Today was our first day traveling around the local villages of Kakamega. Our journey began when almost the whole group woke up at 2 in the morning, as most of us were still adjusting to the time difference (except Haley- she slept through the night). At 7:15 we all gathered in the dining hall at the Rondo Retreat Centre to fuel up for the day ahead. We indulged in fresh mango, bacon pieces, scrambled eggs, tea (which Lily and Monica filled to the brim with sugar), orange juice and coffee. We then set out on our journey with our absolutely amazing and experienced drivers: George, Steve, and Moses. We picked up Juliet, who is the Kenyan coordinator of the Kenya-Moses Brown partnership. She and Elizabeth have been working together for 5 years. As we drove to our destination, Juliet’s home, we realized how friendly the Kenyan people are. They are very active workers and no minute goes by when one of us wasn’t waving out the window yelling, “Jambo!” On our way we really marveled at the views all around us, made by the surrounding mountains and hills, which seem to go on forever. The roads, however, are not so marvelous. In fact many of them are anything but this. Many times we hopped out of the vans and walked as the drivers found out the most efficient and safe route for the vans around rocks and gullies. These walks were a great way of getting out of the bumpy vans and even further enjoying our surrounding and getting to know the Kenyan people up close. On our way we stopped at a local market, Nambacha market, that was bustling with people selling their goods, ranging from produce like tomatoes and onions to home-made piggy banks and Ugandan fabric. There were cattle being bartered and sold. (Kristen got to pet one of the cows, under careful supervision by Elizabeth, Ben and the cow owner.) Juliet led us through the market, bringing us to vendors she knew where some of us picked some things out to buy. We then made our way back to the trucks as we continued waving and shouting hellos, saying “Habari” and “Jambo.” We then continued on our way down the bumpy roads until we came to a spot where the vans needed to maneuver carefully so we got out and walked. We happened to be near a primary school, where we heard the shouts of 600 school boys and girls running towards us in excitement and amazement. We then ran in and were greeted with swarms of smiles, shouts, and cries of laughter. Kieran ran as crowd of nursery students chased after him screaming, while Amelia snapped pictures. Meanwhile Ben was teaching them the surfer hand symbol, yelling “Cool!” Jake made friends with a little boy who was riding a bike. He gave him a hat while saying, “Rafiki” which means friend in Swahili. We all signed our names in the school visitor’s book and then continued on our way until we finally made it near to Juliet’s house. But the vans hit another huge gully so we got out and walked the rest of the way up a short hill to her house.
At Juliet’s we were given a welcoming meal of tea and snacks (like chapatti- shout out to Izzy’s mom!) and were introduced to Mary and Joyce, the two other Kenyan teachers who help with the partnership. We will be visiting their schools later this week. They all made speeches showing how grateful they were for our support and told us what the money we raised was being used for. They gave examples such as buying cows and chickens that will provide an ongoing source of income from the milk and eggs. They also have purchased cement to repair the walls and floors of the classrooms. They went over the itinerary for the rest of the week with us. Elizabeth then introduced us all and eloquently described the mission of the trip and what it meant to all of us, and explained to all of us what the partnership has been able to achieve over the years. Ben also stood up and thanked the teachers for welcoming us so graciously and told us how much it means for us to be there with them.
The teachers encouraged us to explore (and “be free to climb any tree we liked” – which Kristen and Jake took advantage of.) Kristen and Haley ran around catching the baby chicks and Izzy fed the pregnant cows. Soon it was time to go and we took part in a juggling circle with everyone (our group, the van drivers and everyone at Juliet’s house) using one of the new soccer balls we brought. Everyone was having a blast and Kieran, George and Moses (two of our drivers) pulled out some impressive jugging moves. We then said our good-byes “Kwaheri” and began our journey back to Rondo, where we relaxed, played soccer (Jake and Kieran won but cheated, and made fun of Kristen who barely lost), had tea and chocolate cake. We are looking forward to another delicious dinner and another night’s rest before starting our journey back to the schools tomorrow. -written by Kieran
P.S. The extremely long car ride home from today’s visits gave Kieran plenty of time to write this ridiculously lengthy (if detailed) blog entry. We hope you enjoy it.