A New Month to Celebrate!

It’s a new month and I am totally ready for it! February was a strange month for me. I let boredom, cultural differences, and homesickness take control of my thoughts and emotions. Honestly, I feel really good about March. This all might sound a little silly but I feel inspired and excited for everything that life has to offer me. There are days that I wake up and my first thoughts are, ‘Wow, I am incredibly blessed and lucky! Life is good!’ It’s a great feeling to reflect, realize what might have been bringing you down, and then make the changes to better your life—especially when you’re blessed enough to spend time in a beautiful country like Kenya!

I started teaching and introducing myself to the new Form One (Freshman) students this past week. The girls have similar questions to those that the Form Two had when I first arrived. Some questions include: When did you get here/when are you leaving?, Do you cook/clean in Kenya?, Do you eat Kenyan food and what is your favorite?, What is the staple dish in America?, Is your hair real/do you use chemicals?, How old are you?, Are you married?, Do you have any siblings?, What are your talents/hobbies?, etc., etc., etc. I cannot express how much I truly enjoy meeting and talking with these girls. It’s important for me to introduce myself and give them a genuine understanding of who I am. Also, I want to make sure that they do not fear me and that they feel free to salute me in the hallways and talk to me if they ever need or want. My hope is that they feel as comfortable with me as the rest of the students do. So far, they appear to fit in very well and after I introduced myself and joked with them they seem to feel very comfortable and open.

The girls had their midterm exams early last week which was then followed by a five day break for them to all go home to rest and relax with their family. While the students went home, I too left Mitahato and spent the week in Banana. Mary’s fiancée’s guka (grandfather) has passed away the week before we arrived; therefore, most of the time we were in Banana we were at guka and cucu’s house helping prepare meals for the visitors and for the funeral. It felt good to be able to help out a family in a time of need. The last few days of the break I spent relaxing and doing nothing much more than watching movies and waiting for school to resume again. It was a pleasant break and as always I enjoyed spending time with everyone in Banana—which after writing this blog posting I am off to spend the weekend there again. 

As far as being at home in Mitahato, I am officially helping with every part of the housework. The last task that I finally learned and am starting to do on my own is hand washing my clothes.  I now get to clean the house, cook the meals, help clean the outside compound, and clean clothes. This all might seem like unimportant or simple things but to finally be handed over these tasks from Mary makes me feel important and like I’m a part of the family and am doing my part to help. It was only yesterday that I did all of my laundry on my own for the first time. I was proud of my accomplishment and it made me excited to be able to help clean the kids clothes in Banana the next time I’m there. Another ‘plus’ in all of this is it reduces idleness while at the same time making my family’s life easier. 

I have had one huge realization in the past few weeks. It is not something that I was unaware of but recently it has been emphasized a great amount in my thoughts and reflections. This realization is how blessed and lucky I am to have the parents I have. There have been too many time growing up that I took advantage of or didn’t thank my parents. Not only this, but there have been several times growing up that my parents asked me to do a simple task and not only did I often refuse but I whined about it too. It’s embarrassing to think back about some of these things and realize what I wish I would have done differently. 

While in Kenya, I have observed and seen how family dynamic works in the Kikuyu culture. The children in the family, from a very young age, begin to help their parents with almost everything. Not only this, but they never have to be asked to do anything. If someone sees that the cow needs to be fed he/she goes to the samba (garden), cuts some nipia grass, and does the necessary work to feed the cow. If someone sees the house needs to be washed he/she will fetch water and clean the entire house before going on with their day. If the laundry needs to be done—whether it is his/hers or another member of the family—he/she will buy soap, fetch water, and clean everyone’s clothes. This goes on and on with any small or large task that needs to be done on the compound. I see Morris wake up extra early because the evening before he saw that his mom and cucu’s drum was not completely full of water. I see Mary wake up early to make sure that everyone will have warm water to shower with and breakfast to eat when they wake up. I see brother John stop what he is doing to run home to milk and feed the cow several times throughout the day. I see Cousin John all around the compound helping his cucu, his aunts, his mom, and the kids in any way that he sees necessary. It has been a great lesson to be a part of this environment and to witness how well this family dynamic works—no one fights or argues…everyone helps one another. I have learned a lot and I know that when I return home I will be helping out much more.

Another connected realization I have had is how lucky I am to have the relationship that I have with my parents. I have always been able to confide and talk to both my parents about anything and everything. I tell this to my students in connection to some of the Life Skills lessons. The girls are very surprised about this and they often don’t understand how I am able to hug and get hugged, how I am able to tell and be told I love you, and how I am able to express myself to my parents.

