Living With The Wild Boys…

Hello Everyone,

It has come to my attention that our blog had been hacked.  After careful research, I have managed to fix it.  It is now safe to return! Watch this space for blog posts very soon from our trip to Israel with the Wild Boys.  Thank you for your patience.

With gratitude and relief,

Koren

Tuesday November 4, 2014.

Some days, after the kids are off to school, I stand in the kitchen, surveying the wreckage, mouth agape, wondering what the heck just happened.  Was it a tornado? Some other natural disaster? Nope, just a morning in my life with four boys. Four fascinating, brilliant, adorable, maddening boys.  The kind of boys I want to squeeze and hug and kiss while simultaneously wanting to pull out every grey hair they have given me, and then some. Some days it is a wonder I have any hair left at all. Today was one of those days.

Let me back up a bit. It all started last night:  Son #2 “reminded” me at 8:20 pm (twenty minutes past his bedtime) that tomorrow is the day he is to bring in all his supplies for his “homemade” thermos project. We have been talking about it for days. Unlike son #1, he has to do the whole project at school. On the weekend, my mad scientist told me that he needs to bring hot wax, x-acto knives, sheet metal, and other materials to school for his project.  I suggested he make an appointment with his teacher, to tell him about the plan and make sure it is all “kosher”.  He emailed the teacher and then I didn’t hear anything else about it. Until last night. At 8:20 pm.

Which is why, at 9:30 pm, I am driving to Home Depot with his list. Normally I would take him with me, but at this point, his sleep is more important than his presence; he can be pretty ugly in the morning.  I did tell him he would have to wake up early to go to Home Depot at 7 am, but it made my life easier to do it in the evening. I know I should not be doing this, that he should suffer the consequences of his own procrastination, but I am a sucker for anything linked to education. So I do it.

I got up earlier than usual and found him in his bed with the light on. Reading. AAAUUUUUURRGGHHH. We get to work. I show him the materials I picked up for him.  He does thank me and we get started.  He is still planning to bring wax but decided that bringing cutting knives is not a good idea.  Through trial and error he figures out how many pieces he needs to cut and asks for a bit of help cutting to his specifications.  There are styrofoam beads everywhere.  I send son #3 up to wake son #1, as we haven’t seen him yet.

In the meantime, Sons #3 and #4 are doing anything and everything they can possibly do BESIDES eating breakfast or making their lunch.  Actually, it took them over 40 minutes to eat one small bowl of cereal. At 7:50, I realized that son #1 must have fallen back asleep because he hasn’t surfaced yet. The boys usually leave by 8.  I am covered in styrofoam and son #2 is vacuuming around me.  After hollering from the dining room to the kitchen, numerous times, encouraging the two younger boys to get going, son #1 comes down and tells me two important things: 1) He feels like someone is sitting on his chest and he can’t breathe very well. 2) While in his bathroom, he knocked over a glass jar. There is now glass all over the floor. It is now 8:15.  School starts at 8:20. Give me strength. Whose idea was it to have four kids anyway?

We load up all of the thermos materials, including a pot, grater, slab of paraffin and an electric sauce warmer (came with my crock pot). I sign in all of the kids at least twenty minutes late.  I accompany son #2 to his class to make sure his teacher is really fine with him handling hot wax.  Apparently he is, so I venture to the staff room, grate parrafin into a pot, melt it and transfer it to the warmer and bring it upstairs.  I advise the teacher that son #2 has also brought spray insulation foam, eye protectors, gloves and a drop cloth. I wish him luck and head out.  Onto the rest of my crazy day.  It is 9:20 am and I already feel like I have run a marathon. Too bad I left my pedometer in the bathroom and have no proof.

I still have 5 or 6 articles to post about our trip to Kenya in March, but since I may or may not not ever get to them… Here’s something a little more current…

This weekend we tried a little experiment.  The hypothesis went some thing like this: “ Can we take our 4 kids for a canoe trip in one 18.5 ft canoe for 2 days and actually make it home with all 6 of us intact.”  I am relieved to report that it IS possible, but as with all canoe trips, there were some bumps along the way.  And, as with all canoe trips, even the miserable moments are great because you get to come home with a great story.

