Games! Games! Games!

I am presently at my in-service training but I wanted to write a post about last week and my adventures at Games! Last Tuesday at 7am 2 matatus rolled up to Sipili School for the Deaf onto which we loaded 30 kids and 5 teachers. We drove for a long time, stopping for 5 hours at a nearby school for the mentally handicapped where we had to wait for a school bus to pick us up and take us all the way there, but we made it to Kerugoya at 7ish pm. After a meeting with all of the teachers to discuss the next 3 days we were on our way to a hotel in town.

Day 1: Athletics (Track and Field) Day! Our day started out with all of the kids from the 7 Schools for the Deaf and maybe 5 Mentally Handicapped Schools in our region meeting up at a track just outside of town. We got all of the kids into a long line, some schools had banners with their school name on it, and we walked about 30 minutes through town to the high schools where we were competing. That was the last time we saw the kids from the M.H. Schools until the closing ceremony because they stayed at the Girls HS and our kids were at the Boys HS. We were trying to raise awareness for both of our schools by walking through town and it was really neat. When we arrived at school we had a short opening ceremony and then headed down to the track. They had all of the usual track events plus the 3 throwing events and the long jump. They also added speed walking, the 3K for the girls since only secondary boys ran the 5K.The other main addition was of the childrens events. There was a 100m and 50 m dash along with an obstacle course for kids under 10. The obstacle course consisted of running a 3-legged race for 30m then one kids untied the rope while the other had to fill a water bottle using the bucket and cup in front of them. Once the cap was tight, they ran 40m to a sack where they hopped in for a 40m sack race. Hilarious to watch! They were all so cute and so into it! Sadly my camera had run out of battery by the time they ran this race but it was great. Overall, it was just a great day! It felt so good to be a track meet, timing races and cheering on my kiddos! J They didn’t place too high but we had six 3^rd place kids and one girl who got 2^nd in the 3000 race, which was exciting to watch.

Day 2: Primary and Semi-final Ball Games. Thursday started bright and early with games. The girls played netball at the same time as the boys played volleyball and at the same time as the kids played 10 point. I kept time and recorded the score of the netball game so I missed the boys and kids but netball was a lot of fun. It was my first time watching an actual game. It’s similar to basketball and something else. I think it looked pretty intense but not my cup of tea because there was too much stopping and whistle blowing like an American football game or something. Our girls didn’t win the game but they tried really hard! The boys lost their volleyball game as well but said they had a good time. The kids under 10 play a game called 10 point. You have net similar to a badminton net and it’s 2 versus 2. They throw a hard circle Frisbee-esque disk across the net to the opposite person and it keeps going like that until it’s thrown out of bounds or it’s not caught. I never heard the results on that but I did hear one of our boys missed his turn because he was in the bathroom. Hahaha reminded me of when I missed my first XC meet because I was in the bathroom J Then later on in the day our girls played volleyball, best of 3 and we won the 1^st game but lost the next two. They played hard but didn’t make the cut. Lastly, our boys played Futbol. They got into position on the field and looks-wise it already looked like it might be a bit rough. We were in mismatched jerseys with some in sandals and some in flimsy shoes playing against a team in matching orange jerseys with shin-pads, socks and cleats. We also were a lot smaller in stature. The game started and we just couldn’t get it down to their side. They played a 15 minute first half and the score was 5-0. The second half was only 10 minutes long (I think the referee felt bad for my team) because the final score was 11-0. The worst part was when 5 minutes into the 2^nd half when they were up maybe 8-0 and the other coach yells to his team (not sarcastically) to his team to score 30 points. Thank goodness the ref cut the game early. It was a good day to watch and my kids did look like they had a lot of fun even if they didn’t win any of their games.

