PE

Today was my first day back at Kitale Forest to teach P.E.since we get back from Kakuma earlier this week...Honestly, I couldn't wait. I have been looking forward to it since last week...

John Bocso's...it's a beautiful school.



They had exams today so we didnt get to have the normal PE schedule, so instead I helped conduct their tests, monitor the classroom for cheating, and grade exams. In between when there was free time I would start a game of soccer for whichever class was on break...
They got out of school at lunch because of exams so after school a soccer game was organized at a primary school called John Bosco. It was to be a joint team between the house boys and Oasis street boys against the Jon Bosco boys...

After we ate lunch we took Boda Bodas to John Bosco Primary, yikes, I thought I would be used to them after Kakuma, but that quickly faded when we almost ate it 4 times...


Martin






I love this kid. His name is Charles and he lives on the street in Kitale, but he comes to Oasis everyday to learn and works so hard, he's a really good kid, I hope he will do well and improve enough to make it to school someday...I freaking love his smile. It took me four shots to get him to smile because he is shy about the gap...


John Bosco Primary


The Mose' smile





Timo has a great smile, I just caught him off guard


Steward looked so funny in his hat. It was supposed to be attached to his jacket but he took it apart and wore it this way.


Justus and Johnstone


Today was such a long day and Im so tired, but not at all in a bad way. I left the house @ 8:30AM and didnt get home till after 10PM. But its all good because even though Fridays are one of my longest days of the week work wise, I couldn't be happier, it's one of the days I look forward to the most. I get energized by the boys and the students and just being at the school.

An update to this post...Lydia asked and important question I can't believe I forgot to answer, the game was a tie...0-0...it was well fought for I have to add...Phoebe is not going to be happy about the stench and stains in the uniforms...

Turkana for a Day

So on Saturday, this beautiful Turkana woman named Alice...




Let us do this with her wardrobe...


Most Turkana's don't want their picture taken unless you pay them, so we weren't ever just able to take pictures at random because we didnt want to be disrespectful, but thankfully Alice was kind enough to come and let us take her picture as well as let me wear her full Turkana ensemble... I have to say it wasn't my idea, but Ben and Panina loved it so much when I wore it for the picture they insisted I wear it the whole day, even into the refugee camp...
Which was an interesting experience and fun for a while, but again it was so hot and the shuka was made of what felt like wool, so I was dying after awhile...


How beautiful is this necklace? Its hand made by the womans father and he makes a new strand and presents it to her when she has done something good. They start wearing them from the time they are little girls. The more necklaces a woman has the more valuable she is considered.


All Allison wanted was a picture with the two of them holding Cokes...Cute



Chris gave it a try



We saw these women walking into town everyday with this on their heads...We found out that Turkana women do most of the work in the family. They gather, build, prepare food, fetch water & carry it on their heads, raise the kids, and take care of the house...most of the men just walked around town in their shukas talking to each other...



This is just kind of a random picture I took of Alice at lunch one day, its kind of random to tack onto this blog, but I just love it and thought I would share the enjoyment

"Welcome to the Guesthouse..."

Once in Kakuma, we stayed at the Kakuma Guesthouse.. The guesthouse was nice and well kept. We just realized that we no longer had indoor plumbing, yes shower, sink, and our toilet were all outside, to be shared with all the other patrons of the guesthouse.

Our room at the Kakuma Guesthouse



Check out the street it was on! Ok not really, my best friend Jason sent me this picture from somewhere in the midwest, maybe Ohio...One way to tell is that Kenya doesnt have many street signs or street lights...


Not to mention, there was no fan in the room to circulate the air. Which would have been fine because we thought we had winds to give us a nice cross breeze, but our guesthouse was apparently built in the wrond direction because none of that breeze made it through our windows. But we had to keep the drapes open in hopes of it cooling down, which allowed everyone passing by to see what was going on in our room.

Our room


Allison had a hole in her mosquito net, but nothing to really fix it...Look closely, it's a band-aid...When in Rome...


