Another Class, and a Few Pictures

Good Morning!

This will be a quick post as I have to go to the adult Yoga class this morning in Eshiakula, but I thought I'd put up a few more pictures. It's really nice to have Alicia to take a bunch of pictures for me, and she's very enthusiastic about documenting everything we do and helping to promote Amani! On Monday I taught a class for kids with disabilities at the EARC (Educational Assessment and Resource Center) that is located in Mumias.  We had a nice turn out, and the kids and adults all really enjoyed the class.  A few women from Amani also came to observe and participate since I am instructing them on how to continue with classes after I leave. That is one really wonderful thing about the members of Amani--they are very enthusiastic about learning the skills themselves in order to continue teaching and serving to others after we leave. Rukia is one lady, who is disabled herself, who will be taking over the kids' classes in the next few weeks. She is very excited for the opportunity, and Amani will pay her a small stipend to teach once or twice a week and bring classes to schools around the area. So here's a few pictures of things I have done and seen so far!




My first day at Amani!  Tony is holding the sign, he's just the nicest and most helpful guy ever, and Pamela is on the side, so full of energy and excitement and a wonderful dancer!

Beautiful cloth at the market in Mumias, I can't wait to buy some!

I was being carefully scrutinized by the gentlemen all lined up under the tree during market day.... It's impossible to be subtle about picture taking when all eyes are on you all the time simply as consequence for your "skin condition."

My first class at the Amani Center, we had quite an excellent turn out!

The kids and adults alike are very good at "moo-ing" during cow pose; it always makes them giggle!

Observers to my class with the disabled kids; the lady in the middle is Rose, an Amani member and I stayed at her house the other day.  The lady on the left was good about helping her little tot participate in all the yoga moves he could :)

A spontaneous class with the kids at Rose's house. They were so much fun! Language barriers are of little importance when you have smiles and laughter.

Thanks for reading! I'll write up a blog about my stay at Roses' house too, but I have lots to do here that has nothing to do with a computer so I'd best be off and running!

Love, love, love,
M

First Class at Amani

Good Morning!

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, as it was my first day teaching a kids yoga class here in Kenya. Alicia and I slept in a little, got ready and left for Mumias at about noon to get cash for me from the ATM and look around the market before heading to Eshiakula where Amani is located. I was quite nervous today to start the class for kids yoga. I had no idea what to expect, and neither did Alicia. Now, in the US when I teach to kids I’m usually most concerned about how many kids will
participate, how they will get along with each other if they are different ages, and whether or not they will behave. Here, I was not sure what to be concerned about, but mostly I was worried they would
be too shy and not want to do anything at all, or that they would not understand with the language barrier! But, as it turns out I had nothing to worry about.

We had Tony translate for me, sentence by sentence which was different for me as I really tend to talk and talk, so it was a good challenge to figure out. And we had plenty of children show up, at least 20 kids! They just kept on coming and joining in and oh they were very good. They were so well behaved, honestly I’ve never had a group of kids that big and had absolutely NO behavior problems at all, not even one. The most exciting thing I had to address was the baby who fell over… Anyway, it was such a different dynamic, they were so attentive, and quiet and absolutely glued to me the whole time, even the 3 and 4 year olds! There was no talking out of turn (except from the adults sitting in back) and I had no trouble getting them to try out new poses and make silly sounds and just have a fun time. I would have even preferred a little more rowdiness and participation but it was still great. Everyone loved it and they all came up and said thank you at the very end, they were very polite and still a little shy. 

Amani is great center because we are not just going in once or twice to teach a class or two for fun, but we are hoping to provide these people and their children with the tools to make their lives better and to empower themselves to grow and learn. As people with disabilities, it is important that they feel able to accomplish things in their community and that they can feel better and more healthy on a

daily basis to complete their tasks and live and normal life. They have asked and asked for more stress reduction techniques and yoga has been their main focus. They have several women from the community who now teach the yoga, and I will be instructing and training another lady who will continue to teach the kids yoga lessons after I am gone. They feel so good about themselves when they learn new skills and can equally share and teach to others in their community. It is a very well-run Community Based Organization, and the people are so proud of what they have accomplished on their own and with just some start up help.

Today I teach a class to disabled kids, and then I will be staying the night at Rose’s house, which should be fun to really experience a Kenyan’s home and lifestyle! So I will write again maybe Wednesday. Alicia has been working hard to edit the video of my welcome party to Amani, and we will try to upload that here with a few pictures of the school and classes so far!

Thanks for reading,
Love love love
Maia

 

 

Here's the video of my welcome party to Amani! We had to cut it down quite a bit, it went on for almost 15 minutes! This one is just 3 :) It's pretty neat. 

Another trip begins...

Hello friends and family!