Day 3: Finals for Ball Games. Since today was finals and we didn’t make it past primaries, we kinda just hung out and watched other schools play all day. I rather enjoyed it. It was very relaxing and I met a lot of kids from other schools as well who would just come over to hang out with the kids from my school or they wanted to meet me. It was pretty awesome. In the afternoon I hung out a little bit with Jay who stopped in for the day to see his kids. He is a teacher at a Rev. Muhoro Secondary School for the Deaf. He could tell me signing had improved and it was one of the best compliments ever. Our day at Games ended with a closing ceremony in the rain. We got the 2^nd Most Competitive Team trophy. Hahaha my kids were excited, as was I, though I still haven’t figured out how we got awarded that seeing as we didn’t make it past primaries in any rounds.  After the ceremony all of the teachers went for a delicious feast served by the host school.

Overall, it was great experience but very tiring. I also got a lovely tan with my choco-type sandals, Capri spandex and a t-shirt every day. I loved talking with my kids and meeting so many cool kids from other Deaf schools as well. It was just awesome to be surrounded by so many people in Kenya and be able to talk to all of them! 

Easter Weekend

Another holiday blog post….Happy Easter to all J I hope everyone had a fabulous day and enjoyed the weather!

My Easter was different than most Easters I’ve celebrated though more similar than Christmas or Halloween was. The weather feels exactly like spring at home, it rained yesterday so the ground is damp and the birds are singing loudly. The air is warm but with a slight chill that comes rustling through every so often and the sun is shining brightly. I even painted 3 eggs J The strange part was that I didn’t go to church this morning which felt very odd.

Last Sunday I went to church for the first time since arriving in Sipili. The kids had asked me to go a few times but they attend a Catholic Church weekly and I wasn’t sure how I felt about going. Last week I decided to attend since it was Palm Sunday and I thought it would be a good service. I left my house at 9:30 and went with the kids to wait outside the gate while we watched tons of people enter the gate to the hearing school next to ours. The service started differently in honor of Palm Sunday. The Catholic Parish had the 4 churches that make up the parish all meet at the school before going to church. At 10:00, they started praying and singing with palms up in the air and then at 10:30 we all started to walk to town. This was the coolest part for me. Everyone had come with palms or olive branches they had gotten from their gardens or off the side of the road and when we walked, everyone had them up in the air. Now I’m realllllly bad at estimating amounts of people but I’d say there were between 500 and 800 people all walking the 30 minutes to the church by way of the town with their branches raised high. Some people were singing and some just catching up with friends but it was really neat. It felt much more real than any Palm Service I’d attended since those all consisted of palms bought from a store and held in the air while standing in our pews. After we arrived the church around 11, the service started. It lasted 3 hours and was all in Kiswahili. The worst part was there was no interpreter! I don’t know how often they have one because I’ve heard the teachers talk about rotating each Sunday but I’m pretty sure it rarely happens. They had asked me to interpret for the service but there was no way that was possible. They wanted to whisper the English into my ear so that I could then interpret from that. Besides my signing not being strong enough to fully interpret in the first place, so much would be lost from that system and it would be exhausting to do for 3 hours. I couldn’t believe there was no one there for the kids; it would’ve been helpful for me too since I can understand KSL but not Kiswahili. I just found it ridiculous.

A few days later I find out that Wednesday there are no classes because they kids go to church for an end of term service with maybe 6-7 other primary schools, all hearing. This was a school day and other teachers showed up at school before we left for church. We left at 10 but only the two housemothers, me and one other teacher actually went. I thought the other teacher would interpret, silly me. We got there and listened to a Kiswahili sermon for 45 minutes, then waited for 10-15 for the priest to show up only so we could have a 2 hour and 15 min church service…with no interpreter! The teachers say they don’t want to interpret because they aren’t Catholic. When I told them I’m not Catholic but I went they said ‘oh, but it was a good experience for you, huh?’ and when I told them there was no interpreter, they said ‘Oh. Really? That’s too bad’ and then went back to reading the paper. That’s 6 hours sitting in a church not understanding anything all within 2 days. So long story short, going to church has only pressed my buttons and I haven’t gotten anything out of it since I cant understand a single word so my Sundays are now for long runs and self-reflection on those runs J

