Weekend Adventures

Friday night was Milanne's birthday celebration. Her birthday was on Tuesday, but we went into Nairobi in an area called Westlands on Friday to have a proper dinner and party. Westlands is a very white area of Nairobi and the Westgate Mall made me feel like I was in Vegas or some shiny, commercialized city. It was kind of nice to step into such a clean and familiar place for a night.

We ate out on the patio of a restaurant called Art Caffe. The downside of being in such a developed area was that our view was a paved parking lot. But we arrived at dusk, so it didn't really matter. Once the wine started flowing, it mattered even less.

We enjoyed a long evening of amazing food - pizza, pasta, salad, and several desserts. We were joined with some of Josh's friends who also work or volunteer in Kenya (2 from Australia and 2 from the US). Deb, Milanne, and I headed back around 1am while Josh and Katie headed to another bar in Nairobi with the others.

I'll skip over Saturday as I didn't even get out of my pajamas.

Today, we headed south of Kitengela to the Maasai Ostrich Farm. It was a little disappointing, but still a great afternoon. We read online there were ostrich races on Sundays - I had this image in my head of a racetrack with people betting and cheering, but with ostriches instead of horses. Turns out, this is only sort of true. There are races, though not all the time, so we didn't get to see any today. There are 4 professional ostrich jockeys at the farm. But really, it was just a farm.

There were 1,200 ostriches at the farm, some as young as 1 month. At that age, they're about the size of a duck. They grow like crazy and by 4 months, their heads are above our own. The full grown ones were massive and slightly terrifying. I didn't trust any of them. It was something about their quick movements and long windy necks that could jut out towards me at any moment that made me uneasy. Their knees bend the opposite way of human knees, with the kneecap (if they actually even have kneecaps) on the back of the leg. When they run, it looks like a human running backwards. Ostriches are, hands down, the strangest looking animals I've ever seen.

They are only able to tell the males from the females at 3 years old because that's when their feathers change colours. Males are black and females are grey. We held some ostrich eggs - one egg can feed the equivalent of 20 chicken eggs, and they need to been cracked open with a hammer. An ostrich will lay an egg every morning for about 40 days, then stop for a period of time (not sure how long) then do it all over again. At the farm, they have to send a team of people in to distract the ostriches while another team go an steal the eggs and bring them to the hatchery. It's pretty dangerous, because if the ostriches see, they'll attack. And they can stomp people to death.

Once the tour of the farm was over, we headed to the restaurant for, what else?, an ostrich burger! It was quite good except I had to keep telling myself it's just like a giant chicken to avoid thinking about how weird it was that I was eating ostrich meat. Then it was ride time. Katie was the only one who met the weight restriction of 65 kgs so she got to ride an ostrich inside a pen. There was lots of squealing and "oh my god"'s on her end and a lot of laughing on ours. Justine managed to sneak in a ride too while the rest of us sat and watched... and laughed some more.

Standstill

I'm officially past the halfway point of my 10 weeks in Kenya and I'm not quite sure how to explain how I'm feeling right now. It took me about 2 1/2 weeks to get properly adjusted to life here and the daily activities. Then I felt like I was getting the hang of it and things were going good for another couple of weeks. But now I have only a week and a half left of volunteering since my last few weeks will be spent travelling around, and I'm not quite sure what I've accomplished. I had intentions of helping Josh out with setting up an income generating program for HIV positive people who attend the support group, but that never really got past the brainstorming stage. And with about 10 days left to dedicate to the centre, there isn't much time to get something going.

Part of that is because things here take time. And as an outsider only here for a short period of time, we need to make sure the things we try to implement will be carried out by the youth who are here long after we leave. There are a lot of good ideas thrown around by the youth and some of them have plans in their head that they've been working on for a while. But as with many non-profit organizations, it all comes down to money.

It's been interesting working on this grant proposal because a lot of ideas were laid out before we started writing. One idea that came about was an annual or twice-annual community sporting/cultural event where there would be football matches and games like tug-of-war and potato-sack races. At the same time, there would be HIV testing and skits to educate about HIV/AIDS. One of the youth started to talk about how expensive it would be because we would need to purchase jerseys for all the players and all these other expenses that were not really necessary. It was like he had an image in his head of this perfect football match and people would not come out to play unless it was organized in such a way. In a country where people get by with so little and have to use what they already have, it's interesting to see how they think they need all these things to get people to participate in what they're doing.

At one of our meetings, we were talking about having weekly sporting activities on Saturdays at the centre. Meghan was talking about how the youth are all role models and just being an older person and playing with kids will inspire a lot of them and make more local kids want to come out and play. Oscar, one of the youth, said he wasn't a trained role model. We couldn't help but laugh and explain to him that a role model doesn't need to be trained. Just being a positive individual and reaching out to these kids makes him a role model. It's almost like they don't recognize their own skills and abilities if they don't have a piece of paper to certify it.

Our proposal is almost finished and Meghan and I are heading into the centre soon so the rest of the group can have a look at it.

