 |
Expanding Opportunities July 2006 Newsletter http://www.exop.org - info@expandingopportunities.org |
Table of Contents
Hi everyone,We at Expanding Opportunities have had a busy month. In early July, we welcomed Jesse and Saima home after a six-month stay at our project in Mangu, Kenya. Later in July we were able to welcome Joseph Karanja, a Kenyan who has volunteered for Expanding Opportunities for several years, to the U.S. for the first time. We hope the children at the home school do not believe we have deserted them, with all the volunteers leaving at the same time!
Jesse and Saima
Jesse and Saima
In early July, Jesse and Saima returned after a service journey of six months. Part of their job in Kenya was to write the newsletter every month. Their newsletters have delighted many with their poignant stories of rural life in Kenya. They have also kept us informed of and entertained by the boys’ activities at the Joseph Waweru Home School. Their departure from Kenya will be deeply felt by the members of the JWHS.
Jesse and Saima’s jobs at the school were numerous and varied. Jesse has improved our website, taught the kids to use a computer, maintained a delightful and insightful website for his family and friends, set up 2 websites for Kenyans, and helped Saima with the gardening and writing newsletters and press releases. He also has been a friend, tutor and mentor to our boys in the orphanage. Jesse cheerfully set his hand to any task, project or crisis that arose.
Saima’s jobs were also numerous. She wrote the newsletters and press releases with Jesse, set up an irrigation system, planted a garden and learned and tried to teach solar cooking. At the same time, she was encouraging the boys with their letter writing and schoolwork. Saima, in her quiet, gentle way, captured the hearts of everyone at the JWHS. We at Expanding Opportunities extend a heartfelt Thank you to both Jesse and Saima for all that they have done.
Saima and Jesse’s return to the U.S. and re-entry into “normal” life here was a little “strange.” Talking to them both after their return showed how different life in the U.S. is from life in Kenya. Having hot showers, refrigeration, and ice cubes has been greatly appreciated since their return. Saima and Jesse have learned what it was like to live without these luxuries while living in Kenya. They have come home with a new awareness of how lucky they are.
Your service to Expanding Opportunities was greatly appreciated and we wish you all the best in this world. We will miss you so much!
Asante sana kabisa na Mungu akubariki sana.
Jesse and Saima
Jesse and Saima’s jobs at the school were numerous and varied. Jesse has improved our website, taught the kids to use a computer, maintained a delightful and insightful website for his family and friends, set up 2 websites for Kenyans, and helped Saima with the gardening and writing newsletters and press releases. He also has been a friend, tutor and mentor to our boys in the orphanage. Jesse cheerfully set his hand to any task, project or crisis that arose.
Saima’s jobs were also numerous. She wrote the newsletters and press releases with Jesse, set up an irrigation system, planted a garden and learned and tried to teach solar cooking. At the same time, she was encouraging the boys with their letter writing and schoolwork. Saima, in her quiet, gentle way, captured the hearts of everyone at the JWHS. We at Expanding Opportunities extend a heartfelt Thank you to both Jesse and Saima for all that they have done.
Saima and Jesse’s return to the U.S. and re-entry into “normal” life here was a little “strange.” Talking to them both after their return showed how different life in the U.S. is from life in Kenya. Having hot showers, refrigeration, and ice cubes has been greatly appreciated since their return. Saima and Jesse have learned what it was like to live without these luxuries while living in Kenya. They have come home with a new awareness of how lucky they are.
Your service to Expanding Opportunities was greatly appreciated and we wish you all the best in this world. We will miss you so much!
Asante sana kabisa na Mungu akubariki sana.
Joseph Karanja
Karanja and Pastor at Church of the Holy Light
We welcomed Joseph Karanja to Maine the last week in July. He was only with us for 7 days, but they were days packed full of visiting area churches and organizations as well as taking time out to have some fun.
Karanja landed in Boston on Monday July 24th after taking off late in the day Sunday July 23, from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Friends from Expanding Opportunities in Brooks, Maine, greeted him in Boston. The long trip home was enlivened with chatter and new sights for Karanja.
Tuesday morning Karanja visited the Starrett Center in Belfast. He spent the morning telling the children stories from Kenya. The stories, which were filled with princesses, ogres, and handsome princes, were very much like our folk tales except for the occasional appearance of a hippo, elephant, or lion. Karanja then spent time answering questions about Kenyan customs and culture. The staff, parents and children at the Starrett Center were delighted with Karanja’s visit and have asked him to return.
Karanja and Pastor at Church of the Holy Light
Karanja also attended The Church of the Holy Light on Tuesday evening for their midweek service and on Sunday for their regular service. He spoke on both occasions, extending a heartfelt thank you to the members of the congregation who have donated to Expanding Opportunities.
The rest of the week and weekend was spent seeing the sights and experiencing new things. Karanja tried lobster and visited Bar Harbor with Expanding Opportunities volunteer Nancy Carney. He enjoyed an old fashioned Bar-b-que, hosted by Dot and Mike Rush. There he talked and shared, with their guests, many of his experiences in Kenya and also his knowledge of the customs and cultures of his home.
Karanja ended his week by being the guest of honor at a pot luck supper at Toddy Pond school. The event was planned and sponsored by Expanding Opportunities. Former volunteers, as well as donors and the public, were invited to come and socialize with Karanja.
One of the highlights of the evening was when the guests introduced themselves and explained their relationship to Expanding Opportunities. It was amazing how many different people and cultures were represented. We had people from the U.S., Peru, and Kenya. It was wonderful that these people could find the time to come to a function like this to welcome someone that many had not met before.
This gathering of Expanding Opportunities’ supporters was a very encouraging event. If so many people have cared enough to help in the short time that Expanding Opportunities has existed, how many more will the future bring? How many more will bring their expertise, their experiences, their youth and their energy in the next few years?
