Braid Brigade

It has been done! I got my hair braided last week and I like it. The pain was unbeweavable but hey, beauty hurts.

I also visited Rwanda last week. One of my students was kind enough to show me around (it's where she's from). The bus ride was around 24 hrs with all the rest stops, breakdowns, speeding, and border checks. But the country's beauty is so worth the trip. I wanted to do some gorilla trekking and was greatly dissapointed when it didn't work out, but I got to see Lake Kivu in all of its magnificent splendor...

I still wonder if the peace I felt in Rwanda was genuine though (knowing the history of the genocide and all...). I got to visit Hotel Des Mille Collines ("Hotel Rwanda") and a few of the memorials. I encourage anyone who is able to (and emotionally strong enough) to visit these sites and be challenged, shaken, angered, humbled and transformed by what there is to see. The many stories of lives ended before their time will continue to shatter my heart and mind forever.

Finally, I am preparing to return to New York next month. This is one of the hardest things I think I'll ever have to do. I'm focusing on appreciating now and taking it all in... One of the things I look forward to every week is leading the Peace Club at Mennokids Academy and continuing my work at Inspiration Centre. Wow. I'm really going to miss this place.

Measuring Time

Its been a long time. Much has happened, good and bad. But like Celie says in ‘The Color Purple”… “I’m here!” As time flies by and the hour of my return approaches, all I can do is appreciate the beauty of the now. So yes, thank you God... I’m still here.

I was watching the movie/musical ‘Rent’ the other day, and it got me to thinking…

Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes…
How do I measure this year in my life?
Five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes…
How do I measure the time?
In sunsets? Sunrises?
In good and bad surprises.
In hairdos? In muddy shoes?
Ir hours of sitting in traffic.
In violence? In courage?
In cups of chai and porridge.
In laughters? In teardrops?
In trash and slum house rooftops.
In street kids? In lollipops?
In drunken men with dreadlocks.
In in wishes? Hugs and kisses?
In tasty Kenyan dishes.
In handclaps? Church services?
Blessings and illness curses.
In rainstorms? In dry heat?
Hand washing all my laundry.
Guitar strokes? In deep breaths?
In acne caused by high stress
In weddings? In funerals?
In bodies going for burials.
In house helps? Host families?
Street vendors selling batteries.
Mosquito bites? In bus rides?
In potholes and police bribes.
In footsteps? Knees swollen?
Eyes staring, laptops stolen.
‘How are you?’ ‘Mzungu?'
In petty conversations
In gossip? In chit chat?
Much needed consolations…
Maybe I can measure it in love?
Love?
Love?
Love.
Maybe I can measure time in love.


and now....

drumroll please...

some pics for your viewing enjoyment!

Kampala Craze

Uganda was a trip into my history. I know they say most Africans caught up in the slave trade originated from West Africa… but when I ate mashed plantains served with fish stew, I was more than sure that some of my Garifuna ancestors had descended from the eastern regions of this beautiful continent. No one can tell me otherwise…I have seen with my own eyes and tasted with my own lips.
Now let me tell you more about this amazing trip… the bus ride was 12 hours… I ended up paying more money than expected at the border… I rode a motorcycle (piki piki) throughout the many hills of Kampala… I visited the largest mosque in Africa… I experienced the tombs of the Buganda kings in the largest straw hut in the world… I spent time at Vision for Africa, a school and orphanage where amazing things are happening… and of course I ate some of the greatest food in the world…. Mmmmmmmmm!!!
Before I leave Kenya in July, I most definitely want to visit neighboring Tanzania and Ethiopia (Addis Ababa, here I come!)

On another note… right now I am in the process of transitioning in my work schedule… I will decrease my teaching time and work in organizing the center’s library. I LOVE books, and reading, so, seeing the library being used would give me a great sense of accomplishment.
I’ve joined an aerobics class and I’ve started some light weightlifting too. It’s really going good and I feel way more energetic. For those of you who aren’t exercising and eating a healthy diet, I encourage you to start. The first week sucks but afterwards you feel great! I’d like to also lead a few workshops in nutrition and healthy cooking for the students here.

