Ahhhhhh! Only ten more days in Africa!!! I can't believe how quickly July has flown by!! This next week is so busy with all the volunteers trying to get things in order before leaving. Sadly, all five of us are leaving on the same day... Oh, have I mentioned there are five of us now? heh whoops. It was SO exciting when the other two girls from McGill came. Want to know why? THEY BROUGHT NUTELLA!!! The jar only lasted 5 days, but boy oh boy, it was a great 5 days.
Our schedule is as follows: garden, school, garden, school, meeting, school, garden, school, meeting, meeting, meeting, school kjfal;kdjfkjgkls;kjg! Busybusybusy! Don't you worry though kiddies, I'm going to fit in some time for fun things too! Liiiike on Saturday, our gardening club (now titled "Tumaini Green Revolution Gardening Club...yeah, TGRGC rolls right off the tongue, eh?) is going to Farmer Ali's house for a soybean workshop, where we were promised that we would learn how to make our own yogurt! And Sunday, I'm going to church with Rose! Five hours of loud and proud worship! Hallelujah! On Tuesday we're visiting another one of Rose's brothers for chocolate ugali! I got pretty excited when I heard it was chocolate, but then they all told me that it's only called 'chocolate ugali' because it's brown, and that it has absolutely no cocoa in it...bummer. Wednesday is closing day at school, and we get to meet all the parents at school (and hopefully we'll even have some doctors or nurses giving a health and hygiene workshop)!
But next Thursday morning, bright and early, I'll be on a bus to somewhere unknown... Either Hell's Gate in Naivasha or Nairobi National Park. Friday, I'm on a plane, and back in good ol' Montreal by Saturday afternoon! Wowzers!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
watoto [children]
Aren't you lucky?! Two posts in one day!! I guess I was feeling kind of guilty when I heard that Uncle Rick has my blog set as his homepage... pressure's on!!
Last week Juli, Sabrina, and I visited Matungu Special Needs School! I really wish I had seen this school earlier on in my stay here in Kenya, so that I could have had more time to be involved with them. The school is mixed day and boarding, and has about 50 or 60 special needs kids, but on the same grounds they have a primary school, so many of the kids are integrated. It was neat to see teachers so passionate about making sure these kids could have a somewhat normal life. At the school, they teach everything from behavioral skills, to mathematics, to everyday life skills like cooking, farming, and even going to the market. There's even an exercise bike for muscle conditioning!
I wanted to go to this school to donate some of the toys I brought from home: plastic toy animals, pipe-cleaners for arts and crafts, and a whole mess of Legos (special thanks to the Brenan family!!). This was truly the perfect place to leave these toys! The kids were so appreciative and had so much fun playing with the Legos. We joined them for an hour or so, watching as they all built planes, cars, or random structures. Everyone was so incredibly focused! And somehow, the four gallon-size bags of Legos were enough for the dozens of students in the room!
For me, it could not have been a better experience! [I have loads more photos that I'll put up soon! I really went picture-crazy at Matungu.]
Afterwards, we visited our friend Hamza at St. Joseph's Secondary School. Hamza was so happy to see us! We had him give us a tour of the school, and then the head teacher Bernard offered me two hectares of land if I promise to come back and stay in Kenya forever!! I'm not exactly sure how much that is, but it sounds like a good deal!
So here is what kind of offers I have received in Kenya:
-two hectares of land
-a house built just for me and the other volunteers
-our friend Fanuel's wife to cook lunch for me every day
-my very own chicken (this one I have for real! His name is Lord Henry! We got him as a gift just two days ago)
Sounds like I'm all set for life!
I really should update the creepy-crawly page soon... The other day, a giant green caterpillar fell from a tree. When I say giant, I mean ENORMOUS -- and even that doesn't really cut it! This thing...ugh. It must have been 6 inches long and an inch in diameter. Then Fanuel poured some sort of creepy-crawly-killing chemical on it and Anerico's son carried it away in a shovel. Bummer...I was looking forward to a nice protein-filled dinner!
Last week Juli, Sabrina, and I visited Matungu Special Needs School! I really wish I had seen this school earlier on in my stay here in Kenya, so that I could have had more time to be involved with them. The school is mixed day and boarding, and has about 50 or 60 special needs kids, but on the same grounds they have a primary school, so many of the kids are integrated. It was neat to see teachers so passionate about making sure these kids could have a somewhat normal life. At the school, they teach everything from behavioral skills, to mathematics, to everyday life skills like cooking, farming, and even going to the market. There's even an exercise bike for muscle conditioning!
