Homestay with Rose

Alicia has been a wonderful hostess for me here in Kenya, and has done just an excellent job setting up places for me to teach, and also coordinating a few overnight visits with some of the members who were so very eager to host me at their homes.  The first one was last Monday night with a very active and intelligent woman named Rose.  Rose has been very involved with Amani, and other organizations, for many reasons.  She has two children with Spina Bifida, which in Kenya is just nearly impossible to treat well and live with... access to wheelchairs and handicapped equipment is expensive and very rare.  Furthermore, just 8 years ago, Rose herself became handicapped after a bad fall that infected her leg with Tetanus.  The leg was removed after a 6 month struggle to control the infection and she now walks with crutches.  Her involvement in Amani as a person who experiences the struggles of living with a disability has made her a huge advocate for the group and keeps her well involved in the community. She is an inspiration to many. This is her and her daughter, whose legs were amputated at age 12.

After my Monday morning class at the EARC with kids with disabilities, Rose and I headed off to her town to spend the afternoon and I would stay the night.  First we went to a meeting of people with disabilities from her area, there was a man with a non-profit holding a meeting letting people know how they could get access to adaptive equipment and wheelchairs. After a few minutes listening to them speak Luhya and being stared at I was asked to stand and give a speech (??!).  I smiled and said where I was from and gave a quick overview of what I was doing, and made sure to compliment them on how they were doing a great job helping each other as a community and working hard to empower themselves as individuals. It was really moving to see all these people with sticks for crutches, broken down wheelchairs and other improvised materials to help them get around... Rose was saying how these meetings help people network with others to get new jobs and stay off the streets, keeping them from living life as beggars. This is the church the meeting was held in.

 

 

After the meeting we had lunch, chips (fries) and soda, and then Rose and I walked through the market, stopping at another meeting she had with a group who was trying to find a way to buy a machine to make bricks, since most of the people make their own bricks by hand and it takes weeks.  Then we wandered through the market and bought some food for supper.  It was here that I was asked by many women to take their pictures and several said they'd never been so close to a white person before!  Here's my favorite picture of the market:

 

 

Finally we headed off to Rose's house, a beautiful farm compound out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by gorgeous fields and open skies.  We had a small parade of children behind us by the time we arrived, and as we settled on the lawn to chat before the sun went own I just smiled at the gaggle of children gathered in front of me, scared and too shy to talk, but I talked enough and soon took out my yoga cards and was showing them a few things here and there. Rose and some family members (her daughters, I think) were just talking behind me, watching and laughing at the kids while cleaning the rice and chopping the veggies for supper.  Finally as we really got into the swing of the impromptu yoga class, (no translations necessary since my acting abilities were turned to "high") Rose took my camera and snapped a few pictures.  I'm very glad she did since the whole experience was just so special for me.  The kids loved it, they started to open up and be more comfortable, we just connected nicely and had so much fun playing and laughing.

 

 

 

 

Finally the sun set, Rose called me inside, the kids said farewell, and I helped and watched as Rose and her daughter prepared a lovely meal just over a small coal-fire pot on the dirt floor of the living room. It was delicious--fish, rice, tomatoes, onions, potatoes and scuma! I was tired after that and we had a nice cup of tea before going straight to bed!  It was a lovely experience, and so nice to talk to Rose more and really hear her story. It was very important to me to see and experience how rural Kenyans live, too!  Alicia and I just visited some other friends of hers in Port Victoria yesterday, and next week I have two more homestays so I am really getting the full experience.  I love it, and I think it is so important and makes them feel so good to host a visitor :)

 

Love love love,

Maia