Manifest Destiny

Hey guys sorry I haven’t updated in awhile.

It’s just been hard to get time lately.

It’s also been hard just to make myself write because sometimes I’m scared of what will come out.

Because I’m angry. Angrier then I have ever been in my life.

I get frustrated whenever people in the US tell me they don’t have money to donate to help these kids and I think about how much I spent with one of you in one weekend and it makes me want to scream. I have to constantly remind myself that my friends are students and really don’t have a lot to share and remind myself that most people don’t really have an inclination to give up their drug money to help far away kids.

But it’s hard for me to listen to people say they have no money well I sleep on a pile of clothes and watch people, children, literally wither away in front of me from lack of nutrition, shelter, clothing, and hope for a future.

But anyway. I do have a good story.

On Saturday Mama and Abba (father) Michelle and I went to Bomet to get the cash to enroll the kids in school.

After buying the things they needed for school such as mattresses, shoes etc. we made our way to Bomet as it is the city nearest Mulot that has a bank. We hoped onto a “Matumba” or small bus meant to hold 14 people but was packed with about 23. The ride wasn’t terrible until he last 20 minutes when someone got on with a live chicken.

FYI chickens are loud, smelly, obnoxious creatures.

Once of our bus/mobile petting zoo we walked to a restaurant where we waited about 2 hours for some mutton and “oogali”, the boiled flour food, which would have been obnoxious if it wasn’t for Abba Michelle buying me Guinness after Guinness. Before you freak about me drinking in a foreign country let me tell you that Abba Michelle is a paramilitary police officer so I was feeling pretty safe.

So incase you are wondering what it is like to eat in a Kenyan restaurant I’ll say a couple things. First they bring you a basin and a pitcher of warm water to clean your hands with. After the waiter has washed all your hands he brings the food over on one giant plate and then one small plate with napkins on it. No utensils and no personal plates. People tend to be completely silent well they eat here. I’m not sure why. Also they tend to have a glass of water after dinner but never with. Ah well. Anyway when you have eaten everything on the plate and then some, and believe me you will not be allowed to leave the restaurant until you have eaten everything, they wash your hands again and bring you toothpicks and the check in a glass. They also sell cigarettes.

SO after that we had to walk to two banks because the first one wouldn’t accept my card, which of course caused Mama Michelle to panic that the money wasn’t there. She was practically hyperventilating with panic by the time we reached the second bank.

Mama and Abba stayed back well I pulled the money out because in Kenya it’s rude to stand near someone well they pull money out, but it was clear they wanted to be near the ATM.

So I put my card in and out came Ksh 20,000.

If your wondering what it feels like to hold that much money, even in shillings, in your hand I can tell you- it feels like tangible hope.

So I walked over to the parents waiting with baited breath and upon being handed the money Mama Michelle burst into something beyond sobs. Of course she refused to be held because she was too busy crushing me in an embrace. Small women, big hugs.

Abba Michelle couldn’t display as much emotion in public being a man but could offer me a handshake so vigorous I thought my shoulder might dislocate.

We made our way back to the main street and jumped onto a moving bus. And I mean that literally, the buses here don’t stop they slow down enough for you to be able to jog next to it and jump on.

As I sat on this overcrowded bus, and when I say overcrowded I mean it- I actually had to have a little girl sit in my lap because there weren’t enough seats, I felt something in myself connect.

I realized I had begun the rest of my life. I will never again have a choice in how I spend my time and energy because it is going to be doing this.

There is no going back now boys and girls. I have officially blessed my life/ fucked myself over.

Love and Miss and Demand money from all of you,
Aliya