Jambo friends and family!

I have so many things to tell you in this message! I’m overflowing with excitement! I have some pictures to share. First of all, THANK YOU’S: I need to say a HUGE, HUGE thank you to many people. 1) MFE (my friend Erika). Many don’t know this but w/o her help, I wouldn’t be posting to you. The connection is so slow that I’ve asked her to post all of my entries to you. Thank you very much MFE and know that I miss you so much. 2) I need to say a special thanks to all of you that write me often. It helps me so much to hear from you and I really enjoy your messages of encouragement. There is so much good energy being sent my way and it makes it easier for me to be here knowing that you keep me in your thoughts and write me with encouraging words. 3) I’d like to say a special thank you to my parents and my family and their co-workers and friends. My parents have been gathering donations from my aunts, uncles and friends. Thank you for all the donations that have been coming in. I’ll talk more about donations in a moment! 4) I’d like to thank Brad and Anne for a very generous contribution. 5) And I’d like to thank Sandee Sieberlich (friend of mine from work) and her husband Matt for another generous contribution. Lastly, I’d like to say a very HUGE thank you to Jason for helping me to manage this. He’s been putting money in my account on your behalf and has been great about helping me manage everything. So far in donations, we’ve gathered: $1600 that I came to Kenya with from Nov and Dec fundraising $262 (sent in Dec to GVN and what I mentioned in a PS in a previous posting) $215 at the beginning of January from various family, friends and the loggers (aka Jason’s fantasy football team) $2000 sent to GVN from friend and family mentioned above Grand total so far: $4077 Now of this, please know Leah has asked to use some of this money for immediate things. Your contribution has brought: - Beds, Christmas gifts and a small party of the kids = $600 - Administrative supplies (Leah asked if we could apply some of the funding towards a printer, some washing soap and bins for the kids, a cell phone for the office manager, paper files for record keeping, extension chords for the new electricity (YAY!) = ~ $400 (not sure about this yet b/c I haven’t bought it) - Money to pay the staff that works on the grounds- Elizabeth, Martin, Ken and James. These people cook the food for the kids and me, keep the grounds safe, comfortable and maintained.) = $262 that was brought in Dec thru GVN I’m quickly learning about fundraising and being accountable for money! I hope that you find my record keeping of YOUR money towards our efforts sufficient. All this to say that I will probably use the rest of the money in my account for immediate needs and all the money that comes in here on out will be used to put that dorm up. Leah and David (a partner of Terry’s) said that I will see a new dorm by the time I leave in June. I have high hopes that will happen. With the two new donations that came in and a verbal promise of one of the volunteers that just left of a donation of $3000 (thank you Maryilynn and Hunter) we have the money. But until I see ground broke, cement, a building, and kids in it, I’ll keep recruiting. Speaking of recruiting, I will go to the new volunteer orientation (the same one I went to a month ago) and ask for three new volunteers to help with the efforts of Terry’s Orphanage. I feel very much in a position of leadership and think I can help very much with getting new volunteers acclimated to a very cool experience! More about Terry’s Orphanage: I’ve recently learned why Terry’s is called Terry’s. Leah’s sister passed on four years ago from AIDS. Terry was survived by 4 children and a husband that was the contributor to Terry’s disease. Leah cares for these children directly and indirectly. Although they do not live with her, she provides for them monetarily as well as like a mother and nurturer. It was this inspiration that helped Leah to start Terry’s Orphanage, a beautiful place named after her sister. I understand how something so tragic can bring such good, new beginnings. I think if Leah were to read this, she’d concur. More about the children: Every day I fall more in love with the children at the project. For those of you that are wondering about my feelings of adopting…I have few strong feelings about adopting a child. I love each one of them so much, but I don’t wish to adopt. They are all very kind souls. I am blessed to know these kids! They are enamored with my hair (sort of funny). They ask me if I braid it so that when I take the braids out it falls with curls. They constantly touch it and move it away from my face. I also never have a free hand when I am around them. The want to hold my hand, give me hugs and be next to me all the time. I smile and welcome their terms of endearment as much as I know how to! The kids are finished with school at 4pm each afternoon. When they arrive back at the orphanage, they help with chores (chopping wood, cleaning, preparing dinner, etc.). They also have some play time until 7pm (sometimes only until 6pm if they have a lot of homework). At 7pm, James comes in to help tutor them in school. Because there are so many children with a wide variety of needs, I have been helping at this time as well. I work on Math and English with many of them. This is a very rewarding experience for me and I can see improvement even in the small amount of time that I’ve been helping! School: Speaking of school, I visited the school this week (Gosh! I just can’t wait to send pics! There’s so much I want to show you!!!). Wow, it was amazing. I learned a lot about kids here, the community and about how great Terry’s really is. Many of the kids that live at the project are in the top of the class! Leah instills values of education. It’s great to see! It’s something I believe in whole-heartedly and it’s great to see this at the project. I got to spend a morning with the teachers and one of the administrators at the school. I quickly learned first hand (not by reading) about how sexual relationships are a problem with many of the girls which distracts them from their studies. The problem doesn’t lie with girls and boys at school, but rather men in the community and also family members. It was sad to hear this and admittedly it is something I was already very well aware of from talking with others and reading on my own. The interesting thing about this is that their religion class helps with problems that arise in school. As early as page 5 in their religion book, kids are introduced to things like sex, HIV, alcohol and drug abuse. Each subject has a bible verse explaining what the bible says about these things. Interesting, isn’t it? I thought so. There seem to be many underlying problems of culture and an undereducated community that influence the younger generations. The school that the kids from Terry’s Orphanage go to is a good school. Part of my recruitment efforts with the new volunteers will be to ask if volunteers want to help at the school. I will also help at the school, but I made a personal commitment to prioritize needs and being at the project helping James with office organization and helping the kids that I live with are two of my first priorities. My attempt to learn Swahili: Well, I’m not as far as I though I’d be with learning Swahili in my first month. I practice from my book every day. I ask the kids to teach me phrases, verbs and nouns each day. The problem is: 1) many of the community speaks Kamba (their tribal language). It is similar to Swahili but still different enough to make it more difficult to pick up ONE other language; 2) everyone speaks English with me! How can I learn a second language if I can’t practice?! As a result of learning these two things over the month, I’ve asked for a daily lesson with James. We start Monday! He has prepared a syllabus for me and exercises to help me learn quickly. I hope to make this personal goal of mine come true! I hope this message finds you well. Thank you again. And I miss you all! Renee