Since I’ve been here, I can’t help but notice how all parts of Kenya are separated into classes- there are those who serve, and those who are served. Even those who serve have servants who they treat like dirt and pay nothing.
I saw it on the hike when the porters and cooks wouldn’t let us help them with anything- not even just carrying our own jackets or waterbottles or clearing our plates after meals. At that point, I couldn’t tell if it was just their professionalism and the fact that we were clients, but now I see that it was because we were seen as a higher class than they were because we were clients, white girls from America.
I see it at school- the kids see themselves as superior to the cooks and maintenance crew because they serve the kids. The kids laugh when Patricia and I go to weed in the shamba (field or garden), and when we ask them for help they just kindof giggle and ask why we’re doing it. They’re shocked that we even know how to pull weeds or dig, because as I’ve recently discovered, they think that everyone in America is rich and lives in a mansion. Yesterday, when I told a group of girls that no, I do not personally know Beyoncé, and that yes, there are a lot of Americans who are poor and who are homeless, they were shocked. They didn’t believe me at first, but then they got very quiet, and one just said, “I thought everyone in the states had a lot of money.” That misconception of Americans being wealthy automatically put Patricia and me above them in their minds, and I think that conversation might have put us on a more even playing field.
I saw it when Mary went to the hospital and Sister Mary so insisted that someone be with her to fight for her. She’s 16 and pregnant, arriving at the hospital from a boarding school notorious for not asking for school fees, and without a parent accompanying her. In Kenya, she’s far down on the list. She’d also be in a lot of pain and distress, unable to fight for herself. That’s why she needed someone with her- someone who would insist that she is just as valuable and worthy of care as a married woman who came in with her husband to have a child.
I see it every day as we walk down the street to go to school. Everyone smiles and waves at us, and when we say jambo, they respond with hello. The basic English that everyone knows is the word “fine.” They are taught to say “How are you?” and to answer “Fine, how are you?” in primary school, and most cannot remember much past that. The answer to pretty much anything and everything we say to people walking down the road is “fine, fine.” It could be an answer to the question “How are you?” and the answer is probably not fine, it could be an answer to just a simple hello or good morning.
I saw it yesterday when Patricia and I started the first of our many Saturday projects- reshaping the plant beds in the greenhouse to measure one meter across and 50 centimeters in between so that the irrigation system will work. We got in there bright and early and started raking, but when the casual laborers saw us (casual laborer=maintenance staff), they took the rakes and “spades” (shovels) out of our hands and took over. We tried to explain that while we’d love their help, we could do some work too, but they wouldn’t hear of it. Of course, they did a much better job than we ever could have, but it was interesting to see that they wouldn’t let us help. We went and got them water and did some weeding around the edges of the greenhouse, but still can take no credit for the work that was done.
I hope that our time here working with and hanging out with the students at the school will make them see it too- and see that it’s wrong. I want them to understand the value of each and every human person. I know it’s a big goal, but I’m going to do what I can to make as much of a difference as possible in the time I’m here.
I apologize for not posting for so long and then inundating you with posts- our internet hasn’t been working since we had a CRAZY rainstorm the other day. It thundered so much that our little house shook! We actually didn’t lose power, but the crash of the rain on the iron roof was overwhelming and a little scary. It is, however, a gorgeous day here today. I’m sitting in a little hut on the Dominican compound typing and listening to the cows and goats. The goats graze on the property, and there is currently one about 10 feet away from me. The wind is blowing and it’s not even hot, it’s really nice to be outside! Patricia and I moved into a new little house today, about 30 feet away from where our first house was. We now have hot water (hooray!), a little common room and kitchen, and we don’t have to go outside to go to the bathroom. I’ll post pictures when I can! I’ve been in Kenya for about 2 weeks, which is weird. It feels like longer, but it has gone by so fast. See you in 24 days! xox
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Miracles Happen
I have an entire school full of children in front of me while I’m frantically plugging and unplugging wires, pressing buttons, and connecting and disconnecting speakers. Why is it that they can watch the movie we’ve been promising them all day but can’t hear it? If only I knew. The older boys come over to play around with the sound system that they use every Saturday evening for dancing, which is their usual activity during “entertainment,” and it’s still looking hopeless. While trying to concentrate on which plugs should go where and whether or not I’ve already tried that, I throw up a few Hail Marys and pray that I don’t have to tell these kids that they can’t watch their movie.
All of a sudden, I hear the opening music of Madagascar 2. VICTORY! Everyone claps and laughs, and we start watching… and we keep watching… and it’s just a low murmur of noise, nothing distinguishable. Panicked, I shoot a look at Patricia, and then we hear the best noise I’ve ever heard- 220 kids cracking up at the animation projected onto a white sheet hanging on the back wall of their multipurpose dining hall/chapel/auditorium/classroom. They were completely captivated, and couldn’t have cared less about the fact that they couldn’t understand what the characters were saying. I sat back and took some photos and relaxed, smiling, really understanding the meaning of the phrase “it’s the little things in life.”
