Greetings everyone! It has been a crazy couple of days for me. I saw James on Wednesday night after he arrived in Nairobi and told him about all the wonderful messages of condolences SL had sent. It is still a shock to his family, but he wanted me to thank you all so much! The books that we sent for his school are still at the Mombassa port and have been held up by the government. We are hopeful that they will be released by early May. Keep your fingers crossed! This week James also received a call from the US immigration lawyer about his remaining niece and nephew he plans to bring to the US. There were some issues with their paperwork, so James had to rush back to the United States on Wednesday night. Therefore, sadly, I will not be able to go out to Kiisi to see James’ school. That also meant that I had nowhere to stay in Kenya for the last two weeks of April, so I went to the Kenyan Airways ticket counter and changed my ticket.
Last Friday, I left Kenya for Uganda. I am now at Corner Stone, an organization that helps orphaned and vulnerable children in Kampala (the main city). I am trying to get settled in my new place. I am staying at a guesthouse with some other Ugandan Corner Stone volunteers. Although last night I was the only one there. Everything is very different from the United States and takes some time to get used to. Here is one example:
When I finally got to Corner Stone, it was getting dark and I wanted to start making dinner. The kitchen is communal which is new for me. That means that everyone shares the kitchen. All night I heard the security coming in for tea. Anyway, back to my dinner experience. First I tried to turn on the lights—they didn’t work. The security guard told me that there was some electrical problem with those lights, so I turned on the lights in the neighboring room and used my flashlight. Then I got out the ingredients and began to look for cooking pots, pans and utensils. The cupboards were bare. There was nothing. I mean nothing except for a fork, two butter knives, 6 mugs and 6 plates. All the dishes had little bugs crawling on them, so I chose to hold my sandwich and eat a banana. Then I went to bed. I just lay there wondering how I was going to live here for 35 days until Simon came back. I am staying with Simon and his family when they get back from visiting their family in the US. I am hoping to stay with Veronica, a World Vision friend, if I can. I know how American this sounds to be thrown by this evening experience, but I guess we all have our breaking points.
After that night, I decided to stay with my friend Veronica. She takes care of my World Vision children. She has a 3 room house that is full of love but very simple. I wash over a small bucket. It is always a crazy thing to try to wash my hair. I eat Matooke, a cross between mashed potatoes and bananas. I wake to the sound of roosters and drink a lot of tea. It is different but so lovely!
I am excited to start working with the children on Monday. I know that will be a great experience!! I will keep you posted. I hope you all are enjoying school and that it is getting warmer!
Ms. Miller
1 comment:
We Miss You Too,
We will finish up the MCA tests tomorrow, and we are definitely excited to be done! We are wondering if it is possible for you to create a photo album with nature pictures and maybe even people or places. What kind of kids do you help teach? What are their names and are they similar to us in any ways?
We think it would be cool if we could maybe write them an email from our class to their's if that is at all possible. What subjects you are teaching to the kids now? Do they have math and science?
We are also wondering how your living situation is going? Is it time consuming to try and wash your hair in the bucket, is it annoying or is that just the way you have to do it?
Do they have music class or do they sing songs in school?? Do they have favorite musical groups, maybe we could download some of their songs and listen to them.
We hope you are doing well,
The Coolest 4th Grade Class!
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