School Shoes and Street Food

This week we had several exciting goings on. Firstly and most epic; Zed had his first day of school. Ever. A little background on this little peach puff: he's about 8 yrs old, and came to stay with us last October. He did not have much nutrition or stimulation for those first 8 yrs, so when he came to us he was pretty delayed in the walking/talking/potty training areas, among other things. He's started to say quite a few words, he's learning Kiswahili, and his tutor gave us the green flag, so his first day was Monday. We picked up his school shoes and socks on Friday while we were in Kisumu and we showed them to him in the kitchen. He immediately abandoned his flip flops and stuck out his foot to try them on. I had a moment of panic that I had gotten the wrong size when 5 minutes later when we had only managed to wrangle him into one shoe. Jacky kept laughing when she was trying to explain to him in Kiswahili that he needed to point his toes into the shoe and wiggle and step down to get it on. I guess he has been a strictly slip-on shoe (or barefoot) kind of guy up until now. But there is a first time for everything, and now he loves his new kicks.

(Zed in his new shoes, photo bombed by Brian)

Tucked in amongst the hundreds of pounds of pads we brought, I had quite a little stash of books for the kiddos from my Aunt Mary (thank you!). I have been pulling them out gradually as to give them enough time to enjoy them. A newest novelty is a 3D book that came with glasses.

(Arnold being introduced to the wonderful world of 3D).

(Vinicent and Andrew-a neighbor boy-reading on the porch).

(Brian and Daniel. Despite multiple explanations of what the glasses were for, Daniel just liked to wear them to look around the room :).

(Naomi being adorable, per the usual).

My group is doing very well and getting lots done. They are also working with an HIV support group that makes crafts. They are helping them with quality control and marketing, as well as giving them new ideas and strategies to increase their sales. They already jumped right it, and they already had a plethora of new items as of this week.

The one night a week we didnt have dinner cooked for us (I know we're spoiled), we decided to try our luck with some little local hotels (restaurants) and got to experience a little Kenyan street food. Samosas, chips, and sausages. They also got to try Peptang, a neon and slightly gelatinous version of ketchup. Per the usual, we had a lovely walk back home in the rain.

Much love,

Jessie

 

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