Then in walks Sister Mary, whose equipment it is that is fascinating these kids. She walks over to the machine that I fiddled with for 20 minutes, presses two buttons, and we can clearly hear the characters. She’s amazing. As we listen and debate whether or not to start over, I realize that I can’t understand a word the lions, penguins, or monkeys are saying. Why? Oh, because the film is in Chinese. That’s what you get when you buy a bootleg DVD on the streets of Nairobi, Sister Mary. Thankfully this DVD had about ten other films on it, so we watched Shrek- in English- and the kids loved it.
That night, we held a special screening- for secondarians (high school students) only. By the time we arrived back at Our Lady of Grace after our lunch/dinner break, the makeshift movie theatre was packed. And there were kids around age five in the front row… certainly not secondarians. It broke my heart to have to tell them to leave- they had to go to bed! As they walked out, heads hanging low, the secondary students cheered- they usually don’t get much time to themselves without having to share with and take care of their surrogate younger siblings. The movie was quite intense, but it applied to their CRE (religion) classes, which was certainly helpful. Who would have thought the first time I would ever see and discuss Avatar would be in a tiny little school in Africa?
All of a sudden, I hear the opening music of Madagascar 2. VICTORY! Everyone claps and laughs, and we start watching… and we keep watching… and it’s just a low murmur of noise, nothing distinguishable. Panicked, I shoot a look at Patricia, and then we hear the best noise I’ve ever heard- 220 kids cracking up at the animation projected onto a white sheet hanging on the back wall of their multipurpose dining hall/chapel/auditorium/classroom. They were completely captivated, and couldn’t have cared less about the fact that they couldn’t understand what the characters were saying. I sat back and took some photos and relaxed, smiling, really understanding the meaning of the phrase “it’s the little things in life.”
Then in walks Sister Mary, whose equipment it is that is fascinating these kids. She walks over to the machine that I fiddled with for 20 minutes, presses two buttons, and we can clearly hear the characters. She’s amazing. As we listen and debate whether or not to start over, I realize that I can’t understand a word the lions, penguins, or monkeys are saying. Why? Oh, because the film is in Chinese. That’s what you get when you buy a bootleg DVD on the streets of Nairobi, Sister Mary. Thankfully this DVD had about ten other films on it, so we watched Shrek- in English- and the kids loved it.
That night, we held a special screening- for secondarians (high school students) only. By the time we arrived back at Our Lady of Grace after our lunch/dinner break, the makeshift movie theatre was packed. And there were kids around age five in the front row… certainly not secondarians. It broke my heart to have to tell them to leave- they had to go to bed! As they walked out, heads hanging low, the secondary students cheered- they usually don’t get much time to themselves without having to share with and take care of their surrogate younger siblings. The movie was quite intense, but it applied to their CRE (religion) classes, which was certainly helpful. Who would have thought the first time I would ever see and discuss Avatar would be in a tiny little school in Africa?
Bold as Love
I really don’t even know how to start talking about Sister Mary Brenda, OP. She is honestly one of the most amazing women I have ever met in my life, and is an amazing role model for me. She is a Dominican sister from a congregation in Houston, a PSU alum, former nurse, and a dynamo. She came to Kisumu to help the administration of Our Lady of Grace, but has been in Kenya for almost five years now, working primarily out of Nairobi. She has worked in schools, opened clinics, and I’m pretty sure she knows everyone in Kenya.
Not only is she great with the kids at the school, she is a businessperson. She is trying to save money at every chance she can while simultaneously getting a new water tank and building a new primary school. The financial state of the school is pretty dismal, but with her at the helm, I have every confidence that soon, it will be back on its feet.
What’s really cool is that she’s passing on all her wisdom to Patricia and me- and trust me, we’re trying as hard as we can to soak as much of it in as we can. She lets us sit in on important meetings about the school, and seeing how she handles them is such a great learning experience. I feel like in the past four days at Our Lady of Grace I have learned more about business and school/non-profit administration than any internship could have taught me. We helped to create a new budget for the school and did research into how much it actually costs to sponsor each child for a year.
Hey RAs- if a floor in McVinney sponsored a child, each resident would only have to pay $5 a month for the whole school year. That supplies the tuition, food, boarding, medical care, and activities fees for one child for a whole 12 months. Think about it- this is an amazing cause, it’s connected to our Dominican tradition, and you’re saving a child’s life for a year. (This is the first of many times that Patricia and I will be harassing you to help our kids- get used to it :D).
