Banjika Day 3 (Day 10: May 27)


We all woke up in our homestays for the first time today. We greeted the elders upon coming out of our rooms and got ready for school and some of us had breakfast at home. After a walk to school (5-30 mins), Mchaka Mchaka started. We were assigned teams and began the competition which included cooking chapati, peeling plant fibers, planting trees, singing songs in Swahili, and chicken wrestling. After everyone came together, we decided to attend an Eid celebration at one of the homesteads houses. We all walked together, passing by some of the homes on the way. Once at the celebration, we shared traditional food and danced together. First, we danced together, and then after, the Menlo students sang karaoke, and the Karatu students did the same. Then we all walked back to our houses. Once we arrived at the homestays we were able to wash our clothes, help around the house, and drink a lot of tea. We quickly settled ourselves in and began teaching them American games. Some played UNO and others Go Fish and war. Some homestay children were eager to learn to learn other games like poker and Blackjack. They enjoy gambling very much. Then came the most important part of the day: dinner. We all had dinner with our homestay families for that day. Ugali, beef stew, rice, chicken. It’s a little bit of the same in each house but still different in its own way. After dinner some homestay stayed up a little longer to play games, talk about American and our families back home. We ended off our day with some tea before bed.


-All The Boys 












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