I finished my internship and moved out of my homestay this weekend. I know your probably thinking, "but Julia you have like 3 months left in Kenya, what are you going to do?"
I call the last 3 months phase one. I did my internship and homestay the last 2 and half months. I have a 3o something page rough(very rough) draft for my family org course. Now I'm diving into my Global Research Project. Since my homestay was tied to my internship (i was living with that family because i was working at Sidai) I decided to move back to Nkita's, plus I don't have too long before I go to the village. I stayed with Nkita my first 3 weeks in Kenya. I love Nkita's and she's incredibly kind. Plus her house is amazing with running water, clean drinking water, a refrigerator; you know all the luxuries :) For the next three weeks I'm going to be staying there and researching orphanages. I'm researching how orphanages are preparing their youth for reintegration once they exit orphanage care. I'm excited to get out and visit different children's homes and orphanages. I loved my internship, but I really missed being out in the community.
I'm planning on traveling for Christmas. In hopes that I can distract myself from homesickness and all that. I'll either be in the Congo or in Nakuru visiting friends.
After Christmas I'm headed to the village! I'm going to be living with my Friend's family in a village near Kisumu (super close to lake victoria). I'll be doing my community life course there. After five weeks, I'm back to Nairobi for a week then home..it is going to go by so quick. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm falling in love with this place and two half months seems so short.
This friday was graduation at Sidai. It was more of a celebration for school ending. (in Kenya the school year/term ends in December) It was really funny...they dressed the kids up in graduation robes including caps and we had cake and biscuits and sweets. They slaughtered a sheep for lunch and there was so much food! It was neat, because it ended up being more of a community celebration. We held the first part of the party in the slum (sidai's original location) and got to show the community how well Sidai kids are doing. Then we moved the celebration back to Sidai later.
I hope you all had a very happy thanksgiving! It's so strange to be completely removed from all the holiday fun and crazyness.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Weekends!
My last couple of weekends have been so fun.
Last weekend I went to Nakuru with my Kiswahili teacher and good friend Margaret. We visited her family Saturday and Sunday and it so fun. We made chapattis and hung out and played with my camera, and just relaxed. It was peaceful too and beautiful. You walk outside the house and there are beautiful mountains and fields. They were such wonderful people. The kind of people you feel lucky to know. But the end of my visit they felt like family. If I don’t go to the Congo for Christmas, I’m going to spend Christmas with them.
This weekend I went to the home of one of my good friends here. She has three children and lives in a one bedroom apartment, about the size of my room at home. The room functions as their living room, kitchen, bedroom, and everything else. She is truly an amazing woman and I'm so lucky for her friendship. In african style I brought a bag full of gifts, mostly food and a few sweets for the kids. It was nice to just sit and talk and eat muffins, cookies, and tea.
I also met with my professor from APU this morning. He is in Kenya doing planning for a graduate program. It was good to see a familiar face and have someone to help process the last 2 and a half months.
In other news....
Life has been good. I feel all this pressure to write about exciting and exotic things, living in Africa and all, but really life is pretty low key most of the time. It’s just life in Africa, okay so its not just life in Africa, but not every day is super exciting….
Some days are like this:
I wake up, I drink chai tea, take my bucket bath, eat some left over ugali, go to Sidai, teach Baby class, talk with the ladies at my internship, drink more tea, leave Sidai, go to town, get peanuts for 5 bob and talk with my friend who sales them, go home, attempt to do homework, watch tyra banks, help with dinner, eat dinner(rice and beans), watch KTN(our only channel), talk with my family, drink more chai tea, and go to bed.
I love it.
more to come!
Last weekend I went to Nakuru with my Kiswahili teacher and good friend Margaret. We visited her family Saturday and Sunday and it so fun. We made chapattis and hung out and played with my camera, and just relaxed. It was peaceful too and beautiful. You walk outside the house and there are beautiful mountains and fields. They were such wonderful people. The kind of people you feel lucky to know. But the end of my visit they felt like family. If I don’t go to the Congo for Christmas, I’m going to spend Christmas with them.
This weekend I went to the home of one of my good friends here. She has three children and lives in a one bedroom apartment, about the size of my room at home. The room functions as their living room, kitchen, bedroom, and everything else. She is truly an amazing woman and I'm so lucky for her friendship. In african style I brought a bag full of gifts, mostly food and a few sweets for the kids. It was nice to just sit and talk and eat muffins, cookies, and tea.
