June 16, 2011
Alexandra Harrison
Atlanta Girls’ School (part of the St. Gregory Kenya trip)
Annie Odell, of Mirimonte High School in California and Louie Sanders of St. Gregory College Prep in Tucson, wait for the music competition to begin.
As some of you may know, there was a lunar eclipse last night. Hopefully in your life you have seen several lunar eclipses and will see many more. However, how often have you see one in Kenya, without any city lights? Have you ever seen the Milky Way so clearly it looks like a planetarium? Well some of us have. Last night, Ali, Dom, Collin, Louie, Lila, Olivia, Lauren Bolhack and I were all talking out on the patio outside of the girls’ cabins when the night guard came over to us. He told us that there was a lunar eclipse going on. Surely enough, when we stepped out from under the roof, the moon was almost fully eclipsed. We took some pillows from the couches on the patio, laid on our backs staring up, and watched the night sky until the moon disappeared. Let me tell you, I have never seen the sky so clearly nor have a seen a lunar eclipse like this one. It was absolutely amazing. After sky gazing for an hour, we headed off to bed.
This morning went as usual: our alarms going off and Lauren, Lila, Olivia and I trying to sleep as long as possible. At 7:05 a.m. we headed to breakfast and had delicious chai tea and crepes. We then got dressed and made our lunches. Normally, Athena and I walk to Gitinga Primary School, but today we were driven along with the new girls from Orinda, Calif.: Annie O’Dell and Elizabeth Burndt. Our bumpy 15-minute ride was followed by a short walk down a muddy road. It was Elizabeth and Annie’s first days at Gitinga as teachers. However, today we weren’t teaching, rather going to Irigithathi Primary school for the music competition. After walking and talking with our students for 45 minutes, we made it to Irigithathi, greeted by hundreds of young students in uniforms.
The event was to begin at 10 a.m., but as Mr. Roberts pointed out, sometimes the schedule in Kenya runs on ‘Africa time’ – meaning there will be delays and you have no idea when something will begin. One must always be ready with a book or something to do when there is a long wait. For us, that wasn’t a problem as we pass the three hours playing, dancing, and singing with the students while we waited for the judges to arrive. At 1 p.m., the judges arrived and the competition began. We were all brought to one classroom. There, we watched traditional Kikuyu dances and songs performed by our very own students. All of the schools were very good and it was hard to tell which group was better than the other. The students sang with so much emotion and energy it was amazing! I haven’t seen this energy in class yet, but I guess if you put a youngster on stage, wonderful things will come out. We will find out the judge’s results later and let you know. Each of us is rooting for our own school to win. The school that does win will go to the district level competition.
Once it was over, many of us piled into one car while the rest walked back to Batian’s View. Later in the afternoon six more people went to the Lipela Orphanage. I went yesterday and had a wonderful time. Soon after arriving I was handed an infant, and I carried him the rest of my time there. I would have though he would have been scared of my white skin and blond hair, but he wasn’t. I even managed to get a few big grins from him, showing his bare gums.
Alexandra Harrison, of Atlanta Girls' School, and her friend at Lipela Orphanage.
Those of us who remained at Batian’s View had our first opportunity since arriving to just relax. For the few hours before dinner, we read, napped, showered and played on the swings. For dinner, we had pasta and cooked carrots with beans followed by banana bread. It was very, very, good – as usual. After dinner Mr. Roberts gave us a class about Kenya’s colonial era and the events leading up to Kenya’s armed struggle for independence, also known as Mau Mau. We learned that most of the Kikuyu were part of the Mau Mau movement, and at the same time there were many Kikuyu loyal to the British government who assisted the British in suppressing the Mau Mau. The class was to prepare us for tomorrow night’s visitors, two Kikuyu elders who were involved freedom fighters for nine years, and were detained, as well. I’m sure that this will be a fascinating talk and we are all very excited.
Lala Salama! (Good night!)
Alexandra Harrison
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