Wow, this last week has really flown by. Last weekend i took my little brother, mathews, to nairobi for some dentist appointments. to get there we rode a matatu. A matatu is a van, that depending on the amount of money you are willing to shell out, will effect the amount of people that get in it. If you are only willing to pay 200/=(shillings, about 2$) then there could me a as many as 20+ people in a 14 passenger van. But i tend to be a little claustrophobic so i go for the more expensive ones, 600/= to 1000/= (6-10$). well as we are nearing nairobi we are stopped right outside thika, 1/2 hour outside nairobi. And we have to sit in traffic for 2+ hours. By this time it had started to get dark and everyone was getting out of their cars, and were getting pretty agitated. again, i don't know how many of you are aware of the situation between kenya and somalia right now, but there is a war going on. and while kenya is winning and will, hopefully, soon have won the war, the al-shibab extremists are trying to hit wherever they can. there have even been a few attacks in nairobi. so of course my overly anxious mind is thinking of all of these things, while sitting in the dark, with agitated mobs of people outside the car. I don't know if i am painting a very good picture, but i was definitely a little freaked. but then, of course, it turned out to be nothing. there is a lot of road construction going on in that area and i think an accident had occurred as well, so it was just slow getting things moving.
The rest of the week was devoted to learning kiswahili, and working on getting a sewing group started. There is a group of women who are HIV+, who have a support group that meets every other week. I had met with them a few times last year, and joined them again last week. I feel so humble and almost in awe of these women. Most of them contacted the disease from their husbands, who have now passed, and they just have such heavy burdens on their shoulders. I feel like i have nothing to complain about. So i wanted to begin a sewing class and open it up to these women. Most don't feel comfortable with it, but there are two i am going to try and get started. nothing fancy, probably just mending and patching skills at first, which i think would be the most handy.
And the rest of the week has been devoted to animals, of course. there are just so many interesting things that just wander in, literally, the front door. last weekend the father of the family i live with decided to bring home some parrots he bought on the streets of nairobi. there were originally two but one flew away, and now we are left with a little lovebird. i have been trying to work with it, and the family, to get everyone used to each other. so far so good. Then last night a found another hedgehog in the mouth of a dog. It was late at night, so i just brought it inside, and put it in the extra bird cage we still had. thinking i would take it to the forest tomorrow. well it had other plans. sometime in the night it escaped, and is now roaming freely in the house. i hope we find it.
well that is all for now, hope everyone is well, love to you all
suzanne
The rest of the week was devoted to learning kiswahili, and working on getting a sewing group started. There is a group of women who are HIV+, who have a support group that meets every other week. I had met with them a few times last year, and joined them again last week. I feel so humble and almost in awe of these women. Most of them contacted the disease from their husbands, who have now passed, and they just have such heavy burdens on their shoulders. I feel like i have nothing to complain about. So i wanted to begin a sewing class and open it up to these women. Most don't feel comfortable with it, but there are two i am going to try and get started. nothing fancy, probably just mending and patching skills at first, which i think would be the most handy.
And the rest of the week has been devoted to animals, of course. there are just so many interesting things that just wander in, literally, the front door. last weekend the father of the family i live with decided to bring home some parrots he bought on the streets of nairobi. there were originally two but one flew away, and now we are left with a little lovebird. i have been trying to work with it, and the family, to get everyone used to each other. so far so good. Then last night a found another hedgehog in the mouth of a dog. It was late at night, so i just brought it inside, and put it in the extra bird cage we still had. thinking i would take it to the forest tomorrow. well it had other plans. sometime in the night it escaped, and is now roaming freely in the house. i hope we find it.
well that is all for now, hope everyone is well, love to you all
suzanne
That is funny about the hedgehog! Hopefully you do find it! :) And I think it's awesome that you've started that sewing group.
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