Lou Ann's African Summer 2007
Some down time...
Yes, I found an internet place at the Amsterdam Schipol Airport. It's about 7:00 a.m. here, and this comm center is a peaceful place with a great upstairs view on many of the comings and goings of this huge airport. Although I'm on my way home, I have a lot more to write about from my trip, so I am rather sure that I will break down my writing into two or even three more posts. I'll let you know when I've posted the final post ... and I'll also let you know when and where I'll have photos posted. I'll hopefully be caught up on posting by the end of this week, and hopefully many of you will have seen me by then. :-)
Well, as promised, I will begin by telling you about our trip to the Maasai market. We made a very short stop at one of the Maasai markets on the very first day that we were in Nairobi (I think I mentioned that). The market moves to different locations on different days of the week. On Fridays it is located on the roof of a local shopping mall. We left Amani early on Friday (7/20) to spend a couple of hours there. It's a fascinating place and a very different way for a Westerner to make shopping purchases. I knew from my experience on Sunday that I would need to learn to barter for the prices of the things that I want to buy. I was very uncomfortable with this idea at first ... in the U.S. prices are what they are, and shopkeepers usually don't care if you don't want to pay what they're asking. When we went to the market at Ya Ya's on Sunday, Brittany (who speaks Swahili) bartered for me for the two things that I wanted to purchase (a Maasai "cloth" and a pair of sandals). Well, since the whole group wanted to shop this market (which is a bit bigger than the one at Ya Ya's), I knew that I would probably be on my own for the bartering. So I had Laura (another member of our group who has traveled extensively in Africa) practice with me. Our practice went something like this:
Lou Ann: I would like to purchase that Pashmina. How much are you asking?
Laura: One thousand shillings.
Lou Ann: That's ridiculous. I can purchase the same Pashmina over there (pointing) for two hundred shillings. (This is absolute and total lying!!)
Laura: No, no! You will buy the Pashmina from me. I will only charge you eight hundred shillings.
Lou Ann: Well, I really don't want to pay more than four hundred shillings for that Pashmina.
Laura: Five hundred. That's my final offer!
Lou Ann: Done.
And, yes, I ended up doing really well with the bartering. I even surprised myself. Okay, maybe I got ripped off ... but I thought I was pretty good at it. I pretended to walk away from vendors, or I demaded that they throw in another object for the price that I thought might be too high. I got some great deals, and some fun things. I hope to have quite an African influence in my new home in Colorado. We'll see.....
After the Maasai market closed, we were met by Betty's sister and brother-in-law and (a surprise for her) her husband, Dick. We all went down to the food court, which was high class as far as food courts go. We all got a bunch of tables pulled together and went off to order food from various places. (I had Masala Chicken from an Indian place and a delicious glass of red wine.) It was after this dinner that I had the coffee ice cream that I mentioned in a previous post. :-) It was a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon/evening.
On Saturday morning, three of us loaded ourselves into our favorite driver's "taxi" and went to a place called the "New Life Home". Please take a look at their website. Laura (my bartering coach), is an "honorary" member of our group. She has been traveling with Brittany around Africa for a month before they both met up with us in Nairobi. She's not technically working with us at Amani (although she has been seen around the Pamoja House helping out in Export!), and has spent several days this week volunteering at the New Life Home. On Saturday, Jessie and I decided to join her. New Life Home is a Christian-run orphanage. They have a special focus on HIV positive babies (who they have discovered will sometimes become HIV negative after a period of nurturing and love at the home). You can read more about that at their website. I have to say that the hour and a half we spent playing with babies at the orphanage was the most emotional time of the entire trip for me. You might know that I was adopted as an infant. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful family and many good opportunities and things in my life. I can't imagine where I would be if I hadn't been adopted. We held babies for about 45 minutes, feeding them and playing with them. Then we played with toddlers out in the yard for another 20 minutes or so. All I could think, the entire time, was ... all of these babies don't have parents. It's not like working in the church nursery where the parents will be by in a few minutes to pick up Junior. These kids all LIVE in that center. I was heartbroken. Most children that are "walkers" will shy away from new adults and look for Mommy or Daddy's face. But when you walked into the toddlers area here, the kids all saw an adult and ran to me and wrapped their little arms around my leg, not wanting to let me go.
