Go gunners

Some pictures of our new home and from the special education school. 

 The view from our 4th floor balcony.

 Martin being Martin in our living room.

Fellow Arsenal teammate.

 Dorm room that the kids sleep in.

 Once the room where the Autism class took place. Now condemned and is about to fall apart. Notice the giant crack just above the door. If you were to slightly push on the wall the whole building would collapse. Now the Autism class is held in the dorm room, where they push the beds back to create a learning space.

 Some of the boys pose for the camera.

 Learning tools being used in the Autism class. Tools wonderfully donated by the Autism Spectrum Consultants of San Diego.

 George!

 Classroom block.

 More posing for the camera

 More classroom space for the children. This place also doubles as the eating area.


        On Monday I went out with some of the children to play football in the yard. One of the kids with limited English gave me the choice of either playing on the side "Manchester United" or on the other side "Arsenal." Thinking that a team named after weaponry was considerably more fun sounding then a team named after a united front of some English city I have never been to. I chose Arsenal. We began play and very quickly it became obvious how stacked the other team was against us. They had three of the big boys with fine motor skills.
        Despite our best attempts to strategize and one of my team mates borrowing a rain boot to play in, leaving the other foot bare. We lost by 16 goals. Maybe we should have pulled out our goalie at some point. He is shown below.

It probably did not help that I am completely inept at football.

Species List updated

Last time I posted this I only had 58 species of bird and 34 mammals - so there is some improvement.  Bennett and I are taking a trip next week, stopping in the Abederes mountain range, then Thompson's Falls in Nyahururu, and then on to camp in Rumuruti for Wild Camel Day.  By the conclusion, I expect that my list of birds to well exceed 100!

