On Tuesday, all the boys came back to school from their holiday and we started a week long camp for all of the students at the school. It's nice for the kids to get back in the groove of school and being around their school friends after their month long holiday. One thing that we have noticed since they came back, though, is that they are acting differently than before they left. Some of the boys have been a lot more mean to the other kids and there seems to be more bullying going on than before. We don't quite understand why they are acting this way, but after a few days we think it may be because they need to re-establish their "dominance" among the other children. Some of the boys that we have really liked and have always been the good kids in school have really been rude to us and this has been extremely disappointing and discouraging.
Another change that we are dealing with right now is the cultural differences. This has always been a hard thing to deal with but it has been more prevalent during this camp. Most of the misunderstandings have not involved us directly but more among the other volunteers and staff. What we have realized is that there is just a huge miscommunication among people due to the lines of communication being so drastically difference. Misunderstandings between all of us have taken place because of the way things are being said, in one culture this is completely accepted and normal, while in another it can be extremely rude and disrespectful. We have found ourselves really frustrated with certain things here that are different for us, but then we notice even the nicest people here find those frustrating habits a normal and acceptable way of life. It can be hard sometimes for us to distinguish what is rude and what is just a cultural norm here.
Recently we have been able to learn from these misunderstandings and are starting to realize that nothing can be assumed here, because when we assume we get angry about things that the other "side" may never even recognize. We (Pat and I) were walking yesterday (our favorite thing to do here) and just talked about these things and frustrations that we can have here sometimes. We realized that this is something we need to learn to have patience in. We knew that coming here things would be different, we just didn't know how so. We want to learn how to not allow ourselves to become frustrated with things we don't understand because that would be a never ending cycle. We know that there will also be people in our lives in the future that we come across and have personality and/or cultural differences to us, but we need to have a bigger perspective about the world and that when people grow up in different environments (which is everyone) then you are bound to have disagreements.
We also have decided that we don't want to use the word "weird" anymore when someone describes a norm in their own culture. When we first got here we would say that a lot of things were weird. We are surrounded by 6 other cultures (mainly) here and have come to understand that nothing is weird but just different. One thing isn't better than the other, just different. Being here, everyone thinks in their own country they have the best way of living, eating, being governed, etc, but really...to each their own. I grew up thinking one food was the best and Pat grew up thinking another was the best, and from country to country these differences change even more. It's been an experience being exposed to all of these differences, and if there is something we don't fathom...T.I.A.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Shedrick Elephant Park
A little over a week ago, before camp, along with Nils and his girlfriend Annelien we went to the elephant orphanage. It was a bit of a hike to get there but was fun. This is a center where they bring in orphaned elephants from national parks all over Kenya. Many of the elephants parents were killed from illegal hunting for ivory or the baby elephant is sick. The place over looked the Kenyan National Park, which isn't too far down the road from Bosco Boys. It was beautiful scenery. We did take many more pictures on another camera but since the size of those picture files are so large, it would take forever to upload them. We'll upload them one day when we get back.
Walking to the orphanage.
The warthog's are bathing in the background.
This guy walked right up to us.
This is the smallest guy in the orphanage. He is maybe 3 feet tall.
These are the elephant caretakers, they fed them bottled milk.
Nils really wanted to hug an elephant. After he did this, his shirt was completely covered in mud.
So afterwards we went to an area called "Bomas". There we did some small shopping at little shops and got a bite to eat. Nils saw a cat walking around and decided to be a cat also. This is a picture of him crawling towards the cat (which is under the table in the background). The people sitting next to us thought he was pretty "cheesy" (which is slang for crazy in Kiswahili).
Walking to the orphanage.
The warthog's are bathing in the background.
This guy walked right up to us.
This is the smallest guy in the orphanage. He is maybe 3 feet tall.
These are the elephant caretakers, they fed them bottled milk.
Nils really wanted to hug an elephant. After he did this, his shirt was completely covered in mud.
So afterwards we went to an area called "Bomas". There we did some small shopping at little shops and got a bite to eat. Nils saw a cat walking around and decided to be a cat also. This is a picture of him crawling towards the cat (which is under the table in the background). The people sitting next to us thought he was pretty "cheesy" (which is slang for crazy in Kiswahili).
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sushi with Belgians in Kenya
Ok... for some reason while I'm loading these pictures they aren't coming out well.... I don't know if the glare from the sun on the screen here isn't allowing me to see them properly. If they're bad, I apologize. Hopefully everyone can see them ok though.
