Tuesday, July 31, 2007

I calmly lifted the deck in the air. Slowly. Very slowly.

Saturday

I woke up too early this morning. Dougie B has a meeting with Edward at 11:30am this morning, and then we're headed to Pipeline for a Committee meeting at 1pm. So, really, I didn't need to wake up until like noon...

I had planned on waking up around 9ish, that way I would still be able to catch breakfast in the morning.

Well, I feel asleep with my TV on and at 9am CNN woke me up. I remember it being nine, because the guy on the news said it... so I jumped up, grabbed a shower, put on my nice, clean, hand-washed clothes (they do it right in A-Freak-ah!) and headed out the door for some brreeeakfast.

I ate a lot of fruit, some potatoes, and an egg... over easy. I then sat there for a little while waiting for Dougie B. What seemed like an hour went by quickly. I thought to myself "Dang, Dougie B sure is sleeping in! It's gotta be past 10am!"

So I opened the computer for two reasons:
1.) To try to post more pictures on the blog so that I could try to get caught up.
-and-
2.) To see the time.

I actually didn't look at the clock right away... I connected to the net and opened Firefox and notepad to type up a blog post.

After a few moments, I thought about Dougie B again... looked at the clock... it read: 12:48am. Now this clock is still set to Ft. Myers time, so that I know what time it is there. 12:48 Ft. Myers time is 7:48am here. SEVEN!! I freakin' woke up at seven!

Now I'm still tired, and know that I could've slept in for 2 more hours!

It's okay though... I'm not going to go to sleep tonight... I'm just going to stay up all night. That way, hopefully, I'll be able to sleep the 8 hours from here to Amsterdam!

My plan is to pass-out from here to Amsterdam (8 hours), relax during our layover (2.5 hours) then rely on Wal-Som (you know we ghetto fab) for the flight from Amsterdam to Boston (9.5 hours). We then have a THREE hour layover in Boston, where we'll be headed out to grab lunch in the city (if possible), and I'll just tough it out from Boston to Charlotte and from Charlotte to the Fort.

I know it's rather selfish, but I've been praying that God will give us A330 air busses from here to America... also that the seats next to me would be empty too... say a prayer, will ya!

Steve was right on time... as always. They say here that there are two times: Africa time and Steve time. "Africa time" is a 'show up whenever you feel like it' kind of time. You can set your clocks to "Steve time" he's NEVER late!

Anyway... off to Pipeline we went... it's not a really long drive to Pipeline from the guesthouse, but it's certainly not a short drive either...

It's a strange day here in Pipeline today. It's very warm, the sun is very high... the people seem to be really happy today. It's as if they don't realize that they live in the slums.

These are truly beautiful people!

We had a meeting... from 2pm - 6pm ... I WAS DYING!!

So, I did what I always do... I went outside to play with the kids. Steve says to never do this.... I have a rebellious streak.

These two girls in particular were just AWESOME! Sharon and Sheila. What amazing girls, both VERY educated. They walked up to me, and put there arms around me and said "Hey Slim!"

"Jambo," I replied "how are you girls doing today?"

"Mzuri sana, Slim." "Do you know what that means?"

"Of course! I've been learning a LOT of Swahili while I've been here!"

"Oh, that's good! We have a question?"

"Anything! Go 'head!"

"Do you have a family?"

Man, my gut wrenched.. how do I answer that? "Yes, yes I do. I have an amazing family and you have nothing?" I've been asked many questions before. Some of them were even difficult questions. In most cases, it was easy to answer... never did I think that one of the most difficult questions would come from the mouth of a 5th grade orphan!

"Yes I do. I have a Mama and Baba, a Ndungu, and 2 Dada's! They're awesome people!" I said.

"That's so good Slim! Do you have any kids?"

"No, not yet. I'd like to have kids though!"

"Slim?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think that when you have your kids, you can bring them here to see us, one day?"

I had to fight back the tears. My gut turned, my eyes hurt, and my throat became more dry than that of a pothead.

"Of course.. I would love for you to meet them!" I finally answered.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No." I replied, heading towards the 'fiance punchline'

"Well, when I'm older, I'll be your girlfriend!"

"Hahaha... that's very nice, but I'm actually engaged to an amazing woman back home. Her name is Laura."

"She must be very beautiful!"

"Oh, you have NO clue!"

"When do you get married?"

"In just 6 weeks! Can you believe it!?!"

"Wow! That's very good, Slim. I wish you the best of luck!"

"Asante sana" I replied.

"Slim?"

"::chuckling:: yes?"

"Can we ask you a question?"

"::chuckling continues:: Of course!!"

"When you get married, do you think that you can bring your wife here to meet us? We want to play with her and do her hair...?"

The tears finally came out... "Of course... she would love it here, and love to meet you!"

"Do you think that she would want to be our best friend?"

"She already is!" I exclaimed.

I got called back into the meeting at this point. I didn't want to stop talking with the pair, but it wasn't long before we were able to talk again.

"How much Swahili have you learned, Slim?"

"Not much." I replied as I rattled of the list of words that I knew.

"We'll be right back!!" the two shouted.

During this time, a small group of kids came to find me. Some of them had seen me doing magic for Steve and wanted to see some. I was surprised at this. Edward told me that the kids would be too scared of magic and think I was Satan. As "Satan" was not quite how I wanted to be perceived by the kids, I pretty much kept it to myself and adults.

