Some sketchy characters I have met along the way...

                                                                                          Mary the moth
     Susan the snail                                          

                                                                                        Melanie the millipede

Colin the cockroach

Goderich the gecko

   

                                                             Sammy the snake

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Some horribly huge beetle/grasshopper

thing... - I didn't stop to ask its name!!                                                              

                     

  

Kevin the roommate - HA! Just kidding  :o)                            

We also have a couple of "mystery" animals in the neighborhood which have so far eluded the camera. Every night, the dogs in the neighborhood start growling and barking - right around bedtime (of course!). Then a deep, constant, growl/purr sound starts. After a while the dogs start yelping and crying until suddenly all is quiet. I believe the growling sound is a lion, lying in wait, then suddenly attacks the dogs. To me it's the only explanation! Although one rainy night, we were walking home and passed a big sewage drain filled with massive bullfrogs. They were making the same deep, constant, growl/purr sound, but I can't see them attacking dogs! Kevin feels this mystery is solved, but I am not convinced - why are the dogs so upset? I'm sure bullfrogs are not attacking them (although the were HUGE). Plus if it were bullfrogs, well that would make for a terribly boring blog!!  :o)

The second "mystery" lives down the street. Louise, Kevin and I heard it most days on our walk to work. A loud trumpeting sound which we were convinced was an elephant. We have since been told that having an elephant in your backyard is totally against the law! (Then what is the sound??). One day, I thought it sounded a bit like a very sick cow, but then it TRUMPETED!! I ran home yelling: "It IS an elephant!!". Because of the "law" issue, Kevin thinks it would be a bit far-fetched for a neighbor to be keeping an elephant...he believes it must be a dinosaur!! A pterodactyl to be exact! This would explain how a herd of grazing goats has gone missing. Hmmmmm!

We have been having a lot of fun with this story when new roommates arrive. We walk down the street and when this "creature" makes its noise, the new volunteers look wide-eyed at us and ask: "What the heck was that?!". Kevin and I give each other a little mischievous wink, and nonchalantly respond: "No worries! It's just a dinosaur!!"... leaving them standing stunned in the middle of the road!!  :o)  

Home Sweet Home (at least for now)

Thought I would show you where I've been living. As I had mentioned before, we are quite spoiled here - we have access to the main house and we are one of the only placements that have hot showers!! A nice (and deserved) contrast to working in the slums!!

Main house                                                                                                       Kitchen

There's a big kitchen, living room and sun room where we can relax and use the computer.






One day Kevin and I got caught it a 3 hour torrential rain storm and were trapped at one of the matatu stops. When we got home, soaked to the skin, Mama Lydia had a roaring fire going in the living room - HEAVEN!!
 Living room                                                                    Sun room

Dinner is served on the kitchen counter where we help ourselves. An example of a standard meal is pictured below: sucuma wiki (fried kale) and ugali (Yes folks! For those of you who were in Zambia with me...it is SHIMA! The cornmeal "blob"). We also ate a lot of rice, githeri (a bean and maize mixture) and cabbage. I shall not describe the effect this diet initially had on my digestive system - I'm sure you can imagine!

One night we ate one of our bunnies (very sad...but quite tasty!), and another night we ate rooster. Kevin, Louise and I savoured the rooster! This little guy used to wake us up at 4 in the morning, cock-a-doodle-doing at the top of his lungs. Although a little tough and chewy, the taste of victory was most satisfying!!

Small bedroom                                                                                                         Larger bedroom

Our "home" has a central space, 2 bedrooms on the right, and we share a shower, toilet and sink. Louise and I shared the small room with one bunkbed, but once Suzy and Lee arrived, we moved to the larger room (with 2 bunkbeds). I have so far shared a room with Louise; then Suzy and Louise; then just Suzy; then Caroline and Suzy; then just Suzy again...now I have the room to myself!! Our newest volunteer is another guy, so Kevin and Danny share the small room (No! Of course I'm not going to give up the big room!!)

 I have realized that I am an "all or nothin'" kinda gal. I lived quite comfortably in Zambia for a month, sleeping on a concrete floor, with no electricity, no running water and squatting over a hole in the ground to do "my business". Now, I am living in the lap of luxury, compared to Zambia, and find myself somewhat troubled at the fact that we do not have a toilet seat.!!

