Games and Songs- best day two ever!

Day two has started, and ended… today we began our work with the kids and the Center. This morning we were bussed out to one of the slum villages, Mathare Village North, where we were running the Vacation Bible School (VBS) for about 200 kids, alongside a medical outreach team comprised of two nurses on our team, and their two volunteers. Our VBS began with a short prayer, and then song, led by… me, and my two teammates Christa and Michelle. One thing I have learned so far is that there is nothing like hearing the children sing. They are all learning English, and know many, many phrases to say to us, including ‘Welcome Visitors we are so grateful you are here you are marvelous we love you thank you visitors!” Now imagine a group full of amazingly beautiful Kenyan children saying this in unison, in a beautiful singsong voice. Kaci and the Sunshine Worship band, as we are known, taught the kids a few songs, and then we broke into groups- a third of the kids inside to do Bible lessons, a third to do crafts and a third to play games. Guess what I was in charge of? GAMES. The best thing in the whole world! The second best thing I’ve done out here, after hearing the children’s voices, is playing games with them and having fun. We played variations of Red Light Green Light, Duck Duck Goose, Simon Says, and Hot Potato. We did it with three different groups of kids of all ages, and they all laughed and had more fun than I’ve seen kids have in a long time- maybe ever. There were a few times when I just stopped and stood present in the moment, realizing that yes, this is ME, playing games with Kenyan children in the sun, on the equator, doing exactly what God wants me to be doing right now.

After VBS, we ate a delicious lunch (rice, mashed potatoes, a gravy/meat thing and cabbage/carrot slaw that we have for lunch everyday) and took a hike to the Madoya slum village. After the sights of yesterday’s slum, I thought the sights couldn’t get harder. I was wrong. Our hike included a walk past a public school with all the children yelling at us, and then through almost a literal mountain of trash to find the slum. The trash was so high, and so deep that at some parts my feet felt a springy surface underneath as the stepped through the first layer of plastic, paper, garbage. At one point, we had to turn around because we had taken the wrong path through the garbage and had come across the dirty gray ‘river’ of sludge water that was too wide to jump over. We backtracked, cross a rickety bridge and walked through a small herd of goats that were paper-thin, vacant eyes staring as they stood in the path and ate through the garbage. We trailed into the village and there was an abundance of children like I’ve never seen before in my life- all running and laughing and following us, screaming “howru, howru, howru” over and over. We came to our final destination- a communal toilet a pastor from one of our group’s churches had built, and stood there taking pictures amid the muck and children.

There is nothing like the smell of these villages. I have never smelled anything so distinct. I am grateful it’s been cloudy and very cool (comparatively) so the smell has not been baked in the sun all day. Aromas of pungent trash, human waste and ripe body odor permeate the air, in a way that I could never have imagined possible. Every once in a while the smell of campfires drifts my way, a welcome smell, as the adults make charcoal biscuits on their fires to sell for fire-starters later. The combination of the familiar campfire smell paired with the distinct dirty, rotting garbage has created a memory in my mind that I am sure I will not forget- or want to remember.

The children of the slums have never really seen what they look like, so they love to get their picture taken and scream, literally, in delight, as you show them the digital picture. They crowd around you like moths to a flame, waving their tiny little hands to push their way to the front to see the tiny 3” screen. They see the picture and scream, and laugh, and look at it like it’s the best thing they’ve ever seen. So many pictures I’ve taken have just been for the children’s sake, so they can have a moment of entertainment in their otherwise lackluster day.

After the walk, we climbed aboard our bus with trusty George, our driver, who drove us back to the Center in Pangani, where half of us went to do a painting project and the other half went to a classroom to begin an HIV/AIDS training that will end tomorrow with them going out into the slum community to educate the people. I was part of the painting crew- not only because my mom taught me SO well and painting comes so naturally, but also because, to be brutally honest, I was not ready to dive into the community and face the one on one conversations about the harsh reality of their HIV/AIDS world. At first I was a bit ashamed of this fear, but after seeing the gratitude in the eyes of those we were helping with as we painted, I realized that I made the right choice.

And mom, you would be proud of me: I volunteered right off the bat to paint the hand railing and banisters with their baby blue oil paint, and I rocked the socks right off that railing! Ben, the head of the project, told me and everyone else I was a professional. I credited you! And only a few drips and turpentine soaked rags to clean up!

The last activity of the day was to go to Doug and Jenifer’s house, the Americans that are hosting us as missionaries. They are originally from LA and they made the BEST tortillas, guacamole, salsa and beans I have EVER tasted. Melis I thought of you, as the bowl of guac was as big as my mixing bowl at home! Dinner was delicious and their home was gorgeous. It was about an hour outside of the Center, with traffic (which makes LA and NYC traffic look tame) and close to all of the international embassies. Doug and Jenifer have a daughter named Kacey that I met, as well as a little chihuahua/dachshund/mutt mix named Chip (for Chocolate Chip). We ate like it was Thanksgiving dinner- no one even spoke as we shoveled the food into our mouths! (Ps we are getting fed GREAT here. I am for sure coming back with a few extra pounds)

I will share the two best parts of the day, and then I am going to go to bed-a full day in the fun, on the equator playing four hours of games with endlessly energetic children and then three hours of painting a banister in the sun has left me a little tired.

The absolute two best parts of the day came during VBS time. One time was when we were Red Light Green Light and I was helping the ‘traffic light’ to yell out the colors. The excited children did NOT stop at the ‘Red Light’ command, and instead tackled me to the ground- maybe ten or twelve kids laughing and screaming and knocking me over, having the best time ever. Can’t beat that!

Or, if you could beat that, it would be with the ‘Wow’s. When the kids want to show you great appreciation or thanks, they rub their hands together, then clap three times, chanting ‘one, two, three!’ and then push their hands out at you with wiggling fingers and say ‘WOW!’ As the receiver of the ‘wow’, you cross your hands over your chest and lean back, like you are being blown away. We have given and received many ‘wow’s, but each one seems to be better than the last… the kids throwing their wiggly fingers at you with huge smiles, yelling at you, or when they bend almost backwards in receiving your wow, wiggly fingers.

And with those two thoughts, I leave you…. Habari lano!