Hans & Trea Bosch

Hans and Trea Bosch are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful people. They left earlier this morning (Sat. Feb. 27) back to home (Holland) and had been visiting here for a week. They have been associated with the Salesians in Nairobi since 1994. They have visited here at least once a year, except for a few years, since 1994.

Hans is a man of many responsibilities back home. He has a school teacher, in charge of numerous projects at his church, raises money continually for Bosco Boys, and (with Trea) watch over their grandchildren a few times a week. We spent sometime with both Hans and Trea, they ended up telling us how they first became apart of the "Bosco Boys" family.

The story first begins with Hans going on a trip to Guatemala, I believe, in the early 1990's. To make the story short; Hans became good friends with a young street boy there but when he went home the boy was beaten and murdered by four police officers from Guatemala. Hearing this news made Hans want to dedicate much of his life/effort/time to helping street boys.

Back in 1992, Hans went on a trip to Rwanda and Tanzania with Fr. Harry (Fr. Harry is the man who came here last week and we went to the twinga "giraffe" park with). After this trip Hans was motivated even more to help in Africa with the street children.

Then in 1994 Hans decided to go to Rwanda during the Civil War. When he arrived there, he was not allowed in because it was too dangerous. Then Hans went to Tanzania to eventually meet some Belgium priests, whom are apart of a group called "Missionary of Africa". The Belgians were not on good terms with Tanzania, so the priests suggested he leaves there. He had raised money to help the street kids there, alloted around two months to help serve, and now wasn't safe being there. The Belgium priests then suggested going to Nairobi.

Hans then came to Nairobi and went to a slum where there was a school for children. The school is called "Kariua" (the slum Katie and I went to almost 2 weeks ago). He enjoyed himself there being with the children and helping anyway he could. Later that week, there was a celebration at "Upper Hill" (another Salesian mission in Nairobi). Hans decided to attend with some of the children from Kariua. They had a wonderful time and afterwards was dinner. Since Hans didn't know any of the priests well, he decided to eat with the children and spends the night at Upper Hill.

The next morning Hans awakens to find out all the grownups ate bad fish from the night before. He was ok though because he ate with the children. One of the priests asked him to take 12 of the children on an outing. Hans agreed, loaded them in the car, and began driving down Langata Road to an area called Karen.

Driving along Hans saw a home for sale on the side of the road. He looked at the children in the back of the car, pulled over, then bought the home for them. This home later became Langata Primary School (the school that had the celebration for the new construction, that Katie and I attended our first week here). Hans then worked the remaining time getting this home ready for the children to live, learn, and grow in.

Ever since that trip to Nairobi which he founded Langata School, Hans and his wife Trea have been a big part of the development of Salesian education/mission in Nairobi. They are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful people.

Just a note, Hans in english means John. His last name means Forest. Forest in Italian means Bosco. Han's name is John Bosco. He truly feels helping with street kids is his calling.




Hans & Trea Bosch


This is a picture of Hans dancing with the boys doing a traditional African dance. It was for a celebration of Hans and Trea. The boys put on performances, gave their thanks, and had many laughs.


The boys love dancing.


There is a karate club. The boys love watching kung-fu movies during movie time. The leader is
Peter (class 8), he is a blue belt.


This boy Jackson and his friends are rapping. Jackson is actually pretty good (the raps were about Jesus).


Hans giving a word of advice at the end of the celebration.

B-Ball with the Boys

I have been playing basketball with the boys everyday during field time. I have been volunteered (by others) to become the b-ball coach. It has been fun teaching the boys fundamentals, playing with them, and watching them grow. This time has allowed me to practice my Kiswahili and learn words to better help them understand what I'm trying to coach. These are just pictures from today's practice/games.

I also have played basketball with the boys. About a week or so ago, the brothers from Utume (a theology center) came to play "Bosco Boys". I played for Bosco Boys and found out soon the game was a "real" game and not for fun. The religious brothers we were playing are older and they were playing against me and the children here. The oldest boy on my team may be 17.

