Home at Last

I am finally back in the US of A. 

My flights home went well, I have been busy like a mad person since I got back. 

Thursday I came home to my entire family, Loriann, Sarah, and Cody. It was wonderful. We had the best lasagna I have had in the last 5 months. And....DR. PEPPER! Delicious!

Friday was spent running errands. I was reminded how much I love Texas and about all of the in your face TX stuff that is out there. I picked up Skylar from daycare and she gave me a typical kids say the darndest things... "Hey Cathy-guess what!-There was a brown girl at daycare today ....but she wasn't from Africa."

Texas display at Walmart

Saturday Cody and I went up to T Bar M Camp Travis and saw some of my old campers and our friends. It was SO great and I miss camp so much. But it was a little bit weird to be on the other side of camp (more of the parent side). We got to hang out with some of my friends from SACS at the Goudge's lake house which is like a summer tradition for us. It was a GREAT day. 

Saturday was also a big day in the Bean family because Skylar lost her first tooth!! She was so excited she carried it around with her everywhere.

Skylar's first lost tooth!

Sunday Cody went back to Dallas. My family and I celebrated my dad's birthday and father's day. We had a great afternoon with the family hanging out and eating cake. And we made homemade ice cream!! YUM!

Monday morning mom and I packed up my car (mattress and all) and I went to lunch with Abbey then started my trek up to Dallas. I beat the traffic and made it into Dallas just in time for Cody to come help me unload my car as he got off work. 

My full car including my queen sized mattress

I am living in a town home that is pretty new and absolutely beautiful. I love having a garage I can park my car in every night. It's night and day from where I was staying in Arusha...I have a big, huge couch and a comfy mattress and comforter. I feel so spoiled.

Tuesday was spent running errands, getting groceries, and meeting my new bosses. 

Wednesday was my first day at work at LibertyLinked which is a grassroots site which provides networking tools and a place of community for conservatives to get active and do something about the government. It is a great place for discussion and gives you the opportunity to see all of the political events that will be occurring--all organizations-- all on one page. Check it out and join! --Really, do it.

Thursday and Friday was work, work, work. Friday night Cody, Mitch, and I babysat which was ... let's just say.. full of laughs. 

Saturday Cody and I went garage sale hunting and I found some cool mason jars which are now my drinking glasses. I also found great old books and a cute dresser! I need to repaint and give it new hardware. Cody had a great find and got a $150 racket for 5 bucks. He was on top of the world. 

My new dresser! It was 60 bucks -- i love the old timey look to it

Sunday I got to go to the RANGERS GAME! It was my first Rangers game and one of the things I really wanted to do while I was here. Even though we lost and it was incredibly hot, it was really fun! Thanks Chris and Rachel!

After my first Rangers Game which was a VERY hot and sunny afternoon.

We also drove by the billboard Cody created at The Richards Group for Patron congratulating the Mavs win. For all the Dallas people it on the Tollway at I35. (He came up with the tag line) I'm so excited for him!

"A basketball comeback five years in the making. Perfect." GOOD JOB CODY!!!

Monday was a really cool day at work. I had the opportunity to attend a meeting recapping the 82nd legislature that was held by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. It was a very informative meeting. Then I went along for the ride and ended up at David Barton's personal office. If you don't know who he is, click HERE because you need to learn. He wasn't there but my two bosses, a fellow grassroots activist from FL, another grassroots activist from the DFW area, myself, and one of David Barton's historians got to spend some time with his personal collection of over 100,000 historical artifacts. The room we were in just smelled full of history and age, it was beautiful. The historian, Tim, gave us tons of information and let us have some hands on learning with Bibles, documents, and letters from the late 1700s. We were also able to handle some of the weapons from war that were used in the 1770s. This experience was absolutely amazing to me and I am so thankful for the opportunity.

Today was another busy day at the office. We were able to attend another meeting, this one held by Americans for Prosperity and America's Next Impact about the need for reform in higher education and the problem with tenure. Did you know most college grads graduate with at least $20,000 in debt? Also, the debt accumulated through college loans is $829.785 BILLION. Pretty scary, right? 

I have been trying to learn how to play tennis in my free time with Cody and his roommate, Mitch. I definitely need more practice. 

