street kids, the bush, Kenya

So contrary to our “culture shock” curve in our program handbook, I am increasingly loving things here. Sorry that it’s been a while since I’ve updated yall. Well in the last two weeks I have fallen in love with children at this home that I accidentally fell upon, hung out with kids In the slum that have fallen in love with me, gone to a ten hour give away ceremony and traditional dance show, hiked up waterfalls, been to the bush, and walked to Kenya (in short). Haha
So first the orphaned street children have become a part of me after I randomly fell upon them. Three weeks ago I was planning to go to my friend’s house for a sleepover but she got sick so that plan was scratched. So I was now looking for something to do because I didn’t want to go home so I was asking my other classmates if they knew of anything I could do. I wanted to go visit a children’s home but that plan hadn’t worked out either so I was really bummed that I went from a few plans to no plans. Well one of my classmates was going to a slum outreach so I was like I’ll go. We got there and it was pretty awesome. This slum is prob what you are imagining. A whole bunch of people piled on top of each other. The group I was doing works with the street children and does a medical outreach, and just hangs out with the children and feeds them a lil something. So I was just sitting there and then asked if I could help, before I know it this little one room shack in the slums has turned into a medical clinic. We are all bandaging and cleaning the wounds of these boys who live on the streets. They appear rough at first glance but they are the sweetest kids ever. Most were about 9-15 in age and it’s crazy of what they’ve been through (like everyone else here). So I hang out with them for a while and the other people nearby and before I know it, it was time to go. Well while I was there I met these older guys who were working with the kids too. They were telling me that they have a children’s home for former street kids and were asking when I would come and visit. Well what do you know, I had extra clothes from my sleepover plans and was looking for something to do….so after talking to these people for like 20 minutes I have plans to come and crash at their children’s home that night. Before going I was going with another friend to visit a little girl at the hospital that fell in a boiling pot of water and was severely burned on 80% of her body. Sadly, she did pass last week and I ended up seeing her just a few days before she died. Anyways, so I went to the hospital and ended up not even on my way to the home till around 830 pm. So now I’m going with these guys I’ve known for all of a day to a place I’ve never her of or know where it is and its dark. You’ve got to have faith of some type to survive in the 3rd world, by the way. Haha. I mean I wasn’t even nervous and totally felt comfortable. After a decent walk in the dark after the taxi got to the village, we finally arrived to the home. I go in and meet all these children who are all so sweet!! Then I see one of classmates in my program here at the home, and it turns out that she had been working with the children there. Small world after all! Anyways, so after gazillion introductions we go back to the girls quarters’ and they were all just so much fun. We sung and danced and I just had an amazing time with them! Then they have a dance, arts and crafts program there and the children perform to support their home so the next day they performed for me after our crack of dawn training. Oh yeah! So at 6 am they woke me up for “training”. One of the “uncles” (guys that work there) trains the kids in the acrobatics and such, so every sat morning they have this work out. At 6 am they had me running, flipping, doing capoera (Brazilian martial arts) and all sorts of random physical activity. I was just cracking up at the fact that I was up at 6 am, first of all, and then at all of the stuff that they had me doing. Later that day one of the uncles taught me how to make the jewelry and the wood carvings. By the way, the “uncles” who run the home are all former street children and they are all like 18-23. These young guys started the children’s home and last week I heard a similar story of former street boys starting a home in another area. They just blew my mind by the fact that they were so young and doing such big things like running a home of 50 kids who are all in school and all. There’s a woman who comes in and helps with the girls and cooking but she doesn’t live there. So I had an amazing time and ended up spending the whole weekend there and didn’t go home until that Sunday. Haha, oh yeah then between the slums and the children’s home, I was the first black American they all had met, so that was worthwhile in itself. The reactions I got were HILARIOUS to say the least. But I’m glad that I was able to be the first they met and they got to see that we are not what they know of us from tv (ie rappers, etc). Of course, some still just miss the idea that most black Americans have no idea what tribe they are from, let alone what country so they just kept pressing me for where I’m from further back. My default answer has become Liberia and then they can move on. Haha. One of the priceless reactions I got was from the bible school teacher in the slums who’s a lil older than me. She said, “you sound like them (pointing to my white friends who I went with) but you look like us…I’m confused”. After I explained what I was, she was so excited b/c she’s never met one before. I love it!! Not 2 sound conceited but I figure I’m a pretty good first black American for them to meet. Haha. It’s sad though that there only concept of the western world is white. One asked me why more of us don’t come back to Africa like I did and I honestly couldn’t think of an legit reason… :-(
