Sunday, August 21st, Nairobi, Kenya
Church
As we travel, we don’t always go for the luxuries. Most of the time, we go for educational visits. Today we went to a new church called ICC, or International Christian Center. All of us kids got to go to Sunday school. Me and Zeb were in the teen’s section, and Kb and Bardez were in the pre-teens class. Consider talking about their teaching on FGM and social media.
After church, we drove back to the hotel and had a very fast turnaround. All of us rushed to our rooms and quickly got changed out of our church clothes. We then all raced downstairs to get a quick bite to eat for lunch. Mom had already ordered 4 burgers for the whole family to share. She told the waiter to make it quick because we had to leave very soon. Even so, it took about 30 minutes for them to bring it out. And we scarfed down those burgers faster than you could sing Siyahamba!
Slum Tour
We walked down about a fourth of a mile to the meeting place with our guide, whose name was Eric. We first walked through a market. Lots of people were watching us and trying to get us to buy whatever they were selling. It was all very new to me, so I was cautious. An interesting fact about these types of market’s is that most of the stalls are selling used clothing. All of the clothing is clean, and it is very nice looking.
Next we entered an “indoor” market. The market was not really indoors, but it felt like it because we were under lots of tin roofs. In the indoor market, people were selling lots of different things. Clothes, fruit, vegetables, all kinds of different things. I was surprised to learn, and discover for myself, that people would ride motorbikes through the rugged and narrow sidewalks. It was quite frightening.
The smell of the market was one of the most interesting things ever. In the food section of the market, there were smells of fruit, chickens, fresh made food, and one of the strongest smells was dead and dried fish. It was one of the worst smells ever, though not as bad as a pile of garbage. It was so bad, it smelled just like, well… like dead fish.
Not only was the smell incredible, but also all the color. At all the food stands, there were piles of whichever food they were selling. For instance, there was a man selling tomatoes, and he was just surrounded by them! And the Avocado’s; don’t get me started! They were HUGE!! Like, the size of a small watermelon huge. Ok, maybe not that big, but at least the size of a grapefruit.
After the indoor market, Eric took us to a section of Nairobi where some of the craftsmanship happened. For instance: woodworking and jewelry making. An interesting fact about how they make jewelry is that most jewelry is made with bone. It was very interesting to watch a craftsman make some spoons. Half of the handle was made with recycled cow bone, and the rest of the spoon was made with polished wood. My brother, Bardez, bought some of his spoons. The next craftsman we went to was making bracelets with recycled cow bone, but this bone was different; the color was all natural, but it looked so much different! It was half cow bone, and half brass. My sister, Kb, got one of their bracelets. I also got a charm bracelet from the same man, but mine is two brass rings with five different charms. The biggest charm is made with cow bone. I love it so much.
After the craftsman shop part, Eric took us to the actual slum. I was surprised at the condition of the slum. The houses were made of sticks and mud compacted together. Most homes were one room with no kitchen. Only 50% of kids and adults are literate. Most adults work, but work that doesn’t pay well. A woman’s house we visited told us that she used to live on 3-4 dollars a day. School, for her 4 children, costes about 300 dollars a year per kid. Rent is $30 a month, and electricity, which is just one lightbulb, is $3 a month. I said that she used to live on $3-$4 a day, but her cooking shop burnt down about a week ago. Now her husband is the only one working.
Something that I noticed while walking through the slum was that all these people seemed so happy. Yes, they live in not the best conditions, but they all seem so happy. The way they are living is all that they know. It really made me realize how privileged I am in life. I mean, they are living in a place where poop is literally on the ground, piles of garbage are everywhere, and they have very limited access to water/toilets/showers. When we left and were walking to dinner, I was almost ready to cry for what I had just seen.
Dinner
For dinner tonight, we went to an Ethiopian restaurant. Ethiopian food is all finger food, so our family loved it. We had 3 different dishes. One was Pork, the other was spicy pork, and the last was chicken. And you would use bits of Enjeria, (which is kind of like a spongy tortilla ). Us kids had mango juice for a drink, and dad got a special coffee that came with a bowl of popcorn. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, and went to bed.
Monday, August 22nd, Nairobi, Kenya
Giraffe Center
Slobbery tongues, lots of pictures, and a two-day-old baby! These are all factual statements of our visit to the Giraffe Center. We left The Double Tree Hilton Hotel on a tour bus with two other groups at 8:30 am. The drive was about 30 minutes. We arrived, and all clambered out of the bus. As we entered, we were ushered to a hand washing station. We definitely washed our hands a lot while we were there. Next, we were given half a coconut shell full of giraffe food. So up the ramp, we walked. The giraffes were hilarious! You would feed one pellet at a time, and the giraffe would stick out its tongue and lick the pellet right up! It was slimy, but totally worth it. We tried to take a family photo, but it didn’t work out. Mom got bit by a giraffe, but she’s ok. Next stop, Elephant Center!
Nairobi Elephant Orphanage: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Hungry, playful, and so cute, this one-hour-ish experience is so good. We arrived in the middle of a bustling Crowd. I’d say about 50 people were there. We waited for 30 minutes or so until we entered.
The walk to the viewing area was lovely; birds were chirping, flowers were in full bloom, and the trees made a perfect amount of shade.
First, the caretakers brought out the youngest of their orphans. The youngest was only four months old! Watching baby elephants play was so cute!! The littlest elephants couldn’t spray themselves with dust, so the caretakers had to shovel dust onto them. The bigger ones would use their trunks to spray themselves with dust, and they would roll themselves in the mud pit. One of the elephants kept farting while lying down. It was hilarious.
The Second group of baby elephants, who numbered 13, were slightly older. These elephants were more significant in mass and size, but were still drinking milk. An interesting fact that I learned was that when humans feed elephant milk, they are not using cow’s milk or other kinds of natural milk: they are using baby formula. As if you were feeding an actual baby. Cow’s milk has too much fat, and soy milk gives them nasty diarrhea. One funny moment while watching the two and 1/2-year-olds play, was they would go around in the mud pit and spray each other with mud.
Kobe Tough
After the elephants, we took a short drive to Kobe Tough beads and leather. At this center, women come to work and make beads for necklaces. The process was quite long to just make the beads. First, you venture into the mountains to pick up the hard clay chunks, then you soak the clay in a tub of water for about a week so that the clay is nice and soft. Then, they drip it so that the clay doesn’t have any sticks or extra stuff on it. After that, they somewhat dry out the clay so that it gets all the water out. Next, a group of women shape and mold the beads to the right shape and size. The next group paints/glazes the beads, and after that, the beads get put in a kiln to make the glaze all smooth. Next, another group of women made all of the jewelry. The whole process was very cool to see. One of my favorite parts of this activity was at the beginning. Most of the ladies got up from their work and sang a song. “Jambo, Jambo wana, Kenya yetu, musuri sana!…” And we all danced in a great big circle.
Utamaduni Art Shops+Garden Cafe
After all our fun, we were very hungry. So we went to Tutamaduni Garden Cafe and Art Gallery. In the mini bus that we took, there were 2 other passengers. They happened to be from North Carolina too! I had an amazing lunch of nachos. And a little bit of my brother’s Pho. I also explored the art shops. There were room after room!
The Rest of the Day
After the long day, we all headed back to the hotel. My parents went out to dinner and us kids had a kids night. We all worked on homework and got good room-service. Before I fell asleep, I read some of my new book: The Swim Team, by Catherine Jarvis. It’s so good!!
Something funny that I read