One of the girls at the school, Mary, is 7 months pregnant, and she thought she was going into labor this afternoon. We didn’t find out until she was already on her way to the hospital, and we were concerned that no one would be able to stay with her, during the time she needed someone the most. She’s only 16, and Patricia and I volunteered to go. We later found out that she was having false labor, but we were still concerned. While we didn’t end up going to the hospital with Mary, we talked with Sister Mary about what Mary the student was going through. Sister Mary was a labor and delivery nurse, and she knew how important it would be for Mary to have someone there with her to fight for her in the delivery room. Sister Mary’s sense of justice is inspiring, and the life experiences I’ve had with her so far have taught me so much.
Today we also reorganized the kitchen, which was no small task. We say we reorganized it, but honestly, it really wasn’t very organized to begin with. It’s a very small space that has to feed a lot of people, and it’s even more chaotic than Ray (the PC dining hall) at 12:30. We added a barrier outside made of a piece of 1x4 and 2 chairs to help create some type of lunch line, and inside, we rearranged a lot of prep tables to make more floor space. Each child is issued his or her own plate and cup at the beginning of each school year, but they are frequently broken or stolen, and they never really get very clean. We devised a new system for meal times- the plates are now all stored in the kitchen, and the food is served plated, not like it was before when the children handed the cooks their own plate. This way everyone has a clean plate, and it’s easier to keep track of who has eaten and who still needs food. We also have created dishwashing crews for the children- they all earn a small amount of money by doing chores around the school, but they don’t really do those chores as frequently as they are supposed to. Patricia and I made random groupings of the older students who will wash, dry, and put dishes away on a rotating schedule. This will hopefully make mealtime more organized and less chaotic- less like 6 o’clock dinner and more like 2 o’clock lunch at Ray. Everyone will do the work at some point, and it will hopefully help to eliminate the feelings of superiority that some of the students have over the staff- and it will help the cooking staff out! This was all Sister Mary’s idea- she has a million ideas in her head, but has so much to do that it’s hard to get everything done that she wants to do. That’s where Patricia and I come in.
Just following Sister Mary around for an hour helps you to understand how remarkable she is. I got to do this yesterday while Patricia was helping out with a business studies class, and in that hour we went down to the farm attached to the school to make plans for a Saturday project, met with a member of the Dominican Laity to discuss plans for an addition to the confessional in the school chapel (a grass roof), and met with the contractors who are building the new primary school. Sister Mary really took charge in all these meetings, and in a society where women, especially Sisters, are often seen as demure and are expected to be passive, she taught the businessmen a thing or two about how to run their businesses. She is so direct and honest but tells it like it is with a joke and a smile that gets her very far. She has a very good sense of what’s fair and what’s not, and isn’t afraid to say it.
I’m always talking about how I want to be more assertive, but I’m always concerned with being too aggressive. Sister Mary exemplifies the balance between the two, and I have a feeling that by the time I leave here I’ll have a better understanding of this balance as well.
Sister Mary does all this crazy stuff during the day, and at night goes back to the house with three other Dominican Sisters from the Philippines. They’re wonderful women who are so kind, but they are very different from Sister Mary, and I can imagine that she has a difficult time living with the cultural differences. Still, she comes to Our Lady of Grace each day with a smile, and she keeps me laughing all day long while doing some really great work.
Not only is she great with the kids at the school, she is a businessperson. She is trying to save money at every chance she can while simultaneously getting a new water tank and building a new primary school. The financial state of the school is pretty dismal, but with her at the helm, I have every confidence that soon, it will be back on its feet.
What’s really cool is that she’s passing on all her wisdom to Patricia and me- and trust me, we’re trying as hard as we can to soak as much of it in as we can. She lets us sit in on important meetings about the school, and seeing how she handles them is such a great learning experience. I feel like in the past four days at Our Lady of Grace I have learned more about business and school/non-profit administration than any internship could have taught me. We helped to create a new budget for the school and did research into how much it actually costs to sponsor each child for a year.
Hey RAs- if a floor in McVinney sponsored a child, each resident would only have to pay $5 a month for the whole school year. That supplies the tuition, food, boarding, medical care, and activities fees for one child for a whole 12 months. Think about it- this is an amazing cause, it’s connected to our Dominican tradition, and you’re saving a child’s life for a year. (This is the first of many times that Patricia and I will be harassing you to help our kids- get used to it :D).
One of the girls at the school, Mary, is 7 months pregnant, and she thought she was going into labor this afternoon. We didn’t find out until she was already on her way to the hospital, and we were concerned that no one would be able to stay with her, during the time she needed someone the most. She’s only 16, and Patricia and I volunteered to go. We later found out that she was having false labor, but we were still concerned. While we didn’t end up going to the hospital with Mary, we talked with Sister Mary about what Mary the student was going through. Sister Mary was a labor and delivery nurse, and she knew how important it would be for Mary to have someone there with her to fight for her in the delivery room. Sister Mary’s sense of justice is inspiring, and the life experiences I’ve had with her so far have taught me so much.