An update on mommy Lynda and baby Cedric. They are back home and doing well. Milanne, Katie, and Debra went to visit her earlier this week. Lynda, the baby, and her sister Karen live in a one room "house" about 10' x 15'. The walls are sheet metal and there is one small window. They have no electricity or running water, there are toilets at end of the row of houses, but it is just a shack with a hole in the ground. All three of them sleep on a few blankets on the ground with a mosquito netting overtop. They pay 1,000 a month for this place ($13 Canadian). If any of you want to help her out, I'm sure she would greatly appreciate any baby clothes, blankets, cloth diapers, bottles, baby wipes, etc. Get in touch with me and I can arrange to have them sent out with Katie's mom who gets out here mid-March.

How to Recognise and Expel Demons

As promised, the words verbatim of a convenient, how-to guide that was purchased from a street corner in Nairobi for 30 shillings. Enjoy.

HOW TO RECOGNISE AND EXPEL DEMONS

INTRODUCTION

The message on demonology and deliverance is rare in our current civilized and prosperity podiums (Rev. 3:14-17). Satan and demons are real and should be dealt with mercilessly in Jesus Mighty Name who defeated them on the cross and inflicted them with mental damage (Gen. 3:15, 1 Jh. 3:8).

I have seen a lady lead us powerfully in praise and worship in one of our deliverance seminars and yet possessed and bound by demons! The lady took seven hours to be delivered from those demons! It was incredible to her Pastor who was so scared and embarrassed never to invite us again to hold seminars in that ministry. He regarded her as a powerful sister! This Pastor was too proud to believe in deliverance ministry until he saw it happening in his congregation. 99% of preachers requires deliverance from sin (immorality), demons and curses!

The Bible had mentioned satan and demons in several occasions. Most victims of demonic oppression have been left to suffer without any offer of practical help from the church (Lk. 4:18-19, Acts 10:38).

DEFINITION OF A DEMON

A demon is an evil spirit being which has no body and which craves or desires to inhabit and work through human flesh or an animal to accomplish its demonic mission (Lk. 8:32-33). Demons are the agents of satan (Mk. 1:21-28, Mk. 6:13, Acts 8:6-7, Acts 19:11-17, Lk. 13:22, Lk. 4:33, Lk. 4:40-41, Mtt. 10:1,7-8, Mk. 16:17).

PERSONALITIES OF DEMONS

1. Demons have Will (Mtt. 12:44).

2. Demons have emotions (James 2:19).

3. Demons have Intellect (Mk. 1:24).

4. Demons have Self - Awareness (Mk. 1:24).

5. Demons have Ability to Speak (Acts 19:13-17).

NB: Demonology is the study of the origin of Satan, demons and how they operate against humanity and how they can be overcomed in Jesus Victorious Name (Ise. 14:12-17, Ezk. 28:12-19, Rom. 16:20).

DOORWAYS DEMONS ENTER PEOPLE

Read:-(Ecc. 10:8, Eph. 4:27).

1. Demons Enter through the Laying On of Hands (1 Tim. 5:22, Mk. 16:17-18, Lk. 4:40-41).

2. Demons Enter through Unlawful Sex (Lev. 18:20, Lev. 18:6, Lev. 18:23, Gen. 38:8-10, 1 Cor. 6:9).

3. Demons Enter through Witchcraft Covenants (Acts 8:9-11, Ex. 23:32-33, Acts 19:18-19, Gal. 5:19-20, Isa. 44:25).

4. Demons Enter through Fear (1 Jh. 4:18, 2 Tim. 1:7, Isa. 43:1).

5. Demons Enter through Unforgiveness (Mtt. 18:34, Eph. 4:32, Mk. 11:25-26).

6. Demons enter through Images and Signs (Ex. 20:3-4) e.g. pornography, scaring images and movies

7. Demons Enter through Abuse of Tongue (Mtt. 12:36-37, Prov. 12:13, Prov. 12:13, Prov 13:13, Prov. 18:21, Prov. 6:2).

8. Demons Enter through Body Marks and Tattoos (Lev. 19:28).

9. Demons Enter through Occult or False Religions (Deut. 18:10-11, Ex. 20:3-5).

10. Demons Enter through rebellion (1 Sam. 15:22-23, Prov. 29:1).

SIGNS OF DEMONS ACTIVITIES IN PEOPLE

1. Demons entice

2. Demons Harass

3. Demons Torture or Torment

4. Demons Compel

5. Demons enslave

6. Demons Cause Addictions

7. Demons Defile

8. Demons Deceive

9. Demons Attack the Physical Body

10. Demons Kill

STEPS TO BE DELIVERED FROM DEMONS

1. Personally affirm Your Faith in Christ

2. Humble yourself

3. Confess any Known Sin

4. Repent of All Sins

5. Forgive All Other People

6. Break with the Occult and All False Religion

7. Pepare to Be Released from Every Curse over Your Life

8. Take Your Stand with God

9. Expel Demons in Jesus Mighty Name

HINDERANCES OF DELIVERANCE FROM DEMONS

1. Lack of Repentance

2. Lack of Desperation

3. Wrong Motives

4. Self - Centeredness. A Desire for Attention.

5. Failure to Break with the Occult and All False Religion

6. Failure to Sever Binding Soulish Relationships

7. Lack of Release from a Curse

8. Failure to Confess a Specific Sin

9. Not "Separated" by Water Baptism

10. Part of a Larger Battle

THE PRAYER OF DELIVERANCE FROM DEMONS

Lord Jesus Christ,

I believe You are the Son of God and the only way to God - that You died on the cross for my sins and rose again so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life.

