Friday, November 28, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday was crazy, it was such a busy day. We were all over the place. Allison, Chris, and I were in different places and sometimes together, but pretty much all over the place...
We started our morning out at Oasis, but after an hour split up.
Allison went into town with some of the boys to get some blankets and basins for some families in a nearby slum called Shimo Le Tewa.
I took Joseph, John, Eso, and Moses to Kipsongo to meet up with Sister Freda and Richard for their mobile medical clinic. Chris met up with us there shortly after...

When we got there they were feeding the kids, then they were going to de-worm them. That sounds gross but really all they have to do is swallow a tablet and kills the worms.
After the de-worming they treated the adults and Joseph's grandmother was the first. Im not quite sure of what she had but she had some severe infection in her chest, her legs were badly infected to the point she couldn't walk or stand for very long.

Moses took these pictures of Kipsongo







After Kipsongo we hurried back to Oasis so the boys could eat lunch. After we took Moses, Johnstone, Esokon, and Steward into town to replace some of the things that had been stolen on sunday...It was a hilarious experience trying to buy shoes, jeans, and trousers (A.K.A nice pants/not jeans). Steward refused to get a pair of trousers until I told him he either gets a pair of jeans and a pair of trousers or only one pair of jeans...the woman working at the store just stood there laughing at us as Steward and I carried on arguing for about 5 minutes half in English/half Swahili. After a while we mostly kept it going because it was funny to us and we liked making the woman laugh...it was like shopping/arguing with my little sister.

Johnstone was careful about not getting the most expensive shoes, the ones he and Stuard picked out were middle of the road price and when he saw cheaper ones, he offered to get those instead. I said its ok as long as theyre not the most expensive.

The process of trying on clothes was also quite entertaining. They kept picking pants that were either WAY to short or WAY too big, all the while trying to convince us that they fit, yeah right. Not to mention that when Moses and Steward were trying on clothes, Johnstone thought it was hilarious to try and rip open the changing room curtain and shriek, then run away, fortunately both boys had some sort of clothing on...

As soon as we got home we started preparing a (somewhat traditional Thanksgiving Dinner) This was my first Thanksgiving away from home and for the last couple of weeks have tried not to think about it because its one of my favorite holidays where I love getting to see all my family. Because I live in Nashville, I only get to see them a few time a year and i love getting to sit around and swap stories and argue over football and politics...I knew this one was going to be special, being here in Kenya, I just had to detach from home for one year. Ill be able to look back and remember this really different/amazing Thanksgiving in Kenya.
We made chicken, because a turkey would have cost a fortune, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, rolls, and of coarse pumpkin pie...It all turned out pretty well. Geoffrey, Oliva, baby Charlotte, and Alex (our new Canadian friend) joined us to celebrate. We had a really fun time. It was nice even being so far from home. And, to be entirely cheesy for a moment, thats what Thanksgiving is about. Celebrating and finding a way to be thankful for who and what you have, no matter where you are.

Thanksgiving dinnner