Homeward Bound

This is our last day in South Africa. Nikki spent the morning sitting in on a class at a school here. Though they teased her about her accent, she had a good time getting to know the kids and seeing a South African school from the inside. She told many of her Kenyan stories and about life in Vancouver to the kids that asked about it.

Tonight our plane will leave Africa headed back to Canada. It feels like we've been on the road for months, our touchdown in Nairobi seems so long ago. And the months of planning, the fund-raising, the excitement watching our small group of friends and family see rural, unpredictable Kenya for the first time, that is a distant memory. All of you who have donated pencils, books, clothes, sewing kits, money, school letters, you have done a great thing because I'll never be able to express the appreciation we got when we handed these things out. Just like last year, this trip to Kenya was quite grounding, I find it makes you think twice each time you turn on a water faucet, you think in terms of chickens and cows rather than in dollars and cents, and of course it's hard to break the habit of taking toilet paper with you wherever you go. On this trip in particular I could see Kenya anew, through the young, innocent eyes of Nikki and Holly, and through the raw, heart-felt compassion of our fellow travellers who were new to this continent. I'll always remember the high-pitched "How are you?" of the little children proud to use their English on us, even calling to us half a kilometre away. And watching the joy in the faces of my travelling companions hugging the little ones at the school, or watching the misty eyes as we listened to some of the stories of the children. It's funny, we brought with us so much knowledge, our business micro-finance seminars, music lessons, Monique's dental seminars, Matias' accounting seminars, even all of our speeches to the graduating class of the school to help give them some guidance - but with all this teaching, I look back and see how WE were actually the students, learning something much deeper, about humanity and about ourselves. We gave many talks to the children to inspire them, and then we see Kenyans with not enough to eat, yet devoting their lives to helping other Kenyans on a completely voluntary basis, and I ask myself - who is inspiring whom? There is need all over Africa as we've seen in Kenya and in South Africa, and I'm finding that the bigger the need, the bigger the smallest contribution makes. You should have seen the smiles on the faces of the children we gave a pencil to. A pencil. You should have seen the smiles on the faces of the kids playing soccer with Nikki, or the smiles on the faces of the children Holly played with. But it's not just playing games with their peers - these are orphans whose parents most likely died of aids, or the mother died and the father remarried and disowned the child, or many other scenarios that led the child to this school with a little food and very, very basic accommodation and clothing - many of these orphans feel like the world is against them, and the fact that we came from across the globe to play with them, that they see there are people that care for them, well, that's the magic, that's what makes the impact. Very simple things that made a world of difference to the children. As we've seen, volunteering doesn't have to be large acts of heroism, they can be baby steps, and with enough people making baby steps, well, then so comes the waterfall. Something Nikki and Holly can bring to their generation, and we can continue in ours.

As for this travelling team, I have so much respect for all of my travelling companions; this trip pushed everyone out of their comfort zones and the challenges were met with enthusiasm. They are a great group of people and you can't not come out of this as great friends.

To all you out there who supported us and came for the ride, thanks for listening, it was great having you along.

This isn't the end of a trip .. it is just the beginning.

Paul

--- some of my favorite moments in Kenya ---

Peanut butter sandwich treats after Level 8 exams

Finding Ute

Primary school near Kima at the equator

Dishing out treats

Singing lesson in an outdoor classroom

Nikki with Kimberly

Soccer in sandals

Laurissa showing children her pictures on the camera

Scott teaching micro-finance

Nikki marking doors for polio vaccine

Paul teaching micro-finance

Nikki comforting child after polio vaccine

Nikki receiving Kipepeo volunteer certificate from 'Captain Canada'

Carrying water supply, Kenyan style

Oral hygiene demonstration from the team

Nikki instructing tooth-brushing techniques

Cape Town, South Africa

After a sad good-bye to the rest of the 8inKenya gang, we caught our early morning flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on our way to South Africa, our final destination before heading home. It will be odd travelling in a small group of 3 after so many days 24/7 together as a team of 8. We only had a few hours stopover in Addis Ababa, but we saw the sunrise from the airport, and watched as the golden hills slowly appeared as dawn illuminated all around us. It looks like a beautiful place. We then caught our early flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, and then the last leg of our trip, to Cape Town, on the southern tip of Africa.