So the game's going and I'm scoring easily and early, trying to give my team a good lead. After a while I subsitute in the children so they can play but then the Brothers from the other school gain the lead. I come back in and they start playing hard, so I start playing hard ;) Then it kind of gets heated because they are way older and shouldn't be losing to children. So they get physical with me and the game's on now. A call goes against them and a priest kicks the ball away as we try to inbound the ball. So I yell at him and point my finger at him and the children are laughing so hard cause no one does that to a grown up, let alone a Salesian. Well the game's heated on both sides, me vs. them. But also there's a brother on my team, Br. Joaquim, who knows how "to get down". He and I start dominating because I'm into it and he doesn't want to lose to these other brothers. We all foul hard and I get a little angry, later in the game I go for a rebound hard and so does the best player from their team. He knees me in my "privates" (accidentally of course), so I hold the ball in one arm and kinda push/swing my arm at him with the free arm. He gets kind of scared and I point and yell at him.

We end up winning by 4 or 5 baskets and I don't think Bosco Boys had ever beat them before. So it was nice from the priests and brothers here to have a victory. I felt really bad afterwards though because that's not what I should be showing in front of the kids. I lost my cool/temper, which I haven't for years. I don't think I've been into a game like that since the last collegiate game I played. It was weird to be that competitive again but not the right place with children looking on. So I apologized to the brothers from the other team and they did as well to me. They also said they lost their cool but it was all good fun. Baddaye ndio (Afterwards all good).

SO, I'm coaching these boys. It really is a high light of my day and here are some pictures.



yoyers


"use the back board"


They call me Avery Johnson. (if you don't know who he is, google him)


This is Eric (left) and Ignatius (right). Eric is one of the younger kids at Bosco Boys and always has a smile on his face. He plays basketball hard, even versus the older boys, and is a fun kid to be around. Ignatius is one of the older boys at the school, leads morning assembly, is one of the better basketball players, and is an over all good guy.


This is Peter. He is one of the tallest boys and speaks English well. He has been a translator/teammate at Bosco Boys.

SUSAN!!!!!

This is Susan, my roommate. She is so amazing, I love having her as my roommate. She is so kind and giving, she is constantly making Pat and me dinner. This is one of our delicious meals. Susan was born and raised in Kenya and is at Bosco Boys for three years preparing to become a licensed teacher. She right now teaches the little ones and I love attending her class because she's teaching "beginning Kiswahili". She always has a smile on her face, is very active with the kids, and we talk nightly about our day and have great fellowship with each other. Pat and I both love her and have invited her to America to visit when she can.




This is the dinner Susan made Pat and me. It is "ugali" (maize flour heated with water), "skuma" (kale), scrambled eggs with tomatoes (scrambled eggs with tomatoes). *Notice no utensils* We eat with our hands, do as the Kenyans do.... haha, right before we posted this blog we noticed there was a fork in the picture. We only had it to scoop some guacamole out of a small container, promise. But seriously, we eat with our hands.

TO MY IMPACT GIRLS!

Hey girls! i miss you guys so much! i am sorry i havent been able to write you individually, or even as a group yet. it is not easy to get internet often, and even when i do, its for a short period of time. if you do want to write me individually, you can write me at my email (kacoolovich85@yahoo.com) because that is what i check mostly when i get a chance. it may take a few days at least to get back to you.

i hope you are enjoying your new leader and are being good to her! i have been praying for you and i cannot wait until i get back to hang out with you guys. we can all have a big party! it is really fun here and quite an experience (read the blog for the details), but being around all of the kids reminds me of you guys. just know how much i love you guys and how much i pray for you all. i hope you are staying in the word and always looking to God first when things go wrong, and when things are good! another thing i have realized being here is how lucky we are to have parents, if not even just one. some of these kids dont even know what it is like to have a parent, let alone know who their parents are. please remember to be grateful for what you were born into, not that you deserved it but that you were blessed. remember to always let your parents know how appreciative you are to have them and never let the sun go down on your anger. we are so lucky. next time you guys do chanting prayer requests please pray for me and pat:).

i cannot say it enough, but i love you all so much and miss your beautiful faces. you have blessed me so much, thank you!

love, katie

Bus Lift

On February 20, 2010 the boys from Bosco Town all packed into a bus headed for Bosco Utume to participate in the "Jesus Cup". The Jesus Cup is for surrounding Salesian schools and other primary/secondary schools where they compete in athletics. It happens once a year and lasts for about 3 months or so. Every Saturday the boys travel to various schools in the area to compete.

