Weekend

It is Saturday March 28, 2009. Yesterday I met with the two Early Childhood teachers to go over the curriculum and create some lesson plans fo rthe coming week. Next week is the close of school. The children, even the preschoolers have an exam. The exam was handwritten. My job was to type it, create the pictures, etc. It took me all night but it looks professional, like a phonics book for first grade! These kids are not your usual age for preschool. Some are quite old so a test, although not optimal, is not so far fetched. Today I took a matatu to Kitengela to print the exams and make some copies. Tomorrow I’ll head to church at St. Jude’s, the Catholic Church in Athi River town. Apparently it is because of people not going to church that it has failed to rain for a year! So says Mwololo. So, I’ll go to church to make sure it rains. (By the way, it did shower a little today.) Religion around here is interesting. There is quite a mix of African Christian churches, Muslim mosques and some tribal religions of the masai. Then there is St. Jude Catholic church. As I write, there is a man outside my window, praying the sun down at 7:00pm. The Islamic influence in this area is definitely present. There are Islamic schools, mosques etc. And this young man, on his knees in the driveway, has stopped to complete this Saturday with prayer.

Tomorrow, George is coming to pick me up after church. We’ll spend the afternoon in Kitengela, catching up on things. I called the village in Kitui to ask permission to visit the kids when they are on school break. I’ll probably go next weekend some time. I keep getting “flashed” in the wee hours of the night. Flashing is when someone calls you, lets it ring once and hangs up because they have no money on their phone – no airtime. So they flash you expecting you to call them back on your dime. I am sure it was some of the Village boys who heard I was in town. I didn’t call back. It was too late to start that stuff!

Next Wednesday Mwololo and I should head to Tanzania to visit another program similar to ours. They too are working with the Masai in early childhood and HIV/AIDS awareness. I am not sure where we are going, only that it is across the border. We are also putting together questions to form a baseline survey or assessment of needs at the two locations Kangundo and Kijiado. Mwololo and one Masai will go to each place and begin asking questions and compile some data for possible future programming there. That will probably take place Thursday and Friday. Things are happening quickly but we want to get things going while I am still in Kenya. Once we have a baseline, then we can see if there is a need and any way to find money to do the additional programming.