Christmas is almost here!

I can't believe that Christmas is next week! I've officially been in Kenya for five months. In some ways that is a long time, in other ways it feels like much longer. I would say that it doesn't feel like Christmas here, except that sometimes in Florida it does feel this warm in December.  

A couple weeks ago we had our elementary school Christmas program. My fourth graders played the recorder and rocked it! 

In my classroom we just finished up The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and students are independently reading Mr. Popper's Penguins (just like back home at Wauchula Elementary School). We got to have more in depth discussions about the Christmas story at Rosslyn and students really enjoyed hearing how the Herdmans really got into the story of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. We talked about how Jesus came for everyone. I introduced them to the next book about the Herdmans, The Best School Year Ever and now I have a long list of readers who are dying to read it!

In our Kenyan Culture class students got into the Christmas spirit by making ornaments out of recycled items. If you're still looking for ways to decorate your house or tree, find some plastic bottles, paper rolls, bottle caps, or old magazines to recreate some of these great designs.

Bottle Cap snowmen

bottle cap snowmen

bottle cap snowmen

Fun ornament made out of a plastic bottle and some shredded plastic.

Kids painted the bottom of plastic bottles.

Plastic bags were braided together like friendship bracelets- looks really cool when you have different colored plastic bags. 

Some students used old magazines to make these really neat looking ones. 

Old puzzle pieces were glued together  to make wreaths and other designs. 

These are made from toilet paper rolls...just cut and tie together

Add paint...and lots of glitter!

This was a crowd favorite and so easy!

Another group, Jacaranda Kids, came to assist our students in sewing Christmas stockings. Kids had to trace a pattern on the fabric, cut it out, then use a needle and thread to sew it together.

 

love the tie and shirt combo here

They learned different stitches.

It happened to be wacky tacky/hippy day at school.

They did so great!

such crafty kids!

finished product

Items that Jacaranda Kids makes and sells

Jacaranda Kids items

What's more exciting is that this weekend my parents will visit! I'm very happy to get to play tour guide and show them around Kenya. Merry Christmas everyone!

Kinga Africa, Take Two

From back in November....

Can you imagine dentists coming to a school in the States and after a brief presentation all the kids lined up (single file) and waited to have their teeth checked? I can't. But that's just what happened today when Kinga Africa put on a dental clinic at Garissa Primary School outside the Kiandutu slum in Thika.

lining up for a check up!

I had the chance to go out with Kinga Africa again this morning. This time my roommates, our friend/ coworker/fearless leader Sarah, and I went out to Thika to Garissa Rd. Primary School just outside of a slum area. It wasn't a school day, so kids of all ages where hanging out, but the promise of dentists and new toothbrushes was incentive for folks to come out and see what was happening. Once word got out more and more people showed up.

Lindsey playing

The last time I went out with Kinga Africa (a Kenyan organization committed to educating youth about proper hygiene) a few of us went to a few schools out in villages. On this particular Saturday various volunteer groups were involved in the activities. 

Sweet Amber chatting it up with the kids

The Kinga Africa folks gave the talks about hand washing and brushing teeth. Once they finished, children and parents lined up for their exams. A group of dental students came to do the dental exams. They even pulled teeth if it was necessary. Children proudly carried away new toothbrushes and toothpaste. It was great to see families there to hear what the presenters had to say. 

Another group donated bags and bags of clothing, shoes, and household items. Since we couldn't exactly help with the dental exams, we sorted the clothing into piles in a spare classroom. Once we sorted the items into piles we did an inventory of everything that was donated. 

Sarah sorting clothes

sorted and inventoried 

Some students from one of the colleges in the area came to volunteer and offer their services, too. 

