Appreciation

Hello everyone!! I hope you're all doing well and looking forward to the warm weather I hear you're about to get in Wisconsin. Actually, it's not that much warmer here than what it's supposed to be there, so hopefully the adjustment will just be continued warmth when yI come home in May.

I'm finishing up my second week of internship this week, and I'm excited about the stuff I'm working on. First of all, I'm continuing to work with the kids in Kibera, helping oversee them make ads and other video stories. Secondly, I'm doing some advertising and promotion activities for a couple groups. The first is for a guy who is from Kibera but sells these AWESOME sandals in the Prestige Market. He takes used tires and uses them as the soles for the sandals, and then covers them with nice leather. They actually look pretty good, are generally eco-friendly and supposed to last a long time. So for him, I will be making a video and print ad over the next few weeks.

In addition, I'm helping out with an art group in Kibera called Maasai Mbili. They're a group of guys who make varying kinds of art, and I will be helping them with promotional activities. In particular, I have a hard time thinking advertising is a useful way to promote pieces of art. So instead, I will be hopefully making an online video for them, teaching them the use of online social tools such as Facebook and other basic promotional activities they can do to get their name out to a larger audience.

Now a little update on me personally. I'm writing this post on a sunny afternoon in my favorite coffee shop/restaurant, Java. While I frequent Java, something about today's visit is different for me. As I sat waiting in the Prestige Market for the guy selling the sandals this morning, I got a few minutes (well 30 minutes. When they say a 10 minute wait, that's what they actually mean) where I could just sit and watch people. Some people were working and trying to sell their goods to customers in the market, while others were just making their way through.

Moments like these are incredibly simple and simultaneously amazing. These are the moments where I see true connection with my life here and my life back home. I see things like two men greet each other with a smile and a handshake, reminiscent of my Dad and his friend Bob when they go out for coffee. I see a woman with a small restaurant in the market joking with a lady who sells vegetables, reminding me of my sister Elise when she's grabbing Starbucks with her friend Nicole.

In those small moments, life offers you the opportunity to just slow down and look at the world around you. While I'm somewhere new, that doesn't mean life is really that different. There are definitely differences between living here and living at home, but I think you can just stop in those moments and notice the commonality in humanity. You see yourself and friends in those you don't know.

I really appreciate these moments as I think since I've adjusted to living here, I forget that I'm living in KENYA!! I do not always grasp the amazing opportunity God has placed before me, and how much I need to take advantage of that.

To be sure, this trip is not exactly what I expected. But maybe that's a good thing. Some things have been amazing, some things incredibly difficult. But just because something is difficult does not make it bad. I think I've truly learned a lot about who I am and how I need to grow as a person through this program. It is in the beauty of finding something good out of something bad that I truly appreciate the life and people I have here and back home. God has blessed me with these people and opportunities for a reason, and it is up to me to decide how to live in these moments. I do not always look for the best in every situation, but some times you've got to just stop and look at the beauty around you and truly appreciate the life you've been given.