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254/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Tuesday and today we brought cookies to our classes. That's four different classes with up to 40 kids each...I made about 200 just to be sure.

It was so fun to make them say "snickerdoodle" instead of "biscuit" which is the Kenyan term for cookie, and which is actually pronounced "bis-kwit."

We have a blast with this group. They make us laugh so much. Today one of the boys in standard 5 - whom I've deemed the class clown - was erasing the board for me. He's rather short so when he couldn't reach the top I said, "Need a boost?" and he turned and said, "What's a boost?" and the class erupted. I was a little nervous that I'd offended him in some way so I tried to justify making fun of short people since I've always been tall. You may be thinking that I am in NO way justified for that very reason and you're probably right. But everyone laughed and we all ate cookies and were happy.

I like to visit them on lunch break and they crowd me, trying to teach me Kswahili. Today I finally had them write down some things. Mostly names of fruits, numbers, etc. So on our way out these two little children ran up to us and greeted us. They followed us even once we were in the car and I realized - I can speak to them even though they don't know english! So in a rush I grabbed my sheet and told them in Kswahili: "My name is Brittany. I am 25 years old." Which was better than: "My name is Brittany. I have 5 bananas."

They looked startled and then they smiled and then I gave random people snickerdoodles through the car window. And I know they're thinking I'm a crazy mzungu and that is EXACTLY why it's fun.

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253/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today Kevin was my culinary student. He learned how to make the best, simplest dessert-but-still-tastes-not-simple that I've ever made so far: Apple Brown Betty.

If it weren't for the sugar rush and subsequent crash, I'd tell you more. But he did a great job and all of our stomachs were happy. The end.

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252/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I'm eating this cake right now. I'm drinking this coffee right now.

Maybe I'm just chocolate deprived, but this might be the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. It's so rich. Amy and I split it and we're still dying. It's so dense, so fudgy...and the coffee. Java House Coffee trumps everything.

It goes nicely with dinner:



We had an intense workout. Then we walked 2 kilometers. It all evens out.

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251/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Just snapped this real quick while we were in line at Nakumat. We re-filled our soda crate and bought bread, eggs, ice cream, apples, bananas, skim milk, whole milk, and chocolate soy milk. Oh and some Rolo's because who knew they had Rolo's in Africa!

We like milk and we love to put chocolate soy milk in cold, iced coffee. It makes life worth living.

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250/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Maybe my blog is leaving something to desire color-wise or maybe Ryan is just weird, but he emailed me and asked me to post a picture that had color, life, and vibrance in it. I thought that'd be hard to capture in just one, so I took a lot. Actually, it was pretty fun and I'm happy he asked me to do it. I'd sort of lost my eye for taking pictures and was shooting just for the sake of having a picture of whatever I did that day. As soon as I started looking for color I started noticing all of these things that I pass every day. Like the yellow light and the Standard sign. The wall mural is something I had noticed, however, and I was happy to have reason to finally stop and take a picture of it, at the risk of looking like a tourist. I just hate that. Blame New York.

Ryan is one of my very absolutely bestest really closest friends and was here with me last year for a month. I hope these pictures make you miss it because you really need to come back.

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249/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

We went back to Moi Girls School where we had spoken last Sunday morning. Every Saturday they have entertainment night. The girls can choose between a disco or CU. Disco is dance party. CU is Christian....something. I figured I'd have gone to the disco even if I were a Christian in high school. But we still had probably 400 girls show up. We played the movie "One Night With the King" about Queen Esther and it was craaaaaazy. EVERY TIME something happened that deserved any reaction at all, these girls screamed. Especially if there was a kiss on screen. I'm talking, my ears were ringing by the end of the night.

Before the movie some of us shared and we sang two songs. They were ecstatic about the guitars. I took one of the songs. I wanted to have something for them to sing along with because they have such beautiful voices - I told them they were my duet partner. So I brought them this song from Psalm 103. Above is a short clip. Below are the words to the full song in case you'd like to know:

Who made the wind His messengers
and flames of fire His ministers
Who formed all the foundations of the earth

Who calls on the earth and it quakes and it trembles
Who touches the mountains, they smoke and they quiver
You made the earth and all of its beauty
so I will sing, yes I will sing

I will sing to the Lord
as long as I live
You are mighty, yes You are mighty
and the earth will cry out
but I won't grow silent
for what a mighty God we serve