I said no... "It's too scary for you!"

"Please, please, please, please!" they rang out.

So I ran through a couple card tricks. They were speechless. I then made a 1Ksh coin appear out of thin air. Then I made it disappear, and reappear behind a small child's ear.

They watched in amazement as the 1Ksh coin changed to a 5Ksh coin... RIGHT BEFORE THEIR EYES!

As if that wasn't enough, the 5Ksh magically doubled to a 10Ksh coin at the wave of my hand!

They were stunned!! "More, more, more!!!" they shouted in unison, like a well rehearsed choir "More!!" they cried.

"Okay. I'll show you ONE MORE. But you've gotta promise that you wont get scared!"

"We promise." they chimed again.

I didn't explain to them what I was about to do. I just asked a girl to pick a card, by her "own free will" of course *wink**wink*

She chose the Queen of Spades. I then instructed her to put the card back on the top of the deck. I flipped the card back over and told them to watch closely.

I calmly lifted the deck in the air. Slowly. Very slowly.

Their eyes were GLUED to the deck.

"Watch closely!" I said as I let the suspense build up.

"Do you see it?" I asked.

"Do you see it!?!"

They didn't know what they were looking for... as I hard not really started the trick.

"Concentrate." I instructed them.

"Concentrate hard!"

Slowly but surly, the card LIFTED itself right off of the deck! It float nearly 3 inches RIGHT OFF THE DECK!

At this, the kids SHRIEKED and BOLTED away from me as I laughed.

Soon the girls came back. Sheila handed me a folded up piece of paper and said "This should help you with your Swahili!" I opened the paper. It was Sheila's version of the Swahili crash course.

Sharon lifted out her hand and said "This is for Laura. I made it for her." as she handed me a necklace. "Tell her I love her and can't wait to meet her!" she whispered in my ear.

What amazing kids these are.

I'm very happy to be going home, but very sad to leave. Kenya, very quickly became my home away from home.

We left there... headed back to the guesthouse to handle some business, and then dipped to the Java House for dinner.

It was good, as usual.

Taxied back to the guesthouse for some MUCH needed sleep.

I'm heading home on the 28 hour traveling journey. Goo.

S

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I had the stir-fry Lamb and Almonds again...

Friday

Another kind of uneventful day.

I woke up... I ate breakfast... Steve picked us up.

We went down David Diamonds hotel to pick up some stuff that he left here for us. Some pens, some candy for the kids and such.

We when headed to Pipeline to meet with Pastor George real quick. He's doing a funeral today of one of the boys in his church, second one in two weeks. Crazy! We needed to take pictures of his "orphanage" to send to Dave to get his advice on how to build it up bigger and stronger.

Surprisingly, our brief meeting was actually brief for once.

We left there and went o the Village Market. This is in a SUPER upscale part of town, where are the people from the Embassies live. Lot's of white people... rich white people...

The Village Market is basically a mall. I really wasn't interested in the place, but we went there to try to meet up with Bobby Pall. Bobby is a mucho world-renowned photographer. He's the guy who made the book that my mom has.

He's world class... fantastic... and an AWESOME guy. Him and I really clicked, I think more-so than anyone else on this trip. He's a very encouraging guy, a very smart guy, and just an all around talented guy. It was good meeting him... I should've got a picture of him though!

Anyway... we met over Coke Lights at the place across the street from his studio. We talked about the project and how it's going and such. I told him of my lack of shots showing real need. See, everywhere we shot was like orphanages and such, where the kids were being well-fed and happy, so most of the shots I been able to get have all been of bright, smiling kids!

He told me that he would flip through his archive and pull out some good shots and put them on disc for me.

We decided to meet back up for dinner. Siam Thai it was!

We met up with Bobby at Siam Thai, I had the stir-fry Lamb and Almonds again. Just amazing!

After a good dinner, Bobby took us back to the AACC guesthouse for some sleep.

I got to talk to Laura again, over the Internet (man, I miss her voice!) and post some things and such...

Off to bed I went to get ready for my last FULL day in A-Freak-ah.

See youse guyses tomorrow!

S

Friday, July 27, 2007

"Does THAT hurt!?!"

Thursday

It is 12:43am your time, 7:43am "my" time. I'm so tired. I haven't really slept the last two nights, on account of my leg hurting so badly. It's pretty discolored now, and swollen. It still just feels like a really bad bruise. I'll hope so anyway.

We had an earlier start today.. just by one hour. Steve arrived at 8am sharp with Patrick and his mother (Mama) Anna.



Now here's the deal with Anna, she is the mother of 4 children. She lives in a small 10'x10' house. If you count it, that's 5 people in the house... each one getting 20sq ft. Seems like a nightmare, huh? Well, I suppose that now would be a good time to tell you that Anna has also taken in 6, yes SIX orphaned relatives of hers. Cousins, nephews, nieces, etc... that's ELEVEN PEOPLE in a 100sq ft house. Let's redo the math, shall we? 100sq ft / 11 people = 9.. 9sq ft. to live in. Can you imagine that?

Anyway... we brought Anna and Patrick some food, as we were sure that they were starving. And headed up to Kijabe which is way up in the mountains a little. In fact, the road parallels with the Great Rift Valley. Now, I'll tell you what... you've never seen anything until you see the Great Rift Valley. It stretches over most of Africa. In fact, here in Nairobi on the way to Kijabe it reaches it's highest altitude ... over 8,000ft high!!