Other than that, things are going well. I worked on an art project with my kids on Saturday which was a little crazy but fun for all! My headmaster had given me a paper about this project called ‘MASK Art Prize’ that any Kenyan kid could enter. He asked me to work with the kids on it. The theme of the drawing/painting was supposed to be on ‘What Makes You Proud of Kenya?’ and so I helped them talk about out what they loved about Kenya and made them proud and then tried to a rough copy out of the ones who were interested. I got about 12 rough copies and so on Saturday I wanted them to work on the final piece. I called the 12 kids out and naturally, all of them wanted a part in it so after they showed me a rough copy, they were allowed to do their own. I think in the end I got 25 papers. Some just looked at their friends papers and did what they did-I got a lot of churches drawn which I found a little ironic since they usually don’t have an interpreter. However, they do have 4 Christian classes each week and on Tuesdays a sister comes in and teaches them about the Catholic Church for an hour and a half. I think overall they just liked being able to draw with markers, colored pencils and paint, which I love too so it all worked out! I now will pick the best ones to send pictures of to the contest and then hopefully all of them will be hung up somewhere in our school. I plan on posting pictures on facebook during my in-service training in mid-April so you can see some of them.

The election news is that the petitions were denied and Kenyatta will be president. Swearing in for him is on 9^th April I believe.

Lastly, exams are this week, starting tomorrow and then Games start the following week. I’m really excited to see how my kids do and what exactly happens at these Games. It should be a lot of fun I hope!

And I wanted to say a BIG CONGRATS to my cousin Rachel who was recently nominated for El Salvador doing Economic Community Development!!!!!!

Kisses from Kenya J

p.s. if anyone fooled anyone/was fooled by someone really good yesterday, please share!

A Cultural Learning Update ☺ (Part 1)

Happpppy St. Patricks Day to all! J Whew, it has been a while since I’ve written to you all and it’s high time for an update.

Well the biggest news, as most of you might know, is that Kenya had their elections on 4^th March. They voted for president, Member of Parliament (MP), governor, senator, women’s representative and county rep. It was their 4^th election for president and everyone was wary of how the results would be accepted. There was a fantastic voter turn-out and I believe there are comments on it being a world record now but I’m not positive about that. It does say a lot about the people here because they were willing to stand in the hot sun for hours and hours to vote. I don’t know how many Americans would be willing to stand for 6-8-10 hours in the sun just to vote. I believe there were around 14 million registered voters and around 12 million of them voted!!! There is one big difference in that in America once you register you’re good to go unless you move or leave the country but here they register a few months before the election to specifically vote this year. This promotes more voting because if you’re willing to spend the time to register then you’re much more likely to take the time to actually vote later on. Ok, I don’t want to comment too much on anything more election-related since this is an open blog but I will say the NY Times and some other newspapers are covering the election and results if you’re interested.

I can say that while the elections were happening I was bonding a lot with all the other Peace Corps Kenya volunteers! They had us all in the same place just as a precautionary measure and it was great to be able to meet the other volunteers and hear about their experiences while getting to know them. I also was able to meet some business and public health volunteers who are only 3-4 hours from me so now I have new people I can visit!

I am now back in the land of Sipili and it’s so good to be back here. I had missed my kids and it was extra hard because I knew they were all still at school without any activities to do or class to attend. Nation-wide, there was a week off of school so everyone could go to their homes to vote where they were registered. Most students I found out from other volunteers went home but mine did not for some reason. They just hung out and basically had recess 24/7. But now school has resumed and the learning is back in motion though we only have a month or so left before the first term ends.

This weekend was a very culture-filled weekend for me! I successfully mopped my cement-floor house Kenyan-style (with a bucket and a rag on my hands and knees) though I don’t know if I was actually successful because it looks very similar to how it did before I started….hmm.

