English Class

My form 3, junior level, english composition class. who ever thought i would be teaching
english, i hated that class in high school! But in the end i learned a lot, and hopefully they will too!

School and Muchunkus

It has now been one week since i began teaching at Bishop Imathiu Secondary (Bliss). I am teaching form three, junior level, grammar and composition English. I am feeling a little lost, and trying to understand the best way to teach them, but i am also enjoying it. The Kenyan education system is a lot of repetition and memorization, and not a whole lot of hands on, participation in class, kind of learning. Right now we are getting ready to begin writing, so we are learning about how to make sentences and paragraphs flow smoothly. This weekend their first writing assignment is to write one paragraph, using transition words, describing what they did this weekend. I am anxiously awaiting the outcome.

Bliss is one of the only day schools in the area. Most people in secondary want to board because they think that boarding school will get better results on their KCSE (SATS). This is mainly due to the English occupation period when white people didn't want their white children in school with the Africans, so they were sent to boarding. Of course whatever the English did was far superior to the Africans, so became the standard of sending your children to boarding school. Personally i am against this idea, i think that children need the support and guidance of their parents during these important years of their life, but i have to respect other people's choices. Bliss is usually for students who did not get a high enough score on their KCPE, so they wouldn't be eligible for a boarding school. KCPE's are like SATS but they are taken in eighth grade to determine how good of a high school you get into. To me it is a very strange and complicated system, that doesn't allow for much variety of learning, but hopefully during my time here i will be able to help them understand what am important tool good writing can be. Also, they go to school on Saturday, yuck.

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Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment. It is amazing how many occasions present themselves in which i can choose gratitude instead of a complaint. I can choose to be grateful when i am criticized, even when my heart still responds in bitterness. I can choose to speak about goodness and beauty, even when my inner eye still looks for someone to accuse or something to call ugly. 

Henri J.M. Nouwen

January is the month of muchukus (white people in the local language). People decide they have something important to give, and take a trip around the world for a week or two. I hope i do not offend people, i am not writing this about every shot term mission trip, but i do think that a vast majority of mission trips set out with very little education about the people and culture they are visiting. And can be  quite ignorant of their long term effects on the people they visit. So much of Kenya is poor. There are so many aid organizations and charities working in this country, that many a time people become accustom to getting free stuff. I am not in any way saying this is a bad thing. These organizations save many peoples lives through the distribution of much needed food, health, and other necessary supplies. But at the same time it has created an idea that they will just be given stuff, especially by white people. I try so hard to not act like this. i do, on occasion, buy needed things for people or pay school fees, but i try and do it as discreetly as possible. I am not here to be an ATM, i am here to experience God, and share that experience with others. When i go to towns or places where they don't know me, i hear incessant cries of, "muchokus, give me sweet, give me your phone, give me your earrings..."

So many of the short term missions that come bring all of this stuff to give away, usually junk that the locals could buy in town. I am not against the giving of stuff or the people giving it, but it creates a wall between the people and the visitors. the local people look at these people as a meal ticket and try to become their best, best friend. For instance, there is a lady who is visiting right now, who brings and enormous about of cheap stuff with her, and people just glom onto her like she is the second coming of Christ. She thinks she is just the best of friends with all of these people. She comes every year, and every year is the same. It irritates me to no end. If you want to really do something for the better of the community find something that will make a real difference. Last year one group used their money to buy lunch for all of the students in a primary school, for one year. That was so awesome, i love that idea so much! how much better can you learn on a full stomach? which just creates a circle of good things in the community.

Again i hope i didn't offend anyone, but please remember this the next time you go on a mission trip or even just take a vacation to a foreign place. It should be about helping people become the best of themselves, not stuff.

Live in such a way that those who know you, but don't know God, will come to know 

God because they know you.

unknown

Love you all sooo much, and hope that everyone is doing well!
Suzanne

Funny Things continued

• If you are in some kind of public space, waiting room, bus etc., people will come and sit next to you instead of sitting as far away as possible like in the states. it feels a little strange. 
• In the states in some grocery stores they have little mini carts for children to push around. They have those here as well, but people don't know that they are for children. They push them around themselves all hunched over. 
• Cheesy Spanish soap operas are very popular over here. they are on all day, along with a few Malaysian ones as well, but the Spanish ones are by far the most popular. Because of this every once in a while you will run across kids named Francesca or Pablo. this may not seems so strange to those of you in the states because we are so used to Spanish culture, but here the closest you get to any Spanish culture is the occasional nun from a Spanish speaking country. 
• Government offices are just as rude and ineffective as anywhere else in the world. Whether it is a post office or the immigration office, all the same. They get the tiniest bit of power and they think the rule your world. 
• A wallet is a purse, and a purse is a handbag. 
• Owls are not wise, but bad omens.
• Fast food is for rich people, or special occasions. 
• A serviette is a napkin, a napkin is a pad for a women's period. 

