ºKrismas Njema Na Heri Za Mwaka Mpyaº (Merry Christmas!)

Hello all! It’s been difficult to write on my blog…communication is a bit slower than I thought it would be. Also, given that my amount of patience with slow PC’s is nonexistent, I find it hard to write! There’s so much to tell you so far! I’ll start with the most important… The orphanage. When I arrived in Nairobe, we were given a list of 14 diff. orphanages that partner with VICDA (the agency in Kenya that works with orphanages and GVN). It was overwhelming. Each one had different needs and of course I wanted and needed to take into account MY needs (like having a little bit of comfort to help me to be here for 6 months…things like internet, water, electricity, etc). In the end, another volunteer and I decided to trek to the hills of Machakos…a tiny community outside of Nairobe (1.5 hours). The orphanage I live at is called Terry's Child Support and youth Resource Centre . There are approx. 25 children. The children range from age 5 to 15 w/the exception of one tiny baby (around 6 mo). They are all beautiful children. I’ll send pics shortly. I’m still working out logistics of getting pics to attach with the slowness of my connection! They come from very sad situations, abuse, abandonment, homelessness…it’s sad. I try to do the best I can each day to help them. We read, they teach me Swahili, I work on English with them (they are on break right now for the holiday so we don't do much school work), we play games, I hold their hands, make them smile and give them as much love as I can. They get three meals a day. They have a place to eat and they get much clothing and adequate food donations from the community. There are many generous people in the community that believe in Leah (the Director of Terry’s Orphanage). Leah has the biggest heart of any woman I know. She is wonderful with the children and her orphanage is not even her job! She has a full time job in Nairobe. It turns out that she has a separate estate in Machakos where children just started showing up at her door for food and shelter. She has been helping them for 3 years (1 year officially on record as an orphanage and 2 unofficially thru just the kindness of her heart of what she could provide to them). An immediate need of the orphanage has been shelter. Literally, there needs to be a roof over the kids’ heads and a place for them to sleep and eat. Thanks to all of you, we’ve been able to provide Leah with almost $2000 ($1600 that you have directly given to me!). I can’t thank you enough. So far you’ve given the children a few nice things for the holidays…a nice meal, a schoolbag and a new pair of socks. You’ve also provided 8 beds for the kids! This has cost $600 leaving me with $1000 left to attend to some of the needs. The way her orphange is able to exist is from the volunteers raising money directly. One of the biggest priorities of the orphanage is to build a boys dormitory and use the current dorm as the eating area so that the kids do not have eat in the kitchen which is small and very unsafe b/c they cook over an open fire (there is currently no electricity). This will cost Leah $5000 in total. I am asking for your help…I would love to raise the other $4000 for them. I don’t know how I can do it from here, but I hope that all that read my blogs will begin to understand the importance of this. My being here has already had such a direct impact…it’s really amazing to see change. I’m most blessed. Please know that you can help today if you’d like. Money is the best way to do it. You can send it to my home address (2538 Chamberlain Ave. Madison WI 53705) Cash or check made out to Jason Nyberg (he’ll sign it and put the money in my account) is the best. You can also go thru GVN. Even a few dollars goes a long way here. 70 schillings is 1 American dollar. And to give you some perspective, 25 school bags, 25 pairs of socks, one package of lolly pops (small pack) and a nice x-mas meal to feed 25 kids and a few staff that cooked it cost approx. $150. In my next blog entry, I promise to tell you more about my own personal experience. I live in a beautiful small community in the hills. There is no running water, no electricity, no showers or bathtub, no toilet…It feels like I’m camping for 6 months, kinda. More to come another day… Blessing to all of my family and friends. Happy Holidays… Love, Renee