#4 Kenya: Hakuna Matata!

It’s Tuesday and a week has gone by since we’ve arrived in our little home at Keringero. Saturday ended up being a very busy but productive day. Shopping for shoes, shirts, and trousers for the boys on a budget and as mzungus (white people) was not an easy task. But eventually we got a couple Eddie Bauer shirts and a Ralph Lauren shirt all on a budget of $9 (for 8 shirts). So can’t complain.

We also decided to treat ourselves to a feast of a lunch. Steak, half a chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and veggies all for the huge amount of $15. But the best part of the entire meal was the fact that the restaurant had a bathroom with flushing toilets and running water. Today we packed with us some soap and a towel and are hoping to wash our feet and faces in one of the bathrooms. Definitively the highpoint of a visit to Nakuru.

Our ride home was phenomenal. We caught a matatu just as it was getting dark. We had music playing all the way and to our left could look out the window at the setting sky and the magical colors of the sky. Although I must admit that I couldn’t dedicate full 100% of my concentration to this beauty since my ass was slowly roasting away. I was sitting right above the transmission and therefore had my own personal heating system. In Canada you got to pay quite a bit extra to get seats that heat up. Here it was all included. When we finally arrived in Keringero the walk by to our home was equally amazing. The sky was filled with stars. The birds and insects were twittering away and all the locals could still spot the shiny white people and would come out to greet us. Just an incredibly peaceful and welcoming feeling.

And then the invasion started. Sunday we were informed that there would be 10 more volunteers coming to our peaceful abode. We felt cheated and betrayed. In the short few days that we had spent here, these had become our kids, our house, our responsibilities. Now to be invaded by 10 strangers that wanted to do everything that we did was simply uncalled for. Plus, they were setting up beds for these invaders in our library, the one room that we had hoped to completely transform.

Well... maybe we’re making this sound worse than it really was. No one should ever complain about the arrival of people who are willing to help. However, we did feel a bit sad and were only glad that it was us who had arrived first and already staked out our ground. So in the early afternoon when these “beings” arrived, we decided to brave it and put on smiles on our faces to greet them. The kids greeted them as well with the usual song and dance along with drama performances. Finally James (the owner) did his welcoming speech and we sort of addressed the different things that will need to be done. Robin and I proposed our idea of doing the entire library and James fully supported us with it. He said that on Monday all the beds would be moved out of there and those sleeping in that room would be relocated somewhere else. We would be the ones in charge of what we wanted done with the entire room. So at least this way Robin and I felt like we were not being outnumbered by all these newcomers.

Another beneficial thing that came out of this entire invasion was the fact that the girls here at the orphanage started relating to us more and approaching us to chat. A bunch of them wanted us to sleep in their beds with them (since the newcomers were sleeping in the upper bunks of their room). However, we weren’t really too keen on giving up our bedroom and the ability to have somewhere to retreat whenever we need peace and quite. But it was great chatting with the girls, tickling them, joking around with them and just feeling much more welcome than we had for the last 4 days. We’re feeling like we’re bonding much more now – and if that means that we need the occasional invasion of strangers to accomplish that, so be it.

So that was Sunday. Monday seemed to be a great start to the week (with the exception of a couple minor things). It was our first teaching day. After breakfast we headed to the primary school and were given a schedule – two 35 minute classes every day. But before this could be done we were mobbed by about 999 kids wishing to shake our hands (or pinch us really, really, really, really hard – to make sure that the white did not in fact come off). I truly know now what celebrities feel like. When I climbed up on a wall to take a few pictures of the giant crowd of black heads with Robin’s glowing whiteness somewhere in the midst of them, the scream and roar that went up was overwhelming. It sounded as if Brittnay Spears had arrived right into the midst of a crowd of teenagers, or like a Backstreet Boys concert.

So yeah – we taught two classes on Monday – Grade 7 Atlantic Ocean and Grade 7 Indian Ocean. Not any real and substantive material, but rather semi-social-studies where we tell them about Canada, our history, our geography, culture and just way of life. They loved Robin speaking in her Newfie accent and loved me pretending to be a beaver. We’ll be teaching two classes every day and hope to slowly cover the entire world – i.e. do a lecture on Central and South America, one on Asia, one on Europe and one on North Africa. With all our traveling/living/working experience we figured we’d have enough to tell them about. But I think the main attraction of the lesson is having two mzungu girls standing at the front of the class (plus looking at Canadian money). By the way – does Canada have a Vice Prime Minister? We were asked that today and weren’t 100% sure of the answer.

After coming back from school we hung out a bit, double checked some paint supplies and helped the girls out in some minor things. The new volunteers are a bit unhappy about their current sleeping arrangements and were wanting to move into our room, but we were told to wait for James so that he could sort everything out. However, due to a huge rain-storm James wasn’t able to make it so things are still a bit up in the air.

Tuesday was another two lectures and then the trip into town to buy all the supplies required for the library and to take care of a few more things... and that’s where we are at now.

PS: We’ve given up on eating the meat that they serve here. Robin after having to swallow ligament a number of times decided it simply wasn’t worth the effort and I fully support her in this decision. You know it’s bad when you chew it for 20 minutes, take it out of your mouth, put it down on the plate, and then 10 minutes later try again for another 20 minutes. And then there’s the awkward moment when you’re left with 5 huge chewed chunks on your plate and they ask you whether you’re hungry and you look them straight in the face and say “I’m finished everything” as the see all the “meat” still on your plate. So ugali it is for us – along with some veggies and hopefully the occasional chapatti.

PS: The newcomers asked for so much tea in the morning (didn’t even drink it all) that there was no milk left in the afternoon to make any more. How rude is that?