Friday, June 29, 2012

Health and Wellness: Stay Healthy. Stay strong.

This morning when we got to Moding we went up on stage in front of the entire to student body to give a health presentation. We delivered a powerpoint presentation that covered topics including malaria, the importance of clean water, prevention of STDs, and the origin of AIDS. We also discussed abortion and homosexuality. As our powerpoint flew by much quicker than we had planned, there was plenty of time for the students to ask questions. Can you get malaria from the rain? Can you get AIDS by kissing? There were some tough questions and others that seemed to be asked for laughs. Are there any situations in which Christians do not think it is bad to get an abortion? How do Christians in America feel about gay marriage? What are the disadvantages of abstinence? We gave much deliberation and mostly honest answers to each question. One thing that stood out during the discussion was that while the Moding boys were willing to ask questions and even joke, the girls did not feel so comfortable and stayed quiet. Though these were difficult topics for us to talk about in front of hundreds of other teenagers we took them seriously and I hope helped the Moding students to do the same.

We took a tea break and then headed to the laboratory to be taught by some of the Moding students. The first class was on the tools and equipment used in agriculture. Apparently the three students teaching the class had underprepared because they explained the purpose of a hammer to us in great detail and then demonstrated the use of a handsaw to us by cutting a twig. The next class was a physics lab on light refraction. For this we split up into groups with the Moding students to get the data. In this class we saw the Moding students work hard to get the right answers and to understand the lab.

Before the third class we took a break for a lunch of rice and beans. The break also included a hunt among the EHS group for the white chicken that Leo's homestay host had given to him. This proved difficult because there were actually many white chickens strutting their way around the campus. Finally successful, we went back to the laboratory for a chemistry class. Two Moding students taught us how to test food for glucose and carbs. This was interesting because, unlike at EHS where every student would try the experiment, only the two students teaching used the bunsen burner and the other students just watched. After chemistry we went to the faculty room to collect the chicken and to have coffee and eggs before returning to Amagoro.

 

- Mary Robert

Being a blessing: Arise and Shine

Greetings from Kenya!

I didn't realize what I was getting myself into with my home stay until I arrived at Sylvia's house.

 

I was kindly greeted by Sylvia' grandfather who was sitting outside waiting for me to arrive as well as her brothers and sisters. Sylvia brought me inside to her main house and seated me at a table in the center of the room surrounded by three chairs. Quickly, I found myself alone in this room as people went off to do their various chores to clean or cook for dinner. Time passed and I continued to find myself alone until Sylvia came in and offered to take me around the area. We toured the house and then the surrounding area. She took me all the way to the local market and back. I was able to greet and talk to many people. These people were all more than willing to listen to me answer their many questions about our life in America.

I struggled to answer the many questions that were asked about the economy, job opportunities, and land in the US. I realized that many of these Kenyan people had these perceptions about how their are so many better opportunities with jobs and land in the US, and I struggled to answer the questions to support these ideas completely. When we arrived back at the main house, I was once again seated alone. But, this time there was a book on the table that I decided to pick up and look at. I looked carefully at it to realize that it was an American Dictionary. Sylvia walked in and recognized what book I was looking at. She quickly told me how her grandfather had been reading it trying to learn more English before my arrival. Finally, I realized how this stay was truly a blessing for this family. It made me aware of just how much my presence meant to them. This made it easier for me to be more comfortable as the night went on even with some of the awkward pauses and struggling conversations. I was served dinner by candlelight along with Sylvia and her uncle, and then we headed off to bed in the girls' hut. I stepped inside to a whole new experience. I slept on the only bed in the room with Sylvia, while her realtives slept on the floor next to us.

The next morning I woke up surrounded by mud walls in the bed I was sleeping in with Sylvia. I remembered quickly that I was living the authentic Kenyan life for the night at Sylvia's hut. I got out of bed and changed quickly to not disturb the other girls sleeping in the hut. Sylvia led me to breakfast in the main house. We sat down together to eat and drink our tea before we headed off on the long treck back to Moding High School. I expressed my grattitude to her grandmother and then we went on our way. After some time had passed on our walk, I realized how long this walk was going to be. We passed by many piki pikis that offered us a ride but seeing as Sylvia is from the tribe that is known for its' Kenyan runners she passed up the offers. Finally after a very long time we reached Moding High School to join the rest of the students.

