Jambo!

Jambo! Holly here. I have been in Kenya for only four days but I already feel as if I have been here for many weeks. The rhythm of the days are very easy to adjust to. Each morning I wake up to the sound of dozens of different bird calls as well as chickens, cows and of course the rooster who thinks that 5 o’clock in the morning is the perfect time to start crowing. Not an engine or siren to be heard. It is a very nice way to wake up, we rise with the sun here. The food here is very very good too. Some of the staples here are tea (a delicious, locally grown tea that tastes like chai), ugali (the favourite food here, a white corn-meal food with the consistency of very dense mashed potatoes) and chicken, taken from Priscilla’s own backyard - it is the best chicken I have ever tasted. My hopes to lose weight so far have been dashed, my only chance is the fact that I have yet to eat an actual dinner here as the first night I was sick to my stomach, the second night I felt sick again and the third night I was too full from lunch! I have been told that the food in Kima will not be nearly as good as this though, so I must enjoy while I can!

The last two days have been spent playing with the students, learning hand games and playing football. Yesterday Monique gave all of the students a lesson in oral hygiene, and each student was given their own toothbrush. As we were about to go home for dinner, a little boy came up to us crying, one eye completely swollen shut. He said he’d been stung by a bee. We took him home where he quickly became feverish, so we gave him some medicine and put him to bed. When we saw him again this morning, not only had the swelling not gone down but his other eye was swollen as well! We took him to the hospital today where the doctor gave him a few shots and some more medicine so hopefully he will be better tomorrow! It was a bit frustrating, because in Canada it would have been a short fifteen-minute drive to the clinic, but here it took a whole day to get him treated!

We also presented Priscilla with the cheque for the money we raised from all the donations…$5000. This money is enough to buy them a milk cow, a chicken coop, meals for several months and allows them to finish the indoor toilets for the dormitories. This is extremely important for them, because it is not safe for the kids to go outside at night to use the toilets, so they just wet their beds!

Class 8 started their exams today and no one is allowed on the compound at that time (to give you an idea of how seriously these exams are taken, the exam papers are brought in a van with a police escort) so at 7 o’clock all of the other students showed up at Priscilla’s house. Uncle Paul taught them “We are the Champions”’ and they taught us some Swahili songs! We played football (again), did crosswords with them and danced. The girls also plaited my hair! I feel as if I’ve been initiated. They asked a LOT of questions about Canada too, they are so interested in everything about our lives! The fact that I’m still in high school impresses them greatly, as they are not aware that high school is free and you don’t need to pass an exam to be enrolled. We gave them a “Canadian lunch” today… peanut butter and jam sandwiches. I was surprised we could find peanut butter here! They liked it a lot, probably because it’s so sweet. I think that we are about to have dinner as the table is being set around me. Will write later!