Settled in Kenya!

So we have been here for officially 3 weeks and are still missing our kitchen table, coffee table, cushions for our couch (but they were ordered today!), and patio furniture but I have provided some pictures of our house thus far with its furnishings for everyone's viewing pleasure! And so no one will assume we live in a hut with no running water!

Our pretty cool unfinished wood desk with a mirror we have yet to hang on the wall.

My room completely equipped with my electric blanket from Rachel and Emily, sour patch kids on the night stand from Stefanie, pictures from Jill and Mary, and Chipper the Great Dane from Dustin Briggs himself.

Our kitchen and small stove/oven and fridge that I am taller than!

Our lovely unfinished wood furniture and super elephant pillow that we both adore and has our favorite colors in it. Our couch cushions will be orange and yellow with elephant throw pillows to accent!

Our living space!

Our outdoor patio that is semi screened in to keep out the geese the guard our compound!

And I was serious about the geese! Most everyone is Kenya unless you are really poor live in gated areas called compounds. Your land is surrounded by a gate with shrubs tall enough so that no can attempt to climb over it, with a large metal gate with spikes on the top so no one can climb it either (even though we did the first 3 days we were here because we didnt have keys and were close to getting shot at by the night guards!). Most people also have guard dogs within their compound to warn them or attack if someone suspicious is coming in but our landlord I guess does not like dogs and has substituted them with geese! Geese are naturally territorial creatures so his logic makes sense but they charge even at people they know live there.... like us! It is literally a day in, day out battle trying to fight them off with a stick or time when we leave our house so they aren't around to chase us! ITS RIDICULOUS but good entertainment I guess! 

And as long as I am talking about animals I will go ahead and say that even though the geese get on my nerves I still would never treat them the way some of these animals are treated here. When I tell Kenyans what I went to school for or that I love animals they do not understand (and some literally do not know what a veterinarian is) because they do not view animals the same way Americans  do. I mean I understand, these people can barely feed themselves so why would they get pets. The result is though that I end up seeing skinny as a rail dogs and cats walking down the side of the road digging in the piles of trash to find food. It's so sad and I just want to take all them home!! But that's not even the worst part... donkeys or punda receive the worst of it. The massai tribe sells them in the market for about 80 dollars so they are super cheap and people use them for manual labor to haul crops and heavy things on carts. They are so cheap that people use them as if they are disposable and you will literally be driving down the street and pass a donkey pulling its owner and a cart full of produce and getting the crap beat out of him with a stick to go faster.... it's really disheartening but I just try to look away because I have been lucky enough not to see any with festering wounds on their shoulders or anything. Other than that, animals used for food, eggs (mayai), milk (maziwa), and wool like cows (ng'ombe), sheep (fondoo), chickens (kuku), and goats (mbuzi) are fed regularly and do not look malnourished just really dirty. So I can handle that :) 

Above the animals  though, no matter how much I love them, I am even more sad when we see some of the poorest of the poor in the IDP (internally displaced people) camps that are a result of the post-election violence in 2007. Jikaze, our primary IDP camp focus for Uhuru Child and where a lot of our girls at Uhuru Academy come from, is where we went last week to meet with some of the parents. They are the people who live in mud huts which is a step up from some IDP camps that are still living in tents 5 years later. Their walls are curtains and their toilets are holes in the ground called latrines. They grow crops for selling and Uhuru Child has chicken, lettuce, and tomato farms to employ some of the people with and produce an income for the village. However, they do not have enough money for health care and some of the children have rotted teeth or illnesses, like one girl I met who has lost most of her nerves due to meningitis and cannot walk at all or talk very well. She is slowly deteriorating and her mother cannot afford to bring her to therapy. Also, there are so many flies inside and outside the huts that you are constantly swiping them away from your face while you are trying to have a conversation with someone! It saddens me to see these conditions but I know that the girls in our school from Jikaze and surrounding IDPs will hopefully, with the education we provide them with, will never have to go back to that kind of life and succeed in achieving their dreams. Here  are a few of the girls at our school that I absolutely already adore!

This is Esther! She is one of our brightest students scoring well above average on her KCPE (Kenya Curriculum Primary Exam) and one of the sweetest! She is a Form 2 (sophomore) and from Jikaze. She is the oldest of 5!

This is Gladys. This was taken on her first day at Uhuru Academy as a Form 1 (freshman). She was still being shy but she has perked up since and is wonderful to be around. She is from a surrounding IDP camp.