My adjustment process is still something I am dealing with daily. I have times where Swahili is the first response that comes to mind. Times where I am confused about what side of the road to drive on. Times when I have no idea about the conversation of the new (or old) movies, TV shows, and music that is all the rage right now. I have moments where I just want to cry (or have cried) because I don't know when I will be going back and I miss the simplicity and community of the East African lifestyle. Times when I forget that I can drink water out of the sink or pet a dog I see. Times when I get so excited because of grapes, Icees, mac and cheese, ice cream, couches, comforters, Reeses cups, hot/full pressure showers, salad, LUNCH MEAT, and carrying a sweater with me at all times. I have been finding JOY in a lot of little things lately.

All in all, I have not had time to sit down and dwell on my last few months. It won't be for a couple more weeks till that happens, but I suppose it is better than sitting and moping all the time. 

I cannot thank you enough for all of your prayers, thoughts, and kind words that have given me courage, encouragement, and endurance over the last couple of months. I am going to try to keep blogging... at least for a while. So if you want to keep reading, add me to your RSS feed or keep checking my blog! 

Memaliza

Today I am getting on the plane and flying to Nairobi, Amsterdam, Detroit, and then TEXAS! Yesterday was my last day at Mbewau and my last full day in Africa. I don't feel like today I am actually leaving and going home but instead just traveling to another city over here and staying there for longer. Please pray with me for safe travels and everything to be on time and smooth.

We were blessed to have the Hallmark team come and spend the day at Mbewau and be blessed by the beautiful children. They received a big welcome ceremony along with mandazi and chai. The team split up amongst the playground, classrooms, and music to interact with the kids and participate with them. 

I was able to go back to where Mary lives and say goodbye to her and the Kopo family. I brought my computer to show pictures from 2008, 2009, and since I have been here to Mary, Leena Kopo, Mary's husband, and about 10 other people who just kept trickling. It was so fun to have them sit in a huddle behind my computer and talk about who was in the picture and look at baby Mercy when she was learning how to walk and a picture of Lamech on Leena's back. The two women walked me back to the school which I'm sure was a funny sight. I was carrying baby Jane on my back in a kanga and Leena was carrying my big black backpack with a kanga around her head and as a skirt. When we passed people they told them I was their sister. 

The Kopo kids : Mercy, Lamech, Anna, baby Jane (  Frances was playing a game) and the oldest is at a different school for older kids

All of us! 

plus Mary!

How toilets are built.... this is going down across the street

I loved being able to joke around and interact with the staff there at Mbewau and talk about how far the school has come. At the end of the chapel program that was put on for our guests, Pastor Nzaro looked at me and asked, "Do you remember day 1? Because I do." I gave him a big hug with tears rolling down my face. 

Then the Hallmark team went to play a volleyball game with Rama's team he has created as a ministry for the church to young men. The team called Mbewau Magic is undefeated and go around playing other volleyball teams in the area. And of course they beat the Hallmark team in all 3 games and the games weren't close competition! It was a hoot. I stood there watching and cheering while playing with Dorkas, Nzaro's daughter Esther, and holding Dorkas' brother. 

Saying goodbye's were quite hard as this symbolized the end of my time here and the relationships I have made and only had grow closer through the years and even more so in the last few months. I am so thankful for all of the opportunities and experiences I have had. I hope to keep my blog going for a while longer, but from Africa I am signing out! 

Tutuonana East Africa, nitarudi!

The New and Improved MbeWOW!

 And my pride and joy.... the BABY CLASS!! Everything is made from shapes, numbers, and letters so the teacher can use the wall decorations for teaching!

Bado

As my last few days here are quickly coming to an end, I have truly enjoyed my time I have spent with my friends here in Mombasa. I have been slowly coming back to civilization as Mombasa is much more like America than Arusha. 

I spent a whole morning with my dear friend Mary at her house with the other mama’s and babies while all the kids were at school. They made chai so we could all drink and eat bread together because ...you always feed a guest... anytime and anyone. While the chai was being made I just walked around the village as though I was at home. I would pop in and out of houses (mud huts) and have little conversations with the families. I met another Kadzo and her children which was naturally followed by the joke that I am really the baby’s mom because my name is Kadzo also. Even though there were three different languages going on (English, Swahili, and Giriama) I felt right at home. I know enough Swahili that I can get by on my own and be able to carry on conversations which made my visit so much more meaningful. I was able to love on Mercy and her little sister, maybe the happiest baby ever, baby Jane. We had a small photo shoot with Mary and her husband because she asked me to come and bring my camera so we could take pictures. We also took pictures with the babies and with the other women. On our way back I stopped and tried my hand at hoeing a field of one of her friends...let's just say I need some practice. I can’t explain my connection or my deep compassion for her along with many of these dear friends of mine out here, but it is there and it is deep. 

