Donation distribution (September 5, 2011)

                  Saturday, August 20, was perhaps the best day of that entire week for me.  Warren and I found ourselves lugging quite an impressive accumulation of donations out to our taxi for delivery to the Living Way Orphanage.  Among the many things generously given were:

-       Two suitcases packed full of pencils, markers, sketching paper for blooming artists, note paper, geometry sets, reading books, school clothes, backpacks, socks and underwear, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, sanitary napkins

-       Several bags of donated clothes

-       $130 worth of fresh food, treats, school supplies, personal hygiene products and soccer balls purchased here in Naivasha.  In Naivasha, $130 goes a long way!

 (This is where I would have loved to insert the picture we took of all the supplies we had, which covered my entire double bed and then some.  Unfortunately, Warren uploaded my photos to the computer and then deleted them from the camera to make space.  Somewhere in this process all of these photos have disappeared into cyber space!)

                  When we arrived at the orphanage, I learned that most of the children were on a one-day field trip to Nakuru, a neighbouring city.  The theme of the field trip: attend church in a new setting.  While I was sad not to see everyone together, I satisfied myself with the knowledge that it was a good, wholesome trip and everyone needs a change of scenery from time to time.

                  Because we arrived fairly early, many of the remaining children were still sleeping as we pulled in.  As we opened the boot and slowly began unloading our offering, word spread and the children began to trickle out of their bedroom.  Soon we had a pretty good gathering, with everyone being willing to help carry the supplies to the appropriate location, from where they would be distributed equally to all of the children when their counterparts returned from church.  As we unloaded, there were two bags that we deliberately saved until last.

                  The first contained some paper and charcoal pencils, especially designed for sketching.  You see, the orphanage is full of artistic children, whose art is proudly displayed on the walls of their bedroom.  One such child is Rueben.  I wrote about his interest in drawing in my first blog about the Living Way and an artist in Canada was struck.  She and her husband wanted to give some art supplies so that the children can continue do develop their talent.  Although I handed the sketching paper, charcoal pencils and Canadian Wildlife Magazines (for inspiration) to Reuben, I made sure that he and all of the other children knew that it was a gift for everyone.  They were excited.

                  Once everything else had been unpacked, we pulled out our second special bag.  This one contained 2 soccer balls.  As the balls appeared, you could see the smiles beginning and the excitement level starting to rise.  I am so pleased that we brought them, because after everything had been put away, we had a passionate game of soccer!  The fact that I lack all foot-eye coordination seems not to have been a problem.  It was still a blast and a great way to end our visit.

 

                  Because our final donation total ended up being $1017, after our purchases in Naivasha we were left with about $900 to give to Sarah to support the construction of the fishpond and fence around the pond at Rubiri Primary School.  It wasn’t until yesterday that I was able to visit Sarah and deliver our offering.  As usual, she was cheerful and full of energy and very grateful for the donation to what she feels is very important project.  Rather than me babbling about our visit, I will share with you the email I received from Sarah shortly after I left:

“Thank you so much for the donation towards the fence around the new fish ponds to stop the children from falling in, etc.  It is more than gratefully received and I will tell the Head Teacher, Peter Kimani, about it tomorrow when I go up to take photos of our very first meal for the children.  I am just so excited about the new kitchen as it was just heart breaking to go up to the school at lunch time and see all the kids who didn't have food hiding out in the class rooms so that they didn't have to watch the kids, who did have food, eating.  If it is anything like the other school that I helped to get a feeding programme going in then the grades should start going up as from the beginning of this term!  How on earth a child is expected to learn on one meal a day (usually in the evening) I don't know but when the family can't afford the food for more they consider themselves lucky to get even that.  It will be a big day tomorrow!  I have attached some photos of the kitchen as it was at the beginning of last week.  As you can see there is still a way to go and we will definitely still be putting up shelves etc. even as we serve our first meal, but we were determined that our lunch programme was going to start on the first day of term, come what may.

