Kenya Mission Newsletter 5: Upstaged

We began the day with the wonderful students at Gichunge Primary School.  We barely got out of our van and we were surrounded.  Handshakes or high-fives for everyone.  We started leading their morning devotional assembly with song and a skit … so far, so good.  We were building to our BIG close when the left side of the assembly broke into excited chatter and the rest of the student body quickly abandoned us to see what they were pointing to.  We found ourselves standing in front of a handful of dazed 3-year olds for our big close … and no one else.  I am sure most of us have had a weak ending before, but never quite like this.  We were upstaged by an elephant on the other side of the fence a hundred yards away.  Oh well.  It was all very humbling … and very Kenyan.  

The team spent time at both BLISS and Gichunge today.  We also briefly visited Kithoka Primary School where we will be touring tomorrow. Hopefully without elephants.  The BLISS classroom highlights today were sitting in on classes, touring their agricultural efforts (some sweet pigs and a need for water catchment), and First versus Second Form debate in Swahili (we will never know who won.)  Great news about the BLISS band.  They placed 3rd out of 10 bands for all of Kenya last August. (Larry Dittmar, you had better be smiling!)

The Gichunge Primary teaching highlights included trying to use planing cards to teach basic math (said "Maths" here in Kenya) skills.  Aside from a language barrier at 1st Standard (about 5-6 year-olds), there was a much stronger interest in touching white skin and hair petting (ask Dixie for details).  A bit more progress was made at the 2nd level.  It made for some wonderful story telling over dinner.  The absolutely great outcome of our trip thus far is how much we are discovering and documenting about what will and will not work. There is a real sense of partnering with the teaching staff.

For those of you wondering, today's best business name is The Glorious Kiosk.  It was unmanned as we drove by the 5x5 roadside stand today leaving us to speculate about it products or services.

Another rainstorm this afternoon … did not dampen our spirits.  Until tomorrow,

Kathy, Greg, Marcos, John, Dixie, Julie and Debbie

Fwd: Newsleter 4: Life at BLISS

Today began by attending the outdoor assembly of all 450 + BLISS students.  The band played, the students raised the flag of Kenya, announcements were made and Moses welcomed the FUMC team to the Secondary School.  It was pretty amazing and for those who have witnessed it in the past, you know the how it goes … students stand with their "forms" (grade level) at attention around the flag pole while being reminded of the value of a great education and their responsibilities to attend school and work hard.  We then introduced ourselves and passed on greetings from FUMC and Ann Arbor.

Debbie, Julie and Dixie spent the morning at Gichunge Primary. They met Patrick the new Head Teacher and got a tour of the shamba (plot of land) used for growing food for the feeding program.   The crop will be harvested later this week by the school parents.  They will know then how well they have done with the crop.  Gichunge did much better this past November on their National Exams … but still lag far behind the private boarding schools.  They stayed through the distribution of the morning meal of porridge provided through your donations.  We will continue to work with them on their math skills for the remainder of the week.

We all spent the afternoon at BLISS … mostly checking up on the status of everything from the instrumental music program to the pigs being raised by the agricultural students. (Both are doing fine!)  We walked form BLISS to Polytechnic School and received a tour from Dickson who teaches at BLISS, but is on the Board of Directors for the Polytechnic.  The Polytechnic is doing AMAZING things.  They have managed to find a number of companies to donate materials to support their programs and are setting up a number of "enterprises" within the school.  The enterprises earn money that goes back into the school and also provides some income to the students involved. This includes their sewing program that is now making uniforms for BLISS students, their agricultural program that is producing enough food to feed the student body and to sell the surplus at the local market, and the metal working program that is now making chairs they are selling to BLISS to fill the new classrooms.  

The school day begins at BLISS at 7:00 AM and classes continue until 5:00 PM.   SIX DAYS A WEEK!  They are all trying to make up for the 3 weeks of a national teachers strike that started school year late.  There is nothing but gratitude for having the opportunity to go to school … and with no hope of a snow day!  

Band practice takes place AFTER school at 5:00.  Greg and I attended … and Greg played drums with the band.  I have NO idea of this latent talent of his.  Weren't the guys in the drum section always the ones who goofed off?  Who knew!

We held a debrief and planning session tonight after dinner.  We shared what we had each learned and our plans for tomorrow (another long one.)   We also practiced a skit for performing during the morning devotions at Gichunge.  I will let you know how we do … we are guaranteed of the standing ovations.  The 3-14 year old students are standing to begin with. :)

All the best from Kenya,

Kathy, Dixie, Julie, Debbie, Greg, John and Marcos

Fwd: Newsletter 2: Arrival in Meru

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kathy Macdonald <kmac@macdgroup.com>

Date: February 14, 2015 at 2:36:09 PM EST

Subject: Newsletter 2: Arrival in Meru

To: Gary McClusky <gary.mcclusky@gmail.com>

I suspect many of you reading this are not really interested in a weather report from the equator, but it is HOT.  Even for Kenya.  We sweated our way in the van to Meru today doing it the old fashioned way … with the windows rolled down and the dust pouring in.  It was glorious.  The photo below was taken at the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi before we departed.  Trust me … we did not look quite so chipper when we arrived in Meru 7 hours later.  For those of you who have come on past trips, you will recognize Charles from Lindberg Travel in the Photo.