Well these are our friends Nils and Gil from Belgium, we have written about them before. About almost a month ago Gil's mother (Christine) and her boyfriend (Phillip) and Nils's girlfriend (Annelien) came to Nairobi to spend 2 1/2 weeks with them. Due to the volcanic eruption in Europe, their flight was delayed and canceled too many times to remember. They ended up staying about 10 days longer than expected.
They were so fun to hang with and we decided to go get some sushi one night. There is a Japanese/Chinese/Korean/Thai restaurant down the road and we all went out to enjoy the night.
Nils and his girlfriend Annelien dancing as we wait for the taxi.
Gil
Nils putting Annelien's chopsticks in Gil's mouth.
Annelien
Nils
Katie
Nils again
Pat
Nils and Annelien
WE WE!
Pat and Katie
Phillip and Christine
Nils forcing a "shoota" (fart) because his stomach was rumbling from eating too much wasabi.
Well these are our friends Nils and Gil from Belgium, we have written about them before. About almost a month ago Gil's mother (Christine) and her boyfriend (Phillip) and Nils's girlfriend (Annelien) came to Nairobi to spend 2 1/2 weeks with them. Due to the volcanic eruption in Europe, their flight was delayed and canceled too many times to remember. They ended up staying about 10 days longer than expected.
They were so fun to hang with and we decided to go get some sushi one night. There is a Japanese/Chinese/Korean/Thai restaurant down the road and we all went out to enjoy the night.
Nils and his girlfriend Annelien dancing as we wait for the taxi.
Gil
Nils putting Annelien's chopsticks in Gil's mouth.
Annelien
Nils
Katie
Nils again
Pat
Nils and Annelien
WE WE!
Pat and Katie
Phillip and Christine
Nils forcing a "shoota" (fart) because his stomach was rumbling from eating too much wasabi.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Classical Music Concert at Utume
This past weekend there was a concert down the road at another Salesian center, Utume. We decided to walk there, get a chocolate at the gas station convince store, and enjoy some classical, jazz, modern, and many types of music.
Just a picture of us as we left the school.
Walking down Langata Road.
We found some friends when we go to Utume. The girl on the left is Poline and the little one is Bernadette.
Some friends.
A priest from Italy played most of the music the day on the piano. The person singing is a Salesian brother, who had a beautiful voice.
There was a projector on the side of the stage. They kept playing little slide shows during each performance. But some of the sayings were nice, but worded funny. The pictures corresponding, didn't always seem to make sense.
The music was beautiful but I couldn't stop looking at this.
When this slide came on, there were about 30 children who turned and looked at me (Pat). They all started giggling, pointing, because they say I look like Jesus. Blasphemy!
Pat, Katie, Poline, and Poline's little brother Paul walking back to Bosco Boys.
Katie, Poline, Paul
Just a picture of us as we left the school.
Walking down Langata Road.
We found some friends when we go to Utume. The girl on the left is Poline and the little one is Bernadette.
Some friends.
A priest from Italy played most of the music the day on the piano. The person singing is a Salesian brother, who had a beautiful voice.
There was a projector on the side of the stage. They kept playing little slide shows during each performance. But some of the sayings were nice, but worded funny. The pictures corresponding, didn't always seem to make sense.
The music was beautiful but I couldn't stop looking at this.
When this slide came on, there were about 30 children who turned and looked at me (Pat). They all started giggling, pointing, because they say I look like Jesus. Blasphemy!
Pat, Katie, Poline, and Poline's little brother Paul walking back to Bosco Boys.
Katie, Poline, Paul
Friday, April 16, 2010
Break Time at Bosco Boys
This month of April has been quiet at Bosco Boys but very relaxing and nice. The children have gone home for the month, as a part of the rehabilitation process here. They want the children to use what they have learned here in the "real" world and hopefully they have made some progressive changes in their lives.Aa few children still here who have too much of an unhealthy home environment to go home so they stay here. Other children who are in high school, who once attended Bosco Boys, work here during their holiday to earn money for soap, pencils, school supplies. We have been doing work around the school with them and also have just been relaxing.
The grass in our backyard has become very tall. So instead of using a lawn mower, like back home, we bring in the cows.
Fr. Makrios has been the head of the projects around the school. We have been working for the past few months on an outdoor seating area for the workers. We laid the cement here recently.
We also laid cement for a ramp to Fr. Makrios's house.
Our buddy Issac, he's been a big helper this holiday.
The grass in our backyard has become very tall. So instead of using a lawn mower, like back home, we bring in the cows.
Fr. Makrios has been the head of the projects around the school. We have been working for the past few months on an outdoor seating area for the workers. We laid the cement here recently.
We also laid cement for a ramp to Fr. Makrios's house.