It got a bit more intense when we went outside with the toddlers. They were all playing and running around and having a great time as only toddlers know how to do. There were a LOT of volunteers working with the kids, so most of them were playing at something. But there was a boy laying on a mat that they had set out. There were workers nearby, but he was lying on a blanket on the mat by himself, staring off into space. I asked if he can sit up, and they told me "no". I reached for his hand, and he squeezed my fingers (hard!) and held on. But his eyes were not focused, and he didn't seem to be looking at anything. I asked if I could hold him, and they told me to be very careful of his head. He is not able to hold it up. I picked him up (with help, as he was pretty big) and held him for about 15 minutes, rubbing his back. It was almost like holding a newborn. He spit up a little, he drooled a lot, and tried a little bit to lift his head. I was so overwhelmed that I just couldn't ask the workers what's wrong with him. All I know is that his name is Lance. When Laura went back later the next week, I asked her to ask about him, but by that time he had already been sent to a different home for children with special needs.
If I ever blantantly question God's sovereignty, it is because of the fact that not all children get a fair start. I know that He is sovereign. But I also know that older children and adults have control over their choices (to a certain extent). But babies don't have that freedom. I don't know that I will ever understand why babies don't all get to have the same approximate chance at life. A child like Lance will probably spend the rest of his life (however long that is) in a bed in an institution somewhere in Kenya. Why was I adopted by a wonderful family and other children, by some sort of divine appointment, won't ever have that chance? It's just not fair. It's something that I definitely still need to work through. And it will bother me for a long time.
I was completely shaken by my experience at the orphanage (I don't believe that I have ever visited one before), so when our driver showed up with the rest of our group to pick us up for the next visit, I went to the back and was rather quiet for awhile.
SOOooooo, we went next to an "Elephant Orphanage". Again, I have included a link for your reading pleasure. At this place, we were ushered down a path toward a roped off area. There, a "ranger" of sorts was talking about several very young baby elephants that were inside the area. They were playing with a soccer ball and having a great time. (I personally was having a bit of trouble enjoying listening to a ranger talk about how awful it is that they have to take in abandoned elephants after having seen a home full of abandoned and orphaned children with a worse adult to child ratio than the elephants have!) Anyway, the ranger talked for about an hour, and at one point they took away the small elephants and brought in several more adolescent ones. It was fun being so close, and we got some good photos. Little did we know that it would be NOTHING like our safari coming up a few days later!
After the elephant orphanage (which I would definitely recommend if you're going to be visiting Nairobi!) we stopped at a local "cafe" for lunch. It was a neat place, with eating areas outside and a couple of gift shops. It had a very comfortable feel, and many American foods on the menu. We found out that the place was owned and run by a woman from California. Go figure. :-)
We relaxed over lunch (I had spinach ravioli) and then made our way to the Rothschild Giraffe Center. It was a neat place, more like a petting zoo. They have many giraffes on the property and there is a raised building where visitors can collect giraffe food from a bin and reach out their hands to let the giraffes grab the food directly out of their hands. It was a bit disgusting (giraffes have LONG black tongues and lots of drool!) but fun to take photos and watch people get freaked out by the giraffes' tongues. :-) We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot. Saturday (7/21) was a good "down day".
The next day (Sunday, 7/22) we did more "home visits". This time, I was able to spend the great majority of the day with my Amani "host", Rose. I mentioned Rose in a previous post. Although she's my host, we are actually not able to spend much time together at Amani. Just lunch. My "work" at Amani has been centered around the computer at the Amani shop, and Rose works in the Export Department (in another part of the compound). Anyway, Rose met up with me at the Daystar campus and we walked to her nearby church, the Nairobi Pentacostal Church. Out of several thousand people there, I thought I was the only "mzungu" (white person) ... but saw about four more when the pastor asked for first time visitors to please stand. Anyway, the music was fun, they had several very interesting missionary reports and a young adult skit and then one of the elders gave the sermon for the morning (entitled The Diligent Christian). It was a relatively short service at a little over 1.5 hours. Some of the others from our group spent over three hours in church services that day with their hosts.
After church, Rose and I boarded a bus which took us to a matatu which took us to her neighborhood. Those matatus are quite a "trip". She does that every day to get to and from work. Talk about having good reason to complain about your commute. She gets up every morning at 5:00, leaves at 5:30, walks about 20 minutes to the matatu which takes about 30-40 minutes to the city center, to switch to another that will take her to Amani by about 6:30. Coming home, I assume that the trip lasts a bit longer and is a bit more crowded.