Long story short, I ended up doing the same exact thing the next weekend! Once again it was a blast and it was even better to come back to the home now that the kids had gotten to know me. Now I wasn’t just another random visitor but I was now their friend/ sister. I was glad that I was able to gain their trust b/c of course they often get foreign visitors and stuff but they see these ppl once and never again. So I was glad that I was able to show them that I really do care for them by coming back. I’m already trying to figure out how I’ll be able to see them a few more times even though ill be on the other side of the country. When I returned home that weekend, I had a “give away” ceremony to attend with my family. Pretty much the ceremony was purposed to give the bride away to the groom’s family. There are so many ceremonies here for marrying. First they have the introduction ceremony (introduce the couple to everyone), then they give away then finally the wedding. Of course too, each one is a huge affair for those that can afford it and this family has some dough so they’ve pretty much been partying every weekend in hosting all of these ceremonies. So I wrapped my kitenge fabric in a fashionable way b/c my dress wasn’t made and surprisingly, I looked legit. My mom wrapped my hair and everyone thought I was West African b/c of the style I was rocking quite amazingly that day. But I must say I have found the source of CP time. Oh man, we used to complain about CP time, African time trumps that ten times!! So the ceremony was supposed to start at 1 pm, we got there at 3 pm and it didn’t start til 6 pm!! I was cool the first bit then they fed us so I was cool but after a while I was getting quite impatient. We were leaving for an excursion the next day so I knew I still had a paper to do and packing to do and here I was sitting here doing absolutely nothing waiting for these people to come. After a while, I got over myself and just took it all in the cultural experience. Once it finally started, it turned out to be so beautiful and cool to experience part of the traditional culture. I ended up being up quite late that night getting everything done afterwards but it was worth it.
So last week we went to the east for another excursion. It was an amazing time! I ended up finalizing my practicum plans and will be interning at a pediatric neurosurgery hospital. I’m so excited because it seems so awesome. Pretty much my project is to look into the treatment and rehab of the disabled children here so ill be working with this hospital that specializes in hydrocephalitis and other disorders. Then I’m planning to check out a home for disabled children too. So im pretty psyched to see how thing work here and then seeing the surgeries and stuff too. The hospital is Christian too so that was an extra plus. It was so funny how God works. I was waiting to meet with the exec dir of the place and the secretary I was waiting with was going to the staff bible study so told me to come. I wasn’t really wanting to go b/c I wanted to meet with the guy asap but I went. So I ended up meeting some staff and that was great b/c now ill know people when I go back next week and start. Then the exec dir is American and went to Penn so he knew about Villanova, which was freaking me out. All in all I fell in love there and so excited to go work there. ill be working with the neurosurgeons, therapists and spiritual team, getting to do a lil of everything. Yay!! Then the town ill be in is about 4 hours to the east of Kampala and about 1.5 hours from Kenya. It’s so beautiful there b/c there’s mountains and waterfalls and just a totally different scene than here. Then to make a long story shorter, after that we visited a huge children’s outreach center that’s down the road from the hospital and my friend will be interning there and most likely ill be there in all my extra time. I’m hoping to find a smaller home though in the area to live and work with so we’ll see how that works. I’m def not worried thought because God just keeps working in the most mysterious ways and I always end up in the right places.
Later on we went hiking up the mountains to the waterfalls and they were absolutely beautiful. Can you believe that im getting college credits for all this?!...neither can I!! haha. we stayed at this place for two nights that just looked out on the waterfalls and it was just amazing. No other way to describe it. Well to be honest the hike sucked because walking up mountains is just a beast of a workout and quite messy after you fall a couple times and get muddy but it was more than worth it. Then of course while we’re all huffing and puffing, the locals kids are running by us and the women are carrying their goods on their heads as they walk while we are practically dying. It was hilarious!
