Thank you to great friends! Farewell to some that have left...

Hi everyone! I hope you are all well. I have much to report in this blog posting. First, I’d like to really thank my friends Amy and Brian and my book club friends for their generosity. I can’t tell you how much every extra penny means to this community. I promise you that I am making sure everyone knows that it has been YOU that have been helping to make a difference in so many lives. I am only the vessel to make sure the difference happens. I wish that you could see and experience what you are doing for everyone here. Please don’t take my words lightly. Every donation amount that has been given to me has really made a difference. THANK YOU! For those of you that have been reading all my blogs you have heard me talk about the housemother and caretaker of Leah’s home who has been with me since the beginning of my stay here. Elizabeth has been a true blessing to me as I’ve tried to really adapt to a different way of living. I’ve been lucky to have not had to cook, clean, boil my water for a hot bucket bath, or even do my laundry. Without her, I think I would have packed up and left Africa months ago. She’s taken such good care of me and words will never begin to describe how grateful I am to her. The time had to come where she needed to leave the orphanage. I won’t go into a lot of detail, but I will say that her presence is missed. As I said good-bye to her, I reminded her that we would have had to say good-bye regardless; it just happens that we had to say it a few weeks earlier than we had planned. There has not been a new housemother hired to replace her. Leah told me she would be coming soon. In the meantime, I did offer to stay with the girls (although I was a bit nervous to offer my assistance because I fear I won’t quite know what to do if a child needs to get up in the middle of the night). Leah said that the older girls are OK to take over until the new housemother arrives which should be sometime in the next few days. I would also like to bid a sincere farewell to the volunteer that I’ve been with for the last couple of months. Deb left for her home in Canada this past Friday. I’m very sad about it but she said it was her time to go. I can’t even begin to thank her enough for all of her help in the building of the dormitory and for her companionship and friendship. I think she truly underestimates the amount of assistance she provided while she was here. I am grateful she was with me for 2 months and I’ll miss her during my last month here. I won’t have anyone to share special “cokes” with, chips, midnight pub or our bar experiences with. At the same time, I understand her position and I hope she will know that I am sending all the best energy to her as she starts a new chapter in Canada. I know she will do well with her future obligations and events that she pursues. I say a special thank you to both Elizabeth and to Deb for all they’ve done for me to make my African experience that much more rich! As I move into my very last month, I have a little nervousness about my cooking abilities since they are next to nil. There is someone on the compound that will do my laundry. One of the caretakers has been preparing my water for bathing and will clean the home, but the cooking hasn’t quite been ironed out. While Deb was here, she did the cooking (which was both good and very “western.”). Maybe this is an opportunity for me to actually learn how to cook! Imagine…me learning to cook in Africa? More to come on that… A few other stories ---- I’ve been spending a lot of time at some of the local schools the past couple of weeks. Since the dormitory is almost complete (see my pss below) and I have a little extra donation money, I thought it would be good to invest in children’s education. My visits have been to inquire about how I can help. The picture of this young boy is Muthini, a form 1 student (9th grade) who is having many troubles with school fees. Because the teachers that have taught him thru grade 8 believe in him so much, they’ve been having collections on his behalf to pay for his schooling. I’m sure you can imagine a teacher’s salary helping to pay for a boy’s education. I know it is tough when some of the teachers that work in the school struggle with their own family. I decided to pay some of the remaining balance of this boy’s school fees for the year. If the teachers care enough and believe in him enough, I will trust this boy will do well and go far. It was a good and unfamiliar feeling to me to just randomly pick a boy that is not related to the orphanage, but still extremely poor (he didn’t even wear shoes until he got into 9th grade) to help. One morning, as I left for school, I was greeted by some of the orphanage’s children coming back from school. I inquired as to why they would be going back to the orphanage at 10am when school is in session until late afternoon. It turns out that they were sent home for not being “shaped.” (Shaped means they were not shaven – or given a haircut). It costs 10ksh (less than 1 dime) to have a child’s head shaped. I understand it is the wish of the orphanage caretakers and even Leah