11:00pm     Imagine a life where almost everyday you attend a funeral.  You plant tomatoes to try and make money.  You attend school but riots force it to shut down, and they want a huge fee to return; not being able to afford it you have to re-take a whole term.  A life where in order to get out of the village you need a lot of money that is almost impossible to make.  But if you finish your schooling and stay, it is looked down upon.  Imagine trying to get a job with the police force and being told that you need 60,000 shillings; so you take out a loan to pay it but never hear from them again and still have to pay the loan back: so much corruption. 

Now think of the most beautiful song you’ve ever heard, the one that sends shivers down your spine or brings tears to your eyes and multiply that by 1000 and you can start to understand the songs sung for us tonight.  Everyone sang together for us tonight, the mamas, the boys, our guards.  Each voice so unique but so pure and when they all sung together it’s more than perfect.  Any pain, any grief, any discomfort is simply forgotten by their voices.  Between dance and song, I have never experienced such a breathtaking performance.  It was as if angels were singing.  I bet their voices echoed all the way to Custom, as we often hear music from far away; no noise pollution to keep it from traveling. 

The days events:  Senye Primary; helped with marking (grades).  The average marks for grade 8 were 119/500, highest 249.  I’m not really sure how their grading system works, but I know that those aren’t good marks at all.

Mama Maria Clinic: Paul helped me translate stuff for my brochure.  He tells me he has something to show me and he had saved a slide from the morning hours where he had found a certain type of parasite.  It was such a kind gesture to keep it and want to show me it.  I never knew how much I would appreciate someone saving a stool sample just to show me a rare bacteria!  

Cooking dinner: Chapates!  My fav!  Hot water (about 2 cups), spoonful salt, little oil, lots of flour.  Kneed dough with hands and add more water slowly to get a somewhat sticky dough (milk can also be used).  Make small balls of dough, roll flat and rub a small spoonful of oil on top.  Roll flattened dough up (like paper to make a telescope) then twist (tuck end in center).  Repeat with all balls.  Then squish dough into ball and roll out flat again.  Place on hot pan and add oil around the edges and on top until soft and done.