Seeing if we would all fit…

We went to the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. First off, I have to make a shameless plug here. It was a great experience.  When I called the park office to get some assistance with trip planning, I was lucky enough to get Travis Gordon, THE most helpful park staff person, helping me on the phone. Not only did Travis give me excellent information that helped immensely, but he dropped off a map for me at the Darlington Provincial Park ON HIS DAY OFF. That is what I call “Above and Beyond”.

In spite of our best laid plans,whenever we need to leave town, we tend to leave late.  This trip was no exception. In fact, an hour and a half past our projected departure time, I was in still in Atmosphere buying a new pack to accommodate our 6 person tent, and 2 new sleeping bags. Not a good start.  

Meanwhile back at home, Aubrey was not getting any cooperation from the boys.  There were huge amounts of arguing, fighting and general nastiness. This was in spite of the fact that in the morning, I had crossed a line I had never crossed before.  Aubrey had to do a delivery the night before, and he was trying to catch a few extras winks. I gathered the boys up and we brainstormed all the reasons why one would want to go on a canoe trip. The answers given were: team building, survival skills, enjoying nature, looking for wildlife, swimming, having fun, family time.  My favourite though, was from my 8 year-old, who suggested that we could be in training, so that if we ever lived on an island, or visited someone who lived on an island, and the house caught on fire, we would be able to paddle away really quickly when we had to.

 I then made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.  I stressed that this was a secret offer not to be shared with their Dad. If they could get through the next 36 hours without fighting, I would give them 10 dollars, each.  They were shocked. 10 whole dollars? Each?  Unheard of! I never bribe my kids, but in this case, it would be worth it, I was certain.  They seemed to be on board.

Fast forward to our departure time, 3 hours late.  We already had to kick one of them off the island, and had him earn back the privilege to join us on the trip.  The trip up was uneventful. it took around an hour and twenty minutes.  We were on the water by 2pm. Travis thought it might take us 30 minutes to cross Coon Lake, but it only took us 20 minutes. We were pretty impressed with ourselves.  Then we got to the big portage,1250 metres.  Aubrey figured that with 4 kids, if we could do it in under an hour and a half, we’d be laughing.  The boys were awesome!  Erez  (12) took a full-sized pack full of our gear on his back, as well as his backpack on his front. Zev (10) took a full-sized pack on his back and some paddles.  Noam (8) took a knapsack on his front, and a knapsack on his back, as well as paddles.  Teva ( almost 5) took his own little knapsack, I took our new pack and our bear barrel, Aubrey took the canoe and all the lifejackets.  We were back in the water in 40 minutes at the other side.

Our campsite, #471 on Little Turtle Lake was beautiful.  There was a nice swimming place, weed free.  The boys had fun swimming from one end of the campsite to the other. 

Within minutes of us reaching the campsite, the boys had come up with this elaborate game that involves bases and throwing pine cones at each other. If you hit your target, your target would join your team against the rest.  There were endless negotiations as they figured out the rules, but overall, it went well. 

There was a huge area in the forest with rock faces to explore. They had a blast. For the most part, they all took part in different aspects of the camping trip. They all helped set up the tent, hang our tarps, cook, wash dishes.  It was great. 

The boys did an excellent job of foraging through the forest collecting firewood, and had a great time doing it.  After supper we made a fire and roasted an entire bag of marshmallows. 

The bugs were pretty brutal as it was getting dusky (compared to the only hugely plentiful number of bugs around during the day), so Aubrey and the boys decided to hide in the tent until it got dark enough to look at the stars.  I didn’t want to put out the fire, so I sat and maintained it, enjoying the view of the lake, the fireflies, and the sound of the boys loudly cackling in the tent.  Every once in awhile, one of the boys would run outside, naked, clearly having been dared to do so. Eventually, around 10:30, it was dark enough to see some stars.  Aubrey and Teva had fallen asleep so the other boys came out to check things out.  We saw constellations and shooting stars and airplanes and satellites.   By 11:15 we decided to pack it in, even though it still wasn’t completely dark yet.  The perfect end to the day. 

Sunday morning, the boys were up early, except for Erez ( who is 12 and has graduated to the “sleeping in” phase of life). We ate breakfast and packed up camp by 11am.

We decided to leave the majority of our gear under a tree at the entrance to Little Turtle Lake.  This would leave us free to explore the other lakes without our gear, and didn’t have to rush back for our 2pm “check out” time. We kept our food barrel, and an extra pack so the boys would have something to sit on and set out on our mission: Shark Lake or bust.