Our buddy Issac, he's been a big helper this holiday.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Patrick Ogolla
The past few weeks Katie has been given the task of filling out background files of the children. She has gone through every child's folder, read their story, and has minimized it on a piece of paper which will be sent out to various people asking for financial support of the child. We both have worked on this assignment together and have read some amazing stories. It is a shame but as we got around number 100, each story seemed to be the same as the last, and at times the reality of the child's story has worn off a bit because it feels you have already read that story. When we would stop and talk about it, we then realize each one of these stories is heart breaking, tougher than anything any child in America (that we know of) has gone through, and is the reason why the child is here.
Each child associated with Bosco Boys is a "Street Kid". They have survived on the street by themselves and this qualifies them to attend school here. We have had discussions with Fr. Sebastian here about how there are so many street children in Nairobi who need help. He agrees but then assures us there's no way our school could board 3 million children. So they have to put specifications as to what qualifies one child to be here and why another can't.
We have learned there are four different "levels" of street children. The first is a child who spends his days on the street but goes back to his home where he can be fully taken care of. The second level is children who spend their days on the street but go home occasionally some nights where they have nothing but a roof. The third level is children who spend their days and nights on the street, who have a home to go to, but decide not to go there. The fourth level is children who solely live on the street, have no home, and their well being relies only on themselves.
Bosco Boys is a school which has children from all four levels. Most of the children though are from level 2 and 3. Most of the children are orphans, some total orphans, and the home they do know of is the home of their grandmother. Most children do have a roof to go to with their grandmother but due to her lack of education, age, and low income where she can not provide basic necessities. The children then run off to the street, most collect scrap metal to sell so they can buy food or drugs (glue or marijuana).
Each child has had a different path to Bosco Boys but they are somewhat similar. Most have had a parent (or both) die, many due to AIDS. During this time the family becomes unstable and all the children can resort to is providing for themselves because no one else will. Many move in with an aunt or grandmother but the aunt's usually have their own families so they get lost in the crowd, or the grandmother is too old to provide basic necessities/guidance. Many of the boys are under 10 years old and at that point have lived on the streets by themselves for over 2 years.
Many of the boys had a "good Samaritan" find them and bring them here. The child then is brought to a Salesian center called "Langatta" (which is down the road) and the child goes through a rehabilitation program there. If the child shows good manners, does well with his chores, studies hard, and chooses to be there then he is sent to Bosco Boys (our school). The child then must follow the rules, schedule, and lifestyle here. During their time at Bosco Boys many do well, go to high school, and become successful. But like schools anywhere, there are knuckleheads who are stubborn, don't do well, and eventually find themselves doing drugs again and living on the streets.
There are a few boys here who are total orphans and have no family whatsoever. There is a boy who came to Bosco Boys around 16 years ago, named Patrick Ogolla. Patrick has a learning disability and has no recollection of his family before he came here. He was around 9 years old when he came here and had lived on the streets by himself for almost 2 years. Since he has trouble with schooling, he was not able to attend high school but instead was given his own room here, works on the shamba (farm), and to this day is still a part of the community here.
He is a very nice man, very quiet, does his business daily, and we have never seen him complain about his life. Ogolla lives in a small shack, about 8' by 15', which is connected to the pig farm. He daily does his work on the farm, collects scrap pieces of food to make the chum (pig food), and enjoys his life. Ogolla still attends class 5 at Bosco Boys during the morning and then does his work in the shamba during the afternoon.
Every night there is a "good night" talk by one of the priests, teachers, or volunteers. the talk is just a recap of the day, a lesson that needs to be taught, or a story for the children to learn from. Last night Fr. Sebastian was telling us of how Patrick Ogolla's brother came to the school yesterday. Ogolla did not know he had a brother but apparently they have been looking for him all this time. Ogolla has no recollection of what happened to his family, if he had one, and why he was on the streets in the first place. Apparently his father is old now and very sick. He has sent Ogolla's brother to find him and they finally did.
It truly is a touching story. We were talking about it last night with a Brother here and he told us a story of a conversation between him and Ogolla. Ogolla in the past has said, "I'll be so happy the day I find my mom and dad." To think all these years he has had no idea of who they were but at the same time they had been searching for him as well. We have no idea how they found him here but they did. Ogolla is now with his family and last night may have been one of the only nights he has ever spent outside of Bosco Boys.
Each child associated with Bosco Boys is a "Street Kid". They have survived on the street by themselves and this qualifies them to attend school here. We have had discussions with Fr. Sebastian here about how there are so many street children in Nairobi who need help. He agrees but then assures us there's no way our school could board 3 million children. So they have to put specifications as to what qualifies one child to be here and why another can't.