I just couldn't help but take in the scenery. Such a beautiful sight! Everything around was all farm land. So you would see people living in a way that I would've imagined that God intended. Just living off of the land, making all of their own clothes. Raising their own cattle to eat and get milk from... it was amazing. I can't begin to describe the beauty! I wish that I could've taken pictures... just very hard to get good ones from inside a moving Safari Truck... know what I mean?

We continued up the road making small talk with Patrick and his mother.

On the way there, we were stopped by THREE police road blocks in a row. It's very weird here... they'll just stop you for no reason, most of the time. They'll want to randomly search you and your passengers. Or randomly run your plates... or in Steve's case, randomly mess with you.

During the second police stop, one officer came to Steve's window and pulled out his gun, told him that he was under arrest and to get out of the car. The second officer then pulled out HIS gun and came to MY window! Now, I would not have been afraid had I not known that in this country Police, Admin. Police, and the Army can shoot you anytime they want, without any reason. "For real!?!" I thought.

Steve asked the officer "For what am I being arrested for? I've done nothing wrong!" the officer looked at him and said "Okay, you can go."

SAY WHAT!?!?!?!?!

"Did anyone else see what happened!" I though... so yeah... turns out here... the police get so bored that they'll pull you over and tell you that you're under arrest just to see your reaction. If you're calm, like Steve, they'll just let you go... if you freak out you're probably headed for a bullet...

Another fun fact, police don't move around in cars... well, some of them do, but most don't. Therefore, if a cop stops you and tells you to drive him somewhere, YOU MUST. It doesn't matter if you're late for an appointment and he's going the opposite direction. It doesn't matter if he wants you to drive him to Japan, YOU MUST. If you try to speed off, he will shoot you tires out. If you try to speed off and you're too slow, he'll just shoot you! Crazy!

So, anyway, after a couple of scares we were back on our way.

We reached the CURE International Hospital.



This facility was AMAZING. It was immaculate, and very well built. It's an American run hospital for children. It's also located on the property with the local hospital (the good hospital.) Sadly, this hospital is so far away from the city and the slums.

We got Patrick in to see Dr. Joseph Thuri, however he was in surgery and was evidently going to be a while. So, we showed Patrick's leg to another Dr. there... his jaw immediately hit the floor!

He literally ran to get Dr. Thuri, who came rushing back to look at it. He told us that these were deformative growths on his leg (2 of them) and that he also had about 4 more across his body. He got him all checked out, and set a date for Patrick's surgeries.





We decided to go ahead and pay for Patrick's surgeries... we planned on them being a few thousand dollars... we were surprised by the total. Two. Well, just over two. $230 to be precise.

For real? $230 could fix this boy? Amazing.

After that, we had the good Dr. check my leg... "Take your pants off." He says "Dr. Thuri, don't you think you should AT LEAST take me to dinner first!?!" I replied... yeah... evidently he didn't get the joke. He stood there confused... so I just dropped trou.

He looked at the swollen, discolored craziness and said "How in the world did that happen!?!" I explained the story to him... he laughed... a lot.

He then started pushing the spot over and over again, which was truly excruciating! He would push it hard and go "Does that hurt?" I felt like punching him in the neck and going "Does THAT hurt!?! Booyah!!" ... "Yes, it hurts badly Dr.!" I replied.

He had me on my back, bending my leg all sorts of ways saying "That hurt?" "Yes, yes... a thousand times yes!"

"Fracture!" he exclaimed. Now to really appreciate it, you need to re-read that word, but really roll the 'r' to get the dialect going... it was more like "Frrrrrrrracture!"

"What do you mean, frrrrrracture!?!" I said, "It's just a bruise!"

"Nope. It's a fracture."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"It's not very bad, yet. Just take it easy for the next month. No running or jumping."

Now it was my turn to laugh... right in his face!! No running OR jumping? Shucks!! I was really hoping that I would get to run and jump... oh well...

So yeah... now my left femur is fractured do to a faulty piece of wood on a wooden bridge. I would also like to sate, for the record, that the breaking of said wood had nothing to do with my shear size and stature. I'm not fat. I'm fluffy.

The board broke on its own accord due to it's inherent weakness.

So, yeah... gonna take it easy for the next month or so.

Anyway... we left there... headed for Kibera to drop Patrick and Anna off.

Luckily, we didn't get hit by any police check points on the way back.

We got into Kibera, and headed towards their "house". We let them out, but Anna wanted us to see her house. She's very proud of it. We walked a short ways up the street and found her place. A small room... ten feet by ten feet. She used newspaper as wallpaper.... it was plastered all around the walls, with a HUGE picture of Jesus hanging up in the center. Some clean pots hung on the wall. There were three beds, they were all maid up properly. The floor was spotless. She truly kept her house EXCEPTIONALLY clean!





We walked back outside and met some of her kids and orphans. I was able to snap a picture of the ones that were there. Most were out though.



It was very sad. As we drove away I couldn't help but think over and over again.. that these people have nothing, and in Anna's case she has lived outside of Kibera. She knows of a life outside of the slums. Yet she's happy and thankful for God's blessings. Man, I suck at life!

