Living Positive, Chavara, and Nairobi
We have seen the above vehicle once or twice. We have definitely seen the back window stickers twice. “Mbogi ya Christ” is Kiswahili slang that probably best translates into “flock of Christ.” We had to ask our driver, as the all-knowing Google isn’t up on Kiswahili slang and approximated it as “vegetable of Christ.” With one seminary graduate—Ginger—in the car, we were pretty sure “vegetable” wasn’t right.
The part we all are still struggling with is Mickey. How does the king of mice fit into the phrase? All suggestions are welcome.
Below is Mary with Ginger and Cameron. Ginger started sponsoring Mary when Mary was starting secondary school, living in an orphanage in Nairobi. She is another case of not technically being an orphan, but her mother gave her up when she couldn’t support her. Mary and her mother do not have a strong relationship, so Ginger has been a surrogate for close to 10 years.
Mary graduated secondary school and went on to teacher’s college. She now teaches 2nd grade at St. Chavara. She is a success story among our sponsored kids.
We had our first self-defense classes at Living Positive. I have visited here a number of times. We are old friends. Living Positive is a community center for women who are HIV-positive. They offer job training and social and medical support, among other services.
The team teaching classes this time was Cameron, Cedric, and me. Cedric is a volunteer for the Kenya Red Cross and several other gender-based violence prevention organizations.
We have a couple other regular teachers who weren’t able to assist us as much as usual this trip. Wangari is working an internship (“attachment”) for plumbing and pipefitting. Sarah helped with one of the Living Positive classes but has started an internship working with pre-schoolers at a primary school.
In two classes, we had about 90 people this day. The first class put me over a grand total of 3,000 Kenyan girls and women in my classes since I began in 2019.
The afternoon class was in blazing sun. I got pretty burned. Cameron, being far more rational when it comes to sunscreen, only got a little burned. Being right at the equator, the sunlight is very directly overhead, as opposed to the angles we get in the US. It makes the sunlight more intense.
Being outdoor classes, with a large group, we draw a lot of attention. We spend a lot of time chasing men and boys off, as we don’t allow them to attend, or even observe, the classes.
Meanwhile, Virginia, Claudia, and Ginger went to St. Chavara primary school to help with the intake of the sponsored boarding students. Below is a group waiting to go in.
The four kids, left to right, are Justus, Brian, Stacey, Jeremy. Unexpectedly, this was an all-day project.
Claudia making friends.
The next day, we took a trip into Nairobi with Wangari J (pictured below). Ginger and I sponsor her; she is Virginia’s niece. We took a matatu into the city. These are private buses that compete for riders. They compete by having more elaborate sound systems and lights on the bus. They also pretty much travel outside the traffic laws, driving on the shoulder, cutting off any other driver, driving on the wrong side of the road, ignoring speed bumps, etc. Sort of Mad Max meets Rush Hour. The goal is to get to the next stop before other drivers and keep the bus full. In addition, the faster they go, the more riders will use that particular bus. Cameron was interested in riding one for the adventure. Claudia and I already had been on them. A new adventure for Ginger, too.
A picture of the interior of one we were on is below. Note the speakers on the ceiling. This one was fairly quiet, meaning we could think but not talk over it.
Virginia told me of one bus with a sign that translates to “If you think our music is too loud, you’re too old for this bus.”
One stop in the city was the KICC Tower. KICC is the Kenya International Conference Center. They have an observation deck about 30 floors up.
We also went to the Nairobi Gallery. They have a bunch of historical exhibits, as well as a few modern pieces.
Below is a sculpture of a woman made out of scrap metal. The typewriter is pretty prominent. As well as bicycle chains.
The below shows several pieces of jewelry used in ritual circumcisions—both female (FGM) and male. FGM is officially illegal now, but, as mentioned previously, is still practiced some. Particularly in some rural areas by parts of some tribes.
Below is a beaded crocodile.
Shockingly to us, many of the exhibits were unprotected from human touch. Signs on the wall said touching wasn’t allowed as part of COVID protocols. But the protocols aren’t in place now. Our guide was touching things.