Who made the ocean so vast and so wide
Who gave the birds a song and a sky
You who love me more than I deserve

All of creation is for Your adoration
Lord, I stand in awe of your imagination
You give me reason to worship before You
so I will sing, yes I will sing

I will sing to the Lord
as long as I live
You are mighty, yes You are mighty
and the earth will cry out
but I won't grow silent
for what a mighty God we serve

And of all of the reasons to sing
You've created your own masterpiece
in me, so I will sing

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248/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

This picture might not seem that exciting. I snapped it very quickly on my phone while we were in town today. We were in town for a very, very long time. For reasons which I may never know, Faustin had to jump out of the car while Kevin circled around over and over until Faustin returned. Then we went on our way to KKV. It took two hours to get there and should have taken thirty minutes. Also took two hours to get back. Okay, please just forgive me and let me do this:

I HATE KENYA'S TRAFFIC ARRRRRRRGHHHH!!!!!!!

Alright, I feel better.

But can you see why I took this picture? The sign? Under Samsung it says "House wife's paradise." Huh? I am so confused, still. I have no idea what Samsung and housewives have to do with one another. There are just a lot of strange things about that sign that I'll leave you to ponder as I drift to sleep...

After another six mile run early this morning (I don't know where it came from, but I'm happy it did!), plus four hours of traffic (which quickly killed every endorphin I'd worked so hard for), and a few hours at KKV (they were good hours), oh and then having a small party of people come over tonight (we laughed a lot), and Skyping with my aunt Amber and sister Lauren (YES!!), I am tired and ready to sleep in like people normally do on Saturdays (I am also really tired of the parenthesis). So, goodnight from Kenya.

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247/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

The kids sit on their benches all day. I really liked seeing them work in teams today. Get out of their chairs, bounce ideas off of each other, get creative...

They are really starting to come out of their shells and embrace our silliness. A few of the older boys are still playing cool, but it won't be too long. We're here for a while longer but in reality, we only have five more weeks with these kids. It isn't that long. Amy and I tried to plan out the rest of our lessons today and we have more than enough to teach, only wish we had more time to do it.

And they're teaching me things, too! I told them to make me a Kswahili study sheet. I caught some of the kids studying their Bibles for the games during their free time. They already have most of the verses memorized. I'm so pumped for next week to see how they do!

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246/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Went to the butcher today for some hamburger meat and shrimp. Decided to pass on the cow intestines.


And the goat intestines. And the goat kidneys, which I surmised were kidneys since they looked like kidney beans which look like kidneys. Also, passed on that thing up there with the tail still attached.

The butchers were amused at my face. I asked them what everything was and told them that you just don't see that sort of thing in America...and that I'm learning about new cultures. They laughed and peeled my shrimp for free.

We went back to New Life Home today and saw Dorothy and Noel, the former nameless boy we picked up from the hospital. The nurse, Carol, named him.

I also held and fed one of the babies that was in the incubator last week. His name is Max and he came in weighing 900 grams. He got out of the incubator yesterday, is about a month old, and weighs 2.5kgs, about 5 pounds. His face is about the size of my fist. But by their standards, he's doing great.

There was a baby in the room who was 2 days old. The police found her abandoned. She was bigger than Max. Healthy girl. The nurse with me today (Lucy) told me she cleaned the blood off her and cut the umbilical chord. She just stared at her and wondered out loud how any human being could abandon their child. Give up, hand over for adoption...it's one thing. But to abandon? We decided poverty and circumstance has nothing to do with it. Even those with absolutely nothing can still hope, will still take care of their children. It's a mind issue - a lack of faith, hope, love. Completely taken over by selfishness and looking for a quick way out. Lucy is a mother of three boys, one only a year old, so it's pretty close to her heart. She's been working at New Life for five years and said she always thought eventually the numbers would go down and the children would find homes. But the numbers have not changed. One goes, another comes. She apologized for talking badly against her country, but I told her it wasn't bad, she just believed that they could do better. That's a good thing.