We headed from there to "Saints Alive Church" near Pipeline. This is Edward's church. He is the youth pastor there. But I think that "youth pastor" here means "Children's Pastor" back in the states.

This was actually a very nice church (considering the circumstances.) It was a big church, on a big piece of land. Big stage with a sound system. It was nice. This church was actually where Pastor Amos got married.

They had a separate building called the "Saints Alive Youth Church" where the youth were... (a bunch of preschoolers during nap time.. haha) also a very nice facility!



They had a RIDICULOUSLY long meeting with the people from Action Kenya Now, a micro-lending company. I was so bored, so I went outside to take pictures of the chickenses, and these kids:














I went back in to find Amos sleeping on the couch, in the middle of the meeting!! Haha... how punk rock!

He woke up and took me to the sanctuary to film the women's group meeting in there. I literally took maybe 25 seconds of footage and maybe 3 pictures... there was nothing going on in there....

So Amos and I just sat up on the stage talking about our wives, and wife-to-be's... Talking about how/where we met, how long we "courted" before getting engaged and such. He then asked if we wanted kids... I felt like punching him in the neck and saying "Does that hurt!?!" however this didn't quite seem relevant anymore.

I told him yes... we'd like to have 3. If we can, have two and adopt the third. He thought that was awesome. "How long are you going to wait?" he asked "Dude, we're just trying to make it to the wedding... ask me in a couple months!" I responded... so I asked out long they waited. Funny story... he went on to tell me that they got married on November 5th, and their daughter was born on August 5th... EXACTLY nine months later... haha...

He said "We wasted not one second!" haha... good times.

The lame, boring meeting was finally over. We headed out.

Steve dropped us off at the Nairobi Java House for some American food, and we taxied back to the guesthouse.

I was able to post a little bit and have a good conversation with my sweet babe.

Then I took me and my frrrrrractured leg to bed.

I'm not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow, but I would imagine that whatever we're doing tomorrow is what I'll be doing.

Okaybye....

S

p.s.- Most of Africa is MANY years behind us in many ways... evidently they still haven't heard about two-ply toilet paper yet... when I come back, I'll open their eyes...

::GASP!!::

Wednesday

Hmmmm... what can be said of today?

I didn't really sleep last night. My leg hurt so badly... some of the worst pain I've ever felt. It's also quite swollen. No matter how I laid in the bed, I just couldn't get comfortable. So needless-to-say, I'm pretty tired. My leg hurts, and evidently when I had my right leg twisted up beneath me, I hurt my ankle somehow but didn't feel it until 3am.

Steve and Dougie B seem to think that I may have fractured my leg.

Not that I know anything about medicine, or the human body, but I doubt that it's fractured. I think it's just really bruised.

Lucky for me, we are taking a boy from the slums to a Dr. tomorrow to look at his leg. Evidently he broke it a little while back, but couldn't get it looked at, so he just had to "cast" it himself. Well, the bone seems to have healed, but there is this massive, oozing inflammation that he's had for a couple months. He showed it to us and we knew we had to get it taken care of, or he'd lose his leg!

Dougie B evidently has a contact with CURE and helped them to build a hospital in Cambodia, and the guy running CURE was all "If you ever need ANYTHING let me know!"

So Dougie B sent him an e-mail to get advice. The guy responded saying that there is a CURE hospital not too far from Nairobi, and to bring the boy in Thursday morning. How's that for God working quickly in this boy's (and ours) life!

While we're there with him, I'm going to have the Dr. just check my leg out and make sure that it's nothing serious.

Anyway...

We had a meeting at 10am with a company called Gitithia. Gitithia does micro-lending. This meeting was very long, and on account of it being in a office with no electricity, I couldn't film at all due to lack of light.

After that, we had a meeting at 1pm with C.H.E.S.S. (Christian Entrepreneurs Sacco, I don't really know what it means, nor do I know how they got "chess" out of it...) C.H.E.S.S. is a micro -lending company also. Again, very long and very boring. The light was better here... but at this point there was only 3 people in the meeting and the room looked like crap.. so I didn't film it.

Hmmm... back to the guesthouse to drop Martin off. Martin is from Partners Worldwide, yet another micro-lending firm.

Off to Trattoria for lunch with Dougie B. They were very busy and slow... this made Dougie B mad >: [ So today, for the first time, the waiter was not tipped ::gasp!::

Kinda funny really...

Back to the guesthouse to catch up on some writing, hoping that the Internet was up to send a couple e-mails and post on the blog... no luck... but it's only 6:30pm here (11:30am there) so maybe there's still hope for the net!

I love you guys... and so does Africa...

How about everyone I know move to Africa with me? That way I could stay here and still have all my friends and family?

S

p.s. today sucked, okaybye.

Should I take this as a sign?

Tuesday

We had a few things planned for today, however one of the appointments was postponed for a day. We were going to take the day off to see the city on Wednesday, but because of the postponing, we just decided to push everything back a day and do our site-seeing today.

I wasn't sure what that was going to look like, or what we were going to do. We decided to start off with a drive through town, headed to the world famous "Giraffe Centre". The Giraffe Centre was established in by some British guy who wanted to save the endangered Giraffe population in Kenya.

It was a neat place. They had a really knowledgeable staff, a clean place, and Giraffeses. Samuel lead us on this tour.



Samuel with a Giraffe's jaw...



