Kenya: a year later (part 3)

Happy St. Patrick's Day all!! Yesterday, I woke up, put on a green sweater, some green shorts, had my nails all done in four shades of green and I tried to find my bright green rain jacket but couldn't. Only when I was waiting at the bus stop heading to school did I realize that today it was NOT St. Patrick's Day. -_- Oh well. I redid my nails in green but didn't wear any becauase I already did :P


Part 3 of Kenya stuff :) I don't feel like typing much, so I'm just gonna post pictures with explanations from about March 16th to March 19th 2010.

Wheelbarrows in the school yard

View from the school yard

First day of working

Sooo much mud. It would rain daily for about half the day in the afternoon.

It gets everywhere. I even had to throw out my shoes by the end of the trip (the brown ones).

Where the village gets their water.

My attempt at the water walk. This is how the women in the village transport their water.

Our guide demonstrating

The dining tent

Nasty bugs were everywhere at night in the dining tent. Big, scary flying nasty things.

Community Day - cooking and making a tomato flower

Just doing some laundry

a shower tent

me doing some laundry

Cooking our lunch. A concoction of kidney beans, maize (in kernel form) and potatoes, all seasoned.

yummm

a few days into the construction

outhouses/washrooms being built at the top of the hill on the school grounds

Working on an almost complete school house (the school is made of various "houses" - they are not connected)

Building around windows

The school grounds

Recess

heading back to camp

The school sign

Fences are made out of cacti because they grow naturally there and quickly too. Barbed wire is placed in between. 

The kitchen - lunch is provided for all children

The teacher's quarters, office and storage places. It was the old high school (i think) and is across the road from the current school.

We decided to place a loonie into the wall, because we're Canadian and that's what we doing (like the loonie in the ice at the Olympics). We all kissed it before we put it in the cement. This is me...

Poster in the classroom

children in school - all schools have uniforms

The colours for Salabwek are Blue and Yellow

The loonie

It's location, once buried

Still hard at work! Almost the end of the trip

Closing ceremony :)

The parents and elders gave us all bracelets :)

Our last dinner

The FANTASTICALLY super awesome cake that the camp staff made for us!! The outline is Canada and they baked the whole thing over a fire!

I don't remember what it means but I'm sure it's something awesome in Swahili

Salabwek

On our way home

♥ Turtles

p.s. These photos are pretty cool :)

Kenya: a year later (part 1)

R.I.P. Scotty McSpockston

(Be forewarned - long post) March 9th 2010, I traveled with my school and Me to We, a part of the Free The Children organization, to Kenya. We went to do the stereotypical thing you think of when you hear a bunch of high school students traveling to Africa: to build a school. Or rather, a part of it. There were 13 students, 2 teachers and 1 husband all going together. And the trip was awesome. Truly awesome.

At the giraffe sanctuary

For the duration of the trip I was able to keep a journal where I wrote thoughts and events and kept little mementos. It was my first time to Africa (and hopefully not my last), so I wanted to make sure I recorded everything. I thought in honour of the trip, I would post a few pics and parts of journal entries. Mind you, these entries are laureate quality writing or anything, but they basically kept a record. Today: part one. Enjoy :)

March 11th, 1:40 pm

Great Rift Valley

Right now we're heading through the Great Rift Valley. It's frickin' HUGE. Apparently it runs from Kenya to Tanzania and into Uganda as well. There are mountains surrounding it. I'm not sure which is Mount Kenya or even if it's in this part of the country, but the view is breathtaking none the less. We stopped at a view point where we took pictures and ate lunch (samosas).

After 10 pm

These come in tree, bush and weed form

 We're in the Masai Mara [not actually - we were in Salabwek, the community we stayed in], in our tents, under our mosquito nets ready for beds, listening to the convos next to us. … So basically the Mara is awesome. The community of Salabwek is right outside. When we first arrived, we were in the lorry which was behind our luggage van, which got stuck right when we got here. It was kinda funny because there were a bunch of guys trying to push it out of the mud. But basically once our lorry stopped, we were crowded by children and students, primary and secondary. I heard someone say to the secondary school kids, "There are people who look like you in Canada". I assume they were about me [I was the only black kid on the trip], and that they had the preconceived notion that all westerners were white. Melanie [my Guyanese friend] told me that when she was in the market some one asked her what tribe she was in. The whole experience has been, quite frankly, weird, kinda. Not really the best description but that kinda sums it up. 

Outline of the camp: 

- 7 tents, some doubles, singles and multiples [referring to the amount of people inside]
- One tent for eating
- 3 bathroom outhouse tents
- Two shower tents
- Electric fence surrounding perimeter (mainly to keep out dogs and wondering animals)
- Staff area with kitchen and tents

 

March 12th

…Then later we headed off to the school [we were heading to an outdoor welcoming ceremony]. It was probably one of the most, in an "uncertain, not so sure what to expect, might be overwhelmed, very intimidating, maybe kinda scary", moments of the trip. Having a mass of small children, between 500-600 approximately, come up to you while singing/chanting a song you don't know. It was quite random but also kinda touching at the same time, because they were singing a song of welcome for our arrival.

…To be quite frank, I have always felt kind of apprehensive about trips like these, because I feel like they might be just one big pity party. I try to imagine how I would feel and I wouldn't want a great big group of people pitying me in my current state. Just because I don't have much, doesn't mean I want your pity. ← That's how I would feel. But today caused me to see that truly and honestly, the members of the village, the parents of the children receiving this education, the school staff and teachers, everyone was really grateful for the work FTC and Me to We had done. …

Till next time, ♥ Turtles 

thoughts? questions? leave in the comments :) 

p.s  The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher. Now you know.