Rays coming from the sunset on the walk home

from Faraja.

Alright! Weekend recap in 25 words or less:

Sickly, fever, gross, sleep, sleep, delicious lunch, hitch-hiking, dog = safety, cuddly, giraffes, kisses, cheesy TV, blogging, Red Bull, danger, more hitch-hiking, pedicures, Mzungu Sunday.

Faraja Children's Home

I had a quite pleasant Monday. It started out by waking up and running a few errands. It was nice to be able to relax in the morning and do my own thing. But the best part of the day was when we went to Faraja. There was a lot of work to do yesterday, but I realized I didn't mind a bit. Kepha was in a great mood, and insisted on “helping” with all the chores. First things first: dishes. Since we got there a little passed one in the afternoon the kids had just left and there were plenty of lunch dishes to do. We knocked this task out no problem, which was nice because it's usually my least favorite. To my surprise Kepha is a shockingly good dishwasher for a toddler... well till he realized he could just play in the water instead. Next, we had to sort beans. This chore sucks, but not because it's hard to do. It's super tedious, and there is no fun in it at all [I stand corrected, continue reading]. Sorting beans is exactly what it sounds like. Moraa hands you a five gallon bucket of beans and you pick through them individually to sort the good from the bad. Since the majority of Faraja's food is donated it's not always the best quality; sorting the beans ensures that the kids don't wind up eating beans with bugs in them. Like I said, it's not a hard thing to do, it's just very time consuming and the bucket never ever seems to get any less full. Yesterday Ben and Kepha spiced the chore up by throwing beans everywhere: at the cat, in people's shirts, in people's mouths, over the fence, anywhere possible (Ben's forte is making all the children counterproductive to what ever task I'm trying to complete). On a normal day this would have irked me, but Kepha was having so much fun I couldn't even be bothered. About this time in the day Moraa told us she needed to go to the District Office and asked us to watch the orphanage while she was gone. Can a couple wazungu (plural mzungu) run an African orphanage for a just a few hours? Yes and no.

After Moraa left we finished sorting. Then I washed the beans and removed all the ones left floating (they're hollow and therefore no good) and Ben went to deal with the chickens. [Side note: watching Kepha help us round up stray chickens definitely goes on the top 10 cutest things I've ever seen list] Next Ben and I started dinner. We were cooking githeri (a maize and bean mixture, it's quite nice). We added our washed and sorted beans to the maize that had already been cooking since noonish, cooking for nearly 40 people is a lot more difficult than cooking in a small pot at home. Having to stir all of this stuff together in a GIANT pot takes muscle. When we felt confident that it was mixed enough we tried to get the fire under the pot (with Kepha fanning to ensure the fire has oxygen)... we failed. After working at it for about ten minutes some of the kids started arriving home from school. A girl named Jaclyn was able to get our fire up and going in under three minutes (kids: 1 wazungu: 0). For the rest of the time we were there we just supervised the kids and helped them with a couple chores here and there, within an hour of them being home they had swept the whole yard, washed all the uniforms, bathed the younger kids, mopped the house, organized laundry, and tons more (kids: 396 wazungu:0). When I went to stir the githeri and make sure the fire was still going Kevin happened to be watching and more trying to gain his trust than actually assuming I had screwed up I asked him “am I doing it right?” He looked at me like I was joking and said “there is no water in that.” Uhhh... oops? I was supposed to add water? Duh. So I brought back a pitcher of water and poured it in. “Enough?” I asked. Apparently not, I worked on filling this stupid pot for ever while Kevin watched me with a mixture of confusion and humor. By the time I was nearly finished with the water the fire was dying and Jaclyn was back at it. Eventually the Kevin/Jaclyn combo told me that it was okay, I'd tried, they would take over making dinner now. I just got schooled by kids half my age, but I have no regrets. These kids are 10x the person I was at that age, and most more than I'll ever be. (kids: ∞)

This was just an average day at Faraja Children's Home. Not much special happened, but the reason I am posting this is too give you an idea just how smart and resourceful these kids are. Kepha is not even two years old and he knows how to help with every chore in the house. Hell, if the kid could reach the clothes line I'd consider paying him (in piggyback rides) if he'd do my laundry. Goodness knows he's better at it than I am. He's less afraid of the kukus (chickens) than Ben will ever be, and can work a broom that's taller than he is. He's the youngest person in the house, imagine the other kids! Marry and Dama (the two oldest girls 16/17) can run the house without a hitch. The kids respect each of them almost as much as Moraa. When I just give up and sit there helpless as the kids run circles around me Dama can walk in and with a few sharp-sounding swahili words the kids will be sitting on their beds with pencils in hands ready to listen to whatever I have to say. Nancy and Phoebe are a dynamic duo (approx 6/7). Yesterday I watched them sweep the entire yard till it was spotless, this is hard to achieve considering their yard is made of stone/dirt. Long story short, the kids are awesome. It hurts me to see how fast they have to grow up, but at the same time I know it's unavoidable. The older girls rarely laugh which breaks my heart, and I only hope that the younger kids will grow up knowing more joy in their lives. I talked to Moraa about the monkey park again yesterday and it sounds like it's a plan. We've set a date for Saturday April 9, so I guess that means I better get to planning. I'm excited and I hope it all works out in an affordable manner. I think it will do the kids a world of good to get out of the house for once and have an opportunity to be kids.