Samuel with a Giraffe's leg. Allegedly a kick from a Giraffe can instantly kill a lion.



I kept putting the food pellets in front of my camera lens to try to get them to out it off of the lens... no luck.

On our way out, I ran into a group of tortoises... I gave them all names... but I already forgot 'em.

Also, we learned that occasionally warthogs come from the area to eat the food there, but are definitely unwanted guests at the centre. Evidently their not easy to find there at the centre. Only the lucky few get to see them... booyah:



We left there to the "Birds Paradise Shop" near Karin, where the movie "Out of Africa" was filmed to check out a Maasi owned souvenir shop. Things here are more expensive than I thought they would be, but still relatively cheap.

As we pulled up, two Maasi Warriors jumped in front of our truck. "Freakin' A!" I thought "I'm gonna get killed by two small Maasi! How lame! I'm supposed to go out BIG!" I continued..

Evidently I was right... I am to go out big, since the Maasi just wanted to do their mating dance for us. I'm not sure why, as we're all dudes... what a fruity tribe!

Anywhose... the Maasi traditionally stand in a line and jump as high as they can, which is actually VERY high. Traditionally, this is how the women pick the men to marry. Whoever jumps the highest gets the wife. Good thing we don't have to do that here... I would've NEVER got Laura then!

I dipped inside to check things out. They had a TON of awesome stuff... I found so much stuff that I wanted to get for everyone... but sadly couldn't really afford anything. I picked up a special prize for my sweet babe and headed back outside.

Steve and Dougie B were out talking with the warriors and such outside. I wanted to take more pictures possibly some video... Cost me 500 Kshs, but I finally got the pictures and video of the Maasi that I wanted to get!





From there, we headed to the Safari Walk... it's like going on a safari, except it's all enclosed in a park and you walk around it. So really it's like "Jurassic Park" but without the cars, dinosaurs, and Samuel L. Jackson. This place was GREAT! The weather was just perfect for our adventure! This will be a place that I take Laura for sure!

So, we were met by Salome, a student in Kenya who spends her summer break volunteering at the Safari Walk. This girl was awesome! Very sweet girl who was very knowledgeable and put up with my non-sense the whole time.



We started by checking out the Pygmy Hippos, some monkeys, zebra, ostrich and white rhino. It's weird, most of these I could reach out an touch. Very close up... very fun!

They have a leopard there, but it was way up in a tree, and I couldn't get close enough with either camera. Shucks.

We moved on to the lions... two females and a male. One was named Nala... I told them they were crooks and owed Disney some money... they didn't get it. We next saw some of the natural habitats... and in one spot, there were baboons! They evidently come from Nairobi National Park to the watering whole in the Walk... I couldn't get stills of the mother baboon with her baby, but I was able to get it on film. I'll have to show you sometime.

I saw this incredible spot of landscape that I thought would be AWESOME on the video so I went straight away to get it!

Now something rather expected happened next.

See, Salome was awesome! Not just as a tour guide, but as someone that was able to point out all of the weak, cracked boards along the way... well... she missed one... I found it.

As I stepped to take the film, I heard a loud crack and the next thing I knew, I was in INCREDIBLE pain! My left leg felt as if it was on fire! My leg was through the wood all the way up to my groinal region, and my right leg was twisted up under my body. Surprisingly, I was more worried about my flip-flop falling off than I was about whether or not I was injured!

I pulled myself up out of the whole, and struggled to stand up. Man, was I in pain!

This wouldn't have been quite so bad, if it weren't for the fact that the big long walk in Kibera hadn't made my right leg so sore! Now I could barely walk!

I made my way to a bench and sat for a minute... to relax for a moment. I looked down and there was a small amount of blood dripping down my leg... merely a flesh wound. Salome was so upset and just couldn't stop apologizing. "Hakuna Matata!" I exclaimed... No worries!

It took me a few minutes to get back onto my feet, but I eventually did. I had to take a picture of the whole that got me good in Africa.



We (painfully) finished the tour with some other animals that I didn't care so much about... and headed out.

We drove to downtown Nairobi for the first time. INSANE!! So many people and police and administrative police... lots of guns... cars... crazy!!

We spent some time there, just driving around seeing the sites down town. There were some really HUGE buildings there... this is where the rich people work.

It was getting late and we were all starved, so off we went to "Saim-Thai" for some Thai food. I had never eaten Thai food before. Dougie B said it was just like Chinese... I'm not sure what Chinese food he's been eating.. but it's not the same as me for sure!

I ordered a Lamb stir-fry, extra-hot.. OUT -OF-THIS-WORLD!! It was so good. I've got to find a Thai place when I get home! There was an escalator going up to the restaurant, however only stairs going back down... I couldn't seem to get either leg to work as I headed down them...

Back home we went to check the mail and go to sleep. So yeah... going to bed.

I can't wait to snuggle youse guyses sometimes one time!!

Amani,
S

Thursday, July 26, 2007

...completely unrecognizable as French toast...

Monday

Today started off as usual: wake up at 7am, breakfast at 8, picked-up at 9am.

They had French toast in the restaurant this morning. As far as French toast goes, it was the worst that I've ever had... completely unrecognizable as French toast. They would've done better if they'd told me that it was some traditional African dish... because it tasted AMAZING... just nothing like French toast. Very similar to the Fettucine Alfredo at Trattoria.