I also met with my professor from APU this morning. He is in Kenya doing planning for a graduate program. It was good to see a familiar face and have someone to help process the last 2 and a half months.
In other news....
Life has been good. I feel all this pressure to write about exciting and exotic things, living in Africa and all, but really life is pretty low key most of the time. It’s just life in Africa, okay so its not just life in Africa, but not every day is super exciting….
Some days are like this:
I wake up, I drink chai tea, take my bucket bath, eat some left over ugali, go to Sidai, teach Baby class, talk with the ladies at my internship, drink more tea, leave Sidai, go to town, get peanuts for 5 bob and talk with my friend who sales them, go home, attempt to do homework, watch tyra banks, help with dinner, eat dinner(rice and beans), watch KTN(our only channel), talk with my family, drink more chai tea, and go to bed.
I love it.
more to come!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sidai
I never properly introduced you to my internship.
For the past two months I’ve been working here…
Most of the kids living at Sidai are orphans. However, not all. Some children come from abusive homes, or homes where there parents were simply not able to care for them. A few children came to Sidai in 2007 as they uprooted from their homes in the post election violence.
Sidai houses about 30 children full time. Some of these children receive sponsorship to go to school. The rest attend school at Sidai and are joined daily by children from the Slum
During my first week at Sidai I spent a morning reading all the child files and their stories are heart breaking. I remember just crying that afternoon.
It just doesn’t seem fair. These children are no less important or special than those I care take of in the states. Yet these children were born into poverty and a system of injustice in which they remain. They had no control over where they were born or what families they were born to. They are innocent. Why is it that the most vulnerable must suffer the most?
Despite all these children have been through they are amazing. They are beautiful, their smiles and playful nature light up my life.
I have a theory about African children, that are some of the strongest most resilient children in the world for all they must endure.
Sidai doesn’t have a consistent source of donations so they struggle month to month and most months they don’t make their budget. Compared to the other childrens homes in the area, Sidai has a long way to go in their development. Currently affording food each month is a struggle.
During my time at Sidai I’ve taught baby class. (I still smile when I hear the phase "baby class" because these kids are like 3).
I’ve also been working on the compute stuff quite a bit. Trying to update child files and the computer database. I’m also hoping to go on home visit’s the next two weeks to get information for the kids that are not currently living at Sidai.
For the past two months I’ve been working here…
Most of the kids living at Sidai are orphans. However, not all. Some children come from abusive homes, or homes where there parents were simply not able to care for them. A few children came to Sidai in 2007 as they uprooted from their homes in the post election violence.
Sidai houses about 30 children full time. Some of these children receive sponsorship to go to school. The rest attend school at Sidai and are joined daily by children from the Slum
During my first week at Sidai I spent a morning reading all the child files and their stories are heart breaking. I remember just crying that afternoon.
It just doesn’t seem fair. These children are no less important or special than those I care take of in the states. Yet these children were born into poverty and a system of injustice in which they remain. They had no control over where they were born or what families they were born to. They are innocent. Why is it that the most vulnerable must suffer the most?
Despite all these children have been through they are amazing. They are beautiful, their smiles and playful nature light up my life.
I have a theory about African children, that are some of the strongest most resilient children in the world for all they must endure.
Sidai doesn’t have a consistent source of donations so they struggle month to month and most months they don’t make their budget. Compared to the other childrens homes in the area, Sidai has a long way to go in their development. Currently affording food each month is a struggle.
During my time at Sidai I’ve taught baby class. (I still smile when I hear the phase "baby class" because these kids are like 3).
I’ve also been working on the compute stuff quite a bit. Trying to update child files and the computer database. I’m also hoping to go on home visit’s the next two weeks to get information for the kids that are not currently living at Sidai. Basically I have fallen in love with the kids here. They are great, but Sidai really struggles. Not only with money, but with management and development in general. They are currently working on develop projects that would enable them to become more self sufficient, but they have a lot of work ahead of them.
Check out the website: www.sidaichildren.org
Be sure to look at the newly created newsletter and brochure :)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Looking Up
[disclaimer: I hate my camera. It takes horrible pictures in Kenya and I every time I play with the settings it makes it worse. In this case it really is true that the pictures don’t do the real thing justice, not even close]
As you know I live on a big hill. So most days I walk up this….all the way to the top
As you know I live on a big hill. So most days I walk up this….all the way to the top
Sometimes when I’m coming from town I take an alternate route up the other side of the hill. There’s path that goes along the hill and eventually comes out at my house.