Today we also reorganized the kitchen, which was no small task. We say we reorganized it, but honestly, it really wasn’t very organized to begin with. It’s a very small space that has to feed a lot of people, and it’s even more chaotic than Ray (the PC dining hall) at 12:30. We added a barrier outside made of a piece of 1x4 and 2 chairs to help create some type of lunch line, and inside, we rearranged a lot of prep tables to make more floor space. Each child is issued his or her own plate and cup at the beginning of each school year, but they are frequently broken or stolen, and they never really get very clean. We devised a new system for meal times- the plates are now all stored in the kitchen, and the food is served plated, not like it was before when the children handed the cooks their own plate. This way everyone has a clean plate, and it’s easier to keep track of who has eaten and who still needs food. We also have created dishwashing crews for the children- they all earn a small amount of money by doing chores around the school, but they don’t really do those chores as frequently as they are supposed to. Patricia and I made random groupings of the older students who will wash, dry, and put dishes away on a rotating schedule. This will hopefully make mealtime more organized and less chaotic- less like 6 o’clock dinner and more like 2 o’clock lunch at Ray. Everyone will do the work at some point, and it will hopefully help to eliminate the feelings of superiority that some of the students have over the staff- and it will help the cooking staff out! This was all Sister Mary’s idea- she has a million ideas in her head, but has so much to do that it’s hard to get everything done that she wants to do. That’s where Patricia and I come in.
Just following Sister Mary around for an hour helps you to understand how remarkable she is. I got to do this yesterday while Patricia was helping out with a business studies class, and in that hour we went down to the farm attached to the school to make plans for a Saturday project, met with a member of the Dominican Laity to discuss plans for an addition to the confessional in the school chapel (a grass roof), and met with the contractors who are building the new primary school. Sister Mary really took charge in all these meetings, and in a society where women, especially Sisters, are often seen as demure and are expected to be passive, she taught the businessmen a thing or two about how to run their businesses. She is so direct and honest but tells it like it is with a joke and a smile that gets her very far. She has a very good sense of what’s fair and what’s not, and isn’t afraid to say it.
I’m always talking about how I want to be more assertive, but I’m always concerned with being too aggressive. Sister Mary exemplifies the balance between the two, and I have a feeling that by the time I leave here I’ll have a better understanding of this balance as well.
Sister Mary does all this crazy stuff during the day, and at night goes back to the house with three other Dominican Sisters from the Philippines. They’re wonderful women who are so kind, but they are very different from Sister Mary, and I can imagine that she has a difficult time living with the cultural differences. Still, she comes to Our Lady of Grace each day with a smile, and she keeps me laughing all day long while doing some really great work.
“What is that?” “I don’t know... eat it!”
That has been our motto so far in Kenya in terms of food. A lot of people have asked me what my food situation has been like here, and whether or not I’ve needed the Clif Bars and peanut butter crackers I brought from home.
I am currently munching on a banana nut bread Clif Bar, but only because I’m a little hungry after a day at school. The food I’ve eaten so far has been pretty good! I’m not RAVING about it, but it’s definitely completely fine, and is absolutely nothing to complain about.
After grueling days on the mountain, we came back to gourmet food- tilapia and vegetables, chicken curry, chapatti, and other Indian-inspired foods were plentiful. It seems that there is a soup served with every meal, usually some type of vegetable. Sometimes the soup is vague- just gray. It’s usually a potato or yam-based soup, and it’s nice on rainy nights like last night! Yams here are not what you’re probably imagining: they’re bland, white vegetables that aren’t really very flavorful, just filling. Something we’ve also noticed is how common it is to have every food group represented at each meal. Every meal I’ve eaten has been well-balanced and healthy, the only dessert I’ve had since I left is fruit! I did, however, buy a Bueno bar in Switzerland that Patricia and I are saving for when we’re REALLY homesick.
In Kisumu, we really got introduced to more traditional Kenyan foods, specifically ugali and sukuma. Ugali, from what we can figure out, is maize (everyone here says maize, not corn, they think the word corn is hilarious) flour that is cooked and cooked until it’s one large lump that looks like bread dough. It’s chewy, and though it doesn’t really have a taste, it does have a distinct flavor. It’s not absorbent like mashed potatoes, and is chewier than that- think really overcooked oatmeal with less taste. While I’ve probably just made that sound quite unappealing, it’s really not that bad, and is generally served with every meal. It’s a big staple food here, along with sukuma.
Sukuma is a mixture that is primarily kale that is sautéed (I think) with onions and maybe a little garlic and olive oil, sometimes peppers are added if they’re around. Sounds plain? Well, it is, but it’s become one of my favorite Kenyan foods. I love sautéed spinach with lots of garlic and olive oil at home, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that I like it so much. Instead of leaves of kale, it’s shredded into thin pieces, so sometimes you have to twirl it around your fork like spaghetti.
