Sunday Bliss

Sunday, May 17, 2009
Today, I woke up and walked outside to meet a scene that can only be described as gorgeous and alive. The Hekima Place compound lays around 3000 feet above sea level, neatly placed within the greenest, liveliest flowers, trees, and bushes you can imagine. I was met by a sea of hugs from Maisha house, which houses the youngest of Hekima’s girls—from 3 years old through about grade level 4. How will I ever remember all of their names? The younger girls all have shaven heads, with short black hair. They are absolutely beautiful—in body and in spirit. I also met Rafiki and Zamadi (sp?), which mean “friend” and “gift”, respectively, in Kiswahili. They are Hekima’s dogs, mud-red in color from playing in the wet Kenyan grounds. (We suspect that they’re actually white dogs, but it’s hard to say for sure!)
Sunday morning all the girls go to church. All the girls either attend the Catholic Mass or the Deliverance (Pentecostal) church. There is one girl who is Anglican, but she attends the Catholic Mass now—she used to be able to attend the Anglican Church with several other Anglican girls at Hekima, but those other girls are now off at boarding school and it’s just not practical to send her alone to the church because she is very young.
I attended the Catholic Mass this morning, which was in English. There was a Kiswahili mass following ours. The priest spoke of the need for unity within Kenya and unity with other nations. He even welcomed all of us visitors. Most of the songs were in English, but there were a few in Kiswahili as well. The girls sitting on my row laughed hysterically as I tried to sing the Kiswahili words I read from the hymnal book. I thought I did a pretty decent job. : )
When we came back from church, all the girls changed from their church clothes into their play clothes. The girls share everything, which turns out great because they end up having “new” clothes to wear each week. This is community at its best. As we waited for lunch, served at 1, we all had delicious hot sweetened tea with milk and a fresh banana for a snack and several of us played Monopoly. (They also have a Kenya-themed Monopoly game—you’ll never guess what the “Boardwalk” is…..it’s Karen (the town we’re in!) This beautiful home is such an incredible opportunity for these girls, who mostly have been orphaned from AIDS. Some may have extended family, but they are not able to adequately provide for them. A few have mothers still alive, but who perhaps are not well enough to provide for them.)
Kate has split up all of us volunteers so that we don’t all eat at one house. Lindsey and Kristie and I ate at Maisha house for lunch. We had maize and beans and potatoes. It was delicious! (And perfect for my vegetarian lifestyle.) We sat on the grass and ate and talked and laughed with the girls. We played ring around the rosie and duck duck goose and chased and tickled each other.
Later, I got out my chalk and we drew a hopscotch and the youngest girls taught me how to count in Kiswahili.
Then the ipods came out. We danced, mostly with the girls around what would be middle-school grades, but also with some of the younger girls. We didn’t have a lot of music that they liked (they wanted Beyoncé), but we had a few High School Musical songs (their favorite) and a few others. Best of all, though, we taught them the Macarena and the Cupid Shuffle! ; ) Now that was fun!
At dinner, we ate at Maisha again and had noodles and a cabbage-veggie medley. (There was minced meat, as well, but I didn’t eat that.) One of the residential mums explained to me that she worked four days and then had two days off. On her days off, she would go home to her 5-year old son, who was not far from Karen. We then all went around the tables and told about our day:
-- “My day was good because… (I went to church, I played with so-and-so, I’m having a good dinner, etc.) and that was my day! HIP HIP…”
--“HOORAY!”
After dinner, we sat and read with the girls until it was time for them to go to bed.

Kate had an orientation with us later that night. 6th, 7th, and 8th graders walk to Hekima School Monday-Friday and for half a day on Saturday. There are 9 high schoolers who go to Karen City school. Nursery through 5th grade rides off in a bus to Hekima School. I learned that every school-child in Kenya must take CRE (Christian Religious Education) courses in school.
Kate warned us to be sensitive with the girls, as they come from difficult backgrounds. Many of them have been raped, are the product of incest, or have been affected by alcoholism. (There is one boy here, who’s about 2 years old now, but he is about to be adopted by Canadian and Indian parents. He was left in a hospital for his first 3 months of life until someone asked Kate to take him.)
Kate told us not to even ask their ages because it is a sensitive issue for some because they are very old for their grades. Primary school just became universally paid for in Kenya in 2003. For girls who attended before that, some of them just didn’t do as well for various reasons so they are at different levels in school now.
Kate’s creed for the girls is “no boys, no alcohol, no ‘mary-joo-ana, as they call it’”, not even when they go home, or they will have to leave Hekima. She doesn’t want them distracted by boys until they’ve finished their University education. Boys, she tells them, will distract them from their goals and may even lead them off the path. They’ve lost two girls for this reason—they were about 15 when they came. Kate said she realized when they left that no matter how many rules you have or how much love you give them, you can’t change someone who has lived their life that way for so long already. “There is no such thing as safe sex in this country,” she told us. “People don’t use condoms. You can’t experiment with sex without dying. There are more and more 14-year old girls on the mtatus with babies on their hips.”

I’m starting to realize that there are so many things you can’t possibly understand about a culture without really experiencing it. And there are things you shouldn’t do or say that you could hardly understand that you shouldn’t do or say unless you do or say the wrong thing or have someone explicitly explain it to you.
Overall, a fun and eye-opening first full day.