I also went to explore the market for the first time on my own. There is a food market every day but on Saturdays in Sipili it is market day. This means you can buy clothing-1^st and 2^nd hand, pots & pans, shoes, a wider variety of food and other good stuff. I had been shown the 2^ndhand section back in January but had yet to venture there again until Saturday. I now have one section that is officially my favorite…the secondhand clothing section. Back in America I loved going to thrift stores and digging through bins or moving hanger after hanger to try and find that one ridiculous but awesome article of clothing and now, it’s like Goodwill moved next door to me and is open every single Saturday! Jackpot!!! But seriously, a lot of the clothing actually did come from Goodwill and similar stores and the market is a mere 5 minute walk from my house, how awesome is that?! I was mostly browsed (though I did snatch one cute dress-shoulder pads still intact) and I think in the future when I know how much I should pay for everything, I can find some first-rate classy stuff. I plan on leaving the majority of my clothes behind that I brought with me but if I can find some keepers and help the Kenyan economy a bit then by all means, bring on the Bill Cosby sweaters, the shoulder pads and the outrageously colored outfits!

In addition to that on Sunday I used my jiko stove for the first time. It is a small maybe 10-15 inches in diameter stove that sits a few inches off the ground and it lit with charcoal. I still have some things to learn with it because it took me 45 min or an hour to just light. I baked a loaf of banana bread-the first bread I’ve ever made myself-with green bananas in honor of St. Pattys Day. Sadly, the bottom half inch was burnt to a crisp. I followed that up with 4 small muffin type tins filled with homemade brownie mix…these also burned a lot on the bottom. They ended up tasting similar to a hard chocolate candy. But it was chocolatey so I was happy J All in all, I was sitting next to my jiko for about 3 hours just to cook bread and brownies! Thankfully I had a good book and the kids would come over and chat too. It ended up being a relaxing Sunday activity since I wasn’t in any rush and knew the outcome would be tasty!

A Sad New Experience (Part 2)

On Friday and Saturday I experienced a new cultural event that I wish I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience. One of my fellow colleague’s first-born sons died last Friday. He was shot in Nyahururu while coming back from Nairobi to be at home. He was only a 2^nd year University student-21 years old. He died a week ago but because he was farther away from home the arrangements took a bit longer which is why he wasn’t buried until a week later. Usually the church service and burial are on the same day but the priest wasn’t able to be there on Saturday and the body couldn’t be brought to Sipili until Saturday morning and so it was 2-day event.

Friday morning around 11am one of the staff asked me if I would like to go to the ceremony at 12. I was unsure of the unknown but I wanted to be supportive and so we headed off at noon for their house. He came from a Catholic family-as most families are in Sipili-and so they had a Catholic Mass on Friday. We all went to my colleague’s house, only a 10 minute walk from the school, and waited for the priest to arrive. The teacher I walked with over with had said the priest was coming at 2 or earlier…that was the first time I’d heard a time that was followed by ‘or earlier’. Though strangely enough, the priest showed up later than expected but early by most Kenyan standards. At 2:30 he arrived and at 2:45 the service began. We all sat under a medium sized tent (you could probably fit 8 of our market tents underneath) and then they also had benches lined in the back.

This was all set up in their front yard. Their compound has 2 parts-the gate opens and to the right you have their garden with maybe 5 rows perpendicular to the gate at about 20 feet each. Then the garden and the house have a hedge between them.

The service was 2 hours long and all in Kikuyu/Kiswahili. The tent was full of people and maybe 1-2 out of the 6-7 benches in the back were full. There were no hymnbooks or service handouts but plenty of words were spoken and songs were sung. It was neat to listen to the songs and some of the long phrases that were said I felt like I knew from the rhythm and hearing the same sort of rhythm every Sunday at church. I may not be Catholic but Lutherans are close in some ways. The other cool thing was how many teachers were at the service. I mean in some ways it wasn’t cool because that meant all of those classes had no teacher in the afternoon-like the one I was supposed to be teaching. However, the fact that there is such a strong community in general and between all of the teachers is awesome.