Our friend Caroline met us at the airport along with her partner Paul. We had met Caroline during our travels in 1989, and had kept in touch ever since. We met their children Ashton (15) and Chelsea (12). Over the past few days they took us around the cape. We went to the southern-most tip of Africa where the Atlantic and the Indian oceans meet. It was quite windy, which apparently was nothing compared to winter time in July. It's no wonder there are many shipwrecks below the surface of the water just off the shore.

We drove to Boulders Beach where the African Penguins hang out (& make out). We went to Kalk Bay to see seals, and we've seen all sorts of floral and plant species indigenous to this part of the world.

One of the most amazing things I heard was the stories of the baboons. For those of you plagued with pests like bugs, spiders, or mice in your houses, you should consider yourselves lucky, A problem in some neighbourhoods here are baboons. They come in groups of 10 or more, and if they get into your house, they trash the place looking for food. Some stand 4 or 5 feet tall. In the neighbourhoods that the baboons frequent, the houses have bars on the windows, not for burglars, but for the baboons. The baboons are so smart that when they can't get through the bars of an open window, they send in the baby baboons who then unlock and open the front door for the big ones to enter. They can open cupboards, fridges, and you can't confront one, as not only are they protected, but they are so strong they can take your arm off. They even wait at grocery stores for people to come out of the store, and then as a group they sometimes mug people for their groceries. They can open car doors, they will even lift glass sliding doors off the track to get inside a house. One guy at a mall was pinned up against the wall by 4 of them, they went through his pockets and tried to eat the guy's Blackberry when they found it. Pretty interesting. It is not like this all over, just in some neighbourhoods close to the mountains where they live.

I digress. Cape Town is a very beautiful place, I can see the remnants of the soccer matches last year as there is new development, especially at the airports, getting ready for the world to come in. There are beautiful beaches, though they come with shark spotters who watch the waters looking for sharks, and raise flags and use a siren when there is a recent sighting. It's a laid-back coastal town where all sorts of people live together, the original African tribes of the area, racial mixes, and white English and Dutch people, as well as the people who come down for 6 months a year from Europe to enjoy the southern summer. It is a mix of rich, middle class and very poor people, all living in the same city. Though it is mostly a developed country, quite different from any of the other African countries Iíve seen before, the many poor people begging for food reminds us that it still has a ways to go in its development. And the baboons and the sharks and the penguins and the seals are all reminders that we are encroaching in nature's territory here. Regardless of how developed this place gets, it is still Africa.

Paul

The southern most tip of Africa - Atlantic and Indian Oceans behind us

"Happy Feet"

Penguin colony

He gave us his seal of approval - sorry, travelling too long

Noordhoek Beach

Chatman's peak

Cape Town sunrise

Kima to Masai Mara

Our ride out of Kima picked us up at 6AM on Wednesday morning. We drove for 8 hours south-west to the Masai Mara game reserve, which borders Tanzania. The terrain went from the more lush vegetation of western Kenya to plains and rolling hills of the Mara region. Here, the Masai tribes rule. Their houses are often built in circles, with dense thorny brush surrounding their villages. This prevents large animals from entering their villages and making off with their livestock. We spotted many Masai tending to their herds of sheep or cattle, always wearing bright colours and carrying a stick or spear.

We arrived at the place we’re going to stay in the early afternoon. It was a fairly comfortable place compared to the accommodations of the past few weeks. We were staying in tented rooms with a thatch roof. Our driver was named Michael, who had a matatu which had a top that popped up, allowing us to stand in the vehicle to easily spot animals while driving through the reserve. Over the course of the next few days we spent a great deal of time in the matatu driving through the Masai Mara, watching animals such as zebra, gazelle, the majestic elephants, hippos, even crocodiles, and of course the ever-graceful giraffe - all in their natural habitat. It was interesting to have them roam free, with us in a cage. At one point we watched 2 cheetahs hunting a baby ostrich. The speed and accuracy of its attack was quite amazing. Survival of the fittest. We also saw a leopard laying up in a tree, which is something apparently difficult to find. Very beautiful animals, all within their own ecosystem, quite an experience.




