When in Kenya, do as the Kenyans do

even if that means dancing around a football stadium in front of hundreds of Kenyans as a mzungu…more on that a bit further down.

On Wednesday, our team visited a youth group in Dondora (the largest dumping site in Nairobi), that makes briquettes out of paper and sawdust. They sell the briquettes to school food service programs for very cheap, which means more food for kids (shout out to Oma! although your food was much better, these kids were eating porridge (flour, water, and some sugar anyone?)). Seeing their process was very interesting and we even got to help them out a bit. A member of the group then took us to visit a school to see the briquettes being in use. We came right after lunch, so the kids (at least 200 of them) were just running around until classes started again. I don't think the area we were in is visited by many mzungus, because they treated me like a celebrity. Kids literally swarmed me, each wanting to just touch my hand, to check if it was real or something haha. I could barely move through them, and apparently they were all saying "she looks like the people on tv" in Kiswahili. Their smiles and energy were awesome. I'd love to go back and visit them! 

At night, Daisy, Molly and I went to a Kenyan Premier Football (soccer) game with three guys who work at CFK with us and live in Kibera. The stadium looked like a colosseum, and it was where the Kenyan Olympic trials were held a few days ago! As I was trying to take it all in, I noticed bands of Kenyans slowly moving around the football field with drums, dancing and cheering. Our friend David who we were with asked us if we wanted to go dance with them, and although Daisy and Molly looked at him like he was crazy, I figured I'd probably only be at a Kenyan football game once right? So I ran down to the group of people with him, and joined in. They started going crazy - a mzungu at a football game? and dancing with them? for the team that represented the poorer sector of Kenya? When we passed the section of the stands filled with people, tons of people stood up to take pictures of the mzungu dancing with the group. A young girl started bowing down to me, saying something in Swahili that meant she was praising me. It was weird, exciting, thrilling, and a one of a kind of experience. At half time, the dancing group of about 10 people grew to about 50, and Daisy, Molly, and Jeffrey joined David and I in dancing with them. This group was even crazier, and some guy gave me an African necklace haha. After that we just watched the rest of the game, went out for some food afterwards, and then went home. It was our first time being outside of our house after 6pm, so I finally got to see the moon and stars! Its too dangerous for Daisy and I to ever be out at night, but the three guys walked us home so we were okay.

Today, Thursday, we went into the city center to the University of Nairobi for some meetings. One professor we met with about our project was really encouraging, and reminded us that she loves learning everyday, from everyone, no matter who they are. Whether they live in a slum, or have multiple degrees, she looks for what she can learn from people. Ive definitely learned so much from everyone here, and I never want to close my mind off from someone just because of their social class or reputation. Its definitely a good mindset to have :)

I then spent an hour and a half at a bank trying to withdraw money…lets just say African standards of customer service are not much different from American. I've been pretty okay with running on KT (Kenyan Time) so far, until I had to deal with this today. Kenyans are basically always on KT. If we have a meeting at 10 am, it will actually start at 11 am. The only time they act American is when driving, they drive as fast as they can just to slam on their brakes, and speed up when someone is crossing the road in front of them (although sometimes people stop for Daisy and I if we are not crossing with any Africans, mzungu advantages). 

Afterwards, Daisy and I went to the supermarket in searching of anything we could bake (even though my host family has never used their oven). My host mom said I would start missing home 2 weeks after being here, and I guess that was expressed by my need for a warm chocolate chip cookie and some chocolate milk. Unfortunately they don't have Trumoo here, or frozen cookie dough, or sticks of butter, or chocolate chips (that was the hardest to ask a store clerk where it was, especially since chips mean fries here). Our shopping trip basically failed (we didn't end up baking anything), but I did get some ice cream and chocolate milk. And yes I ate the entire 500 ml of ice cream today (and 5 chapatti)…but it must have been healthy for me because the nutrition facts were in arabic :)

Tomorrow, Daisy and I are traveling with David to visit his aunt's farm and his grandmother in western Kenya. We will almost be on the Ugandan border, and finally get to experience some rural Kenya! We bought malaria meds today and are ready to experience a 6+ hour matatu ride, bucket showers, maybe milking a cow, and some amazing stars. I won't have internet there…but expect updates when I'm back Sunday night!