Saturday morning I was uneasy again about going to the burial because the teachers said it would start between 10 and 11 and so I had no idea when to head over because I didn’t want to miss it. They said it would just be a few short prayers and then the body would be buried since the mass was done the day before. I don’t know why I believed any of that. I was very happy when I walked out of my house at 10:30 and saw all of the older kids (Class 5 and up) waiting together. I found out they were waiting for the gate key so they could all go to the burial-I don’t know how all of the teachers forgot to mention the students were going-but either way I had the gate key and company to go with and with that we were off. We arrived and there were people waiting inside but the family hadn’t come from Nyahururu yet. They had had a caravan of people leave Sipili at 6am for Nyahururu to pick up the body and drive it back. After only 10 minutes, 4 matatus rolled up followed by a hearse then a regular car that had the family inside. The hearse looked like a matatu (a 14 passenger van) but with a higher top, lights on top, HEARSE written on the back and inside there were only the 1^st two rows and then empty space for the coffin.

A lot more people came on Saturday and it was hot. The service lasted 2 hours –all in Kikuyu so once again I don’t know what was said. Six people stood up to talk, hymns were sung and then someone gave a sermon to end the service. At the end everyone stood up and moved to the garden. In the far back corner of their garden, their son was being buried. I was told that some people without the land are buried in cemeteries but most everyone in Sipili, a land of farming, was buried at their home. Up until then it didn’t really feel like a funeral. No more people than usual were wearing fancy or dark clothing, no one was weeping that I could see, I couldn’t understand what they were saying and on Saturday when the coffin was there, I seated on bench further back so I couldn’t really see it either.

The heart wrenching part came at the end. Everyone moved to the garden where a hole had been dug. I was standing near the back and couldn’t see the actual burial happen but I saw the boy’s mother, my fellow teacher, at the end. The whole burial process was very speedy; it was over in about 7 minutes. Everyone walked over, a song was sung and the casket was placed in the ground and covered. Then all of a sudden we all heard his mother crying. Eight women were carrying her out horizontally as she sobbed and wept for her boy. It made it all very real, very fast.

Food, Glorious Food

Hello again wonderful friends and family!

It is a beautiful Monday evening as I sit here eating my dinner…which may or may not consist of an entire pineapple, peanuts, a pawpaw and hot chocolate (I don’t have punch in my house so I couldn’t finish off the alliteration)…and this blog is going to be about food, glorious food J

After my last post, Sarah, my sister, asked about the food the kids eat and how it is prepared as well as the food I eat…and so now I’m going to fill you all in as best I can!

The students here eat porridge every morning for breakfast. It isn’t like any porridge I’ve had before but it’s quite delicious and it what I eat most mornings for breakfast as well. It is a fine mix of maize flour, finger millet, soya flour and then depending on the brand it might also have skimmed powder milk, amaranth, sorghum and extra vitamins/minerals added. I have tried 3 different types since being here and each one is good but different in thickness and flavor. You cook it similar to grits and it is always served in a mug/cup. Also, as with grits, you add your own flavoring and most commonly it is sugar and milk though I often also add cinnamon and a chopped up banana-yum! The label specifies that it is especially good for children and the elderly and since I majored in youth and seniors, I think drinking a lot of it is good for me ;) It is tasty and since I have issues drinking enough water it is also a great way to get liquids as well as nutrients! Score!

The teachers then get a cup of chai tea at 10 and a banana while the kids have a break time.

Lunch for me is always ugali (maize flour mixed with water and cooked) with either cooked cabbage or kales and a few chunks of beef. The cabbage always reminds me of the casserole that Omi cooks which is awesome. The children eat a dish called ‘githeri’ which is beans and maize. They eat this every day except for 1-2 days/week when they get ugali, kales and meat. They also get a fruit a few lunches/week-I haven’t figured out if it’s every lunch or just a few days/week.

