November, January, and Febuary Meetings

I've been to three Africa Meetings so far; November 2008, January 2009, and February 2009. In November we just watched a movie called The Glue Boys. It's a movie that shows how many street children have found an escape from their emotional and physical pains by sniffing glue. It gives them the same sensation that smoking weed would bring. Orphaned, barefoot, and malnourished they orphans habitually spend the scare money they earn from odd jobs and charity on glue. Incidentally this glue is the same glue that the wider world uses to cement shoes together. With plastic bottles, full of as much glue they could get, perched at their mouths, the children breathe in the glue's neurotoxic fumes until they pass out or fall asleep forever...

It's sad to think that this actually happens. I had no idea. I've attatched a picture of a boy with a glue bottle. It's a very sad movie, but worth while viewing.

The next meeting that we had was January 25th, 2009. Usually we have a meeting every month, but with holidays and everything we didn't end up getting together again until January. We found out that our plane tickets had been purchased! Some of us actually got itineraries. Actually, most people did. Mine, and a few other peoples, are still getting finalized. We also found out that the uniforms we purchased for the children at a school near where we will be going to arrived!

One thing that we do every month is Thinking Errors Training. We go over different 'thinking errors' and how to solve them. I'll probably write a blog in the near future about all of the thinking errors we have discussed. It's actually a very enriching time.

Another thing that we are doing is learning Kiswahili. I will also write a blog in the near future about all of the words we are learning. It is said that most of the people know English there, but we are learning a few basic words anyway. It's actually a really cool language.

Our most recent meeting was February 22, 2009. We pretty much did the same thing as always (Thinking Errors and Kiswahili). At the end we got to eat some Kenyan Food! We ate Ugali and Sukuma Wiki. Ugali is made from corn flower and water. Sukuma Wiki is made from greens (like spinach or collard greens), flour, lemon, onion, tomatoes, and chili pepper. You kind of combine both together, and you get this yummy tasting meal. I tried to find a picture, but I couldn't. Ugali looks like mashed potatos, and sukuma wiki actually looks gross... but it's good. Sukuma wiki means that you can eat it everyday... and people actually do eat it everyday.

That about wraps up what I have so far, so, look for postings on Thinking Errors and Kiswahili words in the near future!