We are sitting on the tarmack in Nairobi....waiting for the plane to depart. Yesterday we left the village, traveled to Kisumu, flew to Nairobi, were treated to a Kenyan meal with another member of our host family, and this morning left the hotel at 6am for our 9:30am flight. We will arrive in London late afternoon, stay the night and depart for the US first thing Sunday morning.
The week has been AMAZING!!!! Over the course of the week we taught 3 daysof communication skills to 40 students, 2 days to over 50 teachers and village leaders, visited families in their homes, facilitated the arrival of the generator (THANK YOU to all who supported the fund-raising for the generator!), enjoyed meeting new friends, spent time learning about a whole new world, and internalized an even greater realization of who we are as individuals, as a team, and as Americans.
It was reinforced how despite if one lives in the "Land of Opportunity" of America, or in a third world developing country such as Kenya...we are the same. People have the same communication fears...the same hopes and dreams for their futures.........the same desire for human kindness.
While working with the children, we discovered their goals of becoming teachers, doctors, engineers, lawyers and even one who has the desire to become the United Nations Secretary General. Josum's dream is to promote peace around the world. The teachers and children across the country of Kenya are busy trying to make up for the time lost from January to May when the country was going through such political strife and the children were not allowed to attend school. They are dedicated to their studies and to improving their lives.
Their greatest joy from the receipt of the generator is that they will be able to study at night......they cheered for the generator not to play electronic games, not to have lights to play games by, not to cook with electricity rather than the small fire....they cheered as they now will be able to study at night. Recently a kerosene lamp the children were using to study by after dark exploded...badly burning one of the children and harming several others. Yes...they cheered for the generator which will give them safe light.
Around our class time we tried to visit with the families as much as possible. One family we visited was a family with 8 children.....from my guess they were ages 1-14........living in a mud hut no more than 12x12 wide which contained a living 'area', a bedroom with one bed for the parents yet no mattress, and a cooking "pit" for fire. The mud walls are actually made of a combination of cow dung and mud......hardened like rock in the hot African sun. A storm was brewing and we knew the holes in the thatched roof would not hold out the rain. No toys were to be found....only a dirt floor, pots for cooking and a few pieces of broken wooden furniture. The mother pleaded with us to help her.......provide her a new home....to do anything we possibly could to help her and her children. It was so very difficult to turn and walk away.......
Many of the children at the school (grades K-12) are orphans.......we sat one evening and learned their stories. The school is the best place for them...especially for the girls. If a girl's parents both die - which many do from either Malaria or AIDS - often times her relatives will sell her to an older man to be his wife. Food is so very scarce here that another mouth to feed is a burden. As a result, the girls are often either married early or if they are orphans they are sold to be wives. The school boards many of the children while some go home every night......often walking 5-6 kilometers to get home. A long-term goal for the heads of the school is to be able to make the school into a full-time boarding school so that the orphans do not go home on weekends or holidays to either empty homes or homes of relatives and live in fear of being sent to live elsewhere. It is a dire situation.
We toured the dormitory facilities........again, bringing tears to our eyes. Two evenings it rained substantially the week we were there and it got cold enough for blankets on our beds.....I laid awake all night thinking of the children laying on foam mats on the dirt floors of the dormitory with no pillow, no blanket, no warmth or shelter from the cold rain.
In the classroom the children came alive. While hesitant at first, we soon had them chanting "I am a great leader!!".....they became loud, strong and filled with confidence! It was an amazing transformation to witness!!!
The graduation for the children was spectacular!! Each child received a certificate of achievement, a tee shirt with the "Let Your Life Speak" logo on it and a frisbee. While they initially thought the frisbee was a plate, we soon showed them how to fly them and they were thrilled!!!
It was hard to leave them as we walked away singing, "Na na na na...hey hey hey....good bye..........".......we were all in tears.....
~Glenna
The rest of the team will post their thoughts from the airport tomorrow....
The week has been AMAZING!!!! Over the course of the week we taught 3 daysof communication skills to 40 students, 2 days to over 50 teachers and village leaders, visited families in their homes, facilitated the arrival of the generator (THANK YOU to all who supported the fund-raising for the generator!), enjoyed meeting new friends, spent time learning about a whole new world, and internalized an even greater realization of who we are as individuals, as a team, and as Americans.
It was reinforced how despite if one lives in the "Land of Opportunity" of America, or in a third world developing country such as Kenya...we are the same. People have the same communication fears...the same hopes and dreams for their futures.........the same desire for human kindness.
While working with the children, we discovered their goals of becoming teachers, doctors, engineers, lawyers and even one who has the desire to become the United Nations Secretary General. Josum's dream is to promote peace around the world. The teachers and children across the country of Kenya are busy trying to make up for the time lost from January to May when the country was going through such political strife and the children were not allowed to attend school. They are dedicated to their studies and to improving their lives.
Their greatest joy from the receipt of the generator is that they will be able to study at night......they cheered for the generator not to play electronic games, not to have lights to play games by, not to cook with electricity rather than the small fire....they cheered as they now will be able to study at night. Recently a kerosene lamp the children were using to study by after dark exploded...badly burning one of the children and harming several others. Yes...they cheered for the generator which will give them safe light.
Around our class time we tried to visit with the families as much as possible. One family we visited was a family with 8 children.....from my guess they were ages 1-14........living in a mud hut no more than 12x12 wide which contained a living 'area', a bedroom with one bed for the parents yet no mattress, and a cooking "pit" for fire. The mud walls are actually made of a combination of cow dung and mud......hardened like rock in the hot African sun. A storm was brewing and we knew the holes in the thatched roof would not hold out the rain. No toys were to be found....only a dirt floor, pots for cooking and a few pieces of broken wooden furniture. The mother pleaded with us to help her.......provide her a new home....to do anything we possibly could to help her and her children. It was so very difficult to turn and walk away.......
Many of the children at the school (grades K-12) are orphans.......we sat one evening and learned their stories. The school is the best place for them...especially for the girls. If a girl's parents both die - which many do from either Malaria or AIDS - often times her relatives will sell her to an older man to be his wife. Food is so very scarce here that another mouth to feed is a burden. As a result, the girls are often either married early or if they are orphans they are sold to be wives. The school boards many of the children while some go home every night......often walking 5-6 kilometers to get home. A long-term goal for the heads of the school is to be able to make the school into a full-time boarding school so that the orphans do not go home on weekends or holidays to either empty homes or homes of relatives and live in fear of being sent to live elsewhere. It is a dire situation.
We toured the dormitory facilities........again, bringing tears to our eyes. Two evenings it rained substantially the week we were there and it got cold enough for blankets on our beds.....I laid awake all night thinking of the children laying on foam mats on the dirt floors of the dormitory with no pillow, no blanket, no warmth or shelter from the cold rain.
In the classroom the children came alive. While hesitant at first, we soon had them chanting "I am a great leader!!".....they became loud, strong and filled with confidence! It was an amazing transformation to witness!!!
The graduation for the children was spectacular!! Each child received a certificate of achievement, a tee shirt with the "Let Your Life Speak" logo on it and a frisbee. While they initially thought the frisbee was a plate, we soon showed them how to fly them and they were thrilled!!!
It was hard to leave them as we walked away singing, "Na na na na...hey hey hey....good bye..........".......we were all in tears.....
~Glenna
The rest of the team will post their thoughts from the airport tomorrow....
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