Note: Our house got wi-fi, so I can basically Skype/talk whenever now! But its a little to slow to upload pictures here...so they will come Monday. And I added a video on the "children's smiles" post from the orphanage. thanks to all who've been reading this. i love getting comments and knowing you guys are sharing in this experience!

Giraffes, new friends, more learning.

On Sunday, Daisy, Edith, and I went to our host parent's church, Nairobi Pentecostal Church (Edith goes to a different church, which we went to last weekend). It was more traditional, but not too different from the penetecostal church I visited in Boston. Molly was there too with her host mom, and out of a congregation of a few hundred people, there were 5 white people there haha. People were very friendly - the girl I sat next to introduced herself to me, gave me her number, and told me to call her if I ever wanted to hang out when I am at Nairobi University. It was a beautiful day - the sun was finally out! Since its winter here, this is only the 4th day I had seen the sun, so you all better be enjoying it at home! 

After that, our host family took Daisy, Molly, and me, to the Nairobi Giraffe Center. It was awesome! We got to feed the giraffes, saw some tortoises, got lost on a nature walk (where some dogs almost chased us…), and even saw Pumba! It was good to finally see some African wildlife after being here for a week and a half.

PUMBA!

My host family

Molly, Daisy, and I then went to Kibera to have lunch with Erik, Moses, and Walter, three guys who live in Kibera, but work at CFK to improve their community. I didn't want to go at first, because our host family offered to take us to some other tourists sites in their car (not riding in matatus is a rare occasion, and a real luxury). But that morning I had specifically surrounded this day to God and whatever plans he had for me, so I trusted that going to Kibera (even though I am there every day) was what he wanted for me. 

Walking through Kibera still in our church clothes (aka the sandals I wore in Danielle's wedding plus mud, trash, and waste) was a little rough. But after jumping over ravines of waste, piles of trash, and many puddles, we made it to Erik's little shack. It was one room (probably ¼ the size of my dorm room this year), with a sheet dividing the sleeping area and living room. They had a tiny tv, with a couch and some chairs. They bought us sodas, and had made tiliapia (which probably cost a fortune for them) and ugali. It was amazing to see how welcoming they were although they had so little. They kept making jokes, saying everything we have they have in Africa. For instance, we have spacecrafts that can only be in one place at one time, but they have witchcraft (politicians here actually play witchcrafts to improve their chances of winning, it was in the newspaper yesterday). When I talked about what I was studying and told them I wanted to be an astronaut, I had to explain how you even go up into space. They had never heard of space shuttles, the international space station, or what the moon is like.

They told us a lot about their lives too. Tribes are very important in Kenya. There are 42 different tribes, all with different languages, cultures, dress, looks, names etc. A local Kenyan can determine what tribe different people come from just by seeing them. Often this causes a lot of tribal tension (like when elections roll around). They were all part of the Luhya tribe (as is our President), in which everyone has a middle name based on the time of the day they were born. So I would be Lyndsy Akinyi Muri, because I was born at 3:30 am. 

Neighborhood children would often walk in, have some soda, sit around for a while, and then leave. In Kibera, your neighbors house is your house - if you don't have dinner, you go to your neighbors looking for food. They guys were shocked when we each told them we only knew a few of our neighbors. One of the girls that kept coming in was named Michelle. She was actually named after Michelle Obama, along with the many children born in the past few years named Barack or Michelle. 

Daisy, Erik, me, Michelle, Moses, Walter

I was so glad we went to their house rather than doing tourists activities. It was such a blessing to see how passionate they were about helping their community, encouraging other youths to not turn to drugs, educating others about HIV and contraception, and encouraging peace rather than tribal tension.  It was humbling for me to see what living in Kibera is like, even if only for one meal, and showed me how independent/self-centered/un-neighborly we can be in America.

Another note: 

Every time I say my name Kenyans say ryndsy? yndsy? It takes them a while to get it...and they spell it Leansey Moory. I guess I could accumulate some vowels since I haven't had any real ones my whole life. 