Kenya is known for its over-crowded matatus which are vans that pick up passengers and packages of all sorts along the roadsides.  As we were departing Nairobi on a 4-land highway, we passed a matatu with a passenger on roller skates riding along behind clinging to the tail lights.   Our best guess was we were all going about 40 MPH.    James Bond would have been impressed.  

Mount Kenya was "happy" today and showed us her peaks which are often covered in clouds.  We also saw a rainbow which we decided to take as a good omen for the week.  Julie has decided to record some of the wonderful names Kenyans give their businesses.  Among the best today were:  Overflow College of Hairdressing and Beauty, The Fair Deal Apartments, and side-by-side were the Glory Milk Bar and Dash Cake Market.

We had a wonderful Valentine dinner tonight prepared by Dan Clauw from FUMC who was in Meru scouting plans for a large group from the University of Michigan coming in June.  It featured "slow meat" which is delight he often creates for his students.  Bishop Imathiu, Moses (from BLISS), and a variety of local dignitaries and teachers came to join us for dinner.  It was a great evening capped off by comments from the Bishop.  We are now all falling into bed.  Grateful to have finally arrived.  Looking forward to beginning our planning work tomorrow.

Kathy, Greg, John Marcos, Dixie, Debbie and Julie (this really was a group effort)

Fwd: Newsletter 3: Life in Meru

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kathy Macdonald <kmac@macdgroup.com>

Subject: Newsletter 3: Life in Meru

Date: February 15, 2015 at 11:10:27 PM EST

To: Gary McClusky <gary.mcclusky@gmail.com>

Jambo! 

Got up bright and early Sunday morning and headed to the Mwanika church.  We were asked to introduce ourselves and were asked if we would like to sing for the congregation …we spared them and stuck to introductions. Our photo today features Dixie who everyone in Kenya knows (or it seems like it), Marilyn from Thiiri Centre where we are staying and a member of the Mwanika church.

After church we had a good final debrief with Dan Clauw from FUMC before he departed after a week in Meru. He and his brother, Marty, are on their way  back to Michigan.  From what we hear, it will a real shock to their systems.  

We spent much of the afternoon emptying the tubs we brought along and organized ourselves for tomorrow. We met again after dinner and laid out the week of work before us. (See photo below) An impressive Kenyan thunder storm rolled through during our session … rained hard enough for water to flow in under the door of the room we were meeting in. This means means we will need to be ready for mud tomorrow.

Picked up a few final supplies at the local Nakumat in the late afternoon. (Think Target, Walmart, Meijer and Kmart rolled into one.)  We discovered security in Kenya is even tighter than we were warned.  You are personally scanned entering any store (think airport scanning) and only essentials are allowed in on your person or in your bag.  Our team did discover that the clearance table for Valentine's items was huge. They all claimed they did not buy cards or chocolates to keep for next year.  

  

We added to our list of Kenyan business names.  Our favorites for today were: Hand of God Computer Solutions and God's Favorite Butchery.  Not sure if either will be coming to a strip mall near you soon.

We begin early tomorrow morning at BLISS Secondary School where we will be officially introduced to the student body which is now OVER 500.  We then divide with some of staying on to work at BLISS and others heading off to meet the new Head Teacher at Gichunge Primary.  Wish us well and stay tuned.

Kathy, Dixie, Julie, Debbie, Marcos, Greg and John 

Kathleen Macdonald
kmac@macdgroup.com

The Macdonald Group
115 East Ann Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Cell: 734.834.2532
Office: 734.973.2100
Fax: 734.973.2200

www.macdgroup.com

Fwd: Newsletter from Kenya

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kathy Macdonald <kmac@macdgroup.com>

Date: February 13, 2015 at 4:08:22 PM EST

Subject: Newsletter from Kenya

To: Gary McClusky <gary.mcclusky@gmail.com>

We made it to Nairobi.  The trip never seems to get any shorter.  This is a pretty seasoned team so everyone stuck together as we made the Amsterdam  connection.  For those of us who love our coffee, we even had a chance to sit have a cup before our next flight took off.

When we got to Nairobi, our friends from the Lindberg Travel group were there to meet us at the airport … a welcome sight after a couple of hours getting through customs.

We are all settled in tonight at the Methodist Guest House.  I suspect everyone will sleep much better laying down than sitting up.  We have an orientation session with our Lindberg drivers in the morning and then we are off to Meru.  We are all looking forward to the ride and the opportunity to see Kenya from the van.

I have attached a photo that was taken at the Detroit Airport before our departure.  Think of this as the "Before" picture.  We look forward to a great week of continuing the work that so many other teams before us have laid the groundwork for.

Kathy

Maine: One night...

As we gathered for our big group time one evening, Randy started something when he came across the room to sit next to his mom. "Aww!" cried the group, and a photo was taken. Then Griffin freed up a seat next to him so his mom could take it. Another photo. The room shuffled and reshuffled to produce family and sibling groupings, and LOTS of photos!

Maine: Special Needs Building Project

Over the course of four days, four different teams of FUMC youth and counselors contributed to this building project. It is pretty satisfying to see the progress!