African Time

Wow! So much to tell you all! And where to start?!

Right of WAY:

There is no right of way except for buses! Everybody is expected to move out of the way. Everybody walks in the road, hauls goods in handcarts, on heads or on bicycles - there are no lines and half the time there is NO road! It's like driving down a rough river bed, with rocks, ruts and goats. A regular washboard. Some roads are good and we really enjoy the smoother ride for the short time. The bus we were on didn't have shocks so we occasionally bounced completely off our seats. Rock and roll Kenya style!

A Joyful Noise unto the World:

The orphans are wonderful. We came in late at night after an exhausting and bumpy ride and we were greeted with shouts, screams of delight and laughter. Their little hands outstretched to touch us. Everybody wants to shake our hands. After we got our stuff put away we were welcomed with BEAUTIFUL songs that echoed through the hall and into our hearts. Welcome to KENYA!

Climate Control:

We're below the equator and we're really feeling the HEAT! The first 5 days the weather was comfortable but now the sun is RELENTLESS! We're wearing our Air-flow Tilly hats, sunscreen and drinking lots of bottled water. Sometimes it seems that we can't drink enough water - it goes in and comes right back out on my skin! Fortunately, there aren't too many bugs and only heard one skeeter buzz past my ear. They do have HUGE bumblebees and a huge cricket like creature that John disposed of quickly. And it's so VERY BEAUTIFUL here in the countryside. So green!

Night as Day, Day as Night:

I thought we were doing well with the eleven hour time difference. But our bodies were really feeling it for the first week. Thankfully we took some naps in the afternoon and now we are pretty much on Kenya time - but we really enjoy taking a siesta in the afternoons when the heat knocks us out, if we can.

It cools off in the early morning hours as the donkey brays, the roosters crow and the children prepare for school. We relish our cool quiet time before facing another busy day.

Fruit-a-licious!

The food is AWESOME! We're getting a good variety of different African fare. One of my favorites (don't know what it's called), is a potato dish with a delicious sauce that you eat with rice or ugali. A note on ugali: not our favorite but fine with spicy vegetables and sauces. They make a great bean dish too, with chapatis. A shaved cabbage dish with tomatoes and a sauce is super!

But, the best food of all, is the FRUIT! Mangos, passion fruit (not John's favorite), papaya, oranges, bananas, avocados and tomatoes. And pineapples like you've never tasted before! We eat pineapples all day long. No wonder we run to the loo so much!

The one difficulty with meals is the late breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Breakfast is around 9-10 am, lunch around 3 ish and dinner around 9:30 or later. The dinners are so good but we just can't eat that much at that time of night but we sure try!

The Real Looky Loo!

The loos are great and with very little smell! They have walls and a roof and a door that usually shuts. The first toilets were about 7" round hole in the floor. It took me a few days to get my aim right - but now I am quiet

proficient and a happy camper. The latest toilets are bigger and there is even a throne! They come complete with tiled floors and a leaky water bucket to flush with. Ok, now we'll move on to better subjects.

Starlight Shower, a Milky Way Delight:

The stars are amazing here. So bright and clear! And even more special when we're taking a bath outside underneath them! We



are serenaded by the millions of crickets and peepers. Blissful! The donkeys haul up river water and after heating it the workers bring it to us in big 5 gallon buckets. Even though it's brown river water we still feel cleaner after a bath than we did before it.

Boaz and Everline:

We've met our kids!!! Boaz and Everline are very special. They are 14 and 11 yrs. old respectively and quite shy. They were very happy with our gifts that we brought and we've been playing Uno in the evenings together. I have a hard time holding a conversation because they are so shy but I can see how happy they are to be with me. We'll probably be leaving when we finally get comfortable with each other.

African Time:

Will drive you nuts if you're trying to get anything done! It's hurry up and wait. So we relax, nap or talk until it's time to go. It doesn't bother me to much unless I'm expected to have an certain amount of students photographed and interviewed.

The interviews have been going pretty good. We start by hand-sharpening a hundred pencils and organizing our list. Then we wait until our helpers round up the kids for us. By that time it's hot outside and we're tired. LOL But we plug along and make sure each student is photographed and helped with their questions. We struggle with understanding their accents and they struggle with ours. But with persistence and great helpers we finally get the message.

We have the most amazing helpers! We couldn't do all that we are trying to do with out them - interviewing over 600 children just couldn't happen by ourselves within the time frame that we have to work with.

The kids LOVE to crowd around us as we take pictures. We constantly have to draw a line in the dirt to keep them at bay. And that doesn't always work either! :)

We are with a great team and each have unique skills that complement us all. Andrew and Sasha (his son) just left after two week of carpentry and handman projects. Esther, Brigette and Slawek are the other team members. We will be leaving next at the four week mark.

Dr. Jenna Msngu (white man):

For the last few days, I've been bandaging up cuts and scrapes on the younger kids. They now know where Dr. Msngu "treats" patients and more and more come everyday. I must say, I'm really enjoying this "job".

John and I are so glad that we came to Africa and could help out. There is so much need here.

We're missing you all and are looking forward to coming home and showing you pictures!

Love, Jenna & John~