So the other day I spent about an hour on the phone with a friend who’s working on her master’s thesis. She’s fretting, and I’m thinking… that’s exactly where I was one year ago too… thinking my master’s would send me to an early grave. Yet who would’ve known that one year later I’d be chilling in Kenya, blogging about which country I wanna visit next??? Surely not me. So I’m gonna take a moment to just reflect on how good God has been. (If you don’t mind). I’m 25, educated, travelling the world, multilingual (yes, my Swahili is getting better), American without trying, healthy and beautiful (and eating really good food). That’s a lot to be grateful for, and I’m glad Kenya is giving me the opportunity to think about all of the good in my life. When you have a chance, you should try it too. (thinking about the positive things in your life.) Alrighty, off I go. Until next time.

Habari Februari, Kwaheri Januari!

Okay, time's going really fast. Maybe it's because I'm having a good time??? I moved in with a new host family, and the place is huge! I've got my own room, and they are really healthy eaters (i'm trying to lower my cholesterol). I eat tons of fish, sukumawiki (greens) and ugali (i can't explain what that is so if you've never heard of it, google it).

Ashley came to visit and I got to show him a bit of what I do. we visited mathare slums, amboseli game park, maasailand, and Mount Kilimanjaro. check out the pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/AshleySmithJr/20100122AshKenya2?feat=email# and http://picasaweb.google.com/AshleySmithJr/20100118Africa1?feat=email# .

Things I've learned this month:
- camel meat is delicious. I urge you to visit a Somali restaurant and give it a try someday (waaaay better than beef in my opinion).
- the maasai can walk! (never believe a maasai who tells you the market is near... around the corner is a million miles away...) Ashley and I had to walk 2 and 1/2 hours to the nearest market!
- God's creation is so much better viewed outside of the confines of a zoo. Even photos and nature programs on tv don't do the real thing justice. We saw elephants crossing the road, and giraffes drinking water, and cheetahs hunting gazelles, and a lioness with her cubs, and hippos outside of the water and... and... and... yeah, words fail too.
- Appreciate the now... I work with a group of girls in Mathare. A girl's mother died suddenly last week. I had just met her the saturday before. Life is short, and when it ends, it is always a surprise. Please pray for the family as they bury their loved one.

Soo....February looks like a month of meetings and hopefully a visit to Uganda... i'll keep you posted!

so the year comes to an end...

So the holiday season is almost over... Christmas didn't really feel like Christmas this year. Nairobi weather is nowhere close to that of NYC or Philly. So I went to church on Christmas morning. We were given two packs of flour and a tub of cooking fat. That was the gift. Later I visited Inspiration Centre to help eat a goat that had been slaughtered earlier that day. I opened an enourmous pot, only to find a charred goat's head in a rolling boil. That was the dinner. I helped hand out pencils and little "happy meal" toys to eager children. American kids would laugh at me if I handed them one of those as a gift...

I made it home in time to watch "Storm Over Paradise," the soap opera all of Kenya is currently addicted to. So the story is the same... Imar has yet to find her true paradise love, Nicholas, and I have yet to find my holiday spirit in this foreign land. Will the holidays really be over so soon???

On another note...

Last week I spent some time at a wedding in Najile, learning about Maasai life and culture:


Low Point: having to greet men by bowing and letting them pat my head.

Lower Point: repeatedly stepping in thorns... (flip flops are cute but useless)

High Point: riding on a motorcyclye to Maasai market, using my up and coming swahili to vegetables and fabric.

Higher Point: visiting a few traditional Maasai compounds (homes) and being given the name "Kijoolu," meaning "she just arrived."

This week I will be leaving my current host family to live with another. A bit nervous... new beginning for a new year... Happy 2010... maybe.

turkey murder

Here's my friend Godfrey with the kids during the Buildabridge camp.

Happy belated thanksgiving!

okay, this post has to be quick...

I went with my english students to the Giraffe center in Nairobi. We had a great time feeding them and it it said that giraffe spit is medicine....

I spent a week in Mathare slum teaching kids art. The week went by so fast, with alot of drama too...

-my cell phone fell into a latrine (toilet) and was fished out by a man with rubber gloves. (Horrible to see... horrible to smell...)

-i witnessed a turkey being murdered for thanksgiving dinner (what a horror!)

but other than that, all is well with me. I'm doing okay, and so is my stomach. It's been tough getting to the internet though.

Happy holidays... njoy the cold weather folks... heheheh!

It Rained

It's been raining cats and dogs... and camels. Seriously, it gets so muddy here, u wouldnt

believe it!

Here are some pics for you to njoy...

Here I am with two of the teachers at the center. And some images of life in Eastleigh...

Here's a little girl. She's our neighbor. We live on the 5th floor, so that's my daily workout...

More to come soon. I'm doing great. Okay... surviving...

cj