Hakuna Shida... not matata!

There's not much more to say that I haven't said before. I leave Kenya in five days, five very fast days. I feel incomplete, or at least the work here, and that is hard to walk away from. There has been so much momentum generated over the last few months and it's only natural to want to see these upcoming projects through. I do recognize that KGSA will always be growing, always implementing more programming, and I won't always be there for it. That's the way it should be though. We are really starting to get to a place where the organization is functioning as a complete unit. This was the first year we had volunteers outside of the University of Minnesota program and already they are organizing HIV/AIDS education seminars with the girls, they're setting up self defense classes, and creating a confidence building workshop for the students. These are all things that myself and the other directors would love to do but simply don't have the time for it, so watching our volunteers come in with SUCH PASSION is really exciting! This has been a year of firsts and I feel so grateful to have been able to experience it here on the ground next to Abdul and the girls. Thanks to everyone that supported me during this time, supported the school, or just read my blog and followed the work that is being done here. Much love and very excited to see you all.

World Cup madness

A few days ago Teka, the Principal of KGSA, and I took the girls to the local movie theater where they were showing the World Cup games. It was the last afternoon game in group play so we couldn't miss this opportunity as the night games are too late for the girls. I told Teka that all of the schools in South Africa had taken off the entire month, as well as schools in Argentina, so I thought it was at least fair to lobby for a half day. After all, it is the 1st World Cup in Africa. Teka agreed, and we were off! One hundred and eight girls and staff marched through Kibera toward Nakumatt's theater excited to see the Portugal Korea match. On our approach, I realized I forgot one small detail... how the hell we're we going to organize and control 100+ girls with 3 staff, including myself?

Luckily I had told the theater about our group the day before and they had the popcorn prepared and were setting them out before the game. What a site! This poor guy had to scoop over fifty bags of popcorn and try to somehow organize them for our arrival. It all worked out though. We got into the movie theater without any problems but as soon as the cameraman panned over Ronaldo before the game, the girls went wild! Okay, I get it... he's a good looking guy, but they went crazy! It was funny though, because I at times forget that these girls are just like any other teenage girl around the world. They are boy crazy! They face so many more challenges in life than normal, but they still have the same emotions, nerves, desires inside them as any girl.

THEN, Portugal scored their first goal. I digress for a minute. Now I had just come back from South Africa to watch some of the World Cup games. They have these things called Fan Parks set up all over the cities - basically a big park with beer gardens, food stands, and jersey stores all over. You're surrounded by people and it can get pretty wild in them if the right fans are there.

Now, returning to Portugal's first goal. You would think that there was actually a fire in the theater based on the decibel level that their screams reached. It was louder than any Fan Park in South Africa while only having 100 girls. They began jumping all over, screaming, running up and down the stairs (luckily no one else was in there thankfully) but we actually had the manager come in and tell us that the theater next to us could hear our screams and we needed to keep it down. It didn't really do anything unfortunately because Portugal went on to score another 6 goals and the madness followed just the same.

Needless to say, the girls had a blast and both Teka and I were extremely glad that we did this. Unfortunately I only have roughly two more weeks here with the school and girls. I have truly enjoyed these last 10 months and the opportunities that I've had to be here for this long. I know I'll be back, I'll continue the KGSA work in the states, but it's not the same. I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to walk down to the school and see these girls whenever I want to. Convenience factor aside, Abdul, Teka, and these girls have become a second family to me and it will be hard being away from them. 'Til next time.

Random acts of kindness, national pride, and of course… vuvuzelas!

Quinn, Anni, and I flew down to Joberg, South Africa to experience the first and second round of group play at the World Cup and what an incredible week it turned out to be. Never did I think that I would go to a World Cup in my lifetime, mainly because I never really liked football, well, really I just didn’t stick with it as after I was nine years old and my self-given nickname “the wall” (I played goalie) never really panned out for me. But over the years of living and surrounding myself with football fanatics (Danny, Cory, and many more) and starting a non-profit with football at its core, one could say I grew to appreciate and love the game’s brilliance. Living in a country like Kenya where there is no national unity whatsoever, I have seen how the game of soccer can unity a people. If only for 90 minutes, crucial stoppage time, and redundant commercials, it is an important step for countries like Kenya and it’s incredible that a game has this ability. Many argue that a strategy for national unity in Kenya is actually to invest in their football team. I’ve talked with a few professors at the University of Nairobi about this point and there seems to be some weight to this suggestion. Anyways, back to the World Cup 2010…

Random Act of Kindness #1:

Quinn, Anni, Justine, and I are walking to the nearest shuttle service about an hour and a half before kick-off when suddenly cars from every angle are stopping and yelling at us, “Hey, you’re never gonna make it in time!” You would think that they might offer suggestions as to HOW TO MAKE IT on time, but no, they just drove off. We start to get a bit nervous, well by we I mean Quinn and I. Anni is playing it cool like she always does and Justine doesn’t think twice about it. “We’re fine,” the two of them keep telling us. Luckily for ALL of us, Quinn and I were wearing our respective Messi and Teves Argentina jerseys as we were heading to the Argentina Nigeria game when two middle-aged Argentineans in a car yelled, “WOOOHH, Argentina!!” We yelled back in excitement and this banter carried on for another minute or two (as they were stopped in traffic), when finally I asked if they could give us a ride to the stadium… initially declining the request, they must have seen the despair in our eyes as we were really not going to make it in time and they changed their mind telling the four of us to squeeze in the back seat. We sprinted through the streets weaving through cars and crammed in. We made it on time, seats were perfect, Messi was amazing. SUCCESS.


