Adventures in Kenya: Smiles and Simple Joys

As usual, things are getting busier and busier here. Liz and Karen have been busy working with me in the hospital, going on home health visits, and working with the kiddos. I finished up the pad talks in this area, but we'll be doing more in a few days when we head out to Maasai land. My last group was a class of 6th graders, who proved to be especially challenging (props to all you great middle school teachers out there, like my dad:). Now these are still Kenyan students, so they're at least well-behaved, but they were just exceptionally shy, giggly, and difficult to engage in the question/answer section. I found most girls would raise their hand, then jerk it back like they touched a flame if I made eye contact, and hide their face in their arms. Thankfully, I found if I bent over their desks they would whisper their question into my ear, then I could relay it to the rest of the group, who appeared to be wondering the same thing. They hit me with some simple but tough ones like, "How should we wash the pads if we can't afford soap?" And "What should we do with the pads if we don't have any underwear?" Ahhhhhh.............I am rarely speachless, but I had little in the area of suggestions since both of those things are kinda crucial for a reusable, cloth pad to work..........so, it looks like there are some areas to improve/expand this program a bit :). I talked with the teachers afterwards about getting each school a small stash of soap (that can be cut into slivers for distribution) and underwear, so it looks like a little fundraising is in order.

(This is the culturally appropriate way to accept a whisper-question from a teenage girl.... ;)

In other news, my kids are doing great. Zed is adjusting well to life at the TLC house, and the other kids seem to have accepted him as one of our own too. I am delighted to report he has started whispering a few more words, which makes me hope that most of his deficits are nutritional/stimulation, and not cognitive and permanent. When he first arrived he was having frequent fevers-a result of chronic pneumonia, which has now been treated ans he's thriving. He's also been de-wormed and had 5 more teeth pulled. Poor little man. I'd feel worse if he didn't look ten times better than he did a few weeks ago. Now that he's got this smiling thing down he seems to love getting his picture taken. Since he's the shortest, he's found he can jump in front of anyone who appears to be getting their picture taken (see below) and will make it into most pics.

(Zedekia in the front, with Daniel and Arnold)

Liz and Karen have proved to be great and adventurous travelers, and I've really enjoyed showing them the best of Kenya. Which includes, but is not limited to; ugali, mandazis, sunrises at the top of the mountains, cold Tuskers, Stoney, playing rummy by candlelight, and the simple joy of playing with children-even when you don't speak their language. They have embraced and excelled at all the above :)