Little Orphan Annieshequa was the most adored entry I have done so far. How can you resist those adorable orphans smiling, singing, and admiring the rims of the land rover? So much of the experience could not possibly be put in words, which is why you get another revisionist history.
I took so much video that my camera battery-which had a full charge-was dead by the time I left. Here I was expecting a dark, dank shack filled with orphans in potato sacks requesting more porridge (I may have been thinking of Oliver Twist or Employee appreciation day at the Nike Factory). Winding though those precarious narrow dirt roads on a bright sunny day- we reached the church to find 40 or so orphans circled around a shade tree singing in perfect 2 part harmonies. I quickly brought out my camera and filmed the traditional Africa Spiritual "Ride that choo-choo Pirate Jesus".
Two days ago I was talking with my colleague Carlos and Dr. Steinhauer-all of us having spent a month or more in Maseno about their inherent singing ability.
Dr. Steinhauer said
"In church, they would go into perfect 4 part harmonies without any instruction-it like they just knew".
The ability of the Africans far exceeded that of any Caucasian. I know this because I went to church on Moi day, which is a national holiday. All the Africans were absent, so it was just white people trying to sing. Worse still, there were percussion instruments (drums, tambourine, etc) that white people without rhythm should NOT USE! "He has made me glad" sounded as cheerful as a funeral, but you be the judge.
Compare this to our swahili service
When I went to go help out at the Orphan program with David-we saw that Kindergarten through second grade kids were being taught basic math skills on chalkboards outside. David and I could do basic math with the help of our cell phones, so we volunteered our skills to teach these kids. We were whisked away and brought into an actual public school and told we should teach them something. I brought out my digital camera and David and I just winged it for that whole class. David and I (especially me) really wanted to know what the kids would do to improve the country. I really wanted to hear someone say "rise up against government corruption", but I am not sure that idea would be tolerated in a public school. If you watch the videos, one child said exactly that. Eventually, it became a lecture about teaching kids about HIV/AIDS-it was amazing. I took the time to upload all these videos in hopes that someone will watch them-and as an added incentive, within one of the videos is a code-first one to email me the code will win a prize from
Kenya!
It's thanksgiving today, I hope everyone is with the people you care about today. I know I appreciate what I have so much more now.
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*boggle* They're so... shy. I really enjoyed the class room talk on HIV and thought that the kids really needed to know what the options were. They are so full of LIFE!
ReplyDeleteDidn't get the code though, I was listening mostly while working on chores. They're all so cute!
But did I get it correct by assuming that they only get 8th grade education and, I'll assume nowhere near as rigorous as even the current US system?