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