Thika: An unexpected meeting

Since Tuesday we are in Thika. It’s a small town with 100000 inhabitants, one hour drive from Nairobi. Why did we choose Thika? First because we wanted to see the fourteen falls and second because we wanted to escape from Nairobi…. And we did a good choice, let me tell you!

When we arrived at Thika we were looking for a guesthouse called Samann. After some research we gave up and decided to ask people. The first guys we saw were from the Red Cross. They brought us to SacDep (a kind of hotel), a nice place to stay were monkeys are jumping from cars to trees… We spoke with them (Renox and Dominic) about our project and they already loved it. The next day we went with Tony (another volunteer of the Red Cross) in 2 centres for street children which offer them home, food and education. In Wema Centre, a home for boys, we were welcomed by Felix, the director. There are 23 boys sleeping there but much more being helped by the centre. Some are orphans but not all of them.

When we entered the class room where the boys were, we saw joy and curiosity in their eyes. They really wanted to play so we went out and they explained us their games.

-        We first played « Bingo ». Everybody is running slowly and the moderator of the game claps his hands and sing “Bingo, bingo, bingo”. Players answer “bingo” then the moderator says “groups of X people”. As fast as possible, players have to create groups of X people. All people not in group with the wrong number of people are out of the game. We continue until only two people remain.

-        Then we played « Concentration is the game ». We do a circle and we clap our hands in the same rhythm. The first player sing « Concentration is the game, keep the rhythm if you can » then he says 2 times his name and 2 times the name of another player. This player has to repeat 2 times his name and 2 times the name another one. We keep going until someone does a mistake. When it happens, the player is eliminated and the next one restart with « Concentration is the game…”

-        Kids show us « I lost a letter ». Players sit in circle but one tand outside with a scarf. He sings « I lost a letter » and runs around the circle. Others answer « find it ». After 3 times, he says « it’s not you » touching players’ head with the scarf. When he wants he says « it’s you ». The designated player have to stand up and run in the opposite side than the player with the scarf. The player being the first to do a round (and to sit as the same place) can sit and the other one becomes or stays the one “who lost a letter”.

-        After this, we formed 2 teams and we played « Wall/ Narrow/ Rabbit » The rabbit jumps over the wall, the wall destroys the narrow and the narrow kills the rabbit. In team we decide which symbol we want to be and after a countdown each team shows their symbol. The first team with 5 points wins. 

-        Another singing game is the « Family » one. Kids clap their hands and the first player sings « my father is a lion, my mother is an elephant, my sister is a tiger, and we are all animals » the second continues with a new family (vehicules, mountains, countries…)

-        There is another game were they are singing and “dancing” in the same time: « there is an egg in a nest, and a nest on a branch and a branch on a tree and a tree on a hill and a hill on a ground and the ground can never be seen ». Then they sing the same thing but they replace the words “egg, nest, branch, tree, hill, ground” with “hmm”. It’s very funny to see and to sing !

After all these Kenyan games, we showed them French games. 

Tomato game

We were so happy to see them smiling… We shared a meal together (mais and red beans) and then we went to the Otto Hoffmann foundation. It’s a centre for street girls.

When we arrived, the 28 girls had a great surprise for us : they entertained us with songs and dances. It was a very special moment… Then, Jane, the founder of the centre tell us her story and why she decided to create this orphanage. She comes from a family with 32 children (her father had 6 wives) and nobody could take care of her. But at 10, she discovered Christianism and she went to school. She was singer in a chore. After 2 years, she couldn’t pay her books anymore and leaved school. But she was so skilled for singing that the school called her for a singing competition that she won. After she went to university but because of money she was almost leaving school. By chance, she met Mr and Mrs Hofmann, who helped her to finish her studies. After this, she wanted to give back to the community, was the community gave her and in 2001 she created the Otto Hofmann Centre which offers street girls an house, food, cares and education. After we went in the girls dorm. 14 double beds each with a mosquito net. Simple but nice.

Then we played with the girls. They are almost playing the same games as in France: skipping rope, elastic, and a lot of singing games… We showed them some French games such as « the Master”, Survivor and the snakes. After the group picture, Jane said “ Thanks for what you are doing, you make the girls happy and proud of themselves, it’s a great thing” I was almost crying when I hear it. They gave us a lot of humility and showed us that we can happy only with what the life gives us.. Thank you so much!!!!

The day made us very tired and we went directly home…

The next day (Labour Day), the Red Cross was organising a football tournament where the champion can join the regional league. As we were invited, we went there full of energy! In the morning, everybody was preparing the field and then we played with the street kids. We sang and danced and played a lot of games (frozen wolf, 1,2,3 soleil…) They were very happy but some of them are still thinking that France is an EL Dorado and they were asking us for money or for taking them to Europe… But I’m pretty sure that they are happier where they are than in a immigration centre or under a bridge in Paris… But it’s hard to see that and we have a sad feeling !

But one thing is clear, kids have a huge imagination when it’s about playing. They create their games alone : We saw a lot of small kids playing with tires and a stick or other with a car made from caps, metal and juice packaging !!

We watched the 2 matches and after we wanted to go back at the hotel but they were asking us to wait for the price celebration. The County Gouvernor made a speech and check our hands… (He was kind of proud that we were here…) every body was laughing… Romain and I were invited to give the price to the 4^th best team… and they also asked me to be on the picture of the best team… Ahahaha we are big stars now!!! By chance everything happened well, because it could have been different… Some of the guys see us as a huge porte monnaie and it’s hard to answer their questions…

But when we came home our clothes were washed and dry on our bed! Just cool!!!

On Friday, after taking a lot of pictures of the monkeys in SacDep, we went with Dominic to the Kiota Children’s home. 

This centre has 20 kids between 4 and 15: 8 girls and 12 boys. We started playing outside but then rain came up and we had to play inside. We did a hang man and a pictionnary then they speak French with us, so impressive how good they are!! We spent a nice afternoon with them and they gave us a nice bag for Pomme Pidou made by Sharon A, one of the girls… Great time!!!

During these few days we learnt a lot about Kenya. Here few infos that are useful to understand their culture.

-        Kenya in independent since 1963 (it was a british colony)

-        There are 40 million people living in Kenya. They are divided into 42 tribes. These 42 tribes have different habits, different languages… and they also look like different (some are darker than others, some are skinny and other big…). The most present tribe is the Kikuyus one.

-        Between the tribes there are small fights and it’s a problem for politics because when a president is coming from one tribe, he will take only the people from his tribe to do functionary jobs!

-        The country is divided into 47 “Countys”, so there are 47 leaders.

-        About agriculture, the most produced products are tea, coffee and bananas but we also find mais, mangos, ananas, manioc…

-        The average salary is about 6000 Kenyan shillings per month which is less than 60€  (1€ = 120 KSh)

-        Buffalos are very dangerous animals because they don’t hesitate to attack men !!