I will keep you posted on the fishpond progress.  You will see that even the children were involved in the digging of the pond, as well as the parents.  When there is a project on and no spare money everyone gets involved.

Cheerfully,

Sarah”

So, I would say our campaign was a big success and I can’t tell you how excited it made me that everyone was so eager to help.  I will be sure to post pictures of the progress and lunch programme at Rubiri Primary School as they become available.

Asante sana! (“Thank you so much” in Swahili!”)

Super successful donation campaign! (August 21, 2011)

I want to say an enormous "THANK YOU" to everyone I know (and those I don't know) who gave so generously to the orphanage/school fundraiser.  Together, we raised:

$917 plus two full suitcases of supplies that were donated to the orphanage.

AMAZING!

Yesterday, Warren and I have a very successful trip to the orphanage, where we delivered all of the supplies that you sent as well as about $130 of supplies that we purchased here.  That means that we still have $800, which will be delivered to Sarah Higgins this week to fund that building of a fence around Ruberi Primary School's new fish pond so that fish protein can be part of lunch time starting in September. Our $800 will cover almost all of the cost of the fence project!

Time is short this morning, but I look forward to updating you with a much more detailed blog and pictures in a week or so, when I return from my week away with Warren.

Thank you again to those who have been so supportive!

A bittersweet taste of reality (August 7, 2011)

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for me.  Sweet, because I was thrilled at how supportive people have been in their attitudes and donations to the orphanage.  Bitter, because I found out that the management at the orphanage has some issues with corruption.  Sweet, because I talked to an amazing woman and community leader who has not let the roadblocks set up by dishonest or incompetent people stand in her way of finding effective ways of serving those in need.

Bittersweet reality- Chapter 1: The facts

This journey began on Friday evening, when I opened my email and found a wonderful email from my mother.  More members of my family had expressed an interest in donating supplies and money to the orphanage.  When this was added to the long list of people who had already generously offered their support, I started to have the inkling that we may raise more money than could be used for a one-time donation of supplies to the orphanage.  What an amazing problem!

I picked up the phone and called Sarah Higgins.  Sarah is an absolutely amazing woman who is very active in social and environmental issues around the lake.  To lend credibility to this statement, let me give you a short synopsis of her recent activities:

-       Actively supports of the Living Way Orphanage.

-       Runs an owl sanctuary, which takes in injured birds of prey, nurses them to health and re-integrates them back into the wild.

-       Is the secretary for the Lake Naivasha Riparian Association, a group that pushes for consolidarity in environmental conservation efforts around the lake.

-       Is on the board of governors for a recently established elementary school in Karagita.  The school was opened as an overflow school for Mereira Primary school, which at the time was serving 6000 primary school students and had class sizes of over 100.

-       Runs a bursary program that puts 10 students a year through secondary school.

-       I could go on, but I’ll leave it at that.

Because I knew that Sarah was a person of integrity and was an active supporter of the orphanage, she seemed to be a good person to talk to about how to best implement our orphanage donation.  Yesterday morning, we met for a coffee.  Here is a brief synopsis of what I learned from Sarah:

-       Do not give money directly to the orphanage.

-       The most essential food items (flour, beans and rice) are provided to the orphanage by the founder, a bishop living in North America.

-       The orphanage co-ordinator was also collecting food donations from other donors, including Sarah, of which he sold a portion and kept the profit for himself.

-       It is understandable how this situation came to be.  The co-ordinator is paid only a small pittance for his work.

-       The fact that some of the bulk food donations were sold to line someone’s pocket does not mean that the children are not in need.

-       The provision of well needed, but less marketable items is still a good way to support the orphanage and ensure that your donation is meeting its intended target.  Sarah suggested the following:

o   Fresh bread

o   Butter

o   Jam

o   Tea

o   Sugar

o   Cooking fat

o   Fresh produce

o   Dried milk

o   Pens/pencils

o   Exercise books/paper

o   Geometry sets

o   Reading books

o   Soap

o   Toothbrushes/toothpaste

o   Pads/panties

o   Socks

Despite the fact that there are some positive undertones to this, I felt disheartened.  I am certain that the supplies that everyone is sending will be put to good use, but what about the monetary donations?  In steps a sweet part of my day.

