Day 8: "Well that was eye-opening!"

What a busy day! We woke to temperatures already climbing into the eighties and by days’ end it was 89 degrees. It amazes us that people wear sweaters and socks and wrap babies in heavy fleece blankets, We feel like we are swimming in the humidity.

We sat under the roof on the front porch of Agnes’ mother’s house to have a meeting about The MoonCatcher Project. Jacky and Bella (our tailors) were there as well as Phoebe, Sara, Agnes, Charlotte and me. It amazes me sometimes when I look around a gathering like this and remember sitting at that meeting in Saratoga Springs twelve years ago, listening about girls dropping out of school because of their periods and thinking I could maybe do something about this. I never would have thought I’d be here, in a friend’s home in Kenya talking with these women about menstrual matters. I’m very awed.

After our morning meeting we had a sumptuous lunch of nagali, fish, and greens. There was a lot of chicken on the table too and platters of fruits like mango, pineapple and oranges.

The afternoon was filled with school visits. Our first school was Omore Primary and Junior school. Phoebe and I taught the boys and Charlotte went with Jackie and Bella to teach the girls. I’ve only seen the boys classes taught a few times so I wanted to get a refresher course. Phoebe totally rocks this. She has a way of getting children to talk and these boys fell under her spell. It was fun to be part of.

As we were leaving the classroom I heard the boys’ teacher say “well, that was eye opening”. I loved that. I just wonder if he was talking about the boys or himself!

Next - onto Akonya School ….

After another school visit the day ended with another surprise for Charlotte. We went to a national monument called Kit Mikayi which translates as Rock of the First Wife. Kenya used to support polygamy. There’s a folk tale explaining that when the first wife of this particular husband heard that he’d taken a second wife without her permission she turned into rock and cried. The rock has water dripped down its walls some of the time and it’s believed that when bad things happen the rock knows.

We had two guides helping us navigate the rocky paths and sometimes they’d tell us to hold onto a tree or a rock or their hand. They taught us to say thank you the tree, thank you the rock, thank you Leonard.

 We made it back safely, danced in colorful grass skirts with some women at the base of the rock and headed back home to meet a two day old baby, have a hefty dinner and fall into bed.