Restreating in Zanzibar

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” –Jesus, Matt 6:34

I’ve told quite a few now about how I found my new favorite place in the whole wide world in Zanzibar. The beaches were beautiful, the food zesty with fresh grown spices, the history rich and interesting, the architecture refreshingly simple and different, and on top of all this I’m still asking, what made it such a special place?

Our YAV group is given the opportunity to go on retreat two times during our year, and this was our first and proclaimed “most spectacular” retreat. It was good timing for our group. Half of us teach and were gearing up for the rest of the school year, and the other half were coming off of the Christmas holiday also looking back and looking forward. There wasn’t a lot of structure to our retreat. I think our site-coordinator, the lovely Rev Phyllis Byrd-Ochilo, knew that the island kind of forbade it, sort of an unspoken rule made by the flow of things there.

I thought I would have a chance to sort everything out in my head while I was so removed from everything (there wasn’t even any electricity on the island to distract me). The deadlines for applying to programs for next year are fast approaching, my first four months in Kenya went extraordinarily fleeting - though I know I changed somehow? And then there was my immediate future of going back into teaching: a profession I find extremely humbling and still somewhat intimidating. All these things were roaming around in my head, which doesn’t know where it belongs. Half of it is back home and half is still here trying to process how it was I came to be here and not there…and…

I think my expectations were a little over-zealous for this type of trip. The waves on the ocean and the solitude you might feel while floating freely on it don’t help put things in order, but rather help you to be at peace amidst that disorder. I eventually felt at ease that I wasn’t going to figure it out, but that in the moment, my job was to appreciate the accumulation of events that led me exactly to this place. Then my job was to trust that this force that led me would somehow mysteriously continue to do so. We’ll call it my hammock epiphany. It seems simple, but I do need reminders about life being largely beyond my control. And so: I rested, and I’m learning to trust.

As to the question about the island being kind of a magical place for me, I think it was (added to the above) the hospitality of the people. Sure, it’s largely a touristy place, but there’s something genuine in their greetings. The only Kiswahili they think foreigners will understand is, “Jambo. Karibu. Hakuna Matata,” which means (if you need the translation), “Hi, welcome, have no worries.” Though cheesy, there was truth there. I didn’t really have any worries. I felt free and safe on the island. The minute we stepped off the ferry, many were there to greet us and walk us to our hostel at no charge. We made fast friends with locals that we ate and danced with, and were sad to leave by the end of our trip. When you rode on the crowded public transit, people passed you their baby to hold onto so that they could find a seat. If someone was eating fresh plums, they offered you one. We walked around at night through the winding streets without a flashlight and knew somehow we would come out on the other side right where we needed to be. Slowly throughout the course of these two days that turned into four because we couldn’t leave, the hospitality of the people, and the freedom that it creates, got under our skin. There was an unspoken agreement that this place was to be appreciated and revered, and that we could all stand aside in that glow together. We didn’t feel like big tourists by the end, but felt part of the place-free to BE, and to be happy.

Inwardly, I’m still freaking about whether or not I should go to seminary next year, if I should put if off for other things, if my relationships will be the same or different when I get back, how much I know I’ll already miss Kenya when I’m home, etc… and part of me still wishes I would have gotten some resolution on those issues. But I did get clarity that it will come together when it needs to. What I want to walk into the new year with is a simple appreciation for getting this far and gratitude for the present in which the future will become clear. I have at least that much faith.

“By the time I recognize this moment, this moment will be gone, but I will bare the light pretending that it somehow lingered on…”- John Mayer

Many Thanks

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A New Year, A New Place

Hi family and friends,

Below is a mass email kind of thing I sent out- please excuse cross postings. :)

Hello everyone,

Happy 2010! The first four months of being in Kenya have really flown by...
First and foremost, thanks are in order. I have reached and surpassed my fundraising goal thanks to all of your wonderful support. I was always a little anxious about this factor in participating in the program, but you have all shown more faith than I had. So, wow, huge thanks.

Things are going great in Kenya. It's a strange and refreshing feeling to feel so at home in such a faraway place. I feel myself streching and growing in ways I never imagined, and yet feeling rather grounded and comfortable. It's a nice tension to have. If you are not able to make it through the entire email, know that I am starting to make some great friends, am forming community with people in my town and church, and that I really love teaching and have had quite the diverse experience so far. Oh, yeah, and I saw some lions in the wild. ;)

I arrived in early September and had a month-long orientation in Nairobi with the other Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs). We were given a crash course in Kenyan history, politics, religion, economics, and language. Sad to say I have not retained a whole lot of Kiswahili as most people default to English when they see me (the other official language of the country), but there's always room for resolutions, right? We also met and stayed with our designated support families and were introduced to ugali, chapati, sukoma wiki, and various delicious tropical fruits. Our stomachs adjusted eventually, and before we knew it, it was time to go our separate ways and begin our work for the year.

Most of my group (7 total) hangs around Nairobi working at non-profits, in churches, or teaching. As some of you know, originally I was supposed to work with the YWCA. However, when I arrived, I learned that they had collected too many volunteers, and so a new placement was needed. I have not done a lot of work with children, so I was skeptical and nervous when I found out my placement was teaching at a primary school.

Meru Junior School is a private school with about 500 students preschool- 8th grade. It is a combination day and boarding school, so some students are local while others are from different parts of the country. The boarding aspect definitely enhances the community life of the school, as children are away from their parents and taught at a very young age to depend on each other. Most of my anxiousness was wiped away within the first five minutes of arriving. I got out of the van to be greeted with a full children’s chorus singing and dancing some standard African welcoming tunes. Each of them proceeded to give me a bouquet of hand-picked flowers. I was reassured exactly then that things were going to turn out ok.

