A Tanzanian Adventure

As most of you know we had elections here on March 4th. I am thankful that I can say so far it has been peaceful.  Thank you all for your constant thoughts and prayers throughout the process. It is still not over, though. Now there are a couple of court cases we have to get through before there is an official president.

View outside Ben and Elizabeth's house.

One fun thing that came out of the elections for me was that I got to go and visit my fellow YASCers down in Tanzania! I flew down to Dar Es Salaam and then took a long bus ride to Dodoma.  The bus had some small issues, but I eventually made it. Ben and Elizabeth picked me up and we drove out to Msalato where they live. It is about 20 minutes from Dodoma Town on what I learned is the only unpaved portion of the Arusha Highway.  It is always strange when you arrive somewhere in the dark, but I love the next morning when you get to see everything for the first time. Msalato is a really peaceful place. It is dry and rural, but the people are really friendly and welcoming. There is a wonderful community of teachers and students from all over the world. Our social calendar was extremely full while I was there. Several of the other teachers had us over for dinner. Another YASCer, Brian Orlay, also works in Dodoma for the Carpenter's Kids program.  My second night in Tanzania we went to dinner with him and a guy named Chris who is also an Episcopal missionary working with Carpenter's Kids for a few months. Brian and Chris live and work together in Dodoma town.  It was good to spend time with them and hear about their work. They also joined us on a hike up Lion Rock.  Ben and Elizabeth have a great view of Lion Rock from their house and when you climb to the top you can look out over all of Dodoma. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do so I thoroughly enjoyed that.  During the days in Dodoma I was able to go on long walks and do some work. It was a restful week with some great people.

Ben, Elizabeth, me and Brian at the top of Lion Rock.

Beach in Dar.

I was able to get a MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) flight from Dodoma to Dar on Thursday, but I was not supposed to fly back to Nairobi until Saturday so I planned to stay a couple of nights at a guest house and visit the beach for a day.  Naturally plans changed.  As I was on my way to the airport on Saturday morning I got multiple calls from people saying I should not fly back to Nairobi that day because they were finally announcing the election results and while everything had been peaceful so far there was no way to predict how people would react.  No one wanted to leave their houses that day so I ended up staying in Dar for a couple more nights and just spent some time reflecting and working at the beach.  Cannot really complain about that :)

I have been back in Kenya for about two weeks now and it has been incredibly busy, which is why it has been so long since I have posted. I will try to do better. My fellow YASCer Jared Grant is on his way here right now to visit so get excited for a post about our adventures soon.

Have a blessed Holy Week and a very happy Easter!

Asante sana!

Momma Jenny in Kenya

So about 3 weeks ago now Momma Jenny, my mom, came to Kenya! I was spoiled to the extreme while she was here. She arrived on my 6 month anniversary here. It was so exciting to be back in the airport at the exact time I arrived 6 months earlier to pick up my mother who has never traveled to Africa before.  This may be a long post, but I want to capture as much as I can of what we did.

Our adventure started immediately the next day when we flew to Mombasa, which is on the coast of Kenya.  We spent a few nights at a hotel on the beach there just relaxing and catching up on the last 6 months of life.

The beach at Mombasa.

Next we headed out on safari.  Our guide Ibrahim picked us up and we drove out to Tsavo East and did a game drive through the park.  We made it to our accommodation for the night in time for lunch. It was called Galdessa Tented Camp.  It was beautiful! However, it was in the middle of the park and since it is not fenced or anything animals can rome freely so we had an escort throughout the camp. That afternoon we did a walking safari. Again escorted, but this time by a ranger with a giant gun. We went to Lugara Falls and saw so many crocodiles and hippos. I have never been so close to a wild crocodile!

View from our tent at Galdessa

Crocodile!

Lava cave

After Tsavo East, the next morning we woke up and headed to Tsavo West where we again had a wonderful game drive in the morning and then in the afternoon we picked up another ranger and headed to some caves created by lava and did some exploration underground. There is an active volcano there and after our underground exploration we went to this giant hill created by lava rocks. It was basically a HUGE pile of rocks and we climbed to the top where we could look out and see the whole park. That night we stayed at a lodge that was situated right on a watering hole where all night animals would come and go. I think my mom stayed up all night to watch the elephants, then the zebras, the buffalos, the giraffes, the baboons, and even more.  We were so close to them!

