Nairobi!

Last Tuesday we took a bus down to Kampala and then hopped on an overnight bus to Nairobi, Kenya! Our Ugandan visas were about to expire, and after much asking around, we concluded that the easiest way to extend a visa is to leave the country and then come back in! So we decided to make a mini-vacation of it.

We got to Nairobi around 5:30am, exhausted and groggy. We met a wonderful lady named Norah on our bus, and she helped us SO much by making sure we were safe and that our lodge shuttle arrived! We're thankful for her.

The place we stayed was called Heart Lodge, and it was overwhelmingly beautiful and comfortable! Hot showers and clean floors! It even had little bushes in the shapes of hearts...


How cute.

So, I'll divide this Kenya trip into days! Here we go!

Day 1 (17 November):

Unfortunately, Collin wasn't feeling well so he just stayed at the lodge and slept all day... which is probably best. So, me, Suzie, Leilah, and Erin were taken by our taxi driver to a huge mall... it definitely rivaled the nicest malls that I've seen in America. Talk about culture shock... what a world of difference from the mud huts we've grown accustomed to. The food court probably had every type of cuisine you could ever want, and the mall had multiple levels full of stores and banks and kiosks. We didn't stay long- just enough time to exchange some money, buy an issue of Newsweek magazine, and eat some hummus and pita!

After the mall, we took the cab to the giraffe feeding center! Probably one of the most tourist-y things I've ever done while traveling, honestly. But it was so fun! We fed giraffes right out of our hands and enjoyed a Stoney afterwards... my favorite African soda. It's like a spicy ginger ale!


It was a pretty great day and we slept SUPER well that night.

Day 2 (18 November):

Collin was much better, and we were happy to be back together as a team again. Breakfast at the lodge was the best thing about Kenya, I think. Seriously. Scrambled eggs, crepes, WHOLE WHEAT TOAST!, and fresh fruit! We felt like kings and queens. While eating, we met a couple, Pat and Don, staying at Heart Lodge as well. We learned that they regularly travel to Kenya, and spend their time there building libraries and doing work in various communities getting clean water. Very cool. We asked them for tips on what we could do in the city on a low budget, and after thinking for a few minutes, they offered to let us use their hired van for the day! They also basically made our itinerary for us for the day.

First, we went to see a ministry called WEEP. They're located in Kibera, the largest slum in East Africa.

WEEP takes in women who are HIV+ and teaches them life skills, like sewing and bead work. Many of these women are shunned in the community in Kibera... for instance, one woman, Lillian, was forced out of the home that she lived in with her brother. When he learned of her HIV status, he locked the door and said he wanted her and her child gone for good. She ended up on the streets, begging. Neighbors wouldn't even give her water because they fear people with HIV. Thankfully she found WEEP... now, she is healthy because she is taking the ARV pills, and she knows how to sew! She is making an income that is supporting her and her child. The people in the community no longer look at her differently because you can't even tell she's sick. Incredible.
This is Gladys on the left, the woman who started WEEP and cares for the women who come. On the right is Evelin, a woman who has been with WEEP for two years now (since the start). She's full of joy and life, and tells her story without hesitation. They're standing at a table full of crafts (necklaces, bracelets, rings, skirts, tablecloths) that the WEEP women made!

WEEP is great because it gives the women a community to share stories and tears and laughter. They all understand what it's like to be outcasts, and they all understand the feeling immense joy when they are accepted as they walk around Kibera.

After visiting Kibera, we went to a game reserve and had another tourist adventure... a safari walk! Really it was kind of just a glorified zoo... we walked on a raised walkway and looked at animals who were in cages. It was a beautiful landscape though, and we enjoyed just hanging out and walking around.

For dinner, we went to the Trattoria at the suggestion of Pat and Don. It was some of the best Italian food I've ever had! Maybe I'm just deprived of a variety of flavors and textures, but seriously... it was definitely a highlight of the Kenya vacation. I even got mint chocolate chip gelato for dessert! What a treat!

Day 3 (19 November):

We went to a park in downtown Nairobi and just hung out all day before leaving. Sitting the park was nice and very relaxing... we walked to a nearby grocery store and got bread and cheese and carrots. The perfect picnic!

After eating, we explored the city a little bit. We got ice cream and had no trouble finishing off the entire tub...

Then, we headed to the bus station (braved the worst traffic jams I've ever seen), and were headed home to Uganda.