Chris did manual labor to help pay for the rooms



Everyone took full advantage of this as we were apparently the only white people staying in Kakuma and to Africans were fascinating. People even sat on the railing to our porch to talk business or just hang out, the while time staring into our room…

The view and my foot...this is also the window where all the passers by seemed to like to hang out...




You're welcome...



Jacob and his family lived and worked at the guesthouse. He was a really sweet kids...He really loved Chris


Lunch





Us and some of the family



Overall we enjoyed staying here, it just was so damn hot. The rooms and facilities were clean, the family that worked there was awesome, just maybe next time we'll bring a fan

The Road to Kakumka

From Lodwar we moved up to Kakuma, which everyone said would be cooler than Lodwar… I wasn’t sure how that’s possible since we were going north towards Sudan, but we hoped for it anyway.
The journey up there was definitely an experience in itself…After breakfast we headed over to where the Matatu’s (A.K.A minivan’s) were waiting to take people up to Kakuma.




We paid our money and as we were loading ourseves into the car we realized that we weren’t going to get to each have a seat, oh no, the driver was going to fit as many asses in those seats as possible so he put all 4 of us across the back 3 seats…yes do the math…

Yes, I really was that sweaty


Once we were all cozy, the driver went to get gas, then back to where we had just been to pick up a lady, then drove somewhere else to get her luggage, then back to where we had started to argue with the owner of the van and 5 other men about money for 25 minutes…really? Like this couldn’t have been taken care of BEFORE we got into the Matatu!




Yep...


Our bags...notice the door isn't closed, but tied together with some rope


After everyone in the van yelled at the group outside, we finally took off. I put my iPod in and Ricky Young, Avett Brothers, and the Raconteurs provided the perfect soundtrack for the journey...Beautiful really...








After about 2 hours we reached the Kakuma Guesthouse...

World Vision Lodwar

One of the afternoons we were in Lodwar we had an opportunity to visit the World Vision offices there...
Ben's friend Bonifus knew the local director so he just called him and set up a meeting.
It was an exciting thing for me since I work for them back in the states and I love the work they do.
Here are some pictures taken from the offices and surrounding areas





Since it was such short notice we didnt get to see one of th actual ADP camps, but we talked for about 45min-1 hour about all their different programs and how it all works over here in Kenya as opposed to World Vision U.S.




I worked with them for almost 3 years in the states as a Tour Rep before I moved here and the more I learn about them and see what they are doing oversees the more passionate I become about their work. They have so many amazing programs and do such amazing work. Im proud to say I've worked for them.
If you want more information about them they're online at worldvision.org

What Next?

Like I said before there was so much to write about and I want to make sure I don't leave anything out because it was such a great experience...
So I guess I'll continue with the Lodwar experience...


We were there for 3 days with our friend Ben who runs Gilgol High School. He makes the trip every month , and for 1 week he travels to Lodwar and Kakuma to train other pastors and teachers. After going on this trip, I have a huge respect and appreciation for what he does, it’s a hard trip to make. I can’t even imagine doing that each
month.

While Ben taught we went across the street and played with some of the kids in the neighborhood...
Most of our time consisted of playing with the kids that hung around the church. They were a lot of fun, it just got to be so hot that it was tough not to be exhausted from the heat after a short time.


Just a handful of the kids we played with


Al spent a lot of time with this little girl, she had broken her arm the day before so she had to sit out most of the games.



PLEASE DONT ENLARGE THIS PHOTO, or enlarge at your own risk...This boy climbed up the tree and revealed that his pants were torn on the inside from the crotch to the ankle...and thought it was so funny to show us the proof


Pastor Bonifus' little girl, Joy


I loved this kid David, but he always ran away from me



Chris played Mr. Lion with the kids and they LOVED it!





This is Commando, yeah its a pretty awesome name




Chris got to preach a lot while we were in Lodwar and he did a great job. The congregation really loved his sermons.


Lodwar felt like an old Western town, like Tombstone would have been back in the day, except with lots of Africans …

I accidentally posted part of my blog about Kakuma below, so please make sure you check it out...it was one of my favorite parts of the trip, despite losing 5lbs of sweat each day...