Lava rock hill we climbed.

Watering hole right outside our room.

Mzima Springs. 

The next morning we were off to Amboseli, but before we left we stopped at Mzima Springs. They are these beautiful natural springs in the park.  Then we joined the convoy of vehicles going to Amboselli National Park. It was a bumpy ride, Ibrahim said it was a free massage. After a short game drive we decided that once we arrived at the lodge we would take the afternoon off and hang out by the pool and get real massages.  This lodge was FULL of monkeys so they has Maasai warriors around to keep them away from food. They used sticks and sling shots to accomplish this. Before we left the next morning the security guard at the lodge took us on a run around the edge of the park. We were running with a Kenyan at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro!

One of the many lions we got to see!

Once we arrived back in Nairobi we had some dinner then headed out to Rongai for part 2. We spent the next couple of days in Rongai. I took her to a few of the children's homes we work with. She even rode in a matatu! I was proud of her. Living out here can be exhausting and you never know what to expect, but it was such a blessing to share it with her. Saturday we spent the day doing tourist things. We went to the baby elephant orphanage, ate at Karen Blixen Gardens with Mike, went to Kazuri Beads, then stayed the night in Nairobi. Sunday we went to church at Mike's church then ate lunch with my friend Rev. Zach Drennen who runs a project in Western Kenya and then stayed the night at an interesting place called Rolf's Place. That was an adventure in itself that I won't go into. Monday was her last day here. We visited Kitengela Glass then spent the day with my friend Edwin. He took us to eat in Karen, through Nairobi, and to a park where we got to play with monkeys before heading to the airport. We had a wonderful visit and as you can see we crammed a lot into 12 days!

Baby elephant orphanage.

Suspension bridge we crossed to get to Rolf's Place.

Mom at Kitengela Glass.

Next week are the elections here. As I have mentioned before there was a lot of violence after the last election and I can only ask you to continue to pray for this country! So much has been leading up to this and right now nothing is certain.  We are praying for peace, unity and wisdom for the leaders and the people.

Here are just a few more pictures.

Mom and me with Ibrahim.

Mom and I at lunch before Tsavo West.

Safari!

Warthog.

Giraffe.

Biffalo.

Playing with monkeys.

Thank you all for your continued support and love. Hope everyone in the US is staying warm, it has been exceptionally hot here.

Kwa Heri!

January Recap

Rain and thunder have been the soundtrack to life the past couple of nights. I am not complaining, though because without the rain the dust is terrible. So much has happened the past couple of weeks. First- thank you all for your prayers for Ryan and his family.  I was able to attend the burial last week with Rachel and some of the kids and community members from Dream's.  It was in DEEP Maasai Land. It was the furthest interior Kenya I have been thus far. We traveled for at least 4 hours on what should not qualify as a road to a place where there was no electricity or water at all.  The whole community gathered for the ceremony, which was mostly in Maasai with a Swahili translator so I did not understand much, but it was incredibly sweet and moving.  Surprisingly, it did not last very long at all, maybe an hour and then they carried the casket to the burial place where we all took a turn throwing some dirt in before the elders finished covering it.  After the burial they fed us a delicious lunch and then we packed up and headed home. It was an emotionally and physically exhausting day, but I was so thankful to be there.

Maasai Land

Ryan's brother, sister, and uncle at the burial

The rest of last week was spent getting acquainted with my new role as the Development Associate for the next six months.  I will be switching from my monitoring and evaluation job to work more with the social media, grant writing, and being the lead on our Pamoja program.  Our Pamoja program partners groups in the US with groups from Kenya to facilitate cross cultural relationships.  If you are interested in learning more about this or being a part of it please email me at jenny@bethechangekenya.org. I am working on updating our website and creating a new look for Tatua Kenya and Be The Change- Kenya so when that is complete I will share the new website with you all.  Until then you can still go to the old BTCKE Website for some information about Pamoja.

