Tuesday

Today was another eventful day at Oasis. Not really as much as yesterday but still plenty to keep things interesting.
I was glad things worked out the way they did because Sister Freda was going to do a medical clinic in Kipsongo, A.K.A. the worst slum I’ve ever been to, today which I wanted to go to, but she postponed it til Thursday. So I was secretly happy because I wouldn’t have to leave Oasis early.

Manu told me when I got there that Joseph was really upset because he had just found out that his grandmother who lived in Kipsongo, was really sick and could possibly die soon. He asked me to go talk to him. So not thinking he would really open up to me I went and sat with him and told him Manu told me all about his grandma and we just sat and talked while he cried. He told me he wanted to send her back to Lodwar, where they are from so she could be with family. I didn’t know if it would work because of the cost, but then I remembered the free clinic Freda was having in Kipsongo and asked him if we could take her to that and see where to go from there. He seemed to feel ok afterwards because he smiled and promptly jumped up and ran off to play futbol.

As a continuation from yesterday, Steward and a few of the boys went into town to meet the boy who stole all of the things from house 2. One of the boys who stole from house 2 used to be very involved at Oasis and all the boys knew him very well. He asked Steward to meet him today at the bus station in town, but when the boys got there the conductor told them that he had seen the boy yesterday leaving town, with a box that said Mose on it. So much for that. But who knows, things have a funny way of working out here, so we’ll see what happens.

Later on, Violet, who teaches the little kids at Oasis asked if I could talk to the girl who was raped. I can’t say I’ve had any formal training on how to counsel someone in this area. I just prayed and tried to think how I would want someone to talk to me, if anyone even, after such an experience. She was shaking the whole time. Violet said it was her medicine. I don’t know if it helped at all but Violet said it did. I was relieved when she said she felt it was bad luck and she wasn’t angry, it was just going to be a hard process…That’s probably more than I could say at that time.

Another great part of the day was when Kevin, one of my favorite street boys, told me that I was his friend, and he didn’t just friend, he said I was his “real friend” and that he didn’t want me to go in Feb. At that point I became a real girl and teared up. This kid has been playing a cat and mouse game since I’ve been here, loving me one day then not talking to me the next. It’s the little things in life right?

Kevin and P.I.G...try and guess which one he is.


The little girl that had the jiggers yesterday didn'tget any more taken out today, we're waiting until tomorrow.


After Oasis, I walked into town with Moses, Elvis, and Steward to get a few things at the store and then walked home with them. I have to say some of my favorite times are walking home with one or a few of the boys because it makes for memorable conversation, usually very funny topics and good discussion.

The boys came in for a bit under the pretense that they wanted some guavas and fruits form our trees. They ended up staying for hours and just hanging out and we had so much fun. Allison painted her nails, Elvis played DJ, Steward couldn’t get enough of my my headlight that I use when the power goes out, and Moses was just everywhere, roaming…We eventually went outside and actually picked fruit. And since the boys had most of their stuff ripped off we found some shirts they could take home…

He liked the red light


Right before I bit his cheek off...




DJ Elvis, We've seen him so much since he's been out of school, he's so different than the last time I saw him...The more I hang out with him the more extraordinary he gets.



Moses in the tree


Elvis didn't want to leave the music behind so he brought it to the tree...

Add me guava


This ones beyond help...


This one's for Jason and Matt...I have bestowed my favorite Wertz shirt to Moses



Words cannot express what I think of this picture...they're just brilliant



Today was such a good day in so many ways. Not that all the events that took place were good, but today just felt like a day of peace and restoration, amidst all the chaos of yesterday…The day after the storm where you begin to pick up the pieces and figure out where you go from here…

All in a Day's Work?

I don’t know how to even being to process today. I know Im not the only one in our group either. It was as if every major event waited to happen today at Oasis.
We got there and it started out somewhat normal until the stories of what had happened over the weekend started to come out. It started during break when Moses and Steward told me that yesterday, when all the boys were away from the house, a ton of house 2’s things were stolen. And when I say a ton, I mean each boy was flat out robbed.

All of Moses belongings, down the mattress off his bed, his trunk full of school books and clothes were taken. Martin lost a lot of clothes, as did Johnstone, Joseph, Steward, Timo, and John. John’s sheets were taken off his bed. A jacket Elvis had left at house 2 was taken, and he doesn’t even live there.


