Still Alive, Computers Working, Despite Grudges

Apologies are no doubt owed for this relatively long radio silence. It has been due, thankfully, to our own busyness here and not because any of Kenya's troubles have reached us at Nyeri. It is deeply saddening to read the news of what is going on in other parts of the country, and hear accounts of the pain firsthand (there are over 100 refugees living not 3 kilometers away in a local sports field). At the same time, we are grateful that we have been able to continue our work mostly unaffected, and that the kids haven't been subject to anything outside of what's on the TV.

In truth, life has been good here the last few weeks since I returned to Kenya, with our biggest hardships comprised of woes like finding the grocery store less than fully stocked, and slightly higher gas prices.

The computer classes at Tumaini have likewise continued, and I have the good fortune to be even at this moment looking at a blackboard with the remnants of what appears to be a lecture on "Computer Security". The chalk on the board haphazardly forms a list, ostensibly of the various facets of "Computer Security". They are (strictly mirroring punctuation and emphasis):

• Environmental Threats
• Clumsiness
• Stabilizers
• Terrorists Attacks
• grudges

Hmm. Apparently, 'Environmental Threats' are the most ominous bad guys in the world of computer security. And I can see that; maybe it's not obvious that computers should be kept out of the rain. But what are 'Stabilizers'? And why do they threaten my PC? "No! Don't bring that Stabilizer in here!"

The best, though, is clearly 'grudges'. You never know when your computer's security might be compromised by a grudge. And multiple grudges working in concert? Forget it, your RAM is hosed.

You might also be glad to know that from what I've overheard, the classes on word processing are just as helpful to the student.

Tumaini Football Cup

Football Cup

Most afternoons after their five o’clock tea, you can find the secondary boys out at the field playing football. A bunch of the guys regularly go out to play pick-up at the primary school adjacent to Tumaini. They have even competed in tournaments against local teams around Nyeri whenever they can find a sponsor to organize a tournament. There was a tournament organized for December that fell through because their sponsor lost his local election (and thus lost his interest in supporting the local football tournament). So, with the help of a few of the boys, I decided to organize and sponsor a tournament for them.

So within the span of a couple of weeks, we put together and organized Tumaini’s 2008 Football Cup, which was held this past weekend. I had the dual responsibility of sponsor/organizer and center mid for the Tumaini Classics. Despite a last minute field change, a small stint of rain, and a few typical tournament tiffs between competing teams, the whole thing turned out to be a success and lots of fun for the boys.

The tournament included six local teams competing in one round of group play with two teams from each group qualifying for semi-final playoff matches. The first match was scheduled for 9am on Saturday morning but due to typical Kenyan unpunctuality, we started just after 10. Eight games later and just before sunset, we wrapped up the first day of the tournament and left the championship and consolation games for the following day to be played in the local stadium.

Our Tumaini squad had an impressive showing. We battled it out in the competitive group matches against teams, Trench and Gatitu, and came out as the Group A champions by goal differential. However, we lost a hard fought semi-final to land us in the consolation match. The final was comprised of Micha and St. Mary’s and despite pre-game conflict over complaints of “corruption” on the part of Micha (they were accused of bringing in ringers for the championship match), the last game of the tournament went smoothly and was decided on an intense penalty kick shootout. Micha FC came out on top as the tournament champs and received their prize money of ksh.1000 and a new Nike ball (compliments of Stanford soccer ☺).

Another highlight of the weekend was the timely arrival of the donated jerseys for Tumaini delivered by Jonathan just before kick-off of our first match. Through the organizational efforts of Dianna Heeb, MVLA soccer club and St. Simon’s sent a duffle bag full of jerseys, goalie gloves, and warm-ups with Jonathan on his return flight back to Kenya. This surprise delivery resulted in many smiles and made for a very “smart” looking Tumaini squad.

Playing Santa

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM KENYA!

We have many stories and pictures from Christmas activities that we will post soon...to start it off, here are some pictures from our 4am secret mission.

Since we knew the journals would be a belated Christmas present, we decided to put together something small to surprise the kids with on Christmas morning. We printed out the portraits of the kids that we took for the journals, glued psalm 139 on the back of them, and packaged them with ribbon. We were up late getting them finished so the kids could have a Christmas morning surprise! It was a ton of fun...hope you enjoy looking at the pictures!

Christmas Morning

Football practice

Here are some photos from a spontaneous football practice with the primary boys. It was a ton of fun! Thanks to everyone that donated cleats and socks. They loved them!

Football training

A Haircut

Not going to write a lot here; it's mainly the pictures. I got a haircut tonight. It wasn't til I saw it lying on the ground that I realized how much hair I had. Everyone here (both boys and girls) is required to keep their hair buzzed all the time, so they have haircutting sessions probably three times per week on average. The haircuts are given by one of the secondary students with some buzzers in the carport. This afternoon it was Charles that was acting as barber, which was nice, because he is very trustworthy with everything, including other people's hair. After I was done, Emilee started giving a haircut to little Rhoda, but just a few minutes after she had started cutting, the power went out, and Rhoda was left with a half-shaved head, hehe - if there is anyone who could handle something like that, it would be Rhoda. Okay, here are the pictures:

A Haircut

An American Interlude

While Michael and Emilee eat the Christmas Cow on December 25, I'll be with some family in Camp Verde, AZ. The kids were disappointed when they heard I was going home for Christmas, and I don't blame them--in fact, I'm sad to miss the celebrations at Tumaini myself! A good number of the kids also thought I was purposefully abandoning them in favor of a 'White Christmas', and it was hard to convince them otherwise.