I’ve been teaching 4th-6th grade English and am doing a little music with them whenever possible. I find teaching simultaneously challenging, humbling, rewarding, and creative. It’s taking me awhile to adjust to the different system and rules, but in general, kids are very warm, bright, and well-behaved. I’ve only had to break up fights when students were overly-enthusiastic about answering questions- if that gives you an indication. I definitely find that I learn as much or more from them as they do from me, and that they perform best when we're both having fun. And we are having fun, inside and outside of the classroom. They have inspired me to brush up on my meager guitar skills (and learn some new ones) to accompany them in singing. I performed with three classes for both class eight graduation and “prayer day” before that. I was also given the opportunity to chaperone the field trip to the Meru National Game Park. That’s where we saw the lions… I think I was much more excited than they were.

Outside of school, I’ve been attending a PCEA church and this dictates most of my social life. The young adult population in almost every church here is thriving- something U.S. churches can only dream of. I’ve also been lucky enough to have friends traveling to different parts of the country and letting me tag along. I even got to plant some maize and beans near Mt. Kenya for the school farm. Kenya really is a beautiful country. Mountains, rivers, ocean, coastline, rainforest, wildlife, you can’t ask for more. It’s a rainy season now, so everything is especially green and lovely.

On the whole, I’m really loving it here. I’m making great friends, being adopted into families, and building some good relationships with my students. I’m still adjusting and perpetually learning, but I’m also growing some roots. I can feel subtley my perspective and attitudes starting to change. I think a lot of it is transformative in its pace alone. Though even I will complain about the lateness of Kenyans, it really does give you that time to simply be, reflect, and recognize the sort of “holiness of the moment.” It’s also easier to live more holistically, I think. They have a good balance here. There is always time for friends and family, prayer is almost constant before and after everything, organic vegetables from the local farm are at the market for cheap, everyone sings, everyone dances, people walk most places, there is always more tea, and living simply is the norm, not the new trend.

I’ll try to bring some of this back for you all…I've been on school break since mid-November and have been in Nairobi. Unfortunately, I spent most of my break being sick with a mysterious parasite. I'm feeling better, so I hope this is an indicator of it being gone. In between rounds of medication, my work assignment was with women's and children's groups in one of the slum areas. It was a great experience. We threw a great Christmas party for some children that live there, and celebrated the end of the year with women in a micro-finance group. Again, more is on the blog if you are interested. I was able to spend Christmas with the other Americans and we ate and drank and churched to our heart's content. Our site-coordinator even indulged us with a big 'ol turkey.

Again, thank you so much for your support and prayers. It means so much to me. I think of and miss you all often.

Blessings,
Deanna

Christmas in Kenya: How the Glitter Gets In

Blog: 12/25/09

I was anxious about being away from home for my first Christmas. What big shoes of nostalgia to fill... It was wonderful, though, blessings from unexpected places.

For a certain part of the Christmas season, I was in American “gift-mode” and was brainstorming what to get all the different people I work with and am friends with. It quickly added up to quite a number, and I started to stress about how to purchase everything on a YAV stipend. In the madness, I finally stopped to ask one of these friends if gift-giving was the norm. Turns out, it’s not. Even within families sometimes, people are not always exchanging gifts. Hmmm…is this Christmas?

I was cracking up while reading my friend’s blog, who was also questioning the meaning of Christmas… I learned there that:

“St. Nicholas, as it turns out, is most famous for his gift, not of oranges, but of bags of gold to a family so poor that they could only hope to sell their daughters into prostitution. In order to avoid this damning act, Old St. Nick left bags of a gold on their doorsteps to use as a dowries for their weddings instead. That's it. That's the whole story.”

Kenyans are definitely keeping this spirit of Christmas alive. Instead of buying things for each other, most families choose to do something for others that are in need. This, they claim, is the real joy of giving and of the season. One of my friends and his mom took a homeless man into their home and gave nice meals for the holiday. The Christmas party for the children in Kibera that I worked on was sponsored and run by many other such spirited people. Ah, we haven’t lost it everywhere, it turns out.

I know it warmed my heart to see the givers and the receivers having a blast at the children’s Christmas party. Actually, I was corrected a number of times that it wasn’t their party, but that it was “Jesus’ party.” I always think it’s horribly cheesy and adorable at the same time when kids sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus, but in this setting, it seemed oddly fitting. Jesus would want this kind of party- people gathering from the margins, eating bread and jelly sandwiches, drinking tea, singing and dancing. You see, this way we all have something and we are all sharing in this mysterious incarnation thing together.

This season, I’ve also been racking my brain about what it means to these children that “a child is born unto them…” I still haven’t really figured it out, nor do I think I ever will, but I think it’s a little bit like the glitter. You see, my job was to lead the craft portion of the party. Nothing special, just a little cut and paste job, but what I didn’t anticipate was the glitter factor. Glittery paper trees were only the beginning, as I would soon find out. There were glittery fingers, glittery faces, glittery tables and chairs, glittery hair, glittery clothes, a glittery floor, etc. It was a fun phenomenon how this little craft transformed the hearts and faces of these little ones, as well as a dirty and dingy church into something that sparkled. And maybe that’s how this mysterious birth comes into our lives too. It’s in these little specs that reflect light and cling to you and everything else.

My flecks of glittery Christmas this year came in the form of Grace, our adopted grandmother in Kenya. She took us to church, then took us home for a delicious meal and homemade eggnog. Our little lost American group fell asleep by the fireplace on Christmas Eve while listening to the likes of Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby on vinyl. Pretty perfect, save teleporting my family.

Here’s to you and yours! And here’s some pics… J

Deanna