Later during break, I was talking to one of the teachers, and he told me that one of our girls, one of our students, had been raped over the weekend. Its a girl we know very well, she is a great student, so sweet, and very active at Oasis. That was like a blow to the gut.

Nothing like that has happened since we’ve been here, at least not to an Oasis kid. It happened Friday, but she didn’t really tell anyone until this morning. She was taken to the hospital this morning. When she came back, we found out she had contracted an STD from the attack. It’s treatable and she should be fine in a month or so…I use the word ‘fine’ lightly. How are you ever fine after being raped?

Then, just before lunch, a little girl who never fails to come to Oasis everyday, comes to the staff with jiggers in her toes. At a closer look we discovered how bad they were. It appeared she has had them for quite a while. The only way to get jiggers out is to soak the feet in some sort of anti-bacterial liquid that helps kill the jiggers and soften the skin, then you literally have to cut and dig into the skin to pull the jiggers out. If they’ve been there for any amount of time, they’ve burrowed deep into the skin and it’s super painful to dig them out.


So for about 2 hours Patrick, Elvis, Manu and I dug into, cleaned, and bandaged this poor little girl’s feet. The whole time, she’s screaming and crying in terrible pain. Poor Chris was trying to comfort her, but it was so painful she couldn’t do anything but cry. I give her massive credit for somehow being able to sit somewhat still through the process. She’s so tiny I don’t know how she did it. Round 2 is tomorrow.

So much was going on today, that it wasn’t until I got home and sat down for a second that I even began processing the day’s events. At this point, I feel it can’t be reconciled in my brain right now, maybe not even for weeks. All I know is the only thing that helps is crying. Getting it all out. Days like today, take you out of your “bubble” and throw you back into the reality of where we’re living. The overwhelmingness(?), if you can even call that a word, of it all.

I have to catch myself from getting too pessimistic about the enormity of it. I have to focus on the fact that there are places here trying to do something, anything. But its so hard.
I don’t feel my role is to step up and do something on my own. I feel my role is to support the organizations that already exists and try to fill their holes, be there for whatever needs to be done.

I fear this blog is already too long and I’ve lost some readers, but I hope not. I hate asking for help or money but at this point I don’t care what this looks like. Being here has kind of broke me of being embarrassed to ask for help when its needed. So if any of you have read this and want to help Oasis of Hope in any way over the time that I am here please read Oasis’ blog to the right and contact Lydia or let me know.

Thanks to those who made it to the end and helped in part of the processing...Sorry

The Pollutor and Football

Yesterday some of the Oasis house boys came over and hung out for a while. We played football (soccer), catch, volleyball, and Chris wrestled with Stuard and Joseph. I brought out my computer and Elvis and Moses played DJ as they made a playlist and danced...At one point, I just sat off to the side watching, and thought of the day when my life won't consist of these Kenyan teenage boys and it made me sad. I was so happy to be in that moment hanging out, but didn't want to consider 4 months from now...
Towards the end, Martin, Johnstone, Justus, and Joseph wanted to pick fruit from one of our guava trees.
I showed them where it was and we all climbed up into the tree. I dont know how good of a decision this actually was since the tree is pretty scrawny, but in the end no one fell out.



We were talking about what good guavas look like and how you can tell the ones that have dudu (bugs).




It was fun sitting up in the tree, just talking and somehow we ended up on the subject of polluting (what Kenyans call a fart). I think it started when the cows walked by us and it smelled bad...Anyways, I turned to Joseph on the branch to my right and asked his if his pollutes were were the worst in his house and he laughed and said no. I turned to Johnstone, who was laughing his little high-pitched squeal laugh, when I heard someone fart and then felt, no joke, felt the tree branch I was holding vibrate. I looked back at Joseph who now had the biggest smile on his face, while trying to look innocent.
All the boys of coarse thought this was hilarious, and I have to admit I couldn't stop laughing either. I had to stop and hold my breath for a minute though, because the scent that followed was awful, which only made them laugh more...

This could possibly prove 2 things, 1. The boys apparently feel comfortable enough to "pollute" around us and 2. Guavas give you instant gas...

The Last One

So the last friend left today. Chris' friend Matt just left, so it will be considerably quiet around here. I'm honestly sad to see all the friend's go. It livened things up a bit.