Karanja and Pastor at Church of the Holy Light
We welcomed Joseph Karanja to Maine the last week in July. He was only with us for 7 days, but they were days packed full of visiting area churches and organizations as well as taking time out to have some fun.
Karanja landed in Boston on Monday July 24th after taking off late in the day Sunday July 23, from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya. Friends from Expanding Opportunities in Brooks, Maine, greeted him in Boston. The long trip home was enlivened with chatter and new sights for Karanja.
Tuesday morning Karanja visited the Starrett Center in Belfast. He spent the morning telling the children stories from Kenya. The stories, which were filled with princesses, ogres, and handsome princes, were very much like our folk tales except for the occasional appearance of a hippo, elephant, or lion. Karanja then spent time answering questions about Kenyan customs and culture. The staff, parents and children at the Starrett Center were delighted with Karanja’s visit and have asked him to return.
Karanja and Pastor at Church of the Holy Light
Karanja also attended The Church of the Holy Light on Tuesday evening for their midweek service and on Sunday for their regular service. He spoke on both occasions, extending a heartfelt thank you to the members of the congregation who have donated to Expanding Opportunities.
The rest of the week and weekend was spent seeing the sights and experiencing new things. Karanja tried lobster and visited Bar Harbor with Expanding Opportunities volunteer Nancy Carney. He enjoyed an old fashioned Bar-b-que, hosted by Dot and Mike Rush. There he talked and shared, with their guests, many of his experiences in Kenya and also his knowledge of the customs and cultures of his home.
Karanja ended his week by being the guest of honor at a pot luck supper at Toddy Pond school. The event was planned and sponsored by Expanding Opportunities. Former volunteers, as well as donors and the public, were invited to come and socialize with Karanja.
One of the highlights of the evening was when the guests introduced themselves and explained their relationship to Expanding Opportunities. It was amazing how many different people and cultures were represented. We had people from the U.S., Peru, and Kenya. It was wonderful that these people could find the time to come to a function like this to welcome someone that many had not met before.
This gathering of Expanding Opportunities’ supporters was a very encouraging event. If so many people have cared enough to help in the short time that Expanding Opportunities has existed, how many more will the future bring? How many more will bring their expertise, their experiences, their youth and their energy in the next few years?
Expanding Opportunities’ artisan support project, has two stores in Belfast, Maine. The EXOP SHOP, located upstairs in the Summer House Café, has shown increasing sales every month since it opened. An additional store, Aina Moja, sharing space with The Working Art Gallery in downtown Belfast, Maine is also doing well. Sheryl Tripp, a long term U.S. volunteer, is the store manager. She is thoroughly enjoying the work and talking to the visitors to the gallery. Tourists and residents alike enjoy seeing the artwork and learning about the artisans and how the work is produced. In addition, customers learn about Expanding Opportunities and the work that the project does in the U.S. and Kenya.
Camp Forest
Camp Forest Animal Game
For the first time, Expanding Opportunities has a completely United States-based project. This project, Camp Forest, is a wilderness day camp for children in Brooks, Maine. Adam Stone, the senior counselor, has worked on an organic farm, attended numerous wilderness programs, such as Tom Brown’s Survival School, the Good Earth School and Earthways School of Wilderness Living and has taught wilderness skills to adults and children. Camp Forest began in 2003 as a private venture. This year, the camp has come become a project of Expanding Opportunities.
Enrollment in Camp has been very good this year. Four weeks have been completely full with a waiting list, and the other weeks have been almost full. It’s exciting to see so many kids learning wilderness survival skills, such as how to build shelters, navigate and carve useful tools such as spoons and bowls. Camp Forest has created an Osprey award that campers can work achieve. This award shows that its holder can build a shelter, a fire pit, demonstrate fire safety and identify key plants and animals, among other skills. After achieving the Osprey award, campers can work towards a certificate called the Eagle award, showing they have achieved an even higher level of wilderness education. This year, Camp Forest has been offering adult workshops where participants can learn the same skills that younger campers have learned.
Camp Forest has had two international visitors this summer. Rudolpho, a Shipibo Indian from Peru, has been volunteering and teaching the campers Peruvian skills such as how to make bows and arrows, how to build a Peruvian style shelter, and speak basic Spanish. Joseph Karanja from Kenya also spent a few days with the children, telling traditional Kenyan folk stories, playing games, and teaching the children how to make soccer balls from discarded plastic bags.
Camp Forest diversity
Karanja demonstrates making a soccer ball from plastic bags.
Camp Forest Animal Game
Enrollment in Camp has been very good this year. Four weeks have been completely full with a waiting list, and the other weeks have been almost full. It’s exciting to see so many kids learning wilderness survival skills, such as how to build shelters, navigate and carve useful tools such as spoons and bowls. Camp Forest has created an Osprey award that campers can work achieve. This award shows that its holder can build a shelter, a fire pit, demonstrate fire safety and identify key plants and animals, among other skills. After achieving the Osprey award, campers can work towards a certificate called the Eagle award, showing they have achieved an even higher level of wilderness education. This year, Camp Forest has been offering adult workshops where participants can learn the same skills that younger campers have learned.
Camp Forest has had two international visitors this summer. Rudolpho, a Shipibo Indian from Peru, has been volunteering and teaching the campers Peruvian skills such as how to make bows and arrows, how to build a Peruvian style shelter, and speak basic Spanish. Joseph Karanja from Kenya also spent a few days with the children, telling traditional Kenyan folk stories, playing games, and teaching the children how to make soccer balls from discarded plastic bags.
Camp Forest diversity
Karanja demonstrates making a soccer ball from plastic bags.