My first week in Kenya by myself went really well! It is amazing to get to see the kids all growing up so much since I first met them almost 2.5 years ago. All the kids are healthy and "fat" as they like to say in Kenya (I would say just a healthy kid size). They all are highly capable of eating way more food than one would think could possibly fit into their bodies! They are doing well in school and get along (at least most of the time). It is heart warming to see what a good home environment can do to a child in only a few months!
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| Janet has been with us for 7 delightful months now |
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| Selah has only been with us for a few weeks, but seems to be adjusting well and loves having a house full of brothers and sisters :) |
In other news Kaitlin Backes is now an international Traveler! It was so exciting to know that another friend from work will be joining me in Kenya for a few weeks! I couldn't wait to introduce her to Kenya and the experience and people that I have come to love. We spent the night in Nairobi at a friends house where we ate amazing food! Kaitlin had a first Matatu ride that was unlike one I had ever been on. Matatus are 12-seater mini buses that enable you to get around Kenya on the main roads. They are cheap and reliably uncomfortable due to the fact they usually carry 20+ passengers. It is not uncommon to find a chicken strapped to the top of the car or inside the van, but this experience was a first. We stopped at a town where market day was happening when suddenly a goat was placed in the trunk, which is open to the rest of the van. The goat wasn't well tied and ultimately got loose under the backseat and was agitated (he hit his head on something when he hit a bad bump) and was rolling around on top of all of our feet. He ultimately bled all over my legs (yes the vegetarian had her legs covered in blood).. Thankfully Kaitlin and I weren't the only people who were horrified about this goat being loose and bleeding everywhere. He was retied and we went on our way. Looking back on the situation, it was a great Karibu Kenya (welcome to Kenya) for Kaitlin :)Just in case anyone is wondering, it apparently isn't legal to have a goat in a public car according to one of our Kenyan friends.
The kids were highly confused when meeting Kaitlin because hers is not a name used in Kenya so the kids just kept asking "what is your name"-which threw them off of their usual animated selves but only for a short time. Kaitlin and I kept busy visiting several hospitals and clinics. We ultimately made several trips to this small dispensary and clinic run by two nurses and two support staff. It was fascinating to see what was being managed by these nurses! We absolutely loved this experience! We saw lots of malaria, active chicken pox, some nasty wounds and a variety of other conditions.
We also made four sanitary pad presentations to local primary schools and a secondary school. The classrooms were all pretty standard for Kenya. The are many desks which the children usually share between 3 students. One wall is painted with chalk paint for teaching, and some have electricity. If there don't have it, they just use natural light from windows. It is also an extremely eye opening experience when you enter a classroom in Kenya and compare it back to the US. Many of the kids do not have shoes on, are often wearing their one and only uniform, and are carrying an old cooking oil bottle that is filled with water since the schools don't have access to clean water. We were able to give the schools underwear for some of their girls since you need underwear to be able to utilize the pad kits. We also were able to take some of the schools some soccer balls, which meant all the kids could play with a true ball as compared to a ball they made out of plastic bags and rubber bands.
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| Kaitlin on the back of a piki, following our load of pads |
Catherine
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