I wanted to go to this school to donate some of the toys I brought from home: plastic toy animals, pipe-cleaners for arts and crafts, and a whole mess of Legos (special thanks to the Brenan family!!). This was truly the perfect place to leave these toys! The kids were so appreciative and had so much fun playing with the Legos. We joined them for an hour or so, watching as they all built planes, cars, or random structures. Everyone was so incredibly focused! And somehow, the four gallon-size bags of Legos were enough for the dozens of students in the room!
For me, it could not have been a better experience! [I have loads more photos that I'll put up soon! I really went picture-crazy at Matungu.]
Afterwards, we visited our friend Hamza at St. Joseph's Secondary School. Hamza was so happy to see us! We had him give us a tour of the school, and then the head teacher Bernard offered me two hectares of land if I promise to come back and stay in Kenya forever!! I'm not exactly sure how much that is, but it sounds like a good deal!
So here is what kind of offers I have received in Kenya:
-two hectares of land
-a house built just for me and the other volunteers
-our friend Fanuel's wife to cook lunch for me every day
-my very own chicken (this one I have for real! His name is Lord Henry! We got him as a gift just two days ago)
Sounds like I'm all set for life!
I really should update the creepy-crawly page soon... The other day, a giant green caterpillar fell from a tree. When I say giant, I mean ENORMOUS -- and even that doesn't really cut it! This thing...ugh. It must have been 6 inches long and an inch in diameter. Then Fanuel poured some sort of creepy-crawly-killing chemical on it and Anerico's son carried it away in a shovel. Bummer...I was looking forward to a nice protein-filled dinner!
Suguwa meno yako! [Brush your teeth!]
Exciting news for this past week: We started the new Health and Hygiene program at Tumaini Academy!
The project started by purchasing new taps the water container, so that the children now have water to wash their hands with. The old taps were really rusty and stuck in there pretty good. Unfortunately I'm still not strong and manly enough to fix that kind of thing. I managed to remove one of the taps with the help of Oyango, the groundsman, but then I had to call for reinforcements. Regardless, the school now has a way for the children to access water! Huzzah!!
The school already had many toothbrushes from previous donations, so we spent an afternoon labeling each toothbrush so every student would have his or her own.
It was really a never ending pile of toothbrushes... I think 160 in all.
In addition, we donated ten tubes of toothpaste, and have a meeting on Friday with the owner from Khetia's (a supermarket in Bungoma) to see if the school can be sponsored for toothpaste in the future. Now the children brush their teeth every morning before classes start!
We also purchased water canisters so that each classroom can have clean drinking water. That was quite a process...the canisters used to be containers of cooking oil, so they were SO MUCH FUN to clean. Mmmm.
Anyways, to kick off the program, we went around to every classroom explaining the importance of hygiene.
These are the kids in grades 1, 2, and 3, all listening attentively, and only slightly distracted by my camera.
We had two of the younger classes watch the presentation from outside. Here's Juli and Sabrina being wonderful teachers.
The chart Sabrina is holding has all of our steps to our program on it:
1. Brush your teeth every morning after arriving to school.
2. Wash your hands every time after using the toilet. Use soap and water.
3. Wash your hands before every meal. Use soap and water.
4. Be sure to drink enough water every day.
5. Come to school clean every day!
I should put up a picture of the chart so that you can see my lovely art work. Or maybe not...
Ah, this morning I stopped by the school bright and early, and I was so excited to see that our program was actually in action! All the students were outside brushing brushing brushing, with the teachers supervising and helping with the toothpaste. Success!!
And finally, for those of you back home who have forgotten what your favorite Maria looks like, here's a picture of me with two of my favorite students! Ayub Something and Michael Junior. They enjoyed hanging with us in the office while we were labeling toothbrushes hours after school was over. I guess it's more exciting to hang out in the teacher's office when mzungus are there...
The project started by purchasing new taps the water container, so that the children now have water to wash their hands with. The old taps were really rusty and stuck in there pretty good. Unfortunately I'm still not strong and manly enough to fix that kind of thing. I managed to remove one of the taps with the help of Oyango, the groundsman, but then I had to call for reinforcements. Regardless, the school now has a way for the children to access water! Huzzah!!
