Caring for Kenya
Jambo! My name is Ali Shepherd and I am senior at UC Santa Barbara studying Sociology, Black Studies, and Technology Management. On June 16th, 2011 I will begin my travels to Kenya with my father, Pat, and oldest brother, Tim, to visit the Red Rhino Orphanage Project and experience the African culture. I created this blog to share my daily experiences with my family and friends. Hope you enjoy it!
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This morning we woke up bright and early for our coffee before heading out on our morning drive that began at 6:30am. Once again, we were very lucky and saw some of the same animals from yesterday, along with a couple new ones to add to the list. We saw a wide variety of rare birds, a sleeping lioness, more zebras and giraffes, elephants (A few interesting facts: Elephants flap their ears when it is hot to keep themselves cool. Also, when one elephant dies, it’s family will stay around for several days without eating. They show each other affection, while mourning for the loss of one of their own), a leopard, a troop of mongoose, a male geranuch, a family of baboons, a tortoise, and a mountain bongo (only fifteen in all of Kenya!!).
As exciting as it was to see all of these beautiful animals, the best part of the day was yet to come. After lunch we departed for a nearby school and village shared by the Samburu and Turkana tribes.
The school educated children from the village ranging from 1st to 6th grades, referred to here as Standard 1 through Standard 6.
They showed us their classrooms….
Told us jokes…
Learned how to play patty cake…
Read to us…
We read to them…
And then we read to together…
Before we left we distributed school supplies and, the kids’ favorite, soccer balls. One of the eldest boys challenged me to a game. He was originally a herder but after the drought decided to go back to school. He is twenty years old and in Standard 3. It took a lot of courage to come back to school when he knew he would be with children much younger than himself, yet he did it anyway in order to better himself and his family.
The school was about a two minute walk from the village, which was our next stop. Upon arrival, the chief of the tribes greeted us and informed us that they each tribe had prepared a traditional welcome dance for us.
The Samburu tribe went first and performed their love dance…
Followed by the Turkana…
Then a beautiful Turkana woman by the name of Kristen wrapped the marriage skirt around my waist and the marriage necklace around my neck and taught me some of their traditional dance moves
We were then welcomed into the village.
The men of the village gave us a tour and we learned a great deal about their culture. They taught us how to start a fire, demonstrated their blacksmith techniques, and showed us their kindergarten classroom, which was a circle of sticks with a small chalkboard from which the children recited the alphabet. They also showed us the differences in the homes, which varied by tribe. Then, we were off to the market, which consisted of two lines of women and children totaling about 100 with some of the most intricate and beautiful jewelry and artifacts.
Before leaving, we also left some supplies with the chief to show our gratitude to them for opening their village up to us. We said our goodbyes and promised to come again someday. I met some of the most genuine, beautiful people during this visit and they will remain in my heart forever.