This is not an ideal path. It’s rough, uphill, uneven, dirty, and has lots of protruding thorn bushes. Before the rainy season the ground was incredibly dusty and loose and now after the rain its incredibly muddy and sticky.
So much so that this is what happens to your shoes when you attempt to walk it in the rain.
Before the rains came, a few weeks ago, I was walking this path. I was having a hard day, drowning in loneliness, homesickness, self doubt, and my inadequacy at changing anything. The dirt was so loose and dusty and I struggled with every step as it sunk beneath my feet. I had to focus on the ground and the path as not to make a wrong step. However, eventually I loss my balance and I fell down hard. As I stood up I started crying and through my tears and frustration I asked God, “Is this really what you had for me?” As I looked up and out I got my answer…
It was beautiful. It was as if God was saying, “yes this is exactly what I had for you.” Sometimes I get so stuck in the difficulty of it all that I forget to look up and see the bigger picture.
Yes this is hard, yes I’m lonely, yes I feel powerless. Yet there is also so much beauty in this experience. There is beauty in the faces of the children I encounter everyday. There is beauty in the independence and strength I’m gaining. Beauty in realizing my powerlessness, that I can not “fix” everything. There is of course beauty in drinking chai tea at all hours of the day with wonderful Kenyans :-]
This life is beautiful…I just forget to look up and see it.
It’s true of this country as well. It’s so easy to just focus on the muddiness. Yes there is a lot of corruption, yes there is a lot of poverty, yes there is a lot tragedy. But there is also so much beauty to be found. I don’t say this to make light or lessen Kenya’s problems, but to remember that there is more to Kenya, more to Africa. Much, much more.
So I encourage whenever you are to remember to look up…
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The truth
The truth is i'm not always honest on here.
The truth is I cry a lot in Kenya. Sometimes I cry because i feel like I'm failing at GLT, sometimes I cry because I feel helpless to do anything about the poverty and injustice I see around me, sometimes I cry for the children at Sidai, sometimes I cry because I'm just overwhelmed, sometimes I cry because the inequality of it all, and sometimes I cry out of frustration.
The truth is I'm not sure I'm cut out for this life. And that's a hard pill to swallow when this has been my dream since forever. What happens when you realize your not cut out for your dreams?
The truth is I'm still struggling to find peace here. Peace with this place, peace with myself, and peace with God.
The truth is I'm learning a lot.
The truth is I do enjoy and love being here, it's just harder than i thought it would be.
The truth is I feel myself growing, becoming a stronger person day by day.
The truth is God has been so gracious.
The truth is despite how hard it is i'm so thankful for this opportunity.
I'm learning to find joy and peace in the small things, smiles on the kids' faces, a beautiful sun set, the beautiful african trees, sitting in the dark talking with my family during a power cut, drinking chai tea....
so that's the truth.
The truth is I cry a lot in Kenya. Sometimes I cry because i feel like I'm failing at GLT, sometimes I cry because I feel helpless to do anything about the poverty and injustice I see around me, sometimes I cry for the children at Sidai, sometimes I cry because I'm just overwhelmed, sometimes I cry because the inequality of it all, and sometimes I cry out of frustration.
The truth is I'm not sure I'm cut out for this life. And that's a hard pill to swallow when this has been my dream since forever. What happens when you realize your not cut out for your dreams?
The truth is I'm still struggling to find peace here. Peace with this place, peace with myself, and peace with God.
The truth is I'm learning a lot.
The truth is I do enjoy and love being here, it's just harder than i thought it would be.
The truth is I feel myself growing, becoming a stronger person day by day.
The truth is God has been so gracious.
The truth is despite how hard it is i'm so thankful for this opportunity.
I'm learning to find joy and peace in the small things, smiles on the kids' faces, a beautiful sun set, the beautiful african trees, sitting in the dark talking with my family during a power cut, drinking chai tea....
so that's the truth.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Mombasa and other things...
I know this post is late.....(pictures on facebook, blogger won't let me post them here)
But Mombasa was amazing. We ended up staying with amazing people who took such great care of us. We met them through the Mombasa Vineyard church (i go to Karen Vineyard). We were so lucky to get connected with them, because we originally planned to stay in a cheap-not-so-nice hotel.
It was beautiful..white sandy beaches, warm ocean to swim in, and lots of palm trees. It rained on and off but we still got plenty of sun (I promise i did apply sunscreen).
