Friday, February 24, 2012

Relaxing Week

This week has been pretty slow. Not in any way a bad thing, it was very relaxing. I didn't end up starting my next project with John because he has been dealing with some personal things, but I did get the chance to visit a Children's Home down in Maai Mahui. Two missionaries from Kijabe starting this Children's Home about a year and a half ago, naming it "Naomi's Village".

Half of the Children's Home
The Girl's Dorm

 There is almost always a couple woman from the U.S. living on the compound and working there with the kids and the staff. One of them just left last week and the next woman doesn't get there for a couple weeks so I only met one of them. Her name was Heidi, and she showed me all around the Home and tried to convince me to take her spot when she leaves. It's a seriously nice place, I haven't stood inside a building as put together and, well, modern for about a month and a half.


Other than that visit, hanging out with some of the babies in the Nursery and visiting with a family nearby to the orphanage, I've just had the chance to relax and catch up on my reading. Its been really nice, during the day its usually sunny and warm until about two, then the intense rains begin and last through the night. It has been taking out power out but I don't mind that too much. I've been loving the rain! On the 22nd it was Joyce's (Mama Chiku, but I actually learned that Mama Chiku is Joyce's grandma, so I can no longer feel okay with calling her Mama Chiku) birthday, so I took time on a rainy day to bake her a couple loafs of banana bread. It was fun to finally be able to cook for HER instead of the other way around. It was a fun little celebration in the evening, some family came to the house and we just enjoyed our "banana cake" and the company of everyone.


Today I went with Kim to a neighbors house and we harvested Macadamia nuts for him. Macadamia nuts are incredibly good right off the tree, they taste completely different than they do in the stores. They are basically a miniature coconut.
Tomorrow I'll be going with John to Thika, which is his hometown. We're just taking the Matatu so that it'll be a really cheap trip, and we will visit his mother who lives there still. We are coming back to Kijabe on Sunday, it could be a day trip if we had a vehicle but I didn't want to pay for another vehicle so we'll be taking public transportation. I'm excited to travel to ANOTHER new place in Kenya! I'm really happy that I get to see all sorts of places this time around, and apparently all the mangoes and pineapples we get here come straight from Thika, so I'll be surrounded by delicious fresh fruits. Monday we will hopefully start our next (and most likely final) project which is the house construction. I can't believe how fast time is going, I only have about 2 more weeks in Kijabe then I head to Nairobi! I'm not sure I'm ready to leave... Kijabe has always been one of my favorite places on earth. But it will be fun to start the last part of my trip, and have whole different handful of experiences.

1 comment:

  1. Wow! That Children's Home is, like, 2000 steps up. And in Maai Mahui! Excellent. Glad to hear you're surviving the rains, although you should be an expert at 'rains' at this point in your life! Love you, and keep up the good work.
    Oh. And, it's good to know that Mama Chiku is not Joyce. We won't make that mistake again . . .
    xo

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