While talking to the Form One girls yesterday, one of the students asked me, “Who is your hero?” Oddly enough, I had not received that question before and had not previously thought of a response. The first thought that came to my head was my dad. I told them my dad is my hero/role model and they were all shocked. Now thinking about it, my dad has been my hero since forever. He is the person I learned from as I was growing up, the person I go to for advice about everything, and the kind of person I want to be like as I grow older. He is confident in himself in all aspects of life, he inspires others with his words, he believes in everyone and their potential, he lives the life God called him to, when he struggles he does everything he can to fight and succeed, and he cares about his family more than anything. My dad is one of my best friends and I am really thankful, lucky and blessed to have such a caring father in my life. Thanks Dad—I love you!

This posting consisted of a lot of analysis and reflection within my life. The time I spend in Kenya provides moments like this when I get to reflect, learn, and become very thankful for everything I have received in my life. Sorry if you didn’t “sign up” for all of this self-analysis but it is all a part of the process and journey that I am on. I am learning about myself personally and professionally in connection to a new culture and environment.  It’s definitely quite a journey and I am enjoying every bit of it!

The Days are Running

I will freely admit…I have been “slacking” on writing for the blog. Either I am very busy with teaching, coaching, having fun or when I have the time I am not in the mood to write. Now is my chance to fill you all in on my life in the last month. It has been both an incredibly active month while at the same time monotonous.

This week I am coming upon the half year mark of my time in Kenya—by now I am completely accustomed to life here while still homesick from time to time. During the last couple of weeks I have been more homesick than usual. It could potentially be because of the extra free time during the week or the fact that I am in the process of planning the last few months of my journey and deciding when I will be traveling back home. It is amazing to think about how much I have learned and gained already from the culture, the people, and the environment here. The more I reflect the more I acknowledge how lucky and blessed I am to have this experience. It will be great to be able to take what I have gained here and use it at home when the time comes.

I have come to realize that no matter where you are, the months after Christmas and the holiday celebrations become very routine and somewhat boring. The excitement from everything has died down and every week becomes more and more similar to the last. For me, I spend the weekdays in Mitahato teaching, coaching, and spending time with my girls while on the weekends I travel to Banana Town with Mary to spend time with the children and family there. The exciting events in my life take place while I’m either teaching, coaching, or spending time in Banana. The “boring” comes in when I am at the house waiting for … classes to come …  or coaching to come … or Banana to come… (If anyone is familiar with Dr. Suess’ “Oh! The Places you’ll go” I am referring to the ‘waiting place’)

Teaching this term has been even more enjoyable than the last. I spend all of my time teaching at Gathirimu because of different circumstances at the primary school. I have no complaints about this because I am able to get to know the girls even better and learn about myself on a professional level. Since I have started teaching English and focusing more specifically in Life Skills I feel that both the girls and I have gotten a lot out of our experience together. 

Last week, I taught a lesson on self-esteem in Life Skills. The lesson began with a motivational speech on body image, intelligence, and economic backgrounds. We focused a lot on ‘what is beauty?’ and the girls were really able to connect with the stories and comments I was making. The activity that followed enabled the girls to colorfully write on paper three different positive qualities about themselves. After they drew and wrote their specific qualities they used tape to cover the walls of their homeroom with these notes. When we were finished the walls were covered with comments like “I have beautiful eyes”, “I love my body”, “I am a caring friend”, “I am a good dancer and singer”, “I love my laugh and smile”, etc., etc., etc. I taught the lesson four times and every time I walked away feeling very motivated and inspired.

Other lessons that I have taught in Life Skills have been about the Five Love Languages (a concept based off of a book and theory by a Christian counselor, Dr. Gary Chapman—I encourage everyone to read!), cooperation/teamwork, emotions and managing stress, HIV/AIDS awareness, and multiple intelligences. After each lesson I teach, the students always come up to me and eagerly ask more about the subject and what we will learn about next week. It is very encouraging that the girls are connecting so much with each topic. Their responses express that my presence and time spent with them is positive. I am always thinking about if I am using my time to help and volunteer as productively as I can—Life Skills has definitely been a key indicator that my time here has influenced at least some lives in a positive manor.

Coaching has provided me with time to enjoy an activity that I love and to spend more time with my students in a non-academic manner. Going to practice after school is one of my favorite parts of the day. I really enjoy being with the girls and teaching them new skills every practice. Unlike sports and competition at home, in Kenya, students start playing sports competitively in high school. This gives me the opportunity to teach the girls skills at a very basic level and continually build on their newly learned abilities. I am constantly amazed at how fast they are able to learn and develop. I have to give credit to the Valley Catholic coaching staff and my dad for teaching me everything I know about basketball and how to coach/teach it in a patient and fun way. 

