Week #6...learn something new every day

Six down, one more to go and I can't even believe that I move on to Tanzania a week from Saturday!! Time is really flying, but I just wanted to update you all on my past week and how much I learned these past couple of days...Community football (soccer) at the orphanage and swimming were both cancelled on Monday due to rain...football was instead held on Wednesday--had a blast...those kids really give you a run for your money!! The GI system is back to normal, thank goodness. Tuesday was the day I learned how grateful I am for the American postal service...picking up 2 packages in the city took pretty much all day, between customs, the bank, and waiting in several lines at the actual post office and getting numerous stamps on various forms and paperwork...aye caramba!! But the contents were well worth it...my housemates are loving American junk food between the Girl Scout cookies and Hershey's chocolate (as the packages were for Valentine's Day), and we're planning a whole carnival/party day at the orphanage for next week with the other goodies!! Wednesday I got my blood drawn at the hospital, and my levels are right where they should be...just have to keep plugging away with the daily warfarin, and I return to the doctor on Friday the 9th, right before I fly out to Tanzania, with a 6-week supply of blood thinners and hopefully an INR machine (which is still stuck at customs). Thursday I returned to Hidden Talents, the school I've been visiting once a week, and learned that I should stick to teaching science, as the art lesson we tried to teach did not go so well. Portraits can be a tricky thing sometimes...

Today was simply fantastic, wonderful, awesome, one of my best days here so far! I started the day at Dagoretti Youth Center, a school where one of our volunteers is currently teaching. On Friday mornings, they have what's called PPI, or pastoral programming initiative. Basically, each class has it's own praise and worship hour!! Picture 30 kids crammed into a 12 foot by 12 foot classroom, multiplied by 8, one room right after the other, singing "Awesome God" with African chanting, drumming, and dancing and you've got it!! We could hear the kids from the main street and as we walked the quarter mile to the school! It was awesome!! I have some great video I can't wait to share when I get home! We then met with one of the women from the community that lives not too far from the school, and it was just amazing to sit and have fresh mango juice with this woman who was so generous, gracious, and welcoming, teaching us some Kiswahili, and sharing her experiences and life story. She reminded me that even though not every African has AIDS, every African is affected by it. Both her sister and brother have died from the disease, and her sister's two children are both infected. She was so inspiring as she relayed to us her faith in God, and the fact that she has seen conditions improve as the media, schools, and churches all come together to educate society about the disease. I then went with another volunteer to the Bridgeway Centre, also in Dagoretti, which is a community-based organization whose main objective is to empower adults, orphans, and vulnerable children in the surrounding slum of Kawangware, through education on basic life skills, vocational training, income generating activities training, and HIV/AIDS education, focusing on behavior modification and capacity building. It was absolutely amazing to talk with the people in charge of this program, who have taken over at the grassroots level where the non-governmental organizations have failed to reach the communities most affected by poverty and AIDS. And then as we were leaving, we met one of the "beneficiaries" of the center, who started coming to the center as a teen-age orphan, and is now completing her degree in business management and administration with the help of a community sponsor, and hopes to land a good job with a bank, and then become a sponsor herself to another vulnerable child. The positive cycles created by this one young woman are incredible when I consider what I have seen here...the environment that she has come from where poverty and a viscious disease eat away at the souls, hopes and dreams of most of the people I pass by walking the streets of the slums each and every day. She is just one of many shining lights in this community as a result of this incredible center and I was blessed to have met her and the people at the center, even just briefly.

I finished the day by trying my hand at bargaining at the huge market in Kawangware, which is held every Tuesday and Friday. You name it, it's probably for sale...reminded me a great deal of Cowtown, for those folks at home, except for the huge tables piled high with sardines...? Another volunteer had raised funds from her coworkers back home, and had decided to purchase shoes for all the kids at the orphanage. Bartering for about 30 pairs of shoes was quite exhausting! Key points I learned: never appear too interested, always mention you don't want the "mzungu" or white person's price, as it's usually double, and finally, walking always helps to bring the price down by at least 200 shillings. But after 2 1/2 hours, we walked out of there Kikuyu style with the bags containing 30 pairs of shoes slung over our shoulders! It was great!!

And the big news of the week...I have received my placement for Arusha, Tanzania, where I will be going next, switching programs and going from i-to-i to Cross Cultural Solutions. I have been placed with an NGO (non-governmental organization) called Kitumosote, which means "we have discovered" in Kiswahili. I will be working with the Maasai people of Tanzania, the main objectives of the program being to facilitate women's empowerment and educational opportunities, as well as strengthening the Maasai people's capacity for self-determination through education and training, in the main tenets of their existing culture, which involve conserving indigenous resources and creating environmental awareness. Sounds like a lot, but I'm really excited to get started and learn more about this culture of tribal warriors!! This was also my first choice, and I will be among the first CCS volunteers at this placement!