Hi all!
Just a quick post this morning. Morgan, Chris and I are all working hard in the Vilage HopeCore office. Over the past week, Dr. KK has given us an assignment... He would like us to create a Code of Conduct and Discipline for the Njuri Ncheke (the tribal governing body) Supreme Council of Elders to ensure that their members are men of integrity and uphold the essential qualities of character. So- we've been at it and working hard. This code, if adopted by the Njuri Ncheke, will be added to the Kenyan Constitution becuase they are a recognized tribal government... essentially, this group plays a role as a mediator between the Kenyan government and the people of Kenya. No light task, that's for sure.
We're getting pretty far and after we are finished, we will all have a copy for anyone who is interested. Later today we are joining Kk to visit a group that will be reselecting its leadership board members & we were actually assigned to create the job descriptions for each position on the board. Neat!
What a wonderful experience VHI is and has given us. Back to work now, I will update another post later tonight or tomorrow sometime! Love to everyone from Morgan, Chris and I.
Jacie
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Just a quickie!
Hi again!
My last post was super long so this one is nice, short and sweet. Yesterday we visited more farms, listened to the creation of business plans and the like. The homes we visited yesterday were much nicer than the others... A new VHI worker started yesterday, his name is Sam. Such a great guy-- and really, really smart. I talked about Carlo in my last post (the peace core worker). Carlo was a poli sci major in college so really has no business experience at all-- Sam on the other hand, does. He is a native Kenyan but has his four year degree, our guess is in business. The way he interacted with the people was effective and he really knew what he was talking about. He talked about risks and profits and how to not always expect the maximum production out of their poultry or cows. I saw a lot of what I have learned in my business courses put into practice while watching Sam.
The food here has been excellent. So much fruit and it's just so delicious!! Our favorite snack so far are samosas, and yesterday we discovered that chipati, peanut butter and sliced bananas is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Tony (our driver from Nairobi and for any of our tourist ventures) brought us fresh bananas, tree tomatoes, and other fruits from his farm. Tomorrow he is taking all of us to a tea factory and a coffee factory. I am very excited.
Okay- today. We arrived at VHI on time (10am) and sat around for almost 3 hours waiting for today's event to begin. We truly experience African time today. Today's event was the loan distribution to groups/ members that had been approved, gone through the training, and had a solid business plan. Three groups of 12 received their checks today. Each of us Americans got to hand out the checks as we went down the line. That was a neat experience. Some of the women who received their checks just held them, and then pulled the actual check out and just stared at the amount... It was.... rewarding. I am not sure the word to describe the feeling that I had while watching these women just glow looking at these checks. Ah.. I get goosebumps thinking about it. :) Each check is 30,000 ksh which amounts to roughly $400 which as I explained before-- needs to be repaid after 2 years with a 9% interest rate. Some are lucky enough to pay back the loan within a year and can recieve another loan of 30,000 ksh without paying interest to be repaid during the subsequent year. It doesn't happen often but does. Out of the 84 groups (again of 12 people) that VHI funds, only 2 groups are all men. Men in this culture just do not have the drive that the women do-- AND its a patriarch culture. I should mention though that almost all of the employees at VHI are men... It's a refreshing change for the organization and the culture. VHI also has 60 other groups that they are unable to fund but still provide training to become self-sustaining.
There is seriously so much that I want to share and so much that I have learned but time is limited... so, I am ending here for the night. I'll try to update again this weekend.
Again- I'm here. I'm safe and I am loving Africa. Beautiful people, beautiful country. Hi to my family. Hi mom- I hope you are reading this... Have found several adorable children I would love to bring home... Haven't actually adopted any yet. That's all for now. Love.
My last post was super long so this one is nice, short and sweet. Yesterday we visited more farms, listened to the creation of business plans and the like. The homes we visited yesterday were much nicer than the others... A new VHI worker started yesterday, his name is Sam. Such a great guy-- and really, really smart. I talked about Carlo in my last post (the peace core worker). Carlo was a poli sci major in college so really has no business experience at all-- Sam on the other hand, does. He is a native Kenyan but has his four year degree, our guess is in business. The way he interacted with the people was effective and he really knew what he was talking about. He talked about risks and profits and how to not always expect the maximum production out of their poultry or cows. I saw a lot of what I have learned in my business courses put into practice while watching Sam.
