Celebrities.

Long time no update. Sheesh I am slackin. Well there is actually quite a bit to catch up on. First and foremost there was finally some direct contact with our site in Kenya! Earlier this week Meredith and Danielle (our Student Program Coordinators, they are awesome fyi) got to chat with Paul (our main contact in Nyeri). It was actually really the first time anybody had gotten a hold of him so thats awesome. And actually they set it up so that the whole group (Nick, Caitlin, Deanna, and I) will Skype with him soon and get to meet him and ask questions and what not.

What Meredith and Danielle found out: There are about 150 students at the center right now and they are split into two age groups, Primary Age and Professional Training. Our main focus as far as helping out while we are there seems to be with agriculture/horticulture education and training for the children. Looks like we are gonna roll up our sleeves and get down and dirty. BUT.......the coolest thing (in my opinion) that they found out was that Paul really wants us to play/teach the children there Softball, as he feels they would really enjoy it. I was like HOLD the PHONE!! I freakin love softball and baseball such things, so I am freaking pumped. Its gonna be sweet. Maybe one of the kids I teach softball too will end up a stud KC Royal haha. (*)

Ok back to business:
Nick (the musical guru) has finished out benefit CD! The compilation is called Nyimbo, which means Songs in Swahili. In case you weren't listening yesterday, our whole group was on 91.9 KSU radio for an hour yesterday promoting the CD and our Service Trip. It was sooo much fun and just so awesome. We decided that we are pretty much celebrities now. But the CD is seriously incredible! Yesterday was the first time I had heard any of the tracks so I hadn't been able to fully promote this thing to my friends. That is no longer. THE CD IS AWESOME AND I MORE THAN HIGHLY RECOMMEND (in fact, I will say you MUST) getting yourself a hold of one of them. The CD consists entirely of local (Manhattan area/KSU tied) artists doing original stuff. (PS track 9 is Nick himself)

WHERE?!?! (you're asking this right now---I can tell)
This Wednesday, starting at 8pm, the Kenya Service Team 2009 (yes thats us) will be having a CD Release Event/Party at Radina's in Aggieville. I really encourage anyone and everyone (bring a friend) to come out and support us. The event is free for everyone and is a great opportunity to hear a few of the artists from the CD live and just talk with us. We are always more than willing to answer any questions and just tell you all about our project and ourselves. The CD will be available for people to pick up, all we ask is that you make some sort of donation. (*just an interesting side note: the CD covers are actually going to be hand-made by us, we are legit). So yeah, this is just the first in a series of events that we will be having to benefit our trip and hopefully raise funds for ourselves. Hope to see everyone there on Wendesday!!

(*) Seeing as Paul is hoping that we can teach the children Softball, he has also mentioned that if we can to bring as much equipment for it as we can. So if anyone has extra gloves (baseball or softball. used is great!) or balls laying around, we would love to take those off your hands for a great cause. Let me know if interested.


Asante sana (thanks much) na Kwaherini (Goodbye to all),
Jamie

Sign, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours Kenya)....Almost!

So after much waiting and countless searches we have finally booked our plane tickets to Kenya! There's no turning back now. And I couldn't be happier. Not only were they cheaper than I was planning on but we have a total of 25 hours to kill during our two layovers in LONDON. How freaking sweet is that. Its like I get to have a mini trip at the start and end of my wonderful summer. I have already made plans for our first stop in London haha. I am so going to have me a nice lunch in some rustic, authentic London bar. Oh and as if we wont have enough adventure over the summer in Kenya we also will be taking a megabus from KC to Chi-Town. Now that sounds fun doesnt it. I'm so excited. I'm turning into quite the world traveller I'd say. Ok well enough of me dreaming out my trip, for those of you who just care about the details here they are:

Leaving KC via megabus (see above): Thursday May 21
Leaving Chicago via BIG BIG plane: Saturday May 23
------Layover in lovely London
Arriving in Nairobi, Kenya: Monday May 25

***all sorts of adventure, service, playing with kids, learning, growth, searching, getting lost (ya never know), sun, fun, travel, animals, etc***

Leaving Nairobi, Kenya: Tuesday August 4
-------Back to London for a night (possible staying in the airport; I'm gonna be tom hanks in The Terminal)
Arriving in Chicago: Wednesday August 5
Back to KC: Sometime thereafter

HOLY CRAP THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!!!

Up and Running

Hey guys!
I have started making this blog so that I will have it this summer. I wanted to have a seperate blog from my normal one that would be dedicated solely to all things Kenya. So I will be using it throughout the rest of this semester to keep everyone updated on everything from fundraisers to travel details. Speaking of fundraisers, our first one was an unbelievable success. I must admit that I was very skeptical that we would raise a significant amount but K-State turned out in force to support us. If you are not aware our first fundraiser was a T-Shirt sale. As a group we got together and tie tyed a bunch of shirts green for people to wear on Fake Patty's Day or St. Patty's Day (0r both). Like I said, I wasn't sure how this would turn out. I was not necessarily a fan of tie dye. However, I soon realized that tie dye was actually pretty cool. Our first day in the Union (Thursday) we sold out of all but a few Larges and X-Larges! We were all stoked. Well since we had no more shirts to sell we knew we needed to make more. Luckily for us we were able to convice Walmart to donate our second batch. Who says Walmart is ruining local communites! So we rolled up our sleeves and cranked out another 30-ish shirts to sell Friday. Well once again the K-State community showed how awesome they are and snatched up every last shirt bt 2:00!! It was super awesome to see and feel the support from our fellow students and Wildcats. Its so encouraging and re-engergizing for this trip to have that kind of support. So I just want to thank everyone who came out and donated. It was amazing. For those of you who did not make it out and still would like to support us there will be plenty of more options throughout the semester. Instead of getting into all of that now I will wait, this post is getting lengthy. Thanks again for everyone's support and I will continue to keep you guys posted throughout the semester and summer.


Asante sana. Kwaherini.