First achievements in Kimilili

Dear friends, 


The first two days in Kimilili are over. Even though we sometimes feel frustrated with the speed and the mentality of Kenyans, the first days have still been very successful. 
 

The most important: we got the approval from the ministry of health to build the toilets. To reach this, we had to meet several ministers, “pay” them some money and shake hands (a LOT of that, Kenyans just seem to love to shake hands and introduce themselves. And this includes signing their visitor books).

We didn’t only get the approval but a piece of paper with a toilet model to build (latter came from another minister including visitor book and hand shaking…). Today we even started the construction of them. First step is to dig the hole (10 meters deep). Second step will be to construct the actual toilet building. We are about to get several quotations and hope to start construction by end of next week. We would like to thank you for the donations received, we are confident that we have enough to build the toilets. Thanks for all your kind support, please be assured that your money is really being used on essential necessities as the school would otherwise have to be closed. 

Digging for toilet hole: (the achievement is the hole, not the men!!!)

A further achievement is preparation of the fencing of the school grounds. We know what we need, got the material and we organized some volunteers to offer the labour (including ourselves). Digging 50 holes, sticking the poles into the holes and wrapping/nailing wire around it just sounds like a perfect Saturday activity doesn’t it? :)

If we say we “got the material” it’s not as simple as going to a shop and buy it. To get the poles, we had to find a tree, someone to fell it and then cut the poles. Hopefully we’ll get enough pieces out of the tree trunk, otherwise we’ll need to find a second tree.

Purchased tree for fencing

In-between all the hand shaking, we had some time to enjoy with the kids. They are lovely and look at us with big brown eyes and an even bigger smile. We started giving some lessons. Agnes taught math (“if you owe me 100 Kenyan shilling (equivalent to one Euro) and you repay me 20 Kenyan shilling every day, how many days would it take to repay the loan?”) and Alex went through the alphabet with the first grade. The children are highly motivated (especially when we are teaching), however the teaching situation is difficult as children with different levels and even different classes share classrooms / teachers. 

Playing with the school kids

After school we played football with the boys of the school. “This is too rough for girls, you shouldn’t play this!” is what one of the teachers told us. But we didn’t care, running and sweating in the sun relieved some of the frustrations collected during the hand shaking… And afterwards we even smelled like a typical African (still do because we didn’t have our shower yet).

As we mentioned before, we are being well looked after. The number of people sharing our room is increasing on an hourly basis. The first night 3 people shared the facilities (including ourselves), last night we had 5 in the women’s bedroom and two guys in the living room. Today we even share the house with a living hen. The latter we’ll get rid off tonight as it is supposed to be our dinner. Alex (even though meat addicted) has turned into a vegetarian by now. Mom, Pit: please prepare a big steak when we are back!

 

We visited another school close by (just a quick 20 minutes Matatu-ride followed by a 5 minute ride on a motorcycle)

Alex scared to death

for an exchange with their headmaster. We got some useful ideas on school materials and alternative options of how to build additional class rooms. As the school was looking for funds to finish their school toilets, we stepped in. The toilets will be finalized next week and we are invited to a school lunch once the toilets are completed. Thanks project Team Meridian for all your swearing, this has been accomplished with our swearing pot!

On our way back to Kimilili, Alex had an interesting encounter with two hens. We were sitting in a Matatu (sharing the seat, total 23 people in Matatu) when Alex suddenly screamed out loud: two hens hidden / stored underneath the front seat attacked her feet! We learnt that people visiting relatives always take a hen to show their appreciation.

We need to head off: a lovely chicken dinner is waiting for us!

Please feel blessed if you know how many people are sleeping in your room tonight or if your feet don’t look like this:

All the best,

Alex & Agnes