Maria

SPECIES LIST

Birds

1. White-bellied go away bird: Criniferoides leucogaster

2. Von der Decken’s hornbill: Tockus deckeni

3. Red-billed hornbill: Tockus e. erythrorhyncus

4. Superb starling: Lamptotorns superbus 

5. Pied crow: Corvus albus

6. Wood warbler: Phylloscopus ibikatrix

7. Grey-capped social weaver: Pseudonigrita arnaudi

8. Red-billed quelea: Quelea quelea aethipica 

9. Somali ostrich: Stuthio (camelus) molybdophanes

10. Vulture guinea fowl: Acryllium vulturinum 

12. Ring-necked dove: Streptopelia capicola semalica

13. White-browed scrub robin: Cercotrichas leurophrys

14. Speckled mousebird: Colius striatus kikuyuensis

15. Greater blue-eared starling: Lamprotornis c. chloropterus 

16. Purple grenadier: Uraeginthus ianthinogasta

17. Marico sunbird: Nectarinia mariquensis snarelica 

18. D’Arnaud’s barbet: Trachyphorus darnaudii

19. Hadada ibis: Bostrychia hagedash brevivostis 

20. Cardinal woodpecker: Dendropicos fuscescens

21. Sprosser (or thrush) nightingale: Luscinia luscinia

22. Yellow-necked spurfowl: Francolinus leucoscepus 

23. Green-capped Eremomela: Eremomela scotops kikuyensis

24. Grey headed sparrow: Passer griseus 

25. Common bulbul: Pycnonotus barbatus tricolor 

26. Grey-wren warbler: Calamonastes simplex 

27. Slate-coloured bou bou: Laniarius funebris 

28. Grey-backed camaroptera: Camaroptera brachyura tincta 

29. Black-capped social weaver Pseudonigrita cabanisi

30. Wire-tailed swallow: Hirundo r. rustica

31. Southern black flycatcher: Melaenornis pammelaina

32. Fan-tailed raven: Corvus rhipidurus 

33. Common drongo: Dicrurus a. adsimilis

34. Lappet-faced vulture: Torgos t. tracheliotus

35. Laughing dove: Streptopelia s. senegalensis

36. Emerald –spotted wood dove: Turtur chalcospilos   

37. Speckle-fronted weaver: Sporopipes frontalis emini

38. Vitelline masked weaver: Ploceus velatus uluensis

39. Kori bustard: Ardeotis kori struthinunculus  

40. Speckled pigeon: Columba g. guinea (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

41. Rufous Chatterer: 

42. Long-toed lapwing (plover): Vanellus crassirostris 

43. Crowned lapwing (plover): Vanellus conronatus 

44. Helmeted guineafowl: Guttera pucherani

45. Pied wheatear: Oeanthe p. pleschanka 

46. Spotted morning thrush: Chichladusa g. guttata 

47. Marabou stork: Leptoptilus crumeniferus (Nairobi and Watamu)

48. Egyptian goose: Alopochen aegyptiacus

49. Grey-crowned crane: Balearica regulorum gibbericeps (Mt. Kenya Safari Club)

50. Red-winged starling: Onychognathus morio (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

51. Lilac-breasted roller: Coracias caudata

52. White-bellied bustard: Eupodotis senegalensis canicollis

53. Three banded plover: Charadrius t. tricollaris (Watamu)

54. Whimbrel: Numenius p. phaeopus (Watamu)

55. Angola swallow: Hirundo s. splendes (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

56. House crow: Covus s. splendes (Shanzu)

57. Black saw-wing or rough wing: Psalidoprocne a. albiceps

58. African firefinch: Lagonosticta rubricata hildebrandti

59. Lesser striped swallow: Hirundo semirufa gordoni (Daraja Academy, Nanyuki)

60. White-browed sparrow weaver: Plocepasser mahali melanorhynchus

61. Barn swallow: Hirundo r. rustica (Daraja)

62. Common house martin: Delichon u. urbica (Mpala)

63. Arrow-marked babbler: Turdoides jardineii emini (Daraja)

64. Ruppell’s griffon vulture: Gyps r. rueppellii (Mpala)

65. Eastern pale chanting goshawk: Melierax poliopterus

66. Chestnut sparrow: Passer eminibey 

67. Rufous sparrow: Passer r. rufocinctus

68. Baglafect weaver: Ploceus baglafecht

69. Hildebrandt’s starling: Lamprotornis hildebrandti

70. Grey heron: Ardea cinerea (Coast and Daraja in June)

71. Cattle egret: Bubulcus ibis

72. Buff-crested bustard: Eupodotis gindiana (Mpala Conservancy area)

73. Northern white-bellied bustard: Eupodotis senegalensis

74. Black-headed lapwing (plover): Vanellus tectus

75. Blacksmith lapwing (plover): Vanellus armatus (Ol Pejeta Conservancy)

76. Black-fronted bush shrike: Malaconotus nigrifrons

77. Red-billed oxpecker: Buphagus erythrorhyncus

78. Black-shouldered kite: Elanus c. caeruleus (Dol Dol Rd. before Daraja)

79. Black kite: Milvus m. migrans (Nairobi)

80. Northern white-crowned shrike: Eurocephalus rueppelli

81. Tropical bou bou: Laniarius aethiopicus (Lake Naivasha)

82. Sacred ibis: Threskiornis a. aethiopicus  (Ngong Hills)

83. Cattle egret: Bulbulcus i. ibis

84. Black-headed oriole: Oriolus larvatus rolleti (Daraja)

85. Green wood-hoopoe: Phoeniculus prupureus (Daraja)

86. Red-bellied firefinch: Lagonosticta senegala ruberrima (Daraja)

87. African orange-bellied parrot: Poicephalus r. rufiventris (Daraja)

88. Bronze sunbird: Nectarinia k. kilimensis (Daraja)

89. Lesser blue-eared starling: Lamprotornis c. chloropterus

90. Red-rumped swallow: Hirundo daurica emini (Daraja)

Reptiles & Amphibians

1. Striped skink: Mabuya striata

2. Red-headed rock agama: Agama agama

3. Rainbow skink: Mabuya margaritifer

4. Great plated lizard: Gerrhosaurus major

5. Leopard tortoise: Geochelone pardalis (SNC and Daraja)

6. Sharp nosed rocket frog or Mascarene rocket frog: Ptychadena oxyrhynchus or Ptychadena mascareniensis

7. Tropical house gecko: Hemidactylus maboula

8. Nile monitor: Varanus niloticus

9. Galapagos tortoise: (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native only to the Galapagos.)

Mammals

1. Dwarf mongoose: Helogale parvula

2. Impala: Aepyceros melampus

5. Giraffe: Giraffa camelopardalis

6. Vervet monkey: Cercopithecus aethiops

7. Olive baboon: Papio anubis

8. Grevy’s zebra: Equus grevyi

9. Burchell’s zebra: Equus burchelli

10. Kirk’s dik dik: Madoqua kirkii

11. Rock hyrax: Procavia capensis

12. Thomson’s gazelle: Gazella thomsoni

13. Warthog: Phacochoerus aethiopicus

14. Spotted hyena: Crocuta crocuta

15. Elephant: Loxodonta Africana

16. Black-backed jackal: Canis mesomelas

17. Scrub hare: Lexus saxatilis

18. Squirrel: Xerus sp.

19. Gerenuk: Litocranius walleri

20. Bush buck: Tragelaphus scriptus (spotted a solitary one across river – seemed a deep reddish color, rounded rump, short tail)

