.JPG)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Safari Time!
Tomorrow morning at 6:45 a.m. we will be picked up to begin our trip to the Masai Mara. This trip was our treat to ourselves at the end of our time in Kenya. We are travelling with Twiga Tours and will be staying at the Tipilikwani Luxury Lodge. If you want more information about where we are staying you can google the name of the lodge. We will return late Friday afternoon. We will not be adding to our blog until then. Just be assured that Don will have taken hundred's more pictures!!
Lunch with Zahra
After painting, Aaron, Don and Zahra picked up Joy from Heart Lodge. We then went to Zahra's absolute favourite place to eat, Java House. Erica met us there. Zahra ordered her favourites, chicken strips, french fries and a chocolate milkshake. She orders this every time Aaron and Erica take her to Java House. Even if they meet her there early in the morning she will order a chocolate milk shake!
This was our last time to visit with Zahra. As we may have said before, she is a delightful young woman who is very popular and well known in Eastleigh. She works for CBM helping with Erica and Aaron with teaching ESL classes and doing outreach in the community.
We have grown to love and appreciate her sense of humour, spontaneity and helpfulness. She loves to sing the "Hokey Pokey" and as promised, we will send the words to the song to her!
This was our last time to visit with Zahra. As we may have said before, she is a delightful young woman who is very popular and well known in Eastleigh. She works for CBM helping with Erica and Aaron with teaching ESL classes and doing outreach in the community.
We have grown to love and appreciate her sense of humour, spontaneity and helpfulness. She loves to sing the "Hokey Pokey" and as promised, we will send the words to the song to her!
Painting Blackboards
This morning Don and Aaron went to Eastleigh to paint! They cleaned and painted the blackboards in two classrooms. What a difference a fresh coat of blackboard paint makes. We would have liked to have painted more, but the classrooms were locked up and the caretaker was absent.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Another Farewell!
We also said farewell to our driver, Martin, this morning. Martin has driven us to and from Eastleigh everyday and anywhere else that we wanted to go. He has been an inspiration to us.
We learned a lot about him, his family and the Kenyan culture. He always had very wise comments to make when we said that we were concerned about an issue. Martin played wonderful, uplifting Christian music in his car which we also enjoyed when riding with him.
Martin, as many drivers do here in Kenya, took great pride in keeping his car shiny inside and out. If ever we were late, we would often find Martin shining his car. We always felt so bad everytime we took his shiny, clean car into Eastleigh where it is either muddy or dusty! Martin never complained though.
We learned a lot about him, his family and the Kenyan culture. He always had very wise comments to make when we said that we were concerned about an issue. Martin played wonderful, uplifting Christian music in his car which we also enjoyed when riding with him.
Martin, as many drivers do here in Kenya, took great pride in keeping his car shiny inside and out. If ever we were late, we would often find Martin shining his car. We always felt so bad everytime we took his shiny, clean car into Eastleigh where it is either muddy or dusty! Martin never complained though.
A Sad Farewell
This morning we helped Erica and Aaron host a party for the young Somali ladies. It is a special event for everyone. There were about 50 there along with some of their siblings and children.
Aaron planned some games, we sang some songs, we danced and we ate! We did everything that makes a party successful!!
The young ladies danced up a storm, just like young ladies anywhere would do. Except, they also did some traditional Somali dancing and singing for us. Can they ever move their hips, stomachs, and bottoms! It was wonderful to see. They really "let their hair down" and had a great time.
In fact, we had to break up the party!
Lots of pictures were also taken and will be cherished by all of us. We promised to print them and leave them for Erica and Aaron to take to school when it resumes on January 6th.
They also wrote lovely thank you notes to us which we will be bringing home. We were also chosen as "Iftin" students of the week. Iftin means "light' in the Somali language. These young ladies are certainly the "light" in Eastleigh and so it was an honour to have this title given to us.
Joy was given many hugs before the girls finally left. It was a very emotional time for her as these young ladies have come to mean so much to her, and Don too. They are so strong and happy given their circumstances.
We will miss them but know that Aaron and Erica will continue to be working with them and helping them to have hope for their futures. Aaron and Erica love each and every one of them and are planning to do some home visits over the holidays.
Aaron planned some games, we sang some songs, we danced and we ate! We did everything that makes a party successful!!
The young ladies danced up a storm, just like young ladies anywhere would do. Except, they also did some traditional Somali dancing and singing for us. Can they ever move their hips, stomachs, and bottoms! It was wonderful to see. They really "let their hair down" and had a great time.
