Saturday, May 31, 2008
Only in Africa!!
WARNING: Spelling will be incorrect and I am not going to fix it so happy sounding out words :)
Hello from the coolest village in Africa!
I can't believe that we have already been here for nearly 2 weeks!!!
We have been in the village with Mama Max (Joyce), Baba Max (Isaac) and the girls Susanne and Ashley for the last week and it has been great! We have been helping during the days at the Special Unit of the public elementary (secondary) school. There are 30 kids that live and go to "school" there and only one dedicated teacher (Esther) and 2-3 house mothers. The kids range in age from 8-18 and have diabilties including downs syndrom, severe A.D.D., autism, spinabifida, and problems from menegitis and malaria. To say the least Esther is a saint and it is amazing to see the progress that she is able to make with these great kids.
We are doing our best to help with math and english exercises as well as general suppervision. This coming week we are going to build a fence around the garden area for the S.U. Currently the garden fence has been stolen by neighbors for firewood so chickens, goats, donkeys and the like are able to get in and eat the food before it is picked. The kids work in the garden as part of their vocational training so by fixing the fence we can help provide food and training... and we can sweat a bit in the process! So here today we are in Thompson Falls which is a town with a hardware store/ supermarket/ etc. We bought 2 rolls of chicken wire and nails to make the fence so hopefully our fencebuilding leader (Lauren-- now pronounced Loraine) will be able to help us to make a difference!
We have met lots of children who attend the elementary school that the S.U. is in and are having fun praciticing our swahili and kicking soccer balls as far as we can!
Joyce and Isaac are the best hosts anyone could ask for. Isaac headed back to Nairobi to hopefully find some safari work and so we are helping out around the house and meeting the rest of the village.
I hope that some day all fo the strong women I know in the US will get a chance to meet some of the STRONG WOMEN in Africa because it is a humbling and enchanting experience!! These women run households, farms, churches, schools, and communities and all without running water, electricity, shopping malls, or cars. And they also love to have fun and gossip! I had a pretty nasty cough a couple days ago (all better now) so I stayed home with Joyce and I tell you the gossip we heard on our walk through the village was far better than any episode of "Days of our Lives!!"
Our safari with Isaac last week was by far the best safari experience of my life--considering that I have been on 6 or so now that is saying a lot! We saw 37 mammals, 2 reptiles, 1 dead mammal, and 65+ different birds. I think I have more than 600 pictures from that alone so get ready for slideshows!!!
Well it is trivia/poll time......
Question 1: Which of these things has not happend in the last 48 hours?
A) Elephants passed through our yard in the middle of the night
B) I had diarreaha
C) An egg covered in rat poison fell on my pillow while I was sleeping
D) We met a woman who is 120 years old
E) A girl possesd by demons made lots and lots of noise in the dark
Question 2: Which of the above events would you all like a detailed explanation of... winner takes all and please only vote once and tell your friends to vote too! (if you vote for the one that didn't actually happen I will explain the runner-up)
Well we are now going to stay in the village for another week then head to Nairobi then on to Lamu for about 7-10 days then Betty and Carla will arrive!
I love everyone and am being able to ready your comments so keep 'em coming... and someone that knows my politics fill me in on whats going on in the world!
Love from the best vacay ever!!
Jill
Hello from the coolest village in Africa!
I can't believe that we have already been here for nearly 2 weeks!!!
We have been in the village with Mama Max (Joyce), Baba Max (Isaac) and the girls Susanne and Ashley for the last week and it has been great! We have been helping during the days at the Special Unit of the public elementary (secondary) school. There are 30 kids that live and go to "school" there and only one dedicated teacher (Esther) and 2-3 house mothers. The kids range in age from 8-18 and have diabilties including downs syndrom, severe A.D.D., autism, spinabifida, and problems from menegitis and malaria. To say the least Esther is a saint and it is amazing to see the progress that she is able to make with these great kids.