Dougie B, as usual, had toast. He's so scared of African food that he wont even eat at the guesthouse. Just toast and jelly. Luckily for him, I don't have the heart to tell him where the jelly comes from....

ANYWAY... Steve was right on time, as always, ready for another exciting day in the Kibera slum.

Today was probably the best day there. The sun was shining, so it wasn't as cold. Plus it was bright outside... gives the village an entirely different look and feel!

As we drove through the street, headed toward the NCOC, I didn't feel well... not like a 'not feel well' sick, but something different. I kept feeling that something big was about to happen. Naturally I assumed that since we chose not to bring escorts today, that today was gonna be the day I proverbially bit the proverbial dust by the hand of an American-hating Kiberan.

Obviously, I didn't die... Good times.

Something pretty huge did happen though... I'll explain more later.

We met Amos at the NCOC to watch the kids at the NCOC Academy for a moment before heading to see Pastor Jane at "Wings of Life Gospel Center" to film their school.



Again these pictures simply do no justice to what it's like in this school. It's partitioned into 3 sections. The first section, just slightly bigger than 10'x10' housed 30 kids... the next section was just slightly bigger than the first, housing 60 kids!!! The last section defied the laws of physics... NINETY orphans in a room no bigger than 10'x15'!





As we walked into the room, I heard a couple kids shout "ESlim! ESlim!" soon after the rest of the school did, although I'm sure that the teachers were not too happy about it!





I got a ton of film in there, but it was very hard on account of there being no lights.. just a couple "windows." Pastor Jane then took me to their 'kitchen', "Huh." I accidentally let out...

One room littered with tables and "spare parts" was the kitchen. No electricity, just two small fire pits to cook food in. It just didn't make sense!



From there we headed back to the NCOC to have a pastors meeting with all of the pastors in Kibera. They work very closely together to reach every man, woman and child in Kibera. Perhaps we can learn a lesson from them...

Just after that, the feeding program began. The feeding program was set-up about a year ago by Help the Least of These through the NCOC. They of course feed the children in the Academy, but they also feed other kids in the community. Like this boy, Moses:





It is a very good thing that they are doing. Most, if not all of these kids will only get one meal, the meal that they receive at school. And of course, they go hungry Saturday and Sunday! The looks on the faces of these kids was astonishing. Belly's full, healthy, happy... it was beautiful. It was in this time that God started to do the huge thing that I spoke of earlier.

I just looked at Moses (above) wearing a ratty, tattered, torn, dingy, smelly, filthy, nasty (should I keep going?) 101 Dalmations Sweater, with dirt and crap (literally) all over his face and hands. I watched as he filled his spoon so full of food that he couldn't fit it in his mouth. He went to eat it and of course most of it spilled down his clothes onto the floor. He then licked the food off of his clothes, and picked the rice and beans up off the floor and preceded to eat that as well.



How could this child be THAT hungry!

He had a cup of water sitting next to him. He would take a sip and smile at me. I boy of very few words, he only spoke really when I spoke to him. "Jinlako ni nani?" (What is your name?) I said to him... "Jinlango Moses." he replied. "Do you know what's on your sweater?" I asked... "Mbwa!" he replied. "Ndio, (yes)" I responded back "but do you know who they are? They're from 101 Dalmations!"

He looked so confused. He obviously had never seen it.

I looked at his legs.. they were so bruised and scarred. Then down to his feet. He wore a pair of torn-up Chuck Taylor's, with a pieces of yarn for laces. They were about 2 sizes too small and had the soles falling right off of them.





I watched as he just sat there. Swinging his legs back and forth. Filling his mouth to overflowing with food. Swinging his legs back and forth. Filling his mouth again. Swinging his legs back and forth. Drinking from his cup and smiling at me.

I watched as I saw the face of God in a 9 year old boy with torn clothes and tiny Chuck Taylor's. Suddenly I was unable to see. It was as if the whole world vanished behind my tears. I cried. I wept.

What did this boy have to be happy about? Both of his parents are dead. He has no home, no food, and is HIV Positive. He's never seen the world outside of Kibera, and truly has NO future. How could he possibly be happy?

What did he have!!

God.

He has faith in God.

I cried even harder. What do I have to NOT be happy about? My family is alive. I have a home, food, and am quite healthy. I've seen the world outside of the slums and have a job with a promising future.

What didn't I have!!

God.

I had no faith in God.

Despite never being hungry, despite being able to pay bills, despite being in love with an AMAZING woman, despite having a family, despite having a punk-rock dog, despite having EVERYTHING in the world, I was still unhappy.

I started to pray to God, for the first time in a while. I mean I started to really pray.

It seemed in that instant that my life had suddenly turned around. Like it did a couple years ago. "Did it really have to resort to this?" I couldn't help but think.

Evidently so. All of the educated people I know, all the wise people I know, all the Pastors that I know could have never taught me what this little boy did. Are they all missing something too?

I've been trying to keep myself from saying that I want to live here. Because sadly, I do. To be quite honest, if Laura was here with me, I'd never go back.

It's easy to talk about how bad the living conditions are here, but what I have neglected to mention was just how present God is here. He is everywhere... moving.. stirring... ready to take over this nation. I want to be in that.

What will I have to do to have that back in America? As I thought this, the words on this blog finally rang true "One man's journey... to change the world." How does one change the world?

