Mathare Valley Terms

Glue boys: Homeless boys who live in the slums and sniff shoe glue as a means to get high. With brains forever damaged by this toxic substance, they are mentally and physically impaired, unpredictable, and dangerous to the community

Flying Toilets: Because public restrooms cost money, and the 10X10 ft shanties don't have plumbing, many people use plastic bags as toilets and leave them on the ground in the slums.

Mother Tongue: Educated Kenyans speak English, but many people living in the slums only speak Swahili and their ancestor's tribal language- their mother tongue.

Mzungu: "Crazy White Person." Citizens from Mathare call all the interns this. At one time offended, I now readily answer to it.

Photo from Day 1

Photo taken during our first tour of the Pangani Village in the Mathare Valley

I just tried to upload a few pictures, holding my laptop over my head in an attempt to get internet access. This is the only photo that actually downloaded, but is a good representation of what the cute kids look like, always running towards us yelling "How are you, how are you?" in sing song voices. They have grown up in the slums and these are the only English words they know. Many of the children are barefoot, with protruding bellies- the universal sign of extreme malnutrition. They hold our hands and walk with us as we work.

Thoughts on Chai

In Kenya, people take Chai. Taking Chai is a cultural ritual in which people talk and drink tea as a group after breakfast, upon arrival at work, before everyone leaves work, and then again at dinner. Kenyan Chai tea consists of fresh warm milk-straight from a local cow, water, tea leaves and sugar cain. Taking Chai lasts atleast an hour, and is mandatory before any work can get started, or before anyone is allowed to leave work at 4pm. Chai is too strong, too sugary, and by most Americans' standards, a complete waste of time. Many times, I have found myself asking why I have seen people taking Chai while important business or pressing matters are piled up at the Missions of Hope Center. 

 In America, we put work before friendship most every day...and we get a lot done. But at the expense of what? So I must ask myself, is this Kenyan time of fellowship and tea drinking unproductive? Or is it a form of worship, a model of Christ's call for us to be relational and devoted to one another in brotherly love?

In Kenya:

In 2009, only 40% of middle school students passed the national exam to enter high school.
In 2009, less than 5% of slum children middle school students passed the national exam to enter high school.
In 2009, 100% of the Mission of Hope's Joska School slum children middle students passed the national exam to enter high school.

Kamau Family

I have arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya and have spent 3 full days exploring this country, meeting great people, and getting to know the organization Missions of Hope. I am staying with my host family, the Kamaus, and I am delighted (and somewhat intimidated) to find that they are one of the most well known and best loved families in the whole city of Nairobi. Mary, who has 19 brothers and sisters and was the first in her family to go to college, has been working in the slums of Nairobi for over ten years. When she first ventured into the Mathare Valley slum, she bravely began a 50 child preschool, hoping that these children would be a gateway for her to reach out to their families. Now, in 2010, her organization is educating over 4,000 children and greatly affecting their families through various social programs. Her husband, Wallace, is a pastor and is a director at Missions of Hope. They have been married fifteen years and have three children: Faith, Victory, and David. The other American intern Audrey and I have made ourselves quite comfortable in this beautiful home that can be eerily similar to the states: We have running water and WiFi and as I was doing homework tonight, I heard the infamous Halo theme song as Victory played his XBox in the next room. I also am very aware of the differences though. We drink warm milk from the neighbor's cow for breakfast, I pull a mosquito net around my bunk bed when I go to sleep, and no one in the house comments when the power turns off for over 6 hours. I really love this house. I love the Kamaus and their children.I love my mosquito net. I love Africa.