Mathare Build: Part 2

On Saturday, October 4th, the ISK team returned to the MCEDO School in Mathare to paint the new teacher workroom that was started last week. In addition, the crew painted two more classrooms and three blackboards. These rooms look bright and shiny and complement the beautiful new block of rooms supplied by the Chinese government. The new rooms are innovative in design; they were shipped in a big container and the rooms are all the size of shipping containers. A big crane lifted the structures in place and then, by pulling on a central hook, popped the rooms into place (almost as if they were inflated, complete with big windows and doors). It's pretty amazing and the new spaces are full of light. While at MCEDO for the day, we also made plans to refurbish and invigorate the school library. This will be a new Freedom Through Learning project and we're pretty excited about this new initiative.

Building a teacher workroom in Mathare...

Brian's ISK Under Construction club was busy on Saturday at the MCEDO School in Mathare. The crew built a foundation for a new teacher workroom at the school and will go back next week for a painting extravaganza. This school is a really special one and we've partnered with teachers there for almost 18 months in building a science lab for the high school students with Freedom Through Learning. This year, we have some additional Freedom Through Learning MCEDO projects that will be pretty exciting. It's awesome to see Brian's student crew join in and help the educators at MCEDO do their job in an even more efficient and effective way.

Gifts from our birdies...

Our trio of cluckers (Mrs. Cluckers, Miss Cluckers and Lady Gaga) keep us entertained every day with their shenanigans in the yard and their quirky chicken behaviour. Just yesterday we saw Gaga catch a praying mantis and gobble it down and, at the moment, all three are sitting underneath our patio table, preening and cooing. Yesterday all three chickens managed to give us a gift of an egg, as well. They usually don't lay all at the same time, so finding three eggs in the box was a special treat. 

Brian's homemade kimchi...

It's time for kimchi again! Last weekend, Brian bought all of the ingredients to make a whopping batch of kimchi and this weekend we are enjoying the fruit of his labour. We are eating kimchi with almost everything, and on Saturday night Brian made a delicious kimchi chigae. It could have rivalled the chigae made by ajumas in restaurants all over the Korean peninsula. Yum!

Celebrating literature with Wole Soyinka...

Africa's first Nobel laureate for literature, Nigerian author Wole Soyinka, came to Nairobi this weekend for the Storymoja literature festival. We took a group of lovely students to hear Soyinka's address on Saturday and it was such a treat to hear this famous author speak about peace and politics. He used the motif of a tree (in honour of Wangari Maathai) to frame his stories and ideas, and paid tribute to Kofi Awoonor, the Ghanian poet who was killed one year ago at Westgate while he was here to speak at Storymoja. It was a moving address and left us all thinking deeply about the effects of terrorism and how we can respond. 

Nesting sunbirds at school...

Just outside my classroom, on the second floor of the high school, a beautiful pair of bronze sunbirds have built a tiny nest. It is high up in some type of succulent/cactus plant and perfectly in line, visually, with the second-floor walkway. I can't wait to see the baby sunbirds emerge. 

Wildebeest migration in the Mara...

After living here for five years, we finally got around to going to the Mara during the season of the wildebeest migration. There were so many wildebeest! We were lucky enough to catch a small crossing of the Mara river, and we also saw so many cats and other animals. We met a lovely couple from Mexico and spent our time out on safari with them (Jack and Terri) and our driver/guide Protus. It was a fabulous weekend and a beautiful reminder of the splendour of nature and God's creative hand.