Snack time is right after classes end at 3:20 unless they get changed quickly and run first but that happens once in a blue moon. Usually they are too hungry and slow to change that they all eat right before running. Snack is always 2 mug fulls of porridge and the teachers get a cup of tea.

For dinner, I am not often around when they eat since I am cooking my own but I believe it is usually ugali with kales/cabbage. The students like the meals here and even though the variation isn’t wide, they enjoy it. My dinners often involve veggies, pasta and fruit. I am gradually trying to expand my dinner menu but it’s slow going, just like Kenyan time. I did successfully make chips (french fries) last week and on Fausnaught Day I made myself donuts! The donuts wouldn’t have won any beauty contest but they sure did taste good with sugar and cinnamon on top! I make cookies probably on average once every week and half and it is so much fun to experiment by adding various fruits to the mixture. I also made chocolate cookies this past week and gave every student in my classes one for Valentines Day and they were a big hit!

The school has a garden in which it is basically all kale. I believe the school gets most of the kale from the garden but it also must buy some. The garden has a few squash plants and passion fruit trees as well but the majority of the small plot is all kale. The school also has maybe 20 chickens, 3 cows and a heifer. The cows are the schools lawnmowers and keep it looking nice. They also make living on the school compound feel more like home having their smells and sounds everywhere. I’m not sure when the students eat the eggs or drink the milk but they are involved in the students meals somehow.

Other news is that I recently found out there is a track at the hearing primary school next door and during a PE class last week I went for the first time with the kids! I had no idea it was there and don’t know how long they keep it painted but at least during term one when they’re training for competition, you can see it! It’s not your average track that you might think of in America, it much more authentic! They have spray painted with black paint maybe 6 or 8 lanes on a large grassy field behind their school. There is a nice little pathway connecting our two schools and so our kids can use their grounds. It is pretty uneven, very grassy and on a slant but it is 400 meters, right next door and we’re allowed to use it so it’s perfect! If the kids can run fast on this track, they’re ready for anything! Our kids have gone over there for PE class twice now to run around it and practice running 400 meter dash, 100 meter dash and the 1600 meter relay. They have their games competition in about 2 months and we have to prepare them for track and field/football (soccer)/netball/volleyball as well as drama. I have been running with them daily and they have started practicing after school as well as practicing with them during PE. It’s a good time!!

Lastly, presidential elections are coming up on 4^th March and politics are about the only thing people talk about anymore…though it’s mostly in Kiswahili/Kikuyu with bits and pieces in English so I only know the topic. Kenya had it’s first presidential debate ever on the 11^th of February-pretty historic-where 8 candidates gave their opinions on t

everything for 2-3 hours….I only watched the first 15-20 minutes to see the introductions but it was interesting. School is closed during the week of elections so everyone can travel to their home and vote. Peace Corps Volunteers have an in-service training during that period since there is no school. It will be great to see everyone, catch up and get much needed teaching advice.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic February! Please keep me updated on all of your lives as it is always grrrrrreat to hear your stories!! See, I’m trying not to live under a rock here like my boyfriend has a tendency to do ;) hahaha but it can be difficult and updates on anything are appreciated!

Love to all and Happy President’s Day!

Zabet

Teaching (Part 1)

I’ve broken this blog into 2 parts…

Part 1(Teaching):

I’m sitting here drinking my porridge all cozy in my purple bed sheets and BIG checkered blue blanket and I’m wondering where to even begin. It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog and a lot has happened here in Sipili.

School officially had started around the last time I blogged but I didn’t actually teach my first class until this past Monday! The Monday of the 3^rd week of school.  I’ve come to learn that things take more time over here and it takes a while for all of the students to come.