The school already had many toothbrushes from previous donations, so we spent an afternoon labeling each toothbrush so every student would have his or her own.
It was really a never ending pile of toothbrushes... I think 160 in all.
In addition, we donated ten tubes of toothpaste, and have a meeting on Friday with the owner from Khetia's (a supermarket in Bungoma) to see if the school can be sponsored for toothpaste in the future. Now the children brush their teeth every morning before classes start!
We also purchased water canisters so that each classroom can have clean drinking water. That was quite a process...the canisters used to be containers of cooking oil, so they were SO MUCH FUN to clean. Mmmm.
Anyways, to kick off the program, we went around to every classroom explaining the importance of hygiene.
These are the kids in grades 1, 2, and 3, all listening attentively, and only slightly distracted by my camera.
We had two of the younger classes watch the presentation from outside. Here's Juli and Sabrina being wonderful teachers.
The chart Sabrina is holding has all of our steps to our program on it:
1. Brush your teeth every morning after arriving to school.
2. Wash your hands every time after using the toilet. Use soap and water.
3. Wash your hands before every meal. Use soap and water.
4. Be sure to drink enough water every day.
5. Come to school clean every day!
I should put up a picture of the chart so that you can see my lovely art work. Or maybe not...
Ah, this morning I stopped by the school bright and early, and I was so excited to see that our program was actually in action! All the students were outside brushing brushing brushing, with the teachers supervising and helping with the toothpaste. Success!!
And finally, for those of you back home who have forgotten what your favorite Maria looks like, here's a picture of me with two of my favorite students! Ayub Something and Michael Junior. They enjoyed hanging with us in the office while we were labeling toothbrushes hours after school was over. I guess it's more exciting to hang out in the teacher's office when mzungus are there...
That's all for now folks!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
wakulima [farmers]
This week Kennedy from ACE Africa came to visit and teach us a bit about organic gardening! The two day seminar was held at Anerico's place, the same location as our community garden itself. We had a lot of preparation, arranging to borrow chairs, dishes, and utensils from neighbors, and also trying to figure out how much rice and beans should be bought to feed 30 people for two days. Turns out about 6 goro goros of each...whatever that turns out to be. Anerico also hired a lawn mower to prepare the venue.
Dad, maybe we should get a cow at home! Might save you some yard work. Not only can you use it as a lawn mower, but it can help you make some nice compost and liquid manure! Kennedy taught me that!
We borrowed sooo many chairs from all of Anerico's neighbors, and created a nice little sitting area in the shade. You can see the farmers were all hard at work, taking notes from Kennedy's lecture.
We even had a field demonstration, during which everyone kindly pointed out that our garden is a bit overgrown -- even "bushy," as they called it. Perhaps we have a ton of work to do, but at least now we know how!
That's Kennedy showing Anerico something in the garden. (Maybe I should have taken better notes!) You can see that they are standing in the sukuma wiki (kale) section of the garden, which we now know should be harvested soon and sprayed with a magic potion to get rid of harmful pests.
So anyways, I am now an expert farmer, certificate and all! After these two days, I know all about making liquid manure, from plant waste, animal waste, and yes, even human waste! (But we won't use that method...apparently it's not culturally acceptable...) I also know how to prepare the perfect compost, how to properly space each type of crop, and how to make all kinds of organic pesticides. When I grow up, I'm going to have the bestest garden in the world!!!
Dad, maybe we should get a cow at home! Might save you some yard work. Not only can you use it as a lawn mower, but it can help you make some nice compost and liquid manure! Kennedy taught me that!
We borrowed sooo many chairs from all of Anerico's neighbors, and created a nice little sitting area in the shade. You can see the farmers were all hard at work, taking notes from Kennedy's lecture.
That's Kennedy showing Anerico something in the garden. (Maybe I should have taken better notes!) You can see that they are standing in the sukuma wiki (kale) section of the garden, which we now know should be harvested soon and sprayed with a magic potion to get rid of harmful pests.
So anyways, I am now an expert farmer, certificate and all! After these two days, I know all about making liquid manure, from plant waste, animal waste, and yes, even human waste! (But we won't use that method...apparently it's not culturally acceptable...) I also know how to prepare the perfect compost, how to properly space each type of crop, and how to make all kinds of organic pesticides. When I grow up, I'm going to have the bestest garden in the world!!!
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