Usually the other dishes at our meals contain some type of meat. The past few days at the compound we’ve been served sausage, beef, chicken, and fish, and as is common in a lot of places, the whole fish is served. What’s different is that it’s cut in half- so there are heads and tails in a sauce in a bowl. This, however, I did not know when I first saw the bowl, I just assumed they were whole fish. I didn’t exactly know how to tackle my fish when I first saw it- so being the good friend and travel companion that I am, I passed the bowl of fish to Patricia to see how she’d handle it. Dominican meals here are family style, with lots of passing around a big oval table. By the time the bowl got back around to me, there were two pieces left- and of course, because what goes around comes around, I looked into the bowl, and two fish heads looked back. While I have tried every other food in Kenya, I was really quite uncomfortable eating something that is looking at me… so I passed on fish that night and filled up on ugali and sukuma.
Fruit that we’ve fallen in love with include passion fruit and papaya, and the oranges here are great too! Did I mention that one morning I had an avocado from the tree outside my door for breakfast? Fr. Bert halved it for Patricia and me and poured some olive oil and balsamic over it- not a traditional breakfast at all, but really good. Breakfast here is definitely different- the friars get nervous that we’re not eating enough if we only have a piece of fruit and toast for breakfast, something we’d consider acceptable in the US. A lot of times the novices reheat the dinner leftovers- chicken, fish, or whatever else is around- for breakfast. Porridge is also pretty common, which we tried, but it tastes really just like it looks: gray.
We decided that we’d make French toast for everyone on Sunday for breakfast, so today we did a practice run- thank goodness. Now, I’d consider French toast an easy dish, wouldn’t you? Something Patricia and I could definitely do. We cracked a few eggs, whisked them with some cinnamon and sugar in a bowl, and put a piece of bread on the pan. Everything’s going well… until we get to the stove. It’s an old gas stove that you have to light using a match, something I’ve never done before. I lit the flame successfully only after enlisting the help of Fr. Kevin, put the pan on the burner, and set to work. When I tried to turn the heat down, the flame simply went out. So I lit it again (all by myself!), and put the bread in the pan. We hear the sound of cooking French toast- hooray! We go to flip the piece of bread… oops. We forgot butter! No big, it only stuck to the pan in one spot. Add butter, flip bread. Carefully… lower… flame… it goes out. Another match lit, another flame on. By this time the pan is so hot that the French toast cooks on the other side in seconds- both sides are burned. Okay, well, we learned… on to the second piece. A similar chain of events and several matches later, we each have two questionable pieces of French toast. Honestly it was pretty good, and we got the hang of it by the end! Hopefully Sunday will be a lot smoother.
As for water, the Friars treat a lot of it every day so we have plenty of potable water. It’s boiled and then run through a ceramic filter at least once (usually multiple times) in order to ensure its purity. There are a ton of bottles of water in the kitchen for everyone to use- empty altar wine bottles! Some with the labels still on. When we discovered this one night at dinner it was so hard not to burst out laughing. I guess it’s recycling Kenya style!
I am currently munching on a banana nut bread Clif Bar, but only because I’m a little hungry after a day at school. The food I’ve eaten so far has been pretty good! I’m not RAVING about it, but it’s definitely completely fine, and is absolutely nothing to complain about.
After grueling days on the mountain, we came back to gourmet food- tilapia and vegetables, chicken curry, chapatti, and other Indian-inspired foods were plentiful. It seems that there is a soup served with every meal, usually some type of vegetable. Sometimes the soup is vague- just gray. It’s usually a potato or yam-based soup, and it’s nice on rainy nights like last night! Yams here are not what you’re probably imagining: they’re bland, white vegetables that aren’t really very flavorful, just filling. Something we’ve also noticed is how common it is to have every food group represented at each meal. Every meal I’ve eaten has been well-balanced and healthy, the only dessert I’ve had since I left is fruit! I did, however, buy a Bueno bar in Switzerland that Patricia and I are saving for when we’re REALLY homesick.
In Kisumu, we really got introduced to more traditional Kenyan foods, specifically ugali and sukuma. Ugali, from what we can figure out, is maize (everyone here says maize, not corn, they think the word corn is hilarious) flour that is cooked and cooked until it’s one large lump that looks like bread dough. It’s chewy, and though it doesn’t really have a taste, it does have a distinct flavor. It’s not absorbent like mashed potatoes, and is chewier than that- think really overcooked oatmeal with less taste. While I’ve probably just made that sound quite unappealing, it’s really not that bad, and is generally served with every meal. It’s a big staple food here, along with sukuma.
Sukuma is a mixture that is primarily kale that is sautéed (I think) with onions and maybe a little garlic and olive oil, sometimes peppers are added if they’re around. Sounds plain? Well, it is, but it’s become one of my favorite Kenyan foods. I love sautéed spinach with lots of garlic and olive oil at home, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise that I like it so much. Instead of leaves of kale, it’s shredded into thin pieces, so sometimes you have to twirl it around your fork like spaghetti.
