10 of us from our MSID group are heading to Amboseli National Park this weekend to see elephants, lions, giraffes, zebras, and Mt. Kilimanjaro!!! I'll put some pictures up when we get back!

This week was incredible. Monday Ami, Haley and I volunteered at the New Life Center and a baby named Bud fell asleep in my arms. Tuesday I did my laundry with the help of my house help, Janet, and it took a solid hour and a half and gave me some clean and rough hands. Wednesday our class went on a field trip to Kibera, a slum of Kenya, to a children's home, to a farm school, and to a windmill farm, which was on top of a beautiful hill that overlooked Maasailand. Our professor, Fred, told us that each windmill is donated by the Belgium government since the Kenyan government can't afford even one windmill. At the end of the day, Fred bought us all lunch. Good day!

Today in class our professor Jama, who is the head of the entire MSID program told us a little about his childhood - wow. He grew up in the northern part of Kenya in a small village, and each day his mom would walk many miles to a well and bring back water by carrying it on her head. Not only did she have 20 liters of water on her head, but she would also carry loads of firewood in her arms. This woman was a mother of 12 by age 30 and also had a couple of babies who died during childbirth. He said this situation is very typical for women in the villages - even today.

Professor Jama has a sister who is a few years older than he is who was married at age 14 to a 32 year old through an arranged marriage. He said that his sister was extremely bright and her teachers all said she had the future in her hands and she shouldn't be married because she would have to quit school. Jama was at a boarding school when he found out his sister was to be married and he was very upset. He came home and tried to persuade his parents to change their decision to have his sister married, but they only laughed at him and told him to speak to his grandfather. His grandfather was one of the people who wrote the first constitution for Kenya in 1962/63, and his word was the last word for his Jama's entire family. Jama said he put on his best clothes, went to his grandfather, and told him that this decision made him very upset and should be reconsidered. His grandfather responded by hitting Jama's head with his walking cane so hard that Jama thought his skull had cracked open.

Jama said this story is one of many...wow.

We're going to the New Life Center again today! Yay! Miss you all at home! Look for pictures of the tallest mountain in Kenya!!!!!!