I renounce all pride and religion self - righteousness and any dignity that does not come from You. I have no claim on Your mercy except that You died in my place.

I confess all my sins before You and hold nothing back. (Name any specific sin of which you are aware).

I repent all my sins. I turn away from them and I turn to You, Lord, for mercy and forgiveness.

By a decision of my will, I freely forgive all who have ever harmed or wronged me. I lay down all bitterness, all resentment and all hatred. (Name these people).

I sever all contact I have ever had with the occult or with all false religion. (Name any specific false religion with which you were involved). I commit myself to get rid of all object associated with the occult or false religion.

Lord Jesus, I thank You that on the cross You were made a curse, that I might be redeemed from every curse and inherit God's blessing. On that basis I ask You to release me and set me free to receive the deliverance I need.

I take my stand with You, Lord, against all Satan's demons. I submit to You, Lord, and I resist the devil. Amen.

Now I speak to any demons that have control over me (Speak directly to them). I command you to go from me now. In the name of Jesus Christ, I expel you!

A certain person approached me for deliverance prayer from harassment of demons which had entered through witchcraft covenant practices. She had been forced by a witch to drink her urine which had been mixed with blood of an animal!

Having read, obeyed and prayed that above prayer, I declare you free from demons in Jesus Mighty Name under the apostolic and prophetic anointing upon my Ministry. Let me know what is happening in your life in Jesus Name. Remember that with God all things are possible (Matt. 19:26, Mk. 10:27, Lk. 1:37).

If you care to read more, here is a link to a former Kenya volunteer's blog. She has the words of a pamphlet on The Power and Benefits of Fasting.

http://theamazinginternationaldiaryofsara.blogspot.com/2010/10/get-off-my-back-im-starving.html

Hell's Gate

I can tell we've been in Kenya for a while now from how annoyed we were that we had to pay 350 shillings instead of 250 for an hour and 1/4 long shuttle ride. A difference of $1.25 Canadian... what can I say, Kenya's cheap and we've become sticklers.

We took said shuttle Saturday around noon - myself, Milanne, Debra, Justine, and Katie - and headed to the town of Naivasha. The main attraction there is Hell's Gate National Park, which we visited Sunday. Once we arrived in Navaisha, we hopped in a matatu to Fisherman's Camp. But being 5 women travelling together, we scoped out 3 potential accommodations in the same area before deciding on our initial choice. Again, the decision came down to a 100 shilling difference that we wouldn't agree on with the man at one of the campsites.

The 5 of us got 2 tents, luckily one of them was already pitched and the campsite had someone to put up the second one for us. Yessss. Leisure camping I'd call it. It was so refreshing to be in this area. There was so much green and shade and the campsite was right on a lake. At night, the hippos in the lake come out to feed on the grass, so there is an electric fence to keep them away because they can be quite dangerous. Six months ago, there was one hippo that kept going through the fence so they had to shoot it. It's skull sits at the edge of the water with a couple others... perhaps a warning to any other hippos who dare challenge the electric fence?

We spent the evening in the restaurant on the shore. We had a great spot on an open porch with a view of the dock. We had some drinks and ate dinner while we waited for the hippos to ascend from the water. Around 8:30, a momma and baby hippo crossed the lawn, but unfortunately that was the extent of our hippo sightings. We were exhausted and couldn't stay up any longer, so we headed to bed. Our tents had foam mattresses and a blanket for each of us, which we thought would be enough to keep us warm... but it wasn't. Milanne and I didn't bother to even bring a sweater, so we were plastered together trying to stay warm all night. It was rough but we managed to get some sleep, between the loud music and talking from the campers next to us who were still awake when we got up in the morning at 6:30.

After a good buffet breakfast at the neighbouring hotel's restaurant, we rented some bikes and headed on our way by 8am. It was 7kms to the entrance of the park - the first 5 were on paved road, but the last 2 were on a horrible, dusty dirt road that was just inclined enough to make us want to turn around. Once we got into the park, the road was much better, though very bumpy. We rode 8kms to the entrance to Hell's Gate Gorge. The ride was amazing. There were huge, orange rock cliffs all around us. There were several types of animals grazing at that time. We saw warthogs and gazelle, then a herd of zebras, then more warthogs and gazelle and some water buffalo. Then we came across two giraffes right by the road. We were more than 20 feet away from them. It was amazing. Giraffes are definitely at the top of my favourite animals list so this was pretty damn awesome.

Once we got to the gorge, we added 3 more people to our group to make the price for the guide cheaper. The guide was a long and lanky local who was deceivingly strong. He often helped us up and down parts of the gorge. At one point, I thought he had dislocated my arm. We navigated between rock walls, slid down from one shelf to another, hopped over running water, and climbed up tree branches posing as ladders. We saw "Hell's Bedroom" which was a filming spot for a scene of Tomb Raider. The walls of the gorge loomed over us in the bedroom. This is where our guide explained to us that the park got it's name because so many people died during a volcanic eruption from the volcano under the gorge.

We kept on hiking and headed for the main part of the gorge where there was a lot of hot springs. Scattered throughout the gorge, there were mini waterfalls of hot water and the rocks were stained green underneath. Some of the girls washed their hair and faces in the warm water. It left a smooth feeling on my hands and our guide said the water was very beneficial for the skin. He also pointed out some small puddles of steaming water from the springs. Apparently some people will use these spots to boil eggs.

