Freda's and the pool

I know i havent posted in a couple days, but after my 3 posts at once I figured that it was ok to take a break...We've been at Oasis everyday, which we've loved. One important thing I recalled from the last coupe days at Oasis was Joseph (one of the teachers) and I talking to one of the street boys, Kevin, who comes regularly about why he misses certain days. We got him to admit he still uses glue and hes struggling with giving it up, but he's going to try because he wants to go to school. Its a really hard habit to break, esp. if you live on the street...its around you 24 hours a day and it helps numb the hunger and cold, so we'll see what happens but we're working on helping him.

Yesterday was thursday so that meant it was pool day for the kids that live at Freda's...
Freda had bought them new outfits, so we put them in their fancy clothes to go to the Kitale Club to swim, but first we had a photo shoot...

In Kenya, when you look this good, they say "Iko smart"




Morgan jumped to Chris


I bit Elia


And Alice threw Liliputian Jaci


Really?




Moses


Morgan, who Andrew thinks looks like a Compton baby, so we taught him to yell "Westside!" Not to mention he has somewhat of a lisp so it sounds more like "wessssiiee."

Ca-Liss

Random thought but Chris leaves 2 days. We don't want him to go, the kids esp. To say they/we love him is an understatement.
Its sad and it sucks. Its going to be so quiet around here.
We went to Lighthouse church this morning for his last service there and they brought him up at the end to thank him and say goodbye and pray a blessing over him...and then I started crying. It made it all too real I guess. There will definitely be more on Tues when we take him to the airport.

Last night was a huge dinner for Chris with all the Oasis staff at Geoffrey and Olivia's. Its hard to believe/really sad that Chris is leaving in one week...Its come up so fast and we wanted him to get to see everyone before he left
so the next week will be packed with dinners and seeing people.
Allison and I met Olivia in town after Oasis to get all the ingredients for dinner and then headed to their house...
We started watching White Chicks, a ridiculous movie BTW, then Olivia and I got started on cooking while Allison babysat Charlotte...We started around 330 and finally ate around 915...It honestly didnt feel that long and I had a lot of fun in the kitchen with Olivia...
We made Chipati of coarse, Chicken Curry, Peanut Chicken, Pilau (a rice dish), mashed bananas, and homemade macaroni and cheese ( I was proud of that one, esp. since i didn't think it was going to turn out).

The outside kitchen


Where the masterpieces happened



This box only contained a portion of what we made for dinner...


It was a really fun night with everyone from Oasis but sad because it was a goodbye dinner for Chris...I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

Dance dance revolution

Sunday night Steve invited people over for dinner since it was his last night before he left for the Congo...total there were about 16 people. We ordered a ton of pizza and the night took its own turn...


Geoffrey's daughter, Charlotte, how beautiful is this baby?




Charlotte having a go riding the giraffe


Charlottes got some pretty sweet rhymes


The boys break dancing




Steve went around the room and made each group sing their national anthem...All those represented were America, Ukraine, Uzbeckistan, and Kenya.


Steve also suggested a dance off between the Kenyans...Lilac won eventhough Jacinta was a close 2nd


Chris gave the Kenyans a run for their money


The night ended on this wonderful note...Our Ukrainian roommate Vitalec did a dance to a hip hop chicken song and then bench pressed Chris...Chris said he liked it when he touched his butt...

Steve left yesterday for the Congo, please pray for his safety. It was fun to have him back for a few days, it's like having your dad come and visit. Its always crazy when Steve's in town, because everyone loves him and wants to see him, but it's fun when hes around.

Sunday afternoon

I haven't posted in a couple of days, partly because we've been really busy, partly because the internet sucks and even more so because my computer sucks at connecting to the internet...So theres a couple posts to catch up on...

First of all Sunday was a lot of fun, a long day, but fun. We just went to church in the morning and then some of the house boys, Moses, Steward, Evans, and Joseph came to the house to hang out for a bit...

Joseph on the way home. Look at that face.


Walking home with Joseph


Typical Moses face


Moses thought he was the only one in the world with "backne" and wanted to prove it


Steward wouldn't admit it but his feet smelled like "mafi" which in Swahili means poop.



Not really sure what Evans is doing, then again, I've never really been sure, which I think is one of my favorite things about him. Steward was narrating a mini movie.


I told you he plays hard to get


Moses thought his armpits needed freshening up...



We played soccer and just hung out. Steward and Evans and I sat in the grass for a while and just talked. They taught me mor Swahili phrases like "Im going to beat you," "I'm dying," and "swallow a razorblade"...all essentials to survival here...
After they left we got ready for our last dinner with Steve before he left for the Congo. Little did we know it was going to be a dinner for 16...

Emannuel

Yes, this is the same baby... Emannuel was brought to Sister Freda's when we first got here in August. His mother died and he was being taken care of by his grandmother, who would come to Freda's for food, but what Freda found out was that the grandmother wasn't feeding Emmanuel. She was taking the food and eating it herself.
So Freda told the grandmother to bring Emmanuel to Freda's and he's been there ever since. Had he not come to Freda's when he did he would have died. Tonya, one of the Ukrainians who lives on our compound, has kept him on our compound for the last couple of weeks and its been so fun having him around...hes such a great baby.

August 2008


December 3, 2008

Movie Day

Yesterday we had a movie day for all the house kids at the coffee shop in town. We thought it would be a fun thing to do before Chris left town. We were so excited all the house kids showed up, total we had about 28 kids come.




The movie of choice was Home Alone, the perfect holiday movie right? It was hysterical to watch with all of them...I know I still laugh at that damn movie but just imagine watching it with a bunch of Kenyan kids who might have never seen it...The laughed, screamed, and pointed at the screen the entire movie...I think one of my favorite parts was watching Joseph watch the movie, to say he loved it is an understatement. The best was at the end when the burglers were being taken away in the cop car and Maculay Culkin waves out his window to them and Joseph waved back!

Pato, look at cute John in the background


Evans, Wiki, and Pato were some of the first to arrive. We were hanging out for a bit before and got everyone sodas before the movie started...

Paul and Alice working the glasses


Paul dug my glasses


Wiki in his best blazer


Paul


Evans plays hard to get, but he always comes around


Moses


After the movie we went to a couple stores in town to stock up. Our friend Lilac (pronounced Leelock)is back from high school and will be staying with us for a while during her break from school. Everyone went to Khetias while Lilac and I ran between Soy and the town market. I love going to the local market, they have the best vegatables and for super cheap...there are some great "mamas" there that are so sweet and love to talk to me in swahili (even though I don't know what they are saying half the time). I just nod my head and say "Eehhh" and they think I know what they are saying, it's a great way to communicate...
After the market we waited out front of Khetia's Supermarket (yes they have them here) some of the street boys that come to Oasis found me to say hello and talk for a bit. I loved getting to see them outside of Oasis, but as I walked around town it made me sad to know that those busy, dirty streets were where they slept every night.
Saturdays are so crazy in town that it makes me not want to go there very often, but after seeing all the kids in town I want to go more saturdays to just see them and hang out a little. It makes my day to see these smiling little faces (in some cases not quite so small) coming up to greet me. Despite what most people think of street kids, there are good ones out there who are just victims of circumstance.