Today was our last day in Nairobi and the end of this summer’s service, learning, and adventure trip. We had the luxury of sleeping in and getting a late breakfast, before heading out to visit the Kibera Paper women’s group. Mama Angeline hosted us for a sumptous lunch of chapati, rice, ugali, sukuma wiki, chicken, fish, and beef stew at her home on Karanja Road in Kibera. it was fun to hear stories about Jeff and Ken as children and just get to know more about their family. After lunch, we returned to Shalom House to complete our final packing and donated items we did not want to take home to the Children of Kibera Foundation. For dinner we went to Junction Mall and ate in small groups at Mediteranneo, Nairobi Java House, and the food court. On our drive to the airport we shared ideas and experiences about the inevitable culture shock of coming back to life in the USA after such a powerful experience in Kenya and strategies for coping successfully. Check-in at the airport was quick but sad, as we bade farewell to our hosts from Children of Kibera and went through security. It is now 10.30pm in Nairobi as we make this blog entry, and our flight to London will depart in about one hour. We will miss our friends from Kenya, but we are also looking forward to reuniting with our families at home.

See you all soon in Boston, Miami, New York, Washington DC, Atlanta, and Mexico City!

We came back from a wonderful adventure in the Masai Mara game reserve today. We saw lions, cheetah, leopard, elephants, rhino, buffalo, giraffes, zebra and so much more. We visited a Masai village and danced with the women and the warriors. We enjoyed good times with friends and reflected on the meaning of the work we had come to do in Kenya and the impact that our trip here has had on our life perspectives. Tomorrow is our last day in Nairobi, and we depart on the evening flight to London altogether. It is incredible to look back and realize three weeks together on this service learning trip have already gone by. We will take with us many memories and will cherish the friendships we made in Kenya. Most of all, we have all committed, in different ways and to the best of our abilities, to serve as ambassadors for the children of Kibera when we get back home. We feel that we have received so much from our time volunteering in Kenya, and we have been touched deeply by the spirit of the children and the commitment of their teachers and guardians to their education. A good education for all the children and teenagers we met in Nairobi will certainly help to make many more talented and productive citizens to make Kenya a better and prosperous society. To support our work with a tax-deductible donation to the Children of Kibera Foundation, please click here. Any gift, however small or simple, can make an extraordinary difference in Kenya.

These last days have been truly a time of celebration in many ways. Even as we begin to bid farewell to Kenya, many of us are already thinking about the possibility of coming back next summer. It has been a deep, powerful, positive, and empowering experience to be in Kenya as members of the Children of Kibera Foundation and get a first hand understanding of all the projects that we support.

Our time volunteering at the Red Rose School in Kibera has ended much too fast. In the last two days, we spent more time in the classes teaching while the Red Rose teachers got more professional development with the LitWorld team. On Thursday afternoon we visited Kibera Primary School to learn about the challenges they face as a public school with more than 2100 students and only 24 teachers employed by the government. Friday was a special “Christmas in July” celebration day. We gave gifts of school uniform items (shoes, sweaters, khakis, polos etc) and other supplies (pens, books, toothbrushes, erasers etc) to all the children at the school. The celebration was made extra-special by the presence of Mia’s dad, who flew in from Washington for a surprise visit to meet the children of Red Rose and to celebrate Mia’s 17th birthday. The Red Rose kids sang songs, danced, recited poems, performed a skit, and hosted an African fashion show to mark the end of our amazing summer visit at their school. Lots of tears were shed as we pledged to keep our bonds of friendship.

As part of the KiberaOnline Schools Project, the Children of Kibera Foundation donated 15 computers to the new computer lab at Olympic High School. We visited the school for a short handing-over ceremony and cutting of the ribbon to officially open the lab. We are very thankful to all our friends, parents, schools, and other supporters of Children of Kibera for their financial and in-kind donations which we have been able to see making a direct and positive impact in the lives of so many children in Kenya.

This weekend we go on safari for two nights in the Masai Mara Game Reserve. We will be back in Nairobi on Monday evening. On Tuesday we shall have lunch hosted by Mama Angeline, Ken and Jeff’s mom at her home in Kibera before we depart Tuesday night for home via London. The next blog posting will be on Monday or Tuesday after the safari adventure.

Today was another exciting day. We had fun teaching our classes while the Red Rose teachers went to a professional development workshop with the team from LitWorld. After lunch we visited the Karen Blixen Museum, the Giraffe Center, and the Kazuri Beads Factory. The tour of the Kazuri Beads Factory was very educational and the opportunity to buy their beautiful handmade jewelry very meaningful. Here is a video about the Kazuri Beads. We enjoyed pizza at Shalom House for dinner and watched Out of Africa, the 1985 Academy Award movie of the year. Tomorrow we will be back volunteering at Red Rose, appreciating deeply the heroic, demanding, and skillful work that teachers do on a daily basis.