The food here has been excellent. So much fruit and it's just so delicious!! Our favorite snack so far are samosas, and yesterday we discovered that chipati, peanut butter and sliced bananas is probably the best thing since sliced bread. Tony (our driver from Nairobi and for any of our tourist ventures) brought us fresh bananas, tree tomatoes, and other fruits from his farm. Tomorrow he is taking all of us to a tea factory and a coffee factory. I am very excited.
Okay- today. We arrived at VHI on time (10am) and sat around for almost 3 hours waiting for today's event to begin. We truly experience African time today. Today's event was the loan distribution to groups/ members that had been approved, gone through the training, and had a solid business plan. Three groups of 12 received their checks today. Each of us Americans got to hand out the checks as we went down the line. That was a neat experience. Some of the women who received their checks just held them, and then pulled the actual check out and just stared at the amount... It was.... rewarding. I am not sure the word to describe the feeling that I had while watching these women just glow looking at these checks. Ah.. I get goosebumps thinking about it. :) Each check is 30,000 ksh which amounts to roughly $400 which as I explained before-- needs to be repaid after 2 years with a 9% interest rate. Some are lucky enough to pay back the loan within a year and can recieve another loan of 30,000 ksh without paying interest to be repaid during the subsequent year. It doesn't happen often but does. Out of the 84 groups (again of 12 people) that VHI funds, only 2 groups are all men. Men in this culture just do not have the drive that the women do-- AND its a patriarch culture. I should mention though that almost all of the employees at VHI are men... It's a refreshing change for the organization and the culture. VHI also has 60 other groups that they are unable to fund but still provide training to become self-sustaining.
There is seriously so much that I want to share and so much that I have learned but time is limited... so, I am ending here for the night. I'll try to update again this weekend.
Again- I'm here. I'm safe and I am loving Africa. Beautiful people, beautiful country. Hi to my family. Hi mom- I hope you are reading this... Have found several adorable children I would love to bring home... Haven't actually adopted any yet. That's all for now. Love.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Jambo from Chogoria!
Jambo! (hello!)
It is currently 10:27pm on Tuesday May 15th in Chogoria, Kenya. I am alive, I am safe and I am having the time of my life... That's all for now. Goodbye..... Okay, I'm kidding. There is SO much that I want to tell you all about... I have 10 pages in my journal just about the last two days. This is crazy. But that is a lot of information so for today, I am just going to share with you what happened today... because that is what is the most important.
So here we go:
As many of you know, while in Chogoria I am working with Village HopeCore International along with Morgan and Darla. Today we had our first adventure. VHI is a micro-enterprise non-profit organization adn it also has a community health branch. We were initially told we were going to be picked up at around 10am this morning... The first vehicle for VHI showed up to pick up Beth and Cindy to bring them to the community health day, the teachers and Chris left for the school and the three of us remained at the guest house... 40 minutes later, our ride showed up. Welcome to Africa time ;) However, we did not care and enjoyed exploring a bit of the grounds and waiting for our driver.
Our drivers name is Micheni, and I probably spelt that wrong but that's okay. Micheni works for VHI and brought us up to their office. Carlo, a Californian peace core volunteer, joined us at the office and was our guide for the rest of the day. I was personally very grateful for Carlo because although Micheni speaks English very well, it is still heavily accented. Carlo was able to explain to us what exactly we were going to be doing and answer any and all questions we had throughout the day.
We traveled out of Chogoria to six applicant's homes. VHI currently has about 10 merry-go-rounds (a group) for clients and each merry-go-round consists of 12 people. The homes we were visiting today had all just gone through the education and necessary training before they could receive the loan and today was all about discussing and creating business plans and essentially performing a risk analysis. For us business/business communication kids-- this was super interesting! To begin the interviewing process, Carlo asked some basic questions: names, spouses names, children's names & ages, expenses (school fees, personal expenses), etc. He then dove into questions such as: income, profitability, and any asssets that they had. He would also ask what businesses are currently established? All of the homes in the merry-go-round we visisted today had: a dairy farm (by farm I mean one maybe two cows), banana plants, and tea plants. Others had pumpkin plants, pineapple plants and coffee! Pineapple and coffee plants were really fun to see, as well as tea, because I have never seen them before! I knew that pineappples grew in the ground but had no idea they sprouted up out of the center of a plant. Neat!