The village area Mary and Jackson and Mercy live. It is a common middle area whit huts surrounding it on all sides.

Mary, she is TINY! She is about 44 ...I think is what she said.

 Sunday afternoon, Chris and I were able to drive out to Richard’s house and visit him and his family again. Baby Lisa was still afraid of us mzungus but she let me hold her for a while with out crying. But little Elijah I adore. I cannot express to you how much I love this little boy! As soon as I got there, little children were yelling “mzungu, mzungu!” and so I yelled “mtoto, mtoto!” (child) and as soon as Elijah heard my voice he runs out the door with the biggest smile on his face and into my arms. We sat on the couch talking and laughing and tickling and letting everyone know that he knew my name and where I was. I adore this family and feel so incredibly blessed to be able to call them my friends. Richard and Pauline have one of the best marriages I have seen on the African side. They have a beautiful family. So this is the conclusion we came to.... since I can’t take Elijah home with me, if my first born is a boy then he can come over and marry baby Lisa when they grow up and we can just be one big family, or we can trade kids. 

Elijah, me, Lisa, Richard

You can't not love him

Then today was spent preparing Mbewau for our guests from Hallmark Church in Ft. Worth who will be out at school all day long. They brought sharp new embroidery polos for all of the staff which I handed out today so they would look their best tomorrow. I also spent some time trying to finish out the shoe fitting process which we are ALMOST done with, but not yet. I would like all of you sports people out there who use fields with lines on them to appreciate the wheelbarrow carts that roll the chalk lines on the dirt for you because today Rama, Chris, and Jackson spent a few hours bent over sprinkling the chalk lines by hand. 

In my attempt to take a picture of the all of the children from my favorite family I was able to go out and see Mary again. Today she took me to her shamba which is a farm like area where she grows crops- a square area about 10 yards wide. On our way out there she told every one we saw that we were going to see her shamba. She was quite proud as we walked through the villages holding hands to show off her work. She grows corn in a small square area with sand like dirt which is a plot in a row of about 5 other shambas all growing corn. We walked around the entire perimeter and she showed it off to me telling me that corn was there and a big mango tree was here and so and so’s house is over there....then we we reached the area with her biggest corn she asked me to take a picture so I could show all of you how big her corn is. So she ran over and stood in the corn so it would measure against her. I am going back tomorrow to say goodbye and give her pictures of me and my family that she has asked for. 

Mary and one side of her shamba

Us showing how tall the corn is. A girl took this picture that had never held a camera before and wasn't quite sure about the whole thing.

Pictures of baby Morris at 10 days old!!!

Lucy and baby Morris at 10 days on his coming out party

Lucy and her mom. This was his first day out of the hut

Lucy, Morris, and Lucy's husband's mom

To Clean A Toilet

You might be wondering if this is going to be a post about how to clean a toilet or a story about me cleaning a toilet, don't worry it will be none of the such but I will share a story about a Kenyan woman who is a friend of mine who says "...if only to clean toilets."

We have had such a busy week! Friday we went to Mbewau and handed out new shoes to all 172 students. These shoes were handmade (which means durable) and from REAL leather! Almost all the children received shoes but some are still waiting due to wrong sizes. This was a timely process as we had to lace up all the boys shoes, name and sort all of the shoes, and then bring in each child and try the shoe on. If the shoe didn't fit then we would have the child wait and see what shoes we could move around or switch.

Some of the 1st year Kindergarteners showing off their new shoes!
Dorcas, the one in the middle has a little joke that EVERY time she sees me she points her finger at me and says "wewe!" which simply means "YOU!" Considering she is 5, I think it's funny that we have an inside joke and it brightens up my day tremendously.

Christine (the mom) and Lydia (her daughter in the middle). Everyday she sees me she yells "Kadzo! Habari?" and then we continue to have a conversation by yelling through the trees to greet each other. We have been friends since my first trip in '08

This little girl is in the process of getting her hair done.

