Our First Day of "Work"

John:

After a few days of orientation, we were officially on the schedule to visit the local school, Makuyu Primary. Because the schedule is flexible, we decided to visit the Don Bosco School, which is composed of a primary school (grade school), secondary school (high school), two technical schools (where students may learn agriculture, weaving, tailoring, etc.), an orphanage, a church, and a medical clinic. The place is run by nuns from around the world and a couple of priests. We simply walked in and went to find the headmistress. We were told to wait and Sister Margaret came to show us around. She was an extremely nice lady who introduced us to everyone we walked by and gave us a nice tour of the impressive establishment. This is probably the most expensive place built in Makuyu. It hosts about 500 students total and provides medical treatment to many more. The crops grown are impressive 8 to 10 ft. tall corn stalks that boast corn double the size of those in our "shamba" at the orphanage. After the tour, we were directed to Sister Regina who, with Sister Margaret, decided it be best if we visit on Tuesdays and Fridays around 3:30 or 4 for study time after school and sports time on Fridays.

We walked down the road a bit and found Makuyu Primary School (the one we were scheduled to go to). We met with the deputy headmaster, Stanley, who thought we were volunteers from an orphanage recruiting kids. We finally got the point across to him that we do provide shelter and food at our orphanage but we, ourselves, simply want to tutor or help during study time. We will call him later this week to set up times for that as well. Another quick note: when we entered the school yard, nearly every kid was staring at us, the "mozungos." We're quite a piece of eye candy here.

We then went to lunch. Stanley actually voluntarily walked us to a local hotel to eat some meat and ugali. By the way, at the orphanage the main dishes are made of only rice, beans, and corn (more below). Ugali is corn crushed up and mixed with water. It becomes a hard slab of white and is like extremely thick and easily breakable mashed potatoes. They mix it with everything here. It's like rice in China. It's pretty bland and boring but when mixed with sauces or meat, it can be eaten.

To get back closer to town so our walk wasn't as far back to the orphanage we jumped on a "matatu" or bus. These are like vans that say 14 passengers max but really jam nearly 30 at times. People you don't know will sit on your lap like you're more than friends and your line of sight is non-existent. Oh yeah, they also drive like madmen and wouldn't mind picking off someone in the road.

Once back in the main town, we picked up "samosas" which are like empanadas in Spain or a little pouch of fried bread filled with potatoes and spices. They cost a good 5 Ksh or about 7 or 8 cents a piece. You can definitely travel light when it comes to cash, or "bub," here.

Back at the orphanage we relaxed, I burnt our trash (don't worry, that's how it's done here), and we even fleshed out our measurements and plans for the swingset we'll be putting together. This project will be funded by just Danny and I and will be a nice tangible sign of our visit to WWB. For now, we just relax and enjoy our last day with Maria and Johannes who will be traveling back to Germany tomorrow and share stories about our days.

Side note about meals:

Breakfast

• 3 slices of bread and chai tea...we, ourselves, bought peanut butter and bananas, oranges, and pinneapples to make it all better

(possibly a hard-boiled egg 1 or 2 times a week)

Lunch

• Rice, beans

or

• Rice, beans, corn

or

• eat elsewhere

Dinner

• Rice, beans, corn

or

• Beans, ugali (we haven't had many of the dishes but it's basically just rice, beans, corn and local plants and herbs)