At one point during the trek, our guide stopped and pulled us all up onto the side of the gorge and led us on an exhaustive and somewhat terrifying walk/climb up the gorge wall to a viewpoint. We could see for miles over the gorge. It was a beautiful spot and we sat there to catch our breath and snapped some photos. The trek wrapped up with a walk down a road back to the gorge entrance. We took a snack break before getting back on our bikes. At this points, our butts were already bruised from the first half of the bike ride. This made getting back on the bikes a lot more difficult... and incredibly painful. Not more than 5 minutes into our ride, Deb and Milanne hitched a ride in a ranger vehicle to the gate. The rest of us were chugging along when they passed us from behind in the back of the truck. So we kept going, struggling with not just the pain in our asses, but the heat that got much worse now that we were at noon-hour.

The only thing that eased the pain during the ride was seeing the people just heading toward the gorge. They were only part-way in and already dripping in sweat. Once we reached the entrance gate, it was a lot better ride. The initial road that tortured us on our way in was a fun and easy ride to the highway. Except for the many small speed-bumps that jiggled and jolted every part of my body and didn't help with the bum problem either.

We made it back by 1:30pm to find Deb and Milanne back at our table from the night before. I laughed at Milanne's reaction when she saw us because they were surprised at how quickly we made it back. They seemed a bit nervous that we would be mad at them for ditching, but instead we took advantage and gloated a little bit for actually having finished to whole 30kms. (To Deb's credit, this was her second time around. So I guess that makes Milanne the biggest slacker).

After some relaxation at the restaurant and a much deserved Fanta, we gathered our things and headed back to Naivasha. We were told there weren't any shuttles so we had to take a matatu back to Nairobi. I took the window seat in the last row and was soon joined by a local man. He sat there quietly with his black plastic bag, until he decided it was show and tell. He reached in his bag and pulled out one of the many small fish he had with him. I was looking out the window but turned my head toward him when my nose caught the smell. The others turned around after hearing me yell, "Eww! Put that away!" I got a pity look from Justine but was left to deal with fish man all by myself. I was just happy I could breathe out the window and not be stuck with that smell.

I'm not sure what this man thought my reaction meant, but he was persistent. He told me I should let him listen to my music, but I said no. He asked me my name, and I pretended I couldn't hear him through my earphones. (Please note how extremely tired and exhausted I was at this point and was in no way in a mood to socialize. Especially with someone who just waved a dead fish in my face.) When I was shuffling through my bag for something, he noticed the muffins I had in my bag and told me I should give him one. I was about to tell him to screw off when I considered the fact that I hated those muffins and that's why they were still in my bag. Reluctantly, I handed them over. This kept him quiet for a good little while as I sat there hoping he wasn't riding with me all the way to Nairobi. Fortunately he got off about 20kms outside of Nairobi. Before he got off, he asked me what the tube was coming out of my backpack. I told him it was attached to a pouch of water inside my bag and was getting ready for him to tell me I should give him a sip of water as well... surprisingly he didn't.

Babies and Proposals

Today was mobile testing day and we headed into the neighbouring town of Kitengela. It was another hot and sunny day, but we were able to get over 40 people at last count. I was asked by one man if I was married (I lied and said yes to put an end to the conversation) and Milanne was asked by another man if he would marry her. If they ask us who our husband is, we all point to Josh... somedays, he has up to 5 wives. Justine wears a decoy ring on her finger and we're all thinking of following her lead.

I spent a good part of the afternoon chatting with some business men who were sitting on a bench under a tree. It was their office, one man told me. They are in the construction business and supply materials. They sit there all day and people just know they are there. There is one cell phone for the 6 or 7 men and customers call if they need anything. A bit of a different corporate culture than I'm used to.

Milanne and I kept chatting with them and that's when we got another type of proposal. They asked us if we would like to have a piece of land in Kenya and build a house so we could move to Kenya and become permanent residents. I jokingly said that I would only if they made sure it had A/C... they didn't get the sarcasm and proceeded to tell me how common air conditioning is in their homes (not that I've had the pleasure of seeing this yet). When we said we would miss our families too much, they said they could fly back and forth to visit us because it's not that far. This is when I asked them how long they thought it took us to get to Kenya from Canada. The man next to me said 3 hours, and I wondered if he had even been on a plane or looked at a map. When I told him it was more like 20 hours of flying on 3 different planes, I think he understood that visits are a little challenging. Their last attempt involved going on about how Obama is from Kenya and he is supposed to visit this year. Not much of an argument when we live an hour away from the US border, and also... don't really care.

After our entertaining conversation wrapped up, Milanne, Debra, and I headed over to Kitengela Medical Services to visit Lynda. She's a 19 year-old girl youth from the centre and had a baby boy on the 16th named Cedric.

The night before she delivered him, Josh got the call that she was having contractions. She went to a clinic in Mlolongo and the man there said there was nothing to worry about since her water hadn't broken yet and he sent her back home. So Josh, Katie, and Evayo (from the youth centre) took her and her sister Karen to Kitengela where actual doctors work. Nothing much happened that night and it wasn't likely that she was going to deliver anytime soon. She spent the night there and Josh, Katie, and Debra headed back the next day. This is when all the fun started...

