Welp, it's Monday, we just paid 50 Kenya shillings per person to cram into a sketchy van with 20+ people and travel 25 minutes to the nearest city to come to an internet cafe and pay to reach the outside world, praise the Lord! Two shillings per minute, not too shabby. The team and I just wrapped up our first week and a half in Kenya and we've got chalky fingertips and buckets full of amens and alleluias to prove it. During the week we taught grades k-6 at a local school founded by the pastor that we're living with. On Sundays we sing and preach at a lengthy 4 hour service at the local church.
A typical weekday looks like this:
7:00 am: Wake up, (up numerous times during the night listening to mice dance around the shelves in our sleeping area,) beat the morning squatty rush, bible time.
7:30am: Breakfast. Usually boiled eggs, and fried bread. Instant coffee is a given. Occasionally some very large and delicious avocados.
8:00-8:30am: Finish rain water coffee, decide what to wear, get dressed, brush teeth, leave house and walk to school.
8:35-8:40am: Arrive at school. Sit in office with team and decide what subjects to teach and what grade to start in. Options are: english, Jesus, social studies, math, or science.
9:00-9:50am: First session of class takes place. Teach for 50 minutes then rotate classrooms to teach a different grade level, but stick with the same subject.
9:50-10:40am: Second class session.
10:40-11:20am: Recess. Play corn cob game with kids and try not to fall in the mud or get beamed by make-shift ball.
11:20-12:10pm: 3rd session of class.
12:10-1:00pm: 4th session of class.
1:00pm: Lunch time. Walk back to house and eat. Usually beans, rice and cabbage. Also fresh passion fruit or mangos.
1:45pm: Head back to school.
2:00-2:50pm: 5th session of class
2:50-3:40pm: 6th and finial session of class, whew!
3:40pm-?: Stay after school and play with kids. Head home and rest.
7:30pm: Dinner time. This night we had freshly slaughtered chicken, kale, mangos, ugali, gravy and were surprised with some homemade chips!
8:00-?: Team time! Jesus time!
After a week of teaching 8 hours a day I have come to conclude this: teacher DO NOT get paid enough 🙂 It was awesome to get to be a part of helping the kids learn and see first hand the effect that the school has on the community here. Many of the kids are orphans and homeless. The school has taken them in and found them a place to live. Before going to the school they would live on the streets and loiter outside hotels and shops trying to find food. These are the type of kids that grow up to be thugs, robbing people and constantly struggling to get by. The heart that Pastor Peter has for these kids is amazing. He founded the school 3 years ago and changed the lives of countless of these kids in the process. He believes that teaching them about the gospel, showing them the love of Christ, and giving them a solid education will provide the best foundation for a successful future. I couldn't agree more.
Our first Sunday here, I managed to make it through my very first sermon. I shared a word of encouragement with a packed church of beautiful Kenyans, and what an experience it was! The service in itself was an adventure. Four hours of singing, dancing, praising, teaching and praying flew by and being emerged in the culture on Sunday is something we all look forward to.
Kj and I after delivering our sermon, what a thrill! Thank you all for your continued support, please continue to be in prayer for my team and I as we minister to the locals and start door to door evangelism this week!
