Jambooooooooooo

HELLO! yes im still alive!

so basically this week its going to be really easy to write on here because i dont start till friday at the school. today issss wednesday and we had another orientation day, we had the afternoon off so me and jael went to the yaya center. which is like a mall closeby. it was good to get out of the compound and we are starting to get some freedom. i actually feel extremely safe here, so that is not really in issue at all, especially in the daytime. The yaya center is definitely more touristy. we saw some some other mzungus there (what kenyans call white people) and a lot of the advertisements in the mall have white people soo its fun to go to for a walk but also has higher tourist prices.

there are other people here with sim that are living in other parts of the city, on tuesday nights everyone gets together at one house and theres like a good dinner and a bible study. so i met almost everyone who is working in the area, there are about 20 people all together. we have elise from france (my roomate)

jael -swiss, -came the same night as me- working at a hospital

eva- swiss, - working with.. disabled? maybe..-not living on compound

christy- southern states, - working as photographer

adam- texas, - working at a school - not living on compound

calib-states, - airplane mechanic - not living on compound

alice-taiwan, -came the same night as me - working at a school for blind kids- not living on compound

(uhhh ok this whole remembering names thing is super hard for me.. )

we have shevon - manitoba, -met her at orientation - working at new adventure

sarah wassink - right by me aka ontario, -working at childrens home - not on compound

sarah cavers - lindsay ont, -working at hospital -met her at orientation

Annelie- who works with sarah w from germany

Cathy -who lives in my house from Sandiego cali

OK so i left writing this yesterday and TODAY is a new day -- THURSDAY

Today me and elise went to visit the school sarah wassink is working at, which is St. Nicholas school. Its is in Karen (sp) which is where all the rich people live. the school is on the property with an orphanage (Which they call.. childrens home? you arent suppose to say orphanage, i guess they are catching onto the wests' "political correctness" Anyways. The school is in the country and it is BEAUTIFUL landscape. Sarah and Annelie live there, it looks like a little .. sketchy cottage, but they have a fridge and an american toilet and that. The main building there is for special guests only and is empty at the moment. The children are amazing. I really dont know how to explain everything i saw today it is a little overwhelming.

Later Daniel picked Elise and I up and we set off for Kibera which is the slum that we will be working in. Daniel lives in Kibera, he has for years even though he might be able to afford to live somewhere a little bit better. So as we are nearing Kibera i guess you could say i was mentally preparing myself because... im sure all of you have seen the pictures of the slum and it is very different from what we are used to.
We get to the entrance of Kibera and there were a lot of people gathered, i guess since its the political rallying time the politicians are handing out free food (the day before they handed out free beans? ) so people were waiting around for them to come. ..
As we walk up we see all these men yelling and then this fight starts and people all kinda running towards it but we just kept walking. and in my head im thinking.. okkkkk what the HECK am i getting myself into. BUT it was fine.

Now about Kibera. honestly i thought id be fine to see it, i mean ive seen TONS of pictures of it.. but i honestly cant really describe it. millions of roofs you can see just.. tin everywhere .. garbage everywhere its very very different. im not really one to wear my emotions on my sleeve and if you know me you know i very rarely cry or show a lot of emotion but all im going to say is i had a pretty hard time walking through there.

the kids are amazing. most really young kids dont know english yet and in kibera whenever you see a kid they will start running towards you HOW ARE YOU ! HOW ARE YOU! HOW ARE YOU! its hilarious. some of the girls including me at the very beginning(jael and alice met us in kibera with their kenyan guide) would answer "fine and how are you?" but as time went on i pretty quickly realized they are not ASKING us how are you.. they are CALLING us how are you. i guess the easiest way to get money from a mzungu is to ask how they are hahaha so all the kids (if they want money or not) are just know that is the way you greet the mzungu. anyways it is very different from home. but the first thing i asked daniel when we got out is.. "are they happy even though they are in kibera" and he answered yes. Daniel is big on explaining (and i think we all agree) that no amount of money, no amount of food will change kibera, only God can change Kibera, and all we can do is bring God there. the BEST thing we can do is bring God there.
it was a strange experience, because when i walked through kibera, it seemed like it was .. a tight community. if you know of community you will know what im talking about, either people of the same background, or who live in the same area, or who have experienced similar hard times. these people have all three so i almost felt like when i walked through there i was an intruder (which i suppose i am a little bit) But for some reason the sense of community also made it seem.. more hopeful? less heartbreaking? im not sure. but i like it there, even on the first trip theres something about that place that i really like..

ANYWAYS. it was a good day. oh and i rode on a matatu too that was cool annnnndddd yeah also went to the grocery store last night and bought some frosted flakes. :)
the end for now