Awake with the Roosters

Day 2 - 
 
“I can’t wait to see more of Kenya. Hear the sounds! Taste the air! Heart, you will fall in love with country and with our Creator.”

    The first night in Ngong was a restless one. I woke with the roosters and took a cold shower. Nairobi (especially Ngong town) is chilly in the mornings and evenings due to the elevation and despite the closeness of the equator. Though, it makes sense because the Southern Hemisphere is in its winter season. However, the only way a westerner knows that would be to look at the natives with their winter coats while you stand comfortably in a t-shirt. My Kenyan teammates wore jackets and scarves while we enjoyed the cooler weather in thin clothing as we headed to our first Morning Glory. Our amazing directors scheduled a daily devotional for our team every morning at 7:15am (with exceptions) and one of us (students) would provide a word from the Bible before heading to breakfast. Breakfast usually consisted of bread, an egg in any form, fruit and some type of sausage. We all came to love the butter, Blue Band, and the Red jam (plum to be exact; not to be confused with the orange jam – we didn’t like that one) that accompanied our bread.
     That morning we had more training on culture and how to deal with culture shock/being in different surroundings. Our director, Brian, sent us into town in groups after the afternoon meal. Ngong town was within walking distance of Watakatifu Wote Senta. We were given a list of things we would need to buy for our time there, yet there was a catch; the list was in Swahili and not in English. Therefore, we had to go into town and interact with the people there to find the items without the help of our Kenyan teammates. My first thoughts: “Yes! Trip to town. Oh gosh. Okay. Swahili? Good thing most of the people will know English….right? What is that greeting? Um…ha…ha something. Habari? Right? And I say ‘mzuri’ if someone says that to me. I think. Yes. Okay. Let’s do this!” I join Silvia and some of the other girls, grab shillings, and we start walking down the road. We only took one camera because we were not there to be seen as tourists but our goal was to blend into the people of the town and learn. It wasn’t one of the instructions from Brian, but I don’t think any of us desired to stick out like a rock amidst the sand. Swahili? Check. I thought I could greet anyone and be OK. I was a little too confident unfortunately.
     As soon as we stepped into the limits of town, I quickly realized that I was a fish trying to fly with a flock of birds. Our group of wazungu (white people) drew the attention of the whole town; shop owners and school children alike. It was wonderful being out of the Senta walls and experiencing more of Kenya; seeing goats eat trash on the side of the road, seeing a contrast of new and old cars passing, children and adults talking about all the wazungu in town, buying supplies with Kenyan shillings, smelling the diesel, and filling our noses with dust. Silvia gave us more cultural dos and don’ts as we asked more and more questions. We were successful in buying most of our supplies; successful as in finding them and paying for them…not so much in asking about them in our butchered Swahili.  Strategically, Brian mispronounced an item for us – the one item Silvia was silent about and that was the hardest to find. I was pretty bold in my group, but the price was laughter.
    Being laughed at doesn’t exactly build self-esteem when you are trying out a new language. Every time someone greeted me in Swahili, I would have the response at the tip of my tongue, but it never came out until after I passed the person. Then I was told it is rude not to greet people back. Yes. I was staring straight into the face of frustration. On top of that, my brain was searching for any other language but Swahili in its memory. The tiniest bit of Spanish I used during High school Mexico missions trips would come out at random.
Someone: Habari yako!
Me: Muy bien! …I mean, mzuri..?
The time we had in town was productive and taught me a lot about how to cope in a culture when you are not very familiar with the ways of the culture. My team was triumphant in the end got everything on the list. Silvia probably hadn’t laughed that hard for a while and she told us to keep making mistakes so she could laugh more. I didn’t mind because I was laughing at us too. Especially when we were told Brian made it harder on us on purpose. It was an experience I thrived on and I had a blast.
     We debriefed our experience with the whole team after we all got back. After chai, we joined the Maasai pastors (they were also staying at the Senta for their own conference) for a volleyball game. It was a blast to watch! The spirit of competition was high and yet the spirit of friendship was even greater.They had so much energy and definitely killed the Americans as far as scores. 

“We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored…

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride…

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land…

They will know we are Christians by our love.”

  They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love  written by Peter Scholtes

At First Glimps

Day 1 –
“We landed in Nairobi after a hot plane ride and walked into the airport to the smell of Kenya! We are in Africa!”