Dental exams

We had fun hanging out with the children and playing games. I enjoyed having my hair done or "cut" by many of the little girls. We also played soccer with some of the boys and hand clapping games with the girls (I need a refresher on Miss Mary Mack). It was fun teaching the kids songs I knew, then playing their version. I learned the Kenyan version of "Down, Macaroni, Athada..." Lindsey played Ring-Around-the-Rosies with a group, Amber had a little one latch on to her, and Sarah Withera literally ran around with kids from one point to another. Outside the room where the teeth pulling was happening children were playing a game like jacks with rocks. 

playing a game of jacks

It amazes me the ingenuity you can see here. Some kids had soccer balls; others made their soccer balls out of grocery bag plastic and rubber-bands. 

sweet girls

I'm thankful to have met Francis and his team of go-getters who are so dedicated to reaching out to the children and youth of Kenya. Today was an amazing effort of teamwork among various groups. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to  participate in what God is doing through Kinga Africa in this beautiful country.   

Roadtrip: Uganda

While I'm over here in Africa I decided to travel as much as I possibly can. A few weeks ago my roommate Lindsey and I took an overnight bus to Uganda. Back in August I was sure that my friends Paul and Jamie would be in town as they are adopting a sweet little one there. However, it turned out that the timing wasn't perfect and our paths wouldn't cross on that visit.

Still, since we had the five days and had purchased our bus tickets, an ordeal in and of itself, we took a taxi downtown and awaited our large Easy Coach that would carry us over the border in the middle of the night. We knew we were in for a treat when the waiting room at the bus station was filled with comfortable bus seats. Realizing that we would be sitting for the next 14 hours or so (FOURTEEN HOURS!) we thought it best to stretch our legs outside. We watched a bus drop off passengers, some of whom carried of boxes of chickens. It was great people watching. Before loading the bus we used the squatty potty, just as fun as it sounds, and showed our hand-written tickets to the attendant. 

We were pretty close to the front so we got to greet our fellow passengers climbing aboard our enormous bus. It was a treat to see downtown Nairobi nightlife for a minute, watching the bright lights of matatus and mini-buses weaving through crowded cities streets. I was able to doze a little when on the paved roads, but about five hours into the ride we hit road work and it was gravel roads with holes the size of a tire. That, plus our squeaky breaks, made for an interesting drive. We had a few stops along the way, including crossing the border. There weren't really any clear directions and I had the feeling that if the bus was ready to go and we weren't on it they wouldn't bat an eye about leaving. 

Uganda

Once the sun came up in Uganda we were treated to beautiful landscapes. Uganda was green, lush and a welcoming sight from our weary travels through the night. After crossing the Nile River, we arrived in Kampala and grabbed a quick bite to eat, some Ugandan shillings, and a shuttle to our hostel. 

Ugandan shillings

At the Red Chili Hideaway, or as I like to call it the Red Hot Chili Pepper Motel, we happily made our way to our little room and explored our new surroundings. It was still under constructions, so the pool wasn't exactly patron-ready. Still, the shower was great: water pressure AND hot water. It was a blessing. 

our cute little room at the hideaway

Once clean, we were ready to venture out to the city of Kampala. We found the National Theater and the market tucked away behind it. Our math skills were put to the test with converting from Ugandan shillings to Kenyan shillings to American dollars to determine the price of items. Basically you get about 85 KSH to a dollar and one KSH gets you about 30 Ugandan shillings. Needless to say I pulled out my handy-dandy iPhone and calculated. 

shopping

I left the market will a couple paintings, some awesome elephant pants, an African shoulder bag, and a handful of headbands. Just like in the States, shopping can work up an appetite, so we found a restaurant and ordered some Ugandan food. We learned from one of our taxi drivers that there are four types of bananas in Uganda: the sweet little ones, regular bananas, plantains, and matooke. We had some matooke for lunch along with some other starchy staples. Unfortunately they were all out of g-nut sauce made from ground nuts- a very Ugandan dish. 

lunch: ugali, matooke, avocado, beans

We explored more of Kampala, but headed back to the hideaway shortly because the next day we went rafting on the Nile River in Jinja. Our bus left Kampala at 8 am, an hour and a half later we were in Jinja. After a quick bite of coffee, fruit and Rolex (chapati with scrambled eggs rolled in) we headed out in an open truck to the river.

homes in Jinja

We drove past villages, schools, shops, and open countryside. I was surprised to see tall pine trees along the road and kept my eyes peeled for Katie Davis and her girls. We twisted and turned back into some tighter back roads and before we knew it the Nile stretched in front of us. 

