Just A Quick Update

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that I will have a few more entries up by the end of the week. Pictures may have to wait until I get home, because for some reason when I try to post them here it always errors. So you may have to be patient on pictures, sorry. After this week I will be leaving for my main outreach for two months. I will be in different regions of the Rift Valley during that period. While I am gone on this leg of my adventure here in Kenya I do not know how much internet access I'll have, therefore I may be silent for two months. If I am without internet, I promise that as soon as I can I will start posting my experiences up here on my blog. Until then though The Temporary Kenyan is headed deeper into Kenya!

Notes About the Posts

Alright just wanted to say a few things about these posts I've put up. Mostly I'll be adding pictures to them soon as soon as I find a better computer to upload with. Also After these posts will be coming actual up to date posts, as well as more personal posts. These were mainly done to fill you in on some of the experiences I have had so far. I hope you guys enjoy them and continue to check in for my soon to be recent updates. Thank you all, I love you.
- The Temporary Kenyan

Orphanages and Slashers

Alright so today we went to an orphanage named Springs of Hope, in a near by town called Machakos. It was amazing just to be able to see and be with the kids that were living there. They were excited to see us, well our group, they weren’t so sure how to react to the masungos (white people), but even then they were pretty receptive of us. Regardless it was amazing to just be able to play with these kids and love on them. We got to play with them and feed them and just be with them, it was really awesome, I don’t know how else to put it.

Also while we were there we were each given different jobs to do to help out around the orphanage and help the upkeep. Mine was slashing, which is cutting grass with a blade. This went pretty well, up until I got caught between two clothes lines and had to change the angle of how I was swinging my blade. This is about the time I hit my leg with the blade, right on the shin bone…and down to the shin bone. Seeing my bone was interesting, my first thought being “I really don’t want to go back to the hospital.” I ended up just wrapping it up and letting it heal, but yeah it was interesting.

Overall though it was an awesome experience. I loved being with the kids and just being able to play with them and show them love which so many of them so desperately need. I hope we can do more work with orphanages in the next few months. But for now as usual I remain a Temporary Kenyan, who wants to hang with kids and has a messed up leg.

Norway

Got to have a little vacation this weekend at a Norwegian School in Nairobi. One of my fellow students here is Norwegian and has connections to the school so we got to stay there. It was really nice to just be able to get away for awhile.

At the school they had a pool, so I got to go swimming at 8 o’clock at night in November…in Africa! It also had actual working, hot showers! It’s amazing how great the small things seem now that I don’t have them at all. Mostly we just hung out in the guest house we were staying in, eating and just having fun. At the end of the night I got to have a room to myself with nice beds and everything!

Pretty much it was a nice one night vacation, nothing more, nothing less. Now I continue to be a Temporary Norwegian…er Kenyan.

Hospitals

Alright so I’ve been sick all week with chest pains. After a few days I’ve come to the conclusion that I swallowed a bone or something and it’s either stuck in there or something got bruised or cut up when I swallowed it. Regardless it hasn’t been going away, time for a trip to a Kenyan hospital!
Alright so when I got to the hospital I was asked if I wanted a doctors consult first or just get an x-ray straight away, I figured it was logical to see a doctor first. So I went into the doctors office and she asked me what was wrong, without even looking up. She seemed like she could care less that I was there. I told her that my chest hurt and I though I swallowed something, so she listened to my chest, said she heard nothing and was going to give me antibiotics. I asked her if I should get an x-ray to see if I swallowed something and I told her it hurt to swallow anything. Her response to this was to give me an antacid. She pretty much just seemed like she wanted me to leave, which I did after this.
Moral of the story, Kenyan hospitals aren’t very effective, at least not when I was there. Oh well I can say I’ve had to go to a hospital in Kenya now, that’s good enough I guess. I’m just going to have to continue to be a Temporary Kenyan, if I live much longer…just kidding.

Post Note: I’m not sick anymore!

Roofs

Alright so today was pretty much like any other day, but not really. You see about mid day most of us were up by the kitchen getting ready to do some work around base. It was pretty windy I suppose, but nothing more then what we normally have, and yet it managed to cause quite a problem for the base.

As we were hanging around we heard this loud noise from around the corner of the kitchen and a large dust cloud appear. Upon peaking around the corner we saw a large tin roof flipping up in the air and another small piece of tin roof go flying across the field. Without thinking we all began to run down to the scene because it was the roof of the preschool, which was full of preschoolers. All we could do while running was hope and pray everyone was alright. It turns out that all the preschoolers had been inside so a roof falling on the ground outside was of no consequence, other than them having no roof anymore. By the time we had gotten to the preschool, the kids were already outside…laughing, finding it very funny what had just happened to their building, seemingly unaware of what could have been. It was a miracle that everyone was able to come out of it safely.

So the rest of the day was spent trying to clean up some of the mess and moving the preschool materials to another building on the base. The kids probably thought this was all great, they got a few days off because of it. All in all it was an interesting thing to see happen, not quite normal. As for us we got to tear down the preschool as it was just in bad shape, this consisted of breaking the outer walls off with hammers and then literally pushing the building over, that was fun. Just another adventure here in Kenya, I suppose I just have to continue being a Temporary Kenyan while hoping my roof stays over my head.

Politics

Kenyans are more obsessed with American politics, just thought you all should know that. More so then Americans. Mostly because Obama has Kenyan roots. We have 2 new puppies on base….they named them Obama and McCain…yeah. Yup I’m a Temporary Kenyan surrounded by Obama obsessed Kenyans.