Usually the other dishes at our meals contain some type of meat. The past few days at the compound we’ve been served sausage, beef, chicken, and fish, and as is common in a lot of places, the whole fish is served. What’s different is that it’s cut in half- so there are heads and tails in a sauce in a bowl. This, however, I did not know when I first saw the bowl, I just assumed they were whole fish. I didn’t exactly know how to tackle my fish when I first saw it- so being the good friend and travel companion that I am, I passed the bowl of fish to Patricia to see how she’d handle it. Dominican meals here are family style, with lots of passing around a big oval table. By the time the bowl got back around to me, there were two pieces left- and of course, because what goes around comes around, I looked into the bowl, and two fish heads looked back. While I have tried every other food in Kenya, I was really quite uncomfortable eating something that is looking at me… so I passed on fish that night and filled up on ugali and sukuma.
Fruit that we’ve fallen in love with include passion fruit and papaya, and the oranges here are great too! Did I mention that one morning I had an avocado from the tree outside my door for breakfast? Fr. Bert halved it for Patricia and me and poured some olive oil and balsamic over it- not a traditional breakfast at all, but really good. Breakfast here is definitely different- the friars get nervous that we’re not eating enough if we only have a piece of fruit and toast for breakfast, something we’d consider acceptable in the US. A lot of times the novices reheat the dinner leftovers- chicken, fish, or whatever else is around- for breakfast. Porridge is also pretty common, which we tried, but it tastes really just like it looks: gray.
We decided that we’d make French toast for everyone on Sunday for breakfast, so today we did a practice run- thank goodness. Now, I’d consider French toast an easy dish, wouldn’t you? Something Patricia and I could definitely do. We cracked a few eggs, whisked them with some cinnamon and sugar in a bowl, and put a piece of bread on the pan. Everything’s going well… until we get to the stove. It’s an old gas stove that you have to light using a match, something I’ve never done before. I lit the flame successfully only after enlisting the help of Fr. Kevin, put the pan on the burner, and set to work. When I tried to turn the heat down, the flame simply went out. So I lit it again (all by myself!), and put the bread in the pan. We hear the sound of cooking French toast- hooray! We go to flip the piece of bread… oops. We forgot butter! No big, it only stuck to the pan in one spot. Add butter, flip bread. Carefully… lower… flame… it goes out. Another match lit, another flame on. By this time the pan is so hot that the French toast cooks on the other side in seconds- both sides are burned. Okay, well, we learned… on to the second piece. A similar chain of events and several matches later, we each have two questionable pieces of French toast. Honestly it was pretty good, and we got the hang of it by the end! Hopefully Sunday will be a lot smoother.
As for water, the Friars treat a lot of it every day so we have plenty of potable water. It’s boiled and then run through a ceramic filter at least once (usually multiple times) in order to ensure its purity. There are a ton of bottles of water in the kitchen for everyone to use- empty altar wine bottles! Some with the labels still on. When we discovered this one night at dinner it was so hard not to burst out laughing. I guess it’s recycling Kenya style!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Answering the Call
“Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.”
I have uttered those words countless times since arriving in Kisumu. For those of you who don’t know (or haven’t figured it out by now), I’m living with the Dominican Friars here in Kenya. They’re the same order of priests who run my college, and some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. Currently on the compound, there are five friars, three novices (men who are in formation on their way to becoming friars), one almost-novice named Agostino, and Patricia and me. Three of the friars here are American and two are African- Fr. Charles is from Uganda, and I believe Fr. Steve is from Kenya. We live right next door to a house of Dominican sisters, but there is a wall separating the two religious homes.
It has been interesting to be living with the friars. I have learned so much about the men who I interact with on a daily basis in Providence, and it almost seems silly that I didn’t know this until now. A big part of the Dominican religious life is prayer several times a day, and living in the community, Patricia and I have gotten to take part in these traditions.
Though we don’t attend all the prayer options we have, we start our day with 7:15 mass. It’s usually just us, the friars, and a few members of the Dominican laiety who live nearby. It’s a nice, intimate setting, and the songs are still half in English and half in Swahili. Then we eat breakfast with the community and are off to school for the day!
We return for lunch around one after the friars and novices have said mid-day prayers, and after going back to school and returning home for the evening, we go to Vespers at 6 pm. It’s a part of the Liturgy of the Hours, which is sung and prayed in community. It’s a really beautiful service, but I think my favorite is Compline, which is after dinner. It’s usually candle lit, and is another part of the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s such a beautiful way to end the day and prepare for the next one.
Prayer has always been a part of my life, but one thing I’ll definitely be taking back with me is the dedication to prayer before bed. I usually try to say a few prayers before I go to sleep, but taking the time out of the day to pause and reflect has been really meaningful and useful during my time here. It’s very peaceful, and a nice way to gather my thoughts.