From what I've been told, it was a stressful and confusing day. Lynda was about 6 or 7 centimetres dilated by late afternoon when the doctor approached Katie and the others to suggest that she needed a C-section. No one was allowed in the room to see her at this point and since Katie was the one closest to Lynda, it ended up being her in charge of making the decision. They had already paid the regular fees for Lynda to deliver at the hospital, but the cesarean they said was necessary was going to be 30,000 KES (about $400 Canadian). Cash only hospital.

At this point, there was no way of knowing if she really needed the C-section or not. They may have just been saying it to get the money from the Muzungu who were with this girl at the hospital. It's been proven to us many times here that white person = money, and some will try to take full advantage in order to fill their own pockets. We also have no idea if the C-section really cost 30,000 KES - but it was decided it wasn't a decision worth risking, even if they were being duped.

Since no one had that kind of cash on them, Katie and Josh had to trek from the medical centre which is down a dirt road, about 30 minutes away from Kitengela's centre, to find an ATM to take out the cash. Obviously an expense none of us expected or budgeted for. Fortunately, Katie's mom is helping out, as well as one of her co-workers, and Josh's parents.

I'm glad I wasn't there that evening from some of the stories Deb recounted. She said that night made her more grateful than ever to have been born in Canada... and to have delivered her children at a hospital in Canada. Lynda's supposed to get out of the hospital tomorrow and will be staying with us for the next little while. So looks like we'll have a little mtoto living with us for a couple weeks.

Deb, Milanne, Katie, Justine, and I are headed to Hell's Gate tomorrow for a night. We'll be doing a cycling trek through the national park up to the gorge where we'll hike through. It's going to be an exhausting day because we're heading back Sunday night because Justine starts a job in Nairobi on Monday. She's the English teacher for 3 kids of a wealthy French family who have been living in Nairobi for a couple years.

School time

Yesterday morning, I headed to the centre with Meghan for another grant proposal meeting. It went very well and looks like it should be wrapped up by next week. After the meeting ended, the rest of the volunteers showed up to the centre and we got ready to do some pre-visits to schools in Mlolongo and surrounding areas.

These pre-visits are to set up weekly in-school education sessions to teach kids in both primary and secondary about various topics related to HIV/AIDS. However, our dependence on electricity put a bit of a kink in our plan. We had divided into two groups with 2 local youth and 3 Muzungu. One group was to visit the Mlolongo schools and the other was to go to the neighbouring town of Athi River. We had a USB stick with a letter and form for us to give to the schools, but when we went to the printers they were unable to print us copies because the power had been out for several hours. Instead, the group going to Athi River took one of the youth, Patrick, with them and got the papers printed out there and he met the rest of my group back in Mlolongo about an hour later.

Once we were all set, Patrick and another youth, Mwende, headed to Mlolongo Primary with myself, Milanne, and Justine. The school is across the three lanes of highway from the centre of Mlolongo. As we crossed the schoolyard, we started to gather a following. It's amusing to see their excitement and curiosity, though some of them seem almost nervous about what we might do next. They follow us and whisper to each other. I can't help but laugh at the ones who boldly jump in front of us or run after us shouting, "Muzungu! Muzungu!". Often, I'll reach out my hand and one of them will press their hand to mine. Their eyes will go big and look of bewilderment crosses their faces.

The schoolyard of Mlolongo Primary is quite vast. It is bordered on two sides by the L-shaped school. The highway makes up the third side, then the last border blends into the yard of St. Augustine, a secondary school. The school looks quite similar to the houses in the slums because the walls are made up of the same corrugated tin. Though fortunately, the schools seems to be in much better shape and at least have a concrete foundation.

We met with the head teacher in the very small secretary's office. As we were waiting for her to arrive, we watched some boys wrestling just outside where we were. Well, at least we thought they were play-wrestling until one little boy started getting beat on. He started to cry and Justine ran over to comfort him. At that moment, I heard my mom's voice in my head saying what she always says when she hears a little kid cry, "Ohhhh. Make them stop crying." Once he felt better, it seemed as though he realized a Muzungu was holding him and went into a fit of giggles.

From what I could tell by the record sheets on the walls of the secretary's office, the school has approximately 800-1000 students in grades 1 through 8. They keep records of their average scores per grade in every subject for the past 10 years or so on their wall. There is a tally of their total overall score followed by a ranking. They consistently rank either 3rd or 4th every year, though I am not sure out of how many.

After a successful meeting with the head teacher, where it was decided we would visit every Wednesday starting next week, we crossed the schoolyard to St. Augustine Secondary. There we were introduced by Patrick to his father, a maintenance man for the school who was in the middle of painting door frames when we met him. There weren't many students around because class let out at 4pm and it was already a quarter past. Though there were still a few kids lingering around in one of the classrooms when I peeked my head in.

The classroom was large with a high ceiling and was filled with roughly 40 wooden desks. The beige walls and concrete floor made the room feel barren. There was a classic chalk board at the front of the room and nothing on the walls. The room was lit only by sunlight coming through the many windows. There aren't any hallways in this school because the doors lead directly outside. I only saw about 5 or 6 classrooms. The primary school was similar, though the rooms were much smaller and there must have been at least a dozen.