Captivated

On Friday, our team (Daisy, David and I, and the university students, Allen, Mweru, and Flora) visited another slum in Nairobi called Mathare. The Dignitas Project in Mathare, which tries to improve lives in Mathare by improving education helped us to meet youth groups in Mathare. We went there to learn more about life in a slum and to see if the youth groups there would be better partners than those in Kibera. People in Mathare are actually more poor than those in Kibera, however they are more resourceful. In Kibera, there is many NGO's and USAid programs, so people are looking for handouts. In Mathare, the youth groups were very innovative and trying to improve their own lives without getting much help from outsiders. One youth group even collects trash without getting paid simply to improve their surroundings. We were even more of celebrities there because not many visitors ever go there (since Kibera is so much more publicized)…which is also why I didn't take much pictures. Every child I saw broke my heart!

Overlooking Mathare. From left to right: Rose, Mweru, Flora, Daisy, David, and Allen.

After we visited Mathare, the university students took us to downtown Nairobi (which was packeddddd with people and buses). We walked to 'up-town' Nairobi, a bit nicer area, and went to "Chicken House" for lunch. We got the special for 180 shillings ($2): a piece of fried chicken, chips (fries), and a soda. It was good…and more real than our fast food I think. It was the first chicken I've had since being here (beef is cheaper than chicken), and the first soda I've had in at least a year. We then walked around, got ice cream (the soft serve was not our fake soft serve - it was like frozen whole milk). 

Daisy, David, and I then said goodbye to the others, and went to Nairobi Hospital to visit our host brothers wife who got in an accident and has been there for 3 weeks. The hospital was pretty modern…although there were some areas that were outdoors. Every hospital bed had a mosquito net over it and hospital rooms had balconies to go outside. 

For dinner we had ground lamb, veggies, and a bright green mashed potato looking dish that was made of potatoes, veggies, and pumpkin leaves. And of course, mangoes and tangerines to follow :)

On Saturday, an intern at CFK named Molly who is from Illinois, explored Kenya with Daisy and I. We took an hour long matatu ride to Ngong Town, and walked a bit to the Kenyan Wildlife Service (which was not easy to find haha). After a long walk up a red-dirt road, we reached a tiny gate, which was the entrance to the Ngong Hills - 7 hills that you can hike up. Apparently there are bandits and buffaloes in the woods so we had to pay for two armed guards to walk with us (yes they had guns). 

It was a BEAUTIFUL hike - and so good to get some fresh air and be out of the city for a bit! I felt like we should have been singing "the hills are alive…" (and if you don't get that reference, you need to go watch Sound of Music, a movie I actually have seen) as we overlooked the rolling hills and the herds of goats/cows, saw the eagles fly over, and looked out on the vast Kenyan countryside. It was such a good reminder of how big God is and how he made that for us. I was truly captivated and refreshed. 

I kind of felt like someone from the Old Testament, like David shepherding sheep, or Moses walking up Mt. Sinai to get the Ten Commandments. 

At the end of our hike, there was a group of a few guys at the top of the first hill, blasting praise music in Swahilli. Only in Kenya can you blast music in a national park, and worship God so freely and publicly :) 

On the matatu ride home (with 21 people), a little boy named Bernard was squished between Daisy and I. He was adorable, with a bright smile. His mom said they were coming from the hospital because he had cancer. He was only 12 and was an orphan. His mom was actually his teacher, who had taken him in, even though she had 4 other sons. It was so amazing to see his joy despite having cancer, and his thanks when we told him we would pray for him. He wants to grow up and be an artist, and loves drawing animals. Please pray his cancer goes away! The world needs his smile :) 

For dinner, my host dad is making his special dish: na ma choma, a lamb cooked a special way. We had it with ugali and veggies, and it was pretty good! Its interesting that lamb is one of the cheapest meats here. 

children's smiles, ugali, chui.

On Wednesday our team went to visit the "Fruitful Women's Group", a group of 19 women that makes jewelry and greeting cards out of beads and recycled paper. We visited the group because we will be working with a similar group that collects and sorts trash, and wanted to get a feel for how these work groups function in Kibera. I thought we would meet them, see their work, and then leave, however the day turned out to be much more. At first, we just talked to the women, saw their products, and asked them questions about their work. They were really excited to see us, and wanted us to sell their jewelry in America for them (which I would love to do, but I don't know where?). 