to buy a good electrical shaver to shave all the children’s heads (including the girls). Until a shaver is bought (which I believe I’ll use some of the donation money for), the children have to go to the nearest town with the 10ksh that they are given to get their hair cut. Leah had not left money for this expense (I’m sure it was an oversight on her part). When one of the children was told she was not going to be given money for her haircut, she immediately started to cry and cry. It was so sad. She told me “Renee, I don’t even have money to get shaped…and now I can’t go back to school until I have my head shaped…” I hugged her and told her not to worry. We went back to school that morning together. I told the headmaster of the school that I would be providing them money so that they could get their hair cut the next day. I asked if they could return to class for the day and have their hair done first thing the next morning. It was all OK and the situation was solved. It was an interesting morning for me and all the while I kept thinking about how lucky I was when I was a child to have money to have my hair done. The pictures of the “crowds” of children are from a different school that I visited. Every child at Terry’s Orphanage goes to Kiteng’ei Primary School except one girl named Purity. Purity is in 8th grade and since this is her last term, Leah decided to keep her at her school and not move her with the other children. Purity has been asking me for month to visit her school. I’ve been to the other school numerous times but have never visited Purity’s school. This past week, Purity and I walked to school together (she leaves at 6am for school). I don’t think I have ever seen a more proud girl. She was so happy to bring me to her school. I honestly believe there has never been a mazungu to visit the school (I know this because I signed the school’s guest book and I only saw local names and places!). There were so many eyes on me. I went to almost every classroom that day and told them about me and gave them the chance to ask questions. Some of the questions these kids asked: Who was your first president? What is your country’s greatest export? What is your country’s capitol? What religion are you? What is your country’s largest lake? Who is your vice president? (many of the older children in grade 7 and 8 knew that the US president is Bush). Where does a poison go when it enters into your body? How old are you? Many random questions! I learned that some of the teachers there are in a group outside of school that help many of the orphaned children that go to that school. They also provide education, counseling and assistance to families with HIV/AIDS. I am invited a meeting with this group in the next few weeks and will be able to lend some assistance with their endeavors. There are also some pictures of children from a community class that I visited this past weekend (sorry they turned out very dark. It was dark in the classroom and as you may have suspected there is no electricity in any of the schools that I visit.). Leah is a HUGE child right’s advocate. She spends much of her time traveling to schools to start child right’s clubs for children. These clubs are a great way to educate children on their rights to protection, security, participation, etc. It’s a great program. Thank you for your time in reading my blog. As I write this note to you on Friday, May 13th, know that there are 8 days left until my birthday! The children are so excited for my birthday. They remind me every day. We will celebrate together on Sunday, May 20th when I return from Nairobi. I’ll spend my birthday weekend with my friend Wanja and some her friends. Also, it is confirmed that I’ll be leaving Africa on June 10th. MFE and I are meeting in Amsterdam and flying back together on June 15th. I know that my leaving will be bittersweet. I am prepared! Love to you all! Renee PS Yes another picture of an animal. One of the dogs that protect the compound had puppies. This pup in my hand is less than 1 week old. PSS Here is quick update on what is left to complete the dorm and on your donation money: To be completed this week: doors glass windows cement floor (being done on Monday!) whitewash (painting the walls) time for everything to dry The children will be able to move into the dormitory by the beginning of June. I’m so proud that I will be here for “move-in day!” I’ve been as cautious as I could be with the funding of this dormitory. As a result (and because of the generous donations that keep coming in!), I’ll be able to purchase a water tank for the kids so that they won’t have to fetch water from a creek every day. Every day, once these children walk home from school through the hills (about a half hour walk that is pretty hilly), they have to get water jugs and go down to the river (it’s more like a creek) to get water for their bath and for cooking. With the new water tank, this will only need to be done on Saturdays (once a week!). I can’t tell you how happy these children will be. They will have more time after school to play and to study. It will give them about 1.5 extra hours a day when they don’t fetch water!