We spoke with a woman at the secondary school who was very receptive and we will be making weekly visits there as well. Once we said goodbye, we headed back across the yard toward the highways just as the primary school was letting out. A flood of children in blue uniforms spread across the yard toward the road. Everyday, these kids have to cross the highways of large semis and speeding matatus. I held my breath as we crossed the roads with them.

It was too late at this point to visit more schools before all the teachers were heading home. So we called it a day and made plans to meet at 9am to visit a couple more schools this morning, which we did today. They were also successful in Athi River with Meghan, Andrew, and the two youth, Oscar and Nancy. On one of their visits, Meghan was questioned for long time by the headmaster on Canada. Their conversation went so well that it moved over to a cafe in Kitengela where Meghan and Andrew needed to go to catch a matatu back to Mlolongo. They spent another couple of hours there and didn't make it back to the house until we were all eating dinner around 7:30pm. I'm not sure what type of visits they agreed upon for that school, but seems like Meghan's got an in with the headmaster now, so I'm assuming their goal was accomplished.

It rained again last night so the streets were still quite mucky. It's interesting navigating the streets with such a wet and slippery surface. We longer care about dodging the piles of garbage as they are sometimes our only way to avoid getting a shoe full of brown water and mud. Though it has cooled off, we still seem to sweat quite a bit on our walks but it's more likely that it's from the stress of trying not to wipe out in pile of mud.

Thundah!!!

Not much to report in these past couple of days except that it rained!!! It was amazing. It rained all day yesterday and we even had some thunder and lightning in the afternoon. It's been so refreshing to have rain to cool us down and to get rid of all the dust and dryness in the air. It stopped in the evening when Katie, Justine, and Milanne whipped up an amazing stir-fry dinner that made me feel like I was right back home or at a Mongo's restaurant. Then as I was lying in bed struggling to fall asleep, I saw a flash of lightning, followed by the sound of intense, rumbling thunder. About a minute later, the light rain turned into a full-on downpour. I loved it. I fell asleep pretty quickly after that.

It was a very low-key weekend. I didn't do much outside the house for the past 3 days. It was my last chance to relax and get ready for the next 3 weeks of travelling. I'll be doing regular volunteer stuff during the weeks and we have weekend trips planned for the next 3 weeks. Hell's Gate gorge this weekend, then a place called Fourteen Falls for one night of camping, then we plan to spend 3 or 4 days in Kakamega Rainforest which is a 10 or 11 hour bus ride, oi. Then my special visitor from home will be landing in Kenya once I get back from the rainforest, then it's safari time! Followed by some relaxation at the beach... then before I know it, I'll be hopping on a plane to India. It's all started to go by so fast now that I'm in the swing of things and more stuff is happening.

I realized the other day that I am actually making a complete circle around the earth. From Winnipeg to Kenya, to India, then to Malaysia/Thailand etc., then from Hong Kong, I head back to Canada via Vancouver, and finally back home to Winnipeg.

Birthdays, bad news, and a full house

It’s been a short but busy week, I can’t believe it’s already Friday. I got back from Diani in the wee hours Tuesday morning, caught about 3 hours of sleep then headed to the centre for a grant proposal meeting. Myself, Meghan from Halifax, and 4 of the local youth have been assigned the task of writing a proposal to a few Kenyan organizations for grants to extend the current project being run out of the centre. After the meeting, Meghan and I headed back to the house to catch up on our sleep and then Meghan baked a cake for Josh’s birthday, which was the following day.

Wednesday was quite eventful. It was an outreach day, so we headed to the centre around noon to find out where we were going. We headed to a small slum about 2 kms from the centre called Kicheko. It was a rough walk through dusty fields and roads. Lots of trucks were driving by, kicking up dust. I’m curious what my lungs look like after spending all this time in Mlolongo.

We did the outreach in Kicheko, but while the play was going on, Milanne decided to head back because she wasn’t feeling well. I walked back with her and Beautiful, who was already exhausted from the walk to the slum. As we were walking away from the slum, I noticed a huge cloud of smoke behind us. There were three factories to the left of the slum and the middle one was on fire. We saw huge flames jutting out of the roof and it was only a matter of seconds until we heard the sirens coming from the highway. People were running in our opposite direction to check out the fire as we headed back to the house.

By 5pm, everyone except for Josh, Justine, and the Danes were back. Meghan went to go ice the cake only to find it had been infested with ants. They were crawling in and out of every little crevice of the cake. So she put that one aside and whipped up a new one from scratch. Salima put the cake on the stove to chase the ants out with the heat. Once it looked like they were all gone, she tried a piece. So did a few others... I abstained.

Salima made chapati and lentils, Josh’s favourite, for dinner and Don grilled some chicken with barbecue sauce. We blended margaritas with the little ice we were able to make, but they melted almost immediately, so our efforts were futile. After dinner, we lit the cake and gave Josh his present - a traditional African shirt. The cake was delicious and had no ants... bonus.

At this point, we were 18 people in the house at once. It was packed. Only one person wasn’t staying overnight. We had the 15 people from the previous night, plus Rachel - a friend of Josh’s who needed a place to crash for one night - and Alice. I felt terrible for Alice - she is the 15 year-old cousin of a girl that Josh is sponsoring to go to school. Alice’s parents contacted Josh to ask if they could sponsor her as well. He told them he couldn’t unfortunately, because he didn’t have the budget to support her as well. Well somewhere along the way, they either didn’t understand or chose not to listen. They enrolled Alice in school and sent her alone on a 6-hour bus ride to deliver the tuition papers to Josh. He would have also had to take her to a doctor to get a physical and buy her the school uniform - none of which he has the funds for. He had to tell her he wasn’t able to pay for her school, let her stay the night, and then sent her back on the bus with the return fare in hand. It was heartbreaking.