Giraffe Center

Last Saturday I got to spend the day with my friend Lara Shine.  She is an Episcopal priest from Nebraska who just spent a few weeks in South Sudan.  On her way home she stopped in Nairobi for a few days and I was able to meet up with her and Jim, her teammate.  We got coffee at Java House, then went to the Giraffe Center, and stopped at Nyumba Ya Tumaini so they could meet some of the people I work with here.  It was a great day. To find out more about our adventure and their trip to South Sudan you should read Lara's blog.

Yesterday I got a new roommate.  Natalie and I went to the airport last night to pick up my new friend Andrew Nazdin.  He is from Washington, D.C. and will be staying with us for the month of February to teach a community organizing course to our newly hired community organizers.  Our staff has doubled in the past 5 days which is very exciting.  We hired 4 of the young adults who completed the program last year to be full time community organizers for this program year.  They will spend this month in an intensive course that will prepare them to go out to their assigned communities and get people moving around child poverty.

Me with Clinton

Today was a really special day.  I woke up at 5:30AM so that I could meet my friend David Kariuki in town.  He is the Kenyan country coordinator for an organization called Bright Point For Children. They are a child sponsorship organization that my family sponsors a young man through here in Kenya.  His name is Clinton and I met him while I was here in May 2011. David and I drove out Mombasa Road to a community called Ngaamba to see Clinton at school.  He is now in class 8, which means he is a candidate this year for his KCPE exams.  I could not believe how tall he was.  We got to spend some time together and I brought him some paper, crayons, and pens.  He told me how he still loved science and still wants to be an engineer.  The head teacher had wonderful things to say about him.  It was such a gift to see him and I plan on making it happen more while I am here.  Please pray that he continues to excel in school and that he will get good marks on his exams so that he can be sent to a good secondary school.  Life is not always easy out in the village, but all of the children at Ngaamba Central Primary were so full of joy!

Ngaamba Central Primary School

The last bit of news I will leave you with is that my mom comes in less than one week, which also means I will have been here for 6 months in less than a week!! Can you believe it? I can't!

Hope you are all well! Siku njema! (Good day!)

Celebrate Life

Yesterday was a rainy and rather chilly day here in Kenya.  The dreary morning brought with it some news I am not sure my heart was prepared for.  My sweet little friend Ryan passed away 2 nights ago.  For those of y'all that had not read, he was HIV positive and battling stomach cancer.  Death is something that you can never fully prepare for.  When it comes, it is always a shock.  Ryan was a fighter and a joyful boy.  Anyone spending time at Dream's Children's Home could see clearly how he loved his brothers and sisters well and how much they loved him.  I want to take this time to rejoice over the life Ryan lived here on Earth and the eternal life he will live with our loving Father.

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts for Ryan over the past 5 months.  They made a difference because he knew that you were all praying for him and I believe in the power of prayer.  Please continue to think of his family, Rachel, and all of his brothers and sisters at Dream's for the next while as they process, mourn, and celebrate Ryan's life.  

I want to close with a quote from Thomas Merton that I believe is full of comforting truth and the way I I got to experience God through Ryan.  Have a wonderful day.

“To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference.” ― Thomas Merton

A YASC Christmas in Cape Town

Happy 2013 everyone!

Pit stop in Rwanda

I hope everyone ended 2012 and began 2013 on high note.  I definitely did.  For Christmas I was able to travel down to Cape Town, South Africa and meet up with 6 of my fellow YASCers placed in Africa.  After a minor detour to Rwanda due to cancelled flights I made it to Cape Town where Holly and Jared picked me up from the airport.  We then headed to Struisbaai, which is a little beach town about 3 hours from Cape Town.  We met 4 other YASCers there, Cameron, Steve, Ben and Elizabeth, as they drove in from Grahamstown, South Africa.  We stayed in a condo that was just a 2 minute walk from the beach for 4 nights to celebrate Christmas.  It was strange to be so far away from family on Christmas, but I could not have asked for a better group of people to spend the holidays with.  It was as far from a "normal" Christmas as it could be and I would not have wanted it any other way.  Most of the time while we were there was spent on the beach.  We did go and visit Cape Agulhas, which is the southern most tip of Africa where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean's meet.  For Christmas Eve dinner we did a Braai (or cookout) and made some delicious side dishes.  Then for Christmas morning we made a big brunch with eggs, bacon, fruit, toast and mimosas of course.  It was fun for us all to cook and share meals together.  For most of our meals at Struisbaai we all cooked and it was great time for fellowship.