Rose had prepared a delicious lunch for me ... more chipati!! We also had some stew. It was a relaxing afternoon at her home (she lives with her parents). We took a little walk in her neighborhood and spent a good deal of time chatting with her mom, who is a wonderful woman and a very strong Christian. I also met her father, although only briefly.
Interestingly, before Rose's father arrived home from church, I was telling her that when I've been introducing myself to Kenyans, they always mispronounce my name, and that it must be something with the consonants that are not used in Swahili or something. When I try to tell a Kenyan my name, they almost always turn around and pronounce it as "Louie Ann". The first few times I tried to correct them, but they would nod and repeat "Louie Ann". I gave up. I am now "Louie Ann" to my Kenyan friends. Rose was educated in Europe, though, and her English is exceptional with only a slight accent (with a British edge). She didn't understand how anyone could get my name wrong and expressed a bit of disbelief. Then her father returned home. It was quite funny. I shook hands with him, and introduced myself. He then said, "Oh! Louie Ann. How nice to meet you!" Rose and I burst out laughing. I don't think he followed the joke. :-)
After a few hours of relaxing at Rose's home, we boarded the matatus and busses back to the Daystar campus where I would be meeting the rest of the members of our DC Amani group.
That night we met up with Betty's sister and brother-in-law again and had Indian food at a restaurant across the street from the guesthouse. I've enjoyed eating so many fun foods, but all of this eating out is going to do me in! I can't begin to imagine how much weight I've gained!
One more quick "funny" before I close. I've been trying to explain to you about what they call "African time". They have really needed to work with me on my "need" to be exactly on time, if not early, for everything. Well, one of the last days of the trip, we met with Mary and Joyce (two of Amani's administrators that I've mentioned previously) to debreif about our visit. We laughed about our different ideas about "time". Mary said that she often uses a quote with American friends who visit Amani: "You have the watches, we have the time." How totally appropriate! Africans seem to have all the time in the world. Westerners always seem to be looking at their watches. It really is amazing. Well, after saying that, I noticed something hiding behind the sleeve of Mary's sweater. We definitely all had a good laugh about the fact that Mary was hiding a watch in there. :-)
Lots more to tell. I think that I will probably make two more posts. The next (hopefully within the next day or two, from home!) will describe our wonderful Safari in the Maasai Mara, including a hike that a few of us took down the side of a mountain with a Maasai warrior in all of the traditional apparel. (HE wore the Maasai apparel, we didn't!)
I will look forward to seeing you all very soon!!
Well, as promised, I will begin by telling you about our trip to the Maasai market. We made a very short stop at one of the Maasai markets on the very first day that we were in Nairobi (I think I mentioned that). The market moves to different locations on different days of the week. On Fridays it is located on the roof of a local shopping mall. We left Amani early on Friday (7/20) to spend a couple of hours there. It's a fascinating place and a very different way for a Westerner to make shopping purchases. I knew from my experience on Sunday that I would need to learn to barter for the prices of the things that I want to buy. I was very uncomfortable with this idea at first ... in the U.S. prices are what they are, and shopkeepers usually don't care if you don't want to pay what they're asking. When we went to the market at Ya Ya's on Sunday, Brittany (who speaks Swahili) bartered for me for the two things that I wanted to purchase (a Maasai "cloth" and a pair of sandals). Well, since the whole group wanted to shop this market (which is a bit bigger than the one at Ya Ya's), I knew that I would probably be on my own for the bartering. So I had Laura (another member of our group who has traveled extensively in Africa) practice with me. Our practice went something like this:
Lou Ann: I would like to purchase that Pashmina. How much are you asking?
Laura: One thousand shillings.
Lou Ann: That's ridiculous. I can purchase the same Pashmina over there (pointing) for two hundred shillings. (This is absolute and total lying!!)
Laura: No, no! You will buy the Pashmina from me. I will only charge you eight hundred shillings.
Lou Ann: Well, I really don't want to pay more than four hundred shillings for that Pashmina.
Laura: Five hundred. That's my final offer!
Lou Ann: Done.
And, yes, I ended up doing really well with the bartering. I even surprised myself. Okay, maybe I got ripped off ... but I thought I was pretty good at it. I pretended to walk away from vendors, or I demaded that they throw in another object for the price that I thought might be too high. I got some great deals, and some fun things. I hope to have quite an African influence in my new home in Colorado. We'll see.....
