“I know not how I seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast shores of knowledge, every now and then finding a small bright pebble to content myself with while the vast ocean of undiscovered truth lay before me.”
Sir Issac Newton
The closer we get to home, the faster time is seeming to go. We only have two more days before we head to the beach, and that is basically the end of our summer. For the past few days, Nat and I have been breaking down in tears on an hourly basis! We've been having such a great time, its hard to imagine it coming to an end.
We had the most emotionally draining day of all time yesterday. We headed out to the orphanage at the crack of dawn to say goodbye to the kids. Since it was a Saturday, not all of them were there, which almost made it easier to say goodbye. When we got there, we all sung songs together inside for a few minutes, and then headed outside for one last play. A little skipping rope, soccer, the rock game, and cuddling, and then it was time for the heart wrenching goodbyes. We all headed into the main classroom, and Eunice started telling us about how much they appreciated our help this summer. She told the kids that it was no time for tears, and that hopefully, we'd get the chance to return some day.
Then, three of the older boys stood up to make little speeches. They talked about how grateful they were for the school supplies, the new games, and most importantly, the field trip. Nat and I were total wrecks. We remember how unnerving it was as a child to see an adult cry, and it truly took every ounce of strength in our bodies not to weep. We were both red eyed and sniffly for sure though. They asked us to say a few words, and Nat managed to thank the kids for all the great memories and the only thing I could choke out was to tell them they were the greatest kids in the world. Some of the kids were crying when we gave them hugs goodbye, and it was impossible not to cry a little bit along with them.
Then we gave Mama our presents for her. She lives at the center and cooks and cleans and takes care of all the children, and is the most beautiful, caring woman.
I had knitted her several dishclothes, since they currently wash dishes with old shreds of plastic sacs. Nat gave her a beautiful angel pin, since she is truly an angel, the way she takes care of these kids. By the time we got in the car, we were just crushed. We headed into town with Eunice and her kids (Deborah and Blessing), and went straight to their house, to get ready for a wedding!Last week, Pastor Simon invited us to come to a wedding at his Kibera church Saturday. So we headed from the orphanage to their house, where all the women were in a frenzy getting ready! It was pandemonium! Loud women, perfume being sprayed every which way, nails being painted, glitter being put on EVERYTHING! It was so much fun to be right in the thick of the atmosphere.
It was funny to see the different cultural perceptions of beauty. The womens hairstyles and makeup were about the furthest thing from what you might see at home, but you could tell how happy and beautiful everyone felt.Then the carried the bride down FOUR flights of stairs out to the car, with the bridesmaids singing and carrying on like you wouldnt believe. The bridesmaids, groomsmen and the groom all surrounded the car (with the bride inside) and sung for AGES before everyone piled into cars and headed to the church. Once we got there, everyone milled around in the parking lot for ages, before carrying the bride the long distance from the car to the church. Eunice and the Pastor were both involved in the service, so their daughter Deborah sat with me, and about twenty minutes into the service she fell asleep in my arms. I'm the first to admit I've never been too keen on kids, but with this beautiful girl asleep in my arms, I felt very...dare I say...maternal...?
It was so different from a wedding at home. We had to leave at 2:00, so we didn't get to stay for the whole ceremony, unfortunately. As long as we were there though, other than the fact that there was a bride and groom present, it didn't really feel different than a normal church service. We both left feeling rather unsettled. At home, weddings are all about the bride and the groom and how much they love each other and there was absolutly no mention of any of that yesterday. Here, every single marriage involves a dowry. As horrified as I was to find out that that occurs without question here, my colleagues are equally horrified that we don't have dowries (dowrys?) at home! They seem to think that people marrying just for love is a hilarious concept.
So after the wedding, we walked out of Kibera, and came upon a marketplace outside, selling clothes, fruit, electronics, and basically anything else you could imagine. I really wanted a pair of dark jeans for the party that night, but I have a HORRIBLE time buying jeans at home, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. I probably find a pair of jeans I like that fit well every year or two. So we walk up to this "store", which has about a million pairs of jeans hanging all over. I walked up, and the salesman came running over, and asked what I was looking for. When I told him, he stood back, took a good look at me, ran over to a rack, rifled through, pulled out a pair of jeans, and shooed me into the changeroom. They fit PERFECTLY. It was absolutely miraculous, almost as miraculous as the fact that they only cost $20. I told the man I was going to fly him back to Canada with me to be my personal stylist!!!
So Nat and I rushed home with our new jeans, and hurried to get ready for the party! Euloge, one of my colleagues from work, just graduated with his Master's degree in International Relations, so he was having a party to celebrate.
Nat and I got all dressed up and ready to go, and headed into town to meet Amos, another friend from work. The three of us walked to the house together, and joined the party. It was so nice to see everyone from work in a social setting! The partied then carried over to a restaurant right near our house. Nat and I had a wicked awesome time. The party had all the necessary ingredients: free flowing booze, dancing, attractive men, a healthy dose of drama, and lots of laughs. We woke up this morning feeling grosser than gross (the closest thing to a hangover that I've ever experienced for sure!) We dragged out aching selves out of bed and headed to the market, where I finally picked up the blanket that I ordered on comission from a lady weeks ago. Then we had a quick breakfast, and headed back to rest our pain away poolside. Sadly, the sun has disappeared behind unfriendly clouds, so now we are huddled in the lounge in the hotel enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon. Hard to imagine that a week from now, we'll be packing, getting ready for home!
-Delaney
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