Nairobi

Alright, went into Nairobi today, that was interesting. From getting there to being there to leaving, it’s not quite a normal trip to a city. To get there first we must walk about 3 miles to the matatu (bus) station. After that we cram on matatus ranging from 14 passenger busses to 25 passenger busses, though even if it’s a 14 passenger buss we usually have at least 20 people in it. From then on imagine the bumpiest, most painful wooden roller coaster you can think of, for an hour and a half, with other cars coming at you head on half the time, that’s what riding into Nairobi is like.

Once in Nairobi things sort of turn into chaos. To get from place to place you have to play the most extreme game of human frogger you can imagine, there are no cross walks and cars don’t stop, they don’t even really slow down, you just have to dodge and run and yes I’ve seen people get clipped while crossing the street, cars don’t stop when that happens either. All while doing this, we are pretty much the only white specks wandering the streets. It’s an adventure going through the city.

Once we were done there we got back on a matatu and headed home, on the same bumpy, crazy road. I’m not sure this little trip will ever be something I get used to, but overall the trip is good. Maybe the city will seem more normal the longer I am a Temporary Kenyan.

Close Call

So last night I had my first really eventful thing to happen since being here. You see all of the African guys on the base (which is all the guys except for me) wanted to go out for a midnight prayer session, which I was completely cool with doing. They wanted to do this because in African tradition peoples destinies are decided between midnight and 3 AM. All of it seems innocent enough, but that’s where the story gets a little more interesting. You see none of the guys decided to tell the staff or the watchmen that we would be going out at this time of night, this was sort of a problem. The watchmen saw us and went and got a few of the guy staff members all of which came out to the field with machetes, however before they got to us they realized we were students and went back to bed, never actually tell us they were there. Regardless we had a bunch of people ready to attack us with machetes in the middle of the night, exciting right? All the while we remained blissfully unaware till the next morning. All in all I'd say it was a good night haha. So that’s my exciting first adventure in Kenya, so until next time I'll continue being a Temporary Kenyan...if I don’t get attacked with a machete by my own staffers haha!

Indescribable

Indescribable...it's the best way to describe pretty much everything right now. I mean it's the best word I can use to describe my emotions since coming here. It's amazing, exciting, heavy, interesting, and so many more words that all mash together to make how I feel indescribable. There is just so much swimming around in my head about being here and thinking about all that I am about to encounter over the next few months, it's insane!

On top of my emotions, we watched the Indescribable sermon by Louie Giglio, which for those who haven't seen it, is all about the wonder of God and the amazement of the universe and all the ways it glorifies God just by existing. I've seen it before, yet this time around it was even more powerful. I think this really had to do with the fact that after we watched it, we went out into the field and looked at the night sky and let me tell you, the African night sky gives a whole new outlook on God's wonder and it puts the night sky in NOVA to shame.

Really I'm just coming to grips with how incredible my experience here is going to be, how awesome it is just to be here, how amazing my opportunity is, and how indescribable all of this is when you put it together. I just know that I am so excited to see the things that are in store for me in the next coming months, in all aspects of my life. All the while I will remain a Temporary Kenyan.

Today I Woke Up In Kenya

Today I woke up in Kenya. I know this seems like a pretty obvious statement to you, seems pretty obvious to me also, since I’ve come to Kenya to do my Discipleship Training School with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Yet at the same time it seems so out there, I mean for one I’m in Kenya! I just wasn’t sure it was all quite real, like when I woke up all of my travel would just have been a dream and I’d be back in NOVA like any other day, but that’s not how things are.

I mean even my travel didn't really feel real. I remember being in airports, I remember flying, I remember sleeping a lot, yet it all just feels like a blur. I remember it being there but it all just feels like it didn't really happen, looking at it sort of feels like a nonexistent two days culminating in me ending up in a completely different country.

Even the first day just felt surreal, like it wasn't happening. A big part of this I think had to do with me getting into the Nairobi Airport at 4 Am and having to wait there for another student for 3 hours. After that followed an hour and a half car ride to base, it all just seemed to be a weird lull in life, mixed in with me trying to wrap my brain around being in Kenya. After that I got to base, was introduced to people, which just went over my head because I was so tired, went to church which was extremely long, came back to the base and spent the day trying to adjust. All of it seems to just run together into one blur of things all coming down to me going to bed in my new "home" and putting me where i started this off, waking up in Kenya, half expecting to still be in NOVA.

All in all this all still seems pretty unreal, I feel like at anytime I could just find myself sitting at home like any other time. Yet the parts that do feel real are exciting, I mean I'm in Kenya about to start a whole new adventure in life! It might just take me awhile to really get on a grasp on the fact that I'm going to be waking up in Kenya many, many more times before I really do find myself back in NOVA. But until then I'll just have to get used to being a Temporary Kenyan.

Alright here goes it.

Alright everyone I'm gonna start off my apologizing for not having this up much much sooner, seeing as how I've been in Kenya for a good 2 months now, but better late then never right? Also because I'm starting it so late, some of my early entries here will be looking back on events that have happened over the course of the time I've been here to far. I will start playing catch up next week after I get back from a week of work in a Village called Nyeri. So again I'm sorry this took so long to get going, but please bare with me. I'll get on the ball soon. Later.

-Zach, The Temporary Kenyan

my blog

yo yo yo, this is hopefully where Zach will be posting updates and such from KENYA! alright everybody check up and see what the man's gotta say. pc out.