LIving the african life...

So i had a post all ready to put up but I can't post it so this will be short but hopefully I can get to better internet sometime this week.

We didn't go to Mombasa this weekend. OUr plans didn't quite work out but we're hoping to go in a couple weeks.

I love my homestay! They are wonderful people. So kind, generous, and funny. We spend the evenings in the kitchen together waiting for the food to cook and just talking and laughing. It's my favorite part of the of the day.

I'm truly living the African life. No running water (we have water it just doesn't pump into our house. No refrigerator, stove top, oven, microwave, or tv. But it's fun. There have been days this last week that I really wished for a hot shower or regular flushing toilet but honestly I'm loving living where I am with the people I'm with.

The internship is also going well. It's challenging. I love the kids. It's impossible not too. Sidai just faces a lot of financial struggles. Like last week we didn't have enough money for food. We got the money but Sidai really needs consistent donors. We almost have a website up so I'll be sure to past that along to you all.

I hope you all are doing well. I miss you all and think about you often!

Birthday Post

Happy Birthday to me!

I remember telling Atara last week that all I wanted for my birthday was a homestay and an internship and amazingly I got that and much more.

So here’s the run down:

Internship: A week and half ago, I just started searching the internet for children’s homes in the area where Atara lives. My plan was to set out and locate one of the organizations and ask them if I could work there. I ran the list past Atara’s host mom Nkita and she actually recognized one of the homes( it‘s associated with her church). She was kind enough to take us out last Sunday night and show us where it was. So last Monday Atara and I set out to visit the home. The organization is Sidai Children Rehabilitation Centre and it’s in Ngong. The center is right next door to a large slum area. Sidai provides food, clothing, education, and shelter to children that would otherwise be on the streets. Not all of the children are orphans. Many of children have parents they see, but the parents can not afford to feed, house or educate them.

I still have a lot to learn about Sidai. I’m going to be helping teach the kids (and there‘s few other things I‘ll probably help out with). There are four classes at Sidia. When I visited last week I helped with what they call the baby class which is 2 to 5 year olds. There’s a lot of challenges teaching and working at Sidai. These are at risk kids and most of them are extremely behind. One six year old little boy I was working with can’t recognize his numbers or letters at all. It doesn’t help that my Swahili is horrible. It’s going to take some creativity and work to teach these kids, but I can already tell I’m going to love working there. I start officially Tuesday.
Homestay: Lucy is the founder and mama of Sidai. She started the home in 2000. She has three grown children who help run Sidai. I’m going to be living with her daughter Milka. Milka and her husband David have two boys, a 10 year old and a 9 month old. Eric, the baby is so cute! The family is great and Milka is so kind and funny. I’m excited to be living there. Their house is really close to Sidai which is nice. The only thing is, it’s a top this huge hill! I’ll be fit for sure after three months of walking that hill everyday. I move in tomorrow!
Birthday: My birthday has been great. It’s been a whole weekend thing. Atara and her family are incredibly kind and generous and I’m so lucky to have them. On Friday Sue took us to get our nails done. A pedicure and manicure. It was amazing. My feet were definitely disgusting, but now they are beautiful. Well, see how long that last!

Friday night we went out on the town with a Atara’s host brother and his friends. It was a lot of fun.

Today we went to church and came home and had a great lunch. After lunch Atara and her parents surprised me with chocolate cake! It was so good. And Atara’s dad brought me plain chocolate m+m’s from South Africa! He was there last week for a pastor conference.
Looking forward to…
I’m excited to finally have a sense of purpose and be busy! The last month gone by so quick and I’ve barely done anything so I know the next few months will go by super fast.

On Thursday Atara, and I are going to Mombasa! For four days of beach and sun. There’s a lady from Atara’s church that has a beautiful house that she is going to let us stay in. I’m super
excited to see the coast and the beach. I'm not looking forward to Atara leaving in a month though. I will miss her so much.

So that’s my life. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update before we leave but there will definitely be an update next week.

Things are coming together!

I have much to say but I'm in an internet cafe with the slowest internet ever. And the loudest music ever as well.


I will be brief but I have really good news! I found an internship today. I'll be working at a children's home in Ngong. I'm really excited about it, because there are so many oppertunities there. They are still in the beginning stages of substaining and establishing thier home so it will be exciting to be apart of it.

I'm meeting with a possible homestay today. As far as I know it's going to work out and it's also in Ngong so hopefully close to my internship.

Everything just came together today! I've been praying so much and the Lord is so faithful!

Funny Story: I was in a car accident yesterday. I'm fine, just hit my leg hard on the seat. Atara and I were taking a matatu home and seriously the driving here is some of the craziest I've seen. I didn't see exactly how it happened as I was sitting in the back, but I think we were trying to pass a car and didn't make it back into our lane fast enough and an on coming car hit the front side of our matatu. Luckily, we were putting close to home so we walked the rest if the way. I'm told these type of accidents are not uncommon and often worse and I believe it. Thankfully Atara and I are fine!

I don't think I'll have internet this week. But next sunday is my birthday and we're going to Atara's dad's house to use the internet, so if you have skype be sure to be on Sunday morning! And I'll post sunday a more detailed update!

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers!

Small Victories

Thanks for hanging in there these past couple of weeks.

(warning: this post is a bit random and probably not written very well)

I still don’t have a homestay but soon hopefully. And an internship soon! I hope (life here involves a lot of waiting). I’m starting to find the humor in this situation. I do, however, have a working ipod! And they fixed it for free. I have no idea what was wrong with it, but they gave back to me working and said I didn’t have to pay anything.