So I (Patrick) went with the boys to Utume in a bus that holds around 45-50 people. The boys some how packed around 70-80 people in it. As we left the school and came to the main road (where we should be taking a right handed turn) the bus stops. The boys then force the door open and begin running out. We are still a few miles from where we need to go, so I is confused. I then looked to the left and the boys were running to a bus (of the same size as ours) but is for Boys Town Secondary School (another Salesian school). The boys then start screaming and getting excited. I looked at the bus and it had slipped off the road into the ditch. The rear left side is stuck in mud and the boys start surrounding the part in the dirt.

They tell me to start lifting, and I'm thinking there's no way we can all lift it out, so I do. The bus is not going anywhere then I see about 40 boys behind me start pushing, the driver starts pressing the gas, and we lifted this bus out of the ditch. It was amazing that around 50 (8-16 year old) boys were able to lift a bus.

-Patrick

Karen Plains/Twiga Park

On Friday 19, 2010 we had our first day off. There were visitors from Holland; Fr. Harry and Ludo. They were checking out our place because they will return in July with a group of 15, including themselves, for a week long mission trip. They will then travel to Uganda for a month. Fr. Sebastian, our director, asked if we would like to tag along on their day of adventure. We first went to a slum in Nairobi, our first trip to the city. It is called Kariwa (we forget the spelling) but is one of the first missions the Salesians had in all of Kenya.

Later in the day we were on our way to a Twiga (Giraffe) Park. While we were leaving the school a girl named Poline was waiting outside deciding how she would get home. Fr. Sebastian offered her a ride so she jumped in with us. On the way we started driving on a dirt road. It is full of rocks, divots, and is the furthest from paved. It really made us feel very blessed to have what we have. The road alone was only a quarter of a mile but took us around 6 minutes to drive through, each way. It makes me think of one pot hole on an American street, how people complain about it, but how they don't realize how lucky they are to have paved streets....

Anyways we get to this large open area called Karen Plains. It is in a the city of Karen, a rich muzungu "white person" town. Just on the other side of the trees surrounding this area, are million dollar homes. It's amazing how there is so much poverty where this girl Poline lives and how much wealth surrounds it. From Poline's home (which is 10'/12') there is a million dollar home maybe MAYBE a hundred yards away surrounded with 10' tall walls. Poline's home is made of metal sheets and mud. Six people live in that particular home. There is a twin sized bed where 4 people sleep and the other two on the dirt ground. Pat originally thought she was the oldest to live there with smaller children. Poline though is around 14, and is the 2nd youngest to live in that home/shack/hut.

There are other homes in this area which are smaller, built cheaper, and are fully constructed of dry mud. It is difficult for them to live during the rainy season. Her people are called the Masai Tribe. They are traditionally a nomadic people, whom pride themselves in herding cattle, but have been stationed in Karen Plains for a while now. The area also has a native name "Manyatta" which means Messiah's House.

A large majority of the children from this area go to Bosco Boys or Kuwinda Pre-Primary School (kindergarten). We were welcomed with many smiles and open arms because the Salesians are on good terms with these people. We were invited into their homes/shacks/huts, played with the children, and conversed with their people.

We then left Karen Plains for the Twiga Park. On the way there Pat took a picture of a boy sitting on the side of the road. His mother, we're guessing, runs a fruit stand. It is pretty normal to see these here.

The Twiga Park at 6:30pm have the twiga's cross the road from the park to the wilderness reserve daily. We got there a little before they did this so we couldn't see that. We were lucky enough though to have some twiga's come up to us by the gate for a photo session. THEY'RE HUGE!

It was a nice day because we were able to get out of Bosco Boys and see new things. It may have also been the first real dose of reality of the streets and poverty of Nairobi and it's surrounding cities. We had been to a local slum but to be exposed to even more slums, let alone ones next to million dollar homes, was...tough. It's hard to imagine what life would be like living in places like this. For example, Pat had a tree house in Seattle as a child. The homes here remind him of the materials he used for his tree house. Amazing.














Boy on the side of the road.