Sometimes it's really hard being here. People come to make a difference but often times to more harm than good. They teach people to keep living the way they are living to gain pity and get handouts. They scare them out of moving on to a better life because then they will LOSE the pity and the handouts. It is such a strange cycle. Honestly, I'm happy that I didn't come here with money. The biggest thing I've learned about helping people is that it is not about money. People crave knowledge, advice, counseling, help on a personal level. Not a wad of cash. Did you know that the clothes people so lovingly donate just end up being sold on the streets? It's corrupt. The USA sends goods over and they immediately go into the wrong hands and the wrong people make a profit on your donations. We send food, generations forget how to farm, they starve. We send clothes, generations forget how to sew, they go naked. The smart ones are no longer asking for money, just a conversation.

I wish I were an expert on any one thing. Business, medicine, education. I wish I could take a mess and help pick it up. But I'm young, I'm inexperienced. So I think that my reason here is to love. It's the only thing that everyone seeks and right now it's the only thing that I can give. Of course, it's the hardest thing to give. My heart isn't always open and in those circumstances I'd rather be able to just hand over a couple grand and fly right back to my own comfortable cage.

Well anyway. That's where I'm at. Sorry to juxtapose such honesty with a few pictures of raw meat. I don't plan things out so awesomely.

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245/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

We painted with water colors today in art class. This is the level 5 class showing off their work. I know...it's not in color. And they are holding up colored paintings. But...I just like it like this!

Amy and I started a game in our Bible class today inspired by my favorite things from Sunday school as a kid. We're calling it Super Bible Olympics! We separated the kids into 4 teams, had them come up with team names, team flags, and team captains. They have trivia and memory verses to study for next week. We have four categories of questions and I'm pretty sure the classes are loving it so far.

We only teach Bible to level 6 and 7, and I'd like to share with you the team names that level 6 came up with today:

Sky Dancers
Blue Dragons
Lanchester
and...
Grozzo's the Rambo's Team

I asked what that last one meant. "Just a name," he said. Yeeeep.

So far the Sky Dancers are in the lead for winning team and have had their wrists adorned with the hottest toy in the USA: Silly Bandz. I was curious to see if they'd translate to "cool" here or it the kids would think they were strange. Verdict's still out.

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244/265, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Just FYI...this is where we've been living. We only have until the end of the month here. I'm going to miss walking back from the gym/Java house/the grocery store/the vegetable market and seeing this lovely site.

But October holds its own adventures!

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243/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

On Thursday we were told that we'd be speaking in front of six or seven hundred girls Sunday morning. We'd be picked up at 9 AM.

Mmmk. Cool.

We didn't know what to talk about until the car ride over. We also didn't know until 8:30 AM that we were supposed to be at the school at 9 AM...not picked up at 9 AM. These things happen often. We are trying to be so very un-American and just roll with it.

The girls all go to a boarding school in Nairobi not too far from the apartment. We were the guests at their chapel service and we were supposed to share 5-10 minute testimonies on God's timing in our lives. When we got there the girls led worship with a drum and a mic. And it was AMAZING. I took so much video and I can't wait to share that. They were so fun to watch. They were also so fun to speak to. They laughed, they whooped, they ooo'd, they ahh'd. Perfect little...large....audience.

Pastor Chola said they can really relate to things like boys right now. So I mentioned boys. And boyfriends. I gave shout outs to all my high school boyfriends (thanks, guys), and they were EXCITED to hear about boys. I walked up there, Amy too, with nothing but a scripture to guide us. She spoke out of Isaiah, I spoke about Psalm 27:14 - about waiting and hoping with expectancy. I shared how God had applied that in my life with school, career, relationships, travel, etc. It's sort of a rush to stand up in front of that many people and have no clue what you're about to say. But God said if we open our mouths He will fill them. I really love that because I'm not good at filling my own mouth.

That doesn't sound right.


"Blah blah blah....BOYS....blah blah blah....BOYS!"

So...maybe I played to the crowd just a little bit.

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242/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Welp, it's the 18th. Today Kevin, Faustin and Sarah graduated from their life coaching classes. These guys are my brothers and I only have a few pictures with them. Don't they look snazzy? They like to dress nice. I wouldn't even be in this picture if it weren't the 18th. Too bad I made a promise.

But seriously, I love my brothers! We've been friends (siblings) for over 4 years now. Now they're all grown and getting married! Time flies, for real.

Speaking of time flying...I'm 25 and 8 months today. 8 months, right? I can't count without my fingers. Makes for interesting times when I'm trying to tutor physics. Can you believe I actually AM using sine and cosine in "real life"? If I hadn't of learned about those ridiculous things in high school I'd never been able to tutor the precious girl at KKV. So, it's kinda real life.