Sarah is on the board of governors for a primary school that was opened 4 years ago in Karagita.  Since the school’s inception, the board of governors and the Head Master have fought for it’s growth and development.  New (and nice!) classrooms have been built, a nursery school was added, rain water is collected for fresh drinking water, a parent run community garden has been established on the property and new parcels of land have been acquired for the future secondary school to be established.  The most recent victory for the school, however, is the start of a lunch program ,which will be launched in September.  Sarah’s passion for this program was obvious.  A similar program was enacted in another school where Sarah is involved and once the children had food in their stomachs’, their grades went up immediately.

A look at the school from the outside.  You can tell that school is out and renovations are underway.

This is the first grade 8 class that will be graduating from the school in September.

You may recall in a previous blog that I advocated for more rainwater collection for drinking water.   Seeing this made me very happy.

This interior of the kitchen-to-be is still under construction but is coming along quite well.

The government has donated two cookers for hot meal preparation and has agreed to partially subsidize the cost of lunch for the first 3 years of the program.  To complement this, the Head Master also fought hard to be a participant in a pilot program where a school is given the supplies needed to build a fishpond.  The fish this school produces and the vegetables they grow will be used to help provide sustainable healthy meals to the children. 

The parents were recruited to dig the hole for the fish pond.  Given that grass in Naivasha is cut with a machete, I suspect this hole was also dug the old fashioned way.

The school's parent-tended veggie patch.  They also have a garden which is tended by the children in the 4-K club.

The catch (no pun intended): every fishpond needs a durable fence around it to keep the children safe and to keep the goats from drinking.  Unfortunately, all the money raised for the lunch program has been used to construct the kitchen.  So, my suggestion is this.  I think we all had a desire to support children whose needs are not being met.  Putting a fence up around the fishpond would help to ensure these primary school children are fed at least one balanced meal each day and are able to focus on learning and not on their grumbling belly.

For anyone who is helping out with a financial donation, I would love your input on this.  While, I believe this is a really great way to spend the money we’ve raised on something meaningful and tangible and with a group of people where I am sure that every penny will be used for its intended purpose, we are talking about your contribution.  If you have any thoughts, please let me know.

I've spoken so much about Sarah that it would be a shame not to show you who she is.  Here, she is speaking to Kimani, the school's Head Master and the man to be credited for getting the fishpond supplies.

Bittersweet reality - Chapter 2: The reflection

It saddens me that dishonest people exist.  I would love to live my life believing that everyone is as good as their word, but that is not the case.  From here, I see two paths.

1: Distrust people as a default setting.  Paint all people with the brush of “potentially dishonest”.  Don’t help those who genuinely need help because in doing so I may also be used by those who don’t.

2: Don’t let a bad experience jade you.  Continue helping, but don’t be naïve.  Be compassionate towards people but be aware that people may try to take advantage of you.  There are countless good ways to help others, so put in the time required to find a cause where you know the results of your efforts will be maximized. 

I chose path 2.  I am inspired by Sarah and her continued dedication to serving those in need despite the corruption and roadblocks she’s faced.  I hope that I can learn to look at new situations critically but not cynically.  I believe that denying help to someone in need because you fear dishonesty is a bigger error than helping someone who takes advantage of your generosity.  I will be firm, aware and critical but I won’t be jaded.

Waste not, want not (August 4, 2011)

This week brought a very interesting encounter with wildlife…. Well, actually, can I still call it wild”life”, if it was dead??  At this point, I would like to issue a disclaimer that this story is not for vegetarians or the weak of heart.  Now, let me start from the beginning.