In fact, we had to break up the party!
Lots of pictures were also taken and will be cherished by all of us. We promised to print them and leave them for Erica and Aaron to take to school when it resumes on January 6th.
They also wrote lovely thank you notes to us which we will be bringing home. We were also chosen as "Iftin" students of the week. Iftin means "light' in the Somali language. These young ladies are certainly the "light" in Eastleigh and so it was an honour to have this title given to us.
Joy was given many hugs before the girls finally left. It was a very emotional time for her as these young ladies have come to mean so much to her, and Don too. They are so strong and happy given their circumstances.
We will miss them but know that Aaron and Erica will continue to be working with them and helping them to have hope for their futures. Aaron and Erica love each and every one of them and are planning to do some home visits over the holidays.
Bits and Bites
Nairobi is one of the largest cities in Africa. It is about the size of the city of Toronto. It is located about 80 miles south of the equator with an elevation of 5,500 feet above sea level.
The weather has been mostly sunny and warm during our time here. The light rainy season is pretty much gone as Kenya heads into the summer months. January and February are the hot summer months. Nevertheless because of the altitude it cools down nicely at night. Even when it is hot, there is not the humidity that we experience at home. Even in hot weather, you see Kenyans wearing long sleeve shirts, a sweater or jacket. You know it is really hot when you see Kenyans with short sleeves. You never see Kenyans wearing shorts. They believe shorts are just for boys. However Don does wear shorts when back at Heart Lodge.
Although Nairobi is a large city it doesn't have the infrastructure to handle the population growth that has taken place here and so the traffic can be very congested at most times. Wherever one goes in Kenya, one sees people walking. Another mode of transportation is the matatu. Matatu is taken from the Swahili word, matata which means problem. The matatu is a 14 passenger Toyoto Van. Each matatu has a driver and a conductor who handles the fee. The matatu drivers are independent drivers and are the most aggressive drivers that we have ever seen. It seems no laws apply to them. They will drive on boulevards, grass, walkways, over medians, etc. in an effort to obtain that edge in the traffic. We have seen as many as four matatus driving abreast for two lanes of highway. They will stop everywhere and anywhere to pick up or discharge a fare. We suspect that they also contribute to the traffic congestion.
We understand that there is a lot corruption in government in Kenya. The politicians also receive approximately 1 million Kenyan shillings each month for salary and expenses. That's about $13,333.00 US. This salary is tax free. There has been a lot of media attention about this while we have been here. A recent survey showed that over 90 % of Kenyans believe the politicians should be paying some tax on their salaries and allowances.
The unemployment rate is approximately 68% throughout Kenya. That is probably one of the reasons for the high crime rate since there is no government assistance if you are unemployed. There is a military presence everywhere in Nairobi. You see solders walking about carrying K47 weapons. One day as we were waiting for our driver to pick us up at the entrance to one of the malls, a small vehicle pulled up and four heavily armed soldiers jumped out and took their positions. A Wells Fargo bank truck then pulled up followed by another car carrying more solders. Some were carrying machine guns. This now seems to be the regular practice for bank pick ups and deliveries. It is not surprising to walk in a mall or on the street and see this army presence.
Not far from Heart Lodge are many embassy's and embassy residences. It seems every country that does business with Kenya and East Africa has an embassy here. We saw the old US embassy that was bombed by terrorists prior to 9/11. The new embassy is much larger and much better protected. It's like the USA is sending a message: if you attack us, we will come back even bigger. Most if not all of the embassy residences are beautiful buildings with manicured lawns and gardens. One day we drove past the Israeli embassy. We had to go through a road block where Kenyan solders checked the car before we passed.
The second largest UN compound in the world is located here in Nairobi, across the road from the US embassy.
The weather has been mostly sunny and warm during our time here. The light rainy season is pretty much gone as Kenya heads into the summer months. January and February are the hot summer months. Nevertheless because of the altitude it cools down nicely at night. Even when it is hot, there is not the humidity that we experience at home. Even in hot weather, you see Kenyans wearing long sleeve shirts, a sweater or jacket. You know it is really hot when you see Kenyans with short sleeves. You never see Kenyans wearing shorts. They believe shorts are just for boys. However Don does wear shorts when back at Heart Lodge.
