I sincerely
apologize for not blogging! As some of you may know from my mom, we had
absolutely no internet connection at the Children’s Home, where we were
sleeping and I have been working all day. But, we recently moved across the
highway to the Dispensary compound, into a house that we stayed in for a week
during our last trip. This house is named Shalom, I’m not quite sure how it
acquired this name but hey, it’s a nice name. During the last trip, when we
arrived at this house I remember being a little bit intimidated and unsure
about the living conditions here. This time, however… I was full of joy to find
out that we were going to be living here. My mom and I were laughing about how
luxurious it seems now, and how a year and a half ago it was the complete
opposite. I guess I should rewind a bit… When we first arrived in Siyiapei
about a week ago, our bags were brought up to the children’s dormitory and my
mom and I were told that we were to bunk with the kids. I honestly thought that
we would be living with the Matron of the home, Evelyn. But many things have
changed in the past year and a half, Evelyn changed houses (she’s still living
on the grounds of the Home, just in a different house) and her husband and son
have moved in with her. So there’s no way we could live with them. Anyway, I
love the children here, but bunking with them was a challenge. Don’t even get
me started on the bathroom and shower situation. And apparently these kids are
really full of energy at 6 AM. To make a long story (somewhat) short, it was
important to both my mom and I to have our own little place, to sleep, bathe,
and be able to check our email/update our blogs. So we very kindly and
graciously excused ourselves from bunkin’ with the kids and slipped away to our
own private oasis (using that word kind of deserves a “haha”).
Pauline |
Some of the kids, Evelyn is on my left. |
Anyway, I’m now going over to the Home first thing in the morning and spending all day including our 9 o’clock suppers over there. So, you may ask, what has happened during the week I haven’t had access to internet? Well, I’ve had the chance to catch up with all of the kids that I met last time we were here. I was so happy to find that all the same kids were here, except for about 4 older ones who moved out of the home to go to Form 1 (which is their version of high school), but I was happy to hear this news as well because I know how much school means to these children and how important it is that they have the opportunity to go to school. The first couple days were very relaxing, the kids took me to this really cool waterfall that’s only a 15 minute walk from the home, we settled by the river and watched them all swim, I’ve played all sorts of games and was able to give the kids some activity books and school supplies that they adore. When the children have been away at school I’ve been spending my time helping Evelyn and Pauline with chores around the Home and doing some filing work in the office. Pauline is a young Maasai woman, the same age as me… younger by exactly a month. Her father died about ten years ago, and her mother doesn’t have the money to support her. She was here when I last visited, but she was still in school then. This time however, being done with Primary School, she now stays at the Home all day and helps Evelyn out. I got the wonderful opportunity to take her into town and buy her most of the school and boarding supplies she needs for Form 1. She told me that she had good marks on her last exams, which means she would most likely be accepted to a high school. And just last night she received the letter that she is to report to school in town on Monday! She was so happy, and believe me, the joy hit me too, I couldn’t have been more happy when I found out the news. I’m glad I get to spend the last couple days she has at the Home with her, and that I get to share with her the moment when she leaves for school, because it is a huge deal. She’s lived in the Children’s Home for 11 years, and now she is going to take her first step into her new life. I’m sure there are going to be mixed feelings at the goodbye; I know she will be happy, but sad, excited, but nervous. But that’s life, right? Well, we’ll see how it goes!
Eddy and I at the Waterfalls |
Yesterday,
Evelyn, Pauline, and I went into town again. This time the purpose was to meet
Evelyn’s mother, Rosaline. She lives right on the outskirts of town in a pretty
traditional looking Maasai hut. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera at all yesterday
so I couldn’t get any pictures, but it was great to meet this charming, sweet,
and wise woman. Rosaline served us lunch and chai, and during this time I
learned a lot more about their family. Evelyn’s nephew Eddy is expected at
school for Form 1 on the 6th of February. While we were visiting
with Rosaline, I learned that Eddy was abandoned by both of his parents and
left to live with her when he was just a baby. She has brought him up very well
in a loving and caring environment, but now that he has the chance to go to
school, she can’t afford to pay the expenses. Tuition itself isn’t very
expensive, but the cumulative costs of the supplies he needs for boarding and
schooling is too much for her to pay alone. Rosaline works at the hospital near
her home, and only gets paid 4,200 Kenyan shillings a month… which is equal to
roughly 42 dollars/month. As Evelyn was reading the list of supplies he needs
for school and his letters to sponsorship programs, I noticed tears in both her
and her mother’s eyes. Tomorrow, I’m going to talk with Evelyn and see if he
has anyone sponsoring him, and if he doesn’t I hope I can pitch in and at least
help him with the basic things he needs to get started. For people living in
first-world countries, the costs seem close to nothing, but for these
wonderful, deserving Kenyans, the costs are overwhelming.
So that
just about sums up what I’ve been up to the past week, now that internet access
is easier to come by I will finally be able to update my blog more regularly. I
hope all is well with all of you! And thank you all for your support, it means
the world to both me and everyone I’m working with here.
Shalom
Lovely to catch up with what you have been doing. Please let us know what we can do to help, and of course support your work
ReplyDeleteLove Auntie