For anyone who has not read my previous blogs, or who I have not succeeded in convincing that hippos can be very dangerous, let me give you an example.  There is a very large hippo that frequently walks several kilometers from the lake, where he spends his hot days, to graze on our property at night.  While they are certainly are magnificent to watch, hippos are well-known to attack people and it is very rare that anyone ever survives a hippo bite.  Needless-to-say, his presence made some of our neighbours nervous. 

Two weeks ago, this hippo was again seen in someone’s yard and this time the guard on our property was called to handle the situation.  Now, when I say “handle the situation”, I use the term loosely.  The guard approached the hippo on foot and waived his flashlight at it.  I must say that holding a flashlight would not bring me a great deal of comfort in this situation.  The outcome:  the hippo was startled by the light and turned to leave.  Feeling that he had accomplished his goal, the guard turned to walk back to his post at the gate.  At this point, the hippo turned around and bit the guard, severely injuring his arm and back.  He must have awfully good karma, though, because he did not die.

Last week, our friend the hippo again made his evening visit to graze on our property.  This time, the Kenya Wildlife Service was called to the scene.  It would seem that they are armed with more than flashlights, because in the morning, the hippo lay dead in the corner of the yard, with 5 small bullet holes as evidence that he wasn’t just sleeping.

This hippo is not sleeping.

Very small bullets given the size of the animal they were used to kill.

This is why people don't survive hippo bites.

  

Now, it turns out that word of a free hippo meat spreads quickly.  By 9am, the hippo was surrounded by 30-40 locals from Karagita, the slum across the road.  The men were armed with machetes (which are used here for cutting everything from lawns to hippo carcasses) and the women were carrying plastic bags and crates, ready to transport hippo meat.  The pictures below were taken once all of the meat had been removed from the outside of the hippo’s ribs.  What I found most striking, however, is how durable a hippo’s rib cage is.  Please note the man swinging the axe.  He swang several times while I was watching, but still did not manage to break through the bone to the meat underneath.

Gory, yes.  BUT, be it a hippo or a cow, this is where our meat comes from.  All of the meat taken off these bones was put to good use!

It takes many, many swings with an ax to break through a hippo's rib cage.

Eventually, duty called and I left the scene and returned to sorting sediment samples in my kitchen.  However, when the workday ended, I was curious to see what was left of my friend.  It turns out that nearly every part of a hippo can be eaten, because the picture below is all that remained.  Even the head was gone.  Interestingly, I learned later that the owners of the property had taken the head and they were able to get 15 kg of meat from the head alone.  Wow!!

This was all that remained of a car-sized hippo after all the meat was taken.

I must say, I was very impressed by the lack of wasted hippo.  I feel like it was not a life wasted.  

A peak inside the "Living Way Orphanage" (July 31, 2011)

Today was a much-anticipated day for me: I got to go to the orphanage and meet the children for myself!

In preparation for our visit, we stocked up on sweets - love of sugar is universal.

The orphanage, called “Living Way Orphanage”, is located about a 20-minute drive outside of Naivasha Town.  Actually, one of the first things I noticed was how isolated it is from pretty much everything.  After a 10-minute drive up the main highway, one must navigate another 10 minutes of windy, dirt road to arrive at the gate of the orphanage.  It was later pointed out to me that the owning land in an area this isolated is probably very affordable.

When you enter, you see the entire orphanage property is quite small, consisting of only a few buildings and a small amount of open space.  The first item on the agenda was a tour, starting with the girls’ dormitory.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by how warm it felt.  Each of the girl’s beds were covered in colourful pink sheets and each girl had a bright blue metal chest beside her bed to hold her belongings.  On a string hung across the breadth of the room was a series of many flags, but because I am internationally unaware, I have no idea which countries they represented.

This is the girls dormitory.

Next we saw the boys’ room, which was similar in contents to the girls’ room, except that the pink sheets were replaced with sheets of a more manly blue.  Also unique to the boys’ room were the sketches hanging on the walls that many of them copied from newspapers and magazines.  On young boy, Rueben, was particularly proud of his artwork and promised to make me a picture for me if only I could bring him some drawing paper and markers.

