Welcome Katie!

Our newest volunteer has arrived! Welcome to Kenya Katie O'Dea. I spent most of this week in Nairobi picking Katie from the airport and then showing her around. It was also my first time using the matatus there alone so of course I got on the wrong one when I first got there and ended up a a part of town that they call little Mogadishu. Luckily everything worked out and I made it to Racecourse in one piece. Anyways, Katie arrived after what was a very adventurous trip from Nigeria on Monday evening. Check out her blog (the link is on this page) for the full story. Tuesday Titus (who works for the sisters in Nairobi) took us around town. Katie and I saw "State of Play" at the movie theater in town and got fast food quality hamburgers from a chain called Steers. I think Katie was really amazed at how Western Nairobi feels. Sometimes, in the center of Nairobi town, I forget that I'm in Africa. Anyways, on Wed. I took Katie to a craft market near where the sisters live and introduced to buying touristy stuff- Kenya style. Its a little overwhelming for me still, and I've been here for almost 6 mos. In the afternoon Sr. Jane took us for lunch at the Nairobi National Park (where some baboons escapes and treated themselves to lunch from a trash can in the parking lot by our car) and then to see the dancers at Bomas of Kenya. Since I've already seen the show at Bomas, I mostly stared at the white tourists, wondering where they were from and why they were in Kenya. We came back to Malava yesterday and were treated to a ride up in the new vehicle that the sisters just bought rather than taking the bus. We had dinner with the whole community last night so Katie could meet all the sisters.
Today we had a parent meeting where I didn't do much more than read my book in the back of the room, discuss the answer to eliminating American poverty with Tom and take registration.
Last week was fairyl uneventful, but I did have the chance to go to the Kenya Music competition, district level at Sr. Beatrice's school. While we were waiting for her to get there, Tom and I wandered around and ran into Sr. Inziani with her nursery school class. They had just won first place in English and Swahili recitations so they redid them for us. Super cute...they're competing next week in Bungoma for the provincial competition. If they win then they go on to the national competition in Mombasa. Sr. Beatrice's school also walked away with two first prizes. Go Malava district!
This weekend we're going to show Katie around a little bit more to get her used to Malava and Kakamega. She'll be working at an orphanage for abused and abandoned children in Kakamega, so I'm sure she'll soon know that town than the rest of us. I hope all my Cincinnati people have fun at Paddlefest this weekend!
Look for new pictures on my picasa page soon, I'll try and post them today!