A Birthday I'll Never Forget

Usually at home, my mom makes me chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast on my birthday and I go out to dinner with friends or family. Something usually involves going into Wayne with my friend Katie, and sometimes I am at Dream Camp. This year, I turned 20 seven hours earlier than I would have at home, and had a birthday unlike any other.
I had birthday cake for breakfast that was left over from the night before- Patricia and I found some Betty Crocker in the Nakumatt (no luck at Tusky’s), and made two birthday cakes, one for the Friars on Sunday night and one for the Sisters on Monday. The one thing we couldn’t find (or make, we tried) was frosting- so we replaced it with the Kenyan version of Nutella that Fr. Kevin got for us: Nuteez Choco Peanut butter. It was pretty difficult to spread on the moist cake, but we did it! And we covered it with lots of sprinkles to make it look better :).

Sidenote: cake in Kenya is generally very dry and hard, though it’s actually also really good. Very little liquid is used in the batter, instead, they use mashed banana. You don’t taste the banana though, the cinnamon cake at the house tastes like coffee cake. The cook at the Friars’ house, Antony, really disapproved our cake. He asked us if we’d like to put it in the freezer “so it wouldn’t be so wet.” We tried to explain that no, it was supposed to be like that, but we can tell he really thinks we have no idea what we’re doing in the kitchen. When we baked the second cake, he kept changing the temperature every time we left the room: it got to the point where Patricia had to stay in the kitchen so the cake would bake correctly.

After my birthday cake breakfast, we went to school and started to inventory the library, which is housed in an old cargo container that was donated to OLG. It’s filled with all sorts of schoolbooks, coloring books, novels, and a few deflated balls as well as some salvageable sports equipment. Then I left to go pick up my birthday surprise!

Lucas drove me to town to pick up the one and only Michelle Spada, a classmate from NDA who is also working in Kenya this summer! She happened to be traveling through Kisumu on Monday, and spending the afternoon with her was the best birthday present I could have asked for! I gave her a tour of the compound, brought her over to the new primary school, and introduced her to some of the students. Two of the girls brought a birthday card over to our little house for me, so Michelle got to visit with Penina and Viola for a little bit. Then my parents called and Mish got to take a hot shower (she hadn’t gotten to do that since the US!), and after some visiting and story trading, we left for dinner at the Sisters’ house.

When we got there, Sisters Remia and Emem (Emmelinda… the kids have decided that it’s easier to just say Emem) were hanging up a big banner that said “Happy Birthday Julia!!! May God Bless You and Your Family!!!!” that Sister Emem had colored in with markers, since they didn’t have any color ink. They had fresh flowers on the table, and Sister Mary was in the kitchen making banana-mango pancakes, potatoes, and sausages.

It was such a fun night, and I was so happy to have Michelle there to celebrate! Sister Remia read the excerpt from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (love is patient, love is kind) in honor of me, and even picked out music to play in the background. They gave me a beautiful piece of fabric with giraffes, elephants, and people on it, along with a lovely card! There was also a gift from Maria, the accountant for OLG who Patricia and I have befriended. She got me a gorgeous yellow sarong (or in Kenya, lasso) with elephants on it that says “Jambo Africa” all over. Michelle had already given me a lovely bracelet from Uganda and a pair of earrings from Kibera, the biggest slum in the world that is located right outside of Nairobi.

As we were cutting the cake, everyone sang and Sister Mary let out the best African yell I’ve ever heard- impressive coming from a mzungu! Then as we were leaving they did it again: Sister Mary yelled (YIYIYIYIYIYIYI!) and the other sisters yelled “HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA!” All the kids poked their heads out of their doors at school to see what all the commotion at the convent was, and the eskari (security guards) came running to make sure we were okay.

Michelle then unfortunately had to leave in order to get back to Nairobi, but even the few hours I got to spend with her were wonderful! I had a great birthday and was so touched by everyone’s kindness and generosity. Maria told me I was brave for being so far from home on my birthday- and while I was a little sad at first, I think last night has been my best night here. I can’t wait to celebrate at home, though! We only have 12 days left in Kisumu… which doesn’t seem real.

Last night, I learned my new favorite phrase- TIK, which stands for “this is Kenya.” Whenever something goes not exactly as planned, the sisters just kind of shrug and say eh… TIK. Considering our motto while baking the cakes was “eh… close enough,” TIK is
perfect to describe my experience here.

As we walked back into our house last night after dropping Michelle off, I looked up at the stars, felt so blessed and lucky for such a wonderful birthday, and thought wow- TIK.