A bed and chest of belongings in the boys' room.

Next, we moved to a second building, which contained the school room (singular) and the food storage room.  Please note that the food storage room is empty.  To my surprise, this ended up being what the orphanage co-ordinator, Onasmes, identified as the thing that they needed most.  In fact, we left them a small amount of money before we parted today and Onasmes immediately went into town to buy groceries so that the children could eat lunch.

George and Godfrey show me their school room.

So it turns out that everyone learns to multiply in the same way!

This is the food storage room.  Please note the absence of the food.

After the tour, we spent some time hanging out with the children.  Most of them were full of enthusiasm, sang songs and were excited to pose for pictures.  The children were also sure to tell us what they thought they needed most.  Interestingly, none of them thought food was as big of a priority as school supplies.  After discussing the list of school supplies that they would most like, the girls also requested a private meeting to discuss things that boys would surely not understand.  Pads, panties and bikers (spandex-like shorts worn under skirts) were high on their priority list.  I’ve actually re-written the complete chicken-scratched supply list below.  It’s much more legible now!

School supplies

·      Shoes

·      Socks

·      School bags

·      Books to read (children’s books at various skill levels)

·      Pens, pencils, markers, pencil crayons, erasers

·      Paper

·      Exercise books

·      Geometry sets

·      Long, white girls socks for with school uniforms

·      Calculators

Items requested by the girls

·      Pads

·      Panties

·      Bikers

·      Long, white socks to be worn with school uniforms

·      Toothbrushes/toothpaste

·      Bars of soap

Food stuff (to be purchased in Kenya with monetary donations)

·      Maize flour (for making ugali)

·      Beans

·      Rice

·      Cooking fat

·      Sugar

·      Carrots and other vegetables

·      Tea leaves

The children had lots of their own ideas on what they needed more of.   While most children I know in Canada would be quick to tell you about their desperate need for a new iPod, these children were most interested in school supplies (and toothbrushes so they wouldn't have to share).

So, my thoughts are this.  I know that there have been some people who have already expressed an interested in sending school supplies and I think that is a great idea – the children will love it!  Warren is going to buy a big suitcase and collect supplies (school or otherwise) from anyone who wants to send them.  Kelly-Lyn, I did get your email and I will send an email to daybreak to tell them what is on the list.  Please say, “Thank you very much!” to all of your friends at daybreak for their help!

For anyone who is not interested in collecting and sending supplies or would prefer to help with a food donation, you could send me an email money transfer or send money with Warren and we will use it to buy food here.  We are going to look for a wholesaler where we can buy many of the food items for less money and in bulk, so any donation, no matter how big or small, will make a difference to how much food we can provide.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been excited about helping with this initiative.  I can’t wait to see what we can pull together!

Beasts of burden (July 21, 2011)

One very striking difference between Canada and Kenya is the role and treatment of animals.   I initially found some of these differences very difficult to cope with.  Allow me to give you some examples:

1:  Donkey’s are considered Naivasha’s “beasts of burden”.  They are tasked with pulling heavy carts of water, produce and people and it seems that they typically perform their work with little regard for their own comfort.  On more than one occasion I have seen a donkey fall, then try and try, to no avail, to regain his footing under the weight of the cart.  In fact, last week I was part of an impromptu donkey rescue team.  A single donkey was pulling a cart of produce down an incline and through the deep mud at the bottom.  In 12 inches of mud, the donkey lost his footing and fell, the cart landing on his flanks.  Myself and two of my colleagues struggled to lift the weight of the cart while the driver undid the donkey’s harness, allowing him to pull himself out of the mud.

This donkey cart is delivering water to Vincent's apartment.  This is clean water, provided by the Church to vendors at a very affordable rate.  Water is then sold at a rate of 7 shillings (~10 cents)/20 gallons to the people in town.

2:  Chickens are carried to the butchery by tying them to the roof of a bus.

