Greetings from Kiirua

Gidday everyone! I made it to Kenya alright! I arrived in a small town called Kiirua last Sunday. Dave, Cynthia and I are staying in a small compound attached to St. Theresa’s Mission Hospital. It has everything we need; reminds me of the cottage lifestyle on PEI. We have electricity most of the time. The power goes out quite a bit. We just got the Internet yesterday. It’s on and off too, but that’s ok. It’ll be good enough to connect with an update from time to time.

We had a day in London on our way here so we took the tube downtown for some sightseeing. We saw Buckingham’s Palace, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. It was a quick, but very nice tour. So much history and character.

We arrived in Nairobi last Saturday. It’s a very busy city with many people walking in the streets. There is construction everywhere due to the cities growth and the need for new highways. We stayed at the Fairview Hotel. It was an amazing place, very fancy. On Sunday we headed for our schools in the country several hours away, and that’s where I am now.

It’s a unique experience. It’s like going back in time. There are mainly dirt roads, bumpy and muddy, especially when it rains. There are farmers plowing their fields with the help of their cows, women and children harvesting the crops and people carrying heavy jugs of water and firewood on their backs. And they carry around machetes (pangas) like they’re Tim Horton’s coffee. They carry them for weeding their crops that are far from their homes.

The landscape is unbelievable. The village stands at about 1 mile high with Mount Kenya just down the road standing at 5200 meters. The land is covered by high rolling hills covered by crops of maize (corn), onions, potatoes, beans and many more. They have crops everywhere. So many, that I wonder sometimes where the people live. I’ve meet many people on the road when I’m running, but have only seen a few homes.

The temperature is very hot here, usually around 25 or higher. The first few days it was raining a lot. The muddy roads are dangerous, and compare to the snowy roads of PEI. It took about a week to get used to the weather, but since then I’ve managed to get out for a run everyday to explore the countryside. Quite different than a typical run in Charlottetown.

I have lots of energy because of the delicious and healthy food they have. Everything is fresh: beef, all kinds of vegetables, bread, milk and all kinds of unique Kenyan dishes. And of course their famous tea, it’s very good. At Kinyenjere, the students take care of the school’s garden everyday. Weeding, watering, and ensuring the drip irrigation is working. They are extraordinarily responsible for their ages. They know that more work put into the garden yields more food for the entire school.

Kinyenjere Primary is very different than schools at home. They lack the infrastructure and resources that we are lucky to have. The school is around 40 years old and in need of repairs. The floors are dirt, the walls cracked concrete. The roof is tin and when it rains it’s impossible to teach because it’s so loud. There are broken windows in some classes and no windows in others. There is no electricity and their water is stored in tanks. It’s quite an eye opener. Many of the students share textbooks, sometimes 3 or 4 kids to one book. Many of them don’t have pens or pencils and need to wait for another student to finish before they can start. The grade one class was very happy when I brought in pencils for them. They were so proud to have their own. Many of them haven’t let it out of their hands yet! The playground is shared with a cow and several goats, but believe me, that doesn’t stop the kids from playing soccer and running, they are amazing athletes. I’m pretty happy! I’m the 3^rd fastest person in the school (grades 1-8) hahaa! A very humbling experience.

Although they have little, these kids are so happy and have the kindest spirits. They are beautiful and I’ve fallen in love with each and every one of them. They stick up for each other. They support each other. There’s no such thing as bullying here. No fighting, no complaining and no crying. They are strong, respectful, focused, hardworking kids and they go to school for one reason, to build a future for themselves. Although they are faced with obstacles that we couldn’t imagine, they come to school everyday with a huge smile on their face to greet me. It’s quite something.

Stan