First Week of Camp!

Hello Hello!

                We officially finished week one of camp! The week was tiring, but went by quick. It was hard to see the kids leave on Friday, and tomorrow we start all over again with a new group. I was in the Arts and Crafts room all week, and we created tambourines, family portraits, paper airplanes, puppets, and beaded jewelry. It was exciting and interesting to see the kids be creative. It sounds like they do not get a lot of personal choice or freedom in school, the education system is strict and the kids do not have a lot of different materials to do things like art. The kids we’ve met are full of joy, laughter, and an eagerness to play and participate in any activity. On Friday we had a large dance party with Kenyan music, and the kids had awesome dance moves. It was a great celebration of dance and their culture. Although the kids may have difficult home lives, in camp we give them praise, attention, and a week of happy memories.

                There might be a rumor going around that we 4 VLM speak Swahili, but… we don’t. Although Kenyans learn three languages- their ethnic group’s mother tongue, English, and Swahili, most of the kids have not yet mastered a lot of English outside of “How are you?” and “I’m fine”. We have six Kenyan helpers that work with us all week. They help us communicate by translating to the kids, and have taught us many Kenyan songs, games, and dances.

Here are a few fun facts about our Helpers:

In Arts and Crafts, I’m working with Jonathan and Nancy. Jonathan is a natural teacher, and is great leading the kids through different activities. He works as an English teacher and is saving up to attend University. Nancy went to college for Human Resources, but said after spending time at our camp she is thinking of returning to school to be a teacher. In September she plans to start the process of becoming a nun. In the outdoor Sports group, Emmanuel and Sammy help out Melanie. Emmanuel likes running and rugby, and is in school to be an Electrician. He has 8 siblings. Sammy’s mom is a social worker with the Sisters and he loves to play music on his phone in our down time. Melisa is working with Hicent and Milka in the Enrichment room. Hicent is the youngest of 8 siblings, and is the youngest of our helpers. She loves math and science, particularly Physics. She’s waiting to hear back from Universities to continue studying. Milka encourages education and academics with the youth, in particular, math. She loves to play Freeze Dance (maybe even more than the kids!)

                Over the weekend, Emmanuel, Hicent, Sammy, and a couple volunteers that worked with Emily last year, joined us for our first weekend excursion out in Kitale. We took a long walk through downtown to get to the Kitale museum, where we read about a few native ethic groups near Kitale, saw many stuffed animals, a hippo skull (highlight!) and a lot of snakes in jars. Outside the museum we saw a handful of traditional homes of different groups in Kenya. Emmanuel and Sammy enjoyed telling us about the homes and poking fun at each other. We also saw 2 sad looking alligators, more poisonous snakes, and a lot of tortoises. After leaving the museum we walked through a large market where people sell fruits and veggies, and yelled “How are you?!” at us.

                We start our second week of camp tomorrow, which means lots of energy and excitement to meet the kids! That also means, lots of coffee.      : )

Thanks for reading!

Becca