Block Party

Imagine this: You wake up to the cock-a-doodles of a rooster that is literally perched on your windowsill. If that didn’t wake you up completely, the buzzing of 2800 children heading to school certainly will. After your bucket bath and jam sandwich, you step out into the near 90 degree heat, hoping for the occasional gust of wind to keep you cool. Your destination lies 2 kms away through cornfields, over a bridge, past a maize mill, and up a hill. The entire walk is filled with children and adults chanting “wazungu,” “obama,” and any English words they may know. Expect tons of requests for pictures; wouldn’t you do the same if you never saw your reflection? You reach your destination twenty minutes later, complete with a back full of sweat and a swarm of children at your heels. Welcome to our morning routine!

We spent the rest of the a.m. teaching Christopher, the director, basic Excel skills and preparing an informational brochure about the CBO. Class was spent introducing a business/marketing plan to rejuvenate the scone baking business that had failed three years back. This was definitely their first time forming a cost-analysis of a future IGA… and hopefully it will break the cycle of past failures. Our main goal is to leave the CBO staff with some sustainable tools, such as budgeting and business planning, to avoid further failures.

Like every other day, a few children were waiting patiently outside the classroom for us to finish teaching. From the moment we dismissed class until the sun had fully set, hoards of children gathered outside of our house for Darren and Molly’s block party. Highlights included boys vs. girls keep away, jungle gym (on Darren), dancing, singing (“AIDs, AIDs, AIDs is a killer”), and karate. The kids were most pleased when Darren brought the camera out for a sunset photo shoot.

Exhausted, we used Momma Lillian as our scapegoat and sat down for a delicious nsima and niemba (beans) dinner.