It’s all about small victories here. So I take what I can get.

I’m still staying with Atara’s homestay. Atara lives with a woman named Nikta who has five grown children. Atara’s grandparents were missionaries in the Congo and Nikta actually met them as a girl and Nikta ended up moving to Kenya as an adult. Basically Atara’s family has known Nikta forever. Anyway, her house is nice. Atara has an extra bed in her room so that’s where I’ve been staying. Nikta has been so kind to me and shown such great hospitality. I’m so thankful to her.

So Atara’s house is half between Karen and Ngong. Karen is a suuburb of Nairobi and it’s where a lot of white people live, which surprised me a little. There are many nice houses and a few shopping centers. It reminds me a lot of South Africa. Outside of the mzungus(white people) meeting places I stick out quite a bit. I get a lot of attention.

The weather has been kinda random. It’s been cold and muggy the past couple of weeks. It usually warms up by the afternoon. Then there are days like today where it’s gorgeous outside and so warm. But we want rain! Nairobi and probably much of Kenya is in the middle of a drought. It’s estimated that Nairobi will run out of water in five years.

Kenya has no plain m+m’s (my absolute favorite candy) and there are no McDonalds! Imagine that and you thought Mcdonalds were everywhere. Well of course Mcdonalds and all those other global fast food places wanted to come to Nairobi, but Kenya wanted them to use their products. as opposed to importing thier products. Mcdonalds and the other guys didn’t like that so no Mcdonalds. They do have this chicken place which I’ve heard is the closest thing to fast food. I have yet to try it, but I’ve heard it’s good.

Like South Africa they are rationing power here. We don’t have power til 6 on Tuesday, Thursday and then 1pm of Saturday. So that’s something to get used to. It definitely influences how you plan your day.

I have yet to get sick so that’s another small victory!


Life has been slow these past couple of weeks. Without an internship my days are spent reading, walking or taking small outings (Atara is gone at her internship). I can get around by myself now so that helps a little. The lack of busyness has caused me to think of home quite bit which has led to quite a bit of homesickness. But i think once things start happening, I'll be alright.


If you want to know anything else just ask!


I'm going to try to share some pictures. The internet is not so great.

An upbeat update

Hello!

So I just wanted to update all of you. Things seem to looking up. I have two promising leads on homestays so I'm hopefully that one of them will work out. I should be in a homestay but this coming weekend. (I hope!) Both seem llike good locations. So keep your fingers crossed and keep praying!

I took my ipod to an Apple store. We ran into one yesterday. So they are going to check it out and see what's wrong with the dang thing. (maybe even fix it?!)

Still working on the internship. I have a few places I need to call.

Today has been a good day and I'm feeling better about being here. I usually don't experience a lot of homesickness but the last week and a half has been really hard.

But I feel it getting better, especially as things work out.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers! it really does mean so much to me. I have to run. I'm in an internet cafe.

A real post will be coming soon!

-J

bumps in the road

Hello!

I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to post again. So it's been a week and a half. Have I really only been in this country 10 days? I’ve been contemplating how on earth I fill you about this week, and I’ve decided that there is simply too much, but I’ll try my best.

I over came my jet lag a couple days ago. After all that travel and then a few days of waking up at 3am and not going back to sleep, I’m very happy to report that I’m sleeping through the night.

So this past week I’ve stayed with Atara and we have had a few adventures. She introduce me to the main form of public transit here; matatus. Large vans that go everywhere, as fast as they possibly can. . I’ve been trying to get a feel for where things are, but it’s overwhelming at first. I’ll get there.

Last Sunday we climbed a mountain. We went with the youth of another vineyard church. Mt. Longonot is an extinct volcano so that was cool. When we got there we realized, that because it was a national park it was going to be 1,600 sh ($20) for Atara and I since we are non-residents. Everyone else paid 200 sh ($ 2) . Atara and I were not prepared to pay that much but the leaders were able to come up with the money which was extremely kind. The climb up was pretty intense but I made it and it was incredibly beautiful. e

So there are a lot of bumps and potholes in the roads here but that's not what this post is about...I've ran in a few bumps of my own.

Bump # 1: So I know that I said I was moving in my family last week. And I would love to be able to tell you about them and my new life there, but I’m no longer going to be living with that family. I did go to meet them and they were very nice and their house was beautiful, but when it came time to talk about rent, they wanted a lot more money than I could afford. It's been a little discouraging and frustrating. I’m still with Atara at her homestay, but I need to find my own family soon so I can start the course work and it would be nice to be settled. Not to worry, Atara has lots of connections here and great friends so I’m sure, we’ll find something for me soon. So keep me in your prayers, that someone will take me in!

Bump # 2: We are also looking for an internship for me. It’s been a challenge to find a organization that fit’s the criteria of our program. I had an internship before I left but I learned they wanted a lot of money to work with them so that didn’t work out. I know the perfect organization is out there, it’s just finding it and making sure it’s close to wherever I end up living.
Bump #3 My ipod broke (i have no idea what happened, it was fine than I came back to it and it wont do anything, plugging it in does nothing). I‘m so sad. I still have hope that if I leave it alone for a while it will miraculously work again. My ipod was my lifeline as silly as it sounds. I came to rely on that thing quite a bit. The nights are nosy here so it was nice to have it. I miss my music.

So my first week and a half has been a bumpy road, but I’m learning and I know it will all work out. I have so much to be thankful for and God is faithful.