Two Tuesdays ago we finally had out staff meeting…which lasted from 10:30 until 3 (after sitting in the room from 8am on because I thought it was starting bright and early…suffice to say, I was wrong). Wednesday the time table of when each class would be taught was made and there was no school on Thursday or Friday because of primaries….I wasn’t informed of this but I just hung out with the kids both days and tried to learn names. At the staff meeting we divided classes and subjects and I got my schedule, here is what I’m teaching with the number of times/week that the students have those subjects:

4^th grade: Science (4) and KSL (5)

5^th grade: English (6)

6^th grade: Maths (6)

7^th grade: PE (3)

Also, I found out when the terms are (though they may change if there are problems with the elections and school gets cancelled for any reason) but as of now, they are as follows:

Term 1: 7. Jan to 10 April

Term 2: 8 May to 31 July

Term 3: 28 August to Mid November

My school is a boarding school and so the kids stay here until term ends and then as the next term begins, they trickle in once more.

I was pretty nervous about teaching all different subjects but now that I have one week under my belt, it’s not quite as nerve-wracking thankfully. It is a bit strange teaching the different subjects because thus far, I’m finding it easier to teach Maths and Science! And if you know me, I usually hate math and science so I was looking less forward to teaching those. But teaching KSL is tough because my KSL isn’t top notch yet. Then you have teaching English to kids who are deaf which is hard work because they know the signs really well but matching the signs to the English word can be tough.  Then they’ve got to make sentences with those words that they know the sign…but picking out which word belongs to which sign is rough. It is important they learn English seeing as every exam they take involves directions in English and lots of English word and learning about the outside world is all in English! In their big 8^th grade exam which determines which high school they go to if they pass, they are tested on: Maths, Science, English, Social Studies and KSL…and if I’m correct, the only way they really adapt the test for these kids is to give them slightly more time. So the kids know the answers but reading the questions and then writing a composition…which they have to do in both the English and KSL part of the exam is super hard…especially because for the English part they have to try to remember correct grammar and such things but then right after that they have to write a composition in KSL using totally different sentence structure and grammar! But that is a later task to jump so for now I just have to teach them what I can from their textbooks and hope some of it sticks.

Last Monday, my first day of teaching, I actually only taught 2-3 classes because a group of Italians showed up! We had been expecting them the Thursday before but with primaries going on, he didn’t come until Monday. Father Edward came with a group of 11 other Italians from his parish and parishes around his in Italy. He had lived in Sipili for a bit of time many years ago and now that he’s back in Italy, he sponsors our school. He also sponsors a few other schools in Kenya but he has a soft spot for ours since he lived in Sipili. The interesting part for me was the translating. Only 3 of the 12 Italians knew English and we’re at a Deaf School so the kids only know KSL. So the conversation would go from an Italian asking a question to being translated into English and then my Headmaster would translate it into KSL and then back again to English and then to Italian with the occasional Kikuyu/Kiswahili thrown in there to be translated as well! Craziness indeed!! I just wonder how much got lost in translation, oh well, the Italians were happy to see their money had gone to good use as the building I’m living in right now is what they most recently helped to fund! I didn’t know I’d have so many people looking in and taking pictures of my house but they were happy. My house is attached to what will be the new boys dormitory with the housemothers house on the opposite end-it’s only partitioned inside the building.

So what else? Well, the students are fantastic!! They are super excited I’m here teaching and excited that I’m living on the compound with them. I know most of their sign names and am just working on their actual names now but they love to quiz me on their names and everyone else around them.

The big news for the students right now is that they have their annual Games tournament sometime near the end of the semester and since I was given the title of ‘Assistant Games Master’ I get to help them prepare! I don’t know all the games that are involved but I do know that we compete in netball, volleyball and athletics. Two other teachers are helping them with the ball games and I run with the kids who can/want to every day!! There are few different paths we take and usually we run for maybe 25-35 minutes. They really range in speed with some super fast ones and then some of the girls that go at a more leisurely pace but have a great time with it. The little kids stay back and I’d say an average of 8-15 kids between 4^th and 7^th grade ran with me this past week! It’s been great because I’ve now run every day, I get to hang out with these kids, try to find new ways to motivate/encourage through sign and I have gotten to see more of Sipili which is a truly beautiful place. I’ve been really blessed and lucky to be placed here with these amazing kids and such a pretty environment!!