One of the families- the ones with all of the forementioned plants, took us to see those plants which all grow on, get this, the side of a mountain. No lie. We hiked down the side of this mountain to see where these plants were. He pointed out his brother's coffee plants and then to his own which were located in the valley below us, about 500 yds, we decided we weren't going down there! Nevertheless, it was so cool to see & the view from the side of the mountain was absolutely breathtaking. This family also had a little boy following them around as we walked around-- not sure if he was their child or their grandchild, but we are positive we were the first white people he had ever seen. He was very shy and kept his distance despite our smiling and waving. Although-- right before we left, Morgan dug into her purse and found a fruitsnack package and held it out to him. Without hesistation he ran over, grabbed the bag and returned to the saftey of the legs he was hiding behind.
Returning to the interview-- if the families had cows, Carlo would ask how many liters the cows produced per day. Ideally, VHI wanted these cows to produce between 6 and 12 liters per day. Cows in Kenya cost about $340 US dollars and goats cost $20 US dollars... quite a sticker shock (positive) compared to the US. But nevertheless, this is something that these families need loans for as well as to repair the pens for the cows and to feed them. Because the majority of Kenyans drink tea and drink their tea with milk... milk is in high demand and obviously calcium is good for the body... Cows are encouraged!! Along with the feed, each home is required to have a 1/2 acre of this special grass, my mind is slipping the name of it, per cow... so two cows-- 1 acre. Again, this is the ideal situation. If the families are approved for the loan, they are given the money (we get to participate in that on Thursday!!) and VHI will return two weeks later to make sure that they have followed through with their business plan and that they have invested where they said they would invest. The merry-go-rounds and families that are a part of them have two years plus a 2 month grace period to pay back their loans at a 9% interest rate (most of the banks in Kenya that do micro-enterprises have a 20% interest rate and a much shorter payback time). They are also required to put away 100 ksh (shillings) per month in a "savings" account that they will receive in return when and if their loan is repaid in whole.
Okay... so that's VHI in a nutshell. I know, you're thinking really Jacie, a nutshell? Yeah- that is how much has gone on today! So returning to the rest of the day. We were done around 2pm and decided to take a little adventure to the primary school on the hospital compound. Hands were immediately thrust out just to get a touch of our skin (we are truly an attraction to these children). We found the rest of our group in the teacher's room having tea and joined them. After tea we ventured back outside to where all the children were playing. I took my camera out and began taking pictures and the kids seriously swarmed me! It was overwhelming, but for many of them- they have never seen themselves through the lens of a camera... so fun to show them! But after awhile, the camera needed to go away. haha. After the camera came the hand holding. Once you let your arms down the kids latched on-- they fought off their friends just so they could be the only one to hold the mzungu's hand (white person). My left arm was held by an 8 year old little girl and my right hand was held by a 9 year old little boy.
Before the kids gained the courage to reach out to us, Morgan had pointed out the pure joy and happiness that the kids were showing while simply running around a big open field/ dirt area with nothing but themselves, a few sticks and well... that's it. I found the same thing to be true of us (the white girls ha ha) when the kids were all holding our arms. As I looked around the field I saw each of my group members surrounded by a hoard of children and their faces were absolutely glowing. My cheeks legitimately hurt while we were playing with them. The kids sang songs to us, danced (they have some awesome moves, seriously, those kids can get down), and laughed & warmed my heart to the core.
What a beautiful place this truly is. I am starting to realize what everyone else who has traveled here meant when they say that they cannot put into words their experience. There are no words to adequately describe this feeling or to even make it comprehendable. Africa has truly captured my heart.
Well, that is all for now. There are so many things I want to share with you all but that will have to wait-- limited internet and quite frankly, I'm exhausted. We visit more homes tomorrow and will learn even more. I am taking a LOT of pictures, don't worry! You'll all see them soon. Thank you again for continued prayers.