Today we returned to Red Rose School and all of us had a more active role in the teaching of the classes. We spent most of last week observing the methods and styles of the Red Rose teachers. It was very exciting to share the lessons we had prepared and try to incorporate our ideas into the normal routine of the school and add a few enrichment activities to the ideas the children have been learning in their regular Kenyan curriculum. In the afternoon, we got a chance to visit St. Aloysius Gonzaga High School at their new campus.  It is a Catholic day school that serves orphans and other young people from AIDS-affected families primarily from Kibera. They have a lovely facility and the students there seem very dedicated.

A few days ago, we shared reflections about what we are grateful for in our lives and what we are hopeful about for the future. Being in Kenya and seeing the conditions in which many children and families live has helped us gain a good perspective on our own lives. Through visits to classes at Red Rose, the markets in Nairobi, secondary schools, and the homes of the children that are sponsored by Children of Kibera Foundation, we have seen firsthand the struggles and challenges they have to overcome in order to live a life with dignity and joy.

Here are some of the thoughts that members of our group shared.

I AM GRATEFUL FOR …

• the love of the Red Rose children.
• my education. I used to think of education as a right, not a privilege. Now I realize how privileged I am to get the education and opportunities I get at my school.
• my stable home environment.
• the Red Rose School allowing us to be part of their community for three weeks.
• the chance to see and experience Kibera in a real and raw and deeper way.
• my family that is close and together. Some of the Red Rose children have lost siblings or have to live far away from their family members, seeing them very rarely.
• the opportunity to participate in a trip like this.
• good food, clean water, safe shelter and other basic necessities.
• my health and my access to quality healthcare whenever I need it.
• higher education opportunities in the USA.

I AM HOPEFUL THAT/FOR …

• I will give something back to the Children of Kibera organization because I feel that I always gain more than I give when I participate in service projects.
• I will come back to Kenya and Kibera with my parents.
• the Red Rose children and who/what they can become in life.
• the Red Rose children will beat the odds and make it to secondary school and beyond.
• I will share my emotions and experiences with my family.
• people in the United States will realize that a small contribution makes a huge difference in Kibera.
• the youth of Kenya will improve their country.
• women in Kenya will fully realize their rights as written in the new Kenyan constitution

After the amazing energy of the Children of Kibera Music Festival on Friday and Saturday, we got a change on Sunday with an overnight trip to Lake Nakuru National Park. Our journey began after breakfast when we loaded up the three safari land-cruisers and headed west from Nairobi through the highlands of central Kenya to the high escarpment overlooking the majestic rift valley. We arrived at Lake Nakuru National Park at about 11 am, and began the real adventure of the safari with a quick game drive where we saw a pride of lions, lionesses, and cubs resting on the acacia trees and in the bushes next to the remnants of a giant buffalo carcass. We checked in to a sumptuous lunch at the Sarova Lion Hill Lodge. After lunch we rested in our rooms and around the swimming pool at the lodge before embarking on a late afternoon game drive as the sun began to set. The flocks of birds on the lake were fantastic. We saw pelicans, flamingoes, crested cranes, guinea fowls, and many more than we could name. We also saw many monkeys, baboons, impalas, zebra, giraffes, gazelles, white rhinos, hyenas, warthogs and waterbucks. Back at the lodge, we took in a performance of live African music and traditional dances by a bonfire before dinner. Dinner was equally delicious as our lunch had been. We retired to our nice rooms to find that the turn-in service included hot water bottles under our blankets, perfect for easing the chilly night-time temperatures in the high altitude.

On Monday morning we checked out of the lodge after breakfast and enjoyed another game drive in the park, with the highlight being a visit to the Baboon Hill overlook site. Our drive to Nairobi was mostly quiet, as many people took the chance to nap or listen to music. The scenery and landscapes were changing, and became more familiar as we approached the city of Nairobi. We arrived at Junction Mall in time for a late lunch and some quick shopping at Nakumatt Supermarket. When we got back to Shalom House we had a few hours of free time to rest, check email, or start getting ready for the coming days of substitute-teaching at the Red Rose School. The team from LitWorld came to visit before dinner and we shared our reflections and heard some tips from them that we can incorporate into our work at Red Rose.  Tomorrow afternoon we will visit St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a Jesuit high school that serves many teenagers from AIDS-affected families in Kibera and other parts of Nairobi.