After the Maasai market closed, we were met by Betty's sister and brother-in-law and (a surprise for her) her husband, Dick. We all went down to the food court, which was high class as far as food courts go. We all got a bunch of tables pulled together and went off to order food from various places. (I had Masala Chicken from an Indian place and a delicious glass of red wine.) It was after this dinner that I had the coffee ice cream that I mentioned in a previous post. :-) It was a nice way to spend a Friday afternoon/evening.
On Saturday morning, three of us loaded ourselves into our favorite driver's "taxi" and went to a place called the "New Life Home". Please take a look at their website. Laura (my bartering coach), is an "honorary" member of our group. She has been traveling with Brittany around Africa for a month before they both met up with us in Nairobi. She's not technically working with us at Amani (although she has been seen around the Pamoja House helping out in Export!), and has spent several days this week volunteering at the New Life Home. On Saturday, Jessie and I decided to join her. New Life Home is a Christian-run orphanage. They have a special focus on HIV positive babies (who they have discovered will sometimes become HIV negative after a period of nurturing and love at the home). You can read more about that at their website. I have to say that the hour and a half we spent playing with babies at the orphanage was the most emotional time of the entire trip for me. You might know that I was adopted as an infant. God has truly blessed me with a wonderful family and many good opportunities and things in my life. I can't imagine where I would be if I hadn't been adopted. We held babies for about 45 minutes, feeding them and playing with them. Then we played with toddlers out in the yard for another 20 minutes or so. All I could think, the entire time, was ... all of these babies don't have parents. It's not like working in the church nursery where the parents will be by in a few minutes to pick up Junior. These kids all LIVE in that center. I was heartbroken. Most children that are "walkers" will shy away from new adults and look for Mommy or Daddy's face. But when you walked into the toddlers area here, the kids all saw an adult and ran to me and wrapped their little arms around my leg, not wanting to let me go.
It got a bit more intense when we went outside with the toddlers. They were all playing and running around and having a great time as only toddlers know how to do. There were a LOT of volunteers working with the kids, so most of them were playing at something. But there was a boy laying on a mat that they had set out. There were workers nearby, but he was lying on a blanket on the mat by himself, staring off into space. I asked if he can sit up, and they told me "no". I reached for his hand, and he squeezed my fingers (hard!) and held on. But his eyes were not focused, and he didn't seem to be looking at anything. I asked if I could hold him, and they told me to be very careful of his head. He is not able to hold it up. I picked him up (with help, as he was pretty big) and held him for about 15 minutes, rubbing his back. It was almost like holding a newborn. He spit up a little, he drooled a lot, and tried a little bit to lift his head. I was so overwhelmed that I just couldn't ask the workers what's wrong with him. All I know is that his name is Lance. When Laura went back later the next week, I asked her to ask about him, but by that time he had already been sent to a different home for children with special needs.
If I ever blantantly question God's sovereignty, it is because of the fact that not all children get a fair start. I know that He is sovereign. But I also know that older children and adults have control over their choices (to a certain extent). But babies don't have that freedom. I don't know that I will ever understand why babies don't all get to have the same approximate chance at life. A child like Lance will probably spend the rest of his life (however long that is) in a bed in an institution somewhere in Kenya. Why was I adopted by a wonderful family and other children, by some sort of divine appointment, won't ever have that chance? It's just not fair. It's something that I definitely still need to work through. And it will bother me for a long time.
I was completely shaken by my experience at the orphanage (I don't believe that I have ever visited one before), so when our driver showed up with the rest of our group to pick us up for the next visit, I went to the back and was rather quiet for awhile.
SOOooooo, we went next to an "Elephant Orphanage". Again, I have included a link for your reading pleasure. At this place, we were ushered down a path toward a roped off area. There, a "ranger" of sorts was talking about several very young baby elephants that were inside the area. They were playing with a soccer ball and having a great time. (I personally was having a bit of trouble enjoying listening to a ranger talk about how awful it is that they have to take in abandoned elephants after having seen a home full of abandoned and orphaned children with a worse adult to child ratio than the elephants have!) Anyway, the ranger talked for about an hour, and at one point they took away the small elephants and brought in several more adolescent ones. It was fun being so close, and we got some good photos. Little did we know that it would be NOTHING like our safari coming up a few days later!