It is currently 10:27pm on Tuesday May 15th in Chogoria, Kenya. I am alive, I am safe and I am having the time of my life... That's all for now. Goodbye..... Okay, I'm kidding. There is SO much that I want to tell you all about... I have 10 pages in my journal just about the last two days. This is crazy. But that is a lot of information so for today, I am just going to share with you what happened today... because that is what is the most important.
So here we go:
As many of you know, while in Chogoria I am working with Village HopeCore International along with Morgan and Darla. Today we had our first adventure. VHI is a micro-enterprise non-profit organization adn it also has a community health branch. We were initially told we were going to be picked up at around 10am this morning... The first vehicle for VHI showed up to pick up Beth and Cindy to bring them to the community health day, the teachers and Chris left for the school and the three of us remained at the guest house... 40 minutes later, our ride showed up. Welcome to Africa time ;) However, we did not care and enjoyed exploring a bit of the grounds and waiting for our driver.
Our drivers name is Micheni, and I probably spelt that wrong but that's okay. Micheni works for VHI and brought us up to their office. Carlo, a Californian peace core volunteer, joined us at the office and was our guide for the rest of the day. I was personally very grateful for Carlo because although Micheni speaks English very well, it is still heavily accented. Carlo was able to explain to us what exactly we were going to be doing and answer any and all questions we had throughout the day.
We traveled out of Chogoria to six applicant's homes. VHI currently has about 10 merry-go-rounds (a group) for clients and each merry-go-round consists of 12 people. The homes we were visiting today had all just gone through the education and necessary training before they could receive the loan and today was all about discussing and creating business plans and essentially performing a risk analysis. For us business/business communication kids-- this was super interesting! To begin the interviewing process, Carlo asked some basic questions: names, spouses names, children's names & ages, expenses (school fees, personal expenses), etc. He then dove into questions such as: income, profitability, and any asssets that they had. He would also ask what businesses are currently established? All of the homes in the merry-go-round we visisted today had: a dairy farm (by farm I mean one maybe two cows), banana plants, and tea plants. Others had pumpkin plants, pineapple plants and coffee! Pineapple and coffee plants were really fun to see, as well as tea, because I have never seen them before! I knew that pineappples grew in the ground but had no idea they sprouted up out of the center of a plant. Neat!
One of the families- the ones with all of the forementioned plants, took us to see those plants which all grow on, get this, the side of a mountain. No lie. We hiked down the side of this mountain to see where these plants were. He pointed out his brother's coffee plants and then to his own which were located in the valley below us, about 500 yds, we decided we weren't going down there! Nevertheless, it was so cool to see & the view from the side of the mountain was absolutely breathtaking. This family also had a little boy following them around as we walked around-- not sure if he was their child or their grandchild, but we are positive we were the first white people he had ever seen. He was very shy and kept his distance despite our smiling and waving. Although-- right before we left, Morgan dug into her purse and found a fruitsnack package and held it out to him. Without hesistation he ran over, grabbed the bag and returned to the saftey of the legs he was hiding behind.
Returning to the interview-- if the families had cows, Carlo would ask how many liters the cows produced per day. Ideally, VHI wanted these cows to produce between 6 and 12 liters per day. Cows in Kenya cost about $340 US dollars and goats cost $20 US dollars... quite a sticker shock (positive) compared to the US. But nevertheless, this is something that these families need loans for as well as to repair the pens for the cows and to feed them. Because the majority of Kenyans drink tea and drink their tea with milk... milk is in high demand and obviously calcium is good for the body... Cows are encouraged!! Along with the feed, each home is required to have a 1/2 acre of this special grass, my mind is slipping the name of it, per cow... so two cows-- 1 acre. Again, this is the ideal situation. If the families are approved for the loan, they are given the money (we get to participate in that on Thursday!!) and VHI will return two weeks later to make sure that they have followed through with their business plan and that they have invested where they said they would invest. The merry-go-rounds and families that are a part of them have two years plus a 2 month grace period to pay back their loans at a 9% interest rate (most of the banks in Kenya that do micro-enterprises have a 20% interest rate and a much shorter payback time). They are also required to put away 100 ksh (shillings) per month in a "savings" account that they will receive in return when and if their loan is repaid in whole.