So one day, I asked Mama Lydia where we could buy some patio chairs. "Oh!", she says, "I have some in storage."

After the long, hot walk home from working in the slums, this is where I sit, relax and enjoy my cold Tusker. And as you can see, after a heavy rain, we also have a swimming pool!!  :o)

Elephant chasing...or not!

My friend Maria from Holland (we met in Diani Beach) lives in Maungu (2 hours west of Mombasa). She is here working on a youth soccer (football) program. She is living on a wildlife reserve, so we decided to go and visit her and go on some game drives.
There were 7 of us: Kevin and I; Suzie and Lee (our roommates who were heading to Mombasa anyways for their next placement); Cheryl (the other Canadian volunteer I see often); Danny from Ohio (our new roommate who arrived Thursday night - so we dragged him along!); and this girl Laura we had never met, but I got her number from another friend so invited her - she's living in Voi, which is 20 minutes away from Maungu (it's really fun how us volunteers connect!). Laura is an Italian who has been living in Ireland for the past 5 years - her accent was quite interesting!!
We headed out at 5:30AM Friday morning to catch the 8:30AM bus in Nairobi. It was a 7-1/2 hour bus trip.

 

When we got to Maungu, Maria had what we thought was "pink eye". We headed out on a game drive in the evening and the Land Rover died halfway into the bush! We sat on the roof, had a beer, and watched the sunset.

We did see some impalas and dic dics...but no elephants. The best part was the night sky! It was like being back in Zambia - millions of stars!! We finally got the Land Rover running and headed back to the house

Our "backyard"

On Saturday morning Maria was in a lot of pain and couldn't really see out of her left eye, so she was taken to the hospital. Turned out she had developed a fungal infection (it looked like a mimi-mushroom growing out of her eye! yuk!). We barely saw her after that, as she was given 5 kinds of drops and drugs, so she slept the majority of the weekend. It really was too bad. We never made it out on another game drive, but it didn't stop us from having fun. The 7 of us relaxed, Lee played guitar and we walked into the nearest village for meals (45 minute walk!).


                                                                                                             


                                                                                         View of our house from top of cliff

We stayed in a beautiful guest house on the reserve and our "backyard" faced a cliff. We climbed the cliff (some did it a few times!) and had an awesome view of the landscape. The reserve, which is HUGE, lies between Tsavo East and West. Some of you may have heard the story of the "Tsavo lions" who were responsible for killing and eating many workers who were building the Kenya-Uganda railway in 1898. (1996 movie: The Ghost and the Darkness). That's where we were!!

Cliff view of wildlife reserve


 Another cliff view of reserve

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 3 Baboons                                                                   Colobus monkey 

Colobus monkey
 On Monday morning, I was up at 5:30AM, and sat alone for a few hours on our back patio sipping Chai tea and watching baboons and colobus monkeys play in our "backyard". How surreal is that!! The colobus monkeys came within 6 feet of me, but the baboons kept their distance (which made me happy 'cause they can be quite vicious!).
On our bus ride home, we passed zebras and giraffes along the road. So all-in-all, we may not have seen any elephants, but certainly enjoyed much wildlife, nature and made new friends.
It was back to the grind on Tuesday morning - working in the slums!!  :o(

The hardest work brings the best rewards!

So I had mentioned, way-back-when, that we had offered to build desks for KYEEDA school in the Korogocho slum. This is where we taught for a day. Well, with many issues getting materials and delays on a build date - we finally did it!

Last Tuesday, Kevin and I went to the school and built benches (not desks) for all the nursery children. We built 10 new benches and then repaired 3 old ones. We also repaired 5 old desks.

Of course it was one of the hottest days yet, but for 6 hours in the blazing sun we sawed...with a dull saw, and hammered...with a broken hammer, and got the job done!! This was one of the most  rewarding  days yet!   :o)

By the time we finished, the nursery children had gone home, so we got some of the older kids to come and sit on the benches, so we could determine how many we could seat in total. Although the older kids squeezed in, we know that 6 of the little nursery children will fit comfortably on each bench.

