Summer Camp

Our day at the library yesterday brought us back to those good ole days at Summer Camp. We arrived early (around 11 o clock) and with the help of Mr. Nyaga and Francis, managed to separate 15 first to fourth-graders into small reading groups. We let Mr. Nyaga be the bad cop and shoo the younger kids(who tend to stir up trouble) out of the library, although we were tempted to make an exception for Franklin whose interest in reading and surprisingly good English makes him seem much older than his 2 years. Our trusty young library assistants, Sheila, Michelle and Esther impressed us yet again by taking charge and arranging the kids into age groups. Before we knew it each girl had picked out a book and was holding full-fledged lesson with her mini-class. The two of us spent about 15 minutes with each

group, helping the older girls and making sure everything was going smoothly. Of all the girls Michelle stood out to us as a natural leader and Mwalimu(teacher). Not only was she reading aloud to her group, but holding discussion and questions after each page. Sitting in on her group we both felt completely un-needed

(which was a good feeling, as we usually feel as though we need to be 3 places at once) It’s assuring to know that even when we leave Kenya there will be kids in the community who will be able to help their peers use the library.

After about an hour and a half we could no longer hold out the younger kids who had started knocking on the tin walls of the building and chanting “Wazungu! Wazungu! Wazungu!” We decided to take a break to play outside with all the younger kids and again to our pleasure the three older girls took charge. Like true camp counselors they started out by getting all of the 30+ kids to make a circle. They all started singing “ 1, 2 Make a circle! 3,4 a BIG circle like a sufuria!” and within seconds had formed a big circle, just like a sufuria(which is a cooking pot). For more than an hour our three camp counselors led us, 30+ kids, and even Mr. Nyaga in games and songs.

Reading groups

We arrived at the library early this afternoon and were met by 30 eager kids ranging from ages 2-12. We split them into 5 smaller groups by age and grade and picked 3 older girls (12 year-olds) to be group leaders for the young kids while each of us took a group of older kids. It actually worked out really well. The three older girls were natural teachers. One of the girls, Sheila, picked out an animal atlas for her group and taught them the names of all the various animals and insects. Sometimes we’d catch the sound of the kids shouting names of different animals in unison as she flipped through the pages. At one point, the kids exclaimed “SPIDER MAN!!” Looking over, we could see that Sheila was pointing to a picture of a real spider. The other two girls, Esther and Michelle also turned out to be perfect assistant librarians. When her group started to get a bit restless, Esther set them up with paper and colored pencils.

However, even with the help of the older girls, the younger kids began to get pretty rowdy and loud as the day went on. After a couple of hours we told them to go home for a little while to get some lunch and come back later. While the little kids were gone we had a chance to have a reading group with the 4 older girls, Esther, Michelle and Sheila (all in class 6) and another Esther (class 5). We had 4 copies of a Junie B. Jones book so we gave one to each girl and had them take turns reading a page aloud while the others followed along. After each chapter we had the girls tell us one thing that happened in the chapter. The Esther’s usually answered by reading sentences from the book but Michelle and Sheila gave good summaries, showing that they fully understood what they had read. Later, some older kids (friends of the girls) came and picked books for themselves. We helped them pick out books according to their interests and grade and they all sat quietly reading. It actually felt like a real library with all of the kids reading independently.

^from left,Esther,Michelle,Sheila and Esther

>some of the kids posing in front of the main gate of their public school, Nairobi River (over 1,600 students are enrolled there)

The Finished Library

All the books are installed! The empty shelf on the left is being saved for donated Kenyan curriculum textbooks from local schools.

To save money, we used the cardboard Home Depot boxes (that we used to ship the books in) to make the backs of the bookshelves.

^Science, history,art,religion and reference sections

chapter book section

The First Three Days

In the past three days the church in the Buru Buru slum has been transformed from a bare tin building to the beginnings of a colorful library. We started working on the project this Saturday when we bought wood for the bookshelves. We were originally planning to build the shelves ourselves, but luckily Mr. Nyanga,the pastor/librarian, found a great carpenter to do the job for us. The carpenter has been working around the clock to complete the bookshelves, and they look twenty times better than anything we could have built. There’s a certain buzz of excitement and busyness in the library as we work and every morning we find the same kids there, eagerly waiting to take part in the activities.