This is my sweet little Ann. I am attempting not to have favorites but she is just so precious and dear to my heart. She is an orphan and being raised by her aunt Mercy in Jikaze. She is full of passion and spunk and is the second oldest of 4 girls.

This is Lucy. She is very bright as well and is a Form 1. She was scared to talk to us her first day here but now she is laughing and messing around just like the other girls. She is also from a surrounding IDP camp.

This is Lynette. She is one of our paying students, a Form 1, and is not from an IDP camp. She was also introverted when she first arrived because she did not know the other girls but as she has spent time here she is learning how to make friends and they are very welcoming. 

This is Margaret. She is a Form 1 and all smiles all the time! She is so sweet and loves to talk to me because her English is very good. SHe is from a surrounding IDP camp as well.

This is Elenora. She is small and sweet and so talkative! She is a Form 1 and one of sponsored students so her mother works for a British woman who is currently paying for her to go to Uhuru Academy so she is not from an IDP camp.

These are the two Ann's. The girls loved having their pictures taken and were being so silly! If only I could put up all the crazy pictures!

This is Ann Wangoi and she is a Form 2 from Jikaze and 1 of 8 children. She does not know English as well as the other girls but her prayer request is always that she would continue to understand better so she can do well in school. She has the prettiest smile and is always dancing!

Lastly, this sassy thing is Teresia! She is the oldest and repeating Form 2 so she could come to Uhuru Academy because we do not have Form 3s yet. She is from Jikaze as well and knows the best English. She has a lot of personality as you can tell but she is always herself!

We also received one more girl, a Form 1, from Jikaze yesterday named Josephine and another Form 1 from Jikaze named Faith. I do not have their pictures yet but I will hopefully take some of myself with the girls to post soon! They have been so welcoming and helpful when Christine and I are practicing Swahili and are definitely part of the reason we are learning it so quickly! We  get to spend almost everyday at the school with these girls and it is such a blessing! On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays we have Swahili lessons in the morning at the school and then eat lunch with the girls on Tues and Thurs. On Fridays we have GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Club where we teach them different life skills and Christine and I teach Physical Education in the afternoons!!!, Saturday morning we have Bible Study, Sunday evening we have discussion groups, and wednesdays we have Chapel which is church for the girls since they do not leave the school on Sunday mornings. 

We had our first PE Class today but Christine was out shopping for our couch cushions so I was solo but it went so well! I was Teacher Jordan and we stretched, ran, and played volleyball until the school day was over then the other teachers joined us and we played soccer for an hour and a half before Chapel. I am head of planning for Chapel for the girls and today was our first gathering! We had a fun little ice breaker, sang some Swahili worship songs that are all upbeat and they know dance moves to (which was interesting!), and then I gave the message! I basically decided to share the gospel with these girls and make sure they heard the true version because its kind of like the Bible belt but Kenya style where there are a bunch of churches but false teachings and people not really knowing the Lord but claiming they do. So, after explaining it to them in simple terms I shared my testimony in hopes of giving them a clear picture of how the Gospel changes people. I told them about the murder of my mom and how that played into me running from a real relationship with God until I finally became a Christian 3 years ago in hopes that it would open them up aboutr some of the suffering and pain they have experienced. Because lets face it, these girls have not ever had it easy. I am really hoping that the two girls I know who are being raised by their aunts and have lost both their parents will warm up to me and eventually be vulnerable and share with their stories but this is not something that will come quickly or can be forced. The mindset here is completely different from that of America where everyone is self-oriented and individualistic. In Kenya, it is all about the family and the community so you do not naturally talk about yourself as an individual which is why they will take time. So, I will wait just like Jesus waited for me. I will be praying though for their vulnerability and trust until then!

Anyway, it is safe to say that I love my job! I have become homesick a few times which is expected and hard but I am so thankful for technology that lets me see and talk to my loved ones. I miss them dearly and if I am going to be gone for 2 years, I am glad that I am surrounded by all of these beautiful smiling faces that easily cheer me up with one look! Also,  hopefully Christine and I will be able to go to the "toi market" this weekend to shop for clothes for the first time since we have been here which will make us feel like we are in America if only for a short period of time and relieve some homesickness! I will have more pictures hopefully of our compound up soon so you can see what exactly it looks like and more updates on our activities for the weekend and next week!

Some beautiful views to leave you with! God really did an amazing job when He designed Limuru!