Blog 7

Blog 7
Well, this is the final one for sure, seeing as how I'm writing it from Spokane, and posting it now. This blog only covers the three days that weren't written about in Blog 6, but wow, those were some interesting days.

Okay, it's July 18th, and today is the start of our cricket teaching for the children. I actually didn't know anything about cricket until the night before, when Matthew gave me the "crash course of cricket for Christ". Quadruple C? Anyway, I was a little nervous, to tell the truth, because the kids we were "teaching" already had five days experience, compared to my zero. Well, the day started off with us buttering 32 loaves of bread (that, my friend, is a lot of bread...) for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. This took two hours or so, and I'm now proud to say that I am now a certified butter spreading expert. Anyway, we then hooked up the sawdust bags to a boda-boda, took two ourselves (remember, this is Matthew and I), and proceeded on to Temba-Temba school. Let's just say, that since it was a school day, things got awkward fast. Pretty much the whole school piled out to stared at the two wazungu, which got in the way a little bit. We did meet three people; Robert, a really great guy that I got to know over a couple days, Allen, who was some sort of coach, and another lady whose name I keep forgetting. Once again, I am HORRIBLE with names. After the people who were actually going to play got set up, Matthew conducted a series of warm-ups, designed to bring the kids back up to speed on cricket. This was also a good time for learning for me. After that, Matthew, who actually knows this game, went into a teaching session, which eventually led to a game to separate out the teams. To my inexperienced eye, these kids could play well, and were having a ton of fun doing it. After the teams got picked, we headed back, congratulating ourselves on a good day.

The 19th. Today was a full day, with us going to another school called Teremi. These kids had never played before, so I was a little more comfortable teaching them to play. Yesterday, I had mostly observed as Matthew taught, but today, I was teaching them fielding. After the customary warm-ups, we split the possible players into three groups, so they could learn the fundamentals. Robert was my partner, and was able to interpret, which was invaluable. Anyway, we had fun doing this, and after, we ate lunch (remember that bread?) and split up into four teams, two for each pitch. (That would be the field, for all you inexperienced persons out there) The games got going, and, although this was the first time for these people to play, they were almost as good as Temba-Temba. Well, the teams were chosen after much debating, and we headed home.

Side note- At the beginning of the day, Matthew urged me to use sunscreen, which I did, but apparently he didn't take his own advice. At the end of the day, he was glowing like he had just walked into the cooling chambers of a nuclear power plant.

The 20th, our last day in Kimilili. Today was the competition between the two teams we had chosen, held at Temba-Temba. I was score-keeper, and Matthew was ref. The game started, and although it took a while for the teams to catch on to the different kind of cricket we were using for today's game, they soon got it, and the game picked up. We had three innings, which is a long time, but they went faster than expected, and the game ended at about 12:30. Teremi, although inexperienced, actually managed to beat Temba-Temba one inning, holding them down to a mere 21 points. By the way, that's almost nothing for an inning. The final score, though, was Temba-Temba at 149, and Teremi at 134. That was a very close game. I think that if there was a rematch, Teremi would have a very large chance of winning, now that they know the drill. After that, Francis gave a sermon, and then we set about "feeding the 5000". Yeah, right. We headed back, and agreed that that was a very productive weekend. After the preparations to leave were completed, we said our goodbyes, and left for Kitale. Bye, bye, Kimilili.

I guess since I've been here a month, I'll do a quick thing about maybe some of the real differences from my perspective as an American teenager and the world of Kimilili. I know I've already done a section on the literal differences, and those could go in here, but I have some other things, too. For one, the teenagers there seemed younger than they actually were. I would find myself in a room, and when I announced I was fifteen, people would exclaim "Hey, I'm fifteen!" I don't know if they seem younger because of the schooling system, which seems so much harder than our system here (you have to pass an exam at the end of each year, or you stay in the same grade), or maybe because I'm white. That's just one thing. Another is the difference of worship in this country. People in America (at least in my church) are used to a traditional, fairly quiet service. Not so here. People are yelling "Amen!" like crazy, or singing, or something. During one service, the preacher actually started "speaking in tongues". The people here really hold on to God to pull them through harsh times, while in America, we harsh times are when the grocery store no longer has the discount 2% milk. I guess that's the major thing I've gotten from this trip; do NOT take our lifestyles for granted. A month is a shorter time than you might think, so I haven't experienced any major emotional changes, but it has changed the way I think about our living conditions, and really amplifies my gratitude for our predecessors. Our work in the field was mostly just that; work, so it wasn't like we were missionaries or something. Even so, the amount of trust these people put in God is pretty crazy, compared to what people here do. I don't know, but maybe I could try that for real.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my experiences, and if you'd like, just leave some comments. Thanks a bunch.