View from our balcony in Struisbaai

All of us at Cape Agulhas

Our Christmas Eve table

Christmas Eve sunset 

When we arrived back in Cape Town we all moved into the Anglican guest house on the Cape Town University campus.  That is where Holly lives and it worked out perfectly because all of the students were gone for the holidays so we were each able to have our own room.  In Cape Town there was so much to do and I think we did a pretty good job of fitting it all in.  We went wine tasting, saw the penguins, did the Red Bus tour, saw the District Six museum, went to the beach, visited some of Holly's co-workers from Hope Africa, went to the waterfront, went to Kirstenbosch Gardens, hiked Table Mountain, did a couple of sun downs and attended a service at the Cathedral.  Amidst all that we found time to just relax, go on a few runs, and just enjoy each other's company as well.  I think Cape Town may be one of the prettiest places I have ever been.  For a big city, it was great because there was a view from everywhere of either a mountain or an ocean.  We spent New Years at Kirstenbosch Gardens.  There was a concert and we brought a picnic and we were surrounded by what most of described as the setting for Jurassic Park minus the man eating dinosaurs, of course.  It was probably my best New Years to date.

All of us with some Hope Africa people

Cathedral in Cape Town

New Years Eve at Kirstenbosch Gardens

Vineyards

Jared and I with the penguins

View from the top of Table Mountain

I arrived back in Kenya a few days ago and I am slowly readjusting to life here.  It was refreshing to be with friends for a couple of weeks.  Overall I am glad to be back and ready to work.  My mom comes in a month, which is exciting. I cannot wait for her to experience all Kenya has to offer and meet the people I work with here.  

Elections are quickly approaching and for those of you that do not know, back in 2007 Kenya had terrible post election violence.  Please pray for peace and understanding among the people here.  Elections are to be held on March 6, 2013.

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear how you celebrated the holidays and welcomed in 2013, don't hesitate to send me an email jkorwan@gmail.com or write me a letter. You can find my address in the links and contacts tab above.

It is almost Christmas! I finally feel more in the Christmas spirit because everywhere is decorated now and I watched Elf.  There are many more movies that I would kill to watch- A Christmas Story, Muppet Christmas Carol, Christmas Vacation...to name a few.

 Birthday decorations and boys peeling potatoes for the stew.

Anyways last Wednesday was a Jamhuri Day, which is a national holiday similar to our independence day.  It was also my dear friend Gibson's birthday and 12.12.12, which is cool. Gibson is one of the boys that lives at Tumaini.  He is a remarkable young man and he does so much to take care of his younger brothers at the home so we all wanted to do something special for him.  The boys planned a party for him and I just helped facilitate it.  He had no idea.  The boys invited all of their friends and the decorated.  We cooked all morning.  We had rice, chapati, and beef stew.  Tony (one of the young adults from BTCKE) brought his computer over so there would be music.  Gibson was shocked when he got there.  I think there were over 30 people at the home and everyone had a great day.  Unfortunately my camera died half way through the day so I do not have pictures of the fun traditions that happened at night.  I will tell you about them though.  After we ate and hung out we all went into the sitting room where the music was and people gave speeches about Gibson.  It was sweet. Then they played a game where he had to stand in the middle and people could ask him ANYTHING and he had to answer. Then he had to dance ALONE for everyone.  Then when it was time to cut the cake he had to pick a girl to help him blow out the candles and then another one to help him cut it.  I had bought him trick candles so I was glad when he did not pick me for that part, but he did pick me to help him cut the cake.  After we cut the cake he had to feed me a piece. It was a little like a wedding. The final tradition was that they had to "wash" him, meaning throw water on him when he least expects it.  It was like a coach getting the cooler dumped on him after he wins a football game.  Now that I know about all of these traditions I think I will keep my birthday a secret :)

The birthday boy (middle) with Jacob and Tony (2 of the young adults that work with Tumaini).