Little Turtle Lake is a small, beautiful lake with only one other campsite on it.  I felt a bit guilty as we paddled by, knowing that we were the source of some serious noise pollution – especially that morning, when some conflicts erupted between some of the boys, who were a bit tired after their late-night star gazing.

There was a small 67 m portage – no problem, and then we headed into Adams Lake.  This lake was even smaller, and had a lot of water lilies and a fairly varied dragonfly population. The next portage into Sawmill Lake was a bit mucky in spots, but thankfully was only 168m.  

Then we reached the next portage. It was marked 466m  – piece of cake, or so we thought.  We headed off along the shoreline, but quickly realized this was NOT the path.  Where was the path? Straight up the rocks.  The boys found the path, I looked around and thought that perhaps I could navigate through the steam, pulling the canoe along. Aubrey did a bit of reconnaissance and saw a small beaver dam, but it looked doable.  Erez reported that Zev was already at the end of the portage, so I figured I could meet them at the other side. Aubrey was going to come with me, but I figured I would be fine – what could go wrong? If I got stuck, I would just yell and he would come and help, as it wasn’t that far.

Aubrey set off with the kids and I started navigating the stream.  It was fun.  Sometimes I paddled, sometimes I pulled the canoe.  I lifted it over the dam, and continued on my way. Then a few minutes later, things started getting sketchy.  I noticed that I seemed to be angling away from the path that Aubrey and the kids took. Of course Aubrey and the kids had the map. I could hear the rushing of water in the distance, and I was approaching what seemed to be a dead end. I gave a holler or two, and realized that no one could hear me – even with my loudest Mom-teacher-camp counsellor voice.  Well, I guess I will just have to turn around – a tricky feat.  I was in a narrow stream in an 18.5 ft canoe. I just turned my body around, and managed to back my way out, lift the canoe up over the beaver dam, and back to the portage.  I was hot and exhausted. Aubrey and the kids also had all the water.

Now there was the issue of portaging the canoe up the rock. I had three paddles and two lifejackets in the canoe, and after a failed attempt to lash them, I abandoned them at the base of the portage and picked up only the canoe. I started climbing the rock face, but was too tired and dehydrated to move on. I admitted defeat, left the canoe and hiked my way to join Aubrey and the kids.  When I arrived at Shark Lake, I found Zev, Noam and Teva hanging out under a tree.  Aubrey and Erez had gone to look for me. Of course.  They had hiked down through the bush to follow the water to make sure I wasn’t in trouble. Their journey was also an adventure.  They were bushwhacking, and calling me. Finally they reached the starting point, saw the abandoned canoe, and came to the same conclusion I did. We had lost too much time to start portaging the canoe now, so they followed the trail to us. Paddling Shark Lake would have to wait for another trip.

After drinking a lot of water and having a snack, I was feeling a thousand times better, and ready for action.  We had a picnic right there at the entrance to Shark Lake.

Aubrey’s little friend

The boys had a quick swim after lunch, and then we started our journey home.  While hiking back to the canoe, I saw a couple hanging out in a small waterfall along the stream, a little ways ahead of where I had turned back with the canoe. Next time we will hike in and do that! When back on the water, we paddled well as a team, met up with a few other canoes, exchanged information, and enjoyed the views. On our way back we saw some great birds, including a Loon family, and an amazingly close view of a heron taking off.  

As expected, our gear was exactly where we left it, on Little Turtle Lake. While we were getting ready for the last 1250m portage, Aubrey decided to change shoes, as his feet were covered in blisters from his sandals. Aubrey realized that he was bleeding from one of the blisters on his foot.  Except the blood dripping down his foot was from a large leech! Once ripped off with a towel, he realized he had picked up a whole family of baby leeches. They were tiny, and there were lots of them. Fascinating and gross at the same time. We were all glad it was him instead of one of the kids.  We couldn’t even imagine the hysteria that would have ensued.  But, since it was Aubrey, he just calmed ripped them off, and we all examined the leeches now stuck to our camp towel. He administered some direct pressure and continued on.

The portage went really smoothly.  Our boys rocked it – they were so efficient. We got back to our car at the Coon Lake access point, loaded up, had a last swim and went in search of ice cream.  What a great trip.  

