We had a leisurely morning, which was really nice. We started sacrament meeting a little early, but we were all there, so it was perfect. It was cool to have Paul and Curt bless the sacrament and Brayden pass it, right here in the KCC. We followed the normal script for a fast and testimony meeting, with Mike conducting the meeting (he is in the bishopric at home). It was a very good meeting. I think we all enjoyed hearing from most every member of our group. It was emotional at times, heartfelt and open. It was the best sacrament fast meeting I have attended in a long time.
I think the thing I love about being in Kenya is the people in our group. I love how this humanitarian work brings out the best in people. And I mean the best in whatever they are. Some people are naturally good at interacting with children, some with different cultures, some are good with their hands and building, some are organizers, but by and large, all have good hearts and are here for the right reasons. I know I should be loving working with the Kenyan people, and enjoying that cultural interaction, but I find it awkward and difficult at times. I really don't understand the culture, I am offended often by the way the women are treated and that sometimes makes me uncomfortable with the men. Bret is just the opposite, he loves the work, he is comfortable with the men and being in a position of power here. He interacts well with the children and has a way of getting the women to respond to him. I often feel the discomfort of the men when they work with me, as a woman, but knowing that as wife of "Baba Bret" they have to treat me with respect. Being here really puts me outside of my comfort zone, on so many levels. Another issue I am dealing with is that after more than a week, my night time combination Ambien and Malarone starts making me restless and nightmarish. My dreams are becoming very vivid and strange.
Buffalo demonstrating borehole well at Mwache
Marcie at Mwache borehole well
Jason, Austin and McCall
Our group walking to the well at Mwache
Leigh getting crazy climbing the tree
Paul getting crazy climbing the tree
Anthony Yama's parents met us on the path near Mwache
Kendy faces her fears in the cornfield
A village woman, preparing food and caring for her children
After the service, we had a sandwich lunch, cleaned up, then a few of us got in a van and went to Mwache to see the bore hole well in action. There are 3 bore hole wells that LDS Humanitarian built in 3 different villages in 2009. It is quite amazing to see them pump clean, unlimited water so effortlessly. Anthony's parents walked from their home up the trail to visit with us. His father is sick with malaria, and his mother is recovering from a terrible foot injury, so it was with great effort they came to see us.
Chakaya, the nervous groom
We returned to the KCC and the wedding guests started arriving. Chairs were brought over from the secondary school, and the front yard of the KCC became the gathering place for about 200 people. Chakaya arrived, and we joined the crowd in the yard as we awaited the bride. It was kind of comical how they blended American traditions and who knows what other traditions for this wedding.
Women cooking for the wedding crowd
Women singing to greet Kwe Kwe, the bride
Kwe Kwe arrives and is escorted to Chakaya
The bride's father and sister
Chakaya and Kwe Kwe prepare to be married
Kwe Kwe reacts to a comment of Bret's during ceremony
The bride and groom kiss (not a typical Kenyan public behavior)
And they are married (notice the interlocked pinkies...)
Our group made an arch for the newlyweds to walk through
As Kwe Kwe arrived, the women from the kitchen came out singing and dancing and welcoming her and her entourage. The rest of the women in the crowd joined in. As she was escorted from the car by Dallin and her bridesmaid, there was a line of women that threw rice at her. She walked up to the porch of the KCC, where Bret and Chakaya were waiting, and Bret asked her father to come up and give his daughter to Chakaya. Then he proceeded with a ceremony that blended traditional US wedding vows with kind of a "make a new start, don't do what Kenyan men typically do" recommendations. It was interesting to watch the reactions of the crowd to this different kind of wedding. Kwe Kwe seemed embarrassed at some of the things Bret was saying, but I think ultimately she was excited about getting married, in her shy Kenyan way. The funny part was when they cut the cakes we bought, and fed a bite to each other, then another bite, then a bite to their best man/bridesmaid, then the parents and then all the guests. I had to leave. It was just so funny. Shortly thereafter, the music and dancing started and didn't stop until about 8:00 p.m.. Lots of pilau was served along with ugali, and most guests stayed outdoors, although Johnson's wife and kids and Lucy, Anthony's wife, and kids came inside and ate and played games and had fingernails painted by our group.