Mmmk I'm gonna go celebrate by cooking some Thai food.

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241/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today we went out to KKV to do a little tutoring, had some lunch, watched them try to wrestle the kids to make a thank you video for Gateway Church's recent donation, and we went to the gym. I decided to run a 10k. That's 6.4 miles. I was feeling so good today! Not like Tuesday. I'd like to forget those 2 hours of torture. I finished today in one hour and four minutes which is not bad considering I'm me.

There is a screen attached to the treadmill and normally I just leave it on and listen to music. I can watch news (no), random movies (sometimes), cartoons (old school Fantastic Four and Iron man on today), or the Christian station. Today I landed on the Christian station and watched a guy talk about a book he wrote called Hipster Christianity. I had my music on the entire time so I don't know what he said, but I'm intrigued by the title. Could possibly make me laugh...I'm looking up the site right now. Feel like that's something Misti Gillen might be interested in? We like making fun of hipsters. Sorry. It's out of love. Texans generally don't know what hipsters are, I've found. Sorry again if it's over your head. (But I can't wait to take this quiz and find out if I'M a Christian hipster! Side note - Misti, I'm taking it now and you will DIE, it's pretty great.)

The point is, the ads here will often feature a misspelling. Today I saw a sign that said "No Parkinng" on the gate of a nice apartment complex. I've seen many errors on the TV stations, but today was my favorite.

On the Christian channel, mind you, a man was speaking over text that said, "THAT WITCH MUST DIE". I must assume he meant "which" and was discussing how Christians must die to ourselves and our own personal wants in order to truly live.

Or maybe he meant the witch needs to die? All I know is it was big ole letters and it threatened to ruin my run as I keeled over in laughter.

At the end of our workout the winds started changing and we could feel it coming through from the windows. Then it started pouring! It felt amazing to have that breeze come in at the end of my run. I took this picture while Amy and I were enjoying chai and lattes downstairs at Java while we waited for the rain to pass.

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240/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I'd like to take you on a tour.


Every Tuesday and Thursday we drive down this way to get to Joy Springs.


I snapped these quickly and without much purpose because I didn't want anybody to feel like I was making a spectacle out of them.

Along this way you'll find shops selling fruits and vegetables, chapatis at lunch, mandazis in the morning, and sodas all day long. There is a movie theater that shows movies I've never heard of on a screen that must be on the wall of a building somewhere, there are little kids running around, the smell of burning trash is almost unbearable, there are ashes floating in the air, and in the midst of all of this is the school.


Rose meets us outside. She is the pastor's wife - the founder of the school. Amy, Faustin and I follow her...


We pass homes made from mud and other unknown materials...


We pass the bathrooms on the right. Faustin told us no matter what, do not use them. They are holes that fill up every WEEK. They have to be cleaned out. I'd be willing to go pretty far to help someone but I seriously had to consider - could I go that far? I just...ahh...makes me feel like a bad person. Can't I just hold a baby?

Anyway. Amy and I don't drink a lot on these days.


After a bit of weaving we make it to the entrance of the school.


We can already hear the kids yelling, so we prepare ourselves....


For this!! A hundred sweet faces yelling, "How are you? How are you?" over again. They grab our hands and bombard us almost to the point of exhaustion.

But today the teacher's quickly swept the children back in to their classrooms...


So that we could (boldly) climb the stairs and park ourselves in the office for some tea and our hour-long planning time.

Today I accidentally launched a glass jar full of crayons down those stairs. Me and a hundred eyes watched with horror as the crayons flew all over the place and the jar hit each step before finally shattering on the ground. I ran to the office to put my things down, and by the time I had turned around a girl was handing me all the crayons. I thanked her then rushed outside to clean up the glass. It was already gone. The kids had thrown it away.

It is a mystery to me how classrooms of 40 kids who grew up in the slum of all slums, some orphaned, some with horror stories we can't even imagine, could be the most well-behaved and respectful group of children I've ever witnessed. They go to school from 7:30 AM until 5 PM. They desire to learn. They want to be doctors and ambassadors.

And today Amy and I taught them the meaning of the word "y'all".

Seriously. We're going to be fired.

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239/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

First, let's get over the fact that I've posted more than one naked baby on my blog. I don't understand it either.

Now that we're all over it, I'm going to tell you a really good story.