 

After waiting a little while for everyone to return to school, we all boarded the Moding High School bus to head to Kolanya School to the see the play, An Enemy of The People. We enjoyed the music filled busride with some of the Moding students. Once we arrived dispersed in different ways with various students as we waited for the play to start. The play began late, because we had to wait for several students to arrive. Before the pay began we were dispersed among Moding Students in the front row. Unfotunately, we had to leave the play earlier than expected due to conflicts. Then we all got in the van and headed back to the mission house for the day. Lunch was served when we arrived. Afterwards we all did various things with our free time until dinner was served.


I began the day living the authentic Kenyan lifestyle, which made me realize how grateful I am for the resources I have available at home.

Somer

 

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Moding Primary: Hard Work Pays

06/27/12 Wednesday

Wednesday was such a day to look forward to. Not only did we stay in a Moding student's house, we also got to teach classes and play in a soccer match!

 

Some of us woke up a bit late in the morning, and everyone was tired and also nervous for the day. We didn't know what to expect for the overnight stay. Zach, however, explained a little to us about what to expect from them and told us not to worry. In Kenya, having visitors in their house was considered a blessing. Simply being in the house is a blessing to them.

So off we went to from the mission house on to the bumpy road then all the way to Moding. It seems like the daily had became usual even though it's only been 3 days. Today was special, as we went to Moding Primary School before we went to the high school. When we arrived, all the students were so excited. Yelling and screaming from the kids greeted us. Everyone was curious at what these "m'uzungus" look like. We all went to say hi to them, while they greeted us happily. Also, don't forget to sign in in the visitor's book! That's important in Kenyan culture, to embrace the visitors and let them leave a mark behind. And the gift-giving? They lost it! All the markers, crayons, and toys made them crazy! Everyone extended their necks, eager to see what awesome gifts we brought for them.




Not long after, we left and went to Moding High School once again. Then the fun came. We listened to some Moding students teach us about African geography, evolution of Man, agriculture, and parasites. Though the lessons were long, it was very interesting to learn about them. One of the students even took us to see parasites on the cows out on the field. After lunch, it was our turn to teach! We split up into three groups: history-evolution of Man, biology-transpersion, and English-biography. Somer, Edward, and I went to class 1N to teach history. We gave it all, throwing out all that we know. It went super well! Surprisingly, Annet came in the end of class and told us that we're going to teach 1M too. It was awesome. Even until now, the information about homo sapiens still ring in my ears.


Shortly after classes, it was the long-awaited football/soccer match! Unexpectedly, our opponent was the girls' football team in Moding High School. This was probably due to the fact that our team lost 6-0 to the boys' football team last year. Anyway, we did our bests on the field. Many people cheered for us as well as the girls' football team. Not long into the game, Ryoan scored our first goal and also another goal after that. Then, the opponent toughened up on defense and offense, scoring two goals before the end of the 30-minute game. The final score was 2-2, best that EHS ever had!

Gathered besides the van, we found our hosts for the overnight stay. We walked with our hosts to where their lived. Each of us had very different experiences. I, for example, stayed in a mud-brick hut for the evening and had dinner there. My host, his brother, and I talked about education and differences between Kenya and America. We had a really fun time. Like most of the huts around Moding, their hut did not have electricity. After sun sets, they have to burn kerosene lamps to provide light. The kerosene lamps was not very good for one's body and was not very bright. That makes me realizes how lucky we are to have electricity all year long.

In a comfy bed, I slept till 7 next morning. They provided me some water for bathing/washing and breakfast later on. What really surprised me was in the next morning, my host brought me a chicken for me as a gift! I thought Zach was only kidding when he said that they might give us a chicken to bring home. This busy day gave me a lot of new experience and life lessons. I will never forget this day, especially when I have this blog written!