Saturday we attempted to do some bush medicine with the nurses that are here, but the rains prevented that from happening very long. We finished around noon and went to check in on Lucy, one of the teacher assistants who was pregnant when I was here over spring break. Lucy is this amazingly sweet woman who is full of joy and very shy until you get to know her. I was SO incredibly excited for her because she had a baby boy (her second child, first boy) on Wednesday and both mommy and baby are back home and doing so well.  Lucy was so sweet as she almost was mad at me because I had forgotten to give her my number which meant she wasn't able to call me when the baby was born. I am so incredibly happy for her and so thankful that everyone is doing more than well. Please pray for quick healing for her and health for this baby.

My new friend, she is 32 and pregnant with baby number NINE! She was so funny and so embarrassed when I kept telling her congratulations and touching her belly. Don't her eyes and smile just make you want to be her friend?

Brand new baby Morris, Me, and now mother of 2, Lucy! She is a beautiful mom and so blessed with this new baby!

 Sunday we went out to Maasai Corner (REAL4Christ's other location) and attended church and held a small medical clinic. They saw about 100 people as I took names, ages, and problems and handed out clothes to all the children. The people never cease to blow me away with their genuine hearts and ability to love. We saw lots of pregnant mom's (on baby number 4+), lots of kids with worms, lots of arthritis, and some cases of major sicknesses. Most of this is due to the fact that all these people are currently drinking water from a dirty swampy pond because the borehole has broken and funds are trying to be raised to fix it.

Where church is held/the waiting area on the left of the car and then the medical clinic on the right.

Natasha attending to one of the boys of the family

Monday I had the privelge of helping my friend Kristen do computer entries on her website for Operation Give Hope (http://operationgivehope.org/).

As I started off, I was able to sit down today and have a very enlightening discussion with one of my Kenyan friends. I am telling you this story not because I want you to have pity on her but because I respect her and I am proud of her. She is a mother of 2 and she cleans houses while her husband works as a security guard.  She was telling me, like most East African's have, about how much she desires to go to America to work. We talked about how she needs to get a visa and then buy the tickets and how it can be a very expensive and long journey. She told me she understood and wanted to come and work in the States for 4 years. I asked about her kids and she said her husband would be able to take care of them. Then I asked her why she wanted to go and she said, "You know Cathy, you have seen, life is very hard here in Kenya and I want to make money for my kids. Even if all I do is only to clean toilets." Wow. Can you imagine someone saying that to you? She is ready to come to America, to this exciting but scary new place for 4 years all alone even to just clean toilets so she can make money for her children's future. She earns about $40-45 a month and her husband earns the same, and that is a pretty decent income for a family. Although after taking out the money for rent, money for her daughters education (the other child isn't in school yet), and paying some money to her widowed mother, her family is left with about $20 for the month for food, transportation, and any other necessities including medical problems or whatnot. That is 20 out of 80-90. A bag of flower is costing about 2 bucks which will last the family maybe one or two meals (for the cheap ugali). She has not been eating lunch at work because she has to buy lunch or bring something to make and that has even become too expensive so a few slices of bread and a soda suffice until her late dinner.

Because they are so tight on money, she walks to work each day. She leaves her house at 6AM and arrives to work at 7:30AM. She then leaves work at 4 and get's home at 5:30PM, tends to the children, and they all eat dinner around 8:30PM. Once again, can you imagine walking an hour and a half to work and then doing it again that same day? A lot of us wouldn't think it was worth it, but she sacrifices herself for the betterment of her children because if she didn't have this job she most likely wouldn't have any other.

Mama (the woman who REAL4Christ bought the Maasai Corner land from). She is in her late 70s and a typical opinionated grandma. She is hilarious and I loved spending time with her all afternoon and joking around with her. She made me miss my friends at Bluebonnet Assisted Living even more!

Finished in Tanzania

Well, I am officially moved out of Tanzania. And have been in Kenya since Saturday night.

Leaving was rough. I spent my last full day in Tanzania with Mama Omega from the peanut butter shop. Friday was her day to take all of the jarred pb to Moshi (the city at the base of Kilimanjaro) to sell them to a whole sale shop who then sold them out to the smaller shops. Apparently this happens once every two weeks and it is an all day affair.

I reached their house around 9:30 AM to find Rosie at the shop helping the bicycle taxi load the boxes of pb. I then went down to Victoria's house where Mama Omega and I had bananas, chai, and chapati. At 10 o'clock on the dot we headed down to the road where the bicycle taxi man had been dropping off the loads of pb (he took about 3 or 4 trips walking the bike down because it was too heavy then walking it back up because it was too steep). At the road with the boxes was Nye, we greeted her and then the bus came and we loaded everything up. The bus is basically a bigger daladala. It is set up to carry about 24 people--2 seats on the left and 1 seat on the right but because this is africa that isn't really how it worked. The jump seat that is in the middle of those which is made for a small bottom was used to seat two people so each row had 5 people then people also stood at the front when all the rows filled up.

