John's Birthday and Other Happenings

Danny:

Yesterday was John's birthday, and it was quite a way to spend it. We woke up yesterday to a bit more hectic of a day because the kids were home. It was also, of course, church day. I'm told that most Kenyans are Catholic (I've heard 80%) but from walking around I've only seen the Catholic church at the Don Bosco center (Catholic charity organization) but have seen many smaller Christian denominations. There is also a small number of Muslims and other religion where people wear headdresses, but I can't remember the name. Anyways, the orphanage has a Christian foundation. Each Sunday the children hold their own "service". Evidently, one of the staff guys usually leads this, but he had the day off. It basically consisted of one of the older girls standing up front with a drum playing the beat to various Christian songs and one of the other girls leading the children in song. Most of the songs were in Kikuyu, so I'm assuming they were church songs. Everyonce and a while we'd get an Amen. There were also periods were the kids would just dance around - I'm told this is typical Kenyan worship. John and I just sat on the side, usually with one of the younger ones in our laps because they couldn't pay attention. Towards the end the kids took turns saying a prayer (I'm assuming) as all the others covered their faces in prayer and then led everyone in a song. It seemed to go in order by age and by the time the younger ones got up there, I think they were scrambling for songs because we heard the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Oh My Darling" in English.

Church was followed by a special lunch put on by two of the volunteers from Germany who are leaving this week. They bought sausages (with kethup!), little cake muffins, and sodas for the kids. We moved all the tables outside and had a bit of an ole fashioned bbq. I, who hadn't really planned anything special for John's bday, saw this as a perfect chance to celebrate. We got all the kids to start the happy birthday song, and I of course let him know it was all planned for him. Their version of the song includes another verse for "how old are you". The Martucci "For he's a jolly good fellow..." didn't catch on...

In the town of Makuyu, there is a public market on Sundays, so we went down there to look around. It's not exactly a tourist trap, so most of the items are things you would buy at a Target or something (well, kinda). We got some fresh fruits to suplement our glorious diet of rice, beans, maize, etc. at the orphanage. There are actually some really good fruits, all grown within this area: pineapples, oranges, bananas, tomatoes, avacados, passion fruit. Other random things for sale there: bags with Nike stamped on them (not from the factory), milking lubricant, DETROITIGERS hat (spelled that way) with a random logo on it, and lots of buckets (for carrying water).

Then, this morning, John and I went around to do more field work with Boniface. I really enjoy the hikes and really witnessing the lifestyles of the Kenyan people. Each field work trip usually means about 4 hours of walking through hilly terain on dirt roads and popping into random farms where a sponsored child lives (sponsored children are orphans but have extended family that can adequately care for them with some support from the orphanage). The conversation can be on anything from microsavings, the condition of the child (health, school), or to inform of a meeting - like the one with all 77 sponsored children we'll have Saturday. Most of it happens in Kikuyu, so John thinks it's pointless. But I love the experience and the chance for conversation with Boniface. The families are always very welcome and usually offer tea or "maize on the cob" (maize laid directly in a fire and roasted) or if you're lucky - fruit. You have to accept out of respect but it is sad that we're taking their tea or fruit when they can barely afford it for themselves. Most of the farms are the grandparents with lots of children. Usually the parents have died of AIDS or have left for Nairobi to try to find work. Today we went to a farm that was 5 kids alone and any over 4 years old would have been at school. One of the kids looked really sick also with snot running down his entire shirt like she had spilled an entire swirled ice cream cone down her shirt. ...More to come later on health/disease here. Anyways, particualarly of note on field work today was a farm we stopped at where the grandfather spoke excellent English. Evidently, he had been raised by Italian missionaries (not sure how that explains the english). He was really interested in talking to John and I and another volunteer, David, from the UK. We talked about everything from politics, corruption, aids, unplanned pregnancy, rape, work - much because Boniface introduced me as "Daniel, the one who likes politics". Note: I've also been known as the "only American with a big family" and "the American with a really hard accent to understand". Anyways, this old man told me about his situation. His daughter was raped to have one kid and another kid was born from a guy who "didn't want to marry her". He is left to take care of both kids, one who is now sick with malaria and he can't afford to take him to the doctor, because his daughter went to Nairobi but won't come back. So, he posed me the question, what should he do? ....Silence on my end. Luckily, Boniface jumped in saying, "it's in God's hands." I guess that's as good an answer as any...

More photos:

A typical rural Kenyan home. This is a good example of the places we visit with Boniface. Cowpen on the left. One section of the house straight ahead and another on the right.
The Central Province landscape with Boniface. There are amazing views walking around..very pretty area.
A shot of the Makuyu Sunday market.
Danny dominating some "What do you have?"...or better known as "Go Fish".
Eric (4) enjoying his Fanta and cupcake for John's birthday.

John blowing out the "candles" on his "birthday cake".

The lunch for John's birthday.

This is big Daniel and little Daniel. Right when we were picked up to head to the orphanage, Geoffrey told us that the kids were happy to meet us especially because there was a Daniel and John in the group. Daniel has quickly become my favorite, so if I come home with a Kenyan kid, it'll be him (kidding, Mom). I'm also Daniel here - basically because it's easier for the kids to say a name they already know (pronounced: Dan-ny-el).

John with Julius during the church service. It's hard not to have one of the little ones in your arms at any one time. It's kinda sad to think that they really haven't had the one on one affection that most kids have growing up, so they look for that from us.

The cow pen.