It puts things in perspective, it seemed like last week that it was 2 months until they were coming and now that time has come and passed. It's crazy and sad to realize that Chris will be the next to head home. Then before we know it it will be our turn...We've all said we dont know if we'll be ready for it.
I remember my friends Rachel and Nicci, whom both have lived overseas, saying that the time would fly by. I adamantly disagreed with them. Well, I now have to eat my words because I find myself thinking I don't know how time could go any faster. Hopefully it won't.

ODM vs. PNU

So on Wednesday at Oasis, I taught class 4 & 5 Social Studies, as per request of a street boy named Kevin. I picked Democracy and Human Rights, a favorite subject of mine.

So as we progressed through the lesson, we came to talk about the politcal parties in Kenya. The main ones are ODM Orange Democratic Movement) and PNU (Party of National Unity).

ODM party symbol


Kenyan Crest


The kids got quite interested in talking about the two parties and a couple times Manu, one of the teachers, and I had to quiet them down again. So we decided to have a friendly debate over the 2 parties and what each of them stands for. It was supposed to happen yesterday, but they had a soccer match, so it's been postponed for now.

The current President, Kibaki, is PNU and the Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, is ODM. I don't know how much people in the states know about what happened here almost a year ago, but there was a lot of political turmoil and violence after the elections in Dec. About 1,300 people were killed when rioting broke out over Kibaki, who is Kikuyu, winning the election amid allegations from the Luyas, Odinga's tribe, that accused Kibaki and his tribe of rigging the election.

Things have settled down here since the 2 parties we able to reach a power-sharing agreement last spring. But I've been trying to do some research as to who stand for what, so if you know or can provide a good link let me know, Im having a bit of a time on google...

I love Saturdays

We have taken this saturday morning off and are just relaxing a bit. I love saturday mornings here where we don't have to set the alarm clock and can just sleep in and hang out. Its beautiful and more quiet than normal here on saturdays, bonus! We've had pretty busy weeks since everyone's friend's have been in town.
These past couple of weeks have flown by. I remember when we were saying, "I can't wait till Katie gets here..." and now the last of our friends will leave tomorrow, crazy...

A couple of Allison's friends from London joined us Monday night and just left Last night (not sure why I capitalized last), they were Pete and Becca Brierley, and I was sad to see them go.

You know when you meet quality people, you just enjoy them? Well, that's them. They immediately were personable and fun. They worked for an organization called Oasis back in the UK. They are taking this next year off to travel around the world to visit all of the different Oasis projects around the world. This includes Uganda, South Africa, India, Thailand, Australia, and South America. Its an incredible journey and Im kind of jealous they'll be getting to go to so many amazing places. All that to say, you should should give their blog a read because they're just that cool...It's www.brierleys.wordpress.com

We're spending the afternoon with the Oasis boys so hopefully we'll have some good pictures from that so show for later

"Would you love to be ordinary?"

Today was just another day, nothing out of the ordinary. I went to Oasis for most of the day, went into town, had some lunch, and then went home.
Just a regular day, but I guess I would have thought that by now it would feel like just that, an ordinary day, but i swear I just get happy all over again.




Its not an ordinary day, I mean I do the same thing, but I never wake up not wanting to see those kids. Or think it will be the same as the day before.



I sat with Manu, one of the teachers/adminstrative people at Oasis, during their break and watched the kids play soccer and just asked him more questions about them. Where they came from, what their life is like now, what they're like at Oasis when were not around, if theyre really as great as we think they are or is it just an act...




It was sad to hear deeper details of some of the kids stories but I was thinking as we were watching them play soccer and later teaching in class, how thankful I was for them and thankful they have a place to go like Oasis, and that they actually come everyday...

Kevin, I love this kid, he's still on the street but comes everyday and spends extra time asking me questions after math class


Kamao


Moses


Silas on his first day of class


It's already half way through November and February is going to come faster than I can imagine. I don't mean to but I think about it all the time, what it's going to look like to leave. Part of me wonders whether I've made a difference. Once I leave, someone else will come to take my place. Do I mean anything to these kids? Am I attached more then them? Probably, but then I have to remind myself none of that matters. The point is not my gain, but that these street kids, who their whole life have been thrown away and abandoned, feel like they're worth something.
I don't know what to do with all of these thoughts, I guess I have 3 more months to think...