When I thought we were about to leave, the women started telling us how they run a school for their children and other local families. They offered to show us, because it was just next door. We walked in, and the first thing I noticed was the amount of kids (probably 50 in a typical size classroom) and how dark it was. They had no lights - only a few holes in the mud walls that let some sunlight in. There was one young male teacher and one young female teacher. When the kids saw us, and especially when I knelt on the ground to say hi to a group of them that were sitting on the floor, things became chaos. They all started asking "how are youuu?" with wide smiles, just wanting to give me high-fives over and over. Kids who were sitting on the other side of the room started coming over just to join the fun. They were absolutely beautiful; I could of stayed there all day and played with them! They loved my blonde hair, and all wanted to touch it. The women said that on any given day they have 40-80 children, but that throughout the year they see around 300 different children. 

After that, the women wanted to show us how they make their greeting cards. They mix shredded paper with water to make a pulp, and then spread it out on a strainer to make it into a rectangle, and let it dry. It was a pretty cool process to watch. 

A finished greeting card (like the pink one above) obviously wouldn't have holes like this one, but they need a new strainer because this one is old and causes this to happen.

The women then told us that right next to the school there was an orphanage (below) that they run completely on their own - they don't get paid, and probably eat much less themselves to help these kids. They simply have seen the need in their community and have acted on it. Eleven women take care of 25 kids who all sleep in a small room with 4 bunk beds, 6 kids to a bed. Many of the parents have died due to sickness, like HIV/AIDS. 

I was so encouraged by these women, and how they kept saying that they will trust in God to provide customers to buy their jewelry, a new strainer to make better greeting cards, and food to feed all of their kids. I kept encouraging them and telling them how amazed I was by their work. God has definitely been working on my heart through these kids and is giving me a stronger desire to help them get better educations and better lives. 

When we got back to our house (Daisy and I can successfully get in to and out of Kibera on our own), I took a nap, because I've had a cold for the past 2 days. It's slowly been getting better, but its been tough to work with - so pray for healing! 


For dinner, I had ugali for the first time - the main dish of Kenya. Its just cornmeal made into a wet cake-like dish, kind of like corn bread. You eat it with your hands, and mold it into a spoon like shape, and then scoop up the veggies or meat you are eating with it. We had kale with it and it was delicious! 


My sister Edith also gave me a Kenyan name - Chui (pronounced choo-y) - which means cheetah in Kiswahili, because I like to run. Now that I have an African name, have eaten ugali, and can ride a matatu alone, I am a true Kenyan :)

Sita Kimya - I will not stay silent.

To start off: There are no words to describe Kibera…anything I come up with will not help you to understand what it is truly like, unless you actually visit it. I don't really understand it at all, or can't even imagine what it  would be like to live there, especially since I have only been there for a day. 

My day today started like any other - wake up, get ready, eat breakfast (mangoes, bananas, papayas…they are in endless supply here). David came to our house, and Daisy and I headed with him on a matatu to Kibera, a direction I hadn't gone yet. Kibera is the biggest slum in all of Africa, and its where I will be working almost every day the rest of the summer. 

Some facts on Kibera:

-Area: about 1 square mile (almost the same size and shape as MIT's campus)

-Population: Estimates are from 250,000 to 1.2 million. Its probably closest to 450,000, although residents are very migratory so no one knows for sure. 

-Kibera has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS (14% as compared to 7% in all of Kenya), highest prevalence of diarrhea in Kenya, and most other diseases. Sanitation is a huge problem, as is healthcare, nutrition, education, employment etc. 

-Average size of home: 10 x 10 feet

-Average daily income: $1.25

The matatu dropped us off at the entrance of the slum, because they won't even drive through it. We got off, and followed David to the Carolina for Kibera office where we will be working at (http://cfk.unc.edu/).  I guess the shock, confusion, sadness was apparent on my face the first few minutes we were in the slum because David asked me if I was scared - I wasn't scared…I'm not really sure what I was. We made it to CFK, met the amazing Kenyans who work there, and the two interns from the University of North Carolina who will be there for the summer. Two of the CFK employees then took us for a tour of the CFK programs throughout Kibera. We saw their Tabitha Clinic, a health clinic that is completely free for the residents, the recycling center (where locals make beautiful jewelry, utensils, bowls etc from cow bones - I am definitely going to buy some, and would love to buy a lot and sell it at home - let me know if your interested in it!) , and the Taka ni Pato center (Trash is Cash program - our focus). We then came back, went to lunch at a 'restaurant' called Ashura, and met with our team the rest of the day to write down our work plan. Ashura had really good food (chapati/chapo and beans for only 50 shillings = 60 cents). It was very different than a US restaurant - it was more like a cafeteria. You walked in, sat wherever, even if other people were already at the tables, ordered when the lady happened to walk by, and got your food on cafeteria trays. It was small enough that probably only 3 twin beds could fit in it, yet it was packed. There were chickens and cats walking around under the tables in it. Welcome to going out to eat, Kibera style. 