Then after just hanging out and doing lots of other fun and random stuff in this town, it was time for our time in the bush. We were paired off and were taken into the village and pretty much dropped off. Well of course we were briefed on it so we were pretty prepared. After what seemed like forever in the vans on our way there, we finally got to our place. It was now dark and of course there was no power so it sucked to arrive at night. We were greeted and taken inside. At our place the house we stayed in was brick but the other places on the property (the kitchen, boys’ quarter, and latrine) were all clay/ mud structures w/ grass thatched roofs. This was the real deal! So that night we ate dinner by lantern and we thought we were just eating cabbage and rice, turns out there was fish in the cabbage. Well I wasn’t a big fan of it, so my theory was eat and get it over with. Nope, that planned backfired! After I finished it they were dishing out more. I was thinking NOOOOOO!! Well I did manage to eat the second serving and then we just hung out with the family. The next morn we had planned to go see our siblings’ school b/c they invited us but we ended up walking the nearby hill/ mtn. it was sweet tho! We met a lot of ppl and most were related to us somehow. Our uncle had a watermelon farm, 4 wives and 30 kids. They all lived on the same compound too! It was actually a pretty decent set up. Then we met our grnadparents and they were all just so cute and happy to have us. Everywhere we went, we were fed so we were so stuffed. Our grandma (jjaja) fed us lunch, then we went home for our mom to feed us then we had tea and eats a couple hours later then they fed us a feast for dinner! It must’ve been a game for them to see how much we could eat. The food was so good though that made our arduous task a lil easier. Haha. oh yeah, I even ate white ants! At jjaja’s they had these huge white ants that they were all eating like candy and they offered us some of course. Well I figured I was in the bush, so I might as well go 4 the legit experience so I tried one. By the time I left I had eaten 10!! Go me!! they weren’t that bad, actually but the wings were annoying to eat. Haha. By the time we left 3 days later we had dug up a few sweet potatoes, planted cassava, seen baboons and cute lil monkeys :-), visited the school, been muslim for a day and went to the mosque 4 prayers, leanred out 2 make straw mats, climbed the mini mountain and tons of other random things. Oh yeah, and we were fed what seemed like every other hour. I fell in love with this family and felt closer to these people than my family that ive lived with for 5 weeks. They just welcomed us in, and it was so great. The bush wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting! I actually was sad to leave after our 3 days there. I’ve already promised to go back and visit them. The town is near where I’ll be for my practicum so it’s actually feasible. The kids were just so loveable and fun. Every night we would stay up dancing, singing and playing games. They would teach us their trad dances and games and the best I could come up with were teaching them the Macarena and swing dancing. Haha. Then of course all the cousins would come by too, which seemed like half the village, so there were like 20 kids just hanging out and laughing in this home. It was so much fun!! Oh yeah, then one night I even had us beat boxing about food in lugandan. HILARIOUS once again!! So we got there wed night and that sat morn it was time for us to go. Of course it was so sad to leave and they all walked us out and we had to go say good bye to EVERYONE b4 we left and it was so sweet! Then of course our mom fed us twice in like 3 hours so we left more than full.
Then the icing on this amazing cake of living with our amazing family in the village, seeing the baboons J and everything else, we walked to Kenya the next morning. After staying up dancing and having fun the night before we woke up at 6 am the next morn to go to Kenya. The town we were in was on the border so after walking for only like 20 minutes we were in Kenya!! Of course, it didn’t look any different but it was cool to now be able to say that I’ve been there!! We of course were walking through this swamp and stuff but hey I didn’t have to pay $50 for a visa 2 go 2 Kenya!! I wonder how far we could’ve walked and gone into Kenya before being stopped. Well I’m actually planning to find out. I’m planning to go to Kenya (illegally again…hehe) and ill see how much I can see there. Since I’m black anyways I shouldn’t have any issues. Haha. But I’ll let ya know how that goes! Well that’s the short of what I’ve been up to the last 2-3 weeks and that was quite a mouthful. So I know you’re tired of reading now so ill stop here. But stay tuned for more… love yall and miss ya!