Home for the holidays

This is going to be a relatively short one, as things are very busy here.  Just about 29 hours before Rebecca and I board the bus bound for Nairobi and there are so many things left to do for work and to pack up the houses in the compound

It’s been an incredible week.  Busy, yes, but incredible.  We passed the 750 mark for students registered at our Learning Center and may well have passed 800 by now (getting an official file count tomorrow). The largest number last time the Center was opened was 350, so this is a huge increase and we have our staff split between the Center and our new mobile Center (which serves another 100 or so kids each week), so over twice the students at the original Learning Center with about half the number of Education staff. Plus, we added a new record-keeping system. It’s been interesting and definitely exciting.

We celebrated my friend and next door neighbor, Janine, entering her 30^th year by also celebrating one of her favorite holidays, Christmas, as we wind down our time together before the break.

Do you want to know something just a little crazy?  After a little while here, it becomes so easy (or at least it was for me) to forget the world outside of this little town.  To forget that there are places where you can drink water from the tap, where it’s unusual for the electricity to cut out every few minutes, or for fire to shoot out of the electrical sockets.  I can hardly remember what it is like not to have my clothes smell like mildew or to have strange creatures crawl out from under my bed at night.  Lizards hanging from the ceiling tiles, toads in the shower, and worst of all, weevils in our food!  What will it be like when there are more than 3 restaurants to choose from, they don’t take 2-3 hours to prepare a plate of fries, and they don’t all serve the exact same thing.  There are no rocks in the beans, no beetles in the mangoes, and no centipedes with giant stingers in my sandals.  There is a place where I will be relatively anonymous.  Where I do not stick out like a sore thumb for children to gawk at, point, and yell.

But still, this is a life that I love.  It is hard to imagine a place I’d rather be.  I miss my friends and family at times, but I really just wish they could all be here (instead of me there) to see how beautiful it is, how delicious the simplicity of life can be here, and how incredible the people here are.  Especially the kids.  The kids make it for me.  Not only the ones I am friends with outside of work (but they are indeed incredible and make every day a little more wonderful), but also the ones I see at the Center and at the schools who are so full of energy and enthusiasm to learn, and even the ones I meet on the road.  Yeah, some of them stop and stare and point and yell.  But, as soon as you crack a smile in their direction and give them a wave, you’ve done it.  Connection made. 

 

The first leg of this journey has been incredible.  Eventful. Rocky. Crazy. Amazing. Rewarding. Challenging.  Tough.  Easy. Emotional. Inspiring. And altogether beautiful. 

Not looking forward to the long bus ride or the full day spent on planes, but I know the people I see on the other end, will make the journey well worth it.

I love you all.  Take care.  Maybe I’ll even see you soon, j