Now to describe Kibera…or at least attempt. People everywhere. Kids running around, standing outside of houses, outside of 'schools' in bright colored uniforms, all saying "hello, how are youuu? how are youuu?" when we walked by. People selling things outside of their houses (fruit, clothes (from our donation centers), shoes, food, welded products, grilled maize, other random products). The smell was unforgettable - a mixture of human waste and trash…luckily I started to get used to it. They have what they call "flying toilets" aka go to the bathroom wherever you can, or go in a bag, and throw it out your window (we were actually told to duck if something was flying out a window). And you could see it on the streets, in the ravines filled with waste and trash throughout the slum. Dogs and cats everywhere. Trash all over the streets. Before you freak out and think I am crazy for coming here…I also must describe the people.

The people who live there are beautiful. They are strong and courageous. They work so hard every day. They are trying the best they can to make a living with whatever skills they have. They are trying the best they can to take care of their children. The children were smiling, and gave the best high-fives I've ever felt. They broke my heart, have filled my prayers, and were revealing God's beauty ecstatically. They weren't complaining, didn't care that all they had to kick around was an old coconut. They hopped over the ravines like it was a game. They helped their mom carry things because it would have never crossed their mind to not help. 

I already can't wait to go back. To see the little girls and tell them they are beautiful. To tell those boys how strong and mighty they look as they run through the streets. To tell the moms they are the strongest woman I've ever seen, and encourage the dads to keep working, keep trying to support their families. I can't wait to understand them more, to be a bigger part of their lives. Good thing I have 8 more weeks to do it. 

Please pray for the people of Kibera with me. Pray for health and hope for them. Pray I can help them in some tangible way, and be a friend to them, rather than a wealthy American just passing through. I wish I could do something for them, change all of their lives some how - but as my host mum put it, you can't fix everything, so you have to remember they are God's children, you have to remember to pray for them, and you do as much as you can do. 

"Love is going to make it right. just hold on, hold on. There is mercy in the morning light. When your weak, He is strong".

My host parents have been awesome people to live with. Before we went to Kibera, they warned us that it would be hard to handle, that our heart would feel heavy. And last night before I went to bed, the entire family stopped what they were doing, turned off the tv, and my host dad prayed for Daisy and I. It was such a blessing to see that and see his trust in God! 

first time in city 'alone' = success

Here is a quick summary of Sunday:

1. I went to church with my host sister Edith. The sermon was on forgiveness and I really enjoyed it. In a lot of their worship songs they called out to God as 'Daddy', were very passionate, and sang "Mighty to Save" (a song I love). There was a nice welcoming after (with drinking chocolate) for guests. At the welcoming, I met a couple who were visiting friends in Kenya but who lived in Colorado Springs, my hometown! :D On our way back home, we bought sugar cane from the street and it was delicious!

2. When we got home, we had lunch, and then Daisy and I ventured out without a Kenyan escort to The Junction, a shopping mall. We made it onto the bus all by ourselves, and I even talked to the bus driver guy in Swahili and he told me good job lol. We went to get froyo and then sat in there for a few hours for the free wi-fi! Afterwards, we stopped at the nakumatt to pick up some things, including a surprise for our host family. 

3. We made it back successfully, and since no one was home yet, Daisy and I got to work on our surprise - chocolate covered strawberries. Strawberries are really expensive in Kenya because they are imported, so they are a real treat. When our family came home, they were SHOCKED. But they loved them, and my mom, dad, and edith probably had 10 each. After dinner, Daisy and I had a really cool conversation with our dad (he basically said education and Jesus is the key to escaping poverty - which I totally agree with). 

