orphanage visit

An especially picturesque farm from this week's survey training.

This week :

• Lukas, Matt, and I have arranged to begin Swahili lessons twice a week. We had our first lesson on Tuesday and will have another tonight. I'm glad we're doing it, but questionable of our tutor's methods: he insists that we should learn all words with "a" in them before moving onto "e", "i", "o" - and by the time we get to "u", we will know so much Swahili! Good idea, but how about first we learn "My name is..."?
  
• My housemate Anushka requested that I call our plumber, Oliver, to get our shower fixed. He stopped by later the same afternoon and I accompanied him to get a cost estimate to hook up the water line to our already-installed shower head. He turned the first knob, and water came pouring out of the lower spout. I was surprised - I have been carrying water in from outside every day and had no idea the spout worked. Oliver turned two other knobs, and water came out of the showerhead. He looked at me questioningly, and I started laughing and couldn't stop. It turns out we have always had a working shower. I was just told that we didn't, and so I never tried to turn it on. (Maybe there is a moral in this story somewhere...?)
• One of my best "Obama runs" so far. I was coming down the hill toward our compound and picked up a huge group of kids. One started chanting, "O-BA-MA!" and the rest joined in. For the next ten minutes, I ran in a group of fist-pumping kids to the cheer of the US President, as the farmers on the side of the road looked on and laughed.
• To contrast the joy of this experience was an exploratory run with Matt, where we ended up going farther than intended and didn't get back until after dark. A group of kids followed us this time too, but they were bigger and more aggressive - pulling on my arms and hair as I ran by. I didn't blame them; if I had never seen straight blonde hair I would probably pull it too. But the experience was a bit alarming and reminded me it's probably best to keep runs to daylight hours.
• Finally: I did another radio survey training in a new district - Webuye - and added to the usual joy of seeing farmers' homes and being warmly welcomed, I left the day with several long sticks of sugarcane, four eggs, and a free Swahili lesson from my survey officer.

Mercyline, the Webuye survey officer, surveys one of the area farmers about her radio listening habits.

And the highlight of my week so far: An visit to the orphanage where our German friends Felix and Hannes work (all the wazungu in town sort of become acquainted by default).

Melissa, me (with Kevin, in his pink "Princess" tee), and Veronica - feeling maternal

What started as a small excursion ended up as nearly the entire OAF group visiting a local orphanage, home to 34 kids between the ages of 8 months and 20 years - although we didn't meet the eldest, as she's currently away at university but comes home to the orphanage during breaks.

The orphanage seemed amazingly well-run and accommodating: although some kids must share beds because there aren't enough, local groceries provide free food (bread, milk, meat, etc) every day and German sponsors even pay school fees, including university tuition for those who choose to further their education. One great success story: the child health manager for One Acre Fund (sort of a free side program run by OAF for its farmers), named Margaret, grew up the orphanage, attended university, and now works in the community and continues regular visits her childhood home.

A few of our new friends. On the right is sleeping baby John. Clothing gender rules are a bit less strict when the supply is limited.

Evidently the kids were pretty excited about our presence, but I think we were equally happy to be there. They were bursting with positive energy - teaching us new dances, wrestling, singing songs - and we all left still glowing with the experience. ("Glowing" here refers to both our happy aura and our sweatiness after playing with kids for a few hours.) By the time we got home, it was so late that we didn't have dinner until 10:30 pm. Definitely worth it.