Okay... so that's VHI in a nutshell. I know, you're thinking really Jacie, a nutshell? Yeah- that is how much has gone on today! So returning to the rest of the day. We were done around 2pm and decided to take a little adventure to the primary school on the hospital compound. Hands were immediately thrust out just to get a touch of our skin (we are truly an attraction to these children). We found the rest of our group in the teacher's room having tea and joined them. After tea we ventured back outside to where all the children were playing. I took my camera out and began taking pictures and the kids seriously swarmed me! It was overwhelming, but for many of them- they have never seen themselves through the lens of a camera... so fun to show them! But after awhile, the camera needed to go away. haha. After the camera came the hand holding. Once you let your arms down the kids latched on-- they fought off their friends just so they could be the only one to hold the mzungu's hand (white person). My left arm was held by an 8 year old little girl and my right hand was held by a 9 year old little boy.
Before the kids gained the courage to reach out to us, Morgan had pointed out the pure joy and happiness that the kids were showing while simply running around a big open field/ dirt area with nothing but themselves, a few sticks and well... that's it. I found the same thing to be true of us (the white girls ha ha) when the kids were all holding our arms. As I looked around the field I saw each of my group members surrounded by a hoard of children and their faces were absolutely glowing. My cheeks legitimately hurt while we were playing with them. The kids sang songs to us, danced (they have some awesome moves, seriously, those kids can get down), and laughed & warmed my heart to the core.
What a beautiful place this truly is. I am starting to realize what everyone else who has traveled here meant when they say that they cannot put into words their experience. There are no words to adequately describe this feeling or to even make it comprehendable. Africa has truly captured my heart.
Well, that is all for now. There are so many things I want to share with you all but that will have to wait-- limited internet and quite frankly, I'm exhausted. We visit more homes tomorrow and will learn even more. I am taking a LOT of pictures, don't worry! You'll all see them soon. Thank you again for continued prayers.
Friday, May 11, 2012
It's finally here!!!!!
Well, this is it folks! We head out tomorrow!!! I can hardly believe how quickly these months have gone by... but here we are.
Hannah and I just checked in online, made sure our bags weigh under 50 lbs and have our clothes laid out for the morning. We leave at 11:20am from Mpls tomorrow and arrive in Nairobi at 10:30pm their time, Sunday May 13. They are about 9 hours ahead of us... so it's a complete day flip.
I will do my best to update my blog while in Chogoria however, there is a student going along, Beth, who will be keeping a blog the entire time & updating regularly-- she is our journalist for the time we are in Kenya. Her blog is journeytochogoria.blogspot.com so make sure to check in on hers as well.
I will update as soon as I can when I get to Kenya. Your prayers are greatly welcomed appreciated. This is a big adventure and I know we are all hoping to learn a lot about the Kenyan culture, and also about ourselves and about life in general. Thank you again for all of your support. It means so much.
Update soon!
Hannah and I just checked in online, made sure our bags weigh under 50 lbs and have our clothes laid out for the morning. We leave at 11:20am from Mpls tomorrow and arrive in Nairobi at 10:30pm their time, Sunday May 13. They are about 9 hours ahead of us... so it's a complete day flip.
I will do my best to update my blog while in Chogoria however, there is a student going along, Beth, who will be keeping a blog the entire time & updating regularly-- she is our journalist for the time we are in Kenya. Her blog is journeytochogoria.blogspot.com so make sure to check in on hers as well.
I will update as soon as I can when I get to Kenya. Your prayers are greatly welcomed appreciated. This is a big adventure and I know we are all hoping to learn a lot about the Kenyan culture, and also about ourselves and about life in general. Thank you again for all of your support. It means so much.
Update soon!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Just A Quickie
Well, here we are... The last day of finals. I have taken my last test, and submitted my final paper. I have unofficially ended my undergraduate college career. The official end will be this Saturday as I walk across the commencement stage. There are so many things I could talk about right now, so many things I could reflect on... But because I don't have time for that-- I'm gonna make this quick.