The Dominicans are such interesting people as a whole. Tonight after Vespers and before dinner, we had “recreation,” as the community has every Wednesday evening. They come together in the sitting room and have popcorn and soda and beer and tell stories. It was so nice to sit and discuss things that are going on in the US and in Kenya and hear stories of other friars who have been in Kisumu (as well as those we know in Providence). Fr. Bert, one of the friars who is here now, was one of the first Dominicans to come to Kisumu. He’s actually now stationed in Raleigh, but he comes back to Kenya as often as he can. As he says, his heart is here. He is such an interesting person, and Patricia and I are trying to spend as much time as we can with him while he’s here. He knows so much about Kenya, about the Dominican tradition, and about certain friars. Fr. Bert is a great storyteller, and I think dinner will be a lot quieter when he leaves to go back to the states. He’s always cracking jokes with the novices and with Patricia and I, and he really looks out for us. He’s very conscious of what we eat and will not hesitate to tell us if he thinks we need to eat more… one morning he picked each of us an avocado, halved it, and poured some olive oil and balsamic on it. That may have been my favorite breakfast!
The Dominicans are not the only religious in Kisumu, and Catholicism is not the only religion. There are School Sisters of Notre Dame right down the road, Franciscan Sisters who co-sponsor Our Lady of Grace School, and Jesuit priests here as well. Other than the Catholics, there are a lot of evangelical churches, as well as a mosque in the village right down the road.
Fr. Bert actually helped to build the mosque early on, and the Dominicans have a great relationship with the Imam there. It’s really cool to hear the call to prayer on the loud speakers that happens 5 times a day, the first one at 5 am. It wakes me up, but it’s nice. I like hearing it, and it’s really cool to be living somewhere so diverse. There is peace between the two religions, and the partnership is admirable.
There’s so much going on to help the people of Kisumu, and they still need so much. But what amazes me about them is their continual response to the call to prayer- even in poverty, they don’t abandon God. Their faith is strong, and I’m learning so much from them.
I have uttered those words countless times since arriving in Kisumu. For those of you who don’t know (or haven’t figured it out by now), I’m living with the Dominican Friars here in Kenya. They’re the same order of priests who run my college, and some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. Currently on the compound, there are five friars, three novices (men who are in formation on their way to becoming friars), one almost-novice named Agostino, and Patricia and me. Three of the friars here are American and two are African- Fr. Charles is from Uganda, and I believe Fr. Steve is from Kenya. We live right next door to a house of Dominican sisters, but there is a wall separating the two religious homes.
It has been interesting to be living with the friars. I have learned so much about the men who I interact with on a daily basis in Providence, and it almost seems silly that I didn’t know this until now. A big part of the Dominican religious life is prayer several times a day, and living in the community, Patricia and I have gotten to take part in these traditions.
Though we don’t attend all the prayer options we have, we start our day with 7:15 mass. It’s usually just us, the friars, and a few members of the Dominican laiety who live nearby. It’s a nice, intimate setting, and the songs are still half in English and half in Swahili. Then we eat breakfast with the community and are off to school for the day!
We return for lunch around one after the friars and novices have said mid-day prayers, and after going back to school and returning home for the evening, we go to Vespers at 6 pm. It’s a part of the Liturgy of the Hours, which is sung and prayed in community. It’s a really beautiful service, but I think my favorite is Compline, which is after dinner. It’s usually candle lit, and is another part of the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s such a beautiful way to end the day and prepare for the next one.
Prayer has always been a part of my life, but one thing I’ll definitely be taking back with me is the dedication to prayer before bed. I usually try to say a few prayers before I go to sleep, but taking the time out of the day to pause and reflect has been really meaningful and useful during my time here. It’s very peaceful, and a nice way to gather my thoughts.
The Dominicans are such interesting people as a whole. Tonight after Vespers and before dinner, we had “recreation,” as the community has every Wednesday evening. They come together in the sitting room and have popcorn and soda and beer and tell stories. It was so nice to sit and discuss things that are going on in the US and in Kenya and hear stories of other friars who have been in Kisumu (as well as those we know in Providence). Fr. Bert, one of the friars who is here now, was one of the first Dominicans to come to Kisumu. He’s actually now stationed in Raleigh, but he comes back to Kenya as often as he can. As he says, his heart is here. He is such an interesting person, and Patricia and I are trying to spend as much time as we can with him while he’s here. He knows so much about Kenya, about the Dominican tradition, and about certain friars. Fr. Bert is a great storyteller, and I think dinner will be a lot quieter when he leaves to go back to the states. He’s always cracking jokes with the novices and with Patricia and I, and he really looks out for us. He’s very conscious of what we eat and will not hesitate to tell us if he thinks we need to eat more… one morning he picked each of us an avocado, halved it, and poured some olive oil and balsamic on it. That may have been my favorite breakfast!