On Wednesdays Amy and I volunteer at New Life Home, an orphanage for abandoned babies, most of them HIV positive. Today when we arrived we were told they needed two people to accompany the nurses to the hospital. We had no idea why they needed us, but we immediately said yes.

So, after bottle-feeding some little ones and making balls from sheets of cotton while they slept, we piled into the car. Us, two nurses, and a driver.

In Kenya, no one ever really "briefs" you on what's about to happen. You just go with it. The nurses spoke nonstop in Swahili during the ride to the hospital, so we were still pretty much in the dark. I started playing a game with myself and thinking how people say immersion is the best way to learn a language, so I tried my hardest to figure out what they were saying. Occasionally I would pick up on something! And then realize that they'd just spoken two words in English.

All I could surmise was that they were NOT talking about whatever it was we were going to do.

Oh, until I heard the words "Hope FM" and I just had to interrupt and say, "We've been on that radio station!" which immediately made me interesting and part of the conversation. Which immediately made me like the nurses.

They took us to Kenyatta National Hospital which honestly, felt like an abandoned hospital. Only with a lot of people running around. It was big, old and grimey. Not at all pristine or private.

We took an elevator to the children's floor and by now we'd at least figured out that we were picking up a baby. I didn't know how that was going to work since there was no space in the car and they threw the baby seat in the trunk. But I went with it.

There were kids running all over the floor. They came to us and held our hands. We didn't find out until we left that they were cancer patients receiving treatment. They were all happy kids. All but one little girl who I held who didn't smile or talk. Just held on. Maybe I'm a little heartbroken.

The doctors took us into a room with a dozen or so beds, one of which held three tiny. Tiny. Tiny. babies. They were right next to a blind boy named David who couldn't form words, only lay on his stomach and reach his heals to the back of his head. I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a little freaky. I looked at him and thought, "This is him, Jesus. This is the unloveable." And then I watched the nurse we travelled with show him love. I think she gets it.

One of the babies I couldn't see, he was so covered in blankets. Another one I could see - he was a week old. Both the boys were born in the Kibera slum and had been abandoned. Police officers had brought them to the hospital. The third one was a girl named Dorothy. She was four months old and she was coming with us.

The nurse briefly checked her out, changed her diaper and clothes, wrapped her in a blanket, then handed her to me, to my surprise. She had big eyes and loved looking at people. She kept craning her head to see all around her. She'd stare at one person for minutes.

I held on to her while they finished up her paperwork and then said, "There's another on the other side of the hospital."

So we walked over and we waited for him. A huge group of kids had started following us by now. One had attached herself to Amy, others played with our hair or starred at Dorothy. The kids and the hospital staff all wanted to say goodbye to her.

It took quite sometime to get the other baby, a two-month-old boy, so I held her until my arms hurt. But I didn't dare let her go.

Finally he came out - "African Boy" was written on his charts. No name yet.

And we got into the scary elevator with no sensors on the doors and people who are unwilling to let you through, even with such precious cargo in our arms. Then we just walked out of the hospital.

A few men came up to the nurses and asked how the white girls had black babies. The nurses totally milked it and said the babies had black fathers. And the men said we didn't look like we could nurse (well, they used different wording), and the ladies called our babies "Little Obamas" - who knows what else they said. But they found it rather funny.


Amy, carrying the boy out of the hospital.


Dorothy started crying after about an hour. When we left she was fussy. Maybe 4 months is old enough to be confused about what's going on?

When we got to the car, the babies stayed in our arms. It's not illegal here. But I was praying we wouldn't get hit by a rogue matatu.


She didn't look big enough to hold her head up so I was reluctant, but I think she just wanted to look around during the car ride.


When we got back to New Life, the nurse took the babies temperature, measured them, weighed them, bathed them and changed them. I had guessed right on Dorothy's weight - 10 pounds.

I also had a chance to glance at her paperwork. Her mother is 20-years-old. She dropped Dorothy off at the hospital in June. The father could not be reached. Dorothy tests negative for HIV. She has a scar on her ear and two on her head from reasons unknown.


The nurse's name is Carol. I think Carol is a wonderful woman.


She always had her mouth open.


This is Amy with the boy.


Dorothy and me. Look at her tear! I can't handle it.

As soon as we saw her we couldn't stop talking about how beautiful she is. She is just a pretty baby.

