Kenya - Visiting Ali in her town, Amagoro

Ali and Amy taking the Easy Coach halfway across Kenya.

 The Boda Bodas that hauled our luggage to Ali's house.

Ali lives in the left half of the house.

Today, we woke up and had breakfast (chocolate cereal!) and went with Ali to her school. She teaches a an all girls secondary school. We got introduced to all the students and it was so funny, as you could hear the classroom get loud with anticipation as we approached them. They were all so happy to meet Ali's sister.

They have 1 white board in her school.. in the computer room (which they are also lucky to have). They have spotty internet here too. See how happy she is about the whiteboard?

Ali & me outside the teachers room.

Ali didn't have a lot to do at school today, so we went to Malaba to the market. We took matatu to get there, which is a small van we all were sardined into. 18 people in a van. Yeah, it was an experience. Cheap travel, but interesting. Ali thought it was so funny that I chose to sit on Amy's lab instead of the 'normal' 4 people across the row of seats.

We had some fantastic pineapple at the market for 10 shillings.

I picked up a ring so my naked ring finger would feel less so. Malaba is right on the Uganda boarder, and I was actually able to take a picture of the mountain Glen (from my church) was on a mission trip by. Amy by the border crossing...

We bought a few fruits (which were absolutly fresh and delish here) and then hopped the matatu back to Amagoro.

Seeing the women over there walk with huge amounts of stuff on their heads always amazed me.

We picked up a few more things on our way back to school at the super market. Ali finished her lesson plan and we ate lunch at the school - beans and maize.

She then taught her lesson, using the computer room. Amy learned how to wash her clothes by hand. And she apparently got way to much sun while we were out and about in Malaba. We forgot to put sunscreen on this morning.

Ali hadn't had water for awhile due to lack of rain, but it finally came back this afternoon, so Ali and Amy took cold showers (there is no water heater in her house). We made supper on a traditional jiko, which is run on charcoal.

Since there are no screens on windows here and it is too hot to close them, the bugs come in at night, attracted to the light. (Especially the June bugs - ewww). We then played cards until bed.

We woke up a little later today & Ali went to school before us. We helped her fill out report cards and gave her students end of the term prizes which we brought from home. They included notebooks, pencils, sticky pads and bath items. Morning tea time brought us a new traditional Kenyan food; chai tea with maandazi (kinda like a donut).

Then we watched Ali teach a lesson and administered CATs (a test). Lunch was very traditional Kenyan food - ugali (ground and boiled maize), sucuma wiki (kale), and nyama (beef). Amy couldn't stomach it, so she didn't eat much. It was very greasy and the meat fattier than ours back home, but not unedible by any means.

Finished up done stuff at school, then home. For supper we went over to some of Ali's friends who live at the mission, Sarah and Callie. They have a few more luxuries than Ali, including a fridge, stove, and TV. Supper was noodles with a variety of sauces to choose from - peanut and beef, a veggie sauce, and a bean sauce. All if them were good. Spent the night talking about what we are going to do in Kisumu.

Good Friday. We woke up early (6am) once again, to go on a walk in Ali's village. We were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. The huts in her village and the people plowing fields with cows were framed nicely by the sunrise. It was so funny though to see the groups if kids run to the road to watch the white people walk by!

We had lunch at a restaurant in Amago. Really slow service (typical in Kenya) but amazing food! This was a delish beef strogenoff with roasted potatoes. We also got to try a couple kinds of new pop, Krest and Stoney.