So Alice left yesterday (Thursday) morning. That evening, Rob (Josh’s cousin) and his friend Don left to head back to Winnipeg, along with Rachel who was going to meet her mom at the airport and travel some more with her. So we’re back down to 13 people and only one person sleeping on the floor. The two Danish girls leave on Monday then we’ll be back to our usual 11... I wonder if the house will start to feel empty?

This morning, Meghan and I headed back to the centre for a 9am meeting with the rest of the grant proposal group. Of course, we’re on Kenya time here, so the meeting didn’t start until almost 9:30, but we got all the feedback we needed and now I’m working on the budget part of the proposal. The plan is essentially to expand the HIV testing and education services in terms of the amount of testing we’re doing in one area, and also expanding the geographical reach. We also plan to add a Saturday “youth drop-in” sort of thing to get more youth involved with the centre and to simultaneously educate them about HIV, etc.

Our water tank is almost empty. Understandable, seeing the amount of people we've had through the house in the past week. But showers are now off limits... I normally only take one every 3-4 days to help conserve the water and today was supposed to be one of those days... We have to wait for the public water to turn on and refill our tank, but there's no particular schedule to that, so we'll see when that happens. I just hope I brought enough baby wipes in the meantime.

Diani Beach

I spent the weekend in Diani Beach on the east coast of Kenya. The Indian Ocean was lined by an expansive white sand beach that saw no end. The sand was so fine, it coated my skin in such a thin layer that only came off after a good, long shower. The water was clear and beautiful. It was warm like bathwater so we sat for hours in the shallow tide enjoying the sun and breeze and our surroundings.

We left late Friday night from Nairobi. We headed into town for dinner at Tacos, yet again, then took the 10 o'clock bus into Mombasa. We arrived before sunrise and arranged a shuttle that took us from Mombasa, on a short ferry ride to Ukunda, then finally driving us another 20 or 30 kilometers to our place, Diani Beachalets.

The chalets were fairly rustic, but did the trick for $10/person per night. We had 2 cabins next to each other and right on the end of L-shape of cabins, so we had ocean-view and a wraparound porch to enjoy. There were 10 of us all together - the usual volunteer crew from Winnipeg including myself, Milanne, Josh, Debra, Katie & the east-coasters Andrew and Meghan. We also had Josh and Katie's friend Justine who has been volunteering in Tanzania since September - who coincidentally enough, sat next to Milanne's dad on the first leg of her flight leaving Winnipeg on her way to Tanzania... I love Winnipeg connections. The last two of our crew are Melissa and Mathilde, two Danish girls from the same volunteer house as Justine. It was quite the group.

We spent Saturday morning sitting or sleeping on the benches of an outdoor restaurant that wasn't exactly open yet. By 10am, we were allowed to check in so made ourselves at home and hit the beach. We bought a bunch of groceries to keep ourselves nourished for the weekend and several bottles of booze to help us stay somewhat oblivious to the sweltering heat. We had to make sure our doors were closed at all times otherwise the monkeys would come into our kitchen and steal our food. They did manage to steal a package of dry spaghetti in the first hour, though I can't imagine it was very enjoyable.

We relaxed all Saturday. Katie and I walked a good length of the beach, and being the future marine biologist of the group, I learnt more about marine life in that hour than I've known my whole life. We saw sea urchins on the rocks and crabs scurrying across the sand. Beach boys walked the shore and would not stop talking to anyone. They're there to do anything for money essentially. Some of them work for the snorkeling boats and try to recruits passengers, others do other things... I'll let your own minds wander.

Saturday night, we made a big group dinner - spaghetti and tomato sauce. It was quite delicious. I was so worn out from the overnight bus and the sun and heat, that I was in bed by 8pm. I was quickly followed by 3 or 4 of the others.

Sunday was much like Saturday, except we went out for dinner down the beach. Some of us were going to go to The Cave, a restaurant hidden down into a coral cave with incredible 5-star food at Africa prices. Unfortunately, they had no tables, so we headed to the sister restaurant next door, Forty Thieves. Our table was right on the beach and we got our fill of some favourites from home: pasta, pizza, burgers, and salads with actual lettuce instead of the typical Kenyan cabbage salads. It was great. I lasted a little bit longer that night. I didn't go to bed until 10:30... only because that's when our cab dropped us off at our cabin.

Monday morning, we checked out of the Beachalets and got a glass-bottom boat that took us around the area and to a sand bar several yards out into the ocean, just before the tide breaks. We got to snorkel with some fish and eel and coral. It was just as horrible as I expected it to be. Breathing under water... not quite my thing. Fish, seaweed, and creepy slimy things popping out of rocks... really not my thing. I lasted about 90 seconds and 3 dunks of the head under the surface before I looked at Deb and asked her if she wanted to head to the sand bar. And we were off.