4. Daisy and I also talked to Edith for a while, and really started to connect with her as our sister. We even got to talk to her boyfriend Dixon who lives in the UK and is a Saints fan (he wasn't very happy that I am a Pats fan…). We all ate way too much chocolate together. 

5. Every night, Daisy and I have started discussing the day together, sharing 'highs', 'lows', GodSTOPS (savoring the observable presence - times throughout the day where we saw God). Its been a blessing to share this journey with her!

Cool facts about kenya that I noticed today:

-There are rarely nutrition facts on things, no scales anywhere (except i did see a guy on the side of the road with an old scale today charging people to weight themselves, i guess you try to make money from whatever you have!)…Americans, our obsessions with diets and nutritional facts could learn a few things from these people. As my host mom put it - you are a child of God - so live freely, eat well, and enjoy life as God would want you too. 

-Kenyans/Africans LOVE sugar (in their tea, sugar cane, juice, hot chocolate, coffee…water is rarely even an option and I never see my family just drinking water (probably because its often not clean…yes they still are all very skinny). 

-Education is available for 99% of population - probably one of the biggest reasons it is one of most developed countries in Africa. 

Niaje? Poa.

Last night for dinner my mom made the main dish that Kenyans eat, geghari? It was basically brown and white beans. We had that with rice and vegetables. It was all very good! 

Daisy finally arrived which was exciting! It was nice to have someone else asking my mom and dad questions and to get to talk to her about everything. Seeing all of her questions made me realize how much I've learned about Kenya in 2 days! 

After dinner, instead of having ice cream/dessert like we do in America, we had FRUIT! Bananas, oranges, mangoes, watermelon. It was delicious (I definitely was made to live in a tropical climate)…and Daisy brought chocolate from Switzerland (where her layover was) :)

In the morning, I took Daisy to Yaya (my first trip without needing to go with a local Kenyan) to get her a phone. I felt like a Kenyan expert, showing her where everything was and telling her how the whole phone/internet system worked. I was really praying we did something exciting today. I was so sick of sitting in my house (since I can't really go anywhere alone), going to Yaya, and seeing stuff I'd already seen. When we got back to the house, our sister Edith (who I got to talk to a lot these past two days since she is home from school for the weekend) said she wanted to take us to lunch. So we went to Nakumatt and ate at "Swahili Plate". I had King Fish in coconut stew, rice, and CHAPATI (kind of like a fried nan bread, soooo good). 

As an answer to my prayers, the University students texted me, asking me what I was doing today. They wanted to take us around Nairobi, so I gratefully said yes! We met them (Alan, Roy, Flora, Mweru) downtown, and first went to Masai Market with them. The market was huge, with many people selling the different things they had made. Of course many people tried to talk to me and get me to buy stuff, but I was just looking for today. 

A note on some of the Swahili I've been learning: all Swahili books or tourists resources will tell you that to say hi you say jambo, or to say how are you, you say habari gani. But, like all cultures, there is slang that you use instead. You would say sema for whats up and poa as a response, rather than jambo. Even though this is true, when people see me, they still say jambo to me because I am a tourist. I've learned to not use jambo back though - the university students would just laugh at me. 

Next we went to the KICC, which is a very tall round building that you can go on top of. Its like the equivalent of the Boston Prudential Center/Top of the Hub. We went on top, and took a lot of fun pictures. It was so cool to see all of Nairobi from so high, and they pointed out all the different areas to me (where the rich people live, the middle class, the poor areas). It definitely looked bigger than Boston. This was my favorite part of the day, and I can't thank God enough for bringing me there and giving me those students to hang out with. 

The first girl on the right is my host sister Edith, the 2nd girl is Daisy, from New York, who I am living with.

The KICC - the building we were on top of. 

After, we went to Uhuru Park (Freedom Park - Kenya became independent in 1963). They had a small merry-go-round and swing ride, and paddle boats that we went on! It was so nice out, relaxing, and fun.

We went back home on the bus and then made dinner (I basically just watched Edith cook). She made spaghetti with homemade sauce (and lamb) and cooked vegetables. It was good, and afterwards we had our fruit medley (papaya, passionfruit (which were amazing!!), watermelon). 

Today was awesome - I got to know Daisy, Edith, my mom and dad, and the university students better. I had a lot of fun, ate good food, got internet, and took a lot of fun pictures. Life is good, God is good :D