Hi everybody!
This is my first entry on here, an experiment of sorts. Tell me what you think!

We just had our Intercultural Trips, or IC trips. Each grade in the middle school goes to a different place, leaving Monday morning and returning Friday afternoon. We raise money for them in an event called the Spectathlon, where you get sponsors to sign a sheet and pledge money for you. You then choose an event, (running, swimming, or biking) and do as many laps as you can in the alotted amount of time. Sam did 48 laps in 2 hrs, and one of the 7th graders did 69!  

6th grade goes to a place called Lake Baringo. I do not really know what they will do there, but it involves hiking and building toilets for villages that do not have toilets. They sleep in some sort of tent, with three people in each one. Sam is very excited, and people say that it is a pretty fun trip although the mosquitoes are KILLER.

The 7th graders are supposed to go to Malindi, which is on the coast of Kenya, but right now the coast is considered something of a security risk. There has been a lot of violence, and so the 7th grade had to change their plans. They are now going to a place called Savage. I believe they are going white water rafting and hiking. It is a shame, because everyone in my grade loved the Malindi trip. However, the 7th grade trips are always mostly about getting to know each other and working together.

The 8th grade, we get to go to the Maasai Mara. Usually, you go there on safari and book your trip with one of the many camps inside the park. You stay in that camp and they provide food and beds, and you go out on game drives. We are going with a group called Me to We. They build schools in villages for kids who do not have a proper place to attend classes. We will be staying in large tents that sleep 4 people (when people do not understand how big these tents are I compare them to the tent in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. ). We have hot showers and toilets, thank goodness. If we didn't have showers for a week I do not think I could stand within an 8 foot radius of any of the boys in my grade. 

On the first day (Tuesday) my group did the water walk and tree planting. The water walk is to teach us about how difficult it is to get clean water in rural areas. In Maasai culture, women do all of the work around the household, while the men tend the animals. One of their main jobs is collecting water. They have to walk up to 15Km sometimes, and the water is usually contaminated and dirty. One of the main dangers of still water in the Mara is mosquitoes laying their malaria-ridden eggs in the water and hatching. For the activity we paired into partnerships, two people to one 20L jerry can. We walked roughly 2Km to a river, and filled our containers to the brim. We attached ropes to them and then we put the rope on our heads. Most of us could barely carry it by ourselves for 20m. It was really hard, and really opened our eyes to the fact that Maasai women do this by themselves without stopping four to five times a day. We had a few women with us to direct us, and we brought all the water back to one of their houses at the end. She had three girls, and we played with them for a while. They taught us songs, and we tried our best to sing as well as they did. We also got to see their house, which was only one room, with different sections for cooking, sleeping, and the animals. 

We ate lunch at camp after the water walk, and then we had tree planting. The company that Me to We trips has its volunteers work for is called Free the Children (you can read about it here: http://www.freethechildren.com/about-us/ ) and they build schools in communities that need them, and help with other things like health and water supply too. FTC has helped the Sikarrar community (where we were staying) create a community farm. They are planting Grevillea Robusta (silk oak) around the border of the farm to make a border. We each planted two trees using pick-axes and shovels, and then got a tour of the farm. They have two greenhouses, and plant lots of vegetables. They have tomatoes, spinach, onions, cabbage, and much more. The man who gave us a tour was very well educated on agriculture, and knew just about everything there is to know about running a farm. It was super cool to see the members working together for the good of everyone!

Wednesday was my favorite day. The morning was awesome! We first went to a place called Molut Market. It is an open air market, and most of the members of the community do all of their shopping there. For our activity, we split into groups and were given a card with items on it. We were also given 300 kshs, the equivalent of 3.538 US dollars. We had to try to procure all the items on the card in 40 mins, with this very limited amount of money. There were four teams, and two different types of cards. Two of the cards had food items, two had clothes and some other items. Our group got one of the food cards, and this is what it looked like:

1.)
1Kg Maize 
1Kg Potatoes
.5Kg Beans
I box tea

2.)
1 20L jerry can

We had to find all of these items, and try to bargain with the seller to get the price as low as possible. We ended up spending exactly the money we had, and we were not able to get the tea. We also only got a 10L jerry can. On the clothes cards, there was:

Shoes
school shorts
school sweater
school shirt
soap
head shave

They also told us what the consequences were for the things we could not get. For us, it was that our oldest girl had to be pulled out of school, because the jerry can was smaller so there had to be more daily trips to the water source. We had enough food, but were often tired because most people just have a cup of chai for breakfast, the caffeine supporting them until they can eat a real meal. One group managed to get everything on the clothes list except for the soap and the sweater. Because of that, their child was sent home for a week from school for not having the proper school clothes, and they get sick in the winter from not being clean and being cold. This is such a stellar way to show the difficulties of a minuscule budget, and really hands on. It shows, instead of tells.

