This morning was fantastic, other than the fact that I had to wake up at 7:45. I rolled out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast. I sat down at the table and spotted some cereal and cold milk! Usually the milk is warm and it kinda freaks me out in cereal. While I poured myself a bowl, my ears picked up a familiar sound. SpongeBob! Yes, David was watching some sweet SpongeBob episodes on DVD. Naturally, I took my bowl of cereal into the sitting room and joined. I thoroughly enjoyed watching SpongeBob set up a bubble stand and then teach Squidward how to blow amazing bubbles. It felt like an American Saturday – eating cereal and watching cartoons.
Eventually Keith came to pick us up. Justine was with him and we all piled in for the ride to Joska! I absolutely love Joska. We arrived at the boarding school and ate omelets specially prepared for us. (I feel spoiled with the VIP treatment the Kamau’s get.) The short term teams arrived and we all attended an assembly to welcome our guests. The kids recited scripture. Mary taught us all Psalm 40:8. The kids sang, danced, and performed a play.
I was totally engrossed in the dancing when Justine popped up in front of me. She informed us that Mary had told the man in charge of the assembly that the four of us (Justine, Leann, Julie, and I) had a presentation for everyone. Everyone included Mary, Keith, three short term teams, about 300 students, and their teachers. We literally had 5 minutes to come up with something.
This is one of the reasons that I adore Kenya. The people here just expect you to have a reserve of sermons and performances always ready to go. Being totally put on the spot, we decided to perform the Father Abraham song. Yes.
We were the closing act of this welcoming ceremony. The four of us awkwardly made our way to the front and introduced ourselves. Luckily the students knew Father Abraham, so they sung it while we danced. Keep in mind that this stunning performance followed the beautiful Kenyan dances of the students. Needless to say, we totally raised the roof on that place with our sweet moves.
After lunch, we kicked a soccer ball around with Wallace. Totally random, but totally awesome. Eventually us interns found two kids to kick with. We had a blast!
The kids at Joska have clever names for their living quarters. The younger kids, in 5th and 6th grade, live in dorms made of sheet metal. These are similar in appearance to the slums, except that the dorms are new (not rusty) and very spacious. They call these living quarters Bondeni because Bondeni is one of the poorest villages in Mathare. The kids in 7th and 8th grade live at "The Runda". Runda is that extremely nice neighborhood we drive through on our way to Mathare where all the rich important people live. Not only are these names awesomely clever, but they are also symbolic of the students' journeys out of the slums. Every student at Joska will move from Bondeni to Runda during their stay.
It is frustrating to drive through Runda every day on our way to Mathare. There are security guards everywhere with machine guns. I always see guards with machine guns. Even at Nakumat (the Wal-Mart of Nairobi). Can you imagine seeing armed guards outside of Wal-Mart at home? It’s insane.
At the end of our day at Joska we met 5 amazing kids. Maureen Panina, Dennis, Wilson, and Softy. Maureen is an orphan who has been raised by her grandmother. The boys are all great soccer players. In fact, Wilson is the captain of the Joska team. I look forward to seeing them again!
Tonight Julie and I went to bed at 9:00 pm. It was so lovely.
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