All-in-all, it was a great vacation! We enjoyed our time but were so happy to be back home with the kids. Hugging them all when we got back was wonderful... I'm going to miss them so much.

Look forward to another potential photo blog coming soon... we're going to celebrate Thanksgiving as best we can tomorrow, so I'll be sure to tell you all about it.

Thanks for reading! I love you all. -Brynn

Today.

"Morning by morning, new mercies I see."

I want that to be my song each day when I awake.
How beautiful is the promise of each new day!
I am not promised tomorrow, but I woke up today.

I have today.

What a blessing it is that I can see shapes and colors.
The green blades of grass, tall and slender.
The wispy white clouds against the perfectly blue sky.
The streams of golden light as the sun gets higher and higher.
The tiny drops of dew on every leaf.
The blue-bellied bird pecking the dark brown soil.

What a blessing it is that I can hear the sounds that morning brings.
Kids chattering away, or singing as they go about their chores.
Ravens cawing from high perches.
Little birds chirping back and forth.
The neighbor's cows mooing.
Empty jerrycans thumping together.
That low buzz that tells me the world is waking up.

Today I will praise Your name for every little thing I see or hear or do, because without You, I wouldn't have today.

Today I will love others above myself and serve without wanting return.

Today I will thank You as I walk, because I You have given me legs that work.

Today I will smile in the good times, and when I'm sad, I will cry and ask for Your comfort.

Today I'll tell people that I love them, because I don't say that often enough.

Today I will listen when people talk and make time for conversation.

Today I will be productive, but I'll also make time for play and rest.

Thank You for today.
Thank You for waking me up this morning.

Morning by morning, new mercies I see.

Amen.

Not For Sale

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men [and women] do nothing." -Edmund Burke

The horrors I'm learning about...

Twenty-seven million slaves exist in our world today.

I don't know about you, but the word "slave" makes me a little bit uncomfortable. Slavery doesn't exist any more, I'd like to think. Abraham Lincoln signed the papers 160 years ago, and slavery become illegal. There are no more slaves...

But there are. There are sex slaves. There are slaves forced to fight and kill. There are slaves forced to work long hours for a wage far below the legal minimum. There are slaves trafficked across international borders to a country where they don't know anyone and can't speak the language. Slaves who are told that if they try to escape, they will be found, and they will suffer.

People bought by other people. People "owned" by other people.

That makes me even more uncomfortable. That makes me mad.

Slavery today is much much different than it was 160 years ago... back then, slaves were a long-term investment. Slave owners had a reason to keep the slave alive. I'm not saying conditions were any better for slaves then than they are for slaves now, but slaves today are disposable. Once a slave exhausts his or her usefulness, a slave owner can easily get another one at no great expense. There's no reason to treat them well, honestly.

In Cambodia alone, there are currently 30,000 children exploited in the sex trade. And that's just one small country. What have we done about this?

The kids I'm spending time with every day here in Uganda were also abducted to be slaves. Eighty percent of the LRA ranks are child abductees; boys forced to smash their own brother's head with an ax, or girls starved to death by their rebel leader until they give in and have sex with him. And what do we do?

Nothing. We do nothing. What if it was your own child, stolen from your home and forced to perform unimaginable "duties"? What if it was your own child, starving and crying and cold? What if it was your own child dying?

"To say that the poor have rights means to accept that street children hold the exact same value as our own children. Our society is not yet ready to affirm this truth." -Lucy Borja

Again I ask, what have we done about this injustice? We haven't even tried to learn about it, because it's uncomfortable.

Well, perhaps if the abductors were stealing oil rather than children, the world would pay more attention.

It's foolish to assume that this is only taking place in third-world countries like Cambodia and Uganda. Yes, the majority of trafficked people come from impoverished places, but did you know that 75% of all New York apparel-manufacturing firms are sweatshops, using forced labor or paying workers below minimum wage? Foreigners are trafficked to the United States from at least 35 countries.

I had no idea. I can honestly say I didn't know the statistics were that high. But now that I know, I promise you and I promise those slaves that I'll be doing my research before I buy my clothes next time.

Slavery could be taking place in a hotel you stayed in last month, or the nail salon you went to last week, or in the karaoke bar you drove past last night. I wouldn't be surprised. And now it's a whole lot closer than you thought, and now you could reasonably do something about it because it's close to home. I said it last blog post and I'll say it again... we must refuse to accept a world where one individual can be held the property of another.

