New Characters:
Nikki- My other female roommate, she doesn't work at Faraja but came along for the adventures this week.
Jack- A lovely English chap who I've known for a couple weeks, but until recently only came to Ngong on the weekends. He is now living here and working at Faraja with us.
Eunice- I haven't mentioned her much before, but in the last few days she has grown on my heart so much. She is the house help at Faraja. More or less a maid, though she doesn't get paid. She stuck around with the kids while Moraa was gone as well.
As you know returned from the coast at 6am on Wednesday morning. That day I walked to Faraja and said goodbye to Moraa who was going to Mombasa for a couple days, then spent the rest of the day recouping. That night I would be staying over at Faraja Children's Home for the first time. Honestly I was VERY uneasy about that. Moraa had asked us before if we wanted to, but we politely declined. I love the place and the kids, but it's just not exactly the kind of place you want to sleep. In Moraa's absence we couldn't very well decline though. So about 6:30 Wednesday night Nikki, Abi, and I set out to meet the others at Faraja. When we arrived I was feeling very apprehensive... which lasted all of ten minutes. It be came apparent very quickly that this was going to be one of my coolest nights in Kenya. Suddenly something had changed; the kids had gone from timid and, at times, stand offish to inclusive and excitable. Dama (one of the older girls) who has never said a word to me came up and gave me a high five and said “mambo.” “Poa” I replied with a giant smile on my face. Nancy who I'd never heard speak louder than a small whisper was yelling at her brothers and sisters for who knows what (my Swahili is lacking terribly still). After watching a little bit of a horribly dubbed version of The Hulk with some of the kids I went to the kitchen to see what was going on in there. I found Ann making something out of dough. Could my night get better? Was Ann serious sitting in front of me rolling dough to make CHAPATI (like a tortilla only 1000x better)!? Yes; she was. When she informed me of this I got obviously excited. She looked at me like I was wild for being excited over some round pieces of bread and asked me “Don't you eat chapati at home?” Unfortunately I had to tell her that Texans hadn't caught on to this wonderful taste sensation. Leave it to Ann (a 12yr old girl with more attitude and spunk than most adults) to fix that. She told me she was about to teach me to make chapati, and I certainly did not argue. After the dough was done being kneaded Eunice came in to help as well. First we had to rolled the dough into individual balls and set them aside while we got our “stove” (a coal burner with a flat piece of metal on top, sort of like a Kenyan hot plate) ready. Now, I've seen people here cook chapati, it always scared me. There is no spatula or oven mits, you do everything with your bare-hands and I am a WIMP when it comes to heat tolerance. Oh well, when in Kenya, right? So after the fire had died down a bit she rolled the first chapati out and placed in on the pan. Then she applied oil to the top and all around the edge to get under the chapati. After about eight seconds the grabbed it and flipped it, reapplied some oil, spun it a few times with the palm of her hand, flipped a time or two more and that was it; chapati cooking at it's best. It looked easy enough, the whole process took under 45 seconds and my tummy was already grumbling. My turn, Ann told me. She handed me the oil and spoon and placed a new chapati on the pan. Oil, check. First flip, check! More oil, check. Second flip, fail... miserably. “Owww! IT'S HOT! Help!” I panicked, handed everything to Ann and she took over like a pro. It was great. I had a ton of fun. I don't have the tough african hands the kids do and they got a kick from coming in and having to grab the chapati off the stove when I started panicking, but in the end I managed to make at least a couple by myself. And I tell you now, chapati has NEVER tasted so good. Later in the night I even got the bright idea to melt some of the chocolate I brought into the still steaming chapatis, and it was the closest to heaven I've ever been. I will most definitely be making chapatis when I get back to America. I think this is going to be one of my favorite memories of Africa, because the food is so iconic of the culture and it was wonderful to be taught by such a talented young girl. I was humbled by her teaching, and couldn't even be mad when she laughed at my struggle. I'll never forget Eunice standing over me saying “just believe you can do it” and telling me how proud she was of me (this is definitely not the first time I've learned to cook under Eunice's supervision).