Paul marking child after vaccinating children from polio

 

Ute marking child after vaccination

Nikki helping with polio vaccination

International group with Kipepeo gang

Today we sadly left the park. We took a small plane from Masai Mara to Nairobi. It was a magnificent flight over the |plains of Africa and into a small airport on the outskirts of |Nairobi. The Kenyan president was about to arrive at this airport, so there was a lot of security with roads being closed. We then navigated the bad Nairobi rush hour to get to the international airport, where we are now, waiting for our 3AM flight. Here the 8 of us split up for the first time since starting our trip. Ute, Nikki and I are going south to South Africa, and Scot, Laurissa, Holly, Monique and Matias are heading to Monique’s relatives in Amsterdam for a few days. Our Kenyan adventure is coming to a close. My only hope is that we made a difference in the many lives we’ve touched over the past 2 weeks, as they have touched ours.

Good-bye Vihiga, Hello Kipepeo

Saying good-bye to the children at the Vihiga Children’s School was much more difficult than I would have imagined. Before I left Friday afternoon I taught the older kids another Queen song ‘Somebody to Love’. I wanted to just teach it to the Grade 6 and 7’s, but many more kids packed the room. So I put it up with chalk on the blackboard-type thingy on the cement wall, and they learned it quite quickly, the different singing parts and all. There was one part they didn’t seem to get, so I broke it down into the doe-ree-me’s, using my hand to show when the notes went higher, and so every time they came to that part, their little hands went in the air like I did, thinking I suppose that it was part of the song. Anyway, we went outside and did a little concert for the rest of the school. The kids were so proud, and I was of them. But it’s things like that that make it hard to leave. Also knowing that most of the grade 8’s that will graduate in December, will probably not be able to afford the $300 to go to high school. After high school you can get a job, but without high school you’re out of luck. It’s a shame, as these kids are quite bright, and it’s hard to believe their future depends on a few hundred bucks. But with every challenge there is opportunity, and so the birth of ‘micro-Eduloan’, a new idea as an extension of the micro-finance programs that are quite popular in developing countries. So this is how it will work: we lend high school students the money to go to school, they pay it back when they start working, and any money paid back is then re-lent to other graduating students. Since it will be hard to administer from Canada, we make a school like Priscilla’s responsible for collection, for any money they can collect will go toward funding one of their newly graduating students. So the school is incented to ensure collection. We’re going to fund a few students this way to start the program and see how it goes.

After a sad good-bye to the children of the school, we took a matatu over hugely potholed roads to Kima - part two of our volunteering, with the Kipepeo Community Empowerment Program. Kima is an hour fromVihiga. We pulled up to the office of Kipepeo - it was odd knowing where we were going in such a remote part of the world. We met Jethron, the third member of Kipepeo who was away the last time Scott and I were here. He’s a bundle of energy, very outgoing, and with a heart of gold. He has the same values as Jesse and Julius, whom we knew from the last trip. We had a short meeting to set out the next few days. Jesse and Julius soon joined us - it was really great to see them again.. Interestingly, they took all our comments last year quite seriously. They implemented many of them, for instance, we challenged them to expand and get themselves into a better office. And to our surprise, they did! Their new office opening is tomorrow. They now have about 15 or so volunteer projects on the go, with about 8 volunteers from abroad working with them for several months. These guys really make things happen, which solidifies why we are comfortable being involved with their fund-raising activities, as we know they will do what they say they will. We also met some of the volunteers - Kim (guy) from Denmark, Jenna from Finland, Helene from France, Cameron from New Zealand, Philip from Czech Republic, and Konomy from Japan. Quite an international group. Some are teaching at a school, some were laying cement on a school floor, and so on.