It was 7 hour bus ride, but it wasn't bad. We got to see the country side and even a giraffe cross the road! You could tell we were Americans as every time we saw a animal, we would get excited and point while all of the Kenyans on the bus weren't phased.
We spent two full days on the beach just relaxing. Seriously, being there, I wished I would have done my GLT in a coastal city because it's so nice and beautiful, but then I would probably get nothing done so it's probably better that I just visit the coast.
We we're too poor to stay at nice fancy hotels so we just spent the day pretending to be guests at nice fancy hotels. We ordered drinks, swum in the pool, played water polo, used their towels, and had a great time. It worked out really well. It's totally the way to go when your traveling cheap.
Other Things
I said goodbye to Atara last week and i already miss her so much. She was such a blessing to me during my first month here and i feel so lucky to have her as a friend. Thank you Atara for everything and I pray you are enjoying home!
I'm have the great opportunity to house sit this week for a south african couple from church. i get to enjoy an beautiful house and internet til thursday. It comes at a perfect time. We have not had power at my host family's house for 4 days now and we are getting it back until this thursday. Plus we still don't have water consistently. Not having electricity for days and never knowing if there is going to be water is really difficult. I know it's short term for me, but people here know no different and there are even more people who don't have the privilege of losing power or water for a day, because they have never had it.
I have about 3 and half more weeks at my internship...it's been good, but I feel so limited in what I can do there. There are so many needs. I'm going to write a post about Sidai soon so you all can better understand.
I'm starting my project officially this week! This is for the Global Research Project Course in which I basically carry out my own research project through interviews with individuals and organizations. i'm going to research teen pregnancy in Nairobi. I still need to define my project a bit more, but i'm working on it.
Exciting News! I'm going to the DRC (Congo) for Christmas! My friend Christian is from there and invited me to come for Christmas and stay with his family. I'm so excited to travel and see more of Africa. I also need the distraction during the holidays, because I think if i just stayed here i would get really home sick...i need to do something.
But Mombasa was amazing. We ended up staying with amazing people who took such great care of us. We met them through the Mombasa Vineyard church (i go to Karen Vineyard). We were so lucky to get connected with them, because we originally planned to stay in a cheap-not-so-nice hotel.
It was beautiful..white sandy beaches, warm ocean to swim in, and lots of palm trees. It rained on and off but we still got plenty of sun (I promise i did apply sunscreen).
It was 7 hour bus ride, but it wasn't bad. We got to see the country side and even a giraffe cross the road! You could tell we were Americans as every time we saw a animal, we would get excited and point while all of the Kenyans on the bus weren't phased.
We spent two full days on the beach just relaxing. Seriously, being there, I wished I would have done my GLT in a coastal city because it's so nice and beautiful, but then I would probably get nothing done so it's probably better that I just visit the coast.
We we're too poor to stay at nice fancy hotels so we just spent the day pretending to be guests at nice fancy hotels. We ordered drinks, swum in the pool, played water polo, used their towels, and had a great time. It worked out really well. It's totally the way to go when your traveling cheap.
Other Things
I said goodbye to Atara last week and i already miss her so much. She was such a blessing to me during my first month here and i feel so lucky to have her as a friend. Thank you Atara for everything and I pray you are enjoying home!
I'm have the great opportunity to house sit this week for a south african couple from church. i get to enjoy an beautiful house and internet til thursday. It comes at a perfect time. We have not had power at my host family's house for 4 days now and we are getting it back until this thursday. Plus we still don't have water consistently. Not having electricity for days and never knowing if there is going to be water is really difficult. I know it's short term for me, but people here know no different and there are even more people who don't have the privilege of losing power or water for a day, because they have never had it.
I have about 3 and half more weeks at my internship...it's been good, but I feel so limited in what I can do there. There are so many needs. I'm going to write a post about Sidai soon so you all can better understand.
I'm starting my project officially this week! This is for the Global Research Project Course in which I basically carry out my own research project through interviews with individuals and organizations. i'm going to research teen pregnancy in Nairobi. I still need to define my project a bit more, but i'm working on it.
Exciting News! I'm going to the DRC (Congo) for Christmas! My friend Christian is from there and invited me to come for Christmas and stay with his family. I'm so excited to travel and see more of Africa. I also need the distraction during the holidays, because I think if i just stayed here i would get really home sick...i need to do something.
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