In two weeks we will be back in the Kawartha Highlands…stay tuned.

Hard to believe it has been almost 2 weeks since our last post.  Daily life has a way of sneaking up on us.  We still have several more posts about our trip. Here is the next one:

March 13

Rungus and Congas – Another Alternative Income Project

Because it was pouring, we skipped the early morning walk and lazed around in bed until 8am.  What a treat!  We love the morning walks with Wilson or Jackson, but it felt good to be lazy, if only briefly.

We had breakfast at 8:30 and then returned to Mama Jane’s community of Emori Joi to see another one of Free the Children’s Alternative Income Projects.  They have a group making Rungus and Congas. It is quite an extensive process that takes about two weeks to complete.

Congas are a traditional Maasai weapon, best described as a “club.” They are are also called “Rungus” The Maasai use them to fend off wild animals when protecting their livestock, and of course, their homestead.  They can also be used to help kill a lion if necessary!

A Rungu is also a beaded wooden baton used by respected village elders in community gatherings and meetings. Representing status and authority, only the person holding the Rungu is given a voice.

To make a Conga or Rungu, first the men search for the perfect piece of wood, either white bush or red olive. Then the form is carved out of the wood with a machete. This job is only done by men. It takes a lot of skill and is quite dangerous.  All other steps can be done by men or women.

It is then passed to the next group who file it down, further developing its shape.

In the past, all of these steps would only be done by men, but with recent changes in attitude, women and men are working together as part of alternative income projects.

Once the form is determined, it goes though two other smoothing stages. First a piece of broken glass, usually from broken pop bottles, is used to make the wood smooth.

Next, the wood is further smoothed with leaves from a sandpaper bush.

Petroleum jelly is rubbed into the finished product to prevent cracking. Of course, with the drastic weather changes here, some of our rungus cracked after we got home. Next time we will regularly oil them when we get them home as well – lesson learned!

We were able to try each of the stages except for the machete stage. When the Rungus and Congas are finished, they are sent to one of the beading communities for embellishment. The finished products are beautiful.

Me to We purchases all of the Rungus and Congas made in Emori Joi and they are sold online and in their stores throughout the world. It has made a huge difference to the quality of life in the community.

The boys decided Koren needed a Rungu to help run the house.  Will they listen any better? Doubtful, but she was honoured to have it nonetheless. Even if the boys don’t always listen to the Rungu, we are helping support a wonderful community of hard working people.

While we were watching the process of Rungu Making and trying it out, the Elders of the Community also told us about men’s groups that were started in the community.  A program called VSLA (Village Savings And Loans Association) had been started.

Members of the community contribute to a central pot from which loans are given out.  Everyone buys as many shares as they can afford, and then each take turns borrowing money and then paying back with interest. The rates are set by each individual community to fit their unique financial situation.

At the end of the year, all the interest that accumulates over the course of the year is divided between community members, according to the number of shares held. This microfinancing, coming from the community itself, has gone a long way to help stabilize the community, and improve their overall quality of life.  VSLAs have been used all over the developing world with much success.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Emori Joi, and were so impressed by the difference Free the Children is making in their community on so many different levels.

Here are a few more pics of Emori Joi:

Traditional medical treatment for cuts

Use of local plants to treat cuts

posted by Aubrey and Koren

March 13

Osenetoi

It seems the rainy season was finally starting.  Everyone was pretty excited. Rain is a pretty big deal in Kenya.  We were a bit worried that the downpour would postpone our trip to Osenetoi, but thankfully, the roads were still good enough for us to go.  When planning this visit to Kenya, one certain goal was to make the special trip to see the school and community for which we had been fundraising for. It took about two hours to get there, over a washed-out river and over a lot of rough roads. We travelled through Kipsigi and Kiisi communities (the other two local tribes with more agricultural traditions) until we reached Maasai territory (mostly nomadic hunter gatherers) Here are some photos from the road:

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The school in Osenetoi truly seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by freshly planted wheat fields not yet started to sprout. The involvement of Free the Children (FTC) here is fairly recent, so not all of the buildings have been rebuilt, and the old kindergarten wooden classroom is still used for storage.