About the cement floor - school floors are mostly dirt since the walls are made of a mixture of mud and clay, and these microscopic worms called ’jiggers’ jump from the floor to the kids’ feet and burrow there, growing and laying eggs. Abad untreated case is quite devastating. If the school has the money they will lay a cement floor, like the project Kim is working on. If not, then they scrub the floor with cow manure once a week, which keeps the jiggers away for at least a few days.

We checked into a hotel called ‘Uncle Sam’s’ which is a basic room with - get this - running warm water! Quite a luxury on this trip thus far. The following morning we walked into Kima to the celebration of Kipepeo’s new office opening. It was a great event and the guys were so proud. There were representatives from the village government as well as many others. Speeches, cutting of the ribbon, cake, and an 70-year-old accordian player who was constantly playing in the background.

We soon took a matatu to Luanda, a larger town near the village of Kima. Kipepeo organized a meeting with the street children and teens of Luanda. Many of the kids come from homes where the parents have died of aids and they are left on their own with no education or jobs. Many don’t even have ID’s which would at least get them in the running for a job. So they sleep on the streets and scrounge for food. We gave them soccer balls and had a big soccer game with them and got to meet them. Of course Nikki was in her element with the soccer, though the competition was quite fierce. The accordian player appeared out of nowhere and continued to fill the background with music. It was reminiscent of Monty Python’s ‘Cheese Shop’ sketch. Afterwards we took the kids to a nearby church and gave them a lunch of beans, cabbage, rice and chapote (a grilled flat bread). We were quite impressed with this organization that we gave some of the non-‘Vihiga Food For Life’ donation money to them to continue helping the street kids.

That night was the worst sleep so far. The mosquitoes get into the room (can you say malaria?) and we couldn’t get the mosquito nets set up just right. They had to move the bed to the side of the room to bring in another bed as the rooms are made for only 2 people and they don’t believe in roll-away cots. So the hook for the net was not centred over the bed any longer so we had to rig up some other way to hang the nets. We were well covered, but uncomfortable. Anyway, learning from our mistakes, we fixed it quite comfortably for the remaining nights.

The next morning the Kipepeo gang met us at our hotel and we talked about the events for the day. First Kipepeo wanted us to teach them some business skills. Such a general topic, we narrowed it down to what they were having problems with, and put them on a plan to be able to successfully manage a project. For example, one idea they had which we strongly recommended was to open a Cyber Café and offer internet services, cell phone charging services, and printing sservices. So we showed them how to make a plan and set deadlines. If all goes well, they should be open for business in their new office by the beginning of March next year. And these guys can make it happen.

Dan came by to see us. He was a man Scott and I met last trip. Years ago he contracted AIDS and was so distraught that he had brought death to his family that he dug graves for them and was planning on poisoning them. Before he did that he went away for some time to think, and when he came back, the new AIDS medicine gave him a new lease on life, and he became the spokesperson for AIDS awareness for the area, devoting many volunteer hours to getting people to be tested and to follow safe practices in order to prevent contracting the disease. Dan was happy and gregarious as ever, it was good to see him again.

Then we presented Kipepeo with a cheque from our non-lunch-program fund-raising efforts. The interesting thing with these guys is that they have never asked us for money. Even before we came, when we asked them how much it would cost to be part of their projects as is the case with most volunteers, they said that just having us come and teach would be enough, that they valued our friendship. Fair enough. And remember, these guys don’t have jobs, they volunteer on a full-time basis, I still can’t understand how they eat. They say they’re used to eating when there’s food, and going without when there’s not. So when we gave them the cheque, I will always remember the look on their faces - surprise, gratitude, shock, happiness, almost tears, all in the same instant in time. And at that moment I could see straight into their hearts - it was quite amazing - these guys are completely and utterly in this to help people only. I have not witnessed such humanity, it was so refreshing to share that moment.

We were then to take a hike through the hills to Luanda, about a 3-hour hike. It took us thru the many small villages dotted across the landscape. Once we heard music and looked into the opening of this church. We were immediately invited in. The service stopped and they welcomed us and had us introduce ourselves to the congregation, They sang some songs for us and told us we were welcome back anytime. What amazing people. And since their church, Pentecostal, apparently started in Canada, they were convinced that God had sent us for that visit at that moment in time. It was a wonderful visit.. Though the hike took us through beautiful scenery, moments like that made this hike spectacular.

