Obama

So the last few days have been quite eventful. Tuesday night I stayed up pretty late watching election stuff and then I woke up at 4:30 am my time which was 8:30 eastern time. It was so exciting to watch everything. One of the main TV stations here was showing the CNN broadcast so I watched that along with BBC News, Al Jazeera, and Sky News. So it was definitely interesting to see the different broadcasts. When they announced the Obama win I was yelling and screaming and SO excited. The speeches were very emotional and everything here was crazy. They kept showing Kogelo, the birthplace of Obama’s dad, on TV. That is about 2 hours from where I’m living. So later in the day when I finally left the house, EVERYONE on the streets was yelling to me things like “Obama’s sister” and “Yes we can.” People were playing music really loud in the streets and everyone was dancing and singing. There are a lot of songs here by local musicians about Obama so I heard those songs all day long. I could not stop smiling all day and it was really a cool experience to be here when he won. That afternoon the president here, Kibaki, declared Thursday a public holiday, Obama Day haha. So Thursday was a national holiday and it was nice to just relax and celebrate.

Yesterday I spent the whole day with kids. In the morning I visited HOVIC, the drop-in center for street kids. I hung out with them while the listened to music and some of them showed me their sweet dance moves. Later in the day we went to play soccer in town. Some visitors from the UK had brought the kids some donated cleats and uniforms so the kids got to look like real teams when they played. They were sooooo excited and they kept saying “Kelsey look, we don’t even look like street children now!” So it was a good day for them. In the afternoon, all the kids and staff from Pandipieri came into town and we played a soccer match with the staff vs. the kids. I played for the staff and was of course the only girl playing. After the first time or two that I sprinted I thought my lungs were going to collapse haha. Those kids can run forever, but it was so fun to play with them. Of course, I have no idea what any of them are saying ever because everyone speaks in their mother tongue, Dholuo, so I kinda just stand there and smile. I played much better than I thought I would and the kids were pretty impressed, I think mostly because I’m a girl but I guess also because I’m white. Needless to say, after about two hours of playing I had to stop because I thought my legs would give out haha. It was a great day to be able to spend a lot of time with the kids. I really feel like I am starting to connect with some of them which is cool because there is still a major language barrier. Now when I’m walking around town a lot of the street kids recognize me and come and talk to me.

So I’m working with HOVIC to try and help develop their soccer program. They are entering three teams, under 12, under 14 and under 16, in the local KYFA league here this season. They are looking for funding to transport the kids to a field every day and so feed the kids during the season and pay a few fees to be in the league. Hopefully I will be able to use my resources and connections to help them, but we are also trying to develop a plan to make their organization sustainable and maybe start involving the kids in some income generating activities so they can be self-sustainable. We’ll see how it goes…

This morning I had a pedicure here in the house. This girl I met, a friend of a friend, works at a salon in town and she offered to come to the house to give me a pedicure. It was hands down the most thorough pedicure I have ever had, although some of it was a little painful (maybe African women are tougher than me…). I had to do some deep breathing to get past my intense disgust with feet and realize that my feet definitely needed this. The whole thing cost $5… I love Kenya.