Tears of Africa

good morning,

today is wednesday, our last day in kitale. after several group
convo’s, we’ve decided to head back to nairobi early in order to
complete everything we wanted to have done. we’ll be leaving tomorrow
morning and spending the remaining days as follows[though keep in
mind, t.i.a.]:

friday – intro of rafiki pen pal program at huruma childrens home.
playing with kids
saturday – fun day! trip to game reserve and/or animal orphanage. [pet
cheetahs, baby elephants, etc]
sunday – church and soup kitchen in kibera. aka community
celebration, dancing, etc
monday – starting the rafiki program in huruma childrens home with the
teachers and administration
tuesday – market, carnivore for dinner [maybe], and then airport.
wednesday – greenville!

group updates:
most of the girls got their hair braided and are looking fantastic.
esther has malaria.
i have malaria. currently ignoring it though.
traver is craving animals and the carnivore restaurant.
azra has been declared a representative of kenya’s indigenous
population…and assured of that point
esther is believed to be an east african pop singer.
clare is considering braids and being the only one with weave in nursing school
joe is a children magnet
sallie is kitale
julia is likely going to be out of luck on the vegetarian option at “carnivore”
caitlyn is painting her heart away.

hope everyone’s great at home.

wish us luck on the bus ride home tomorrow. it’s notoriously the
worst 8 hour drive in kenya.

Thoughts for the rest of the week: What is the difference between
giving and serving?

...Giving is easy. Serving is hard. Love is the latter.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” – jim elliot

smile, and take care.
kalen

good afternoon, habari za mchana, hamjambo, marafiki wangu:

We’ve been in Kitale for several days now, enjoying the beautiful weather and far more lush environment. we’ve been mostly playing with the street kids that are all addicted to glue – playing with them and getting to know them through organized events with local organizations as well as seeing them around town. they all know most of us by now.

three of the girls have gotten their hair braided [w/ weave] and another three are getting it done on tuesday. muy bonita.

the rest of this week is the following:

painting a mural at a local orphanage
starting the penpal program at several schools/homes
visiting the hiv/aids clinic/education center
playing more futball with the street kids
maybe going to the rain forest at the end of the week

then returning to nairobi over the weekend to hang out with the gang in kibera. holla

wish us luck/safety/blessing i.e. pray for us.

hope everyone’s enjoying life – take care and see you soon [for some of us]

kalen

ps. even though everyone is coming home in a week, please remember that i’ll be here until september. what that means is, if anyone would please run through the taco bell drive thru – package it – and send it to me, that’d be great.

sawa. tunahitaji kwenda. salama

it’s sunday morning at about 6:30am. the rest of the crew is still sleeping – as they should be. we’ve just finished an amazing/tiring/crazy week.

about 1/2 our group has gotten sick. traver was down for the count with an upset stomach for about two days, wed and thurs. taylor got better at the beginning of the week. azra and caitlyn got stomach sick around wednesday. and a few others have had minor bouts.

interestingly, our group was reunited after only three days. the garissa team [me, joe, caitlyn, sallie, and julia and 8 imagine members] was stalled for three days trying to make it to the village of Malkamanza. But after 3 breakdowns, replacement no-shows, bad excuses, ron’s wallet for the project being virtually sapped to exhaustion, and a local school letting us sleep in one of their classrooms for the night, we scrapped the trip and headed home.

Not that it was unsuccessful – we played with countless children, bonded with one another, and enjoyed the beauty of the Somaliland’s desert.

On Tuesday, we made the entire trip back [about 9 hours of 3 different eco terrains] in one day, from Garissa to 20 km past Kiserian to meet with our other half.

Together, the group helped imagine team members and 4 doctors see over 840 patients in three days. It was characterized by slow mornings and swamped afternnoons. bc with maasai, no one has a car. so they walk from miles away, starting in the morning. so you can imagine the results. it has been fun, tiring, stressful, and gratifying. the group has been experiencing countless different joys and difficulties, and each night we share with one another how the day influenced us – the ‘highs and lows’ of the day – making the experience all the more varied and complete for the other nine of us.

it’s been decided that thus far, esther is the most awkward person on the trip. for reasons you’ll have to find out from her.

Traver’s foiled a gov’t coup.

The locals have determined that Caitlyn and Julia are no more than 10 years old.

Joe and I killed a lion about a km outside pastor moses’ boma.

Sallie is worth an infinite number of cows.

Azra is about 30. And her tatoo is coveted by about 426 maasai women. and she has quite an affinity for chai masala.

Clare is safe.

Joe is – after return to the us – going to be producing star wars, all six movies, as a one-man performance on tour around the world. he will also be adding characters from lord of the rings and sound effects never before heard.

taylor will soon be fluent in maasai as her translator is never focused or present.

today is church in kiserian with over 20 different tribes and nationalities. then we’re going back to kibera to pick up some dresses that the local women are making for the girls. tonight we’re getting on the bus to ride the overnight to Kitale where we’ll spending our next two weeks. the road is quite safe.

take care,
kalen