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
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5 comments:
What a great thing to wake up to on Saturday morning. Maybe you could also add a prize for the first to publish a comment. Bet I'll win that every time.
Sounds like you are having an amazing time. I'm sure you are enjoying every minute of it. Did any of you girls bring a video camera? That would be a great tape to watch, interviews with some of the women of Africa.
I'm going to go with D on queston #1 and E on #2. I could so see all of the above happening to you.
Kendra had to spend Thursday night in the basement of a dorm on campus as Kearney was hit with a tornado. Quite a bit of damage, but luckily no one was killed.
I could write a whole page on the politics of today, but things are closer on the Democratic side to being done. Obama is still ahead and the rules committee is meeting today to decide about Florida and Michigan.
Jill, I love you so very much and miss our phone calls. Keep the blogs coming. I usually now only check 2 times a day, which is quite an improvement for me.
Love you and will keeping checking for messages.
Mom
I hope B didn't happen, and that D did happen. So, yeah. Thanks for blogging!
HI Jill!!! OK...I am going with B...only because I read Meg's blog first and she didn't mention that you had gotten sick...=0)
Can't wait to hear all about the elepants and the 120 woman and the girl...Keep up the good work!!!!
Amy
Really enjoyed your blog - Grams and I are both looking forward to seeing all the pictures.
Be Safe
From Sir w/love
Jambo! OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! He finally secured the nom (has enough delegates based on the FL MI compromise...details later)as of this week! Ted Kennedy has been diagnosed w/ a malignant brain tumor & has undergone surgery to remove the tumor (successfully). Unfortunately, most who are diagnosed w/ this type of cancer die w/in 3 years. But of course, if anyone can beat it, it's Teddy! I'm currently writing you from DC where I'm @ the SPA retreat which is going great in moving us forward in the immediate and long term! No word on the house yet but I did get the job @ NWU! I'll try to keep you up to date over the summer w/ the political situation but if you have specific questions let me know!
Peace!
Jake
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