So life here has been very busy and eventful in the last week, so please forgive the absence of a mid-week blog. Celebrating Independence Day in Kenya was pretty awesome. The Dominicans threw us a “nama choya”, which is a big barbecue. There was so much food, and it was incredible. The first course was smoothies. Yes. Smoothies. This was quickly followed by hot dogs that were twice the size of an American hot dog. I had two of those to chase down my strawberry smoothie. Crates of soda and Tusker were brought out, and those were passed around while goat and beef were roasted on the fire. Goat tastes surprisingly like beef. Along with all of this delicious meat was potato salad, macaroni salad, fruit salad, watermelon, bananas, pineapple, rice, and much more. Then, after all of the grilled meat, came dessert. There were three cakes. The first, and my favorite, was a homemade chocolate cake. Second, was a lemon cake, and third, was a red, white, and blue jello cake. These were all made by the Dominican sisters from down the road who had come to the barbeque as well. The School Sisters of Notre Dame were also in attendance. The Kenyan Dominicans had never seen jello before, but they loved it. I had cake and ice cream to my heart’s content, and I was full.
I have been continuing to teach music and the guitar to the students, and a there are five of them who have really got the hang of it. They have gotten down about five of six chords, and are now working on switching between them so that they can move on to playing songs. It is so cool to see their faces light up when they get it right. They really want to play at mass on Sunday, but I am not sure that they will be ready. If they keep practicing every day, then they will be ready by next Sunday. They have tomorrow afternoon off, and want to practice all afternoon, which should be fine, although I won’t be able to be there with them this time, as Jeff is taking us to the market so we can see it. We hear kids walking around the compound singing the alleluia that I taught them, which is really cool. It happens all the time too! We have decided that after each daily mass we are going to keep the students there and teach them a new song. Today we taught them "Christ be Our Light". It was cool.
I have been playing basketball with some of the students after school every now and again, and they really love it. Today I spoke with Jeff and he has decided to stand in as their coach so that they can play in a league next year. I guess they have done this in the past, but last year they did not. Usually a few kids from the village come and play as well. They are really good. It is quite fun, and they are quite fair with the self refereeing and creating teams, which is neat.
Today they had a reap lecture again, which is like going to a CCD class in America. Unfortunately the main hall of the school in where they usually hold the reap lectures was being used for an exam. The second largest “auditorium” the school has is lacking a roof (on purpose) and it was raining, so that was out. I pointed out that they could hold it in the science lab, which is quite big, and they decided to do that. The lab was donated in memory of a science teacher in (I believe) America, who had passed away, and it is very nice. In the lab there are tons of countertops, and the students were all sitting on them, but many girls were standing while the boys were sitting. We were told as volunteers that one of the things we should try to do is help the children build character. So I instructed all of the boys to stand up and offer their seat to a girl who didn’t have one. They actually did it! I was very impressed. The secondary school boys were all standing in the back of the lab. They had opened the double back doors and were standing on chairs and holding onto the door frame in order to listen, which was quite nice. Kate and Brother Dominic gave a nice lecture about the sign of peace at mass, and what it actually means. It was very good. Afterwards, a student came up to me and asked me about God’s will in the world, and we had a conversation about that. It was a very nice conversation. He brought up the face that he saw people try to find happiness and fulfillment in alcohol, money, and drugs, among other things, but the only place one can truly find fulfillment is in the Lord. I am pretty sure he was a freshmen in high school, and for someone that age in this society to say that is quite impressive.
There are two students here from southern Sudan, and they are very happy today, as today the Sudan split in half and the newest country in the world was formed: the Republic of Southern Sudan. One of them is a senior in high school, and does very well gradewise. He has a brother who lives and works in the United States. His brother spoke to a college in the U.S. and they have agreed to take him on as a student if he gets a certain grade on Kenya's national exam. Needless to say, he is very excited. It couldn't have happened to a better guy.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading this. Thank you very much for doing so. I will be putting pictures up soon of this past week so if you check back in a little while you will see another link to an album of photos!
God Bless,
Kevin
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