After the elephant orphanage (which I would definitely recommend if you're going to be visiting Nairobi!) we stopped at a local "cafe" for lunch. It was a neat place, with eating areas outside and a couple of gift shops. It had a very comfortable feel, and many American foods on the menu. We found out that the place was owned and run by a woman from California. Go figure. :-)
We relaxed over lunch (I had spinach ravioli) and then made our way to the Rothschild Giraffe Center. It was a neat place, more like a petting zoo. They have many giraffes on the property and there is a raised building where visitors can collect giraffe food from a bin and reach out their hands to let the giraffes grab the food directly out of their hands. It was a bit disgusting (giraffes have LONG black tongues and lots of drool!) but fun to take photos and watch people get freaked out by the giraffes' tongues. :-) We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot. Saturday (7/21) was a good "down day".
The next day (Sunday, 7/22) we did more "home visits". This time, I was able to spend the great majority of the day with my Amani "host", Rose. I mentioned Rose in a previous post. Although she's my host, we are actually not able to spend much time together at Amani. Just lunch. My "work" at Amani has been centered around the computer at the Amani shop, and Rose works in the Export Department (in another part of the compound). Anyway, Rose met up with me at the Daystar campus and we walked to her nearby church, the Nairobi Pentacostal Church. Out of several thousand people there, I thought I was the only "mzungu" (white person) ... but saw about four more when the pastor asked for first time visitors to please stand. Anyway, the music was fun, they had several very interesting missionary reports and a young adult skit and then one of the elders gave the sermon for the morning (entitled The Diligent Christian). It was a relatively short service at a little over 1.5 hours. Some of the others from our group spent over three hours in church services that day with their hosts.
After church, Rose and I boarded a bus which took us to a matatu which took us to her neighborhood. Those matatus are quite a "trip". She does that every day to get to and from work. Talk about having good reason to complain about your commute. She gets up every morning at 5:00, leaves at 5:30, walks about 20 minutes to the matatu which takes about 30-40 minutes to the city center, to switch to another that will take her to Amani by about 6:30. Coming home, I assume that the trip lasts a bit longer and is a bit more crowded.
Rose had prepared a delicious lunch for me ... more chipati!! We also had some stew. It was a relaxing afternoon at her home (she lives with her parents). We took a little walk in her neighborhood and spent a good deal of time chatting with her mom, who is a wonderful woman and a very strong Christian. I also met her father, although only briefly.
Interestingly, before Rose's father arrived home from church, I was telling her that when I've been introducing myself to Kenyans, they always mispronounce my name, and that it must be something with the consonants that are not used in Swahili or something. When I try to tell a Kenyan my name, they almost always turn around and pronounce it as "Louie Ann". The first few times I tried to correct them, but they would nod and repeat "Louie Ann". I gave up. I am now "Louie Ann" to my Kenyan friends. Rose was educated in Europe, though, and her English is exceptional with only a slight accent (with a British edge). She didn't understand how anyone could get my name wrong and expressed a bit of disbelief. Then her father returned home. It was quite funny. I shook hands with him, and introduced myself. He then said, "Oh! Louie Ann. How nice to meet you!" Rose and I burst out laughing. I don't think he followed the joke. :-)
After a few hours of relaxing at Rose's home, we boarded the matatus and busses back to the Daystar campus where I would be meeting the rest of the members of our DC Amani group.
That night we met up with Betty's sister and brother-in-law again and had Indian food at a restaurant across the street from the guesthouse. I've enjoyed eating so many fun foods, but all of this eating out is going to do me in! I can't begin to imagine how much weight I've gained!
One more quick "funny" before I close. I've been trying to explain to you about what they call "African time". They have really needed to work with me on my "need" to be exactly on time, if not early, for everything. Well, one of the last days of the trip, we met with Mary and Joyce (two of Amani's administrators that I've mentioned previously) to debreif about our visit. We laughed about our different ideas about "time". Mary said that she often uses a quote with American friends who visit Amani: "You have the watches, we have the time." How totally appropriate! Africans seem to have all the time in the world. Westerners always seem to be looking at their watches. It really is amazing. Well, after saying that, I noticed something hiding behind the sleeve of Mary's sweater. We definitely all had a good laugh about the fact that Mary was hiding a watch in there. :-)
Lots more to tell. I think that I will probably make two more posts. The next (hopefully within the next day or two, from home!) will describe our wonderful Safari in the Maasai Mara, including a hike that a few of us took down the side of a mountain with a Maasai warrior in all of the traditional apparel. (HE wore the Maasai apparel, we didn't!)
I will look forward to seeing you all very soon!!
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