We are doing our best to help with math and english exercises as well as general suppervision. This coming week we are going to build a fence around the garden area for the S.U. Currently the garden fence has been stolen by neighbors for firewood so chickens, goats, donkeys and the like are able to get in and eat the food before it is picked. The kids work in the garden as part of their vocational training so by fixing the fence we can help provide food and training... and we can sweat a bit in the process! So here today we are in Thompson Falls which is a town with a hardware store/ supermarket/ etc. We bought 2 rolls of chicken wire and nails to make the fence so hopefully our fencebuilding leader (Lauren-- now pronounced Loraine) will be able to help us to make a difference!
We have met lots of children who attend the elementary school that the S.U. is in and are having fun praciticing our swahili and kicking soccer balls as far as we can!
Joyce and Isaac are the best hosts anyone could ask for. Isaac headed back to Nairobi to hopefully find some safari work and so we are helping out around the house and meeting the rest of the village.
I hope that some day all fo the strong women I know in the US will get a chance to meet some of the STRONG WOMEN in Africa because it is a humbling and enchanting experience!! These women run households, farms, churches, schools, and communities and all without running water, electricity, shopping malls, or cars. And they also love to have fun and gossip! I had a pretty nasty cough a couple days ago (all better now) so I stayed home with Joyce and I tell you the gossip we heard on our walk through the village was far better than any episode of "Days of our Lives!!"
Our safari with Isaac last week was by far the best safari experience of my life--considering that I have been on 6 or so now that is saying a lot! We saw 37 mammals, 2 reptiles, 1 dead mammal, and 65+ different birds. I think I have more than 600 pictures from that alone so get ready for slideshows!!!
Well it is trivia/poll time......
Question 1: Which of these things has not happend in the last 48 hours?
A) Elephants passed through our yard in the middle of the night
B) I had diarreaha
C) An egg covered in rat poison fell on my pillow while I was sleeping
D) We met a woman who is 120 years old
E) A girl possesd by demons made lots and lots of noise in the dark
Question 2: Which of the above events would you all like a detailed explanation of... winner takes all and please only vote once and tell your friends to vote too! (if you vote for the one that didn't actually happen I will explain the runner-up)
Well we are now going to stay in the village for another week then head to Nairobi then on to Lamu for about 7-10 days then Betty and Carla will arrive!
I love everyone and am being able to ready your comments so keep 'em coming... and someone that knows my politics fill me in on whats going on in the world!
Love from the best vacay ever!!
Jill
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Hello from Nairobi
Hello everyone!!
We made it safely to Nairobi early yesterday morning. Our flights on Virgin Atlantic were all ontime and we had no problems in the airports. In fact I would like to recommend VA for all your flying needs because we had planes both from Chicago to London and London to Nairobi that were on 1/3 to 1/2 full!! We all got to have rows to ourselves!!
Megan spent her 26th bday in the London airport during out 11 hour layover--but she did get some extra specail treatment (free chapagne) on the way to Nairobi.
The place we are staying is wonderful, we stayed inside last night and are going to be camping tonight. Early tomorrow morning we are headed out on safari. Three days in the Masaai Mara and 1 day at Lake Nakuru. Should be great!!!
After the safari we are heading straight to Isaac's village where we will stay with his family for 10 days and volunteer in the special needs schools. I know a few people have asked about supplies or pen pals for the school and we will check all that out and get back to you when we return to Nairobi.
We should be back here in 2 weeks so please do not look for any emails until then as I don't believe the internet will be available.
Can't wait to get out of the city!!
Peace and love, Jill
We made it safely to Nairobi early yesterday morning. Our flights on Virgin Atlantic were all ontime and we had no problems in the airports. In fact I would like to recommend VA for all your flying needs because we had planes both from Chicago to London and London to Nairobi that were on 1/3 to 1/2 full!! We all got to have rows to ourselves!!
Megan spent her 26th bday in the London airport during out 11 hour layover--but she did get some extra specail treatment (free chapagne) on the way to Nairobi.