3:  Dogs are not domesticated.  This, on its own, certainly does not offend me.  However, it breaks my heart a little when I see dogs and other livestock rummaging though dumpsites to find their meal, often consuming plastic that still tastes of the food it once held.  I also have a soft-spot in my heart for the mangy, three-legged dog that lives down the road.

Despite some of the unsavoury differences in the treatment of live animals, there are some things about the Kenyan approach to animals that I very much respect:

1: You cannot walk down a single city block without seeing at least one butchery with skinned animal carcasses hanging in the windows.  While this may seem vulgar, I think it is very admirable that everyone who eats meat understands exactly where their fried goat came from.  No one hides behind the inconspicuous, untraceable package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at No Frills.

This man has just cut a chunk of meat off one of the animal parts hanging in the background to make our dinner.  Although this butchery currently only has parts of animals hanging, it is common to see full cows, goats or sheep.

2: Humans are not always at the top of the food chain.  In the two months I’ve been here, there have already been several hippo and buffalo attacks, which are typically lethal.  Please don’t think I believe this is anything other than tragic for those involved and their families.  I do, however, appreciate that there is something humbling about knowing that I, as a human being, am not always the master of nature.  Sometimes I am merely a part of the food chain.

3:  The chickens that arrived at the butchery tied to the top of a bus are either sold live or are killed upon order.  Again, there is something refreshing about watching a Kenyan carry a fully-feathered, dead chicken home for dinner and knowing that their family fully understands where their meal came from.  This has refueled my desire to raise, kill and eat my own chicken.  If I can’t do this, I should be a vegetarian.

Give more than you take: PART II (June 20, 2011)

I'd like to give you a quick follow up to my last blog which outlined several of the ways that a small amount of money can make a big difference in the life of someone here in Kenya.  I am leaning strongly towards supporting the local orphanage, which may include donating much needed supplies as well as money for school fees.  While I still think that the idea of collecting guttered rain water is really promising, I feel like the implementation of this might be out of the scope of what I can achieve on this trip.

I plan on organizing a trip to the orphanage in the next couple of weeks to visit the children and talk to the manager about the orphanage's needs.  If you're interested in contributing to the cause, stay tuned for my future blog about the trip and how we can help provide for some of these childrens' needs!  Again, if you have any feedback or idea on how we might best support the orphanage, I welcome the comments!

Give more than you take (July 13, 2011)

A wise person once told me that a responsible traveller should give more than he takes to the countries he visits.  Quite frankly, this is a sizable task given the amount of growth, learning and friendship that comes out of one’s travels.  None-the-less, I believe it to be true.  I have been challenged to step up my search for a way to leave behind something positive in Kenya by many of my loved once in Canada who are also looking for a way that they can make a positive contribution here.

In my active quest to find ways that a small group of people can create meaningful change, I have done some asking around.  It turns out that there is lots of ways to make a difference!

1: Give a family money to pay their children’s school fees.  In Kenya, most of the good schools are private and quite expensive.  Most of many parent’s salaries goes towards paying for their children’s education.  Some children also lack basic educational tools, such as light to study by after sundown.  Paying school fees and purchasing solar-powered desk lamps would give children some of the basic tools they need for their education.

2: Pay for a family to install gutters on their home for water collection.  Water availability is a big issue in Naivasha.  Most of the slums around the lake have no running water.  Actually, even in Naivasha Town, the lake’s semi-formal settlement, many homes lack running water.  Water is either collected directly from the lake or boreholes, or it is purchased from the “donkey guys”.  Aside for the obvious hygiene issues associated with drinking unpurified water, the water in this region is also very high in fluoride.  Consequently, the majority of citizens around Naivasha have fluorosis of the teeth.  Collecting clean, guttered rainwater presents free alternative to paying for water of sub-standard quality.  When the heavy rain comes in the rainy season, the clean water can be channeled into holding tanks large enough to sustain a family for months.