As we hiked through villages, children would run out to greet us. People always waved and watched as we passed by, very interested in us. We hiked through amazing landscape, as this part of the country was dotted with these huge boulders and rock formations, massive rocks balancing on each other, just amazing sites. In one village we saw black-faced monkeys come down from the trees. The hike ended in the streets of busy, loud Luanda. We were invited to meet some officials for the town of Luanda. The councillors put their days on hold to meet us. It gave us some insight into the people running the local government offices.

That night was very special, as we were to stay with a host family for the night and experience a night in the life of a western Kenyan. We took a matatu in the dark, got out and hiked about a kilometre past corn fields and villages to the family’s home. It was a mud hut for lack of a better phrase, it had a few rooms but had a comfortable feel to it, especially with everyone sitting in the same main room for some late evening cultural entertainment. We sang songs, played some games, and had a nice, Kenyan dinner. When it was time to sleep, 5 slept in one of these rooms, and Ute, Nikki and I slept in another nearby home of the host’s parents. There was no electricity, only a kerosene lamp and any flashlights we brought with us, The Kenyans are used to the dark; through the evening kids would show up at the door having hiked from somewhere in the pitch dark. My headlamp spotted a nicely-sized spider on the wall just outside of the mud-walled room we were to sleep that night, and all that talk of jiggers made me a tad uneasy, particularly when I found I was to sleep on the dirt floor - like a gentleman, I gave Ute and Nikki the raised bed frame where they put their sleeping bags on the slats of the bed. Actually, I fought them for it but they ganged up on me and won. Anyway, back in the main hut, there was no place to hang mosquito nets for the other 5 of us, so we tied our rope from one log holding the steel roof in place, to another log, which made a tight line to hang the nets. Our room had roof logs low enough to hang our nets directly on, so nestled in our sleeping bags and under our nets, wee actually had a decent night’s sleep. I woke to the barnyard animals’ noises. It was nice to just lay there and listen to the Swahili spoken in the morning in the other rooms as the family members awoke and tended to their morning. The light streamed into a small window cut in the outside wall of our room - it was to be a beautiful day. Then a little chicken walked into our room looking for something to eat. It was bizarre and intriguing all at the same time - what a wonderful experience.

We had breakfast in the hut and Jethron told us stories of the refugee camps in northern Kenya near the borders of Somalia, Kenya and Sudan, a few hundred miles north. People are starving up there as it is very arid, there is no food, and many people are packing into these camps, running from the fighting in Somalia and Sudan. He went up there for volunteer work recently, and he said that you feel quite guilty eating the little food volunteers get when the guy next to you is dying of starvation. But the volunteers are needed and he did some good work up there. We wondered why there were no female street children the day we visited them in Luanda, and he told us they hide during the day and sell their ‘services’ in the night. They even get into knife fights over who gets the next customer, as they are so eager for money to eat with.

We walked from the huts to a nearby church where there was a meeting of the leaders of the microfinance groups, eager to hear some words of wisdom from the ‘mzungus’ from Canada. Scott, Matias and I spoke about business matters and gave them some ways that they can expand their small businesses or differentiate themselves from all the other vendors in the marketplace. They seemed to appreciate the advice. Then we went into Luanda to see the Monday Luanda market, the second largest market in Kenya. It was a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells. There were so many people crowding around the many stalls. All sorts of things were being sold, from agriculture products laid on plastic sheets on the ground, to rusted tins to be used as kerosene lamps, to dried fish laying on wooden tables, hunks of meat laying in the open air covered in flies, baskets, bracelets, and so on. At one point a man who was following us came right up beside me. He was much too close, so something was up. He quickly brushed against my pant pocket with his hand. I said ‘What, are you looking for my wallet?’ He smiles and shook his head yes, and then left. He didn’t make for a good thief. But at least he was honest.

