Africa! Africa! Africa!

Who gave you the name Africa?

Is it God, animal or man?

Why is it you are known as a 3rd world country or developing country,

not developed country!

 

Is it because of poverty, war, famine or flood?

Sudan and Somalia ever fighting among themselves,

no benefit they are gaining!

Children and women are always crying with agony in their camps.

Africa, who gave you the name?

 

Or is it because we have prostitutes

and that is why we are dying like chickens

with this killer disease known as HIV/AIDS.

Africa, who gave you the name?

 

Or is it because we lack land!

That is why we stay like elephants in groups.

Or is it we don't know how to build, that is why we stay in slums

like Kibera and Soweto.

Africa, who gave you the name?

 

Or is it because we lack education?

That is why we give birth in our early ages

and increase the population hence decreasing food.

Why are we giving birth like fish in the water?

Africa, who gave you the name?

 

Let's stand like Africans and join our hands together

to built our continent.

What we need is peace and love.

Let's live like a family.

Africa, who gave you the name?

 

 

Today was a good day!

 

I got news that Oliver had arrived in Nairobi while I was away in Othaya so I called up his neighbor and arranged a visit.

I haven't seen Oliver since spring of 2007, though I talk to him on the phone regularly, so I was anxious to finally see him again.

 

 

I got to the house mid morning and sat and sat and sat.

Four times, someone was sent to fetch him but still he wasn't coming.

It wasn't until I asked that I was told he refused to see me without showering first.

Kenyans love to be presentable...

 

He finally arrived and I was surprised to see that he is nearly as tall as me now.

15 years old and he is a handsome young man.

It took about 10 minutes for him to remember that he is indeed not shy and after the giggle subsided, the original Oliver finally emerged.

He started by asking many questions the way he does on the phone. We then talked about his writing and the newborn triplets back home.

 

He brought his book with him. I had asked him to bring his stories so that I could read them.

I will share one of his poems with you in the next entry.

 

We took some photos and he asked about Narnia.

I had sent him the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia and he finished it in about 4 days.

I mentioned that there was a movie made and he hadn't forgotten.

We will watch it together with the other boys on Monday.

 

Unfortunately I had to leave not long after but we walked back to the road together and said goodbye for the weekend.

 

It's good to see him. I'm praying that him living in the country is not hindering his education.

He has so much talent it's sad to think that it could go un-noticed, or even worse, get lost in a life spent in toil and struggle for survival.

We partner with a pre-school called Miracle and Victory Centre.

It is run by a good friend named Monica and she has been taking in small kids from the community who aren't schooled for 3 years now (since I was here last)

 

Lately the funding for the school has run out but Monica still does her best to provide education and one meal a day for these kids.

God has really been working in this place and we are praying for more finances, somehow.

 

Onto Teddy...

Teddy, or pastor Teddy as everyone calls him, is about 6 or 7 years old.

He has this larger than life personality and pushed his peers to use their manners while never being without his own.

He is gentle, unlike most of the fighters in that age group, and kind. He often shares his snacks with the other kids when he gets them.

 

Last week, on a Thursday, Teddy was burning up.

I brought him to the window to sit with me because there was a nice breeze coming through.

It was very evident that Teddy had a high fever.

Monica told me that he had had a fever the day before as well.

Regardless, Teddy was still encouraging the kids to share with each other and singing songs as he lounged on my lap.

 

Saturday I got a phone call from Monica.

She told me that on Friday she sent Teddy home because of his fever.

Teddy's mum told Monica that she couldn't afford to take him to the doctor so Teddy just stayed home.

Saturday morning Monica got some news that she was now relaying to me....

Teddy passed away.

 

Everyone was very shaken up by this, understandably.

No child should ever have to lose their life because of a doctors fee that would be equivalent to less than $4US.

I don't doubt for a minute that his mother really didn't have the money, but this price to pay is completely unfair.

Teddy is the second child to die in that pre-school in 3 months. The other girl, whom I did not know, I'm sure died from similar circumstances.

Poverty.

 

This place needs prayer.

Please remember people like Teddy in your prayers.

 

(I will try to find a picture of Teddy to post here.)

 

There has been a seriously long drought in Kenya.

The rainy season was supposed to start over a month ago and the land is so dry that the forests and mountains are catching on fire.

 

The drought affects everything here: crops, water consumption, flocks and herds, economy, real estate... you name it

 

When I got back from Uganda there was no water at our apartment

2 weeks went by, not a drop in the place.

At one point there was a faucet working on the ground floor so I filled up 4 buckets...

the toilet hadn't been flushed for three days.

 

we weren't prepared for this... silly white people.

my landlord's wife offered me one jerrycan of water.

and then one day last week the water came on in one tap for a few hours.

My roommate filled as many buckets as she could.

 

A few days ago it started raining... it now rains/pours pretty much every day which is awesome.

I just got a call from my roomate a few minutes ago, after 16 days we have full water back.

Even the shower is working.

 

Now it's time to get some serious cleaning done.

if you know me, you know I don't like things that fly

some small darting birds but mostly bugs... mosquitoes and house flies being the exception.

 

The other night I was watching a movie on my bed and something caught the corner of my eye.

I had the lights out so all I saw was this abnormally large shadow climbing up my curtains.

Nearly destroying my computer as I jumped out of bed towards the lights, I discovered a large quick moving insect that looked like a black roach with wings.

It jumped, I grabbed a shirt...

It flew at me, I screamed threw the shirt at it, missed and ran out of the room.

 

I knew it needed to die in order for me to re-gain my sanity and me being home alone knew that I had to be the one to do the killing.

I regained my composer, grabbed a flip-flop and waited for movement.

 

It flew around again and landed near my power bar on the floor but before I could even get a good look, let alone crush it, it flew again...

it hit the wall by my bed and then fell... past my pillow, to the floor, under my bed.... fantastic!

 

I sleep on a trundle... a bed that sits close to the floor with about 20cm of clearance underneath. I couldn't see anything.

I lifted up the mattress, nothing. I grabbed a stool from the other room to prop up the bed, nothing.

At the point my breathing is pathetically fast so I decide to shut the door (making sure that it would stay in there so it could be murdered) 

and wait for Michelle, my roommate to return home.

 

She finally came and we began a second search

I decided to remove my blankets and pillows to I could take the mattress out and as I lifted the mattress, a giant roach was just chillin on the under-side.

We both yelled and I dropped the mattress on my night table nearly breaking everything on it.

I got the mattress out and as we were looking for the beast -again- we found a smaller roach that met it's match with my flip-flop.

We found the big roach hiding in the ironing board and forced it out with an umbrella, 4 smacks with a shoe later, it was lying in a twitching mess on my floor.

 

 

I was finally calm, it was over, the giant roach could not torment me anymore.

I put my room back together and sat down on my bed to finish my movie.

 

Not 5 minutes later something hit me in the face and landed on my keyboard.

Screaming again, I ran for the lights. It was the original creature I was looking for... a cricket!

I didn't know crickets flew... but this one didn't fly for much longer. I destroyed it with a book.

 

Today, I'm buying some doom.