Great Day in Kenya!
What a day. We were scheduled to take nine students in the computer skills training group on a field trip today to city centre Nairobi for some computer shopping. We had 120,000KSH to spend on computers, computer supplies and a special lunch for the students. The day turned out even better than expected. After chapel this morning, the students met with me and Moses to go over our goals for the computer lab overhaul. We talked about shared computing (NComputing) and how it will help make managing the lab easier. On our shopping list were two new CPU’s, battery back-ups for the computers and server, network switches, and replacement mice and keyboards. Because it was such a large amount, we laid out all of the money (120,000KSh is $1500USD) on the table in the classroom and counted it together. None had seen that much cash money in one place. We joked that no one should grab it and run out of the classroom. With the money still laid out, we talked about what the Bible had to say about money, greed, blessings and management. Many of the kids had some amazing insights about how to use money to glorify God. It was a special time of sharing. After we prayed for our shopping trip, we set off for Nairobi city centre, which was about a two hour drive. I hadn’t seen that part of town and, suprisingly enough, was even more congested with traffic and pedestrians than I had seen other places of town. It is truly amazing to see so many people getting around an urban area on foot, bicycle, motorcycle, cart, cars, busses and trucks. Simply overwhelming. We had all agreed that we were going to shop several stores before we made any purchases. One of our students had the written list of all the equipment with our estimated prices that fit within our budget. We visited several shops, The students had never been in a store that sold computers. It was brand new to them. They were surprised that all of the items were new and still in boxes. Most hadn’t experienced purchasing new items in original packaging before. Once we found a shop we wanted to deal with, we started the negotiations. It was amaxing to see all nine students huddled around the counter as we worked back and forth with the salesman on prices and specifications. The negotiations were a little tense, but we outnumbered him and settle on a great deal. We had come in under budget and all felt like we had succeeded. Mission accomplished. After shopping, we visited some technical shools downtown. One of the students, Mercy Mugure, will be ready to start to school to work on an office management certificate. We were inquiring about the intake process and costs. (on a side note, the cost for a 1 1/2 year associate program is $750US) It was the first time many of the students had been inside an office building, in an elevator, up more than two flights of stairs or even gotten past the building security guards. We talked about how to compose ourselves inside offices and how to be confident, even in new situations. They handled themselves to well. Everyone did great! Back on the street, we talked about the difference between this area and other areas (Eastleigh) of town. Everyone here was in business suits, talking on phones and carrying briefcases (instead of carts). It was noticably less noisy with fewer horns honking and people shouting and yelling. The kids really picked up on the differences between the sounds of poverty and the sounds of priviledge. That left a big impression. Since our shopping left us a surplus, we decided to have a celebration meal at Java House at Villiage Market. This restraunt is in the upscale embassy area of Nairobi, one of the nicer places in town to eat. Our budget was 1,000KSH or just over $12US each. The kids just laughed at me when we told them the amount. They are used to spending 50KSH on a meal and couldn’t figure out why we would spend that much money on one meal. There were many firsts during lunch for some students. Some had never had a soda in a restraunt and others had never had filtered water with ice. Eating with a fork, knive AND spoon was new to everyone. When it came time to order desset, I was caught off guard and a little embarrased. Instead of ordering an ice cream dessert for themselves, they chose to get a takeaway order of chips (fries), cake, or appetiser from the menu so that they could take it back home and share with their friends. They were so pround of their meal they wanted to share it with others. We celebrated extravagantly and thanked God for our day. Tomorrow, we will clear the lab and install all of the new equipment. Pics and more info will follow.