We lounged on the sand bar for a bit and passed a bag of wine around the circle. Somehow we ended up playing duck-duck-goose and attracted some attention from the other boats. Even a couple elderly German folk took a swig from our bag.

When our time was up, we loaded back into the boat and headed for shore. I got to lay up on the top of the boat and enjoy the breeze and view. Now boats... that's more my thing. The day wrapped up with lunch then burned up the last hour or so on the beach before catching a matatu back to Mombasa, where we went for dinner then caught the 10pm bus back to Nairobi. Luckily, we pass Mlolongo on the way back, so we were able to get dropped off right outside our compound instead of doubling back. We got back just after 5am. I'm still a little weary from the ride and lack of solid sleep. So it's lights out for me now. 'night.

Religion in Kenya

Kenya is primarily a Christian country with about 3/4 of the population either Protestant or Roman Catholic. This is quite apparent throughout the country, especially along the road and on cars. As we drive into Nairobi, cars and matatus are littered with bumper-stickers and decals proclaiming "It's in God's hands" and "God is in the driver's seat." While it is not uncommon to see displays of Christianity back home, far from it actually, the most disturbing thing is the extreme literal belief a lot of people here have in those sayings. As if they could let go of the steering wheel, and it would be up to God to decide where they would end up. I sometimes get nervous about this when riding in a matatu or a cab, wondering if someone feels like testing this theory.

There is a prayer day before exam sittings for high school students here. They meet up to pray to God to let them pass their exams. They believe that no matter how hard they study, it is up to God to decide whether or not they succeed.

My biggest issue is lack of responsibility they have for their own actions. How do you educate a town about HIV protection when they believe it is up to God whether or not they will be cursed by it? That is what many think HIV is, a curse. While in Nairobi the other day, Josh bought a four-page pamphlet entitled "How to Recognise (sic) and Expel Demons". There are several similar pamphlets that can be purchased for 30 shillings at any newsstand. I will post their contents later on, as they are really quite remarkable.

The other implication we face is the government and society's views on how HIV is spread. Many refuse to acknowledge the true cause and effect of this epidemic. Sex with multiple people spreads HIV, men buy sex from sex workers, both male and female, and people cheat. Instead, politicians and leaders believe if Kenya was a better Christian nation and more God-fearing, they would not have 25% of their population infected with HIV and AIDS. So the solution becomes prayer and not prevention or education, or any tangible method of

All this religious propaganda has only increased my belief that religions have skewed the essence of spirituality. It is not about what we as individuals choose to believe, but what the religious "leaders" decide what it is we should do and believe. Maybe someone can explain to me how these people are chosen and what makes them entitled to speak on behalf of whatever God may or may not exist, because I simply just don't understand it.

I see religion in Kenya as a major part of what is holding them back from better health and standard of living. But that's just my belief, your's may be different and who am I to say you are wrong?

Sleep in

I wake up this morning with the sun in my eyes - a first of the past two weeks. Normally I'm up around six, just as the sky starts to get light. I prop a pillow up against the window to block the rays from my eyes and sleep for another half hour until I hear the roosters in the compound crow. Salima is awake and making chai, so I pour myself a cup. I love chai. It's the Swahili word for tea, but they make it differently than back home. She boils equal parts of milk and water until it bubbles. Then throws in a spoonful of loose Kenyan black tea leaves (back home, this is the type that we would call Chai Tea) and lets it simmer. Sometimes, she will throw in a bit of ginger. After a few minutes, its ready to go. She pours the steaming liquid into a large thermos through a strainer. I fix myself a cup with a spoonful of sugar and head to the living room with a banana and a bowl of yogurt & muesli and do my usual morning checks on the internet; email, facebook, news, etc. We finally have internet inside the house, so I don't have to go sit on the concrete in the back.

Around 10:45, six of us head up the road toward the matatu stage to head to Nairobi. The hill out of the compound seems much more difficult today as pains shoot up my leg to my bad knee, a sign of our two-day hiatus. I'm starting to enjoy matatu rides. With the exception of the occasional brush with death and the stuffy heat while in a traffic jam, I like to sit back and enjoy the ride down Mombasa Road and into Nairobi with music playing in my ears.

We book our bus tickets for Friday night to take us 7 hours away to Mombasa, where we will catch a matatu to the east coast; Diani Beach on the Indian Ocean. Its almost 1pm by the time we get the tickets, so we head back to Tacos for lunch. After eating, Josh and I split up from the group since we were the only two heading back to Mlolongo. We make a pitstop so I can get the passport photos I need for my Indian tourist visa. I need to go back into Nairobi later this week to drop off my application at the Indian Embassy.

I'm starting to get a pretty good feel of Nairobi, at least the streets that I need to know. I still don't enjoy being there. It's just another big city, except it's really hot and the people walk incredibly slow. Unlike many of the other major cities I've been to, Kenyans don't like to bump or push. They carefully walk around each other, avoiding contact. Should they happen to slip and knock a passerby's shoulder, an apology immediately follows. Kenyan also like to apologize for everything. If I were standing on the sidewalk with an ice cream cone in my hand and the ice cream fell off, someone would surely say sorry. Today I tripped over a piece of styrofoam while walking through Mlolongo and a trucker called out from his parked semi, "Sorry, sorry!" It's actually quite amusing and its becoming a joke between us in the house.

Salima's making chapati and lentils for dinner tonight.