Austin and Catelin dancing
A large pot of pilau, ready to serve to the wedding guests
Our group was pretty exhausted by the time the last guests left. We bypassed P&P because of our testimony meeting this morning, and had an early bedtime.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Everyone was up early preparing to depart for the safari in Tsavo.
Bret and Anthony left for Mombasa. I deep cleaned the KCC, and with the help of the kitchen staff we washed and bleached every single dish, table, surface, and tidied up inside and out. I began washing my clothes, and Emily took over for me. She kind of laughed as she walked up to me, asked me if I used a machine at home, to which I responded "I have a machine for everything at home!" I hate to admit, but I was happy to have her finish washing the clothes for me. I showered and spent much of the rest of the day in the KCC updating my journal and getting caught up on Koins work. All day one of the board members was outside the KCC watching over me. I didn't mind staying in. It was hot outside and I had a chance at quiet and cool productivity sitting in front of the fan.
Foundation of the new clinic in Mnyenzeni, just in front of the dispensary
In the afternoon I took baby blankets up to the dispensary, and took a few photos of the foundation of the new clinic being built. It is quite exciting to think what it might offer to these villagers. It looks to be about the size of the KCC.
Tool crib in workshop
Workshop, neat, tidy, organized and in good working order
I walked over to the workshop with Buffalo, Chief Tuku and Eliud. They showed me around, pointing out all the work that had been done since we had been here. The workshop really looks great, Mike and Curt have done an incredible job with that building. It is tidy, the tools have been organized, hand tools labeled and marked where they should be stored. The workshop workers have been trained by Mike and Curt how to care for the tools, the building, how to sharpen blades, replace broken parts, keep track of tools. What a difference from when we arrived. Curt has agreed to take on the role of Workshop and Construction Management on the Koins board. It will be wonderful to have him in charge of the workshop on a full time basis, and for him to get our construction costs down to a science.
Sewing center workes busy making Koins purses
Bret arrived and started a discussion with the Kenyan board members about how they had done the electrical work in the workshop. I walked over and checked out the sewing workshop. They were busy sewing our bags and pajama pants.
Bret and I accompanied Chief Tuku to Mnyenzeni, and we went to the home of Peter Mrabu (Purity's dad) and spent some time visiting.
Back to the KCC for dinner, just Bret, Paul and I. It was nice and quiet. We finished our pilau and fruit with hot scones and honey, then cleaned up and headed off to bed early tonight.
Tuesday, August 3
Up at 7:00 this morning. Sometime during the night our netting came untucked, we had mosquitoes in our netting so all night I was getting buzzed by them. It was very annoying and I woke up to blood spots on the sheets, and as I smashed a few of them there was blood on my hands. No itching though. I don't know where they bit me. Not a pleasant thought, with the prevalence of malaria here.
I took a morning shower, then we had breakfast with Purity's dad and discussed his desire for his son, who is high in his Form 2 class, to receive a scholarship. He missed qualifying by 5 points on his exam. Bret told him to retake the exam and we would be happy to take care of his scholarship once he qualified. He is a nice man. We discussed some American customs, like Bret accepting our son-in-laws as extensions of our family, having dinner with them, traveling with them, being friends with them, and he had a hard time understanding that. It is so not Kenyan custom to be friendly with the son-in-law. It is as if they lose a daughter when one gets married. Bret encouraged him to try that new idea out when Purity is married in the future. He looked doubtfully at Bret, but didn't say he wouldn't do it.
Rain coming off the roof of the KCC
Bret on the road with a boy tending goats
Local bread delivery
Brand new baby at the dispensary
Young mother returning to her home with a bucket of water from the river
A man we crossed paths with carrying chickens (alive)
Woman and her daughter cutting wood
A heavy rain came down for a few minutes, then Bret and I went on a walk through the countryside up to Chikomani. Along the way we shot some photos and observed Kenyan life. As we were heading back we came across two women cutting sticks with machetes and binding them and putting them on their head. It was interesting that the first thing that happened was the younger woman asked us for money for taking her photo, then she asked for Bret's shirt and his sunglasses. We offered them candy and I gave them a bag of dried mangos. They seemed happy with that and didn't mind that we followed them back towards their village. They even seemed to be encouraging us to stay with them. They spoke in Duruma and only knew "give me 50 shillings" in English, but I showed them photos as I took them and that seemed to please them.
