Mathare Valley

This is the view out of my hotel room window!!!

Well, I'm exhausted (and a little sunburnt) but absolutely in love with the Kenyan people! We did our first project visit this morning to the Mathare slum which is the second largest slum, population wise, in Kenya. (Kibera is in first place). We had an amazing time at the project this morning. The project director spoke and gave us some information on the area and then a few children gave various performances. When it was time for the children to perform, a kid named Nelson was put in charge of being the emcee and this kid was hilarious! He totally could have been a circus ringmaster, or we decided that he will some day host a Kenyan late-night talk show (ala David Letterman). First, a boy sang, then another boy recited scripture verses and then a small choir came and sang a few more songs. Then Nelson asked for our group to perform so I got the opportunity to do play a song on the violin (which was really cool because almost none of the kids and most of the project workers had never seen one in real life) and then our entire group got up and sang Amazing Grace together. After the assembly ended, we were served tea and broken up in to groups where we observed the classes that the children participate in on Saturdays. Keith and another boy and I sat in on a "cognitive" class for 12-14 year olds where the topic of the day was how to make a good decision. The teacher, Kelvin, was a really dynamic young guy. Those kids are blessed to have his instruction and example.

 [The kids sounded great singing for us!!!]

After class time, we broke into three groups and did home visits. Keith and I, along with several others in our team, visited the home of Ann, a 17 year old girl who lives in the thick of the Mathare valley. We aren't sure where her parents are, but she lives with her older brother and his wife Tabitha, her younger sister, and Tabitha and her brothers three children who are 11, 9, 7, and 1. Ann and Tabitha were both very shy, but were excited to have us visit their home. Ann loves to sing and said she dreams of being a pilot someday. She is in class 8, which is the last year of primary school and is about to begin her four years of high-school. She won my heart a bit. The trip to their home required a long walk through narrow passages filled with wet stinky sewage and then across a bridge over a river. The views from the bridge were incredible, but unfortunately there was also an illegal brewery operating in plain view and our country staff advised us that it was not safe to take photos in that area. Even though I've been to that place, and walked the alleys, it still seems surreal that people actually live there and that it wasn't a movie set. I think it will take me a while to process what I saw and smelled. I've spent the day thinking through lots of things that I won't blog right now....and may never blog about.

[Entering the Mathare Slum...you can see that it stretches on for a while.  We walked a good ways before we got to Ann's home]

 

[Ann's sister-in-law, Tabitha, holds her 1 year old boy in the home she and her husband share with his two sisters and their own four children.  The baby didn't know what to think of me.]

[Ann and I on the grounds of her school which we visited on the way home from her house]

 

[Keith and I loved meeting this boy, John, who was as hilarious as he was smart. ]

 

After the home visits we got to serve lunch to the children at the project. I was thrilled to be stationed behind a large bag of chipati to hand out! (Chipati is a thin, soft bread, sort of like a thick tortilla or pita bread, or the naan that is served with Indian food.) It was hard not to eat it all myself! It's one of my favorite foods! Then we ate lunch at the project and luckily, there was a whole stack of chipati for us too, so I might have eaten 3 of them! We also had beef and mashed potatoes and rice. It was all delicious.

 [Serving one of the Compassion students a piece of chipati. Mmm Mmm, Good!!]

After returning to the hotel, (and having an hour to take showers!!!) we all ate a lovely dinner in the hotel restaurant, and then we all went our separate ways, and Keith and I were happy to be able to return to our rooms at 8:00pm! It will be lovely to get a good nights sleep before tomorrow's activities! I am so excited because tomorrow I'll get to meet Rukia, my sponsor child!!! Be sure to check back as I know I'll have lots to say tomorrow night. :)

Blessings, from Kenya