The place we are staying is wonderful, we stayed inside last night and are going to be camping tonight. Early tomorrow morning we are headed out on safari. Three days in the Masaai Mara and 1 day at Lake Nakuru. Should be great!!!
After the safari we are heading straight to Isaac's village where we will stay with his family for 10 days and volunteer in the special needs schools. I know a few people have asked about supplies or pen pals for the school and we will check all that out and get back to you when we return to Nairobi.
We should be back here in 2 weeks so please do not look for any emails until then as I don't believe the internet will be available.
Can't wait to get out of the city!!
Peace and love, Jill
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Go Cubs Go!!
We are spending our last few hours here in Chicago doing laundry and getting last minute supplies. We had a great day yesterday touring Chi-town with Jill McCann. We went to Millennium Park and Navy Pier. We spent an hour lounging in Oz Park which has a Wizard of Oz theme and I had my first falling down incident, not to worry though I am fine, just clutzy!
We also went to a huge used book store and we all found great books to take along so we should be stocked up on reading material for at least the first couple weeks :)
We can't say thanks enough to Jill McCann for showing us around and giving us a great place to stay!!
FYI... Lauren has a flickr page at www.flickr.com/photos/lauronosaurus where you can view her photos and colorful commentary!! Also Megan has a blog at africainmegan.blogspot.com where you can follow her adventures!!
You should hear from me again in Nairobi in a few days!!
Peace, Jill
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Its about d@#m time...
that I got around to writing my first blog! It is probably less than reassuring to my family that I can't even seem to sit down and write on this in Lincoln, let alone Africa!
So we are all in Chicago after a wonderfully American road-trip with the DeGrave fam!! We ate at the Machine Shed in Iowa and stopped at the "Worlds Largest Truck Stop" also in Iowa. Whoever started that nasty rumor that there is nothing to do in Iowa is just plain wrong! :)
We are staying with Jill McCann in Chicago and she has been great at showing us around and helping us to get some last minute items (although I am not sure where we are supposed to put them as all of our bags are packed to the limit!!
We are going to be here in Chicago until Sunday, May 18th (tomorrow) at 6:00pm when we board a plane to London. We have an 8 hour flight to London, a 12 hour lay over in London, and a 10 hour flight to Nairobi Kenya. So Megan will get to spend her b-day in an airplane/airport, what more can a girl ask for?? I have posted our itinerary below (note that all times are local and that there is as 7 hour time difference from Lincoln and Kenya):
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS LTD. flight 40
Departs: Sun, May 18 2008
From: Chicago, IL, US (ORD) at 6:00PM
To: London, GB (LHR) at 8:00AM Mon, May 19 2008
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS LTD. flight 671
Departs: Mon, May 19 2008
From: London, GB (LHR) at 7:15PM
To: Nairobi, KE (NBO) at 6:05AM Tue, May 20 2008
We are arriving in Nairobi very very early on Tuesday and our very good friend Isaac Kinyanjui is picking us up at the airport and taking us to our accommodations in Nairobi (www.upperhillcampsite.com). Isaac is a safari guide (maybe the best in the world if you ask me) and we are going to try to round up a couple more people in Nairobi for a 3 or 4 day safari in the Masai Mara/Serengeti and at the Nakuru River. If you ever find yourself in need of a safari guide in Kenya give this man a call (www.wildconnectionsafaris.com/profiles).
After our safari we will be traveling to Isaacs village in Northern Kenya to volunteer our time in a school/orphanage in the area. Isaac has gone to the trouble of setting up a "program" for us while we are there meaning they will be more than ready to put us to work!
Next we will head to Lamu, Kenya which is a small island in the Indian Ocean off the east coast. It is certainly in my top 3 favorite places to be in the world and will offer us some time to relax, read, get a tan, and swim in the ocean. I hope that many of my friends from Lamu are still there and that I will get a lot of time to reconnect and see how life has been for everyone in the last 3 years.