Random Act #2:

Quinn and I were navigating the public transportation mini buses on our way to the USA Slovenia game when we realized we had no idea where to get off for the Ellis Park Stadium. This woman sitting next to Quinn overheard us and told us she would take us, she said it was close to her house so it wouldn’t be a problem. We got off with her at the next stop and walked for about twenty minutes when I asked her where she lived. She said, “twenty minutes that way,” pointing in the complete opposite direction in which we were walking. We continued through the neighborhood – passing groups of children playing football in the streets as South African flags hung from banisters waving in the wind. Finally, thirty minutes later we arrived near the stadium, we thanked her and she went on her way.


National Pride:

I never thought I had any first off. I mean I appreciate the fact that I was born in the United States, I have been afforded many opportunities that are not possible throughout the world - it’s a blessing in many ways, but let’s be honest, I’ve been known once or twice to criticize some of our domestic and international policies and priorities. It might have started with the election of Obama, to tell the truth though, it was the England USA match where my pride blossomed.

For those of you that didn’t watch this match, within 4 minutes England put in a goal which followed with these obnoxious England fans screaming and hollering, smirks all over their faces bragging that this game was over. They were beyond annoying and after 4 minutes they were already calling the game. Lot of game left we kept telling ourselves, lot of game… I forget what minute it happened in, but their goalie blocked a shot of ours but it slipped out of his control and slowly rolled into the goal. We were all stunned at what we just saw.

And then it happened…

American Pride surged through my body. My arms became giant American flags and I waved ‘em high and proud. I suddenly started jumping five feet in the air, continuously, out of control… screaming any word that came to my mind… yes, profanities included. I don’t think any of us expected it but we all went wild. A USA mosh-pit practically occurred with that goal. Chants of “USA all the way!” and “England sucks!” or other creative profanities with the word England interjected in there surrounded us. Quinn was running around out of control like a new puppy. It was too much fun so we just kept the pride going. I did at least. For the Slovenia game I got a USA jersey, borrowed a USA swim suit, painted the face and became “that” guy at the stadium - starting cheers, getting the crowd to stand up, taunting Slovenian’s, and taking hundreds of photos with other decked-out fans.

Vuvuzelas:

If you don’t know what they are, google it. They rock!

It’s no downtown Mpls. library, but one day I’m sure we’ll get there

Currently, my father and brother are here in Kenya visiting the school and seeing what I’ve been up to for the last 10 months. Along with them, they brought suitcases full of books from amazing aunts, friends, and the St. Thomas Moore and CDH libraries in Saint Paul. Before I go any further, I want to send out a special thanks to everyone that contributed to those suitcases. I saw first-hand the girls’ eyes light up with excitement as Harry Potter books continued to be pulled out from the suitcases like rabbits in a magic show.

By the way, the first book in the series already has a waiting list established.

We are still waiting for our large shipping container full of over 2,000 books through Books For Africa, the University of Minnesota, and Kenya School Libraries Program (KSLP). This will hopefully arrive sometime in September this year. Until then, Harry Potter and the 150 other books will absolutely suffice! Thank you again so much for the books everyone!

In other library news, our computers from Junior Achievements finally arrived and now we have 3 brand new computers, a printer, and a scanner in the library that the girls can use. It’s extremely exciting to see them finally have access to computers and internet at our own school where they can work on their assignments after class in a safe space, research facts for the journalism club and their magazine, express themselves and their voices through postings on their blog (http://kgsa.blogspot.com), and even have some fun with the games that are on the computer; which is actually my favorite thing to see as they all love to play chess!

Speaking of the Journalism Club, I know that many of you are wondering when the second issue will be out, as I had told you to expect it in June. Well we had a minor set back in production but it should hopefully be on our magcloud website - www.kiberagirls.magcloud.com within a few weeks. Keep checking!

Our first volunteer, Claire Raether, has started teaching an economics class and is implementing an HIV/AIDS education course throughout each of the grades. I was able to sit in on one of her classes and she has great enthusiasm and actually got some of the girls to say that economics is the best subject! If anyone can get high school girls to say that, it’s my guess she is doing a pretty good job. Our second volunteer from NYC just arrived a few days ago and is fitting in just great. Caroline will be working on computer trainings and typing exercises, exploring internet researching skills, and all the while she'll be doing a lot of filming as she is a film major from Columbia University.

In other news, if you didn’t get the monthly newsletter, the poetry performance last month went really well and we’ll be uploading video from it very soon. There was an artist there by the name of Pepe who works for MTV-Africa who was really impressed with the girls and their artistic talent and is trying to get us some air-time on MTV! Keep your fingers crossed. That’s it for now, hope all is well with everyone and I’ll be back stateside quite soon. I can’t believe these 10 months are wrapping up but I’ll be back July 8th so look out for more KGSA events upon my arrival.