Kwaheri,

Leo :)

 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Culture Exchange Day: Endeavor to Persevere!

Today we headed off to our second full day at Moding for a day of culture exchange with the students. Last night we prepared a plethora of songs, skits, and stories to present to the entire student and faculty body that illustrated the basic values and culture of the US. After the bumpy ride to school that we are all getting used to, we arrived at Moding ready to go.

We sat in the school's dining hall, which has a stage that we all used. We took turns with the Moding students performing for everyone. Some of these included the 3 Little Pigs (featuring a wonderfully animated Gideon as the big bad wolf, and the 3 boys as the pigs), Goldilocks - another great showing with David as Papa Bear), "This Little Light of Mine," "This Land is Your Land," Caroline's inspirational story about a mouse surviving after falling in a bucket of milk and not giving up, and the ever popular "Gaudeamus." Interspersed through these were the performances by the Moding students, which involved a skit about preventing HIV/AIDS, staying in school rather than drinking alcohol and smoking, a traditional song/dance that is performed during circumcision ceremonies, and an inspirational poem about smiles, along with many other songs (all religious songs that showed us how much faith they have in God and proud of their religion and love for God--they were all so beautiful) and skits. It was amazing to see and learn about the Kenyan culture and what is most important to the people here, because though some values are similar to ours in America, many had a very different focus.

After the assembly, we took a lunch break in which we all joined our Moding buddies and had lunch with them and ate their school meal. The meal was a delicious "mix-cha," as they pronounce it, of maize (corn) and beans. During lunch, we were all able to meet and interact with more students as we bonded over our meal. My buddy Maureen and the girls I was eating lunch with kept asking Caroline and I if we liked it, and if it was okay. It was interesting to see how concerned they were about making sure we were happy--I felt like I was really cared about.

Once lunch was done, we all took a group tour of the grounds with the students that we are paired with for homestay tomorrow night to get acquainted. We got to see the fish pond that they were in the middle of building that they plan on putting Tilapia in and eating them, the huge garden of carrots that is being grown by Form 4 (12th grade) agriculture students as their final exam, and the girls dorms. I loved walking through their dorms to see they were like and compare them to the dorms at EHS, and get the chance to tell the girls about what our rooms at home are like. They have 3 (currently only 2 are occupied) different buildings that house the approximately 100 boarding girls, with no specific rooms, but just divided sections of the buildings with many bunk beds in them. After touring, we had a short while to spend time with the students before leaving. The main highlight has got to be the races we had with a big group of Kenyan boys, with Ryoan winning both of his races outright, and Edward winning by default (his opponent slipped in the grass).

We came back to the mission house only to be greeted by the usual gang of neighborhood kids who were waiting for us to return so we could play with them. For a little while, we got to jump rope and play soccer until the rains came and forced us inside into the powerless house-a regular here in Amagoro. We now are creating our lesson plans for teaching Biology, English, and History tomorrow to the Moding students. Look for the next blog about our homestays and visiting Moding Primary School and all the younger kids.

 

Kwa Heri! (goodbye!)

--Stuart

 

Monday, June 25, 2012

Our First Day in Moding: Arm the Brain to Conquer

Today was a day that was rich of sights, discoveries, new friends, and new challenges. We kick started our day wonderfully: with a flat tire. It turns out that car tires aren't invincible to the wonderful rocky roads of Amagoro, Kenya. That is when we got our first lesson of Kenyan kerosene from Zach. It turns out that if you use the wrong gas station, your car might blow up.

 

Once we reached the gas station (with a flat tire), the bus got all gussied up and ready to go again. We learned to be very patient during this tedious process.

 

After a long a bumpy ride, we finally reached Moding High School. To our surprise, the students of Moding High School had ben waiting for us around the flagpoles. They welcomed us with open arms and wonderful singing (video attached), which really surprised me personally. I have to admit that nobody in America would be that welcoming.

 

We introduced ourselves and then got paired up with partners. My partner was a form one (9th grade) girl named Ruby. I learned about her family and her hobbies, which included leg ball (soccer) and table tennis; two things in which I love too. It is crazy that even halfway around the world, people can still be so similar. She took me to get tea (which was a hot version of sweet tea!) and we went to her class, in which I was asked multiple questions about the US and about math equations. They circled me and absorbed every little thing I told them.

