The Lion Hunt

          Once again, there I was sitting in the back of a matatu (van) driving across an endlessly bumpy road while giggling like a maniac…
            We were on a lion hunt. After hearing they were somewhere in the bush, we took off across the red dirt road searching for a tan lump in the distance (which we assumed would be a lion). Can I just tell you how hard it is to look out the window and scan the horizon while looking for something that stood out to me (as I was told to do)? First of all, knowing me, the wildflowers are what stand out in my mind. I scan and pause when I see pretty flowers (not when I see a tan lump that I hope is a lion). Secondly, when my rump is literally leaving my seat every few seconds, I have a hard time focusing on scanning the horizon. But alas, my job was to find the lions, so there I sat, bouncing around in my seat, attempting to scan the horizon (when in actuality, I was about to pee my pants I was laughing so hard). How everyone else was so serious, straight-faced, and focused at the task ahead of us, I have no idea. We never found the lions while we were looking though. We found rhinos, ostriches, giraffes, some random birds, wildebeests, gazelle, and a few others, but no lions. Right before we quit, we were driving back home and saw the lions. Of course we saw them when we weren’t looking…Haha

After a long long flight...

         

I arrived safely in Kenya. Oh golly, the flight was super long—however, it was like returning home. I absolutely love it here. I love the people, the smell, the roads and ways of driving, the public transportation, and lastly, but certainly not least—I love the bird that woke me up this morning. The bird had a sharp whistle, almost exactly like when someone whistles at a super attractive person (you know that one with two different notes? Yep, that’s the one!) I know I sound like I am exaggerating or being sarcastic, but I am not. It is such a different world here, and it is so difficult to explain, but I love every moment of it.

            I had Kenyan tea and bread for breakfast, and then we went on an adventure to the store and to Kibera slum. I can’t get over how the meat is sold here. It is the funniest thing ever. We went to a “pork place”, and it had a pig hanging there in the window (which made the flies super excited). We told them how much we wanted, and the man proceeded to cut the meat off of the pig and place it onto a scale. Once he weighed the proper amount, he slid it out of the bowl and into a black plastic grocery bag. We said “asante sana” (thank you very much) and left happily with our BAG of meat.

            Everyone that knows me at home has accepted that I smile almost non-stop. Well, here, people just say hello to me because they think since I am grinning directly at them, I must know them (or at least that is what Aga said.) I don’t mind at all—I love when people say hello!

          We went to the Nairobi National Park today. As one of the guys I had breakfast with today, "are you excited to let the lions see you"? In America (at zoos for example), the animals are in cages and the people are free. Here, the people are in cages and the animals are free to roam. Odd, huh? I forgot how crazy bumpy the roads are here (especially in the park). We had a time where the road was literally at a 45 degree angle--I thought our van was going to tip over!

 I think Rhinos and ostriches may be two of my new favorite animals. Especially ostriches. They are so funny looking. Look at the black one's legs!

Learning to be loved? Who, me?

For my entire life, I have been an expert at loving people and not allowing people to love me back. I am passionate about doing everything I can to make everyone feel accepted and completely loved. I have never before, though, let anyone love me. Being an RA has changed my life. I was blessed with the opportunity to love on these beautiful women that I was "in charge" of, and they loved me back (which isn't anything new). What changed my life, though, was that they taught me to accept compliments (most of the time). They taught me to love myself, and they taught me that I can't get away with loving people and not wanting anything/or allowing anything in return. When they were vulnerable with me and told me the things they were going through, it taught me that I could do the same. They taught me to allow people to love me. I have never had a hard time saying goodbye to people, but this past week was tough. Not only did I cry when (or right after) I said goodbye, I cried in my room once the dorm was empty. I never cry. You lovelies changed my life. Thank you.

 

And my fellow RAs, you also taught me a lot about myself. You allowed me to be myelf--no matter how harsh that was at times. You allowed me to be blunt and to state my mind while calling me out at times. Thank you for everything. 

