Here in Kenya...

Well, Mr. Ozar went into town to see if he's contracted malaria and Colin went back to our house with allergies he is convinced is malaria leaving me to write my second blog of the day. Note to readers that I feel great. Anyway - I promised big tales of the Children's Village and that's what you are going to get. Let's begin:

Col and I drove with Mrs. Ozar about 15 minutes outside of the town of Meru to our much anticipated destination: The Diocese of Meru Children's Village. The Village is the home of St. Francis School for Boys and the St. Clare School for Girls. As many of you know, these schools were started by the church to give street children a chance to get out of their situation, get an education and ultimately live a full life. It's not a stretch to say that many of these children would not make it past the age of 10 had they not agreed to go to the Village. In fact, one of the older boys even told Mrs. Ozar that he knows for a fact he would be dead if this opportunity hadn't presented itself to him. After seeing some of the street kids in Meru sitting on the corner and literally huffing petrol I can say with certainty that he's probably right.

The kids themselves come from all over Kenya. What started out as a school for local streetkids soon expanded and with the recent violence has brought children just last week from western Kenya and the slums of Nairobi. I met a boy named Vincent (who I want to pack up in my bag and take home) that arrived just a few weeks ago. He is the nicest, sweetest, cutest kid of all time. Mrs. Ozar floored me when she told me his story. He had been out on the street since he was very young. Not too long ago he took a bus from his village in the west to Nairobi (about an eight hour drive) where he met up with other streetkids. One day he jumped on the back of a minibus and his leg got caught underneath. The driver did not stop for several miles - all the while dragging Vincent's leg under the bus. He was in terrible shape but could not get any medical attention. After a few days, when infection was at it's worse, a couple of the streetkids took him to see Italian nuns who live in the slums and offer up showers to the kids. Authors notes: The Italian nuns have already made several appearances in our journey. Who knew. Back to Vincent...when he went to take a shower the nuns noticed his leg and took him to the hospital. He lived with them in the convent while he healed. This all happend right before violence broke out in the slums of Nairobi. It is likely that Vincent would have been killed in the violence if he had not been at the convent. In a strange way the incident with his leg - once thought a tragedy - is now considered the event that may have saved his life. The nuns fell in love with this kid and eventually brought him to Father Riwa's attention. Now he lives, works and goes to school at the Village.

I met Vincent while I was labeling books in the library. Text books. Lots of them. Bought with the money donated from you! That's right - I was actually labeling the books that were bought with the money we raised before coming out here. Isn't that crazy? Father Riwa told Colin and I that it was a miracle to see the money wired to the bank account. He desperately needed new text books with all the new kids coming in and viola! there it was curteousy of the friends and family of Mr. Colin and Madam Mary. So that's what I was labeling in the books..."From the friends and family of Mr. Colin and Madam Mary Chicago, USA". Father wants us to do that so the children remember how the kindness of others helped them along the way and so they can add us to their prayers. I thought it was so cute. I also took a shine to the whole Madam Mary thing. At first it sounded like a prostitute or tarot card reader but after you hear one of those little Kenyan cuties say it you are hooked. So thank you again and again and again to all of our family and friends who donated supplies, books and money. You are the best! It certainly is making a difference.

Earlier in the day Col and I were asked to speak to the boys age 9-20 in two seperate discussion groups. What did you say? You want me to stand in front of an audience and talk? Oh but I couldn't! I just couldn't (cue spot light). It was a total blast. We were there to answer any questions the kids had about America. As you can imagine there were some interesting questions and we had some interesting and creative answers to offer. What just killed me is that each kid would stand up and say "Here in Kenya..." and then give an example of what they do there and follow it up with a question about America. For example "Here in Kenya we have male and female circumcision. Do you have that in America?" I let Colin field that one. Other awesome questions:
"I saw a movie with robots that looked like people. Do you have these in America?"
"What is Thanksgiving?"
"Are the poor really poor in America? Is it like here in Kenya?" (Almost impossible to answer)
"What is the government stance on (insert just about every thing you can imagine here)"
"Will Obama win the election? Do people know he is part of the such and such tribe? Note that the Kenyans are really loyal to their tribes - hence the recent violence. I am in a part of the country that traditionally doesn't like Obamas tribe and they wonder if Americans are concerned that he is a member of this tribe.
"What is the biggest crop in America?" Hmmm...Liz, could you look that one up for me? Thanks.
"We understand that America is a great exporter of many goods and services. What do you import?" Great question, kid. Do any of the Van De Walle's remember that puzzle that had exports and imports in it? I used my knowledge of that puzzle that was updated in 1986 to pull out my answer of "textiles".
"Why do Americans have big noses?" Ouch.
"Why do Americans think they are a superpower?" with follow ups like:
"How could 9-11 happen to such a superpower?"
And then back to less deep questions like..."Does snow hurt?" and "Here in Kenya we have much wildlife like giraffes, elephants (which I saw on the drive up to the school eating by the road), rhinos and lions. What kind of wildlife do you have in America?" Really drives home how much the squirrel sucks as wildlife. I added in deer, bears and wolves to sound cool. Col chimed in with crocodiles. Thanks, Florida.

After our talk we showed pictures that we had brought along of family, friends, Chicago, winter, etc. The kids wanted to hang up the pictures right away and they all kept coming up to ask me questions about them. The particularly liked the snow photos (expected) and a wedding picture I had (unexpected). They also like to see the pictures of my neice Annie...I really don't think they had ever seen a white baby before. They kept asking where her hair was and if it was my baby. Too cute.

We will be going back on Thursday to speak to the girls school and I can't wait to hear their questions and to see if they will be different from the boys. The Children't Village truly is a wonderful place. Our pictures simply can't do it justice. I will thank Mr. Bud and Madam Sue (the Ozars) for introducing us to this place whenever I think of it in years to come. And I will always remember how happy the kids were who stopped by the library to see their new text books curteousy of our family and friends. Asanti sana, asanti sana, asanti sana.