We have learned there are four different "levels" of street children. The first is a child who spends his days on the street but goes back to his home where he can be fully taken care of. The second level is children who spend their days on the street but go home occasionally some nights where they have nothing but a roof. The third level is children who spend their days and nights on the street, who have a home to go to, but decide not to go there. The fourth level is children who solely live on the street, have no home, and their well being relies only on themselves.
Bosco Boys is a school which has children from all four levels. Most of the children though are from level 2 and 3. Most of the children are orphans, some total orphans, and the home they do know of is the home of their grandmother. Most children do have a roof to go to with their grandmother but due to her lack of education, age, and low income where she can not provide basic necessities. The children then run off to the street, most collect scrap metal to sell so they can buy food or drugs (glue or marijuana).
Each child has had a different path to Bosco Boys but they are somewhat similar. Most have had a parent (or both) die, many due to AIDS. During this time the family becomes unstable and all the children can resort to is providing for themselves because no one else will. Many move in with an aunt or grandmother but the aunt's usually have their own families so they get lost in the crowd, or the grandmother is too old to provide basic necessities/guidance. Many of the boys are under 10 years old and at that point have lived on the streets by themselves for over 2 years.
Many of the boys had a "good Samaritan" find them and bring them here. The child then is brought to a Salesian center called "Langatta" (which is down the road) and the child goes through a rehabilitation program there. If the child shows good manners, does well with his chores, studies hard, and chooses to be there then he is sent to Bosco Boys (our school). The child then must follow the rules, schedule, and lifestyle here. During their time at Bosco Boys many do well, go to high school, and become successful. But like schools anywhere, there are knuckleheads who are stubborn, don't do well, and eventually find themselves doing drugs again and living on the streets.
There are a few boys here who are total orphans and have no family whatsoever. There is a boy who came to Bosco Boys around 16 years ago, named Patrick Ogolla. Patrick has a learning disability and has no recollection of his family before he came here. He was around 9 years old when he came here and had lived on the streets by himself for almost 2 years. Since he has trouble with schooling, he was not able to attend high school but instead was given his own room here, works on the shamba (farm), and to this day is still a part of the community here.
He is a very nice man, very quiet, does his business daily, and we have never seen him complain about his life. Ogolla lives in a small shack, about 8' by 15', which is connected to the pig farm. He daily does his work on the farm, collects scrap pieces of food to make the chum (pig food), and enjoys his life. Ogolla still attends class 5 at Bosco Boys during the morning and then does his work in the shamba during the afternoon.
Every night there is a "good night" talk by one of the priests, teachers, or volunteers. the talk is just a recap of the day, a lesson that needs to be taught, or a story for the children to learn from. Last night Fr. Sebastian was telling us of how Patrick Ogolla's brother came to the school yesterday. Ogolla did not know he had a brother but apparently they have been looking for him all this time. Ogolla has no recollection of what happened to his family, if he had one, and why he was on the streets in the first place. Apparently his father is old now and very sick. He has sent Ogolla's brother to find him and they finally did.
It truly is a touching story. We were talking about it last night with a Brother here and he told us a story of a conversation between him and Ogolla. Ogolla in the past has said, "I'll be so happy the day I find my mom and dad." To think all these years he has had no idea of who they were but at the same time they had been searching for him as well. We have no idea how they found him here but they did. Ogolla is now with his family and last night may have been one of the only nights he has ever spent outside of Bosco Boys.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Easter
Easter here is long, in fact it's still going on until Sunday April 11th. They celebrate it for a week here. There are many decorations up still around Bosco Boys for Easter and people walk around everyday saying, "Happy Easter" to each other. The celebration started Saturday night with a mass that started outside with a huge bonfire, 4 HOUR mass!, 18 children being baptized, and has continued everyday with a morning mass.
This is Br. Richard acting as Abraham who is sacrificing his son Isaac. They acted out this story during church and they did a great job. One of the little boys acted like a goat and made a "aaaaaaaaaeeeeehhhh" noise which made everyone laugh.
This is a small fountain/pond the Salesians have in their residence garden where they performed the baptisms. It was funny to see some of the kids resist a bit because of their fear of being under water.
The priests of Bosco Boys and the children who were baptized in their all white suits/dresses.
On our way to Easter Sunday Mass
Mural on the outside of the wall of the church in the Kuwinda Slum. "Don Bosco guiding children on a path towards Jesus"
The church was full so some kids had to stand outside, we were late so we stood outside too.