15 days until I leave for Kakamega, Kenya! I also got my placement a few days ago. I will be working with the Daisy Resource Centre for Handicapped Children. This centre supports children with handicaps resulting from birth defects, debilitating childhood diseases, accidents, and abuse. It seeks to provide for these children through: primary school, physical and occupational therapy, medical care, vocational training, and counseling. I am so very excited for everything this summer will entail. It may be difficult to leave after the summer because of my new ability to love and be loved, but it will teach me so very much that I will not trade it for the world. 

Leaving in less than 5 weeks

I am unsure if I have ever--in my entire life--been as busy as I currently am. It is not a bad thing; however, as I have chosen to be this involved. I am learning how to say no to extra activities; but it is a slow process. Everyone knows I would much rather go outside and play than do any homework or mandatory activities. I am learning as the picture above states, to not necessarily be happy in the state I am in, but to be content. To be content during the journey, and content at whatever the state I arrive in. 

                       

I have been back from Vietnam for almost one month. The country was absolutely amazing. It surpassed my expectations and then made me feel silly for even believing that I could mildly predict what I would experience. It was an excellent lesson in traveling. I have so many stories from that trip that I cannot even begin to express. The people rode on mopeds--up to five people at once on a single moped. It was wonderful. When we visited Halong Bay, a friend and I had a conversation about how blessed we are. So many people are born into situations we can only imagine--like the fishing villages in the Bay. These people are born on boats in this village, grow up on the boat, get married and get a new boat. They do not usually leave the area; and here we are--over in the United States, with every opportunity to travel and to see the world. We receive the chance to see how the rest of the world operates--to see cultures that are so very different from our own. We have the opportunity to tell stories of what we see to those who are not as fortunate as us. We get to tell stories of the other cultures and to share how blessed we are in this country. We have the opportunity to become storytellers. 

Kenya will be a wonderful opportunity to grow in every sense of the word. I am blessed with the ability to become a storyteller once again. I am excited to explore a new sense of solidarity. There is a huge difference between going to another country expecting to "change" it--expecting to impact it for the best, and knowing that I am receiving the chance to simply live side by side with these people. I am not expected to change their lives in any way other than loving on them--which is what I do best. I am passionate about showering love on people. Solidarity for me means to love and to expect absolutely nothing in return--to not expect them to change the way they are living. I am excited to return to Kenya--where I feel the most at home--simply to love on more of our beautiful

world.

Back to Africa

So, I am headed back to Kenya. 

It is amazing to see the ways and orders in which things happen. I wanted to return to Africa last summer, but I ended up working at The Mission--a special needs orphanage in Mexico. It was an amazing experience in which I learned more than I expected. I learned a lot about thankfulness. I am truly blessed to live the life I live, and I have no reason to have the opportunities I do--other than being truly and wholly blessed beyond belief. 

My dream is to travel and work in orphanages, and farms, and with people of all different kinds. How exactly I am going to accomplish that with my social work major, and get paid enough to survive on (is something I have yet to figure out). All I know is that I don't need much, and that I just want to live in community with people just as they are. That being said, it is of no surprise that I am ecstatic about returning to Kenya this summer. 

I got an intership with Foundation for Sustainable Development through University of Portland, and will be in Kenya from May 20th"ish" to July 31st"ish". As of now, am unsure what I will be doing during the intership, but I have no doubt that it will be a formative and a growing experience. 

Have you ever had experiences in other countries that were tremendously embarrassing? Oh golly, I have. When I was last in Kenya, I was trying to get a picture of a beautiful child squatting at the top of a giant trash heap. It seems like an impacting picture--right? Well, I took the picture and got a ton of glares from the locals. I didn't understand what I had done that was culturally wrong until I looked that the photo that night. The child had been going to the bathroom. And just like that, I learned that while it isn't wrong to take pictures when traveling, it isn't always right either. It is far too common for people to travel to countries and take photos of people as if they are at a zoo. It isn't right, and it portrays you as an outsider who doesn't understand the culture. My goal in returning to Kenya is to obviously still take pictures, but to take meaningful pictures that make the community I am a part of feel connected, and like they are a part of my life--not just like they are an exhibit at the local zoo. 

Also, I am going to Vietnam tomorrow. I will update on that next week. 

I feel a new blog is needed for a new season of life... My old blog hasn't been updated in so long that it is difficult to start working on it again. Here goes a new attempt at keeping a long term blog...