I haven't been thrown out!

Nothing like a coffee and some journal time!

For the last several weeks I have been pretty nervous about renewing my visa. For different reasons, that I don't want to share with all of mankind, I wasn't positive that they would allow me to extend the type of visa that I have. I have been praying, and praying and have really felt God's presence in this situation. There is nothing like a little adversity to draw us closer to God. So now I have three months to apply for a permit. I have a few extra days in Nairobi to see some friends and drink as much espresso as I can. Love to you all, and thanks so much for your continued love, prayers and support!

Dogs

I love animals, but dogs hold a special place in my heart. Ever since i can remember we have had a dog in the house. Teddy, a german schnauzer, and i grew up together, one of the best companions a little girl can have. i don't remember ever dressing him up, but he was always beside my brother and i, watching us and guarding us.  since then i have had many dogs, and every where i go i notice them. Last year while living in Kenya, i visited Ethiopia and noticed right away the difference in how they treated their dogs, and animals (much nicer then kenyans). I was missing my dogs at home today and thought i would make a post about all the dogs in my life, just for fun. enjoy!

The greatest pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too.

Samuel Butler 

My dog, Mona, blending in with the stuffed animals

My mom's ridiculous dog, Joey, in a dress

Mona likes to sleep under the covers

My other dog, Katie. The day i adopted her.

Best golden ever. RIP maggie! 

Kado and Maple, my brother's
awesome dogs

My best friend Ben. He is my constant
 companion in Kenya

Ben in the farm

My dogs curled up in my dad's office

Peace

Happy New Year! It is crazy to be starting another year, 2011 went by way to fast. The older i get, the faster time seems to pass by. Every year i say the same thing, and i think every year it slipping by a little quicker then the last. especially this last holiday season was so busy, i don't understand how December flew by.

It began with two funerals and all the sudden it went from two people sleeping in the house to eight, and the craziness began. the last two weeks have been a blur family and friend get togethers and lots and lots of food. lots of food. Kenyans can really eat. it is amazing how much they can put away in one sitting. and i am not just talking about big people, the little people do it too! one night we all went out to dinner. we ordered three plates of french fries (a staple in a Kenyan diet), three plates of meat, ugali (boiled corn flour, very filling), and vegetables. i was stuffed when it was finished. then everyone decided they were still hungry, so we ordered another chicken. this is how almost every meal went.

Christmas is so different here, it is hard to even compare it. It is maybe more like the fourth of July. families all get together and eat a lot of food, but with no presents. everyone gets a new outfit and girls get their hair done, so everyone looks very smart (clean and polished), but they don't actually give gifts at Christmas. Of course things like this are changing a little bit every year, as more western influence makes its way into the culture. At Nakumat, a spendy rich supermarket throughout Kenya, they have a life size animatronic Santa, that says, "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas,"when you walk in front of it. Whenever i walk by it, it seems so out of place, with his big woolly red suit and rosy red cheeks, and a Christmas tree with lots of presents next to him. While there is a species of evergreen that lives here, they are few and far between.

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I have learned that much of my spiritual progress does not come directly from God, 

but through my ability to humble myself and hear Him speak through imperfect people. 

Francis Frangipane

When i first read this i was reminded of something that i once heard Graham Cooke talk about. He had these horrible annoying people in his life that kept showing up and disturbing his peace. He finally realized that God was allowing them to help him grow through a situation, he called them, "grace growers." Not that this is exactly the same thing, but i think so often we see others who just don't have it as together as ourselves and we, not always meaning to, put ourselves above them. God can speak to us through the strangest circumstances and people, you just never know where He is going to pop up next. With this realization brings peace. I have had so many frustrating people in my life lately, but there is always something to learn and if i have patience and don't loose my temper, God can work through them. more often then not, i first loose patience and my tempter, and then learn the lesson. all part of growing up. 

love to you all! 

suzanne