I am my teacher-mother's daughter...

Well hello friends!

So much has happened since I last wrote… I know it has been a super long time, but I have been a busy little Canadian beaver here in Nairobi.

First order of business is Sud Academy, my purpose for the next few months (and beyond!). I have started a Christmas-break mini school consisting of secondary students from Sud. There are varying numbers as some come and go, but I have met about 40 students during these sessions and teach about 30 a day. They are all boys, and all super eager to learn about grammar and computers. Many had never even turned one on until last week, so we are talking pretty basic training here folks. I feel like it is 5 years ago and I’m teaching my mom! Ha, just kidding Q. Anyways, the computer classes are going very well. We learned how to turn them on, open up MS-Word, how to enter and remove text, how to use (a fidgety) mouse, change text size and colour, and “cut, copy, paste”. Good start for only 2 classes! They love it and I nearly have to boot them out at the end of the day so I can get back home while it’s still light outside. The English classes are also productive. We did some heavy comprehension stuff yesterday that was difficult but useful. Students also wrote papers to me about their life story, mostly containing info about their journey from Sudan to Kenya and Sud Academy. Some were happy, most were sad- all very interesting and inspiring. Their unwavering and demanding desire to learn could teach us in the West a lot about opportunity, determination and appreciation of that which we have.

Many express hopes of going to Canada, the US or UK for university. Some would rather stay in Africa. What they all have in common is their adamant commitment to and concern for their homeland, Sudan. Coming to Sud Academy to receive an education has been a wonderful opportunity that most children born in Sudan will never be lucky enough to have. While rustic by Western standards and far from perfect, Sud Academy is giving the students hope for their future- hope that they will be the generation to transform their torn and bleeding country into one that harbours peace instead of terror, and breeds love instead of hate. This is the kind of sentiment they indicated, not something I am sensationalizing for effect. Many have left family behind in hopes to return with the means to support them. Some have lost all family members in the tragic civil and government-led war that has been stealing Sudanese lives for 21 long and shameful years. I have enjoyed very much talking to the students about the politics and the situation in their country. Those who know me know I get very “excited” (not the smiling kind, but the red-faced kind) when talking about international conflicts and infractions on human rights, so the firsthand accounts of how things are really happening are immeasurable, and certainly not found in your morning newspaper. It is clear that the students and I will find my time here with them mutually rewarding.

On other notes from about town, Nairobi still exists in my mind only in a limited sense. I have ventured downtown, downtown only 1 time with my new friend Aulgah. It was a lengthy process, as traffic jams here are worse than Torontonian’s and GTA commuters could ever imagine. A “jam” as Nairobi-ites call it can clog a 1 or 2 km stretch for HOURS. Think hot, crowded, noisy, polluted and bouncy bus- not my idea of a good time, so I stick to my few km radius. Everything I need is here, and I am even hooked up to the web 24/7 via a little wireless modem that attaches to my computer. I wish we had this in Canada, it’s really convenient. I did go out of the city last weekend to visit the Animal Orphanage at the National Park, and then to the Giraffe Centre down the road. I got to hold baby cheetahs, and then play in the pen with their mothers.. and I fell in love with the sloppy faced and bug eyed giraffes. They were so friendly and peaceful, it’s hard to believe they are that looming!

Monday is my favourite day, when I meet my friend Theresa for dinner and a movie- Mamma Mia last week, Eagle Eye yesterday. It’s a super good deal, and for a while, I feel like I am back home with Scotty at the Queensway- except no Yogen Fruz or Tim Horton’s chili… microwaved hot dog instead. It’s bliss J. I have also visited a couple Kenyan homes, where I am always doted on from the moment I arrive. They are really very welcoming and giving, even when they might not have much to give. Little children of the neighbourhood who don’t often see white people run around me, staring, whispering or sometimes screeching excitedly, “Muzungu! Muzungu! Muzungu!” which means foreigner in Swahili. They are so super cute, I want to steal them and bring them home.

The place I am staying is closing for the holidays, so I am debating whether or not it’s worth it to stay in a hotel for a while in Nairobi, or if I should go on a trip to Mombasa with some other NGO workers. If I have to pay to stay somewhere in Nairobi, why not pay to stay on the beach front in Mombasa for the holidays! We shall see.

So in general, friends, Nairobi and the whole experience is going well. There are many daily challenges and frustrations that one faces here-from being asked for money, jobs, water, and food to rushing home in hopes of beating sundown, to people who say they will call me back and NEVER DO!, to missing my friends and family when I settle down for the night. But my sacrifice seems a pittance compared to some of the sacrifices people here make without a second thought. At the end of my time here, I will leave and return to a place of plenty, with love and security and the guarantee of a bright future. Some people- those for whom basic things like toilet paper, clean drinking water, soap and even food are a luxury- will not be so lucky.

Til’ next time folks, I hope you are all being good little citizens of your own world!