On our second day we brought paper, pencils, and crayons to occupy the local kids with a decorating project for the library. We needed to provide a distraction to the younger kids who were less interested in reading. It’s been really amazing to see the excitement on these kids’ faces as they read and even see books for the first time. One boy,Joseph, who’s twelve years old and in 2^nd grade, told us on our first day in the slum that he’d never read a book before. Every day since then we’ve watched him come to the library, pick a new book, and despite the commotion around him determinedly read through the whole thing.

When we left Buru Buru this afternoon, the carpenter was starting to build the last bookshelf. If everything goes according to plan the bookshelves will be full by this Friday, and we’ll be able to start reading groups on Monday.

The inside of the library at the end of Day 3

The Wait Is Over!

After three months of waiting, the books are finally in our possession! We’ve never been so happy to see cardboard boxes in our lives. We say “in our possession” because the books have actually been in Kenya for more than one month now; two weeks on the freight in Mombasa port, two weeks going through customs, and another week sitting in a warehouse in Nairobi. We finally have our books and it only took 3 months of waiting, 50+ clarifying phone calls and emails, and frequent visits to the courier’s office…TIA.

Despite the irritation of having to wait to do our library projects, we’ve had a great couple of months. Other than a couple great weeks in Mombasa and Zanzibar, we’ve spent the majority of our time at the Malia Children’s Home, improving our Swahili, getting to know the family, and mastering our Kenyan cooking skills. Because of the unforeseen delay with the books, our last two months will be extremely busy in trying to complete our library projects.

This morning, while we were sorting the books, we received a visit from the pastor from the Buru Buru slum, who will also be the acting librarian once we leave. He was amazed to see the room filled with 50 boxes of books. We arranged to start building bookshelves tomorrow with the help of him and other community members. We’re also going to enlist the help of local private schools in holding annual textbook drives so that we can provide a way for kids in the slum, who can’t afford school, to learn the curriculum.

We’re really excited about how this project continues to evolve, and we’re hoping to be able to keep up the momentum once we’re gone. Once we’ve actually put up the bookshelves and arranged the books, loosely by genre and age, we plan on splitting the kids up into reading groups based on age and literacy. We’re also reaching out to local student volunteers to help lead reading groups. We hope that once we leave, we’ll have established a group of people to continue to volunteer at the slum in Buru Buru.

Starts with W, Rhymes with Late, Ends with “ing”

This week we’ve done a lot of waiting. Since Monday, we’ve been waiting for running water. Every day a new expert comes and tells us on high authority that the water will come that evening. It’s now Friday morning and we’re still waiting. I guess we’ve been a little spoiled this year as going one week without running water has been really difficult. We constantly have to remind ourselves that last year we were able to go six weeks without it.

Having to wait for the water has been nothing in comparison to the anxiousness we’ve felt waiting for our books to arrive. The books were scheduled to arrive in the Mombasa port on the 27^th of September, but after almost two weeks, they’re still on the freight waiting to dock. Apparently there’s been an error in the system involving a “manifest number” and some other things that we don’t really understand. Waiting for the books has taken on a whole new meaning of the word waiting; waiting for the freight coordinator to call, waiting for the government to issue a manifest number, waiting to find out how much everything will cost, waiting to schedule our time around when the books will arrive. Although it’s been a little frustrating, we’re not worried because we know that everything will work out in the end.

Another thing we’ve been waiting for since we got here is the news of a new manager arriving at the rescue center. The rescue center is transitioning into new management, which means that we can’t start our project there until the transition is over. Luckily, the staff knows about our project and are all very excited about it. In the meantime, we’re going to do another library project in a slum near Nairobi. After some consideration, we realized that the donated books are enough to not only create a library at the rescue center, but to create three; one at the rescue center, one at the Malia children’s home, and one in a Buru Buru slum. We’re really excited about the project in Buru Buru because the community was already interested in creating a resource center and had even designated a space for it, they just needed the books.We’ll be working on this project with the help of the friends who introduced us to the community. Next week we’ll start getting to know the kids there, setting up bookshelves, and, if the books have arrived, installing the library. But for now we’ll just go back to what we do best, waiting.