About an hour and a half later we arrived in Moshi where we loaded all the boxes (16 boxes x 32 jars a box) into a taxi who took us to the whole store (which is just a little store like all the rest). We dropped them off then walked down the street and hopped on a daladala, I had no idea what the plan was at this point but I trusted whatever Mama Omega did (she saw me as her child and introduced me as her first born to the people we did business with).  Next thing I know we are getting off and walking through corn fields. As we walk she explains that we are at her family's house for lunch as she points out who lives where. I met her brother (who is one of the tallest African's I have met) and her sister in law married to another brother. They fed me ugali and these tiny fish. Her brother was an educator for 30 years and was encouraging my future in education.

After lunch we got back on the daladala went back to the shop, picked up the money for the peanut butter, walked to the bus stop, and finally hopped on a bus to go back home. It was a long day full of swahili (no Engilsh) and learning new things while having the pride of walking around like a Tanzanian local would in the parts that aren't really the tourist areas. I blended in, as much as I could, considering I am a mzungu after all.

Our driver, Kessey, stopped by just to tell me goodbye! I am so glad I was able to see him again before I left. 

I was extremely touched by our house ladies Skollar and Naomi who cried when I told them goodbye and stood at the door waving till my car left the house. They are such sweet women who love their kids and have a passion for the Lord.

In Mombasa with Chris and Lisa Moore (REAL4Christ) I have made new friends with two other ladies who are here for medical missions as they are newly certified RN's! They are a blast and I am loving my time with them.

This poor guy, Lamech (age 3-4) got his leg all chomped up in the bicycle-- this is the week later and much healing has occurred picture

Becky & Diana (she is her sponsor!) Diana was adorable when she found out Becky was her sponsor

Sunday and Monday were medical days out at Mbewau. Sunday was for the village people and families and Monday was followed by all 172 check ups and physicals for each of the students giving a grand total of over 200 people in 2 days.

Tuesday was spent learning and donating as we were able to go to this amazingly nice and well funded hospital (built by money from Alicia Keys) which does a lot of work in the HIV/AIDS community. Their program gives free medical care and support to people with HIV/AIDS and do community outreach. If you want more info on it, google Bomu Medical Center or Hospital in Mombasa. We then went to a physical therapy clinic/hospital where patients live and are being treated and helped with different kinds of disabilities including mental health, rehab from surgery or injury, mis-grown body parts, etc. Adult and children's diapers were donated and given to this organization who was extremely grateful. The administrator could have cried she was so overwhelmed at how God had provided for her and how this was what she had been asking her funders to allow her to buy. We ended the day with a visit to the not so great Coast General Hospital (remember the story about the man who got hit with the machete). We wanted to bring the nurses to see what a government hospital was like and let me tell you, it was no better than the first time. By the way, the man who was attacked is now home and speaking a few words and walking but having a very hard time doing much else.

Bomu Hospital

Their small shop at the hospital which went along with the theme of how important condoms are to prevent HIV  because they were in EVERY room we went into

At the physical therapy ward-- the little boy Becky is holding was one of the happiest children I have ever met and he didn't have half of a leg and had some major problems with the other along with a scar from his skull down his back from surgery.

And today we repainted the baby class. Pictures will be coming next week after a team from the Ft. Worth area gets to see them in person first. Hello Hallmark, I am looking forward to meeting you!

I am so happy to be back again to these people that I call family. These Kenyan's who I love and respect. A big praise is that Jackson, one of my favorite men here and very important person at Mbewau, is finally in the process of building his own house instead of sleeping on the floor in his brother's mud hut. Although his house will similarly be a mud home, it has a sheet metal roof and it's fairly large with three rooms. I am SO incredibly excited for him.

I will try to keep you updated as the weeks are dwindling. I'm really starting to crave Chick-Fil-A and Dr. Pepper so anyone who is reading this and eating it, I hope you stop eating and say a little thank you to the Big Guy Up there for that tasty food and then maybe save a bite for me :).

I'm ready for an adventure!

Joyfully His,
Cathy