Week 11

March 9- March 15
Sorry Mom and Dad…I am evading Kenyan adoption laws and coming home with a 4-year-old girl named Grace this May.

Grace is in the class I teach at Shangilia and I have loved her from the start. Her story isn’t a nice one though. When she was a few months old her mother went out into the slums, handed Grace to a woman and said that she would be right back for her daughter, she was just going to use the bathroom. Well, Grace’s mom never did come back for her. Her umbilical cord was still attached when she arrived at Shangilia a few years ago. No one has any idea where either of her parents are and Shangilia is her only home. The only motherly figure she has is the matron, who is very inactive in the children’s lives. I know as a teacher I am technically not supposed to play favorites, but I love this little girl! When I think about having to leave her behind at the end of April I want to cry.

The bottom line is I am 100% sure that this is as close to motherly love as you can get when you are 19-years-old and haven’t physically birthed a child. So I’m somehow going to make her legally mine. Get ready Mom and Dad….or should I say Grandma and Grandpa!

More on Shangilia….I was told that they were going to be performing at the Kenyatta International Conference Center and was under the impression that it was truly just performances and that Shangilia kids’ roles would be huge. So 6 other students from the program and I show up at the KICC in jeans and tee-shirts and walk into a completely decked out banquet hall. Men were dressed in tuxedos, women were in dresses, there were white clothed tables and chairs and buffet style food lining the sides of the room. Turns out we had walked in on the Sports Personality of the Year Award Ceremony. My kids from Shangilia were the opening act. Their band played the national anthem and the dance team did a traditional African ensemble. Needless to say we ran out of there almost as soon as the kids were done with their 5 minute roles. We were white and extremely underdressed….two ways to stick out immensely in Kenya.

Today, (Saturday) Carrie’s boyfriend Conor came to visit for the week so we decided a good way to start Conor’s week and a good way to end Mike’s was going to the GIRAFFE CENTER! It’s basically one of my favorite places in Kenya. Unlike the first time Carrie and I were there, the Center was bustling with tourists, which means Kenya is gradually returning to normalcy now that the peace agreement has been signed.

This week Mike and I spent a lot of time running around the city, even more time at Shangilia, and minimal time at home, so right now we are both incredibly exhausted and I’m pretty sure I am going to sleep until Dooms Day. It was a nice week off from doing traditional schoolwork, but it’s back to reality tomorrow with a presentation in African IR on the Eastern African Community. Next Saturday is parents’ day at Shangilia which I am progressively getting more anxious about. A lot of the kids don’t have parents or have parents who do not care and when all of the other families come to visit it can be really difficult for them. I’m going to spend the week configuring some sort of project for them and I will let you know how it goes… Until next week!