Wednesday July 13

Nitawafundisha (I will teach you),

The words seem to be bigger and Kenya, maybe that is why I have such a hard time rememebering them -- I am getting old you know;-)

Today was the second day at The House of Mercy, my project in Githurai. Rose is the coordinator, and she met me at the corner grocery store on my first day, and escorted me to the project. When I say corner grocery store, it should not be confused with anything you see in the states. In the store, things look fairly similar. Outside is the difference. Think of an outside farmer's market or flea market. Now when we go to the actual projects, we must make our way through many left & right turns, setting up the maze of all the stands that are set up along the way. Walking on very rocky, and uneven trails, it is hard to look around sometimes and even take in what products are even being sold. 

It is a bit dangerous to have your camera out in public, but I will try to get some stealth shots from my jacket pocket in the near future. It is very difficult because everyone stares at the mazungo (white person) everywhere I go.

These two days have been wonderful so far. I have helped to feed the younger children porridge (think of cream of wheat, but made from corn instead). I have played with the children. They love to be spun around, or have any kind of physical touch at all. They are very loving and smiley for the most part. The babies seem to be the saddest. One little girl, Kate, has only been at the orphanage for three days. She is adorable. I picked her up yesterday, and she cried whenever I put her down. She even wandered into the classsroom later on yesterday and today just to find me. However, they are very concerned that she does not form too close of a bond with me, as I will only be there for 3 weeks. I would adopt her if I could. One of the tachers told me today that it is free for Kenyans to adopt the children there. I wish it was like that in the states!!! I will be checking into this to see if it is true.

There is also a little boy named John, probably just turned 3, whose smile absolutely makes me giggle every time I see it. He is light as a feather and I find myself trying to pick him up often, I guess he is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

I have helped teach math, Christian education, and have written down quite a bit of swahili as the teacher teaches the children. Right now I am trying to learn the very important commands:
Sit down  keti chimi
Come here= kuja hapa
Wait = ngoja
Stop = acha

The last two are very important as the children can crowd in and smother me or other children at times. I guess this is what being famous feels like (haha!)

I also had dthe chance to reac all of the children the story of Daniel and the Lions Den today after lunch.
I played duck duck goose; sang Ring around the Rosie,Father Abraham, and Inright upright upright downright with them in the past few days.

Please send me comments to remind my old brain of other great action songs to sing with kids!!!!!

I may go to church with my students on a Sunday while I am here. I am currently trying to find out what their needs are and will be purchasing items to take with me to thier project soon. I think I am going to bring the cornet tomorrow and give the children a chance to blow a horn -- they will have a blast. The hard part will be trying to get them in a line and not trample each other!!! Pray that I will figure out a good way to teach them patience!!!

God bless,

Lynn