I think she looks like my daughter. Right? Bad joke? Or how about my sister? Mom, Dad...I can speak for Lauren and Rachel when I say I know what we want for Christmas.

I got a little attached, if you can't tell. The nurses were amazing but still very clinical, very job-focused. I asked a few questions about the babies and most of the time they didn't know the answer. Didn't even know the boy was nameless until we arrived back at New Life. I understand, you probably can't be too emotional in this line of work.

Today was so unexpected and I feel so blessed to have been asked to go. I'm excited to see the babies again next week. But I'd be more excited to go and find they'd been adopted already. That would definitely be the happy ending.

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238/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today we taught about the color wheel. Neat!

I'm so out of my element, but it's fun. It's a stretch. We also took on a religion class. Did I mention that already? I'm out of my element there, too. But it's okay. It's kind of been a theme since we landed.

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237/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Teaching 101: When in doubt, use big hand gestures.

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236/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today I slept until 10:30 which was such a blessing. I've been waking up on my own by 7:00 every morning. I actually like it; I've morphed into a morning person. But I think I was starting to believe that I couldn't in fact sleep any longer. So after something like a migraine last night, I slept iiiiiiiin yes I did.

Amy and I decided to start a new tradition of brunch at Java House. We actually go to Java House quite a bit because it's one of the places we can walk to by ourselves and they have free wifi that works most of the time. Though you never can tell. But we just get drinks because we're trying to be smart with our money. The thing is, they have great food. We love their food. We miss their food when we're in the States. I mean, mostly we miss their coffee, but I do miss their food, too. So on Sunday...we're ordering food.

Church is at 4:00 and I decided today that I'd take a picture of Destiny Chapel to share. So I did that. But then this happened. One of the sweet little children became wordlessly attached to me last week when I danced with her. Today she spent most of the service standing directly in front of me. Eventually she felt comfortable enough to climb in my lap. But before that, she was transfixed with my hands. She grabbed them, slapped them, played with my nails, pulled at my thumbs, and then she just held them. So I took a picture. And I'm sorry, but this is the one I'm gonna post for today.

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235/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

The balcony view from my room. It's too bright, but in the distance you can see the gym. On Thursday I starred from the gym to my room as motivation to finish up and get the heck out of there.

i took this picture while I was listening to the people celebrating Eid down in the street somewhere. They were blowing vuvuzelas and the kids were making a racquet.

It was strange to listen to while I thought of the last three years I spent in New York on this day. The first year I remember looking at the lights where the twin towers stood from the top of Central Park. The last two years I drove right by them on the way home from the company bowling party.

Here there is no Labor Day, no 9/11, no annoyingly early Halloween decorations, which I'm guessing means no candy on sale. I enjoy blogging when I'm happy. When I'm upset I make a conscious decision not to show it and I used to think it was because I really hate common social media complainers. But if I'm being honest and sharing my life here, I'll tell you that I'm happy. And I'm sad. Everywhere I am, I miss the other place. I don't know what to do next, my closest friends are constantly in and out of my life, the things I was passionate about are shifting.

I have seven more weeks here. Not even halfway finished yet. I am happy here but I'll always miss home. Wherever, and whoever, that is.

August Favorite

Look what I found time (and bandwidth) to do! I know it's the wee hours in the morning for all of you in the States, so I'll leave the poll open for an undisclosed amount of time. Basically until there is an actual winner and not a three-way tie like last time (in which case I just picked my favorite, and that defeats the purpose).

Favorite August Photoonline surveys

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234/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Hey. This is a last ditch effort. I was too busy reading with kids and playing the pre-digital age Catch Phrase and drinking coffee floats and having fun at goodbye parties and figuring out it's a small world and perusing movie rental places where I attempted to ditch the employee who wouldn't let me out of her site and getting Thai food and watching this amazing movie called Adam about a guy with asbergers to take pictures today. Bye.

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233/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

I love this picture of Amy with the 6th grade class. Ahh! This was so fun today!

We had our first art classes. Each time we walked in all of the kids stood until we told them to be seated. Then the said, "Thank you, madame." To which I said, "Did you just call me Sarah?"

You'd think I'd be used to the accent by now.

They were excellent listeners and they were so excited about the supplies we brought. You guys! We had over $300 donated yesterday! So, so blessed. These kids will get the best of the best.


I like this guy.


He drew a tree. He's after my heart.

