Tuesday, February 21, 2012

We started today by heading over to the equator.  The Lions Club has a monument on the equator where every white face in the area has their picture taken.  This group was no exception.  It's about 400 yards from the guest house, and I can only imagine what people were saying as 13 wzungu were walking single file, north on Busia Road.  Here is the fruit of the first part of today's labor.

We then continued on to Mbaka Oromo.  The walk was once again led by the youngsters.  DJ, Holly, Ryan, Katie, Karen and Richie spent most of the time ahead of the pack.  Ryan continued to say "Habari" to everyone we saw. Women working in the fields, men walking their cattle... it didn't matter.  He would say it so frequently, that everyone would eventually join in.  You couldn't help but enjoy watching him speak Kiswahili with such exuberance.  He was smiling more than the Kenyans were.  I actually think that Ryan even said, "Hello" to the monkeys we passed.  I think this is the only picture of a primate that I had...
 

 We picked up more stragglers today... children that would join us on our walk as they themselves were walking to school.  David found one girl in particular who was rather brave and enjoyed spending some time with him.  Others simply ran to the road and stopped for a picture.  Nancy stopped several times to give a stranger a t-shirt... it was usually a woman plowing a field by hand.  The smiles on both their faces during their brief encounters told the entire story.

  

We arrived at the school and dropped off our packs again.  Some headed for the constructions site, while others stayed with the children who were entering and exiting classrooms based on the bell that was rung.  It had grown more relaxed today, both with the visitors and the students.  Amie divided her time between teaching in classrooms and playing with children.  And Flat Stanley made many appearances! (Thank you Andrea for reminding me)

 

 

Ryan, Holly, Richie, Andrea, Katie, Karen, and DJ returned to the hill for more digging.  Meanwhile, John and Dave took a rest in the shade of the clinic and talked history.  As I returned to the hill, I think I heard one of them say "Mesopotamia."  That certainly would have been my cue to vacate... I was way out of my league.

 


We once again sat and talked with the committee who was later in great need of a group picture.  That was a common theme, because the primary school teachers wanted one, too.

 

We had a quick soda and snack with the clinic committee members before we began to say our goodbyes.  John and Dave began referring to themselves as "the old chickens" in the group... a moniker that I believe will stick.
  

 



 
We then headed for Agulu Primary School.  It's about 3 miles away, and it was so hot that we couldn't tell if the sun was at it's highest... or we were walking on it.  Yeah, that's hot.  Our packs were still full because the majority of supplies we brought today was for Agulu.  Samuel and Job came with us to ensure we made no wrong turns.



The walk took us down into a refine by a stream, then up the other side.  We climbed the opposite bank, and then we continued to climb... it wasn't a mountain, just a steep hill.  It just felt like a mountain.

We ran into William again just before we reached the school.  He was happy to see us again after saying goodbye to us the day before on the path.  We then turned the corner and arrived at Agulu.  Job had told us that another organization was helping them build, and sure enough, construction was going on.  They had torn down the animal pens that the children were learning in and were building a brand new 2 classroom block.  There were some makeshift rooms (more like large lean-tos) that some of the younger children were using as rooms while these were being built.  Interestingly enough, these lean-tos were better than the old rooms.  The headmistress came to greet us, as did many of the children.  This provided a chance for us to sit and relax for a moment.  We were still 5 miles from the guest house (although I don't think anyone realized it at the time).  They brought out chairs so we could sit in the shade of a large tree in the center of their courtyard.  They also brought us sodas to wet our throats.






We were invited into the mud and dung classrooms where we spoke briefly with the students.

So much dung had been place on the floor that the walls were barely 5' high.  Still, everyone was full of smiles.  We brought them books, pens, pencils, crayons, markers, pencil sharpeners and a much needed Kenyan flag.

After a tour of the construction and the grounds, we started the last leg of our journey back to the Guest House.  Job stopped halfway, but Samuel continued with us right to the Maseno University Gate.  He kept us moving briskly despite an occasional rest.

We dropped our packs off and headed back across the street to the Green Park Hotel (restaurant).  They've got great chicken, and the foods always good.  Little did I know that the service had slowed greatly since Kevin and I were here last.  The clientele changed a bit, too.  We all ordered something cold to drink while we waited for our meals.  It was a long wait that was interrupted by a fight at the next table - intoxicated college students who were eventually asked to leave, and a visit from Nancy Erot.  We hadn't seen her on previous travels past her beauty shop (that Jim half-owned).  I think she expected me to jump into her arms and say hello, but instead, I walked her away from the balcony where we were sitting and moved her away from the group and into the interior room.  We talked about nothing, keeping the conversation pretty superficial.  Before long I was back with the group.  Andrea and Nancy were pleased that I got her away from the table.

Just before we gave up hope on getting served our meals (it was close to 8:30pm), out they came.  We all made quick work of them and proceeded out of the restaurant and back across the street.  It was time to pack our bags for the next day.  An 8am flight to Nairobi, followed by a 40 minute flight to Keekorok (Masai Mara).  I informed Job that we needed to leave by 6:45, so everyone knew the plan.  The best laid plans of mice and men, were never made in Kenya.

Monday, February 20th

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.