Maisha magumu ... it's a hard life

Today was my first full day back at work since returning from vacation.

It's fascinating to be back in a culture different than my own.  I'm more aware of the non-verbal communication than what I may do naturally in my own culture.  Here an glance may mean yes, looking away meaning no.  Hugging on both sides or tapping foreheads as a sign of greeting - those are things that are new again, yet familiar since I've now lived in East Africa for 3 and a half years.  Respect is shown in words and in silence.  And working with teenagers, I've found silence is also a way of avoiding the reality.

About half of the children the HOPE project supports are partial orphans, which means that they've lost one parent to AIDS and their remaining parent is HIV+ and unable to support them to school.  These are the lucky ones.  They still have a mother who's usually willing to struggle to help them, even if she cannot afford their daily bread.

Two of the students I met today are total orphans, who live with aunt and uncles.  Both of these kids are ones for whom most people would say "maisha ni magumu."  Life is hard. Whether it's that the aunt is tired of caring for the children of her sister who passed away 15 years ago or that she finds the constant needs too much for her patience, it's tough for the child, especially for kids going through the tumultuous teenage years.

Eric did well in primary school and his older brother managed to get a chance at going to a good university.  But the last two years have been a tough transition for Eric, with his brother gone at school, his uncle busy at work and his aunt just not interested in him, his performance dropped and he found that being the class clown was more fun than being serious about his studies.  Now with a reputation and being far behind in his classes, it's almost too late to catch up. 

It's the students who's guardians don't show up - whether it's at parent meetings at the school or when we try to meet with them - that I feel for.  Life is hard enough for a teenager without being loved by the people around him everyday.  Mercy is another girl who's aunt doesn't always give her the care she needs - but today she came with another student we support, who's also studying hairdressing.  Sometimes having a friend is all you need to make the world seem like a better place and that life isn't so hard.

Having spent a month with my own family and friends, seeing Eric and Mercy again remind me why I'm here.  Hopefully to help them have a life that isn't so hard in the years to come.

Thanks to all my friends at home that support me in what I do.

Something to hope for...

Hello friends!  Here's an unfinished post with a few photos from May... I've just finished an amazing month in the USA visiting friends & family and will put in some fun captions after I return to Kenya! Off to the airport now (June 19th)!

 

Although May is now coming to a close, it started with three days of activities for the HOPE students.  

 

After Easter we had our office open each day for our students to study.  Our tutor, Ben, would give the high school students practice tests in the morning and they'd take turns answering the questions on a blackboard.  I was thrilled we had over 20 students come for tutoring.  Only 8-10 can fit inside our office/library, so we had benches set up outside for overflow.

We also had 2 days of workshops for the students aged 13 and older.  A highlight for the students was a visit from a young female lawyer who works on justice and peace issues in the area.  We also had a session on the environment and a relay race designed to include team building and problem solving activities.

We are trying to help the students identify different skills they have.

One of the relay activities was building a Lego boat by sending "scouts" one at a time to look at the instructions.

None of the students had ever seen Legos before! 

The winning team

We also want to encourage students to give back and volunteer, so we had a church "clean-up" day.

Another highlight of May was getting together with the guardians of 8th grade students, since it's a high-pressure year for students.  Many of the guardians were able to offer suggestions on how to face specific problems - which was especially helpful for the two young men who are now guardians for their younger sisters.

We had a very generous donation of books from a book drive at St James School of Red Bank NJ in memory of Rose Rusch.  You can read about her and the foundation started in her honor here.  The students in the Red Bank Catholic High School Maryknoll Affiliates raised money for the bookshelf in this photo and now it's full of books!  I'm particularly excited about the opportunity these books have given for the young girls who were waiting to start a vocational course to improve their English & to encourage all of our students to read.

This photo slipped in from April - the Maryknoll Lay Missioners of Kenya!

As part of our environment day, we had a competition of which team could find the most materials in the area to recycle.

Esther and Maxmilla taking a break.

Titus checking out the local garbage pile for recyclables.

Comparing who brought back the most plastic bottles.

Since one of my hobbies is composting, we had a lesson in composting natural waste, too!

The winning team, Team Orange

The 2nd place team, Team White (it was almost a tie!)

Super Moon in Mombasa