Kenya, from Jacob's perspective

My 13 yr. old son is with me in Kenya on this trip. here's a blog from his perspective.


During my time in Kenya so far, lots has happened. We first went to the textbook store, to purchase all the textbooks that Humble Hearts needs. There were three big boxes of textbooks to give to the school. We then went to the school (Humble Hearts) and got to work right away. We unloaded all six suitcases that had been brought with us, and distributed: toothbrushes and toothpaste, pencils, pens, waterbottles, and vitamins to the children.

It was amazing to see how excited a child can get over a pencil, in the US, we look at a pencil as a object of no signifigance, and shrug when someone offers one to us. Yet in Kenya, the kids faces light up with the brightest smile when they recieve one.

At Humble Hearts, a man is painting a mural on the wall, it is a very nice painting, of the alphabet and most of the sign languare alphabet (not all leters are there), and two dolphins swimming in a circle. Along with painting the wall, he also painted the new playground equipment. The playground equipment is very simple, all metal swings, a slide, and a see saw (which in my opinion, is built better than some cars).

Today we went to the market downtown, where everyone has there things laid out on a blanket on the ground. there are no set prices for things, so you barter for the thing you want. The person selling the item, usually tells you the price is double or more than what it should be, So when i wanted to buy this colorful hippo, they told me it was 500 shillings (about $5).
i said i would pay 250 shillings, and after a minute or two, they let me have it for 250 shillings. The problem was, i did my math wrong, and thought they gave me 50 shillings extra in change, yet they shorted me 50 shillings, so I really paid 300 shillings. :(

Even though I have not been here very long, i am really glad I am here to help out.

Jacob