Fluorosis of the teeth is very common in Naivasha.  It arises from the very high fluoride content in the ground and lake water.

3: Provide much needed supplies to the local orphanage.  The orphanage in Naivasha supports many parentless children and is often in need of basic necessities including sanitary napkins, soap, toilet paper, toothbushes and toothpaste.  They also lack transportation for the children and would be very grateful for a donation of one or more bicycles, which are a very common mode of transportation in this area.   A donation to the orphanage would help support one of the most vulnerable populations around Naivasha.

Over the course of the next couple weeks, I plan to do more investigation into the feasibility and value of each of these options.  In the meantime, if you are interested in making a contribution or you have any ideas on how to help, please comment on this blog.  I’d love to hear what you have to say!

My 10th + 15 birthday (July 10, 2011)

I turned the big 2-5 this year.  Yep, a quarter century (gosh, how old does that make my parents??)  However, when I awoke the morning of Monday, July 4, I didn’t really feel any different than the day before.  To be honest, I never really understood the big deal with birthdays anyways.   They really boil down to just another day.  I am the same person that I was the day before and that I will surely be the day after.  However, by the end of this birthday, I was reminded why it is oh-so important to celebrate birthdays.

I started the big day with a normal workday.  Vincent and I mapped a couple of residential areas and a couple of channels that flow from residential areas, to the lake.  We agreed to call it a night early, however, because my roommates and I had big plans to have dinner and make a cake.  On the walk back to our house, I was given my first birthday gift.  As we strolled through the field behind our house, I looked up and saw our cottage purchased on the hillside in front of me.  Between the house and I stood a beautiful stand of yellow-barked acacia trees and natural bush land, peppered with giraffes and waterbuck.  Could I ask for a more beautiful place to live?

When I arrived at the house, the festivities began.  I told you we planned to make a cake, but I didn’t tell you why this cake was special.  It was going to be an “Ugali cake”! For those of you who have never hear of ugali, it is hands down the most popular food in Kenya.  It is so popular, in fact, that people believe that if they don’t eat ugali for dinner, they will not sleep.  Ugali is quite a simple dish, made by mixing equal parts of boiling water and maize flower and mixing until the white blob has become thick enough to roll into small pieces and eat with your fingers.  Because ugali is really quite moist and has no distinct flavor of its own, we decided that we could probably use it to make a cake.  We got the water off to a rolling boil and before we added the maize flour to the water, I stirred a substantial amount of sugar into the flour.  By this point, the Kenyans among us were already cringing – why must muzungus add sugar to all the favourite Kenyan dishes!?  Thirty minutes, 2 bananas, a mango, 3 passionfruit and a bag of icing sugar later, our ugali cake was complete!  Admittedly, I have had better cakes, but the entire value of the cake was in the creation.  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time!

This is how ugali is traditionally eaten..... Mmmmmm, so good!  (Side bar: this meal cost me $1)

This is how we have improved (or destroyed, depending on who you ask) ugali!

After dinner, I got to open my card and gifts.  It turns out that birthday card selection in Kenya is slightly smaller than the Shoppers Drug Mart collection.  The two options were “Happiness always dear 10-year old” or “May God bless you on your birthday”.  This selection doesn’t come as a particularly large surprise to me, given that Vincent often reminds me that God play a very important role in maintaining order in Kenya.  Kenya has good laws, but very poor enforcement capacity.  It is Vincent’s belief that the laws are followed because most of the population is highly religious and believes in a God who sees and judges their actions. 

Myself and my roomies, however, are from a country that seems to be less and less religious, so I got the “Happiness always dear 10 (+15) year old”.  The card, with the touching messages inside are among the most unique birthday cards I’ve ever received and will definitely find a permanent home in my memories box.  Finally, for the icing on the ugali cake, I got to open my gift.  My Kenyan roommate, Dorothy, gave me a lovely Kenyan skirt and the rest of my friends went together to buy me a new digital camera (Sadly, one of the guests at our Canada Day party two days earlier found my previous digital camera irresistible and took it home).  I was so touched by the gifts I nearly cried.  All of the laughter and all of the memories that I accumulated on July 4, 2011 have reminded me that although a birthday might be just another one of the 365 days in a year, celebrating it fully every year means that you are guaranteed to accumulate vibrant, happy memories with those you care about.  Always celebrate your birthday and always commemorate the birthdays of those you love!