Squealing while trying to cook chapati.Other than making chapatis I ate dinner with the kids (25+ people crammed into a tiny living room) for the first time. One kid served them all ugali and beans out of two giant pots that had been dragged into the living room. The smaller kids sat on the floor right in front of the TV, the older kids offered us what few couch seats were available before sitting next to us where space remained, everyone ended up comfortable and full. After dinner I got to see the way the kids prepared their rooms for sleeping. There is two kid's rooms at Faraja; one for the girls, one for the boys. The rooms have next to nothing in them, a pile of mattresses and clothes scattered everywhere. At night they spread the mattresses out, covering the whole floor, and sleep two or three to a bed. Again, the word 'humbled' comes to mind. Thankfully the rooms were made before the power went out for the night, and after it did I sat in the dark with Eunice and some of the other girls talking until we grew tired and decided to call it a night.
That was my first night at Faraja. It was wonderful. It was tons of fun and very eyeopening. I was very happy to see how things were done round the clock, and I feel like the majority of the kids have become much more open around me. I thought that would be the peak of my week, but I couldn't have possibly been more wrong.
The next day we woke up and did some work around the house, mostly just our normal Faraja chores. Abi and I cooked cabbage all by ourselves and it was delicious. Then somehow between us, Eunice, and a few older girls we made our plan to go to the monkey park the next day. It had been something Abi and I had wanted to do since day one at Faraja, but she was leaving in two days and it was more or less a lost hope. However, when we all put our heads together a plan formed. The kids didn't have to go into school the next day so it was the perfect time. Abi and I left for a while and went into town to buy supplies to make sixty PB&J sandwiches for lunch on our big adventure, and I called a driver and found out that it would be 8,500 Ksh to rent a van for all the kids. After making the food Abi and I headed back to the orphanage for our second night there. It was just as great as the first. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement over the monkey park. I swear I was more excited than the kids! Before bed the kids needed to practice their songs for church. They argued about what songs to sing like any group of siblings would, yelling and harassing each other until an agreement was met. I don't think it mattered a bit. When the first notes came out of their tiny hearts I was instantly bewitched. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. It's no secret that I am not religious in the least, and I couldn't understand any word they said, but it was one of the most divine things I've ever witnessed. Their voices were lovely, but the real beauty came in the passion with which they sung. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my night.
When we woke up on Friday (THE day) I was giddy, but also very nervous. I love Kenya, but nothing here is flawless. The plan was set, Abi would take the kids who needed to go to the hospital there, Ben would take the kids who needed to go to school there, Eunice would get the others ready and we would all meet at the junction in Ngong at 11am. Our driver called to confirm the plans at 10am and everything was looking good... until about 10:37am I got texts from Ben and Abi saying things were taking longer than expected and they didn't know when they'd be able to make it. It was touch and go for a second trying to play everything by ear. But in the end we all made it to the junction at about a quarter past 11 (that's marvelous for Kenyan time). Only one problem though... the bus was no where to be found. If you know me, then you should know I have some pretty crazy anxiety problems, so the lack of bus, grumpy adults, and restless kids was not on my list of things to deal with for the day. It was stressful, but I knew something would go wrong for the day so all things considered I was able to remain calm. An hour and a half later the bus shows up and we loaded the kids inside. I was giddy. Dancing around, squealing, with the biggest smile on my face. This was finally happening! The kids were happy, Kepha was baffled as to what was going on but looked to be having a good time. Kids wandered all over the bus trying to pick the perfect spot and the bus was pumping some perfect tunes, off we go!