As we approached, most of the students were waiting outside for us in the strong wind.  We drove directly into the schoolside camp where a high school FTC group was staying.  They were in the main tent, finishing up a leadership session. We were very impressed by these kids from Toronto and Renfrew, Ontario; they had been working hard, hand-digging trenches for the foundation of a new classroom building.

We introduced ourselves to each other and then headed over for a celebration with the students and staff of Osenetoi Primary School.  There were two lines of people singing and dancing for us to walk through. We made our way to a row of chairs and we sat in the seats of honour as the Deputy Head teacher welcomed us and thanked us for supporting them and visiting. After a few more welcome speeches, we watched the students perform some traditional songs and dances.  It was incredible. The Mamas also presented us with handmade beaded necklaces and bracelets while singing and dancing. Numerous times, we were all pulled up to join in the dancing. It was pure joy.

After the students finished their presentations, the high school group got up and sang a couple of songs, including Bob Marley’s “One Love” and “Wake me Up” by Avicii. This also ended in a big dance party. After being put on the spot at Kisaruni, we were prepared for a possible performance this time.  At lunch before we left, we decided to sing “All I really need” by Raffi, if the opportunity arose.  Hooray for thinking ahead!  

We started this family project seven years ago, and learned the name “Osenetoi” about two years ago. To finally be here, with all of our boys was really an experience we will never forget.  This was a very emotional part of the trip. Teva was quite overwhelmed by all of the attention, but each of the other three boys patiently allowed himself to be swarmed and gently manhandled.  It was certainly somewhat claustrophobic, even out in the open field, being touched so much by so many children! For Aubrey, having a terrified Teva on his shoulders helped to deflect some of the attention.  

 The boys fielded endless and repetitive questions (“How old are you? What grade are you in? What is your name?”), and were very happy to play an impromptu football game and hang out with the kids from the school.

The students were very proud of their classrooms, leading tours through each stand-alone classroom and the rest of the grounds.

In these moments, it seems our boys understood why we were here. They felt appreciated and a bit proud of what they had contributed to. Our boys were so impressed at how genuinely happy the kids were just to spend time with them and be close to them.  It seemed that, perhaps for the first time, they realized what a gift education is. We were all on a bit of a high when we left, and were sad to leave. Hopefully, one day we will make it back to see how much the school has developed, and continue to see the impact of FTC on the community.

posted by Aubrey and Koren

March 12

Our tour of the area during this trip had already exposed us to the pillars of education, water source and security, and alternative income sources to empower women and men.  Only the health care pillar and agriculture and food security remained.

Today,  toured the Baraka Health Centre, built by Free the Children to provide free open access to health care. Baraka in Swahili means “blessing” (derived from Arabic). The clinic certainly seems to be a blessing for the community.

Built much like other African medical clinics or hospitals, the floors are red and the hallways are outdoors. The walls are white and the furniture is sparse. One difference here is the plethora of inspirational Kenyan and Free the Children quotes and murals covering the walls. From registration to trauma/treatment to the paediatric and immunization clinic to the obstetrics ward, the mood is upbeat.

Also, the clinic is very clean and the gardens well-kept and even medicinal. Even though there is no surgery or in-patients here (yet), they have an ambulance! It gets used about once daily, mostly for motorcycle crashes, since the roads are awful and no one wears a helmet, whether driving or one of up to two passengers.

Circumcision of males has at least half moved to the clinic, from the community, providing more sanitary conditions for the procedure. We did not meet the physician assistant working, as he was with a patient, so unfortunately we could not exchange circumcision tips.

We did have a great tour led by the nurse who manages the clinic. He seems insightful and flexible to the needs of the community. All of the staff are very friendly, but we were especially impressed with his approach to managing the clinic and working with the community to improve health. Due to the elevation in this area, over 5000 feet, malaria cases only come from away. HIV is not very prevalent, but their clinic is growing. The immunization clinic is growing as the community begins to embrace the benefits of obstetrics.

 Just over a year ago, Baraka began to do deliveries. Already, half of the babies born in the community surrounding the clinic are born in the clinic, which amounts to about fifteen monthly. Medications for labour include oral pain medication or an injection of an anti-inflammatory. Women are able to stay for observation for 1-2 days, but almost all go home within twelve hours. Certainly having your baby in the clinic means someone else cleans up the mess!