After the market, we got back on the safari trucks and went to Baraka Health Clinic. It was built by FTC also, and is used by communities near and far. It has a pharmacy, a maternity ward, a clinician, an ER, and more. It is right next to Kisaruni Secondary Girls School, another FTC school. It is a boarding school, and after we got a tour of the Baraka Health Clinic, we toured the school. We were guided by 5 girls who attend the school, and their english was very good. Those girls are amazing! They wake up at 4:45 am every morning, and don't go to sleep until at least 10pm every night! They even argued and tried to fight to wake up EARLIER, they wanted to start their days at 3am. The adults at the school did not let them do that, they need some sleep. They were telling us about their goals, one wants to become a teacher after university and come back to their community to educate others. Another wants to be the next Wangari Maathai. Yet another wants to become a brain surgeon after university and help her community. All of their dreams have to do with coming back home after university and helping their family and friends. They have so much ambition and determination. It is very rare for Kipsigis or Maasai girls to get an education past primary school, and they all plan on taking advantage of their opportunities.

After we left Kisaruni, we went back to camp and ate lunch. We then went to our afternoon activity. For my group, that was beading. We stayed at camp, in the mess tent. One of the Maasai Mamas, Mama Leah, came to teach us. Me to We employs Maasai women to make the jewelry and pays them good wages. They also provide the best materials. Sometimes the women are exploited and not paid well to do this tiring work, but Me to We pays them well and does not take advantage of them. We were taught how to make a pattern of beads on a piece of leather. I was NOT good at it. It looked okay in the beginning, but you have to have very steady hands and close precision, neither of which are my strong suit. It is hard work!

Thursday morning, we had our last activity. For my group and two groups, that meant building in the hot sun. We were building at a school near our camp, there were already 4 completed buildings and kids attending school in them, but there are more buildings being built, three in various stages of creation. One is built and needs only final touches (finishing on the mortar, paint touch ups on the roof) one has the walls built and standing but needs lots more work, and the last one we have dug the foundation for. For the first hour of building, my group did chiseling. We used hammers and chisels to hack at the mortar on the buildings to make them easier to finish. It was really hard work, but nothing compared to the digging. We had to dig trenches for the foundation, and there were constantly rocks in the way of the pick-axes, sending waves of shock through the handle to my wrists every time I hit one. Can you say PAINFUL?! When we switched to the digging from the chiseling we went from cool shade to hot sun, a very difficult transition at noon in Africa during the buildup to the hottest time of the year. It was all completely worth it though, building a nicer school for these little kids. We got to play with them during our water breaks, and they are really the most adorable little kids ever. They just want to hug you, hold your hand, and play lots of games. They are just so happy!

Thursday afternoon, they just put in the surplus things we did not have time for before. Those activities were a medicinal walk, and Maasai weapons training. The medicinal walk was really cool, the Maasai guides know something good about all the plants, they have a use for everything. We used one plant to brush our teeth, and another as deodorant. (They call it deo here, it is so weird to me) They knew a plant for malaria, stomachache, headache, any symptom you could possibly have!

The Maasai weapons training was really cool and fun. First he showed us the bow and arrows. They are all made by hand out of special wood, and they are real crack shots. The guide shot an arrow into the soccer goal from the other side of the field, and most of us could not even get it out of the penalty box. It was really hard, and we were all pretty pathetic shots. The next weapon is called a rungu or a conga. It is a thick wooden stick with a ball on the end. On the tip of the ball there is a little nub to concentrate all of the force of the blow in one spot. It HURTS when it hits you hard on the arm, I was unfortunate enough to find out when my friend and I got into a small skirmish with our rungus. The third is the machete. You shoot the arrow, you throw the rungu, but you never let your machete leave your hand. You die with it, or you win with it. I am sure you understand how to use a machete, and it is no different when killing a lion (or not because that is now illegal).

We got back at around 12 am on friday, exhausted and dusty, and we had a pizza party. We had the next week off for october break, more on that in a little while.

Tell me your ideas, and I would be happy to answer any questions!