Wednesday, June 30th

“Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation” - Robert F. Kennedy

This morning I woke up at 6:00 am. I waited until 6:20 am when it was no longer pitch black outside to start my run. I went on a different route this time. I ran past the small intersection on the dirt road that was named “Keep Left”. I’ve become accustomed to waking up so early and getting my day started. I know that once I get home and back to school though that my schedule will be completely different. After I turned left at the “Keep Left” intersection, I ran down a windy, rocky, dirt road that was slightly downhill. Pastel pinks streaked across the blue sky in the direction that I was running toward. It was almost as if I was running toward an omen. Because everything ahead of me was so incredibly beautiful, I kept going. Finally I turned around once I reached the highway and ran uphill back toward the compound. I passed by students on their way to school and adults looking to catch the matatu which is the public bus. In English, the first phrase people learn is “How are you?” Many of the people I ran by, especially the these three little girls, all said “how are you?” Or you can tell if someone is talking about you when you hear, “muzungu” which means “white person.” In Kisumu, the only people I have met or seen who are not African are missionaries. The little girls get so anxious to test out their English whenever Julia and I pass by. When I arrived back at the compound, the sun was just about fully risen. On my run, I was in the right place at the right time to witness the marvelous landscape.

At school, Julia and I completed the library at last! I then helped out the two matrons who take care of the 8 babies while their mothers are in class. Every time that I’m with the babies, I feel rejuvenated. The innocence in their eyes combined with the hope that I have for them is difficult to describe. Many of them are very tiny for their age, and about half of them have been sick with either malaria or typhoid since I’ve been here. Every time I have a break, I try to go see them. The babies love the other children at the school. They laughed uncontrollably during entertainment time on Saturdays when the music is playing for hours and hours for the students to dance to. Even though I wish at times that I could easily take all of them home with me; however, I know that’s not a possibility. I’ve definitely realized that I want to have a big family one day.

The Dominicans are a huge, huge presence in the local community. They are basically on call 24/7. If someone in the community is sick and needs to be taken to the hospital or someone needs counseling, the Dominican Friars and Sisters are always ready to serve with absolutely anything you can think of. They are greatly respected for what they do. Julia and I later on went to visit Father Stephen, one of the Dominicans, who lives on the compound with us. He is the chaplain at Maseno University. It took about a half an hour for us to get there. Unfortunately, the university students are on holiday right now so we didn’t get to meet any of them. The campus is very spread out with all small brick buildings. We stayed for 5:00 pm mass in a small room. Mass in Kenya is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Mass on the compound is different from the mass at the school which is different from this mass. The room was filled with plastic lawn chairs as the seats with bows that you wrap present with hung on the walls as the decorations. The 20 people at mass were packed into this room. Everyone prays with such devotion, pouring their heart into each song and prayer.

After dinner, we went with Father Kevin and Godfrey, one of the novices, to RIAT which is a technical institute that the Dominicans work with. Every now and then, Father Kevin has movie night with them and shows a movie that has some religious or moral value. We watched the movie, “I Am Sam.” After a long day, we got back to our rooms at about 11:00 pm being more than ready to fall asleep.