Betty and Big K (Carla) arrive in Nairobi on June 20th so we will plan to meet them there and then head off quickly to Rwanda and Uganda.
And I am going to stop telling you our plans now because I am tired of typing and they may very well adjust as the trip continues so check back here on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to see my first post from afar!
If you want to comment here I will read the comments when I can and also if you need/want to send me an email it is best to reach me at mzungujill@hotmail.com because my other accounts are just too full of peace and justice for me to keep up with them.
Also all of the photos seen here any any others I will be able to upload can be found at http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f156/jfrancke/Africa%202008/.
So contest #1 the first to correctly identify the meaning of mzungu wins a prize, and being as I am going to Africa you could be winning a zebra for Pete's sake!!!!
Peace and Love to everyone! See you on the flip side!
Jill
So we are all in Chicago after a wonderfully American road-trip with the DeGrave fam!! We ate at the Machine Shed in Iowa and stopped at the "Worlds Largest Truck Stop" also in Iowa. Whoever started that nasty rumor that there is nothing to do in Iowa is just plain wrong! :)
We are staying with Jill McCann in Chicago and she has been great at showing us around and helping us to get some last minute items (although I am not sure where we are supposed to put them as all of our bags are packed to the limit!!
We are going to be here in Chicago until Sunday, May 18th (tomorrow) at 6:00pm when we board a plane to London. We have an 8 hour flight to London, a 12 hour lay over in London, and a 10 hour flight to Nairobi Kenya. So Megan will get to spend her b-day in an airplane/airport, what more can a girl ask for?? I have posted our itinerary below (note that all times are local and that there is as 7 hour time difference from Lincoln and Kenya):
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS LTD. flight 40
Departs: Sun, May 18 2008
From: Chicago, IL, US (ORD) at 6:00PM
To: London, GB (LHR) at 8:00AM Mon, May 19 2008
VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS LTD. flight 671
Departs: Mon, May 19 2008
From: London, GB (LHR) at 7:15PM
To: Nairobi, KE (NBO) at 6:05AM Tue, May 20 2008
We are arriving in Nairobi very very early on Tuesday and our very good friend Isaac Kinyanjui is picking us up at the airport and taking us to our accommodations in Nairobi (www.upperhillcampsite.com). Isaac is a safari guide (maybe the best in the world if you ask me) and we are going to try to round up a couple more people in Nairobi for a 3 or 4 day safari in the Masai Mara/Serengeti and at the Nakuru River. If you ever find yourself in need of a safari guide in Kenya give this man a call (www.wildconnectionsafaris.com/profiles).
After our safari we will be traveling to Isaacs village in Northern Kenya to volunteer our time in a school/orphanage in the area. Isaac has gone to the trouble of setting up a "program" for us while we are there meaning they will be more than ready to put us to work!Next we will head to Lamu, Kenya which is a small island in the Indian Ocean off the east coast. It is certainly in my top 3 favorite places to be in the world and will offer us some time to relax, read, get a tan, and swim in the ocean. I hope that many of my friends from Lamu are still there and that I will get a lot of time to reconnect and see how life has been for everyone in the last 3 years.
Betty and Big K (Carla) arrive in Nairobi on June 20th so we will plan to meet them there and then head off quickly to Rwanda and Uganda.
And I am going to stop telling you our plans now because I am tired of typing and they may very well adjust as the trip continues so check back here on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to see my first post from afar!
If you want to comment here I will read the comments when I can and also if you need/want to send me an email it is best to reach me at mzungujill@hotmail.com because my other accounts are just too full of peace and justice for me to keep up with them.
Also all of the photos seen here any any others I will be able to upload can be found at http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f156/jfrancke/Africa%202008/.
So contest #1 the first to correctly identify the meaning of mzungu wins a prize, and being as I am going to Africa you could be winning a zebra for Pete's sake!!!!
Peace and Love to everyone! See you on the flip side!
Jill
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