This is Ludo from Amsterdam, Holland. He and Fr. Harry (below) are a part of the same organization as Anna (our fellow volunteer). Katie loves Ludo's name because it reminds her of the monster in the movie Labyrinth (starring David Bowie).


Just a quick story, this has to do with roads also. Earlier in the day on the way to the slum in Nairobi our driver was driving quickly and went over a speed bump. Fr. Harry and Patrick were sitting in the back seat of the van. When we went over the bump everyone popped up but since Fr. is a bit older he hit his head pretty hard against the ceiling. He cut his forehead (as you can see in the picture). Moral of the story, we are lucky to have lines over speed humps/bumps and signs saying "you are approaching a speed bump".


Fr. Sebastian





After our travels for the day we stopped at the local shopping center, sat down, rested, and enjoyed a cappuccino. The cappuccino cost around 200 schilling (around 3 American dollars). Fr. Sebastian informed us the tuition they charge the children yearly is 200 schillings. To think that one cup of coffee could have sent a child to school, fed him through the year, gave him shelter for the year, and supplied him with a uniform. AND some can't even afford it. It blew our minds.... we are so blessed.

New Building at Langata Primary School

On February 12th our school (Bosco Boys) went on a field trip to Langata Primary School, another Salesian school. It is a school for younger children who are just off the streets. This school is not as nice as ours but is a stepping stone for the boys. They have chores, responsibilities, and schooling daily. If they are able to deal with these circumstances then they will eventually be promoted to Bosco Boys Primary School. The school is run by our good friend Fr. Makarious. We go there once maybe twice a week. Our friends Gil and Nils from Belgium also teach there.

Anyways, the school is building a new larger building for schooling, dorming for the boys, eating, and residing for volunteers. We were able to go to the celebration of the first stones being placed.


Langata school children.


When we arrived at Langata girls from the Bosco schools performed a traditional tribal dance for us. The dance was about 6 minutes or so and was wonderful. There were boys beating drums and playing instruments on the side. Half way into the dance a few of the older girls took some pots and balanced them on their heads while they danced. It was pretty impressive.


This is a picture of Fr. Sebastian (left) and other priests doing the blessing the construction of the new building. People came from all over Africa and also a priest from Rome to be at celebration.


This is just another picture of the girls doing a tribal dance.

Our fellow volunteers

This is Maria from Slovakia. This is Maria's second stay at Bosco Boys. She came a few years ago for two weeks and loved it. She has now been here for over 6 months or so and is hoping to be here for another year. She teaches computers with us, loves being here with the boys, and is fun to learn from.


This is Lucia from Slovakia. She is a lovely woman who has a huge heart. She is a big fan of Mother Theresa and her work. She lives at Bosco Boys with us but works at the Kuwinda Slum which is just down the road from where we live.


This is Gil from Belgium. He is finishing his teaching credentials in Nairobi. Unfortunately Gil has been moved from Bosco Boys - Primary School to Don Bosco Boys Town - Secondary School. There was a need for him to move so he has. We miss him already and he barely left earlier this week. He is a quiet guy, well more than Nils (next on the list), but is real fun to be around.


This is Nils from Belgium. He is in the same boat as Gil and has been moved to Don Bosco Boys Town - Secondary School. He is 23, a good basketball player, finishing his teaching credentials in Nairobi. He is very hyper, fun, and loves American EVERYTHING (even if he says he doesn't).


This is Katherine Anne.


This is Patrick.

This is Anna from Holland. She is 19, has been here for a few months now. In a week or so she'll be heading to Sudan to do work at another Salesian mission. This place she is going to is more in the "bush" and will be roughing it more than here at Bosco Boys. Her friend Joyce came with her but Joyce had to return home early because she was feeling sick. She may come back and we hope she does.

*Side Note*

Some of you have talked about sending care packages to us. Thanks! BUT the mail system in Kenya is very bad. Letters are ok to send to us (mailing address on main page of blog) but packages aren't good. In fact it's very difficult to get to the city to receive the package but also we have to pay almost 3 times what it cost to fill the box/ship it. The government here opens your package, and depending on the person, decides what they think the cost of the materials should be, and cranks up the price. Bad situation, yes. If you would like to help contribute please just email us at patrickecowan@gmail.com or kacoolovich85@yahoo.com

thanks

Mass at SJB H.S.