 

Afterward, we went on a surprisingly long and slow hike to the Lwahaha river that bordered Uganda. I learned all about the kids I hiked with; they want to be doctors, lawyers, musicians; they listen to Rihanna! It made me want to wave a magic wand and make all of their wishes come true. We all got a laugh when we saw this little boy waving a machete across the river. The hike back killed me. It was hot, tiring, and dry, but I feel accomplished now that we persevered.

 

After hiking, it was back to the classroom, in which I continued my math equations and answers about America. Not once did a teacher show up, which was very shocking. Lunch time came after, and the 2012 Kenya group got our first taste of ugali! It is similar to mashed potatoes, but drier. Personally, I didn't like it and I could not see how Crawford Horan found it tasty.

 

Game time came after, which included an intense EHS vs. Moding volleyball game. EHS pulled through with a victory, but this will probably be our only win with the intense USA- Kenya soccer match coming up. I am preparing myself for a beating! We were all relieved to arrive back at the mission house. We are now all prepared for the upcoming cultural exchange tomorrow! All we need now is a good night's rest (with our mosquito nets!).

 

Stay tuned for more tomorrow! -- C. Haley

 

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Hakuna Matata (which they don't actually say...)

 

Habari!

We have safely and happily made it to our home for the next two weeks, the mission house in Amagoro.

Our flights went smoothly and all of us caught up on our inflight movies and cat-napped our way across the world.

Naturally, both the flight to London and the flight to Nairobi had delays, as always. The most memorable was on the ground right after we landed in Nairobi late on Saturday night. Less than 100 yards from our docking gate, the plane had to stop since another plane was parked there. Our frank British captain, Phil, kept apologizing for the Kenya Airways Jet that was blocking our path to freedom for about an hour. We all thought he would be the perfect man to narrate our travels. But after much groaning and complaining, and getting into trouble with the flight attendants (Gideon...), we finally arrived in Kenya around 10 pm!

We met up with Zach outside baggage claim, after haggling with the tax agents over the price our EHS t- shirts and their supposed tax value. Driving about 20 minutes from the airport, we dropped our bags at the Parkside Hotel (aka "the Darkside") for the night and ran across the street to grab a late night dinner of pizza and take in the city.

Everyone settled in for a short night of sleep and a warm(ish) shower before hitting up the bus again at a bright and early 6 am today. We drove back to the airport with the sunrising over the city and ( of course ) we had to take the opportunity to jam to Toto's Africa and sing a little bit of the Lion King soundtrack.Once at the airport, we all divided up the donated laptops amongs ourselves so that they would be in our possession during the flight. The quick flight to Kisumu in North West Kenya was fun and we all began deciding on what African animal would be. So far our current new species are:

Edward: meerkat / prairie dog / timon from the Lion King

Stuart: Giraffe

Mary Robert: Gazelle

Somer: Leopard

Leo: Lion (duh!) / Pumba from the Lion King

Caroline: Flamingo

Tyler: Zebra

Ryoan: Cheetah

Gideon: Scar/ Raffiki (lion king monkey... so wise)

DAD: Simba!

Mom: Nala

After entertaining ourselves on our short flight with our new identities, we loaded up the bus and the jeep and headed out to Amagoro (finally) in the last leg of our journey. For two hours, we watched the Kenyan countryside and villages fly by. Some caught up on much needed and sporadic sleep while others snapped photos of the new scenery.

When we finally arrived at the Mission House, we made our introductions and settled into our rooms. They are quite dreamy with their mosquito netting canopies! After a delicious lunch from Mama Beatrice, we all relaxed and got to know the surroundings. Edward, Caroline, and Ryoan played soccer and got to konw the local kids, while Stuart Somer and Tyler started friendship bracelet-ing, and Mom, Dad, Mary Robert, and Caroline went out for walks around town. There were also many naps, games of Boggle, jounaling, and much reading ( Mary Robert finished and Stuart started The Hunger Games) during free time too.