Ok, so our friend Gil from Belgium has been telling us about this popular television show in Belgium about inventions. One person from the show won once because of this sandwich spread she made. It is the taste of ginger bread cookies in a paste (creamy peanut butter consistency). Well Gil's mom and her boyfriend are visiting here for two weeks. She brought with her a jar of Speculoos and it is so delicious. It is like candy and all of the volunteers ate the jar within a few hours (we were being courteous too, only taking a little by a little). If anyone in America has ever seen this at a grocery store BUY IT! Also let us know so when we come back we can get some as well... So the woman who was on the tv show who created this, apparently is now a millionaire because it's all people eat in Belgium.
This is Br. Richard acting as Abraham who is sacrificing his son Isaac. They acted out this story during church and they did a great job. One of the little boys acted like a goat and made a "aaaaaaaaaeeeeehhhh" noise which made everyone laugh.
This is a small fountain/pond the Salesians have in their residence garden where they performed the baptisms. It was funny to see some of the kids resist a bit because of their fear of being under water.
The priests of Bosco Boys and the children who were baptized in their all white suits/dresses.
On our way to Easter Sunday Mass
Mural on the outside of the wall of the church in the Kuwinda Slum. "Don Bosco guiding children on a path towards Jesus"
The church was full so some kids had to stand outside, we were late so we stood outside too.
Ok, so our friend Gil from Belgium has been telling us about this popular television show in Belgium about inventions. One person from the show won once because of this sandwich spread she made. It is the taste of ginger bread cookies in a paste (creamy peanut butter consistency). Well Gil's mom and her boyfriend are visiting here for two weeks. She brought with her a jar of Speculoos and it is so delicious. It is like candy and all of the volunteers ate the jar within a few hours (we were being courteous too, only taking a little by a little). If anyone in America has ever seen this at a grocery store BUY IT! Also let us know so when we come back we can get some as well... So the woman who was on the tv show who created this, apparently is now a millionaire because it's all people eat in Belgium.
Monday, April 5, 2010
WEWE!
These are just some photos from a day we had some free time. We made some funny movies but we can't upload the videos here because the internet is too slow. Hope you enjoy them.
Katie teaching us Kiswahili
Gil doing his best impersonation of a Nigerian Rap Video dance.
The grass is getting tall in our backyard so we decided to crawl in it like a lion.
Gil wanted to race Katie. Belgium won
Katie was trying to be a lion but decided to laugh instead.
We laugh all the time here at the kids when they talk. It is pretty normal here for the children to yell and point at another person's face. They use their entire hand instead of a finger though, and yell "WEWE!" Wewe translates to "HEY YOU" in English. If you just sit down and watch a group of kid, you can bet someone will point and yell WEWE at somebody. A lot of times they just point and talk but still are yelling. We don't necessarily know what they're saying, they could be saying, "Stop that" or "What are you doing" or even "Hey thanks for passing the dinner plate". We think it's funny because they point and talk about anything so we point, yell, and say very positive remarks to each other. So in this picture Gil and Katie and doing it to each other.
Pat yelling 'WEWE" to one of the kids.
A lot of the kids wear "TIM HORTON" shirts. So this is a shot out to #48 of the Washington Redskins Christopher Dion Horton. Check out his site: www.predator48.com
We had fun on the playground.
These photos have been requested by Kerry Nelson. She said we haven't taken enough pictures together. Here you go Kerry...
Katie teaching us Kiswahili
Gil doing his best impersonation of a Nigerian Rap Video dance.
The grass is getting tall in our backyard so we decided to crawl in it like a lion.
Gil wanted to race Katie. Belgium won
Katie was trying to be a lion but decided to laugh instead.
We laugh all the time here at the kids when they talk. It is pretty normal here for the children to yell and point at another person's face. They use their entire hand instead of a finger though, and yell "WEWE!" Wewe translates to "HEY YOU" in English. If you just sit down and watch a group of kid, you can bet someone will point and yell WEWE at somebody. A lot of times they just point and talk but still are yelling. We don't necessarily know what they're saying, they could be saying, "Stop that" or "What are you doing" or even "Hey thanks for passing the dinner plate". We think it's funny because they point and talk about anything so we point, yell, and say very positive remarks to each other. So in this picture Gil and Katie and doing it to each other.
Pat yelling 'WEWE" to one of the kids.
A lot of the kids wear "TIM HORTON" shirts. So this is a shot out to #48 of the Washington Redskins Christopher Dion Horton. Check out his site: www.predator48.com
We had fun on the playground.
These photos have been requested by Kerry Nelson. She said we haven't taken enough pictures together. Here you go Kerry...
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