Being Kenyan

Well Monday was a day of some down time. We were given some Maize so we decided we would roast it on the jiko (Kenyan cooker).  Since we had went to all the effort of getting the jiko heated up we also decided to make some chapati (Kenyan flat bread).  It all turned out, sort of.

We also had our resident sheep looking in on all that was going on.

Birthday Time

Well it was time to do some celebrating.  Diane's Birthday was on Oct. 24 and mine Nov. 7th.  So we decided to do some celebrating.  On the 24th, David Diane's husband made supper and for the birthday cake I bought a snickers bar.  We crave chocolate when we are here.

Then to celebrate both of our birthdays David and Gerry (a friend of David and Diane's that here for a few weeks) took us out for lunch.  There is a new resort just outside of town that we went too.  It was a very nice and relaxing time.

Visiting

I have spoke in the past of Rose and Patrick. They are a couple that I have gotten to know over my last few visits here in Kenya.  They have become very good friends.  They have always wanted to show me there home place and were there parents are still staying.  So we had a day to do that.  It was wonderful to see.  We also picked up there daughter Joy from school which was a blessing as I had not seen her since I had come.  Another blessed day.

With Rose, Joy, Rose's brother and Mother

This is one of my favorite.  Really shows the joy we were feeling

At Patrick's home with his parents, sister and nephews

Closing Time

Well last week the school closed. This meant for me time to say good bye to the kids.  Never and easy week.  During our lunch times we had a bit of a celebration for the last week.  We had music playing as they came into the room so there was dancing which was great. We brought out play dough for the kids and Diane make oatmeal raisin cookies for the kids.  They loved the play dough.  The cookies they were not too sure about at first.  You do not see cookies here like that.  But once they took their first bit they wanted more.  It was a great week.

Class One

Class 2

Class 4

Library Activities

One of the actives we did with the class 1-4 was to make a mobile.  First we read them a story about caterpillars.  It talked about growth and change of the caterpillar.  So with the mobile we gave them pictures of each stage as well as a bible versus to go with it. It went really well.

Library

The library has continued to move forward.  Once a week in the evenings I would go over to the library from 7-8 in the evening to do some tutoring with the kids. They enjoy this time as it gets them out of the there classroom for a while. This evening I had the kids do a word search of animals from Kenya. Then once they were done with that they wrote a short story about these animals.  We have animal figure puppets in the library that they used to tell there stories.  It went pretty well.

Additions

We have had some additions to our house some that are greatly appreciated and some not so much.

First we have been blessed with a stove.  Not sure if you have tired to live without a stove but it does restrict some of the things that you would like to do or make.  As you can see in the picture below our first night with the stove was pizza.  Since then cookies and banana bread have come from the stove.

The second thing that entered the house was a chameleon.  The first day it was found trying to get into an open window.  The thought was that it never got in. The next morning when I woke up and went to open the curtains there it was hanging out on the bars of the window.  It shocked me at first.  And then waited for others in the house to wake up to remove it.  They do not scare me or concern me very much.  Rather that then another mouse.

  

Time keeps moving

It is hard to believe that I have a little over six weeks left here in Kenya.  Time does keep moving on and it seems quicker by the day.  I spend as much time as I can in the sun.  Soaking in the beautiful warm sun. Thoughts of coming back to Canada in November make me want to take in as much warm sun as possible. This Sat. I will be attending the burial of Pastor Mugo's brother who passed last week.  It has been hard time for the family but am grateful to be here to walk with my Kenyan family through this time.

The library continues to move along well.  The kids continue to enjoy the time there. Twice a week we are in the library in the evenings doing some tutoring.  Monday's is the day it is closed.  Tuesday through Friday we have the library open over lunch for the kids in class 1 - 4.  Each day a class gets a turn.  Then after class at 4 the kids are welcome to come until 5:45.  On Wednesdays I go over to the nursery class to read stories before lunch.  Saturday's we open the library from 2 - 6.  Sunday's we open the library from 2-4.  So life is going along well.  Here are some recent pictures.

Mully Children's Home

Before I left Canada to come here to Kenya I was privileged to see the Mully Children's Choir from Kenya. Since I had time to learn a little more about the organization and see some of these great kids I want to see if I could find time to visit once I was here. That time came on Sat.  I will not go into all the details about the organization as it is a big story.  But here is the link if you are interested

http://mcfcanada.org/

I started my travels to Nairobi at 2:40 am on Friday.  We have a local driver that picks us right from the school. The only issue is leaving so early.  So I was up early and ready to go.  The plan was to meet Rose (Friends in Nairobi) along the way at a certain point. The planed worked and I was dropped of to her along the side of the road at 5:30 am.  The original plan with Rose was to go to Mully home on Friday. Then I would spend the night at Rose's and head home on Sat.  But when we got to the house Rose asked if we can change to visit Mully on the Sat. as she just found out about and event she needed to be at on Friday.  So we decided to make that change and both went back to bed for a while.  Rose left the house around 10 am with thoughts to be back mid afternoon.  I spent the day reading and relaxing out is the nice warm sun.  Rose did not get home until 8 pm.  It was a long day but a good test for me who does not like a lot of alone time.  When she came home we made some supper and chatted.  Then we headed to bed.

Sat. morning we woke with the intent to leave at 8 am to be at Mully for 9 as I had arranged.  We did not leave the house until 9.  We did not get to Mully until almost 11.  I needed to be leaving Nairobi around 3.  So I tried to get over my frustration and use the time we had.  It was good time but wished we had more.  Since it was Sat. the kids were not in class.  Here are a few numbers.

This location (there are about 5 in total across Kenya) is spread over 500 acres of land.  They have 350 kids.  They consist of about 67 young Mom's (under 18). The rest are academy or high school kids as well as about 100 college kids.  Here are some pictures that show the rest.

This is were the young Mom's bring there kids when they go to class.

This is one of the class rooms for the nursery kids

This is were the nursery kids sleep during the day and some of the ladies that take care of them.

This is the kitchen that feeds the whole Mully family

These are some of the kids at the home that are in the vocational college.

This is the sowing classroom

This is the salon class room

This the small hospital on site for the kids and the community. 

This is were they teach some of the kids to make jiko's (what Kenyans cook on) and then they sell them to the community 

This is the chapel the kids worship in as well as members of the community