Mitumba Slum

I haven't said anything up until this point about teaching in Mitumba slum because I wanted to assess the experience as a whole, beginning to end. But for the past week I've been going with a fellow short-termer, Debby, into Mitumba to tutor and mentor the students and orphans there.
There's about 23 orphans living in a small home in the slum, and just through the winding "streets" there is a slightly larger Christian school that services 400 slum kids. Pastor Shadrach founded the orphanage and the school a few years ago when he visited the slum and found many children malnourished, uneducated, orphaned, and without any sort of a community. The home came first, and is actually quite a nice structure, with bunk beds and mosquito nets for all the kids, a boys' and girls' room, as well as vital clean water and food. Natalia and Florence act as the dorm parents and are wonderfully caring towards the kids. Then came the school in response to the need for education as well as a positive community for Mitumba children. Today families vie to send their kids to REM School and burdened relatives are always asking to place their child ward in the orphanage.
This school and home are no longer just humanitarian agencies; they've become life to the slum kids.
And so, this is where I entered. The children are all on school break right now, so REM tries to keep them engaged (and out of trouble) by running tutoring sessions and mentoring groups each day. Debby and I were assigned the older grades, whose age ranges are about 13 to 20-something. And so we did spelling lessons, which were more giving the definitions than letter placement, a presentation on African dinosaurs (I found that gem in a National Geo.), math wars, and then short Bible studies. The kids were awesome, and while the Christmas tutoring schedule may have been a bit disorganized, these children were there to LEARN! They were so excited to soak up anything we threw at them. And not only that, but they wanted to share with us too! We got placed in a Swahili word spell-off, were taught Swahili songs, ate real Kenyan food (finally), and got shown around their homes and met some families. The orphans and students alike were so vibrant... so full of life... it's hard to pick up on the fact that they've most likely had more hardship in their average 15 years than we've had in our entire lives.
But these children are thriving and loving life and making plans and goals. Amo wants to be a scientist, a couple of the guys want to be preachers, Lucy loves to dance (and has even competed), Rosemary I can see being the next Mother Theresa. At the end of my time in Mitumba the children put on a talent show with awful singing, FABULOUS dancing, Swahili jokes, and some soccer ball juggling. Near the end then they presented me with "thank-you" gifts which was totally unexpected considering my short stay with them as well as their poverty. The girls wrapped my head with a scarf, placed jewelry on me, handed me a purse, and then Esther gave a goodbye speech. It was the most humbling thing ever. I had come really just to hang out and talk with them, and they honored me as if I had totally rocked their world. Maybe I did, but it's for sure that they rocked mine. Not the least reason being that the talent show ended with them teaching me some Kenyan dance moves and throwing me up in front of the congregation with Kenyan hip-hop in the background.

(Included are pictures of the girls presenting me with gifts, a precious little angel wearing my sunglasses, and Debby and I with an awesome girl Lucy.)