Back in Kima Nikki and I had a meeting with Kipepeo to design their new website. Nikki and I decided to create a website and blog for them when we returned to Vancouver, aimed at the international volunteers.

Today, Tuesday, was a great day. Sadly, it is our last day with Kipepeo. We started the day helping some medical volunteers to inoculate children 5 and under from polio. We were to roam the nearby villages looking for any family with children 5 years and younger. The medical staff would administer the polio vaccine in the form of droplets by mouth, 2 drops per child. Then we would colour the fingermail of the baby finger of the child on the left hand with a marker to signify they were inoculated, and a volunteer would write with chalk on the door of the hut how many children lived there and were inoculated. The medical staff told us stories of how they used to give out a mosquito net for each child inoculated, But since the staff didn’t keep track of which kids were inoculated, some mothers would have their child inoculated, take the mosquito net, and then have their child inoculated again to get a second net. The problem was that the inoculation is strong, and as a result, many children actually died. So now they are more careful and colour the fingernail. It was really great being part of this project this morning, as it took us into the bowels of the Kima villages, deep into the rural parts of the town. We all enjoyed the experience.

Afterward, we toured a nearby hospital. Scott and I had been there last year, and in the same fashion, the head of the hospital invited us in for introductions and to answer our questions. We then toured the women’s ward and the birthing room. I won’t get into details about the rooms or the cleanliness or the equipment, just be glad you have access to the hospitals in Canada that you have. We saw the HIV wing where people are tested and given medicine monthly which allows HIV positive people to live fairly normal lives.

We went back to Kima to meet up with the Kipepeo folks and all the other international volunteers. Today is Laurissa’s buirthday and the Kipepeo guys put together a great, very touching party. They also made a huge cake, and we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in about 10 different languages as per the customs of the people at the table. It was a great time, and Laurissa’s tears showed she was quite touched. A sad good-bye to all the volunteers even after only knowing them for a few days. Then back to the hotel. There we met Dan and his whole family - we had heard so much about them it was nice to finally meet them. They are great people. They live off of the crafts that Dan and his family make - if there is a way for us to help him sell his wares on the Internet, then we’ll help him, he’s such a great guy and an inspiration to all of us.

Then we met the Kipepeo guys at our hotel for a final meeting on next steps and their future plans. Nikki called Michael during the meeting and the guys met Michael over the phone. It was really great to talk to him. Then we said our good-byes and went into our rooms to pack. Tomorrow we’re off to Masai Mara. Our work here at Kima is done - for now.

Paul

Over night in a legit mud hut

Last night, we stayed at Gilbert's house (one of the Kipepeo members). We took a matatu there and had to walk through corn crops in the pitch black to get there. He built his own house out of mud and logs. It had 3 rooms but we managed to fit all 15 of us there. We all sat around a table and for dinner, we had ugali, local vegetables, fruit salad, cabbage, beef, a mixture of tomatoes and onions, and more ants. This time it was actually fried. EW. After dinner, we sang some Swahili and English songs, played some games and figured out riddles. It was a great evening. I actually had an amazing sleep under our mosquito net. I was lucky that I got to sleep on a wooden bed frame with my sleeping bag. My dad wasn't so lucky as he slept on the dirt floor. After a fairly peaceful sleep, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping and chickens clucking. It was weird how loud and close the chicken sounded... I later saw it was because there actually was a chicken in our room! He was tiny and so cute <3. We took a matatu to a micro-finance group meeting where Scott, my dad and Matias spoke and taught the leaders of the various groups some business skills. We then went to meet the Luanda Town Council: the clerk, the treasurer and the social services representative (CDA). It was neat to see how the Town Council just dropped everything to meet us. When our short meeting was over, we walked over to the Luanda market where we had a small lunch and I got to see the huge open-air market. There were hundreds of vendors selling everything you can imagine. The Luanda open-air market is the 2nd largest market in Kenya. They were selling dried/fried bugs and those gross flying ant things, they were selling meat with flies everywhere (extra protein!), and they were also selling what looked like burnt fish smeared with charcoal... I'm not too sure what it actually was though... Anyway, though there were some gross things, there was also lots of really cool ideas there. I saw some people selling a bunch of cans tied together with string. I later found out that they can use that as a kerosene lantern which is really cool. I saw a lot of vendors selling  omena (a kind of small fish). Now we are on our way back to Kima to help Kipepeo with their 2012 business plan. It should be a lot of fun and should have very interesting ideas.