Mama monkey and baby monkey
The bus ride there, in truth, was kind of nauseating. But upon arrival we roused the sleepy kids and took them to a field away from the park to eat. We doled out the sixty sandwiches with relief to the kid's apparent affinity for them (we weren't sure that the kids would like PB&J). The kids lounged in the field and munched on some lunch as we (the volunteers) sat in the shade with giant smiles on our face. After lunch we handed out cookies (biscuits for you English folk reading this) and the kids were delighted. Then came the fun part; monkey time. Ben and I sent the others ahead and went to go pick up some bags of peanuts for the kids to feed the monkeys. He told me repeatedly that the monkeys were smart and would steal the peanuts from me. In fact, I know that he said I should hide the peanuts before we walked into the park, but I was so excited I couldn't even focus. I walked to the park towards the kids and within 45 seconds a monkey leaped at me and I was able to move quick enough to swat him away. This jarred me a small bit but I was still so excited I just kept walking. Just about the time I made it to our group another monkey jumped on me. This time I wasn't able to move quick enough, it held on to my arm and went for the peanuts in full force. I was so freaked out I fell on the ground and more or less curled in a ball. That's all it took for me to secure my fear in monkeys. They've always made me kinda iffy. They're too smart, and I'm pretty sure they're evil too. Ben shooed the monkeys away and we only lost one bag of peanuts. I stood up shaken and with a couple scratches on my arm. We passed the peanuts out to the kids and let them have at it. It was the most beautiful chaos I've ever seen. There were monkeys absolutely everywhere, Kepha was terrified, the girls were wary, and the younger boys were running around chasing monkeys without a care in the world. Jack turned out to be some kind of monkey whisperer and had monkeys on his shoulders in no time, and Ben wasn't far behind. Eventually I decided to try my luck at monkey wrangling and bent down next to a park bench and held out a peanut. Lo and behold the monkey hopped right on. I handed my camera to Abi and tried not to grimace as I fed my new friend another nut. After snapping a couple photos I put the monkey down and went to play with the kids. They were very cautious of having monkeys on their shoulders at first, but soon as one child did it they all wanted to. We walked around helping the kids with the monkeys and getting pictures. It was awesome. They seemed to be having so much fun. After we'd spent ample amounts of time playing with the monkeys the kids started asking to go play on the “swing,” I'd looked around and hadn't seen a swing anywhere but we let them lead the way. They took us to a giant tree covered in hanging vines. It looked like something out of the jungle book. Before I knew it kids were way up in the tree and others were hanging upside down from the vines around the trunk. They played and played, and at one point the oldest most quiet girl from Faraja asked me to help her get a monkey on her shoulder and even let me get a picture of her! It was so wonderful. I don't know who had more fun, me or the kids. The day was a giant success; and as we got back on the bus I knew that I would never forget it. We took the kids back to Faraja and said our goodbyes (Abi for the last time) and made our way back home to Ngong.
All of the older kids were insistent on making Kepha like the monkeys
Jack with a monkey leaping off his head.
I thought nothing could make the night better, but I ended up being dead wrong. Since Abi was leaving Sunday we had plans to go out for the night. After much deliberation on where to go we decided on Florida 2000, a notorious Nairobi club. The night ended being equally as awesome as the day. We danced for hours, laughed as prostitutes hit on Jack while trying to pickpocket him, enjoined a delightful dance show. As I crawled into bed at 4am I was content beyond measure, on a high that I hoped would never end.
Re-reading all of that I see just how far I've come from being able to describe the real impact it has on my life, but I hope that it at least gives you an idea. It amazes me how little it takes to make these children smile. Every time I break out my camera they all want to have a try with it (much to my dismay that they won't let me teach them how haha), they spin around snapping blurry shots here and there and giggle as they see their siblings pop up on the screen. Even Eunince has to try and control her excitement when politely ask to see the photo when I take a picture of her. Friday was a day for every one to just relax and let go, a day for everyone to be a kid.
Pheobe with a monkey on her shoulders, she is one of the shyer
girls at Faraja, but I think she had lots of fun.
As of Friday I also have to say there is only one more thing left on my Kenyan bucket-list: safari. Which is convenient since I am going this weekend. I'm also quite sure this weekend will lead to some great things for Faraja as well.
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