I Made It!

Hi all!

I am safe and sound in Kabula, Kenya. It was quite the journey but very worth it. While I write you, I am currently sitting in my host's living room (the Lubangas) watching the news while others read by the few hours of electricity we have per night with the generator.

My flight from O'hare to London was pretty turbulent and I didn't sleep at all. I rested a bit at the airport and we got on our plane as scheduled. But, of course we couldn't travel without problems... Apparently the petroleum gauge was working incorrectly so they needed to manually check the petro with a stick. It took about 2 hours for them to figure out if we had enough gas to get us to Nairobi... Better safe than sorry I guess! I slept most of the way to Nairobi which was nice.

We arrived at about 11 PM Kenya time. I was a little worried that the person to pick us up wouldn't be there since we were 2 hours late but once I got through the exchanging of money, checking of visas, finger prints and pictures taken, and baggage claimed, there was a man holding a sign with our names on it. Simon drove us to the guest house we had planned to stay in for the night through PrimeTime Safari. The woman, Mary, whom I had chatted with via email, greeted us and sent us right to sleep. The room was very nice. We awoke early and her housekeeper made us a breakfast of sausage, eggs, bread with butter and jelly, bananas, instant coffee, and juice which we ate in the kitchen of her beautiful house. She then wrote us our receipt for the driving, room stay, breakfast and bus ticket. It was about 4700 KSh total (4th graders... If each US dollar is worth about 83 Kenyan Shillings, how many US dollars did I pay? I can assign you math problems even from oceans away :) ) My fellow traveler, Colin, and I split the cost and Mary drove us to the bus station in downtown Nairobi.

Nairobi was an interesting place, basically what you would expect of a big city in a place of much poverty. We safety got on the bus after almost missing it due to not being able to understand Swahili. The 9 hour bus ride to Bungoma was a long and bumpy one. We stopped about 4 or 5 times for bathroom and food breaks. Thankfully I was warned to bring my own toilet paper and to wear a skirt so that I could somewhat comfortably use the hole in the ground. Sometimes there would be someone outside the bathroom collecting money from us in exchange for a square or two of toilet paper (only for about 10 or 20 KSh... Mrs. Diemer's class can do that math for you all.) The couple in the row in front of me had a 2 month old baby. They apparently saw me starring at her and let me hold her. They even put me in charge of her while they got off the bus at one of the stops, thankfully they came back. On the bus ride we saw donkeys, cows, goats, wild dogs, and even some zebras! It really is beautiful and very green here with lots of red, yellow, orange, and purple flowers on the trees. We also saw some giraffes but they weren't out in the fields with the rest of the animals but in the back of a pick up truck! 3 giraffes just driving down the street... Apparently they got too close to humans and cities so they were being relocated. That was interesting. I had 2 seats to myself for most of the trip until the last hour or so when a few new people got on the bus. A man sat next to me and said that I was the first white person he had ever spoken to, he was very excited.

Rueben, Betty, and Maurice Lubanga met us at the bus office with their van. They stopped at the market and we stayed in the car. The street children were standing at the van window for the whole 10 minutes hoping that we would give in and let them in the car or give them some money. Unfortunately, we were informed that the children will use any money given to them to buy glue to sniff. I've heard some student teachers have made it their project to bring these children into the schools to try and rehabilitate them but 2 months just isn't enough time when there isn't anyone to look after them once we leave.

The driving in Bungoma is worse than any taxi I have ever seen (both Chicago and New York). It is already pretty unusual to get used to the fact that they drive on the other side of the car and road... But the road are very very bad and so to get around all of the bumps and holes, the drivers use whatever side of the lane they'd like, even if there is a semi coming straight at them. Not to mention the hundreds of people, bicycles and motorbikes on the road as well. I find it is best to close my eyes.