Our good friend Sean Bryan, a SDB in training at St. John Bosco High School, took/edited this video of us at the feast day of St. John Bosco Mass. He just emailed us a few days ago with the link to the video. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks Sean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY2XgjDQeNY

Karibu

We have been here for 5 days now but it feels like a month. The days start with chores for the boys at 5:30, mass at 6:30 then not a free moment until lights out at 10:30pm. We are lucky though, having a wonderful schedule of teaching only one or two classes a day. We play all sorts of games in the school yard, help during study hall at night, and learn Kiswahili from some of the kids. The weather here is beautiful, reminds us of a "breezy Hawaii" and warm summer nights in LA. The food consists mostly of clean water, white rice, ugali (maize flour), beans, potatoes, greens (kale), if we're lucky we can get some sort of meat (gotta get it while its hot).

The boys are really fun. There are actually little girls here also, who love having Katie around. The children have smiles on their faces the entire day and find the smallest things the most fun. They absolutely love playing football (soccer) with a real ball, tennis ball, or ball of tape. The Salesians actually have 5 locations within Nariobi, all within 15 miles of each other. They all do wonderful work in Kenya for the children. They run orphanages,kindergarten, primary schooling, secondary schooling, technical schooling, theological schooling, and sporting events (one of which is called the "Jesus Cup"). The Jesus Cup is ran at "Bosco Boys" (our primary school) consists of four teams; red, blue, yellow, and green. They compete all year long in sporting events, academic competitions, and behavior points. At the end of the year the winning team gets a trip to the eastern coast of Kenya to the city of Mombasa. We have heard this place is absolutely gorgeous and the cool thing is all volunteers get to go!

There are many volunteers from all over the world here. There are two boys from Belgium; Neils and Jil. There are two girls from Holland; Ana and Joyce. There are two girls from Slovenia; Maria and Lucy. There is also a girl from Germany who works down the road at Langata (another primary school). They are all fun to be around and learn from. They all provide their own insight on things and it's interesting to discuss, well, anything.

The children have been so helpful with us adjusting here. They have been nothing but welcoming, fun, and patient with us as we both adjust to our differences. The small children, and old ones too, love teaching us their language. They can go on for hours if you allow them. We both have picked up some words, phrases, and are beginning to better understand their speech. Katie was talking to a young girl a few days ago and she was asking about Katie's family and friends. She asked Katie, "when you go home, will you please tell your mom, dad, family, and friends that I love them".

We want to let you all know we are safe, happy, healthy, and blessed to be here. We have talked a few times about how lucky we are to be here and how excited we are to be here for a year. We love you all, will try to keep doing this blog as much as we can, you are in our thoughts and prayers, and we love you.


----just a note----- we've been trying to post a video of the school here. the internet is much slower and is not loading it right now. we will eventually try to work something out so it will upload...



........the little ones absolutely LOVE katie. during every single break her hands are both occupied with the kids holding her, grabbing her, and walk stride for stride with her. She loves the kids, they love her, its all love :)
front of school
some bosco boys. Pat was teaching them some stuff on the map and then took some pics of them.
the center of school. assembly/games/announcements all take place here.
construction on the new "work shop" building for the school. It should be done by the end of February or early March.
children during game time practicing football
this is the farm behind katie's home

WE'RE HERE!!!

After a long, long, long flight and absolutely no sleep for 24 hours (and counting) we are safe at Bosco Boys in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya. We have our rooms situated and already attented a very enthuastic church service. The music and voices of the children were beautiful! We are now resting and waiting for lunch. It is almost 1pm on the 7th.... This place is amazing. We have driven past wild monkeys that walk along the road that are pretty decent sized, a home that is 10 minutes from a nation park full of wild animals, and a school full of "farm animals" running around. We are happy and excited.... It may be a while until our next post, the internet is much slower here and we don't have, as of now, easy access to computers. We are still only 2 hours in. We love you all very much. Please keep praying for us as we finally begin this year long adventure.

We Leave to Nairobi Tonight

Our flight is 9pm London time Feb. 6th... We are to arrive 9am Nairobi time Feb. 7th...
We will update the blog as soon as we can to let you all know we are there safe. We are really excited for this adventure! Love you all

Last Hurrah in London