The only cost for patients is medications and labs, mostly to get a commitment from the patient to take the medications prescribed. Even in Kenya, patients don’t take their medications! Patients pay for tests, to recoup expensive costs, but HIV tests are done on everyone for free, and obstetrics are also free, in order to help compliance and to produce healthy babies.

A lot of the health improvements occurred back in people’s huts through education.  Eight specific improvements were implemented: chimneys by the kitchen fires to allow venting and better breathing; a dug-out latrine for each home to contain human wastes; Clean water for drinking as well as soap for hand washing after latrine use; clotheslines to stop bugs from infesting clothes; dishwashing racks outside the home to keep kitchen waste outside and control disease; pens for animals outside the home to control disease; small enclosed areas to allow daytime showers; compost piles separated from burned garbage; home gardens to save money. These interventions greatly reduced cholera and typhoid in the community.  This is a mural in the clinic, illustrating the eight points of education, to ensure a healthy home.

Overall, it seems there is a transformation occurring in this community, amongst the various tribes. Health and standard of living are slowly improving, with the implementation of the five pillars promoted by Free the Children, while efforts are made to maintain elements of the unique culture of each tribe.

After we spent the afternoon working further at the Kisaruni Girls High School build site, we reconvened by the fire to hear stories from Wilson and Jackson. Next post we will share what we learned from them about the Maasai culture.

posted by Aubrey

March 11, continued…

After lunch, we headed to the Kisaruni Girls High School. What an inspiring place!  We have never seen young people so motivated to learn.  They get up at 4:30am everyday to pack in as much learning as possible. When the school was started three years ago, the students were given a chance to set their own schedule.  The girls initially wanted to get up at 3:30am, only allotting themselves 4.5 hours sleep! The teachers stepped in and they compromised on 4:30am wake-up, made bedtime earlier, and settled on 6.5 hours of sleep.

Their curriculum is diverse and demanding. There is a wonderful supportive community, and the girls’ excitement is infectious. This year, the first grade 12 class is graduating.  Everyone is so excited for this momentous occasion, which will be the first measure of the success of this school concept. These girls are very aware of the special opportunity they have been given to learn and succeed and move beyond their lives of poverty.  The school fees are provided by scholarships.

 Elementary school in Kenya was made both mandatory and free after the 2002 election.  President Mwai Kibaki announced this in the newspaper plan on a Friday. Although a huge step forward for the education of boys and girls, there had been no warning or planning. Schools were overwhelmed with new pupils, 1 million new students showed up to school on Monday morning and no one was prepared. Mandatory and free still did not mean all could afford to attend. We already discussed the importance of the girls in carrying water for their families, but school uniforms also cost money. Even after more barriers were removed and most children made it to elementary school, high school was still not free. Only the better students, and those who could afford it, could attend high school. High schools were generally only for boys.

The Kisaruni Girls High School is a boarding school built by Free the Children (FTC). None of the girls would have attended high school without FTC. Acceptance is extremely competitive, and scholarships for all students are provided through donations to Free the Children. The girls work very hard because high school is their first hurdle. None can afford to pay for university or college education. And so they must do very well, in order to earn scholarships to pay for post-secondary programs and fulfil their life dreams.

The parallels to the lives of Wilson and Jackson were also interesting, as the change to mandatory schooling brought them from the Maasai Mara to government schools. They also had to find financing and work hard to get to high school and then university to become the leaders they are today.

Our first stop at Kisaruni was the building site. Our task was to help build a new teacher’s accommodation building.  We were oriented to our tasks.  We had to carry stones, mix mortar, and start building a wall.  Everyone worked hard.  It was amazing to see how quickly our boys learned their jobs, even Teva (our 4.5 year-old). 

When we finished building for the day, we were given a tour of the school compound by three enthusiastic and articulate students. The school has bright clean classrooms, dormitories, teacher accommodations, a library, art room, guidance room, and chemistry, biology and computer labs. There are inspirational quotes and murals painted on the walls.  Everything is well designed to create a nurturing learning environment.  The place was humming with positive energy.

After, we were directed to the cafeteria. We walked into a lot of clapping and cheering. Thinking we had interrupted something, we hung around the door, until we realized they were clapping and cheering for us!

The girls performed for us with song and dance and then invited us to perform with them and then alone.  We were caught completely off guard. We got up on the stage, addressed the teens briefly and then chose to sing a Hebrew Song to a Zimbabwean tune from our last trip to Africa.  A good way to get the adrenalin pumping!

