My boy John.
John and Peter in one of their cool distorted pictures..
Just the Kenyan Families. Mama Joan on the far left. Geoffrey on the far right.
Tearing up the dance floor at the Cheshire Retirement Center outside Nairobi. What a blessing these people were to us!
Lauren, John, and Peter at the cottage figuring out the computer.
What an amazing few days. I am just now finding the time to write because we have been so busy – early mornings, late nights, and full days in between. Here’s an overview of the past few days…
Friday we visited another Cheshire Home (apparently there are more than 200 of them in the world). This one was for the elderly. There were 38 living there full time – If I understood correctly, they do not have any living family members, so will live out their lives at Cheshire and Cheshire will handle burial arrangements. Many were in wheel chairs, and all appeared to be disabled in one way or another. When we arrived they were in the courtyard enjoying some sunshine. It was very awkward at first (as it usually is when visiting a new rest home in the US). We offered to paint fingernails for the ladies – and had a few takers. Once they saw the others’ nails, though , even more wanted to have their nails done. They kept asking us to do their hair – if we go again, it would be a real blessing to the ladies there to bring a stylist with us to do their hair. After a tour and a few more awkward minutes, we decided to sing for them. We did a bunch of children’s songs with motions that go along with them. They just looked at us like we were crazy – even the worker looked like she was pitying us. Then, we sang the one song we know in Swahili (God is so Good), and things really livened up then. They taught us a new verse in Kikuyu (a local tribal language) and then they began to sing songs to us. At some point, one of the staff members brought out an ipod on speaker and then the real fun started… DANCING! These disabled women (one completely blind, others using canes) began to dance in their tribal styles – it was beautiful! They danced for probably 30 minutes… some of our team members even learned a few moves J
Saturday we visited our friend Pat Dixson in the morning (she runs the feeding program we worked with on Wednesday) at her home. She has beautiful gardens that have been cultivated for years and years (she inherited her home from her parents). There are paths everywhere, and we went on a long walk with her dogs and cats (yes, even her cats go on walks with her!). At times it felt like we were in a rainforest in the middle of nowhere…. Hard to believe that there were other houses nearby. We also saw two different types of monkeys that live in her trees. Beautiful.
After that, we picked up Mama Joan and her 2 kids (our housekeeper from last year and dear friend) and headed to the LCC. The moms at the LCC had asked if we could bring Mama Joan there to teach them how to make zucchini bread (she made it for us last year and we shared it with them – they loved it!). Mama Joan was so sweet to help. We had a great time visiting with the moms while making 3 batches of bread. At the LCC, the oven is heated by wood and doesn’t have any kind of thermostat, so it’s impossible to control temperature. The bread turned out a little black on the top and bottom, but absolutely delicious in the middle. The moms are experts at working that oven, so next time they’ll know to get the oven a little cooler and to just cook it longer. After the bread baking, it was time to celebrate Grace’s 16th birthday. We brought 2 huge cakes and punch to the Centre. It became a birthday party for everyone (the kids don’t really get to celebrate their birthdays), so after singing “Happy Birthday” to Grace, we sang “Happy Birthday to Me” and then ate and ate and ate the wonderful cake. Again, I couldn’t believe how much these kids could eat – especially something as rich as cake (something they never get to eat). And then it was time for birthday presents. Global Connections has a “godparent” program where people can sponsor one of the orphans and become the child’s godparent. The godparents and children exchange letters each month and get to know one another. The godparents also provide guidance and spiritual support such as prayer for the children. This year, godparents had the opportunity to send a small gift to their children and we packed them in trunks and brought them with us. At the birthday party, each child received his/her godparent gift. The kids loved it, and we got lots of pictures to share with the godparents.
Saturday ended with a great dinner party at the Global Connections Farm for Grace’s birthday. We had spaghetti and pizza (her two favorite foods) as well as chocolate cake. What a beautiful day!
Sunday… what a wonderful day. It began with church at Tigoni Fellowship with the kids from the Centre. Then Lauren and I were able to take John (our godchild) and Peter (Lauren’s special friend) with us for the day. We returned to Brackenhurst and took the boys to lunch at Mike’s – the restaurant here where they once again ate and ate and ate. Then, the plan was to hike, explore, play outside, etc… but once they saw the computer, it was all over. I have a new Mac for work and it has a built-in camera and some pretty cool photo programs where you can distort pictures and do all kinds of crazy things. I was so impressed with these 2 boys from rural Kenya figured out how to use things that I don’t even know how to use on this computer. We have tons of HILARIOUS pictures from the day. They also learned out how to create and play music using the Garage Band program. At one point, they did go with Lauren to run errands on the compound. I gave them each 200 shillings (about $2.50) to choose something from the gift shop. Lauren said it was a hilarious process, but they were able to each get a toy and a bar of chocolate and still have 5 shillings left. Last night (still Sunday), we had some of our Kenyan friends over for dinner. Mama Joan, her husband and two kids came as well as Geoffrey (our guard from last year), his wife, and his two kids. We had a full house (12 people) with Lauren, Peter, John, and me. We had a wonderful Kenyan meal (mukimo – green mashed potatoes with corn and green peas, chepati – Kenyan bread… like a thick tortilla, beef stew, ugali – something like hardened grits, kuku – chicken on a stick, zucchini, and fruit). It was all delicious. Mama Joan also taught me how to make Kenyan Chai which is how they drink their hot tea here – with lots of steamed milk, a little tea, and a little sugar. When it was time to go home, we were still visiting, so David (our driver) came in and ate as well. It was a wonderful night – one that I will continue to remember for a long time. The main reason I continue to return to Kenya is the people – we have made so many special friendships here, and I cannot imagine not seeing these people who are like family to me now.
The rest of the team left yesterday morning early for safari in the Masai Mara, so Lauren and I are keeping busy doing some things that we really want to do (like yesterday’s day with the boys and dinner with friends). Today, we’re headed to Nairobi to have lunch with Reagan (we met him in 2007 when he was one of our translators and have continued to see him each year). He’s taking us to a Kenyan buffet, so we’re looking forward to trying some new things. Then, we’re visiting Amani Aju – a place that employs refugee women to sew. I visited it last year, but Lauren has never been. After that, we’ll head to the mall for an hour to get some pictures printed to leave with some of our friends. This afternoon and evening we’ll spend at the Children’s Centre. It will be good to spend some time with the kids and with the moms.
As you can see, we’ve been busy! We have just a few days left before leaving Thursday to return to the US. The time has flown by, especially since we spent 6 weeks last year and were able to do so much more. It has been a great trip!
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