We are about to go to our last Kenya class! We decided to make it a fun one so we have ordered pizza, we're popping in The Lion King, and we are packing our SUPPLY suitcases. I mentioned in a previous post that we had a hat drive, book drive and a school supplies fundraiser... Tonight we will distribute those supplies amongst 9 suitcases. These supplies will be given to those in desperate need when we arrive in Chogoria. It will be a true honor to be able to hand them these--- thank you to those who helped and donated supplies. We appreciate it more than you know... Especially because I'm thinking we'll have to leave some behind (this is a good thing! Anything we cannot bring along, we will be donating to other organizations).
Here we go!
We are about to go to our last Kenya class! We decided to make it a fun one so we have ordered pizza, we're popping in The Lion King, and we are packing our SUPPLY suitcases. I mentioned in a previous post that we had a hat drive, book drive and a school supplies fundraiser... Tonight we will distribute those supplies amongst 9 suitcases. These supplies will be given to those in desperate need when we arrive in Chogoria. It will be a true honor to be able to hand them these--- thank you to those who helped and donated supplies. We appreciate it more than you know... Especially because I'm thinking we'll have to leave some behind (this is a good thing! Anything we cannot bring along, we will be donating to other organizations).
Here we go!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Update!
Well, it's sneaking up on us quickly... We now have only 16 days before we board the plane(s) and embark on our journey to Kenya. But you know what else that means? Only 9 more days until I graduate from COLLEGE. Yes. That's right. I did it... err hopefully, still have a week of finals left ;)
With graduation approaching quickly, I have found myself reflecting over the past four years (mostly while I'm supposed to be studying, writing papers, etc). Jamestown College has become a part of me. They say college changes you-- but I don't necessarily think that's true. While at JC I have grown into the person I'm meant to be, and what I have learned here has challenged me to continue that growth, to continue learning. JC has challenged me. I have taken courses that have confirmed my beliefs, and courses that have definitely challenged them. Who I am hasn't changed, but I have a strengthened sense of belief of who that person is... and who I want to become.
Because I haven't updated in awhile... I figured I'd share a little bit of what has been going on. We have been doing various fundraisers to bring supplies with us to Chogoria. Each of us is required to bring two suitcases along-- one for our personal items, and the other to carry supplies (the nice thing is that this suitcase opens up at the end of the trip to carry souvenirs). One of the ladies who is traveling with me, Abby, student taught this semester and held a book drive at her elementary school. It was a great success and we now have many, many books to bring along with us. Another young lady, Beth (who also has a fantastic blog: www.journeytochogoria.blogspot.com she is the journalist on our trip), held a baseball hat drive at her high school. So so far- we have books, baseball hats, and.... school supplies! We have been holding a school supplies fundraiser here on campus. The donations have been overwhelming and our suitcases will be full!
Tonight in class we are fortunate to have the nursing group who traveled to Chogoria in February join us. They will share with us their experiences and although we will not be doing the same things as they did-- it will be a helpful and information evening. Next Thursday (after finals are OVER) we will be packing up our supply suitcases... Yikes.
I think I'm going to end here for the afternoon.. I have so much more to say-- but unfortunately the last day and a half of classes + a week of finals requires me to do a little bit of homework/studying before continuing writing about Kenya-- trust me, I'd much rather do this.
Talk to you all soon.
With graduation approaching quickly, I have found myself reflecting over the past four years (mostly while I'm supposed to be studying, writing papers, etc). Jamestown College has become a part of me. They say college changes you-- but I don't necessarily think that's true. While at JC I have grown into the person I'm meant to be, and what I have learned here has challenged me to continue that growth, to continue learning. JC has challenged me. I have taken courses that have confirmed my beliefs, and courses that have definitely challenged them. Who I am hasn't changed, but I have a strengthened sense of belief of who that person is... and who I want to become.
Because I haven't updated in awhile... I figured I'd share a little bit of what has been going on. We have been doing various fundraisers to bring supplies with us to Chogoria. Each of us is required to bring two suitcases along-- one for our personal items, and the other to carry supplies (the nice thing is that this suitcase opens up at the end of the trip to carry souvenirs). One of the ladies who is traveling with me, Abby, student taught this semester and held a book drive at her elementary school. It was a great success and we now have many, many books to bring along with us. Another young lady, Beth (who also has a fantastic blog: www.journeytochogoria.blogspot.com she is the journalist on our trip), held a baseball hat drive at her high school. So so far- we have books, baseball hats, and.... school supplies! We have been holding a school supplies fundraiser here on campus. The donations have been overwhelming and our suitcases will be full!