I thought I'd keep up with my blog on this trip since I haven't done a single thing with it in almost two years! I can't believe it has been that long since I have done a solo volunteer trip... I'm so happy to be back :)

Well, I am here in Ekero, Kenya, just outside Mumias, which is about an hour and a half north west of Kisumu, on Lake Victoria (the source of the Nile, I can't wait to see it!) I'm sitting in Alicia' cute house, which is located within a school/boarding house for three hundred deaf children. It's a very safe place to be living, as it is all teacher housing, and it is well guarded and set back from the roads. It's quiet, too, as long as the children aren't too crazy :) She has an internet modem on her computer that we can buy megabytes for which is really handy!  As long as there is electricity, anyway, which comes and goes quite frequently. Yesterday when we arrived it was pouring rain, we were soaked through to the bone after walking in it for ten minutes... or rather trying and failing to run with my huge backpack and small roller bag and her small backpack and huge roller bag whilst dodging puddles, pot holes, and cow poo. So needless to say it was rather a bummer when we finally got inside drpping wet and cold and there was no electricity! We had flashlights and headlamps though and managed just fine. I was ready to sleep anyway after my four days of continuous travel :)  After leaving Minnesota I had a 10 hour layover in New York during which I had to switch airports, but after I got into the Delta Skyclub  at JFK it was quite nice! Even nicer, as a standby passenger I was extremely lucky and got to fly first class all the way to Belgium!  It was phenomenal.  In Beligum I took a train to Lueven, spent the day and night with two awesome friends that I met in Peru (Thanks Elise and Leen!), too the train back to Brussels at 5:20am, took another train at 6:15 to Amsterdam, then got on my flight to Nairobi at 11 am.  That was 8 hours, I arrived in Nairobi and Alicia picked me up and we went to a hotel for the night.

The next morning at 8am we boarded a bus for Mumias scheduled to take 10-12 hours depending on road conditions. Despite the heat and crowded bus situation, it was really a beautiful journey. The scenery here is just phenomenal, it was so beautiful... Nairobi is situated up on a plateau, and as you go down to the start of the rift valley it is just breathtaking... the trees that had huge bright red flowers just perched on top, mixed with the funky fingerlike cactus plants that look like electrified hairdos, then the trees who's roots entwine with the rocks on the ridges, just clinging to the edge of the copper colored earth.  As we crossed the rift valley we were looked out at the arid desert mixed with grasslands, admiring the craters and mountains in the distance, and I was particularly loving the flat -topped trees that looked somewhat like acacia trees, when suddenly I shouted--Oh my gosh a giraffe!! Two giraffes, no three!!! And Alicia shouted, Where, WHAT WHERE??! And I pointed them out and we both just squealed for joy while zooming past these three gorgeously long-legged creatures, stretching nimbly up to the tops of the tall trees for a mid morning snack, just alongside the busy road.  We were very lucky to have seen them as Alicia had not yet seen even one her whole time here!

The journey was long, but we arrived gratefully before the sun went down, had a quick and delicious meal in a local hotel (restaurant) of chapatti (a flatbread), ugali (a mashed corn paste) and skuma (a green kale-like vegetable sautéed with tomato, garlic and onion).  Very traditional Kenyan food, it was quite satisfying.  We then started the ten minute walk to Alicias, moving quickly in the hopes to avoided the impending rain... the thunder and lightening started though so we knew we wouldn't make it but we had no choice but to hurry on. Once it started there was no point in doing anything else we were instantly soaked through to the bone!! I luckily had my cover on my backpack to keep it dry but my roller suit case was questionable as to its imperviousness to water, and I had to lean way over to protect my bag and camera bag. But with the wind there was really no hope.  It was A DOWNPOUR.  I have never been in rain that hard! I couldn't even hardly see and we were dodging muddy potholes and slipping on the slick dirt road, with thunder and lightening all around and a few minutes of hail, it was really incredible!  Hmmm.... welcome to Kenya! But I have since been told it was good luck to arrive to a new destination in the rain. A true sign or just being nice... who knows?  Anyway I believe I wrote about this above as well, so I'll move on :)