After our impromptu performance, we had tea, snacks and conversation with the girls.  They were all ambitious, hopeful, positive, and delightful.  Three girls at Aubrey’s table want to be neurosurgeons! Many others aspired to be lawyers, nurses, accountants, and teachers. We can’t wait to see where they are in ten years.

At the end of the day, we celebrated Noam’s birthday with the staff.  Although people do not generally celebrate birthdays in Kenya, the staff at Bogani helped Noam feel special.  All the staff sang and danced for him and then did this great ritual where the birthday person has to cut the cake into as many pieces as possible, as quickly as possible, during the song.  It was a bit of a calculated frenzy.   Another fantastic day!

Next post…Baraka Health Clinic

March 11^th

Noam’s 8^th Birthday

We started the day with a 45 min walking Safari with Wilson, one of our Maasai Warrior Guides.  We saw Zebra and learned about many of the small animals in the Maasai Mara, as well as local plants, while the sun rose.  What an amazing way to start the day!

The staff at Bogani was really wonderful, having a small cupcake for Noam to eat at breakfast so we could continue our family tradition of having a cake and singing for breakfast on our birthdays.

The morning activity was great. We were introduced to two local Mamas from the community of Emori Joi: Mama Jane and Mama Judy. We were warmly welcomed into Mama Jane’s home to get a glimpse into her everyday life.

She explained to us how Free The Children (FTC) has impacted her community over the past few years, mainly through education.  FTC has helped support their local elementary school, as well as helping the adults.  Serving in a consulting role, the FTC staff have been teaching them many types of skills: money management, how to set up a small business, new farming techniques, and basic health pillars to help raise their quality of life.

One of the biggest impacts has been through access to clean water.  FTC drilled a bore well and there is a water kiosk in the community (managed by the community) where anyone can buy clean drinking water. For bathing and watering their gardens, they have to trek down to the river.

As a thank you for her hospitality, we went one kilometre down to the river to help Mama Jane carry some water. Usually, she will make five trips each day, each time carrying forty litres of water.  Perhaps with all of us helping she might only have to take one that day.

These Mamas are incredibly strong!  Koren, Erez and Zev each carried ten litres, Noam carried five litres and Aubrey carried thirty litres. We were in awe of the Mamas’ ability to carry forty litres balancing two different jugs. The boys really have a sense now of how easy they have it with faucets in our home.

Mama Jane explained to us how FTC encouraged the Mamas to set up women’s groups to initiate alternative sources of income for the community. One way of doing this was through a “Merry Go Round” system. Each member contributes a set amount of money into a central pot at each monthly meeting, and each time one person is given the total amount, to use towards a large expense.

If there are 12 Mamas in the group, each would receive the large amount once a year. They share their stories of the use of the funds. Some people used the money to start beekeeping, or to buy livestock to help feed their families.

Mama Jane decided to take on a very ambitious project with her yearly share to set an example of what a mama can do when she puts her mind to it. She built herself a new home with a foundation and bricks, something that was unheard of at the time, especially for a woman.

After five years, with patience and perseverance, she reached her goal. It has a sitting area and a bedroom in the back, and she is very proud of what she has accomplished. It also serves as a meeting place for other mamas in the community.

Mama Jane told us of how several communities got together and started a merry-go-round at a larger regional community level. All the groups pooled their money at the meeting and then gave it to a different group every time. Partially thanks to this group, the Mamas of Emori Joi have started a community dairy business, and are now saving up to buy a cooler to store the milk harvested from their herd of dairy cows.  Mama Jane was elected as the chair of this larger, community merry-go-round.  We all found Mama Jane very inspiring!

After our visit with Mama Jane and Mama Judy, we headed back to Bogani for lunch.  Next post, we’ll tell you about our afternoon touring and then building at the Kisaruni Girl’s high school.

March 10

I have been dreaming about this “Me to We” Trip for at least 7 years, maybe longer. I have been dreaming of returning to Africa ever since we left 14 years ago. I cannot describe how wonderful it felt when we drove into the gates of Bogani and heard singing.  The Me to We staff were waiting for us, singing a welcome song in perfect harmony.  I was glad I was wearing sunglasses, because I was quite overcome with emotion.  We were finally here.