I don't know.

But I think it goes something like this: I need to put God above EVERYTHING that I do. Above Laura, my family, my friends and my job. But as I make sure that He is above all those, I need to make sure that God is IN those. I need to make sure that when people see me... no matter how torn or tattered I may be... they see the face of God.

What does that look like for me? I'm not sure. I will strive to work hard on this. But I can't do it alone. I think that I've proved over and over again that I can't do it. I'm not asking for people to do it for me... I'm asking for accountability. I've asked for the this many times from many REALLY close friends over the last 6 months. I've not received it. This will need to change.

I need to truly chase after and fight for the hearts of every man, woman and child in my area. Because as I do this, hopefully God will transform those lives as well. This guy reaches that guy, this woman reaches that woman, this boy reaches that boy, this girl reaches that girl and suddenly the world is changed. The whole world takes care of the widow and the orphan. The whole world becomes equal. The whole world rejoices and praises God, the only one worthy of praise. My journey complete?

I pray that I will one day see my journey complete... highly unlikely though in my lifetime.

Will it happen?

I think of a world not too long ago, where only 12 young men had a relationship with a guy named Jesus. I think of how they were just like me: young, stupid and weak. Yet they decided to answer a call, live a life reflective of Jesus, and reach everyone they could. People thought they were crazy, they thought they were wasting their time. But as they reached people, those people reached out... This guy reaches that guy, this woman reaches that woman, this boy reaches that boy, this girl reaches that girl and suddenly the world is changed.

I, myself, am I byproduct of their will and determination. Who's next?

Anyway... I've strayed from the story...

After sitting with the Moses, the children were ready to put on a 'show' for us. They got on the stage and said their ABC's, counted for us, sang songs (in English), and just had a good time preforming for us.

Cute... very cute...

I interviewed a couple kids from the soccer league, and then let this rap group spit "freestyle" on camera. Evidently they think that if you're video taped, you can make it in America. Funny. I've been video taped THOUSANDS of times... what does that make me?



I then sat with Nicholas, the church guitar player, to teach him about 'keys'. He only knew of one, 'C', and hey played it in EVERY song, regardless of what key the keyboard player was playing. By the end of the hour he understood it and was able to play right away with the key player. Fantastic!

We were leaving Kibera now... probably for the rest of the trip. They all knew we were leaving for a long time.

Three days in Kibera, the most beautiful place on earth.

I wish I had spent more time there. I wish that I had made and impact on the village. I started to tear up. I wanted to do more! I wanted to touch the lives of the people there.

"ESlim! ESlim! Mwebamba! Mwebamba!" I heard from behind me. I turned around and here runs a handful of orphans... STRAIGHT FOR ME! They hit me with such a force that I instantly fell to the ground. They jumped on me hugging every part of my body from every possible angle! "I love you! I love you! I love you!" they rang out in unison, in the style of their famous "How are you! chants.

Had I underestimated myself? More importantly, had I underestimated God?

I fought the fiffers off of me and headed down the way and ran into Dickens who grabbed my hand pull me in and said "I want do a collab wit you!" haha...

I walked passed a shop, and a woman yells: "Mwebamba!!!" I turn around to see this cute young girl running a vegetable stand. "You shake my hand?" she says. "I'll do better," I reply "come here!" I rapped my arms around the girl and squeezed here tightly. She immediately jumped around.. excited... she got to HUG the Mwebamba!

God is good.

S

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

That's how I rolls! GANGSTAH!!

Sunday.

I slept like a champ last night. Which was good, since I didn't sleep the night before. I had my wake-up call set for 7am so that I would have time to eat some breakfast before heading out on our longest day yet.

It was pretty good, actually. The food here has simply been amazing! I can't wait to bring Laura to the most beautiful country that I've ever seen!

Anyway, Steve picked us up to get an armed escort and head back to Kibera. Luckily, our transport didn't skip out... as a matter of fact, we got TWO! George and Martin.









We arrived at Kibera for a worship service at the NCOC. I was very surprised up on our arrival. You see, they didn't explain to me that there aren't that many people in Kibera during the week, since a lot are at jobs in the city. I thought that yesterday was packed... boy was I wrong! There were AT LEAST 3 times the amount of people there! NUTS!

Not only were there a lot of people there... there were a lot of DRUNK people there!

Here, they brew kind of a homemade alcohol, called "Kumi Kumi." I'm not sure who introduced it to them, or how much it costs to make, but I do know that it's as strong as moonshine... maybe stronger!

We were driving up the main road in Kibera when I rather large man refused to move out of the road, since the truck was carrying white people. He then started stomping on and kicking the truck. He was not aware that there were two VERY LARGE, VERY ARMED soldiers in the truck with us....

He quickly found out..

Here's where I felt scared for the first time here.

Within an instant, George and Martin were out of the truck. Martin walked up to the drunk man and punched him in the head. Shortly there after, George grabbed the man and threw him in to the drainage system (for bodily waste) that runs through the street. They begin to kick his legs. I felt really bad for the drunk man.

George then held the mans leg as Martin broke it. My gut DROPPED! Steve then started to drive, saying "You don't need to see of this!" As we drove away, shots were fired.

I'm not sure if they shot in the air, at the man, or actually shot HIM... it was crazy.