A Masters in life experience (June 29, 2011)

I sometimes spend many hours reflecting on my life choices.  Were they right?  Were they wrong?  Why did I make them?  What have I learned and how have I grown?  Am I becoming the person I want to become?  Sometimes I like the answers I come up with, sometimes less so.  These days, the second degree that I am perusing is often the topic of all of this reflection.  Because it would seem that I have taken a liking to expressing myself by blog, you now get to be privy to my inner most self-reflections on such topics.

What inspired me to pursue a Masters?  Well, if I’m honest with myself, it wasn’t the most carefully planned choice I’ve ever made.  What I knew going in were 4 things:

• I love school and I love learning 
• I have a chance to participate in a great, interdisciplinary project, which represents many of my interests all rolled into one
• I have a time to kill until Warren is done his apprenticeship and we can travel together
•  I don’t think anyone has ever become less employable with more education 

And so it began the most challenging experience of my life.  I was so unaware of what lay ahead; some things very good, others not so much.  But as I sit here and reflect on the last year, I realize that I have really learned a great number of lessons, most of which I never anticipated.  Allow me to share:

1: I am a social person.  This is not a great revelation, but what WAS surprising to me the level of challenge I face when I cannot learn by talking with others.  When learning consists of reading an endless stream of scientific articles, not balanced by a lot of discussion of what I’ve learned, I simply don’t thrive.  A personal weakness?  Perhaps.

2: Whom I work with and for are quite possibly more instrumental in determining my happiness at work than is the nature of the work I am doing.

3: I really enjoy teaching and I am not terrible at it.  The resources at the Teaching Support Center have been a GREAT way to explore and improve my teaching strategies.

4: I have the ability and the independence to take on brand new challenges, which I know little about.   What’s more, I know that if I apply myself, I can complete these challenges with success.

5: My enthusiasm may be less infinite than I once imagined.  This revelation was a crushing blow to me, as it had never before occurred to me that the natural enthusiasm that I was lucky enough to inherit from my parents would never be something that I would have to work at maintaining.  But, I know that attitude is a choice and I hope I can always choose to be positive.

6: Passion and excitement for something are not exactly synonyms.

7: “The ripest fruit first falls”.  Vincent once told me a fable that is often told to Kenyan children.  It goes like this:  Once upon a time, a hare and a hyena were walking through the savannah.  They came to a fruit tree, but they noticed that the fruits were over their heads and out of their reach.  The hyena said to the hare, “come, let us go.  This fruit here is not yet ripe.”  When I heard this, I heard “do not reach for anything that does not come easily to you.”  (I was slightly appalled, as I grew up with the childhood slogan, “reach for the stars”).  However, when I recently saw the poster above in a 3-table restaurant in Karagite, my view started to shift.  Maybe there is value in understanding that the ripest, most delicious fruit is that which has already fallen into your life.  I have much to be thankful for.

8: Balance in my life is more important than I ever used to believe.  I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I can’t wait for the time when I have a 9-5 job and I can use my week nights and weekends to take up new hobbies, attend hot yoga, visit my extended family, go canoeing and camping with Warren and Piper and finish the oil painting that I started a year ago.  Just for a small while, I am ready to use my free time for self-indulgent activities.

9: I need to strengthen my sense of self.  Historically, I have been to quick to let other people’s feedback determine how I see myself.  I’ve learned that I need to know who I am from the inside out and not from the outside in.  (This might sound easy, but I assure you it’s not!)

OK.  I think that’s enough deep thinking for one night.  Thanks for listening!