Today, we went back to the school and were elated to find out that every child in the school now has a place to sit - what a great feeling!! The children were so excited - screaming, and jumping on us... it was awesome!!

The Beauty of Kenya

I have shown you lots of pictures of poverty and the slums. I thought I should also show you the other side of Kenya - the wealth and the beauty. Enjoy the pics!!

This is the "Food Court" at Village Market mall in Runda (this is where most of the world's embassies are located). You see people of all nationalities here - a real tapestry!

We came here with Louise, and last weekend, Kevin, Suzie, Lee and I came here and saw a movie!!

 

 

                    These birds build their nests upside down!!

                                           The acacia tree - to me, the true symbol of Africa

Last Thursday, Kevin and I decided to play "hookie". We went into the city and just explored. It turned out to be an awesome day! We were searching for an Indian restaurant (which we never found) but we ended up in a different part of the city we hadn't seen before. Below are pictures of a beautiful park we found, with fountains, walking trails and a man-made lake.

We spent the day walking, walking and walking. Occasionally we would sit out on a balcony (they don't have patios in the city), enjoy a cold Tusker and look out at the people and the city. The temperature was perfect, with just a small breeze. Yes, it was one of the best days I've had here - sometimes it pays off to skip work!

These last ones are just for fun - just to let a couple of my "readers" know I'm thinking of them!!

                                                                                      

Future Hope

Future Hope is the name of the orphanage where I am working 2-3 days a week. I went there for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Future Hope is a baby orphanage, and the thought of looking after babies, well...just feels right. Jane Mbogo, the woman who runs the orphanage is a really great person! She is caring for (with the help of 6 other ladies) 16 children between the ages of 3 and 8. Yes, that's right...no babies. She is currently trying to get registered, which is a long process (especially here in Kenya). Once registered though, receiving funding is easier - just like at home. People like to see a registration number to ensure the facility is legitimate, plus they can receive a tax receipt for their donation. I told Jane how much I wanted to look after a baby, but she said she would only get more babies in another month - I could come back then.
Well....the very next day, I had a call from Jane - a baby had arrived during the night! She believes that my wishes are what brought this child to the safety of her home.

Let me introduce you to Neema (pronounced like Emma with an "N"). Neema means "Grace" in Swahili.

Neema was 5 weeks old when she arrived at Future Hope and her story is tragic: Neema had been abandoned in a field somewhere. Nobody knows how long she was there, but a stray dog found her and carried her to the nearest home. The woman of this home opened the door to a barking dog...and a crying baby! She knew she couldn't care for it herself (she has 3 children of her own), so she called the police. The police searched the area for clues as to where she may have come from, and just found a blanket lying under a shrub. The police knew of Jane's baby orphanage and so this is how she came into our lives!


Neema was covered in a rash, which is healing now, and her skin is quite raw in all the creases (we guess from not being properly bathed and dried), but overall, she seems healthy. She was not underfed - she has all those beautiful rolls and bulges and creases (you know the ones that we are trying so hard NOT to have now?!).  She is eating VERY well! She doesn't like the dark, nor the cold, but neither would we if we had been left alone outside on a cold, dark night.

I have bathed her, fed her and spent time just holding her as she sleeps. Jane wants her held as much as possible right now to help her feel safe - I'm in!!
I have also been helping out around the house. Ironically, the day I first went there, the children and the helpers all came down with either the flu or the chicken pox! (Jane believes I must be an angel sent to them in this time of need - awww!) They have been very short staffed, so I have been doing dishes, hanging laundry and ironing. Yes...IRONING!! I ironed for 3-1/2 hours on Good Friday! The set up is hunching over a coffee table to iron - ooooh! I am going to be in dire need of a massage when I get home!

Neema is quite a happy baby. When I hold her, she makes funny faces and sometimes grins from ear-to-ear. Jane and the staff laugh at this. They say she must like my light skin - she can see me better than them! I think it's just gas... ha, ha!

Whatever the reason, she is just precious!!

 

I said in an earlier blog that I was looking for an orphanage to spend some time around "hope and innocence". Well, I have found Future Hope and little Neema - who could ask for anything more!

Love to all.