Blog 6 Mass, a visit to see some Sisters and a special hair braiding visit

3/17/19

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Happy belated birthday Val- Ben. (Sorry I’m late <3) We woke up around 8 AM, all a bit groggy and had a great breakfast of eggs, the Tanzanian donuts (our favorites!), and avacados (they were huge!). We dressed for mass and walked in our travel groups to the Cathedral for 10 AM Mass. It was a nice morning for a walk. The mass was all in Swahili, but we were all mostly able to make out what was happening- it was a children’s choir mass which was really cute, a little girl (mtoto) was even leading the choir! We had been warned that the cathedral would be very warm, but all the students made it through without passing out- thanks to Beth and Shelly’s fans, and Lizzy and Nate’s reminders to drink water. (Only a couple chaperones had to step out… no names… ok… Jim and Jason- the dubious duo.) Communion was interesting because we went up and kneeled in a row before the altar and could receive it in our mouths as the “norm.”

            After mass, we walked back in our travel groups to the lodge and grabbed what we needed for a drive to a Holy Child School- a school, which Juma’s, one of our friends here, son attends. It was close to the Kenyan border, and was about an hour drive. On the way we made friendship bracelets, napped, and laughed at the funny sleeping poses of our crew. Arriving at Holy Child School, we were welcomed by the sisters who run the school- Sister Macrena and Agata. They gave us a warm welcome and we first visited their beautiful church- which was modest but had bold and warm colors which gave many in our crew inspiration.  Then we followed Sister Agata (who has been a sister for over 40 years!) around the grounds- which were beautiful and sprawling. She showed us their rabbit and chicken coops, which they take care of themselves for food for the students. Almost everything they eat is produced on the grounds! They also have guard dogs which are reminiscent of the one from Sandlot. We also peeked into a couple of their classrooms while Baba Dick spoke to Sister Agata about what Elimu Africa can do for their school- once we get a second dala dala we can help support Holy Child School’s 2-meal program, as many of the students they take on are on scholarship, as they know God will help them; we thought this was so amazing, we’ve never such generosity through faith before!

            After the tour the sisters warmly welcomed us with an AMAZING lunch spread- including an amazing bread called chapata, chicken (kuku), and our favorite: avocado-passion fruit juice. It was so amazing- and they whipped the meal for 30 people in only two hours! After the great lunch we parted ways with the sisters and hopped back on the dala dala and drove back to the lodge. Although the visit to the sisters was very slow paced (pole pole) and took much patience from all- it is nice to know that the visit helped connect the school’s needs to Elimu Africa. The ride back was fun too, David did funny card things

            Back at the lodge we were all given the rest of the afternoon to do housecleaning things: laundry, room tidying (our rooms were super MESSY), and napping. We do laundry by hand in a bucket with detergent here, and hang the clothes up to dry. Hopefully they dry off smelling nice! Our friend Diana, who is also making our personalized dresses, came to pick Lizzy, Jenna, and us up to take us to get our hair braided into the special corn rows that they often wear here! After finishing a few cleaning chores we were on our way in a taxi!

            After about a fifteen minute drive we arrived at a Diana’s neighborhood, where she brought us to her local hair braider. We were all very shy at first, speaking in separate languages and not to each other. Tricia went (was forced to go) first and she got really cool braid with a zig-zag pattern. Then went Ashlea who got a zig-zag pattern too, but vertical. As we all went we got more and more comfortable with each other and we introduced ourselves to each other, meeting another customer there who was super kind, named Lavina. We made jokes and sang, “Jambo! Jambo bwana!...” and we showed them pictures on our phones of our life at home. Jenna sang and danced for Lavina (who also spoke English, conveniently) and made all of us laugh. We all felt so cool with the side of our head braided with 4-5 cornrows. The cost was only 5000 shillings/$2.15 US.

             After finishing our hair and saying good bye Diana lead us through the neighborhood to her family’s home! Her entire family of 10 children (watoto- 8 sisters (dada), 2 brothers (kaka)) greeted us and welcomed (karibu) us so warmly! They ushered us into their home, which was very small for their large family where we met Mama and her siblings including Love, Elizabeth, and Bry. They served us food (chakula) which contained fried bananas and was delicious! They were so kind to bring out all of their nice dinner plates and utensils and food! Fried bananas taste like potatoes!

            We took a bunch of pictures with their family and visited their rabbit pen before being forced to leave them in order to make it back to the lodge for dinner. They held our hands all the way to the taxi and said, “I miss you” to all of us- our hearts have never felt so full! We all rode back to the lodge in shock of all the amazingness that had happened in the past three hours- arriving at the lodge for dinner. Diana joined us for our dinner and we were all excellent hosts. After dinner we had a group meeting about where we had seen love in the trip so far, sharing when we remembered seeing love during the trip.

            Then we unpacked the group bags organizing the donations between gifts, Uru Secondary School, Agano Preschool, Upendo Orphanage, Mikocheni, and St. Louis Primary school. Diana also got to “go shopping” and take some gifts home to her family, who had been so kind to us though they had never met us before. It was difficult to decide where the need was greatest, especially when separating out child’s shoes. Tricia broke a mug… the count is up to 4.

            A bit more housecleaning brought most of the crew up to the roof, where we gathered on the deck under the bright stars- pointing out different constellations. We journaled up there and loved the fresh air and breeze that came through. We joined the chaperones for Game Night, playing a round Left, Center, Right before turning in after an amazingly packed day.

- Tricia & Ashlea  :D

Tricia: Hi mom and dad! I’m having such a great time over here! Thank you so much for the opportunity to come over! I love you guys, and I hope you don’t miss me too much ;) – I’m sending positive thoughts your way <3

Ashlea: Penny Sylvia here and I just wanted to say I miss you guys so much. I am having an amazing time here. I am really adapting to their culture here: pole pole. I hope you guy had a great St. Patrick’s day. Don’t  forget to feed my chickens and Brooke please stay away from my Air pods ;)  P.s.  Jenna said hey mom and dad have fun boozing it up on St. Patty’s day. GO IRISH!!