Today was the finale of the 3rd Annual Children of Kibera Music Festival. The theme of the festival was brought to life in song, poetry, dance, and drama by students from Kibera high schools performing in front of a panel of judges and a large audience of their peers and other members of the community. We loved seeing some of the Red Rose children out of school coming to enjoy the performances by the top schools groups from yesterday. In the afternoon, we rested at Shalom House and got prepared for our trip to Lake Nakuru National Park tomorrow. We enjoyed a quiet evening of reflection among friends with pizza and watched the movie “Nowhere in Africa.” The topic of our reflection tonight was about things we are grateful for in our lives and things we hope for in the future. We will share some of these reflections in an upcoming post on the blog.

Our volunteers spent the morning at Red Rose and the afternoon at the third annual Children of Kibera Foundation festival of performing arts for Kibera’s high school students. For the evening reflections, we asked students to write about a moment of pure joy that they had experienced. Here are some of the reflections four of our student volunteers shared.

“Today during break at Red Rose, a girl in class six came up to me with a letter. She was not at Red Rose two years ago and I have not talked to her enough, so I don’t know her as well as the other kids. She handed me an envelope that says “I love you” on the front. I asked her when I should open it, and she said “Right now!” Inside the envelope were a small handwritten note and a photo of herself. In the note, she introduced herself and said that she included the photo so that I would never forget her. I was so happy with her thoughtfulness and eagerness to connect with me.” — Student One

“Today at the third annual Children of Kibera Music Festival, 13 high schools from around Kibera took part by performing skits, dances, and songs all related to the topic of the new constitution, also known in kiswahili as “Katiba Mpya.” There were so many moments of joy this afternoon. We saw high school students from Kibera having a venue to share their talents with their community. There was a lot of pride and confidence in their performances. Knowing that this foundation made this festival possible for the community today was a moment of pure joy that I experienced today.” — Student Two

“After the last performances at the festival today, we got a chance to dance with everyone. It was amazing to me to see the power of music and to see how much joy that brought everyone. I remember looking at this one girl who was dancing and I started to smile and she put out her hand, even though I was horrible at dancing. She had never met me before. We laughed, and I was not able to keep a smile off my face for a long time after that.” — Student Three

“The music beat loud in my head and all around. I just stepped away from my impromptu dance instructor and into the vibrations above a tiny Kiberan child. His eyes darted up toward me and my hands came down towards him. For a minute, we saddled our shoulders. For a moment, I lifted him into the air, his feet dangling above the dust. He looked up again and his cheeks drew tight. His teeth reflected the crowded sunlight.” — Student Four

“Another wonderful day…” said chaperone, Mary Howard.  Our students continued to connect and show leadership in their Red Rose classrooms throughout the morning.   Relationship building continued through reading special books aloud, playing bingo games, singing songs, dancing, and casual conversation.  We concluded our home visits today to two Red Rose students’ homes and one high school scholar’s home where we met with parents and caregivers of the children receiving sponsorships through the Children of Kibera Foundation.

After a quick lunch at the Village Market Mall in Gigiri, we proceeded to the US Embassy for our formal visit and briefing.  We had to go through three different security check-points before we were ushered to the auditorium at the embassy. We were greeted by several Foreign Service officers who shared information about their career paths and current responsibilities within the US Mission in Kenya.  We asked many questions of the officers and some great exchanges took place.  We learned more about how the embassy is structured, hosting into five main agencies including the State Department, USAID, Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture, and the International Broadcasting Bureau (which includes Voice of America).

Other facts mentioned included:

2,000,000 living with HIV in Kenya- HIV is 4 times as prevalent in women

420,000 are receiving ARV treatment

64%  of the Kenyan population is under 24 years old.  They call this the “youth bulge”.

50%  of Kenyans are unemployed or under employed and the need for improved infrastructure is great.

Successes over the last 10 years:

*Improved relationships with Kenyan government to ensure sustainable programs.

*Under 5 mortality has decreased

*Infant mortality has decreased

* Better treatment of malaria

At the end of our visit to the embassy, one of the hosts encouraged our students to embrace all of the educational and experiential opportunities before them and choose something that they are passionate about.  Afterwards, we had a delicious family-style dinner at Cedars, a Lebanese restaurant in Kilimani. It was a perfect Nairobi evening for outdoor dining as we enjoyed great food, conversation and laughter. Tomorrow, we will have a chance to watch performances by teenagers from high schools in Kibera at the 3^rd annual Children of Kibera Music Festival. The theme of the festival is “Katiba Mpya, Kenya Mpya?” which is Swahili for “New Constitution, New Kenya?”

It has been seven days since we arrived in Nairobi, Kenya for the start of our Service, Learning, and Adventure mission trip in support of the Children of Kibera Foundation. We have had a full schedule on each day, we have met many people and made tons of new friends, we have learnt so much more than we could have imagined and asked thousands of questions about the country and its people. Enjoy this slideshow of photos that capture some of the past seven days. Two more weeks left, the time is going by too fast!