Things Mzungus Like

Money belts: There’s one thing that’s always #1 on every mzungu’s packing list, and that’s a money belt. Money belts are these unattractive, uncomfortable wallets that somewhat resemble a fanny-pack but are worn underneath your clothes. Mzungus won’t go anywhere without their money belt. It is their prized possession, and (even though it completely defeats the purpose) will sometimes even be worn on the outside of an mzungu’s clothing to show off to their uninterested peers. On our way to Kenya this year, we saw another mzungu who was wearing a jean dress with her money belt on the outside. While most would call this easy access, she probably considered it more of a fashion trend.

Asking questions about the food: “Are these potatoes…fried?”

“Was this sukuma soaked in boiled water?” “You know that there are ants in these chapattis, right?” These are the questions that mzungus will ask at the dinner table. We’re very particular about our food…always trying to avoid sickness and not coming home 50 pounds overweight. Just today we went out for lunch at the very popular Tea Tot Hotel, and, in an attempt to improve our eating habits, we ordered the only thing on the menu that wasn’t deep-fried, one lone boiled egg. I think the waiter had forgotten that this was even an option on the menu…

Earth-toned EMS backpacks: How do you spot an mzungu in a crowd? Look for the big hiker’s backpack. Once you see one of these backpacks you might think, “wow, they must have just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro!” Don’t get too excited… even though it looks like it’s stuffed with a tent, sleeping bag, and life supply of Cliff bars, it’s really just the suitcase of your average tourist.

Taking pictures with lots of little kids: You’ve all seen the pictures. Every mzungu who’s been to Africa proudly posts them on their facebook profile and hangs them up in the most visible walls of the house. There are even a couple on this blog. Mzungu’s like to show other mzungus that not only have they travelled to Africa, but have befriended dozens of cute little African children.

HandSani and Kleenex: Look in any given mzungu’s bag and you will most certainly find a travel size bottle of handsani and a pack of Kleenex. Mzungus like to feel prepared for any possibly unsanitary situation (i.e. Hole-in-the-ground toilets) and make sure to never go anywhere without a full bottle of purell and enough tissues to brave even the most badly equipped bathroom.

Running with Kenyans: Running beside a Kenyan automatically gives an mzungu a runner’s ego boost. “ I am keeping up with a marathon winner” every mzungu secretly likes to think, no matter if the Kenyan has never run a day before in their life. After going on a run with a Kenyan, mzungus will often consider writing to Runner’s World about the earth-shattering experience.

Safari jeeps: Though spotting another mzungu is quiet rare, there is probably a 95% chance that when you do see one, they’ll be riding in a safari jeep, camera in hand. Mzungus just love those big, green, rented jeeps that they’ll spend as much time in them as possible. They’ll drive them through Nairobi, they’ll drive them through the dusty roads of the Masaai Mara game park, and, if compelled to do so, they’ll even eat and sleep in them.

Seeing other Mzungus: In a smaller town like Machakos it’s always a surprise to see another mzungu. A couple of days ago we were walking around town when a white girl passed by us on the back of a motorcycle. She threw up a peace sign and we waved with much excitement. “Who is she?” we wondered. “What could she possibly be doing here?” We were perplexed to see her in Machakos, where we are used to being the resident mzungus.

Kenyan handcrafts: When going through security in Nairobi International Airport on your way home, you’ll always see one of those mzungus. You know, the ones that are decked out in Kenyan jewelry and clothing. There will be Masaai bracelets covering their arms, a traditional multicolored scarf draped over their braided hair, and falling out of their bag is a wooden mask carved by a Kamba. If there’s one thing mzungus love, it’s coming home from Africa with a suitcase full of Kenyan handcrafts to show their friends.

Being the only mzungu around: There is an important distinction we should make. While mzungus love to occasionally spot other mzungus, they wont be caught dead in the middle of a big group of them. “ Classic mzungus” they’ll say when a tour bus full of safari hat sporting, sun burned mzungus happens to pass by. It’s a major ego boost for those who aren’t taking part in the mzungu parade.

100% Deet: An mzungu’s greatest fear is that his/her trip be ruined by a bad case of malaria. So in addition to taking daily malaria pills, mzungus will often religiously cover themselves with 100% deet. Ever wonder why people seem to be able to detect the presence of an mzungu before even seeing him/her? It’s because you can smell them coming from about 20 feet away.