Big Yellow Matatu

Hell's Gate 

Three weeks.

That’s all I have left of this wild and wonderful trip to Kenya. Three weeks to see the sights, three weeks to adventure off into unknown places, three weeks to make a lasting change at the CYEC, and in these kids’ lives.

Something that I can count on, no matter where I am, is music. Both my laptop and my iPod made the trip overseas with me, and music is my go-to solution for everything, whether I’m happy, sad, angry, or even homesick. One song that plays quite often is “Big Yellow Taxi,” by the Counting Crows. It used to be a very popular song, and it still gets pretty significant play on the easy-listening style radio stations back home.

The chorus of the song says, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got, till it’s gone.” Over the course of my service trip, this line has taken on quite a few different meanings for me. At times, I think it’s referencing how much I miss meat at every meal, WiFi internet, my friends back home, or even just a gym with free weights! At other times, though, the song takes on a different aspect.

It reminds me how I could spend an entire year at Kansas State, without talking to my parents for weeks at the time. It brings to mind that I may love things like steaming hot water, and fast food, but when I think of home, I’m missing the special people in my life, not the special sauce at McDonalds. I’ll miss eating the birthday cake my Grandma never fails to make me, and wishing my parents well on their 25^th anniversary trip.

No matter how much I’m being wistful about my own life, though, the song makes me consider the lives of people in Kenya. I didn’t realize how much I would miss my dog. These kids probably didn’t realize how much they would miss their parents, when they were abandoned. They have learned to miss food, water, a warm shower, a home. These children learn more hard lessons about life in a year than I have in eighteen.

So, while I’ve learned much about serving on foreign soil, drawing up operations manuals, and playing soccer, I’ve learned much more about life, and how to live it. I’ve learned that I can live on rice and beans, every day, and be thankful that I actually have something to eat. I’ve learned that I can have just as much fun dancing with a bunch of 10-year-olds as I do at a party in Manhattan. I’ve learned that I can neglect someone during my days at K-State, and spend an hour and a half a day writing messages to them from across the ocean.

And, if all of this has taught me anything, it’s this: when I’m back home, I’m going to miss Kenya dearly. After all..

“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got, till it’s gone."

Lake Naivasha