Pine trees in Uganda

Growing up in Florida you learn to lather on the SPF, but it is especially necessary when you are on the equator. Excited, we buckled on our life vests and fastened the chin straps of our helmets ready to face the rapids. I soon realized we had to slow our role to listen to our guide explain all the horrible things that could go wrong out there on the fierce Nile and what we should do in those situations. 

Before the Nile...

Minutes later our listening skills were put to the test when our guide put us through a series of exercises practicing turning and stopping and crouching down. The last loop we had to jump through before we could float on down the river was successfully tipping out and getting back in. We counted down, flipped over, and like clockwork we all bobbed back up. Since it was just for practice one would think that it was no big deal, but upon returning to our yellow raft we noticed that a member of our rafting family had taken an oar to the face and had a bloody nose from her glasses. A good sport, once she was bandaged off we had the ok to take the first rapid. 

Our first rapid

It was so much fun! It was scary, swift, and a little dangerous. I got to sit in the back with our guide. In between rapids we chatted about our travels. Our rafting family was from all over: South Africa, England, Germany, America, and Uganda. Along the river we spotted lizards, piglets, weaver birds, and egrets. Sadly no Nile crocodiles were seen. 

Getting ready to take on the Nile.

Our raft took on class five rapids, but had to get out and walk around the class six. One of the kayaks went through it and we ooohed and ahhhed as he maneuvered his way in and out of the rough waters. After one of the class fours we were treated to chopped up pineapple as we floated in some of the calmer water. 

The rapids had fun names like Overtime, Hair of the Dog, Vengence and Nile Special. The Nile Special is so famous, they named a beer after it; it's brewed at the source from Lake Victoria in Jinja. 

We only flipped in our raft twice. While I was bobbing up and down in the rapids I was thankful for the tutorial earlier in the morning. Heart racing, I made sure to float on my back and open my eyes before I took in a giant breath of air. Within seconds a kayak was in front of me and I grabbed hold as I was instructed. As luck would have it, the rubber-band I was supposed to hold onto snapped and I was adrift among the waves again. It totally felt like the wave pool at Adventure Island, except your floating quickly and the aren't perfectly timed. My kayak hero was back again and told me to hold on to the back. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to help kick, but I was too busy looking around to see if anyone else had popped back up. 

I'm in the water at this point.

Hitching a ride on a kayak.

Downriver we managed to pull everyone back into the correct raft. I was pulled into the family raft and later transferred to our raft. With the water calm we were able to take off our helmets and even jump out and float or swim as we pleased. 

I was hanging on in the back!

After the Nile Special (we flipped on that one, too) we floated a ways and got off the river. 

We survived!

Waiting for us was a delicious lunch of chicken, veggies, baked potatoes, and iced cold Stoney (carbonated ginger ale goodness). 

We headed back to the camp, had a slice of chocolate cake for dinner and went to sleep. Rafting took it out of us! 

The next morning we woke up early and I grabbed a nutella-banana chapati for breakfast. We rode the truck into town, hopped a boda-boda to the mini-bus/matatu station and rode the mini-bus back to Kampala. Once again, it was a great people watching opportunity and we had to wait until the bus was full until we could leave the station. Another two hour drive later, with numb backsides, we were back in Kampala. 

Kampala

Once again it was so nice to be back at the hideaway to relax. We went on another drive around town and made it back to enjoy an early dinner since our Easy Coach was leaving town at 7am. In true African fashion, we didn't leave on time. But when we did it was daylight and we were on our way to Nairobi. 

I thought the ride to Uganda was a long rough one, but it seemed that the drive back was even longer. It was fun to see most of the drive in the daylight, but I was much more fidgety. Customs was much busier during the day and people were everywhere! Remember how I mentioned I felt like the bus would leave without us? Well it left a couple ladies, but to their good fortune we picked them up just down the road. 

At the border

When we arrived back home in Nairobi we calculated the amount of time spent in transport, and I'm pretty sure it was the majority of our trip. Still, it was awesome and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to explore this beautiful continent. 

driving through Kenya

I look forward to returning to Uganda to visit Jamie, Paul, and Eli! Join me in praying for this special family.

On the Nile