In actual fact, this is a sort of landmark Christmas for our family, since for the first time ever we have opted to forego all gift-giving and holiday money-spending, and instead are traveling to Arizona to fix up my aunt and uncle's house, which has happened to be in a bit of a sad state. I'm certainly a bit self-conscious about how 'self-righteous' this tactic can come across to people (I know I've thought that about those people who go work in soup kitchens on Christmas). Therefore, I am in no way passing judgment on those who do partake in The Rush this year. Still, there's a genuine satisfaction in the idea as well, and indeed, my family can't go anywhere without having a bit of fun, so we're also planning a 2-day hike down and up the Grand Canyon. I haven't been there for probably 15 years, so I'm excited to camp in the wintry desert location.

But all this was hard to explain to the kids, until I got a clue from Cucu Kariuki and decided to start telling people I was going to a 'harambe'--a sort of Kenyan festival held by friends or relatives of people who are in need, in order to raise money and supplies for them. It's not the same, of course, but it's close enough, and it did the trick: as soon as I mentioned 'harambe', they understood the need to go home. Still, had it been any other year, I would have loved to stay at Tumaini, and I envy Michael's and Emilee's opportunity to share Christmas with the kids.

Well, after a long 42 hours of travel, I arrived back in San Francisco last night. What surprised me most was how unsurprising it was to be back in the States. After my previous 2-month stint in Kenya, the mass of development, the showers, the clean running water, etc..., all caught me rather off guard. It took almost a full week to shake the feeling that something was very wrong somewhere. This time, everything just seems like, well, what it is. I suppose this state of affairs is neither good nor bad, but I found it interesting.

Now, I'm killing the hour or two I have left before our midnight departure to the Grand Canyon. (On family road trips, we like to leave in the 2nd watch of the night, when traffic is at a minimum--and this practice holds a lot of nostalgia for me). I've taken my fill of fast internet and hot showers (though finding high-protein vegetarian food has proved more difficult than in Kenya), and will now leave the blogging to those who are actually remaining in Kenya, until I return in early January. Happy Christmas! (And perhaps more appropriate for this particular day: Happy Winter Solstice!)

Munchies

Many have asked how life is going here in Kenya and there are so many emotions, thoughts, and feelings to this experience so far that I decided to consolidate them into what I am calling munchies…

Simplicity - From walking everywhere to cooking all meals from scratch (mainly with garden vegetables) to practicing daily rhythms of discipline with Lipps and Tbone to just having fewer distractions...life here is typified by simplicity which I love!

Adorable! - These kids are seriously too cute for words! Some of them are harder to love than others but some I honestly want to just steal away when I leave. They emit so much joy, energy, laughter, and cuteness that it is often too much to capture. (There cuteness is like an epic landscape of mountains that you just can't contain in a picture...cheesy metaphor but true) One of my favorite things is running alongside the little ones as they grip your hand. (Michael talked about this in an earlier blog) Following a run with little Edwin during the first few weeks we were here, I wrote a poem that I may post later (if I work up the courage).

Eye-opening - It is not the stark reality of the poverty that is surprising this time (I was expecting that aspect more because of experiences on previous trips) but it is the little realty checks that hit you each day of how different life is here from what I experienced growing up. This is where I have too many thoughts to put into words right now (most of them pop up randomly as we're walking to town or running through the neighborhood) but all I can say is I know this experience will leave me with a very deep imprint.

Filling - This word translates to many areas including the belly. We are constantly cooking and each dinner takes at least two hours from start to finish but the meals have been so yummy! Each meal is a different experiment from Jonathan's Mennonite cookbook ("Less is More") and I have loved getting more into cooking! (Banana bread just came out of the oven! :) Not only is my tummy getting filled but I'm loving the time that we have here to read...I have been filled and nourished most recently by Melissa Fay Greene's "There is no me without you." and Scandrette's "Soul Grafitti." (I highly recommend both!) Along with these personal reads, each morning we make breakfast together and one person reads aloud while the other two cook. It's one of my favorite parts of the day! We are also making our way through NT's big fatty which has been really packed and filling in it's own way.

Sick - Unfortunately from the moment I arrived, I have been hit with one thing after the next, allergy to cold to infection to mysterious eye problem and now to another cold. It has been really frustrating but will hopefully pass soon thanks to many drugs and the help of Dr. ONeil. (Props and thanks to him! :)

Blessed - So many kids here have stories of abuse, death, abandonment and hardship. It reminds me to be thankful for the blessings I've received in the way of loving family and friends. It is amazing to realize how many gifts and blessings I take for granted each day. I have also felt incredibly blessed by the relationships, conversations and faith that I have witnessed in some of the older Tumaini kids.

There are many more words that I could use to describe this experience but I'll let you munch on these for now.