On Friday night I took all of the older boys that once lived on the street to see a free screening of Nairobi Half Life.  The movie is really good. It is Kenya's entry into the Oscar nominations.  The boys had a great time. I have been wanting them to see it because it is about the street life of Nairobi.  On the way home we stopped at a local reataurant/pub type place in Rongai and got some nyama choma (meat) and ugali.  We did not reach home until about 1AM.  Due to Africa time the movie started at least 2 hours late, but that was ok because the boys were an hour late getting to my house so naturally it all worked out fine.

Me with all of the boys at the movie screening.

Today Mike and Leslie invited me to Pangani Lutheran Children's Center (PLCC), which is a home for girls in Rongai.  Mike gave the sermon at the confirmation and baptismal service that was held there today.  It was a really sweet service.  Five girls were baptized and 3 were confirmed.  The home is beautiful and it was a fun celebration. 

Confirmation service at PLCC.

Some of the girls dancing and singing at the service.

The PLCC home.

In other news since  have last blogged. Sarah and Natalie have been back in the states.  I had some people over for dinner one night.  We made ugali and fish.  The fish we bought at an unmarked fish place which they fried for us in the street right outside.  It was delicious.  I have had a car which has been great because the day I got to start using it all matatus went on strike because of the new traffic laws.  They are back working now, but it was a hard 4 days for people because no one could get anywhere.

Mike and Leslie's daughter comes to visit next week so I will get to spend some time with her before I leave for South Africa on Friday! I am guessing it will be 2013 before I blog again so everyone have a great holiday season! Thanks again for your love and support.

Asante Sana

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. It was my first time away from my family for the holiday. I can't lie it started out pretty rough. Traditions are really important to me and there is just a feeling that comes with watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade, smelling the pecan pie baking in the oven, and getting ready to go running with my mom each year that I love and it is just not the same here.  I had a couple of meetings in the morning which were both great. I met with one of the young adults, Lydiah, to get feedback about our programs as we prepare for next year and then I met with Isaya, director of Nyumba Ya Tumaini.  Both meetings made me realize how lucky I am to be here in Kenya doing what I am doing.  When I woke up I was sad, which I am not discrediting because I think it is normal to miss my family, but by 10:15 AM (fifteen minutes into meeting number one) I realized there was much more to be happy about and thankful for this year than I even had last year.  Not only do I still have loving family and friends living back in the US, but now I have an incredible group of people here in Kenya and all over the world through YASC that love and support me as I get to be a part of what God is doing in Kenya.  I had to take a moment and say, "asante sana Mungu." That means "thank you very much God."  

Some high lights from last week were going to a water park, taking some of the kids to church, eating Korean food, and I got my hair cut.

Entering Splash. That red slide was fast!

For our end of the year celebration we went to Splash Water Park.  Splash donated all of the entrance fees for our team, the young adults, and the directors.  We spent the afternoon swimming, going down water slides, watching football, and playing pool.  I think everyone had a great time.  For those of you from the US and have ever been to a water park there, Splash was a kids dream and a parents nightmare.  Think of your experience and then remove all of the rules.  We could run and go down the slides 6 people at a time and no one said anything.  I am not advocating for no rules, but admittedly I loved the freedom.

Some of the young adults watching the football match

This is Adrian, the son of one of the local professionals we work with.

Water slides.

Some of the young adults playing pool.

On Sunday I was able to take 4 boys from Nyumba Ya Tumaini to church with me. We had fun, they helped me figure out public transportation all the way there. It requires three matatus so it is quite a journey.  Then on Monday night Natalie went back to the US for about 6 weeks so we went to a Korean restaurant called Big Mama's for her goodbye dinner.  The food was delicious. I call my mom big mama so I will have to take her there when she comes to visit.  In the coming weeks I will be visiting new organizations to learn more about child poverty in the community.  We want to meet more people passionate about it and learn what is being done about it.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving where ever you are in the world.  Christmas music is officially all I will be listening to.  Once again I am thankful for all of you and for this adventure I am on right now.  Asante sana!