My Abode! (Part 2)

Part 2 (My House)

The other exciting news is that my house is almost completely finished! I have been living here for 3 weeks and it feels like home now. Last week I got my lights installed and the border on my ceiling finished so I could start actually unpacking because now I don’t have a lot of workers in here. I wont be able to post pictures until the first week of March when we have an ‘in-service training’ (assuming the internet is better quality wherever we’re placed) while schools are closed because of elections. Or I’ll be able to if I visit another volunteer and the internet signal is stronger there. I’m so happy I have the Internet but sadly the signal isn’t strong enough to skype or post pictures. Oh well, maybe the anticipation of seeing stuff will make it better? J

So let me try to paint you a rough picture of my humble abode here on the compound of Sipili School for the Deaf…

My house has 4 little rooms and is the perfect size for me to live in. My bedroom is painted a sky blue on the bottom 1/3 with a cream on top. My bed is covered in a mosquito net so it’s like im tucked into a little cave every night. I have a large wardrobe opposite of my bed and 3 shelves tacked to the wall. I have maybe 15 pictures of family/friends taped to my wall and random quotes scattered about that I cut out from magazines while living in my temporary house with not much to do. They include ‘love actually is all around’ and ‘reach for the stars’. My living room, painted with a teal color on the bottom third, is still waiting for my hammock to be put up but I have a coffee table and bookshelf in there now. Thanks to Jess and Jenny, the previous volunteers in Sipili, I have almost a full shelf of books to read! I also have painted an outline of Africa and written a phrase from the Shakira song ‘Waka Waka, it’s Time for Africa’ on the back wall of my living room…it’s probably my favorite ‘decoration’. Once again, I have a few more pictures and posters of quotes taped up as well including a drawing of an alien that Bethi sent me J My bathroom is, like all my other rooms, filled with quotes but they are bigger and overtake it! I have ‘cause I’m just a teenage dirtbag’ painted in green on one wall and ‘I feel good, I knew that I would’ on the other wall. I also have 2 posters that I wrote Roald Dahl quotes on and had laminated on my other two walls…now I just need my plumbing to work so I can actually use the toilet in my own bathroom. Lastly, my kitchen has an outrageous shade of yellow with hints of blue thrown in, on 3 of the 4 walls with my bedroom blue color on the back wall. Once again, thanks to Jess & Jenny, I have a loooot of spices and pots and pans from them that they left me! I also have 2 shelves on one wall and a counter top across the back. I use a little gas stove and it’s been fun, most nights, cooking for myself whatever I want. I painted ‘making banana pancakes’ above my shelves in red and taped the cut out letters of ‘D to the E to the LICIOUS’ on my other wall from that Fergie song ‘Fergilicious’ hahaha.

I think that about covers it and overall, things have been going well here, I’m getting more and more settled in by the day! Time to grill some cookies…todays batch: choco-chip with half a banana, raspberry-apple-raisin oatmeal and cinnamon! YUM! J

If you have any questions, just ask and I’ll try my best to answer!

Love to all, many kisses from Kenya,

LindeLoo

p.s. In the quarterly Peace Corps Magazine that all volunteers receive I read an article on a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and her husband who started a fair trade lingerie line. They both had done a bit of work in Africa, she served in Cameroon, and they knew they wanted to do something. They talked to some of the villages started a fair trade line of lingerie which I thought was pretty cool. Just thought I’d throw it out there if anyone was interested because it’s new and it is fair-trade. The website is: BeSexyBuyFair.com or cherieamie.com  à they both go to the same website J