     I had many moments like that on the trip. Moments when I thought deeply about how far I had come from the States when I said, “Oh my goodness, I am in KENYA!” Those moments never went away. After getting our visas and luggage (both guitars made it safely – Praise God!), we blocked a good part of the airport traffic to meet the 4 students from Nairobi universities that would be a part of our team. We were taught the greeting “Bwana Asifiwe (Praise God)” in New York and this was the moment we could try out our new phrase in Kiswahili. It made all of us a little nervous. You could feel it in the air. Will they be accepting or judge us at first glance? I can bet that they had the same thoughts about us. Stereotypes and assumptions about another culture never made anyone very comfortable. I first met sweet Charity. Smile? Check. Hand out to shake? Check. Swahili phrase? Not so much. I stumbled on my words as my brain tried to recover. Embarrassing. Nonetheless, she was very gracious and extended a hug to me. You learn quickly not to dwell on mistakes in a different culture; learn from it and press on. My meager attempt to be graceful was a little more successful when greeting the other three and they were so friendly despite the awkward air. Two cultures merging will create an uncomfortable atmosphere, but thank the Lord we have one big thing in common: Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord of our lives. It defines who we are as people and that common cause will unite even the biggest differences. After that encounter, I was more determined to learn Kiswahili and get to know the new additions to our team.
     We piled our luggage and bodies into buses and started off towards Ngong town. My first glimpses of Kenya made my heart beat with wonder. I love seeing a new country and its land. I compared and contrasted it to Mexico which couldn’t be helped after I have seen it many times. I fell in love with Kenya at first glance. The bus took us past the city buildings, villages, churches, and schools which my eyes struggled to stay open to behold as the scenery became greener every minute. I didn’t want to miss a thing. Looking behind me at my teammates confirmed that jetlag was getting to all of us at this point. Most of us were asleep as we reached our destination and home for the first week; Watakatifu Wote Senta. After the luggage was hulled off our buses, our team was welcomed (karibu) into the dining hall to our first cup of chai with many more to come. The hospitality I met was overwhelming – we were given the best. Chai, I would say, is the taste of Kenya.  Maybe not because of anything other than this fact: Kenyans drink it at least three times a day. I was told that Kenyans cannot say they have eaten until they have chai. Kenyan chai is more like black tea; it’s not the spicy stuff you get at coffee shops and Indian restaurants. During chai, we got to talk with the Kenyan students more and I ended up rooming with Silvia for the week – I was so blessed to have her! She was patient as I told her about my culture and informative when I asked questions about hers. But she also loved to laugh at my frequent attempts to fit in with my new culture…the one in which she grew up.
My first mosquito net experience went like this:
              Me: (lifting the net up with my fingers) So…how does this work…?
              Silvia: You don’t know how?
              Me: Well, no. I don’t have one back home.
              Silvia: Here, let me help you.
              Me: (defiant but playful tone) No, let me try to do it myself.
              Silvia: (adopts a smug smile and eagerly sits back) Okay.
              Me: (flails around with the net unsuccessfully, gets tangled up, and gives up and grins at the expert who is laughing so hard no sound escapes from her mouth).
     The dinner bell rang after I played a lovely back-and-forth game of Frisbee with some my teammates and two kids from around the area. We washed our hands, gave thanks, and started a line for our first taste of traditional Kenyan food. Ugali (maize meal), beef (with fat on it, of course), cabbage, chapatti (flour tortilla…kinda), rice, and potatoes were the bulk of what I ate in Kenya for 7 whole weeks. Believe it or not, I miss it all. The portions were too large for us to stomach, so many of the girls scouted out "lonely", "helpless", "skinny" boys from our team to finish their plates for them. In Kenya, you eat everything on your plate and everything you are given. Waste is not a word found in their dictionary – I think America could learn from that.
     With bulging bellies, my team and I headed to bed fairly early…Kenyan time. I didn’t sleep very well at all as my body was still on U.S. time which was 9 hours behind. Jetlag. Joy. I waited, with my eyes closed, to see what the morning would bring in my new country.
"Lord, change me and break me. What is Your purpose? Soften my heart and teach me Your ways. Amen."

The Traveling Days

As I read through my Kenya journal, I want to let you all know what I was up to each day because it is difficult to recall everything when I talk to all of you. So, here it is – day to day. It will take a while to get through all of the 7 weeks, so bear with me. Don’t feel like you have to read it either. This is for my benefit and for those of you who agreed with the idea. :)

The Traveling Days (June 3^rd to 6^th) – New York City to Nairobi, Kenya 

    Four of us girls from UNC stepped off the red-eye flight into JFK airport…bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6 AM. Well, not really. Our director’s instructions were whizzing through my head incomprehensibly as my brain tried to find its way around the airport. Thankfully, two of the GP (global project) staff was there to meet us and direct us to the hotel along with some teammates from Montana and Idaho. Our rooms were not open, so we took an invitation to walk around NYC all day with some of the team. The Brooklyn Bridge, subway, Times Square, Central park, and diversely packed streets were what my eyes beheld that day as our feet carried us around for 6 hours. We made our way back in time to the hotel to meet the directors of the Kenya GP and the rest of our team for dinner and engaged in pre-orientation discussions.
     As soon as I meet all of my teammates, I knew it was going to be a good trip. They were all friendly and willing to talk to anyone about anything. My excitement grew about 90% and the plethora of other emotions I was feeling was slowly being pushed to the side. I couldn’t wait to get on that international flight and get to know my team better! However, an 11-13 hour flight plus an active person did not seem to mix well, and I was wary of my guitar that was probably under many pounds of luggage in the belly of the plane. Thank goodness I was between two of my team members and that sleep took a big chunk of the time away. There were many times on that flight when the unknown that was Kenya entered my thoughts and stirred up nerves. In that moment, I was reminded of a conversation with an InterVarsity staff worker the year before when I doubted the future of my faith. She looked at me with confident, doubtless eyes and said, “You will say ‘yes’ to Jesus. You will.” The confidence in her voice and her eyes really shook my doubt away. I could do this with His strength. Bring it on.

     I kept my chin up as we landed (finally!) in Doha, Qatar. The Middle East! Woo! As I descended the stairs toward the shuttle, the air hit me like a train. It was around 11pm and I felt like I had walked into an oven. Not living there anytime soon – hot and heavy air that you could cut with a knife is not my cup of tea. Anyway, we got to see the city in the dark and in the early morn after a couple hours of horizontal sleep. Being in a very rich country, our hotel was the fanciest I have ever beheld (from the inside) before and it was exciting…then. The architecture was also nothing like I have seen in my life – it was very cool. And I got a stamp in my passport. Huzzah! By the time we boarded a smaller plane, I was feeling a bit more prepared to land in Nairobi within 5 hours’ time with the rest of my excited teammates.