It honestly feels like I never even left Kenya despite it being 3 years since I've been here. The happiness and joy that I am feeling being back here in a place where I feel so at home is overwhelming. It is so nice to be back. I keep walking around with a dumb smile on my face at all the little absurdities of this country and its people that I had temporarily forgotten about. For instance, the fact that if you are taking a long distance matatu (14 passenger Nissan van that usually holds 25 people and takes Africans everywhere they want to go) they will stop and conduct a "police search" of the passengers, meaning that some lady cop will pat you down and glance in your purse. If there is no lady cop available, they usually ask one of the female passengers to pat down all of her fellow female passengers which is so ridiculous! My goal for while I'm here is to be asked to step in for the lady cop! They use broken glass as paper weights on the street when selling newspapers. To get someone's attention, you hiss at them ("ksssssk"). Everyone shakes hands when they meet. Tea time is all the time. There are so many other little idiosyncrasies that I love about this place-I could go on forever!
My nickname given to me by the kids at the orphanage where I stayed during my first visit 5 years ago and now adopted by my close friend Peter and his family is mogoroki, which is the Kikuyu word for crazy. Everyone else calls me mzungu which means white person in Kiswahili, so pretty much everywhere I go, I am the mzungu mogoroki (crazy white lady).
The past few days have been great, getting back into the swing of things in Kenya. I am staying with Peter and his family in the village (including 2 dogs and 2 puppies which I am clearly obsessed with!)
Nyota has now joined forces with another children's home in the area called Mission in Action which was started in 2004 by a wonderful Australian couple named Ivan and Mary. Nyota will now move into a brand new building at the same site as Mission in Action. I spent some time there yesterday, and it is incredible. It is the best run and most honest and legitimate children's home I've ever seen. Please check out the website and think about donating if you can: http://missioninaction.com.au/
The best part of yesterday though was seeing Joseph, who is another kid who I originally met in 2006 at the children's home. He is the sweetest boy in the world and just one of my favourite kids ever. We had a very tearful goodbye in 2008 when I left Kenya, but since then, with Lynda's help, he moved to Mission in Action and has been doing wonderfully! We both burst into tears when we saw each other yesterday. It was amazing! I gave him a tshirt I got in NZ and have been carrying around with me for a few months and he really liked it. I'm definitely planning on going back to visit him and the rest of the kids there soon.
Today I am heading back to my old stomping grounds in Western Province, Kakamega (the big shit!) to visit with a Canadian friend Susan and see all my friends that I used to work with at ACCES in 2007/2008. I'm not looking forward to the long matatu ride ahead of me, but it will be fun to see all those familiar faces!
It feels great to be back here. I know I said that in India I felt like the worst version of myself. Well here, I feel like the best version of myself. I know I will get super emotional here though, because it brings back a lot of painful memories from when I was here during the civil conflict surrounding the presidential election in 2007/2008 and all the things that I've had to watch these children go through over the years and being unable to fully help. That stuff never stops. Reading the paper the day I got here, there was an article about charging a group of men with crimes against humanity for burning down a church with 60 people inside it in Eldoret while I was living in Kakamega.That was one of the worst things I've ever been through, hearing about that happening so close to where I lived. I don't think the men will end up getting any prison time b/c they are well connected. The corruption here, it never stops. Anyway, gotta look on the bright side of all the good things that are happening, and try and shut out all the ridiculous stuff that is still going on between the 2 warring tribes/political parties.
I will write again after my trip to Kakamega! Tata!
My nickname given to me by the kids at the orphanage where I stayed during my first visit 5 years ago and now adopted by my close friend Peter and his family is mogoroki, which is the Kikuyu word for crazy. Everyone else calls me mzungu which means white person in Kiswahili, so pretty much everywhere I go, I am the mzungu mogoroki (crazy white lady).
The past few days have been great, getting back into the swing of things in Kenya. I am staying with Peter and his family in the village (including 2 dogs and 2 puppies which I am clearly obsessed with!)
(the embroidered wall hanging I bought Peter and Anne in India)
(Rooney, one of the puppies. I love him!)
I was able to meet my friend Tess, who is one of the children who was at the children's home in Kirengero (that home was burnt down on purpose by the crazy man who started it b/c he no longer wanted to take care of the kids...don't get me started on the subject of James Njagaa-ARGGGG!). Tess is now helping the small children at Nyota Children's home which was started by a woman I met 5 years ago named Lynda, a fellow Canadian who has been involved with Kenyan children ever since she came her. Check out the website: http://nyotahome.com/
(Tess outside Nyota)
Nyota has now joined forces with another children's home in the area called Mission in Action which was started in 2004 by a wonderful Australian couple named Ivan and Mary. Nyota will now move into a brand new building at the same site as Mission in Action. I spent some time there yesterday, and it is incredible. It is the best run and most honest and legitimate children's home I've ever seen. Please check out the website and think about donating if you can: http://missioninaction.com.au/
(me and Mary with some of the Mission In Action Kids in front of the brand new home that is almost finished. Joseph is 2nd from right and Tess is 5th from right...can you see me? haha)
The best part of yesterday though was seeing Joseph, who is another kid who I originally met in 2006 at the children's home. He is the sweetest boy in the world and just one of my favourite kids ever. We had a very tearful goodbye in 2008 when I left Kenya, but since then, with Lynda's help, he moved to Mission in Action and has been doing wonderfully! We both burst into tears when we saw each other yesterday. It was amazing! I gave him a tshirt I got in NZ and have been carrying around with me for a few months and he really liked it. I'm definitely planning on going back to visit him and the rest of the kids there soon.
(me and Joseph, in his new tshirt from NZ)
It feels great to be back here. I know I said that in India I felt like the worst version of myself. Well here, I feel like the best version of myself. I know I will get super emotional here though, because it brings back a lot of painful memories from when I was here during the civil conflict surrounding the presidential election in 2007/2008 and all the things that I've had to watch these children go through over the years and being unable to fully help. That stuff never stops. Reading the paper the day I got here, there was an article about charging a group of men with crimes against humanity for burning down a church with 60 people inside it in Eldoret while I was living in Kakamega.That was one of the worst things I've ever been through, hearing about that happening so close to where I lived. I don't think the men will end up getting any prison time b/c they are well connected. The corruption here, it never stops. Anyway, gotta look on the bright side of all the good things that are happening, and try and shut out all the ridiculous stuff that is still going on between the 2 warring tribes/political parties.
I will write again after my trip to Kakamega! Tata!
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