Here it is almost May 24th - departure day for Kenya! Since February, my husband and I have had our tickets for this trip to visit our daughter, Kate, who has been living and working in the small western Kenyan town of Kendu Bay on the shores of Lake Victoria. Her work has been with the Kenya Self-Help Project, an organization dedicated to the health and education of children in the region. Specifically, she's working to help keep primary school age girls in school who typically drop out of school at the alarming rate of about 70%. We will be staying with Kate's host family - the Opondos.
While there, I had the idea to share my interest in handcrafts with anyone who might be interested. Mrs. Opondo jumped onboard the idea and has enlisted her group of local women who call themselves The Voice of the Youth to get involved.
So, armed with 12 skeins of Plymouth Encore Worsted yarn and 10 crochet hooks from faraway Kaleidoscope Yarns in Essex Junction, Vermont, I will be teaching a class in learning to make the famous Grannie Squares! I have absolutely no idea how this is going to go over! Their main language is not English, most of them have probably never done anything with yarn before AND I'm one teacher amongst a group of 10, 20, really not sure how many.
I figure that if I can just get one person to catch on, she will be able to instruct the others after I go. Kate assures me that there is yarn available in the markets if they wish to go on with their crocheting. We'll see!!
For now, I'm mostly worried about how the heck I'm going to squish the yarn into my luggage with all the other stuff I'm taking. Hope the customs people in Nairobi don't ask too many questions! I promise to report back upon our return in mid June with photos and stories to tell.
We're so eager for Polly to return and tell us all about her experience!
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