"A civilized society is one which struggles to make the world better for its children."
Stephen Kline
So the most interesting news recently is that we have a new addition to the house! Graham Sherk is the fourth UFV intern that got to come to Kenya this summer. He has a wedding to attend at the end of the summer, so in order to be here as long as possible, he left 9 days before we did, which means he found out he was going and was on a plane a week later! We thought 16 days was quick! He was placed in Kisumu, which is in western Kenya, with an organization called Village of Hope. While we girls were stuck here in Nairobi with nothing to do after dark, Graham was in Kisumu with nothing to do EVER. While the Village of Hope is an amazing organization, the work Graham was given to do was not what he was expecting for his summer internship. After a few weeks in Kisumu, he decided to try and come down to Nairobi and find a more hands-on work placement.
This led him to the Kenya Comfort Suites, where we had an extra bed and a desperate need for some testosterone. So for the time being, we have become a household of four, which is just that much more fun than three. He took the other single bed in my room, which works out pretty perfectly: he and I get up early, the girls like to sleep in. We had thought it might be weird living with a boy, but other than keeping fully dressed when lounging around the house now, it’s really pretty normal. So far he’s been the ideal house guest: he helps with the dishes, and he made us breakfast yesterday morning. We have decided that if he wants to, he can stay with us for July as well. It cuts down on how much we all pay for rent, and it’s even more fun around the house now. The more the merrier! We tease him that he’ll appreciate his girlfriend even more when he gets home after living with us three crazy girls all summer!
The addition of a new roommate leads to many new, fun roommate activities. For instance, taxi rides are much more fun now. Imagine Graham cranking the radio in a taxi and dancing and singing out the window: “Celebrate good times...Come on!!” to the shock and amusement of locals on the street. He has also developed some Swahili catchphrases that he uses on an average of every 8 minutes all day long: “Jambo, my friend. How are you? Jambo sana!” The strangest roommate moment yet happened when he begged me to shave the hair on the back of his neck because it was getting to long and driving him crazy. Yep, there are certainly no boundaries in our house!
He came with us to the orphanage Friday and Saturday, the boys LOVED him. He played football (soccer) with them nonstop for hours, they couldn’t have been happier. Things at the orphanage are actually going really well. I was feeling a little unhappy with our placement there after the first week. While we wanted to work there once a week when it was convenient, we sort of got roped into a two-day a week ironclad commitment that I absolutely cannot do. There is work that I have to do for Cherie, a huge paper that I need to research and write, and internship course work that I have to do aside from all of my projects at the Scout office. As well, we have meetings and commitments while Cherie is here for the next month, all of which fall on our days at the orphanage. I was really resenting the fact that they were telling me that I had to be at the orphanage, since I am volunteering my time there. I feel like when you are giving freely of yourself, you should be welcomed graciously, instead of being pressured.
However, I thought a lot about the situation before we went this past weekend, and realized that it really isn’t about Pastor Simon and his wife and how they are acting about the situation (and to be totally fair, 99% of the time, they are completely amazing, but this situation really did make me very irritated). What it comes down to is the kids, and how much I want to be there for them. While working with kids is not my ideal work placement, I can do it because of how happy it makes them. When we see their faces light up when we arrive, I know it’s totally worth any stress I feel about my other obligations.
We are actually teaching classes there, which I was not expecting. I have Class 2, which are 9 kids aged 9-11. Most of them speak English relatively well. We do English and Math and Science. I never understood how difficult it is to teach! I have such a newfound respect for teachers (ESPECIALLY elementary school teachers). When you understand a simple concept like addition, it is hard to explain it so that they can understand as well. I am really struggling with how difficult it is, anyways. It is even worse when their English isn’t perfect. On top of that, it’s hard to determine what they have and haven’t learned thus far. As far as actually standing there teaching them, it is very frustrating. They each have a little notebook and one “pencil”, which basically means a tiny little chewed stub that has been sharpened at each end until you can barely even get a grip on it because it is too small. We brought little pencil sharpeners, and every time I try to say anything to the class, someone else is hollering for me to sharpen their pencil, so class moves very slowly. The write so slowly and carefully, making their printing as small as possible in order to save paper. Things were even worse in Natalie’s classroom. Her students are the oldest class, and some of the students were actually doing their math calculations up and down their arms with pen just to save the paper in their notebooks. Her classroom is really just a closet, and with no electricity and only one window facing towards an outside hallway, so whenever the sun goes behind a cloud, her classroom goes too dark to even see.
While the students are pretty decent at paying attention during lessons, they love colouring and games the most. I brought a big pad of blank paper and crayons; they think its great fun. Instead of doing a proper lesson on Friday for Science class, I gave them each a paper and told them to draw pictures of things that made them think of Science. Then we taped all of the colourful pictures to the walls, and discussed each item they drew. It’s so nice to get a little colour onto the walls. I also played Hangman on the board with them the other day, they loved it! It’s really fun for them, but it also helps them practice their English.
The outdoor time is definitely the most fun though. We’ve taught them games like Red Rover and Duck Duck Goose, and they’ve taught us a lot of their games. We also play with skipping ropes and Frisbees. When we went on Saturday, we only had a few hours in the morning. Graham played soccer the entire time with the boys, and Natalie, Heather and I sat and sewed a whole pile of ripped clothes. The children kept coming up and taking off their torn sweaters, and we’d sew them up quickly, and they’d happily go back and play again. I enjoyed doing that so much. While the kids love when we sing and play games, you can’t actually measure the difference you are making. When you can actually see kids in proper clothing and know that you caused that, it feels so amazing. While the emotional nourishment that comes from interacting is certainly more important for the children, I feel so much better when I can see something tangible that we had done for the kids.
When they wash their dishes after lunch, they don’t even have proper dishcloths, they just use old pieces of burlap and plastic sacs. I am going to go to the shopping center and pick up needles and wool one day this week, and spend some time in the evenings knitting some proper dishcloths for them to use. Going to the orphanage is so much more physically and emotionally draining that I had imagined it would be. I had envisioned it as being so much fun, like my favourite day of the week. I didn’t expect how difficult it would be to be around rambunctious kids all day, and how tough it would be to see the poverty and need that is so prevalent there. However, I never expected this experience to be a breeze, and I think the difficulty I am facing when I head to the orphanage will get easier as I become more accustomed to the lifestyle. More than anything, the things I am seeing make me so much more grateful for the life I have, and I have so much more appreciation for all of the luxuries that we have at home.
-Delaney xo
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