Tonight in class we are fortunate to have the nursing group who traveled to Chogoria in February join us. They will share with us their experiences and although we will not be doing the same things as they did-- it will be a helpful and information evening. Next Thursday (after finals are OVER) we will be packing up our supply suitcases... Yikes.
I think I'm going to end here for the afternoon.. I have so much more to say-- but unfortunately the last day and a half of classes + a week of finals requires me to do a little bit of homework/studying before continuing writing about Kenya-- trust me, I'd much rather do this.
Talk to you all soon.
Monday, April 2, 2012
My Visa Arrived!!
Hello once again!
40 days until we leave! Yikes, that's barely over a month away and I'm getting a little bit more nervous every single day. Don't get me wrong, I am ecstatic but it is nerve racking to wrap my head around the thought that I am going to be in an entirely different country for 3 weeks.
Regardless of the nerves... Some excitement happened today: my Visa arrived! While the reality of traveling to Africa has always been at the back of my mind, seeing it printed on my passport made those feelings so much more real and I have been having a hard time concentrating on school today. 40 days... Eek!
I thought I would also share with you some thoughts I had from our readings for last week's class... (These are excerpts from my journal that I am keeping). Last week we had reading in our book, "I Laugh So I Won't Cry" which is a book that highlights interviews that a young reporter had with women in Kenya. Here is what I wrote:
"I think that this section of the Laugh book has been the most humbling and my favorite thus far. It began with HH (the reporter) asking the women of Kenya what they did for themselves, what we in the US would call our "me" time. Almost all expressed that some form of labor or service to others was their happiness factor. It showed me that as hard as people in the US do work, we are also rather lazy and selfish. We focus so much on material things to spend our leisure time with and not with other people. I also believe that this is why, when someone intentionally and selflessly pours into another person with their time, it is such a welcomed change of pace. This is also why inspirational stories move us so much-- why Christians cling so tightly to Jesus-- we crave meaning in our lives."
I go on about other things... and then this:
"I am looking forward to living amongst the Kenyan people and learning from them. I want to soak in absolutely all that I am able. Even just this week I found that I relied so much on material things going correctly that I have forgotten to rely on Christ. Learning this, and this experience in Kenya, I hope, will prepare me for the unknown my life holds for me when I return!"
Have a wonderful week everyone! :)
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40 days until we leave! Yikes, that's barely over a month away and I'm getting a little bit more nervous every single day. Don't get me wrong, I am ecstatic but it is nerve racking to wrap my head around the thought that I am going to be in an entirely different country for 3 weeks.
Regardless of the nerves... Some excitement happened today: my Visa arrived! While the reality of traveling to Africa has always been at the back of my mind, seeing it printed on my passport made those feelings so much more real and I have been having a hard time concentrating on school today. 40 days... Eek!
I thought I would also share with you some thoughts I had from our readings for last week's class... (These are excerpts from my journal that I am keeping). Last week we had reading in our book, "I Laugh So I Won't Cry" which is a book that highlights interviews that a young reporter had with women in Kenya. Here is what I wrote:
"I think that this section of the Laugh book has been the most humbling and my favorite thus far. It began with HH (the reporter) asking the women of Kenya what they did for themselves, what we in the US would call our "me" time. Almost all expressed that some form of labor or service to others was their happiness factor. It showed me that as hard as people in the US do work, we are also rather lazy and selfish. We focus so much on material things to spend our leisure time with and not with other people. I also believe that this is why, when someone intentionally and selflessly pours into another person with their time, it is such a welcomed change of pace. This is also why inspirational stories move us so much-- why Christians cling so tightly to Jesus-- we crave meaning in our lives."
I go on about other things... and then this:
"I am looking forward to living amongst the Kenyan people and learning from them. I want to soak in absolutely all that I am able. Even just this week I found that I relied so much on material things going correctly that I have forgotten to rely on Christ. Learning this, and this experience in Kenya, I hope, will prepare me for the unknown my life holds for me when I return!"
Have a wonderful week everyone! :)
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