The Dominicans are not the only religious in Kisumu, and Catholicism is not the only religion. There are School Sisters of Notre Dame right down the road, Franciscan Sisters who co-sponsor Our Lady of Grace School, and Jesuit priests here as well. Other than the Catholics, there are a lot of evangelical churches, as well as a mosque in the village right down the road.
Fr. Bert actually helped to build the mosque early on, and the Dominicans have a great relationship with the Imam there. It’s really cool to hear the call to prayer on the loud speakers that happens 5 times a day, the first one at 5 am. It wakes me up, but it’s nice. I like hearing it, and it’s really cool to be living somewhere so diverse. There is peace between the two religions, and the partnership is admirable.
There’s so much going on to help the people of Kisumu, and they still need so much. But what amazes me about them is their continual response to the call to prayer- even in poverty, they don’t abandon God. Their faith is strong, and I’m learning so much from them.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Today, I learned to use a semicolon...
... and was taught by a Kenyan.
The students at Our Lady of Grace School are incredible. They know so much English, which after trying to teach I can now fully comprehend how difficult it is to learn! Form II students (sophomores in high school) were dissecting poems in English today. That's what I did my sophomore year of high school.. with far more trouble than they did!
Mrs. Ryan, I was brought back to your class today in my mind while I was trying to explain indirect and direct objects. Thank you for all the hard work you did to try and catch me up on grammar so that I could try to teach it here!
I learned so much today that it's a bit overwhelming. Sr. Mary Brenda is incredible- she is here helping to direct the school, and she has so many ideas and dreams for this place. PC: GET READY. Patricia and I are coming back with a fundraising vengeance! There is so much that the school needs, and small donations from you can do SO much here. Get ready for our fundraising campaign: From Grass to Grace, It's Time for Africa.
Speaking of "It's Time for Africa," who has been watching the world cup!? It's ALL over here.. actually the only thing here. It's all anyone talks about, even though Kenya's team didn't qualify. Shakira's song "Waka Waka," which is the anthem of the world cup, is constantly on the radio. As is a TON of American music! B.o.B. has even hit here... but they LOVE Shakira! Who would have thought.
Still have a lot to process from this day, and I'll try and post again a little later tonight specifics about the school. Keep the comments and emails coming, it's honestly helping so much! Thank you for all the love and support.
Penda,
Julia
The students at Our Lady of Grace School are incredible. They know so much English, which after trying to teach I can now fully comprehend how difficult it is to learn! Form II students (sophomores in high school) were dissecting poems in English today. That's what I did my sophomore year of high school.. with far more trouble than they did!
Mrs. Ryan, I was brought back to your class today in my mind while I was trying to explain indirect and direct objects. Thank you for all the hard work you did to try and catch me up on grammar so that I could try to teach it here!
I learned so much today that it's a bit overwhelming. Sr. Mary Brenda is incredible- she is here helping to direct the school, and she has so many ideas and dreams for this place. PC: GET READY. Patricia and I are coming back with a fundraising vengeance! There is so much that the school needs, and small donations from you can do SO much here. Get ready for our fundraising campaign: From Grass to Grace, It's Time for Africa.
Speaking of "It's Time for Africa," who has been watching the world cup!? It's ALL over here.. actually the only thing here. It's all anyone talks about, even though Kenya's team didn't qualify. Shakira's song "Waka Waka," which is the anthem of the world cup, is constantly on the radio. As is a TON of American music! B.o.B. has even hit here... but they LOVE Shakira! Who would have thought.
Still have a lot to process from this day, and I'll try and post again a little later tonight specifics about the school. Keep the comments and emails coming, it's honestly helping so much! Thank you for all the love and support.
Penda,
Julia
Monday, June 14, 2010
Photos
Hello everyone!
It's a lovely day here in Kisumu, a little warm but not too bad in the shade. I'm working on uploading my photos, which is proving to take a long time. I have posted a few on facebook, but I'm putting them all on a webshots page so everyone can access them. The username is just juliatully, and when I get a link I'll put it here!
Thank you so much for the comments and emails... it really makes it easier to keep the morale up with everyone's support. You have no idea how much you brighten our days!
I'll try and post tonight about today's activities. It's only about 12:30 here, so there's not too much to report yet.
Asante sana (thank you very much),
Julia
PS: here's the link! http://community.webshots.com/user/juliatully
It's a lovely day here in Kisumu, a little warm but not too bad in the shade. I'm working on uploading my photos, which is proving to take a long time. I have posted a few on facebook, but I'm putting them all on a webshots page so everyone can access them. The username is just juliatully, and when I get a link I'll put it here!
Thank you so much for the comments and emails... it really makes it easier to keep the morale up with everyone's support. You have no idea how much you brighten our days!
I'll try and post tonight about today's activities. It's only about 12:30 here, so there's not too much to report yet.
Asante sana (thank you very much),
Julia
PS: here's the link! http://community.webshots.com/user/juliatully
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