I am loving these days. We taught two classes today and in between the pastor's wife took us to her house in the slum. I really enjoy talking with her and her husband. We are learning so much. I ask a lot of questions. Totally immersing.

After our second class Amy and I got all beat up a the gym again. You'd think we'd just stop going after awhile. But it hurts so good, or something.

Tomorrow we go back to KKV and figure out how teaching works there. And then I'll probably come home and bake something.

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232/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

This is Sean. He is in the toddler room I've been volunteering at in New Life Home. He's one of the younger ones in the class - still wobbles around, sucks his thumb, can stand to be held, and needs to be spoon fed.

The toddler room is work, not like bottle-feeding and rocking to sleep little babies. These kids would rather play. They are being potty-trained, they don't always lay down during nap time, they have mischievous grins and they spit their lunches all over you (I had a banana shower today).

But they are sweet little kids who deserve the very best. Which, is not me. But I'm here now. So I'll do what I can.

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231/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today we visited the Joy Springs school in the Kibera slum. Amy and I are going to teach art to the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th grade classes. We spent today learning about the school and going through a sort of orientation. I feel like in the last few days I have really tuned in to a purpose and a direction for my time here. I know nothing about teaching but I already love these kids. That's got to be fuel for something.

We caught the bus back after spending a few hours at the school. Amy and I walked to the gym where we proceeded to get pounded once again. I was sort of thankful that our regular trainer was nowhere insight so I decided to leave all my energy on the treadmill. Six miles later (take that, Nike plus app!), I happily turned the corner, ready to leave, and there was Jack. Already torturing Amy.

I'm serious about torture. The sounds that came out of my mouth should never have to be heard by anyone.

Anyway, immediately after we got home I sent out an e-mail. Many of you must have received it. If not, here's the part where I ask for money:

The school in Kibera is called Joy Springs. It's a tiny place with 450 students. Most of the classes have up to 50 students. They teach from pre-school up to 7th grade. By January they will add an 8th grade class, so long as they receive the $3,000 to build it. You are more than welcome to give $3,000 to Joy Springs (and by all means, go for it!), but what we have an immediate need for is our classroom.

Amy especially had felt like we should teach art as this school because the arts are rarely, if ever, taught here. We found out today that a lady from the States had spent two years teaching art on Tuesdays and Thursdays and she just left in June. That sort of floored us! Just as she is leaving, we've arrived. And with the same schedule. She taught only one class but Amy and I will be able to teach the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th years. The 4th and 5th graders were absolutely ECSTATIC when they found out today because art was not open to them previously.

You can probably guess, but they have little supplies. Some crayons, pencils, craft sticks, and a few paintbrushes. When we came in with the team in August we travelled with a good amount of supplies so we have something to start, but we will definitely run out. We are anticipating working with 200 individual students per week. We don't need much and will work with little, but there is one initial thing we'd like to do.

On Thursday we'll have our first classes. We would love for each of the kids to have their own folder to keep their art work in during our two months there. We went to the store today and found that each folder will cost 25 shillings. For 200 students, that translates to $75.

Aside from the $75, we would use any extra for paper, paint, etc. I can 100% promise you that anything Amy and I receive for Joy Springs will go directly to the school. And we will spend wisely. If they lack food, we can spare some colored pencils so they can have lunch.

I took some pictures of the school today. Please have a look and read the descriptions for more information!

So if you'd like to put a smile on a kid's face please give through PayPal. If you've never used PayPal before I can assure it is safe and fast. Feel free to put "Joy Springs" in the memo. If you'd like your money to go towards a specific purchase, please put that as well. We'd love to have $75 by tomorrow so that we can start making the folders to be ready for Thursday! All you have to know to give is my e-mail address: brittanyrosewhite@gmail.com

Some of you have already given and I can't tell you how excited I am for the kids and for you. I know you don't give selfishly, but you will be blessed.

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231/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Today was our first day at King's Kids Village and I just love it there! Amy and I are going to be helping teach there on Mondays and Fridays. School doesn't actually start until tomorrow, so today all we did was "rub" books. The students re-use work books, so they go back and erase all the answers that the previous student had filled out. It's actually quite the arm work out.

We also saw their bunny rabbits. I debated on what picture to show for the longest time: group of us erasing, me with rabbit, kid with rabbit, picture that kid took of someone erasing, picture of kid throwing rabbit by the ears...

