Kiswahili with a Boston accent... if you can imagine that.
We spent all day at the school grounds, so we decided to call ahead to the Guest House and have Betti and Rhoda make us dinner again. It prevented us from having to venture out later on, and we knew that everyone would be pretty tired.
The walk home was full of conversation despite the long day, and even though we got back relatively early, I don't think anyone went to sleep right away. Tomorrow's another day, with an extra 6 miles... we'll be visiting Agolo Primary School after stopping to see Mbaka Oromo again. See you tomorrow.
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