This Sunday was an eventful one. We've known for the past two weeks that we would be going to Mark’s house for lunch this Sunday, but I could not have expected what this experience would be like.
Mark is a 21 year old college student from Mumias and has been interning with WOPLAH for the last 2 months for college credit from his university in Nairobi. Mark was one of the WOPLAH members who was waiting at our house the first night we arrived; from that moment he has been like a brother to us. Mark is often the one who shows up at our house in the morning to pick us up, he offers to carry our helmets (we decided to invest in some stylish red helmets to reduce our risk when riding boda bodas), and he ALWAYS makes sure we are “shiba’d” (full) at every meal – in fact, sometimes we get a little angry with him for not respecting when we are finished eating. Of course, we can never be too angry because we know he only does it out of a genuine interest in taking on our brotherly role.
^Claire and I riding a boda boda.
Sunday morning was an eventful one at our house. While our milk (which we get delivered to us fresh from the cow daily) was boiling, we heard a loud clamor in the kitchen. We went to see what happened only to find the milk all over the floor and a chicken darting out the door. No milk for us Sunday morning. Only seconds after the chicken incident, Libby somehow managed to shatter the glass lining of one of our canteens – now the floor was successfully covered in milk AND glass shards. We were all laughing hysterically at our obvious incompetence for cooking in Africa. Only seconds later, Steven, the landlord of the house we’re renting walked in to check up on us and see how everything was going. I only hope he didn’t hear all the yelling that was going on during our chaotic breakfast preparations, especially since the last time he showed up I was crying after just having seen a rat run across my bed. Steven most definitely thinks we’re crazy by now!
We travelled by van and boda boda, followed by a beautiful walk to get to Mark’s house. His family lives in a peaceful, isolated compound made up of 4 small houses and surrounded by touring trees. Before sitting down for tea Mark’s mother recited a long prayer for us and expressed her pride that we had come to visit her home. We then played a little frisbee with the confusingly large group of children hanging out in the compound.
^Mark's family's compound.
Once the food was ready, Mark rounded up everyone to go inside the bigger of the 4 houses for introductions. One by one, he began introducing each of his family members; Mark has 11 brothers and sisters, most of which still live in his mother’s compound. Each time he finished introducing one, he would stop and say "and do you think there is another?" We would wait patiently for the next introduction; we always knew there must be more as we were crammed into a tiny house surrounded by kids of all ages. Our introduction to Mark’s siblings included multiple surprises. The first: his older brother Linus is one of our favorite regular boda boda drivers – Edwin, Mark and Linus all decided not to tell us the two were siblings this entire time! Second, we had already met three of Mark’s siblings the week before at a school we visited. He had introduced himself and pretended not to know them during the visit just to surprise us. We thought we recognized those three kids from somewhere!
Third, Mark explained that his family has a kitchen garden and poultry project supported by WOPLAH! We didn’t know this either! Mark’s mother is HIV positive, and his father left over three years ago leaving her to care for all the children with no means to earn income. I could sense Mark’s pain as he told us their story, but the appreciation he expressed for WOPLAH and what they have done for his family was evident. I’m glad we have had the chance to get to know Mark during these few weeks and intern side by side with him!
^ Linus and the kitchen garden!
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