Woman with her baby, cutting wood
Pregnant woman who was cutting wood.
Women carrying wood back to their village
We got a call from Johnson asking about going to the Massai village on the way back from safari. Bret has had bad experiences with the Massai, who are used to dealing with and abusing tourists. He has had experiences with people spending way more than necessary for trinkets, and also with a couple girls being cornered and groped on a previous trip. He didn't want the group to go, but the majority ruled and he just warned Cindy to keep an eye on things.
Matuwa on the roof of the KCC
The monkey, Matuwa, who is Dallin's pet and an occasional nuisance, keeps running on the roof of the KCC. It makes an amazing racket. He was tied up behind the bathrooms in his little shack, but eventually he chews through the rope and then runs around like crazy. The local kids tease him and he chases them and grabs and bites their ankles. Both sides seem to feed off the attention.
Anthony's portrait from Rebecca Peery
The group returned from safari about 4:00, so we caught up with their activities as some headed to showers. We had a lot of rain today, so it is really muggy and sticky tonight. We presented Anthony with a portrait painted of him by Rebecca Peery, an artist and friend of Koins. She want to Kenya with the March expedition. Anthony was so happy with the painting of himself.
We had our first full day in Kenya. We arrived late last night in Mombasa, after enduring multiple ticketing issues, including having our flight from Salt Lake completely cancelled. We took a variety of flights to get ourselves to Amsterdam, but we all ended up on the same flight from Amsterdam, except for the Kimballs who arrive tonight, having departed a day later than us. The only casualty was the Tingey's luggage, it will arrive on the Kimballs flight tonight.
I awoke to a sunny Mombasa morning. I closed my eyes about 2:00 a.m., and woke up at about 9:15, thanks to Bret's alarm. Without it I am sure I would have stayed asleep for quite some time. We had breakfast then several of us headed out to the Nakumatt for supplies and food for our stay in the village. I am sure that we will be making 1-2 more trips to Mombasa for food and other supplies over the next 10 days.
Lucy haggling at the vegetable market
Naptime in the market
Then Jami, Bret and I joined Anthony and Lucy to go shopping for fruits and veggies at a huge outdoor market. It was crazy and hectic, dirty and smelly. It was a market literally several blocks big, with piles of fruits, vegetables, beans, herbs, and teeming with people. It would have been very intimidating without Lucy doing the shopping. We had 2 boys who tagged along with us to help us carry bags out. Without them carrying everything we purchased, the trip would have been very difficult! When we loaded up the car, we had a police officer approach us as we were preparing to drive away, who insisted that we needed to go to the station with him because we had parked illegally and needed to see someone about that. As he was on his cell phone trying to look official, we just drove away!
Shop we always purchase our kanga cloths and kikoys
We then proceeded to the Blue Room where the rest of the group was having lunch. We sat for a bit, had a cold drink, then headed to Biashara Street to purchase kanga cloths and kikoys. Jami and I went with Lucy to a store where we purchased plates, cups, silverware, buckets, other plastics for the kitchen and elsewhere in the village. Midway through our shopping trip we realized that none of us had enough money for what we were purchasing, and Anthony's list had a lot to be desired as far as to explanations of some items, so Lucy went looking for Anthony back at the kanga store, and he returned to help us with our shopping. I am learning that nothing in Kenya is easy. Even shopping is difficult, as convenience is not something they specialize in.
Crazy streets of Mombasa
After spending 13,000 Ksh, we headed back to the Blue Room and the rest of our group, then back to the hotel. Jami and I just went to have dinner only to find that the dining room doesn't open until 7:30. I am trying to keep my eyes open long enough to wait until that time, but nothing sounds quite as good as a nap right now.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
This morning we woke up early to the sound of rain outside. It cleared up before we headed to breakfast, to a beautiful morning. We packed, brought all our luggage down and enjoyed our last breakfast the the Continental Hotel. I won't miss the cold showers and lack of elevator, but they did have good food.