I was relieved, to say the least, to arrive in Kabula, my temporary home for the next few months. We had some tea before being taken to our huts. They drink chai tea here, I think it is pretty good. Then we gathered our things and were shown our huts. I will post pictures soon but the huts are nice. Completely covered with walls and ceilings weaved with some sort of grass or sticks, it is actually pretty amazing to lie on my top bunk and look at the intricate work. I am alone in my hut right now until the two U of Indiana girls arrive next weekend. Mosquito nets were already set up for us... Good thing because I tried to set mine up anyways since we had treated it with special bug repellent, but I did not have the diagram with me and most of us know how we'll I do with directions anyway. When I got settled I went back to the house for dinner. The house is just about a 10 step walk away from my hut, it is pretty nice. Dinner was beans, rice, cabbage, avacados (much cheaper here!), and some kind of thicker and doughier tortilla. The Kenyans use the tortilla as kind of a utensil to eat while I made a little burrito with mine. We also had watermelon.

The TV was on from the generator which is powered from about 7 until 10 every night. There was a Kenyan soap opera called Mother in Law on which was awful and then a Kenyan version of So You Think You Can Dance, also pretty awful. I was jet lagged and tired so I went to bed pretty quickly, around 9 or so.

No need to set an alarm clock here, the rooster along with the many cows, birds, and who knows what else awake me around 5. I walk outside to the many chickens greeting me on my way to the bathroom. They do have a toilet they've rigged up using rain water. I believe it is basically just a hole in the ground with a toilet over it and a string to open it up and flush some rain water through  it. I need to bring my own toilet paper with me. Thank goodness for my many antibacterial hand wipes :). Breakfast was bananas and bread with a choice of butter, jam, and peanut butter. Along with chai tea of course and regular tea or instant coffee.

I went to school with Mama Betty who is the director of the school. Epico Jahns Academy is literally in my "backyard". It is very close to where I live. The students arrive around 6 to do their morning work while the teachers start teaching around 8. The schools are a little different, but surprisingly organized. They have 3 levels of preschool: the baby room (3 year olds), level 2 (4 year olds), and level 3 (5 year olds). Then they have what they call primary school with the grades being called "classes". Class one is similar to 1st grade and so on. They look at each class as a means for preparing for the next class and eventually to secondary school (high school). Each day has a different schedule, so if class 1 has math first thing on Monday morning, they will it later in the on Tuesday. Different teachers go into different classes for each subject while the students remain in the same. They have some sort of health awareness subject and one subject is Swahili, otherwise they have the same subjects as we do. I haven't seen a full day yet so I'm not positive what each is like.

I visited all of the classrooms toady and each time I entered a room the students sang me a song!  "Welcome, welcome, welcome teacher. We are happy to have you here. How you are doing today? We are doing fine, thank you..." And so on. So, I got to hear that song about 7 times today and it is at least 30 seconds long. The head teacher brought me around and they also recite things to him... Iike when he asks them how they are they will all say, "we are doing fine, thank you, how are you sir?" These sort of things in unison happen frequently throughout the day. The kids are wonderful and so excited and happy to have a "mzunga" in their room, (that means white  person but I don't have my book with me, Collin, is that right?). They are especially interested in touching me. When we got out of school today they all ran up to me and grabbed onto my arms. They also think the way I talk is kind of funny and laugh at me when I do. All of the classes are taught in English, however a lot of Swahili is spoken in the classroom. I am not sure what exactly I will be teaching, but I am interested in the younger children. Maybe the level 2 or 3 preschool. I also enjoyed the first grade... They were having "take away" competitions on the chalkboard, boys against girls. It got very exciting.

The classrooms are indoors but not in one building. You have to walk outside to get to a different classroom. This means chickens wander in at their leisure which the students don't even seem to notice. I can't imagine how my 4th graders would act if a chicken waltzed into their classroom. These kids do not have very many supplies. Each student has one paper book at least, some have one for each subject. They share a small box of supplies including pencils, some with erasers, some not, maybe one handheld pencil sharpener, a few pieces of chalk, and maybe a pen or two for the teacher to do their checking. They use paper to erase the boards, one of the classes has a little pumpkin stuffed animal she uses. I did not see any text books today. They copy their homework into their notebooks off of the board. It is definitely a different way of life.

This is getting quite long and I am getting tired. I realize some of you might not enjoy all of the many mini details but I know some (mom, dad, grandparents, collin) do :). I don't think many of my blog posts in the future will be this long. I'll write again soon!