Day 3 - Cows to kids

Everyone was up bright and breezy this morning despite Lorraine falling out of her top bunk!  Rose had been teasing us about milking cows so Lorraine and Natasha disappeared in the direction of the cows followed closely by Alex.  Great entertainment was had by all as they proceeded to milk and proved that all are great milk maids.  Natasha is a complete natural, and Alex and Lorraine did a great job; Abi decided she didn't like cows udders as they are soft and squishy and the boys (other than Kevin who had a go) kept their distance preferring to spectate from outside the pen.

Arriving at the school we were set to work with the children, each disappeared into a classroom except Cameron who remained outside to organise a game of rounders.  Alex had all of her children drawing pictures of 'Queen Rose' as we have renamed her and the children managed to convince her to dress up in a school uniform.

Lorraine and Natasha had their group doing some colouring, Harry was teaching magic and Kevin was teaching them how not to play cards!
There was a lot of laughter coming from Abi's classroom and on investigation we discovered they all had their arms covered in wet slimy cornflour!

I was on cooking duty and admired the new cooker that we bought last year with some of the money raised.  The children had ugi mid morning and rice and cabbage for lunch.

We walked to an orphanage I hadn't been to before - this one had babies.  Some of them had been abandoned at birth and we all found this a very emotional experience.  I held a 4 month old baby in my arms who had been abandoned and found it very hard to put her in her cot especially as she began to cry and hold onto my top, I found this very hard and Alex became very upset and tearful leaving one of the babies as well.

The orphanage also has a farm and is fairly self sufficient but does need the water tank fixing as it leaks.  Harry is very keen to use money from his Mount Kenya climb fund to do this.

We then visited the orphanage I am familiar with and it was great that the children were pleased to see me a third time.  We spent a pleasant couple of hours getting to know the children.  Harry was soon weight training with the homemade weights.  A long trip home ensured everyone was tired especially Cameron as he once again fell asleep in the armchair.  It's strange because despite being very hot during the day we have an open fire in the evening.

Day 2: to the centre of the earth

We spent the morning at the school and as soon as we walked through the gates the children came rushing over to greet us with hugs and high fives.  They entertained us with singing before Harry and Cameron played football until they were too hot and exhausted to continue.  Abi played clapping games whilst Alex organised skipping and Natasha had her hair dismantled and then rearranged.

Lorraines bubbles casued great excitment for the children with them squeeling in delight.  Kevin spent most of the time taking photos of the children which they immediately wanted to see.  Rose and I disappeared to the shop to get food for the children and after they had been fed they attempted to teach Harry Swahili (he is now practically fluent!).

The younger children were then collected and taken to their slum...24 children in one car! 

We then all took a walk along a very hot and dusty road to the equator where we were shown the water going clockwise or anti clockwise depending on which hemisphere we were standing in!  On our return route we stopped in to see Rose's daughter Watare having her hair braided.  Lorraine now on home territory in hair salons joined in - Watch out Apollo she might get a job here!

In the evening Rose needed to go and pick Aloe Vera from the garden to soothe the burnt skin of the gang (I did warn them to use lotion), Cameron's arms, neck and face needed attention, poor Alex had to use Aloe Vera everywhere and Abi said Harry looked like a shiny tomato!

Karibu - Kenya!

Rose met us at the airport and it was so wonderful to see her again.  I introduced her to everyone and then we made our way to the waiting matatu.  Loading up the 17 suitcases we have got between us was no easy task but we eventually got on our way.  The journey from Nairobi to Nanyuki took nearly 5 hours due to several fruit stops on the way.  One of the stops caused Abi to screech from the back as the matatu became surrounded by hopeful vendors trying to sell us bananas as arms thrust through the windows waving their bunches at us!

Then the heavens opened meaning another stop to purchase a large amount of plastic to cover the roof where most of our luggage was.

Finally we arrived and once unloaded, Rose led Harry and Cameron to a shed at the bottom of the garden convincing them that this was their accommodation  - their faces were a picture but they took it very well!

On our way

Everyone is all accounted for in their Club Rafiki t-shirts at the airport and waiting to board our plane to Nairobi.  Rose and the van are already waiting for us to arrive and whisk us (200km down bumpy roads) to Nanyuki and our home for the next two weeks.

Nanyuki is situated on the equator and is in the shadow of Mount Kenya which Harry is planning to climb to raise additional money for the school and the orphanage we are visiting.

Please check back regularly to see updates of what we are getting up to.

Thanks for all of the support so far. :)

Getting ready

We are taking an enormous amount of luggage with us this year, although nearly all of it is stuff that people have so kindly donated to take to the children.  We have Christmas presents for the Club Rafiki children and clothes, books, school equipment and toys galore!  I have just about managed to squeeze a few clothes in for me as well.

We still have a few days before we head off and so if anyone has any last minute things for us to take please contact me.  We would especially like to take recorders with us this year if anybody has one not being used.

Please keep checking the blog whilst we away for updates on what we are doing.

Returning to Kenya

A successful school trip

The children had a fantastic time on their trip to Nairobi.  They visited the Giraffe Centre...

the animal orphanage...