I decided on this one. He's Joe and he's one of the twins who was adopted by the Sterns, the family from Illinois who started KKV. I'll tell you more about that another day.

So they bought a pregnant bunny that's pretty huge and she had six babies. They haven't named them but they love them, feed them, kiss them, hold them...I asked if they planned to sell them. They don't. They plan to eat them.

I mean, I don't know if I could eat a rabbit I was emotionally attached to. Kids are pretty strong these days.

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230/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

This is Sarah. Downstairs neighbor, world traveler, gym-lover, future-baby-stealer. She wowed Amy and I the first week we met her with stories about all of her travels and how everything she owns fits in a couple suitcases. For real! She's in Kenya and staying with her parents but could jetset off at anytime and when she does? Better make sure she isn't smuggling that baby.

Speaking of, that baby is the precious weeks-old daughter to Njoro (aka Joe, or Peter, depending) and Sue. I met Njoro in 2007 when he guided my family around Nairobi for two weeks. He was by our side every step of the way and we love him. I think one of my favorite memories of Njoro is him dancing by the fire in a white cowboy hat the night of my aunt and uncle's wedding in the Masai Mara. Or it could be the card game afterwards with him and my cousins. All I remember about that night is laughing for hours.

He was single that year. And then in 2009 he was engaged to be married just days after I left. And this year, he's got a sweet little girl named Zara. It's funny how so many people's lives have changed drastically since I met them in 2007. 'Cause besides graduating from college, moving to New York City and getting a staph infection the day my health insurance kicked in, my life is pretty much the same!

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229/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Left over but not for long.

Do you expect something like this to last more than 24 hours in my kitchen? You must not know me.

Today was pretty great. Amy and I got our butt's kicked at the gym by JACK who is JACKED. Clever. He made me kick his leg and punch his hand and it was like hitting asphalt after being knocked off a bike. Jack must have known my plans for dinner that night and wanted to punish me for even thinking about words like "cream cheese" and "sugar" and "indulge".

After the gym we walked to the store and then to the butcher where I was greeted with a new gross smell. But I still bought meat there.

Then we went to the market for cheap vegetables.

And then we came back and we cooked and slaved away and showered and finally sat down around six. Tired and hungry.

Kevin and Faustin came over with their girlfriends, Esther and Judy, and they feasted on our feast of American comfort food: BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes, sauteed red pepper, zucchini, and carrots, and garlic bread. With cheesecake squares taking the win for most awesome food of the day. We decided to watch a movie since we couldn't move (actually, not going to lie - I didn't overeat at all tonight - it's because I'm scared of Jack).

The weather was beautiful today. Sunny and 70s. Then after I showered the wind chimes started ringing and it rained. And it was so beautiful. Apparently it caused a 5-hour traffic jam in the city, but to me, it was an oasis of beauty.

Now I need to go to bed so that it can hurry up and be time for me to eat leftovers. Mashed potatoes for breakfast!

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228/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

We attended another wedding today. The only pictures that I got were pretty terrible so I decided to use this one as the best display of the fashion. Pretty much, you wear whatever you want and no one cares.

The groom was our friend DJ Krowbar. He's somewhat of a celebrity here in Kenya and he's been DJing for the Count Me In camp the last two years. He is amazing! He can scratch with his chin! Faustin told us he had his ceremony at 11:00 AM on a Friday to avoid big crowds because in Kenya, you come to a wedding if you're invited or if you aren't. There were a lot of people at the ceremony but by reception time there were easily 1,000 people there.

This ceremony was a bit shorter than the last - about an hour. I'm happy to have been to two weddings here because now I can tell what is traditional and what is just...different. Strange. Weird. I think my biggest culture shock so far are these weddings. But it's so fun to see! I even joined in with some of the "aye-aye-aye-aye!" cheering after the couple exchanged vows. I'm becoming more Kenyan every day.

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227/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Fat little toddlers pooping and peeing as a unit.

I learned how to tie a "nappie" today. They use cloth diapers at New Life Home. And then they wear these plastic things over the nappies and the towels so they have really huge butts.

How many Americans still use cloth diapers on a regular basis? I remember having some in our house, but I'm not sure if they were ever used. Imagine all the babies in the orphanage using them. All the babies being on the same eating/playing/sleeping/peeing schedule. It's pretty funny to me and the kids are happy. But wow, those cloth diapers. They kinda gross me out.