21. Blue/sykes monkey: Cercopithecus mitis (Gedi)

22. Patas monkey: Erythrocebus patas (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

23. Guereza black and white colobus: Colobus guereza (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

24. Bongo: Tragelaphus (Boocercus) euryceros (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage and Breeding Center. Native to Kenya.)

25. Pigmy hippopotamus: Hexoprotodon liberiensis (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage – not native to Kenya or Eastern Africa. Found only in Western Africa coastal areas)

26. Cape or savanna buffalo: Syncerus c. caffer (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage, Soita Nyiro Conservancy, Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Native to Kenya.)

27. Lichtenstein’s hartebeest: Sigmoceros (Alcelaphus) lichtensteini (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Not native to Kenya but found in Tanzania and south.)

28. Blue wildebeest (brindled gnu): Connochaetes taurinus (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

29. Cheetah: Acinonyx jubatus (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage and Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Native to Kenya.)

30. Caracal: Caracal caracal (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to Kenya.)

31. North African porcupine: Hystrix cristata (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage)

32. Oryx: Oryx gazella beisa

33. Grant’s gazelle: Gazella granti

34. Camel

35. Black Rhino: Diceros bicornis (Ol Pejeta Conservancy).

36. White Rhino: Ceratotherium simum (Ol Pejeta Conservancy).

37. Common eland: Tragelaphus (Taurotragus) oryx (Ol Pejeta Conservancy).

38. Blue Duiker: Cephalophus monticola (Mt. Kenya Safari Club Orphanage. Native to South western Kenya).

39. Bat-eared fox: Otocyon megalotis 

40. Klipspringer: Oreotragus oreotragus: (Il Polei)

New neighbor

Leopard tortoise: Geochelone pardalis 

A little shy at first

Ok, very shy

What a nice outfit

And then we made friends, ok not really, but I did fool him into revealing himself

Similes, analogies, and poetry. Oh my!

I am in the middle of a tedious process of combing through my stacks of field notebooks, transcribing every word, and then attempting to organize them for analysis.  Wow, what fun.


In so doing, I came across some great similes etc. authored by various girls.  And oh boy do they love constructing similes (and some are quite ingenious!).  Below are a few examples... Maria

“I was happy as a king.”

“I was as happy as a lark.”

 “I didn’t even get a pin drop of sleep.”

“I was as happy as a puppy next to its mother.”

"The results were out, and I was as eager as a bride and groom to see the results."

“I was as flabbergasted as moses when he broke the ten commandments.”

“I was as happy as Barak Obama when he was given to be president of America.”

“I was so happy that now my happiness could not be compared with that of Isaac Newton who discovered the force of gravity.”

“She was as happy as a barren woman who gave birth to a bouncing baby girl with a golden spoon in her mouth.”

"As long as diamonds remain priceless and the ocean wet, I will never ever forget Daraja Academy until I drink my cup of death."

"All in all, God lifted out love that now I can sing and stand out amazingly with no fear and I can speak in front of people with my futuristic voice that glitters and shines at the daytime." 


Below are some pictures I took at the football/volleyball tournament that Daraja recently competed in.  The competition was held at Il Polei Primary (although the events were for secondary students), about 35 minutes north east of Daraja.  We were at the location from 8:30 until sundown.  It was extremely hot and dry, yet the girls managed to play two games of football before breaking at 4:30 to eat something.  Truly amazing. 

In Kenya's version of volleyball, players can link arms before the ball is served, and then as it glides over the net quickly switch places.  One can also kick and head-butt the ball over the net.

Keeping oneself entertained between games

The primary school kids were particularly thrilled that a couple of wazungu were in attendance.  At one point we were completely encircled by 50+

Lilian and her game face.

Not much shade in Il Polei.  Boys here taking advantage of one of the few acacia trees near the field.

Jamaica doing her thing.

Volleyballers Monicah, Lilian, and Pascalina

Volleyballer Zeki, Jacinta, and Shamsia

Wildlife sighting and chicken soup.

