The trip is wrapping up, but we’ve had a great few days. On Monday, we went to Nairobi to meet a friend, Reagan, for lunch in the downtown area of the city – somewhere we’d never been. It was surprisingly similar to downtown areas of American cities. We enjoyed catching up with Reagan and had a great buffet lunch of Kenyan food – which was delicious. After that, we went to get pictures printed to leave with some of our friends here as well as the kids at the Centre and then spent the remainder of the day at the Centre playing with the kids. On Tuesday, we got up early and went to Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, (and named after Karen Blixsen who the film Out of Africa was based on – her home is in Karen) back to the Serare School to visit with my friend Rachel. We had breakfast together and then drove up to the Ngong Hills for a great little hike and spectacular views of Nairobi and the Rift Valley. It was a wonderful way to spend a morning. We returned to the school, and Lauren spent an hour visiting with about 20 of the girls who attend the private boarding school about college and life in America. She then went to lunch in the dining hall with the girls, and Rachel and I enjoyed lunch at her house where I met her son who is a biomedical researcher working with a tree that has the potential to help/cure more than 300 diseases. It was fascinating to hear about his work. Once again, we spent the afternoon/evening at the Centre with the kids and the moms. Rachel’s school is called “Serare School”. Serare means “imprint” and Rachel talked about what an imprint education leaves on the minds and lives of people. She makes me proud to be a teacher!
I had a wonderful time with John Monday night. When I arrived, he was crying with a headache, so after a spoonful of ibuprofen, he curled up in my lap and went to sleep. I held him for 2 ½ hours while he slept and then was able to tuck him into bed for the night. He puts on a really tough act and reminds me so much of Phillip at that age. Sometimes I would forget with Phillip that he still needed cuddling because he was always so tough. The same was true with John. As I held John, I couldn’t help but think that while these kids are so incredibly fortunate to have their basic needs met by the Centre (otherwise, they may be going hungry, stealing, or prostituting) there are other things that they really miss out on. One being the opportunity to be held when they are sad or don’t feel good. With 41 children and so many responsibilities, the moms at the Centre can’t possibly give much individual attention to each child.
The rest of the team returned from Safari yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) and leaves for home tonight. Lauren and I have one more day, but it will likely be spent relaxing because Lauren is sick. She came down with what I think was probably the flu Sunday night. On Tuesday, she still wasn’t better so I took her to the doctor at the clinic here at Brackenhurst. He put her on antibiotics thinking it may now be a bacterial infection. The total for the visit plus the antibiotics?? $440 shillings which is about $5.50!!! I could so get used to living in Kenya!! She’s been sleeping most of the day and plans to go to the Centre in a couple of hours to see the kids again. We’ll stop by on our way to the airport tomorrow for one last visit. We are pretty well packed. Have a few people to visit with and to share our leftover groceries with, but otherwise, we’re set to come home.
Hope to have time to do a final entry tomorrow before we leave for the airport. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel home Thursday and Friday. In Kenya, instead of “safe travels” they say “journey mercies”… I like that phrase. Sounds like something to live your life by…
P.S. I couldn’t post this this afternoon because the internet was down. We are home now from the Centre. The rest of the team is in Nairobi getting ready to fly home. Lauren got off the couch to spend 2 hours with the children and is now writing each one a letter to leave tomorrow. She is feeling a little better but still has no voice and a lot of congestion. We had a great time with the kids. We brought each one a chocolate bar, and they really enjoyed that rare treat. We’re planning to enjoy a fire (it’s really cold here today!) and an early night.
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