Until next time,








~Nikki :)

From Vihiga to Kima and Kipepeo

Saying goodbye on Friday to the kids at Vihiga Children's Home was very hard. We played and talked with them until our very last momment as we wanted to spend every second we could with them.

      We took a matatu (like a mini bus) to Kima which is the home town of Kipepeo. Jethron, Julius and Jesse (the 3 main guys of Kipepeo) gave us a very warm welcome along with the rest of the volunteers up at Stone Mountain. We had a short introduction about the next few days and then headed over to our hotel. Some of us went on the motorcycles but I didn't. I don't trust their driving here... too sketchy...especially with all those potholes, the fact that it was getting really dark, and them driving on the wrong side of the road. We had a good, long conversation with Jethron and Julius. Jethron says a lot of things that reminds me of Professor Don Jacob (from our jiu jitsu club). For example, he pointed at someone and said 'Hey! You're doing this wrong!' but he showed us how 3 fingers pointed back at himself. Things like that and all of his positive energy reminds me a lot of how I pictured Professor as a younger man.

      Saturday was the big opening of Kipepeo's new office. It's only about 100m away from their old location but has two rooms and an overall bigger space. It was a great presentation throughout the morning and Scott, Matias and my dad made speeches. After lunch we took a matatu to Luanda to see the street kids and we got the chance to play a legit soccer game with them. It was a very large field with almost no out of bounds. When we were all tired, we gave them all food at a church. They got beans, rice, and chipati (like naan bread).

      This morning, we had another small meeting and then took a long hike up Esibalika Hill which is a tall mountain with enormous boulders everywhere. It was a very interesting hike; trying to find footing on slanted rocks. Little kids were following us. I guess they found it weird seeing muzungus (white person in Swahili) walking around boulders. It was tiring at some points when the adults with the cameras kept stopping every second to take a picture, but I'm sure when I see the wonderful photos it will all be worth while. We ran out of time so we weren't able to see the caves, so that will have to be saved for the next trip. On our way down the mountain/hill, we saw MONKEYS! Jethron, our guide for the day, told us we can feed the monkeys some bananas. They came over slowly at first, but the Columbus Monkeys eventually came close enough so I could actually hand over the banana to the monkey :D It was so cool! On our way back to our hotel, we walked by the equator! I was a bit disapointed that there wasn't an actual line on the ground showing the north of the equator and the south. It was still cool jumping from one side of the hemisphere to the next. We took another legit matatu back to Luanda for lunch and now I'm sitting at an internet cafe that actually works writing this before we head back to our hotel. Tonight though, we are planning on staying at Gilbert's house which should be quite interesting. Can't wait to tell you guys about it!

     Just to let you know, we don't have a lot of internet access so don't be surprised when we don't post for a few days. We'll try to keep you updated as much as possible.

-Nikki & Ute

The kids at Vihiga's receiving their letters

One of the teachers reading a letter from Canada with the other children

Working hard on their letters to send back to Canada and Holland

Lunch for the kids of Ugali and Cabbage

A long line up for lunch

Me playing soccer with the kids at Vihiga

Priscilla receiving the sewing donations from a Purple Dragon family

Judy, Mr Agesa and Priscilla Agesa receiving the calendar from our Lunch for Life program

Dad and I doing a martial arts demo for the kids

Me and my soccer buddies :)

Photos

We made a play for the kids today about Canada - Scott narrated and we all acted the part. Theatresport at its best (so to speak). Was quite fun and the kids had some very good questions about Canada and its history. Grade 8's exams are now over. There are machine gun escorts to each school to collect the exams.

Paul

Praying to the rain Gods

Kids braiding Nikki's hair

Nikki playing soccer during torrential downpour