A weekend at the Orphanage

We finally have electricity back at the orphanage! Who knows how long it will last, but we should be able to keep in touch with everyone at bit easier now. Its been a long time since we gave an update and there has been a lot going on since we arrived just 2 weeks ago – including the addition of my all-too-clichéd travelers facial hair!

As we are staying at the orphanage we are basically working 7 days a week – whereas other volunteers have the weekend off, for us it is the busiest time, as all of the kids are around and need amusement. It is amazing to see how little the children here have compared to kids back in America or the UK. Not only do they not have computer games, but they don’t even have basic toys like a ball, or coloring books. Some of the girls play “tea-party”, but instead of little plastic plates or cutlery, they use old bottle tops, twigs, mud, old bits of vegetables etc to play with. Instead of a football, they use rolled up socks or a ball of plastic bags secured with some tape. Yet you never hear one of them whine about their situation, or complain that they are bored – they just get on with it and amuse themselves.

Our first Saturday here we got out the crayons and pens we had brought with us, gave the kids some paper and had them draw for a couple of hours. It was great to see them all occupied with something - and fun to see what drawings they came up with. The following Monday we made the long trip into Nairobi to get some more supplies for them. We bought a real leather soccer/football as well as a mini bowling (skittles) set, which we had to teach them how to use – not as easy as it sounds when you only speak a couple of words of Swahilli and all the kids want to do is throw the ball as hard as possible at the pins! Its great to see how happy these relatively simple things make them.

Last Sunday we had our first experience of church in Africa. It was not at all like I was expecting. There is a Pastor living just down the road from the orphanage, and he is the unofficial “guardian” of the house – Pastor John. His church is located quite a distance away, but he has a sister church a bit closer so the kids go there. However, this is a very new church. In addition to our 30 kids there were only about 4 other people at the church – and two of those were related to the pastor! The church itself was basically just a hut, with a lectern and some benches. The “service” consisted of a welcome, some songs, a bit of prayer, more songs, a reading from the bible (in English) followed be a sermon in Swahilli (thank goodness we read the bible passage in English so we at least had some knowledge of what was going on), and finally some more songs. As the congregation was 90% under 16 it felt a little more like Sunday-School then a regular church service, so we are looking forward to going to Pastor John’s church soon to see a more authentic Kenyan church service.

The children walk 45 mins each way to get to the church, and at the end of the service the older girls swept and mopped the church before we left. It is amazing to see how hard these kids work, and how far they walk, even the little 5 & 6 year olds, without any complaints! It makes us shut up when we think about how tiring a 45 minute walk in the midday sun is!

After church, we had been invited to Pastor John’s home for lunch. He lives in a mud hut, which is, as it sounds, basically just a wooden structure with dried mud, cow dung, and urine holding it together. They have a separate bedroom and kitchen and a main living/dining space.

Lunch at the Pastor’s was the first time we had meat since we had arrived in Kenya (well, for me at least…the meat here is nothing like you would expect from home and Emily couldn’t even stomach a bite!), and peas too! What a treat after a week of beans and corn! In his mud hut they have 4 sofas, and a little black and white TV, running from a car battery. The pastor himself was immaculately dressed in a crisply ironed shirt and tie. Kenyans are very proud and are usually very well turned out – even if they have no electricity, running water and live in a mud hut. It makes me feel pretty bad, walking around in my dusty clothes, having not bathed for two days and sporting my unsightly facial hair just because I don’t want to shave in cold water! Clearly the excuse of being in a third world country is a very Western one.

It was really good to have lunch with the Pastor’s family, not only to eat great food (and some fruit!) but also to hear more about the orphanage and to speak with his family about life in Kenya. The Pastor raised 5 children here, after being displaced from another town in the clashes of the early 1980’s in Kenya. As a Kikuyu, he is a member of the tribe that was attacked after the 2007 presidential election. He was not affected in 2007, but in the 1980s he was forced out of his home by similar clashes. To put it in very simple terms, the Kikuyu are the largest tribe, at about 45% of the population, and they are spread all over Kenya.

As the largest tribe (and the tribe of the President) they are blamed for many problems and accused of ignoring the needs of the minority tribes. In 2007, the minorities got together in areas where Kikuyu’s were spread thinly and forced them out of their homes – murdering males and burning homes. The people who fled are now housed in camps around Kenya called IDP Camps (internally displaced people). Some of the stories we have heard are horrific – of neighbors turning on each other, and even families, simply because of tribal loyalties. No majority should be allowed to oppress a minority, but hearing of the conditions in the IDP camps and the stories of those who fled, the clashes are indefensible. The NGO we are working with does some work at the IDP camps so we are planning to spend a weekend helping out at one during our stay here.

Our first weekend really gave us the opportunity to learn more about the kids and about life here in Kenya. We were very tired by the end of it and I started to realize just how much energy it takes living with 32 kids! Lots more to come soon, including many more pictures (especially of Emily, due to high demand!)

Simon