Continental Hotel, Mombasa
We drove to the Changamwe branch for Sacrament meeting. We met Melinda Wills, a young lady from Provo who was working for Yehu bank and living in Kenya. She had been there for about 4 months, living alone in an apartment in the Nyali Beach area. Brave girl! She spoke in Sacrament, and I think maybe the addition of our 24 or so group members intimidated her a bit! Too bad she is headed home in the next few weeks. She could have been a good friend for Kendy as she stays on to teach in Mnyenzeni until December.
Curt and Catelin Tingey in front of the church in Mombasa
We walked through the crazy streets of Mombasa the short distance from the church building to the Akamba carvers, where everyone observed the carvers at work, and made their purchases. Bret and I found a good sized carved elephant that will make a nice addition to our Kenyan decor. After enduring the painstakingly slow checkout and paying for our purchases, we boarded the vans and headed to Mnyenzeni.
Carved elephant from Akamba Carvers
There are some decent roads to Mnyenzeni, but often the smooth tarmac deteriorates into rutted, rough and rocky dirt roads that nearly require a 4-wheel drive to navigate. We experienced some of that, but made a stop at the Mwache bridge to check out the river and walk over to the falls, which I had never seen before. The rains this year have left the landscape lush and green, and the river full of water. By contrast, last year at this time the corn and animals were dying, the fields were brown and people were worried about the dramatic lack of water everywhere.
Mwache River Falls
We continued on to the village, where we were welcomed with smiling, waving children yelling "Jambo" and running after our van along the road. As we approached Mnyenzeni, we could see the welcoming committee waiting for us, large groups of children and adults alike, singing and dancing. For anyone new to the experience, it is pretty overwhelming and emotional. Even for us who have been here, it is touching. And those kids can sing!
Dancing at the KCC
We were ushered to the porch of the KCC where we were then entertained by several school groups of children, as well as the parents of the Windridge school kids. They also brought bags of vegetables and gave them to Mike and Cindy, who have sponsored the Windridge school from the beginning, as thanks for the school for their kids. Seemingly small tokens, but huge in this land of survival. There was the typical singing, dancing and then pulling all of us into the celebration dance. The Kenyan experience.
Anthony then ushered everyone away, and we began our unloading and unpacking process. We settled into our rooms, unpacked our personal items, then started sorting the huge amount of extras we brought with us. Baby blankets, pencils and other school supplies, sewing machines, hygiene kits, medical supplies for the dispensaries, as well as personal gifts for sponsored students sent by their American sponsors.
There are a lot of people staying here. More than any other expedition to date. We had to purchase additional beds, dinnerware, cookware and other basics just to provide for the group. I imagine there will be other large groups down the road. We can make it work, it is just a lot more logistics to work out.
Paul filming the local children
People started spreading out, playing with kids, Paul started filming, I took a tour of the Ben Taylor Workshop, which I hadn't seen since it broke ground my last visit. It was impressive to see the work that is being done, desks, chairs, doors, cabinets, windows. They are also doing metal work and making chairs and desks out of metal. Mike and Curt have big plans to organize and get machines sharpened, fine tuned and ready to work better. I also went into the sewing shop. I met the fundi that is now over the sewing projects. He is quite effective, has trained more women to sew, and they are now making school uniforms for all the schools in the area. I am impressed by that. He has also fashioned some cargo shorts out of colorful conga cloths. We have placed orders for koins purses, cargo shorts and pajama pants.
Women in the sewing center cutting out Koins purses from kanga cloths
Sewing center busy making Koins purses and pajama pants for our group
We had dinner about 7:00, with ugali, vegetables and fruit. The fruit was the best part of it. Afterwards we had a peaches and pits of sorts, with a few brief comments about being here and impressions so far. This is a great group of people. I am loving working with Jami, she is amazingly organized and perfect for the position of expedition planner.
I had a shower under the stars. It was very enjoyable, with a full moon and 4 temporary shower stalls full of people chatting while we had our bucket baths. Only in Africa :)
Monday, July 26, 2010
I woke up bright and early this morning. My steel cut oats cooked in the crock pot worked beautifully, so along with scones, hard boiled eggs, chai tea and fruit, we had a delicious breakfast.