 

Last week we had our first competitions of the year. We went on Wednesday to a school called Gitwe for a “Friendly” (the equivalent to a pre-season game) and then again on Saturday for official competitions. Unfortunately, the other coach and I were only able to take twelve of our players to the games due to the implementation of a C- or higher grade requirement. We had to tell our top fifteen girls that they had to stay at school –to say that they were unhappy about this is an understatement to say the least. This was the first time in my time at Gathirimu that the girls had put me as the “villain”—typically the girls always say if you have a question or concern go to Teacher Hope. When I didn’t give in and let those students that didn’t make the requirement go to the games the girls were very upset. This led to some of the girls refusing to go to practice and a talk/inspirational speech made by me to all of the players. We talked about how they have a chance to play and go to competitions if they work hard and do their best to achieve—we (as the coaches) are not against them, we are rooting for them and are always there for support, help, and encouragement . Those that are below a C- are very close to the requirement and they have the chance to rejoin after the midterm exams this week. We are hoping for the best and will know what our team consists of by the end of next week.

Every weekend since school started has been very active and enjoyable. I am always looking forward to the weekends and going to Banana. In general, I love spending time in ‘Bano’ because of the people—Michel, Jimmy, Morgan, cucu and guka (Mary’s parents), Morris, and every other family member or friend that lives there. I don’t think there has been a dull moment when I am there for the weekends. 

In early January a student of Josphat, from Portland State University, came to visit and spend about a week with us (both in Mitahato and Banana). It was nice to make a new friend from home and be able to discuss our journey—though similar, our time in Africa has been very different. Later in January, we spent a few weekends ending all of the celebrations from Peterson and Winnie’s wedding in November. A common Kikuyu tradition within weddings is for the newly married couple to have another get together a few months after the wedding to celebrate a ‘thanks’ to all of the people that contributed and made the wedding possible. This typically takes place at the groom’s parent’s house and includes a lot of eating, speeches from the elders, and praise and worship. Another (the last) wedding related celebration tool place last weekend and it included the wedding party exclusively. We all got together and went to the new home of Peterson and Winnie. We ate, talked, prayed, and celebrated the success of the ceremony. 

Two weekends ago I went to the Rift Valley with Morris to venture around Lake Naivasha and Hells Gate National Park. We both love hiking and adventures so we decided to spend the weekend touring the ‘Pride Lands’ from The Lion King (Hells Gate). I have been living in the lands of many amazing wild animals and I have yet to really experience the true Kenyan or safari wildlife. I have been very eager to see my favorite animal since I arrived in Kenya. Finally, six months later, Morris decided that it is about time that we see some zebras! We rented mountain bikes and road all around the national park—we saw zebras (so amazing!), giraffes, wild hogs, antelope, monkeys, and many different types of birds. In the middle of our bike ride we stopped to walk around and explore the gorge in the middle of the park. The park has guides you can pay to show you around but we opted to walk on our own. As we began walking around, one of the local Masai boys decided to join us—he ended up showing and explaining everything about the gorge. It was amazing to hear and learn all that he knew about the land. Although it was a short trip, it was one of the most fun adventures—especially because of all of the beautiful zebras I got to see! This trip has also gotten me even more eager to travel around Kenya to see all of the rich and beautiful land. Come June, I will be touring as much of Kenya as I can. 

Other than teaching, coaching, and active weekends…the days, weeks, and months, keep trekking on as I live my life in Africa. I am active in many more responsibilities at home in Mitahato. I cook every day for Mary and I which is really enjoyable because I am learning how to prepare all of the traditional Kikuyu foods. I also get to clean the house, help clean the compound, and fetch water. The only real task that I have not been able to do yet, and that I am eager to do, is hand washing clothes. Mary is always so quick to help and clean them while I am at school. It might sound funny, but I really enjoy helping at any small task that I am able. It’s important to me to do everything I can to help and be as much a part of the family as everyone else. 

The days are running. I have about five more months left in Kenya. The moments that I stay idle or that I am missing home I remind myself that at some point my time here will come to an end. When I am packing my bags and getting ready to fly home I want to be able to think and say that I enjoyed every minute of my experience and that I do not regret anything. This means continually staying active and exploring whenever I have free time. There is an infinite amount of things to learn and experience here and I want to know it all! 

Again, I will try to write more often rather than waiting so long. There is a lot of culture to share and hopefully my next blog will focus more on the many cultural elements. If you have any questions or there is something you want to know about don’t hesitate to ask and I will definitely explore and explain to my best ability. 

Enjoy the winter breeze and I will enjoy the summer heat. :)