Around 4, We all set out to see the village of Amagoro together with Will, Zach's "intern" persay, as our guide. We practiced our new vocabulary of Habari (Hello), and Mambo (What's up) with everyone we passed. The town is quite small, and many piki- piki s (motorcycle taxis) zoomed past us during our walk. We bought soda at the connivence store and headed back home, just in time to run inside before a down pour.

Right now, we are all relaxing, reading, napping, and getting ready for dinner at the Bishop's house

If you were looking for a call from us in London or Kenya, they will be on their way soon. We ran into some technical difficulties with our phones working. The Emergency phone is up and running and Gideon will send out the number in an email shortly.


Love,

Tyler

 

Safe

Dear Parents,

We have arrived safely here in Amogoro. We are at the Mission house now and will have a more comprehensive posting later.




Photos also will follow, but we have now had a late lunch and are relaxing in the comfort of Zach's home.Also, there will be an email as soon as I can to share our emergency contact cell number as soon as we can get one. All is well, all are fed and all are happy.

More to follow soon.Gideon




 

Thursday, June 21, 2012

START YOUR...

Anit-Malaria meds. Don't forget.

Double check that packing list!


  • Clothes will be washed frequently, so you do not need a lot
  • Keep in mind that you will probably want to leave some things behind as a donation to the community
  • Shoulders should be covered and tops should be appropriate
  • Length of shorts/skirts should be at the knee – unless for running

T-Shirts
Long Skirts & Long Shorts/Pants
Long-Sleeve Top/Sweatshirt for Warmth (it is particularly cold on the Safari)
1 Church Outfit
Underwear
Socks

Hat
Comfortable Walking Shoes
Hiking Shoes
Flip Flops
Travel Towel
Rain Jacket
Bathing Suit

Besides your Travel Bag, you will want…
Small Bag for Hiking/Overnight Trips
Small Bag for Gaily Trips to Moding

Sunscreen
Deet Repellent
Toothbrush/Toothpaste
Deodorant
Shampoo/Conditioner
Lotion

Camera, Film, & Batteries
Flashlight
Water bottle
Journal
Many Books
Cards/Fun Games

Getting Ready


Dear Kenya Parents and participants,

I hope that you all are getting excited about our upcoming trip to Kenya. I am very excited to be joining you on the trip. I wanted to take a moment to communicate with everyone about last minute details.

As you all know safety and security are two of our chief concerns as we head out on all of these trips. After a busy week of double and triple-checking, we are fully convinced that EHS and our partner in Kenya are doing all that they can to prepare for our imminent and safe arrival.  We will be met on arrival by The Rev. Zach Drennen, our partner in Kenya and will be shepherded on to our final destination Amogoro with him and he will remin with us for the duration of our stay.

By now, I hope that you all have started packing. In case you need a reminder attached is a suggested packing list from Jaye Locke. Remember, as far as packling goes, you don’t need much. Be sure to pack the EHS Kenya Polos that you received from me. We will have regular access to laundry, thanks to the Bishop and Zach’s staff. Additionally, I hope that you all have your computer that we have asked you to carry along.

Don’t forget that the prophylactic malaria prescription, Mallarone, needs to be started two days before we arrive in Kenya, so please start taking it on Thursday morning. I have all of the Yellow fever Vaccination cards from the Health Center so do not worry about packing them.

As we prepare to leave please be in touch with any last minute concerns and I will do my best to be responsive. If you have questions or concerns while we are away, feel free to contact the school and they can be in touch with us on you behalf.

If you want to watch our exploits, please watch the EHS website for dispatches and also http://ehskenyablog.blogspot.com/ for updates. If you go there now, you won’t find much, but more is on the way.

Finally, attached are some contacts in case of emergency, and also our flight information again.

We look forward to seeing everyone at Dulles Airport at the BA check in counter by 3:30PM. If you are travelling to Dulles please try and meet us at the check-in so that we know you are safely there. If you have any trouble, please call or text me on xxx-xxx-xxxx

Yours,

Gideon L.K. Pollach