The facility is stunning.  It is nestled in a forested area, lush and green.  The cottages are very comfortable, and decorated with African art and handicrafts.

Here are some photos of Maxine and Michelle’s cottage:

After a delicious lunch, we visited one of Free the Children’s Elementary Schools called Enelerai. The boys enjoyed playing soccer with the students, but were a bit overwhelmed by the swarm of kids that greeted them when we arrived.  Every kid wanted to touch us, our hair, our skin – they were quite curious.  Teva was particularly shy, and asked to be up on Aubrey’s shoulders, safe from the reach of strange arms. Everyone wanted to pick him up.  This was because people wanted to welcome us into their community, to treat us (and especially Teva) as one of their own.  It takes a village to raise a child, and cute little kids are picked up no matter to whom they belong.  Teva got down when it was time to play soccer, though.

The adults on our trip really enjoyed our tour, seeing the impact of the project on the community at large. We got to see the ruins of the old school, which was built by the community members, so we could compare it to what they have now.   This was not to knock the old school, but to give us a glimpse into the evolution of the community.

Before:

After:

When Free the Children first became involved with this community and this school, there were many more boys than girls enrolled.  When the team here did some research, they realized one of the reasons for this skew was because fetching water was the girls’ job.  If the river was in the opposite direction to the school, the girls would not have to time to honour their commitment to the family as well as go to school.  That was when Free the Children decided to provide a clean water source at the school. This way, the girls could bring water home and still attend classes. 

Water Source:

After school was out, some high school students came to compete in some track events.  As they set up the races, our Maasai guides, Wilson and Jackson, jokingly invited Erez, Zev and Noam to participate. Erez said “sure, why not,” and the boys lined up for the 100 metre dash on the soccer field.  They ran alongside the high school boys, but had no hope of keeping up.  This was quite entertaining for all who were watching, especially the locals.  Kenyans are known for their internationally ranked long distance runners, as well as sprinters.  Perhaps due to the advantage of training and living at an elevation of over 1500 metres, some of the world’s best runners come from this area of Kenya, and of course, many of them run barefoot.

One of the most amazing things about our trip so far, is our facilitators.  Kate is from New Hampshire, and is wonderful. She has been in Kenya for two years so far. Wilson and Jackson, have already written a book about growing up in Maasailand and becoming Maasai warriors, which we highly recommend. Their story is absolutely fascinating.  For the past four years, they have come to Canada for three months every Fall to do speaking tours with Me to We.  We were so lucky to have met them, and even more lucky to spend most of our time for eight days learning from them.

We ended the day with more splendid food and drink, including a Kenyan cocktail called Dawa, and then a local Bogani tradition of each sharing his or her own highlight of the day. This tradition is much like our family tradition of sharing “Three Awesome Things” prior to sleep for each of the boys. The only trouble for the boys was finding only one highlight.

Next…visiting the Mamas in Emori Joi…

March 10, 2014

Here is a photo taken as we left the Kicheche Bush Camp with the staff:

We decided to squeeze in one last game drive on our way to the small private airstrip where Me to We was going to pick us up.  We saw a Martial Eagle clutching its prey – a dead aardwolf cub, in its claws.

Two jackals moved in and the Eagle dropped the prey.  After inspecting the dead cub, the jackals left. Then things got really interesting.  The vultures were already assembling and two jackals continued circling.

First, a vulture, nonchalantly sidled over to the carcass, trying to look casual. Suddenly, it grabbed it in its beak, and tried to take off with it.  Unfortunately, it was too heavy.  The vulture walked about 20 metres along the ground while trying to lift off. It had to drop the carcass and re-evaluate the plan.

In the meantime, the Martial Eagle swooped down to defend its kill, which resulted in a scuffle and both birds flying off temporarily.

In the meantime, a jackal came up to the carcass and carried it off in its mouth.

The jackal did not get far before a hyena appeared.

The jackal dropped the cub and the hyena trotted off to its nest, unbothered, to feed its own baby.

We had our last breakfast picnic out on the savannah and it was glorious.  Livingston and Nelson were great guides and we learned so much from them. It was a bit sad to say goodbye to them at the Ngerende Airstrip, but we were eager to reunite with Kate and start the next part of our adventure – the real reason why we came to Kenya in the first place: our Me to We trip.