Today was an amazing day, just incredible. I don't even know how to describe it all!  Alicia and I got up around 8, and had a quick warm breakfast of mash and bananas and then got on a motor-taxi to head to the Amani center, which is 15 minutes away. We were under the impression that they were making bricks today to build the new center, but when we arrived the flagged us down to come inside to the center instead of going ahead to the new site.  So we got off and there were hugs and kisses and a big beautiful sign that said "Welcome Maia", it was so sweet.  The gave us each a "flower" (a sparkly lei) to wear and immediately started the singing and dancing ceremony!  They sang "Welcome Maia" and "Very nice to meet you Maia" and many other such similar phrases in English and in their local language luhuya (sp?) which is similar Swahili. there was a lot of clapping and dancing and so much smiling and hugging and handshakes... it was very nice! I was so excited to meet them, and what a beautiful welcome.  We went into the classroom then and I introduced myself and Josef translated for the people who don't not know much English, and Alicia talked a bit and they all clapped and sang some more.  We then went to visit the construction site, just 5 minutes walk down the road to see where they were building the new center and how the brick making was going. They are so proud of the work they are doing as a community, it is just wonderful to see their dedication and commitment. We then walked back and had some delicious tea and chapatti prepared for us, and meanwhile another lady had come a little late and wanted to sing and dance for me as well so it all started again! This round, they all brought out their gifts they brought for me.... many people came up and handed me bunches of bananas, loaves of chapati, a few huge avocados, a pineapple, some eggs... oh I was just in tears at this point because these people have so little and for them to give me such a generous gift, as small as it may seem, and all in bags too which are a precious commodity here.. I was just full of emotions. It may have been lack of sleep as well, but wow I was still so touched by their generosity.  I am so looking forward to working with them and hopefully able to give them back a few small gifts in return.  I start my work tomorrow actually with a class for the children of the members.  They are very excited to have some events for the children because so far everything has been for the adults, which is a good focus, but they are ready to expand. So this is very good timing! We have one class tomorrow, one on Monday and Wednesday and Thursday, and then a regular adults class on Tuesday and Thursday. I will be staying busy! 

After staying and chatting a while we came back home, I was so tired, and I took a nice two hour nap, and by then there was running water and electricity (miracle!) so I showered (finally!!) and we just made a delicious dinner of rice, carrots, cabbage, onions and tomatoes with chapati and avocados on the side. Yum!  Okay, time to call it a night. I will try to add pictures at some point but that takes a lot of internet time and money... I have a few already though and Alicia took video of my welcome party :)  Lots of love to you all, please send me email updates from home I love receiving mail!

Love love love,
Maia

Oops...

Ok, so, my bad… it’s been more than a month since I last posted!  I’m not so good at this.

Well, since I last wrote things have been really great.  A little complicated but the issues have been resolved and I am learning so much from being here which is exactly what I needed.

Christina is a psychologist who has a ton of experience with horses and she has created a program called Horse Guided Empowerment.  She has her own horses on her property and by working in collaboration with them is able to provide therapy/empowerment sessions for children, teens and adults.  Basically if someone has a trauma, difficulty, problem or lack of something in their life they can come and work with the horses and Christina and through various techniques and methods will be able to find the answer on their own and/or with the help of the horses. It is a great program and there are similar ones, but I particularly love the way Christina runs hers.  She is writing a book as well and I am reading and editing it for her so I’m really getting to the depth of the methodology behind it.  This is exactly what I want to do with my life!! Yay!!  I am so grateful to have this opportunity and to have such a great teacher in Christina and in the horses.

I am now living on the same property as Christina’s family in the lower level of the house they rent out. It’s very nice and quiet, and much easier on my stress/anxiety than it was at the orphanage.  I lived at the orphanage for three weeks before moving back here for various reasons.  What it boiled down to was that I was providing the kids with a parental/ therapist type of support that was not what the “Father” wanted… he wanted me to be more like another orphan and just play and follow his orders and not give them advice on how live in harmony and properly take care of the babies and deal with their emotional issues.  His loss.  Well, I was actually really sad to leave those kids because just when I thought I was actually getting somewhere and getting through to them I found out that the father thought I was doing nothing and being lazy (i.e. I wasn’t out buying him his morning breakfast at 5 am like the previous volunteer…).  Not in my job description. Luckily Christina and Tomas were very supportive and let me know that I was being the professional one and handling the situation the best that I could. It just sucks to find out the hard way that not everyone has the same view on how to psychologically and emotionally support mostly-orphaned children who are HIV positive. Not that I’m an expert by any means, but the little help I had to offer was not appreciated and that bummed me out. Oh well, It was a powerful learning opportunity and a lesson in how to deal with (or let go of relationships with) people who are used to being in unequivocally charge and unwilling to change or alter their opinion.

Here are some pictures of those adorable kids who I really miss a lot:

Well, since then I have been doing more work training a young horse and working on my horse-human connection with Christina’s horses.  I would like to do some more therapy sessions with kids, but we will have to see what comes our way. The father said since the kids are studying for exams right now it's best to postpone any sessions until summer vacation (mid-July).  In the meantime there is still plenty to do here and I still have some time to relax and soak in all that I have been learning. 

I have a big weekend coming up as it is San Juan festival in Zuleta so I will be back there for the weekend. Then the first week of July there is a big retreat happening here at 4 Volcanoes that I will help with… then it’s just a few days to travel and I will be on my way home!  I am getting really excited!  Lots of love to everyone, xoxox

Maia