It's much easier to ignore the injustices in the world than it is to take a stand. To take a stand would mean making some sacrificial personal choices. But I encourage you to try. The pursuit of justice inevitably creates a social legacy.

I am mad about this right now. I apologize if this post sounds judgmental. I'm mad about injustice, especially when we can do something about it... especially when I can do something about it. I just read a book called "Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade- and How We Can Fight It" by David Batstone. As the title suggests, it brings to light much about what is currently going on in the world in regards to trafficking. It's where I got the information I just wrote about. I can't stop thinking about it, and about what we can do.

I'm so thankful that all of this will pass away one day. Broken political systems, inequality, nationality, slavery, all of it. Love will win the end. Why don't we act like it?

A different normal.

I realized recently that our days here are dwindling. It's November already... how did that happen?

Sometimes it feels like I'm going to go back home after a long glorified summer vacation. I'll get a new haircut and start school in the fall, and the weather will gradually get colder, and my friends will have stories of late summer nights and sipping lemonade by pool sides and summer flings, but overall not much will have changed and life will go back to the normal routine.

Then I look at the calendar I sketched into the pages of my notebook. It's November 3rd.

In a way, I will be returning home after a long glorified summer vacation. Its hot here... that's like summer. But I'll step off the plane and the biting winter temperatures will surely snap me out of summer mode. The stories I hear will be about sleepless homework-filled nights, and sipping hot cocoa around a fireplace, and the lack of social life that everyone has endured, and everything will have changed, and I won't go back to the normal routine.

I can't go back the normal routine. Maybe that's a better way of putting it. I can't, and I won't.

I can't go back to the normal routine because of Prossy. I can't spend money the way I did, because Prossy needs a sponsor to go to secondary school. She is just finishing up primary school, and she will begin secondary in February if she has the funds. Secondary school costs more than primary school by a fair amount. If she doesn't have the funds, it's likely that she will get married within the next couple years, because it's easier and then her guardian doesn't have to support her any longer. She's twelve years old. She wants to be a lawyer. What if I gave up buying new clothes every so often so that Prossy can go to secondary school? What if we all sacrificed money so that these children can have bright futures?

I can't go back to the normal routine because of Gloria. She's taught me to laugh at everything. To find joy in each day. To do something when bored. This girl is sassy but so easy to get along with; she simply loves life. Small annoyances or things that frustrate me each day are so petty, and I want to learn to look past them to see beauty and joy in everything. How can I go back to the normal routine after meeting Gloria, who sings louder, climbs trees higher, and smiles bigger than anyone?

I can't go back to normal routine because of Norbert. Rebel soldiers came to this boy's home when he was around eight years old. They forced him to kill his parents, cut them into pieces, boil them over a fire, and eat them. Norbert's story is unbelievable and makes your heart drop to your stomach, but now, it's a story of resilience and healing... today, even though he is shy, he plays and is a kid again. He smiles and laughs. He is gentle and loving. Remembering Norbert's story convinces me to come back to Africa. There are twenty-seven million slaves in our world today. This includes the Ugandan child soldiers forced to fight. I can't go back to the normal routine, because stories like Norbert's can't happen anymore. We MUST refuse to accept a world where a person is held as the "property" of another person, forced to do unthinkable things.



I can't go back to the normal routine because of baby Esther. When she sprints into my arms after I haven't seen her for two days, the entire world melts away and that's all that matters. This baby girl's mother, like Prossy, was extremely intelligent and passed her primary school exams with flying colors. Because she didn't have enough money for secondary school, she was married at age fifteen to a man much older. She's happy and finds joy in life, but wants her daughter to be able to go to school. She wants to give baby Esther the opportunity she didn't have. In my normal routine, I never thought about situations like this. It was easier to ignore injustice when it didn't have a face. But now injustice could be Esther being married in 14 years, simply because she doesn't have school fees. I can't go back to the normal routine and not think about this. I must do what I can to change this, not only for Esther, but for children in Milwaukee as well.

My time here in Africa is not just a long glorified summer vacation. In these four months, I'm living a lifetime of stories and hugs and smiles and tears. And when I go home, my routine can't be what was normal. Normal has to be different. Maybe we can do it together, all of us. Maybe we can make a different normal... one where poor children can go to school. One where adults and kids alike can find joy in the simple things and laugh simply because life is good. Maybe it's idealistic, but I am convinced, after being here and seeing these kids, that it's completely realistic. Let's try.