Just after that, as we were driving further down the road there was a man on the side of the road with a few people standing around him. I thought that he was just a beggar. Come to find out, he was murdered last night and left in the street.

Just after THAT, we watched as four men carried a woman down the road. I'm not sure if she was dead or if she was sick or what. I would imagine that she was just sick, since they were running down the road with her.

Either way, probably more orphaned children now...

After seeing those three things, right in a row, I really wasn't too interested in getting out of the truck without our guards. But I said a little prayer, and headed out. Luckily, God brought me safely to the church, or 'chach' as they call it here... it's not Swahili, it's just bad English.

They told me that they have one service on Sunday's.. "Sweet." I thought to myself. However, they neglected to tell me that the service starts at 9am and ends around 2pm, usually. "Huh..." I then thought.

The service was UNREAL! I'm not really going to try to describe it in great detail, as no matter what I could say would do it any sort of justice. They just sang, and sang, and sang.... and whistled, and whistled, and whistled... and shrieked, and shrieked, and shrieked, for what seemed like forever. Just total abandonment! It was amazing.

I'm not exactly sure when, but towards the middle of the service Steve and Dougie B left to pick up David Diamond and his friend Sheila, from California. They returned with the pair during an amazing prayer time.





After the service was over, we went outside to speak with the people there. Mostly widows and orphans. I had a lot of really encouraging talks with some of the people there. In light of having nothing, they're all so full of joy for the things that they have. In just a couple days I've learned so much about humility and being thankful for the things that I have.

"God, I'm sorry for the things that I take for granted. Things that you've graciously given to me. Give me a spirit of humility. A spirit of thankfulness. A spirit of mercy and of grace."

We left the NCOC and headed on foot to the football (soccer) field. I thought to myself "Hakuna Matata," (that's right... it's not just a clever Disney song... it's a HUGE part of the African culture) "it shouldn't be that long of a walk.."

Yeah... right...

Try close to a mile... on a nonexistent road. A very small path that went through the "back-streets" of Kibera and was very rocky and uneven. I can't really explain what it was like to walk on that road... very difficult. Half of it was down-hill, which wasn't so bad, however the rest was all up-hill, rather steep at some points.

Here are some of the scenes along the way... evidently I was obsessed with something:










We finally made it to the top of the city. It's hard to tell from the picture just how big Kibera is, but this is what the city looks like from the outside.



I met a really cool local named Dickens. He's a musician. Trying to make it as a rapper, which as you may image is next to impossible to do in Kibera. We talked for a long while. He's quite educated, very well spoken, and incredibly talented. I'm not sure why he's stuck there in the slums.



Dickens makes some really cool jewelry that I hope to get my hands on before I leave. I know that Kelsey and Haley would LOVE them... and to be honest, I wouldn't mind some either! I've just gotta get him to make some "mkubwa" size... haha.

Anyway... we're at the top of the hill (in Maasai it's called a "Ngong", however the "N" is silent...) and played soccer with the kids. Boy can they run! Their speed, power, and endurance is unearthly!



The NCOC started up a small league there for the youth of Kibera. There are two captains and two teams. It's not really big yet, as you can see from this group photo,but they are growing very well!



They play really hard... and so far, it's really been the only place that I've seen them really happy.



I just wish that somebody else would've had a camera with them... y'all probably would've laughed if you saw a picture of Mwebamba playing soccer with these kids.

They were so honored and appreciative that we took the time to watch and cheer them on!

Anyway... back to the Security Office - Kibera Division to drop George and Martin off. They told me that I was "all right" and that I was welcome in their country whenever I want. Which was a pretty big honor, as Martin (the leg-breaker) didn't care much for white people... especially Americans!

They also let me get a picture.. finaly Martin relaxed and smiled, but then George put his serious face one!




From there we dropped Dave and Sheila off at their hotel (they're staying at this wicked nice place in the city) and we were off to the Guesthouse at around 5:30pm for a shower and some writing. (I would've rather posted... but, as usual, the net is down... again...)

A nap would've been nice as well, however Steve was right back at 6:30 to drive the 4 of us to Trattoria again. Food was amazing... again. I'm not sure if Dave really knows how much things are there. When we told him that tip was optional, and we've been giving tips every time, he tipped our waiter like 30usd .. which is almost 4500ksh ... a HUGE some of money!

Oh well... our waiter was super happy, and VERY appreciative.

I love the culture here... I love the people here... I love the land here... Even the ground, the trees and the sky seem to welcome you here. I asked Steve if people treated us so well because we're Americans, and he told me "no." "It is like this all of the time." I believe him. This is an amazing place, and this has been an amazing adventure! I miss, very much, my wife (to be), my dog, my family, and my friends, so I'm MORE THAN anxious to come home... however, I'm going to be a little sad to leave.

I pray that I will get the chance to come back here soon, and to take Laura as well. There are already great tales of "Jua" floating around the city.

It's just past midnight (local) and I'm kind of wrecked. Although we were only out from 9am-5:30pm, we got a lot done in that time. I'm still jet-lagged, and it's still hard to sleep... so I will try my hardest to crash right now.

We're back out at 9am tomorrow to spend our last day in Kibera. We're going to film the school in Kibera in the morning and then the feeding program in the afternoon. Another short, but packed day!

I love you ... (especially YOU!)

S

Sneak Peack into Monday's post:
**Stay tuned to find out how this little boy changed my life forever!