While Swahili lessons started, Cindy, Jami, Marcie and I made lunch for today's trip to Dzivani. While everyone lollygagged, Bret and I hopped on the motorcycle and headed out. There were some crazy roads. It was not a comfortable ride! I was worried about my skirt flying up, about my calf getting burned on the exhaust pipe, about the bad roads and the bike slipping on the slickness of the newly rained on road (that was scary enough for me to pawn the return trip home off to Leigh). We arrived in Dzivani a full 30 minutes before the vans. We toured Dallin's (Ruwa - his Druma name) home, of which the building began during the March trip. It was quite touching how much the Dzivani community loves him, as was apparent by the signs they had painted on the school. I think he might have a difficult transition back to American life.
Dallin's house in Dzivani
It was very touching to see the greeting the school children had for the group as they arrived in the vans. Especially for the Frampton girls and James, Dallin's friend.
We then broke up into teaching and work groups. Dallin and his sisters, James, Steve and Brayden painted while the rest of the group divided into groups and taught various classes. I wandered around among all of them and shot photos. It was quite enjoyable to be on the back side of the camera, where I prefer to be.
Teaching at Dzivani
Bret teaching about magnets to a class at Dzivani
Framptons painting Dzivani classroom
Kenyan women, wearing beautiful, bright colors and rarely smiling for photos
We finished up the work and teaching, had some sandwiches in the finished room of the school, rounded up the troops, which seems to be one of the most difficult things about this group, then headed to Lutsangani, where we were to deliver baby blankets and hygiene kits. While we were there, a motorcycle drove up with a woman sandwiched between the driver and a back passenger. She appeared to be unconscious, and apparently she was an epileptic. It was quite frightening to see her carried in. I was worried that she was dying, but it seems her condition was nothing out of the ordinary for her, and while the waiting women showed concern for her, no one seemed overly worried.
Woman and baby at Lutsangani dispensary receiving a baby blanket
I made a presentation to a woman in the dispensary regarding the purpose of the hygiene kits, she seemed happy about them, and she was to share the information with the other women, and we left the hygiene kits with the man at the dispensary to distribute. Let's hope they do get distributed.
Back in the van, back to Mnyenzeni. Let's just say we had enough driving today. We were all relieved to be back home. We had bathroom trips, water fill ups, then Jami, Kris and I washed clothes with Jami's plungers and buckets. It was a bit time consuming, but it will be worthwhile to have some clean clothes. We had accumulated quite a bit. Wearing something twice is not an option here.
We took a walk to the Mnyenzeni secondary school, then through the village of Mnyenzeni. We were, of course surrounded by children. It seems so intrusive to have a group of white folks walking through the village, peering into homes and walking through what seems to be front porch type evening relaxing. Overall they don't seem to mind, and seemed amused at their children following us, being photographed by us, and playing with us.
Man from Mnyenzeni with his children and cattle
As we headed back to the KCC, Cindy and Curt took turns being the pied piper with the kids. Cindy led the kids in a "do as I'm doing" activity, and a few minutes later Curt had a large group of kids running behind him on the road mimicking his actions.
We had a delicious dinner of pilau with beef, one of the bowls of pilau had beef from my food storage beef chunks, and was really good. We were all hungry and it was a good meal.
I quickly showered, which was delightful under a full moon with a hot bucket of water and a breeze. We shortly thereafter had a Peaches and Pits, on the road under the moon, and most everyone had something good to say about the day. I liked Dallin's opening line "Today was like a peach tree..." There were comments about the kids singing as the vans approached Dallin's school, about teaching at the school, actually, most of the comments had to do with the Dzivani experience. It was a rewarding P&P.
Back to the KCC, time for toothbrushing. I was back at the sink and dropped my toothbrush in the dirt. Kendy saved the day as she had a new toothbrush she gave me. Thank goodness. Where I dropped it was a toothpaste spitting and monkey peeing place. Speaking of the monkey, Dallin's pet doesn't like me much. I pulled it's tail as I was walking underneath the tree it was in today, and it screeched, ran through the tree pulling off leaves and whipping branches, then knocked my sunglasses off my head. No, I am not the monkey's friend. Curt has made friends with him, and was holding him tonight on the porch of the KCC.
Curt and his new friend, Matua, Dallin's pet monkey
Another good day in Mnyenzeni. Robyn topped it off by bringing out a bag of m&m's, which totally hit the spot. Chocolate is a rare treat here.