I was so happy to sneak a picture of the dainty and faint-hearted Kirk's Dik Dik: Madoqua kirkii.  This species is the most common Dik Dik in East Africa but they are vigilant, either tiptoeing in the brush or waiting for that crucial moment, making an unforgettable and death-defying appearance as they dash in front of your car.  This elongated nose of this small antelope serves as ingenious cooling gadget. These photos were taken from behind a window of our banda, so I am surprised they turned out!

The subsequent three photos are of our very bold daily visitor "Mother Hen" and her sole surviving offspring who spend the daylight hours pacing in front of our doorway (often, and repeatedly, tempting entrance) waiting for vegetable scraps.  Dish washing hour is their favorite time to stop in; yesterday the daughter was bathing in our pressure cooker filled with soapy water.  

Oh yes, and I conclude the post by throwing in a cow photo for Mark :) Maria

Taxi cab confessions

Sometimes the most interesting conversations spring up out of nowhere. I was taking a taxi home from town, and I was talking to the driver who is also my friend. He is a good man and is usually up to date with all that is going on in the area. He has a vast network of taxi driver peers that he meets with to discuss various cab-related affairs such as rates and local dangers. Up to this point he appeared to be a very peaceful person. We were discussing the quality of the roads in Kenya and why pot holes are everywhere. He told me:

"They overfill the lorries. The weight breaks the roads and it is illegal." A large truck drives by filled with rocks that Leonard points out. On top of the rocks are about ten additional people getting a ride to town. "But with enough money you can pay the police and keep the lorries overloaded."

"It seems you can just about pay for anything in this country" I said.

"Yes, anything. See that man?" Points to a man walking on the side of the road. "If you wanted to kill that man I can get it done."

"Really? How much would something like that cost?"

He holds out his fist in front of him as if holding a punch in the air. He is holding something non-existant, clenched between his fingers. " For half a million shillings, I will show you his head." I realize he is holding an imaginary head by the hair.  

I quickly changed the subject to the weather. It appears that my peaceful and insightful friend has a darker side.

Bennett

A special event

         Over the last couple of weeks I have been volunteering a great deal more at the Likii special education school. Last Thursday the principal invited me to participate in what she called "Education day." I asked her what "Education day" was and she described it to me, yet I was still unable to figure out exactly what  it really was about. A miscommunication like this occurs almost daily for me. So I showed up to the school early the next morning to find several of the kids singing and dancing in the courtyard outside of the classroom blocks. I immediately joined in, and participated as well as I could. About twenty students stood around in a circle with three of the teachers, and we were singing and dancing a Kenyan version of the hokey pokey. This was followed by choreographed marching and the occasional pointing to the sky and praising of the Lord. I facilitated the process when necissary. After about fifteen minutes of this, we gathered up and hiked to the nearby Catholic church. The Church grounds were enormous and littered with statues of Jesus and well-kempt bush hedges that lined sturdy concrete buildings. As we walked behind the Churches' main building there appeared a rather large stadium made of wood and tin. It was oval shaped and looked like a soccer pitch surrounded by tiered benches for sitting. As our group entered a woman approached me and pinned a ribbon on my chest that read "guest." I guess it was easy for the women to assume that I was in fact a guest, because I was the only white person, in a crowd of attendees of about three to four thousand people. I felt the entire crowd watch and stare at our group as we entered through the mouth of the stadium. I heard mutterings of the word "mizungu" (white person) throughout the crowd as we walked the entirety of the field. After our group found our seating amongst the audience, we watched performances provided by different local schools. Each group dressed in their unique school uniforms. The entertainment was mostly military marches and praises for the Lord and president of Kenya. Several political dignitaries and bank managers were perched above the field in order to spectate. They received the performances that were directed towards them. 

After about thirty minutes there was an announcement in Kiswahili over the loudspeaker followed by applause. Suddenly my group of students marched down onto the field with me in tow. It dawned on me that we were performing the dances and marches that were practiced in the school yard earlier that morning. So there we were, in front of thousands of Kenyans, singing and dancing the hokey pokey. We were putting our right hands in and then taking them out, followed shortly by shaking it all about. Meanwhile we were making sure the audience knew that "that's what it's all about." The crowd thundered with approval. I was no longer confused about what "Education day" was. It's about showing off what the kids are capable of. It was one of the most surreal things I have ever experienced. The kids were marvelous and as happy as anyone could be.  Afterwards the church provided meat pilau for the children. We sat and ate as rain clouds rolled over head and began pouring on us. Nobody seemed to mind and continued to eat. 

Bennett