running with kenyans: Halloween....and Kenyan Body building.

Halloween is not a holiday that Kenyans celebrate. In fact, most associate it with the idea of Americans worshipping ghosts, dead loved ones, and other creepy things. So, it’s not highly regarded in Kenya at all. There are no huge pumpkins on top of costume stores, or signs with “Halloween Costume Sale!” everywhere. There are no college students scantily dressed up as a “sexy” something: Sexy pirate, sexy bunny, sexy schoolgirl…nope. BUT since the Sally Test Pediatric Center was started by an American, it’s become tradition there to celebrate Halloween. There were several costume donations (from the US no doubt, there’s nowhere to buy a costume in Kenya) that we took home and washed the week before Halloween. I had prepared the kids with several different songs, but not too spooky of songs, so they were ready to sing. I ran into a stumbling block with one song that talked of “gremlins.” Nobody knew what a gremlin was! The closest visual I could think of on the spot was that they were similar to the dwarfs in Snow White, which some of them had seen. But really, how DO you describe a gremlin to a Kenyan? I’ve never had to ponder that question before.

So the kids that fit into the 8 or 10 donated costumes happily put them on and pranced around like ladybugs, lions or princesses. The sad part was seeing the kids that didn’t get a costume. Many tried to squeeze into too-small outfits, only to get stuck half way. Others just had these huge, sad eyes as they watched the lucky kids that happened to be the correct sizes. I continue to be impressed by their resilience though, there was not one tear. Imagine what would happen in America. If some kids got costumes and others didn’t?! Good God, breakdowns and tantrums galore. Heck, there would be meltdowns over who got which costumes even if all the kids GOT costumes. It definitely puts things in perspective.

In the morning we sang Halloween songs and decorated masks out of paper plates. Then we carved a pumpkin, which was greenish/beige, I might add. One of the staff balanced it on her head (with a lit candle inside) while we walked through the wards and sang. How in the world do African women balance so much on their heads? Bowls, wood, buckets, stalks of fruit, you name it. They don’t even use their hands. Anyway, I digress. At least by this point every kid had a mask or a costume, so that made me feel a bit better. It was quite the experience to parade through the wards. When we came back, each kid got a small paper bag with 4 pieces of candy in it, and a banana. They were ESTATIC. It was so neat to see their smiles as they opened their candy bags and tore into the bananas. When I think of this experience as compared to what Halloween looks like in America, it almost makes me sick. Kids running door to door in expensive, well-thought out costumes….I mean, I remember coming home with BUCKETS o’ candy. Just an insane amount of candy. Then when I think of how amazing these kids felt to get FOUR pieces of candy…I wish there was a way to help American kids appreciate all that they have. It might as well have been Christmas morning for these kids to get such a treat as candy and a banana. Wow.

A lady bug and a bumblebee....they were SO excited to get dressed up.

My favorite lion, Wycliff.

Hellen, one of my dear friends at the Sally Test Pediatric Center, balancing a pumpkin on her head.

Parading through the wards in costumes and masks.

Another one of my recent adventures included going to the “Mr. Eldoret” Bodybuilding competition. It was in a conference-ish room at a hotel in town. There were 5 or 6 different weight divisions, each with anywhere from 4 to 10 competitors. All competitors in each weight class would come out on the makeshift stage first, and prance around a bit. They were wearing very little clothing, pretty much a bikini bottom, to be exact, and were all slicked up with soooooo much oil. The judge would call out different muscle groups that they wanted to see, and each poser would assume the position that best showed off that muscle group, then flex as hard as humanly possible. I think they were flexin for jesus or somethin. After this first round, they would ask one or two posers to remain on stage. These guys would get a song to themselves (often times a Celine Dion ballad, WHAT?!) and would do a bit of free style posing.

So after four hours of this, they had a final round of all the winners from each division. During the downtime, one of the judges came up to our table and asked me to write my name down. Now, I’ve learned, in my two months here, that Kenyan men are very forward. They’re not shy to ask for your name and number, and if you give it to them, they’ll use it. So I said, “No….thanks. Sorry.” The guy laughed and said, “It’s not for personal use, it’s for the competition.” So I hesitantly wrote my name down, and sure enough, got called on stage to help give out awards and certificates. There is such a big tada around having a white person present; it almost seems like in this kind of situation it’s an honor? Well anyway, I was already on stage with the finalists, and there was still a bit of downtime, so of course I had to do a pose or two. Then I helped present the certificates, trophies, and medals to each person…quite the night!