My final blog from Kenya!

As I sit here to write my last Kenyan blog, I have much emotion that is bittersweet. I am so excited in many ways to continue my traveling and to then come “home” to all of you. But in other ways, I’m saddened by the fact that for six months I’ve given love to children and have helped a community in so many ways and now I must let go. As I reflect on my 6 months here, I remember a time where I thought that I might not make it for six months. I went thru the range of emotions of being in another country for an extended period of time. I started with the honeymoon and excitement of something new. I felt homesick, tired, sadness, excitement…and now…at the end of my journey, I have many emotions that are both of anticipation as well as sorrow. Although this is my very last blog from Kenya, I will write again when I return to close out my travels and experience. Here are some things I’d like to share since my time writing to you! I had the chance to visit Kibera again (one of the world’s largest slums). Bri (another volunteer that I met in December and with whom I traveled on my first safari) actually RETURNED to Kenya this past month! She left in January and loved what she was doing so much that she came back. Here are some pics of her and the extension of a dormitory that she’s building! It’s a bit ironic that she was the first person I met when I came to this country…and she was one of the last that I will see. I included a picture of a person whom I’ve come to know over the past month. I’ve kept my distance from so many things in this country…people being one of them. You might find this odd given the fact that I love people and I love to have friends. But there is a very common saying here “A pretender is worse than a murderer.” Why do people here say this? Many here “pretend.” It really seems that the majority of people here have an angle and it seems that rarely do people tell the truth all the time. I’ve learned that trust here is rare. For this reason I’ve kept one goal and stuck to it…the children. I’ve spent little time outside the orphanage and little time making friends here. I just didn’t want people telling me lies and people trying to pretend to be my friend when they really just wanted something from me. Maybe my approach was a little extreme and jaded, but as I reflect, I feel I’ve made a good decision. In my last few weeks here, I’ve ventured out a bit. And I’ve actually made a friend named Ben. He owns a bar in one of the small towns. I met him while Deb and I were together (the former volunteer that left in mid May). Ben’s bar was broken into one night a few weeks ago and the people that took from him were supposedly his friends. When you don’t have much to start with and someone steals your money and your supplies for business it seems that life can be very hard; harder than it already is. I overheard him telling another person about the situation. At the end of his story, he said “…but it’s OK…I understand. Even though a cow doesn’t need a tick, a tick needs a cow…” I thought this was such an interesting way of looking at a situation. People that he thought were his friends caused him great suffering (moreso than just monetary) and his response was one of understanding. I don’t come across responses like this every day and thought it was a good story to tell. Donation money: One of the reasons for my delay in writing my last blog is because I’ve been so busy spending OUR money!!! I have much to report! We’ve bought every child at the orphanage a new pair of Bata shoes for school! We’ve purchased electricity for the dormitory (and all the supplies). I’ll say a bit more about the dorm in a bit. We’ve purchased a water tank for the kids so that they don’t have to go to the river every day after school and fetch water and carry huge buckets of water on their backs and heads (it’s hard, I tried!). This last purchase, the tank, brought so many smiles to these children. They are still talking about it. And they keep saying “God bless you, Renee.” It’s quite cute. We’ve also managed to send a child to high school. Her name is Elizabeth Nduko. She’s so bright from what the teachers tell me. She’s not at the orphanage as a resident but her brother is. She’s in the outreach/day program. Although she’s an orphan (without parents) she lives with 5 brothers and sisters and is extremely poor and not able to afford to pay to go to high school. Now she’ll be able to at least go for one year. And I will continue to try to help so she can go for all four years. There are pictures here of kids from various schools during an athletic’s event that I attended. There were over 30 schools present for this (K-12). I loved watching these kids run! It really inspired me. And of course, because many of these children see me when I run and because the teachers know I’m a runner, many asked me if I would be running the events with these kids. NO WAY! I would’ve have been so embarrassed to even try to compete with these Kenyan kids. I need to keep a little bit of my pride and all would’ve been lost if I had ran with them! I will say this though…I took “my kids” to play soccer on Saturday. It turned out that the girls became disinterested and wanted to do cross-country instead. So I did the 200, 400 meter and relays with the kids. These kids can run! But I was able to keep my own, surprisingly. And while I’m telling my story and patting myself on the back a little bit, I’ll say that my longest run last weekend was good. I’m prepared for a half marathon right now and will be looking for events when I return. I’ll also continue training for a full marathon at the end of our summer or fall. Some final words about the dorm and my expectations in general: Many of you have asked me if the children have moved into the dorm yet. And I was told that move in day was to be the last weekend in May. But no words or actions took place and the weekend came and went. The children are still residing in the same space as they were when I arrived. I find many things here to be odd…communication being one of them. Leah arrived on a Friday and left without saying a word (and without even saying goodbye) on Saturday. I’m not sure why and I don’t really ask. If you thought that I was good at having few expectations before I came to this country, I wish you could feel my level of “expectations” now! It’s close to none. I’ve been told the kids would move in this Sunday. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until I return home to see pictures of the move (if it even happens while I’m here!). I don’t have expectations for them to move in while I’m here although I truly hope I’m here to be part of it. I want to help them move beds and organize. I want to see their smiling faces with more room. And maybe even more importantly, I want to see the current boy’s dorm unfold into a great place for the kids to study and eat. For 6 months I’ve watched the kids cram into a small little space to eat and study. I’ve watch them share chairs and give up a chair so that I could sit with them in the evening. I’ve watched them study with such little lighting that it actually hurt my eyes to just watch them let alone read something with them. I hope I’m a part of this transition but if I’m not, I’ll trust that it will happen when they are ready and it will be good! As I get ready to close, I’d like to once again (and I know this is so repetitive but I can’t say it enough) thank every one of you. I wouldn’t have experienced my last six months if it wasn’t for you. You’ve given me words of encouragement, made me feel loved and appreciated from such a long ways away, you’ve helped me to help these kids and this community financially, you written me to let me know you think of me and have not forgotten me or the work I’m doing. Your words, your actions, your prayers and your energy made it to Africa. And we’ve made a difference in many lives. I’m grateful for every person that’s crossed my path directly or indirectly. I know there are people that read my blog and that know of my work that I don’t even know. I’ve put names on my blog as a “thank you” that I don’t know…but you know of me. Thank you. Together we have made a difference. I’ll be arriving back in Madison on Friday, June 15th in the afternoon! Love to you all and see you soon!