Although Nairobi is a large city it doesn't have the infrastructure to handle the population growth that has taken place here and so the traffic can be very congested at most times. Wherever one goes in Kenya, one sees people walking. Another mode of transportation is the matatu. Matatu is taken from the Swahili word, matata which means problem. The matatu is a 14 passenger Toyoto Van. Each matatu has a driver and a conductor who handles the fee. The matatu drivers are independent drivers and are the most aggressive drivers that we have ever seen. It seems no laws apply to them. They will drive on boulevards, grass, walkways, over medians, etc. in an effort to obtain that edge in the traffic. We have seen as many as four matatus driving abreast for two lanes of highway. They will stop everywhere and anywhere to pick up or discharge a fare. We suspect that they also contribute to the traffic congestion.
We understand that there is a lot corruption in government in Kenya. The politicians also receive approximately 1 million Kenyan shillings each month for salary and expenses. That's about $13,333.00 US. This salary is tax free. There has been a lot of media attention about this while we have been here. A recent survey showed that over 90 % of Kenyans believe the politicians should be paying some tax on their salaries and allowances.
The unemployment rate is approximately 68% throughout Kenya. That is probably one of the reasons for the high crime rate since there is no government assistance if you are unemployed. There is a military presence everywhere in Nairobi. You see solders walking about carrying K47 weapons. One day as we were waiting for our driver to pick us up at the entrance to one of the malls, a small vehicle pulled up and four heavily armed soldiers jumped out and took their positions. A Wells Fargo bank truck then pulled up followed by another car carrying more solders. Some were carrying machine guns. This now seems to be the regular practice for bank pick ups and deliveries. It is not surprising to walk in a mall or on the street and see this army presence.
Not far from Heart Lodge are many embassy's and embassy residences. It seems every country that does business with Kenya and East Africa has an embassy here. We saw the old US embassy that was bombed by terrorists prior to 9/11. The new embassy is much larger and much better protected. It's like the USA is sending a message: if you attack us, we will come back even bigger. Most if not all of the embassy residences are beautiful buildings with manicured lawns and gardens. One day we drove past the Israeli embassy. We had to go through a road block where Kenyan solders checked the car before we passed.
The second largest UN compound in the world is located here in Nairobi, across the road from the US embassy.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Nest Orphanage
After leaving the Tea Farm, the Kennys took us to The Nest Orphanage. This is the orphanage where Ava lived before becoming part of the Kenny Family.
The orphanage is home to about 50 children whose mothers' are in jail. They cannot be adopted. The Kennys were able to adopt Ava because she was abandoned by her mother and found by a policeman who took her to this orphanage.
We were able to visit the children's rooms. The toddlers' room has a giant crib which sleeps 10 children. There was plenty of room for the children but a very emotional sight to see. It was surrounder by white cribs which were stacked two high. We were quite impressed by how clean everything was given the number of children. The girls' room was for girls from 4-18 and it was a long wall of bunkbeds with no space between them. The boys' room also had a long row of bunkbeds but they were separated by built-in cupboards where the boys kept their clothes.
We also saw the on sight school which was very bright with brand new colourful furniture. It was built and furnished in 2007 after a very large donation was received. Orphanges in Kenya receive no government funding!
We walked around the property holding children's hands. The children were desperate to hold our hands and if one happened to move away another child immediately took its place.
We ended up in the dining room where the children sang for us. All of the Kennys, Don, and Joy were holding a child while other children also cuddled in very close to us.
The staff is very warm and do the best they can, under the circumstances, to provide a loving environment for the children.
We sang Jingle Bells and Away in the Manger and then Don prayed for and with the children.
We were emotionally exhausted after being there...it was an incredible experience and one that we have not had before!
The orphanage is home to about 50 children whose mothers' are in jail. They cannot be adopted. The Kennys were able to adopt Ava because she was abandoned by her mother and found by a policeman who took her to this orphanage.
We were able to visit the children's rooms. The toddlers' room has a giant crib which sleeps 10 children. There was plenty of room for the children but a very emotional sight to see. It was surrounder by white cribs which were stacked two high. We were quite impressed by how clean everything was given the number of children. The girls' room was for girls from 4-18 and it was a long wall of bunkbeds with no space between them. The boys' room also had a long row of bunkbeds but they were separated by built-in cupboards where the boys kept their clothes.
We also saw the on sight school which was very bright with brand new colourful furniture. It was built and furnished in 2007 after a very large donation was received. Orphanges in Kenya receive no government funding!
We walked around the property holding children's hands. The children were desperate to hold our hands and if one happened to move away another child immediately took its place.
We ended up in the dining room where the children sang for us. All of the Kennys, Don, and Joy were holding a child while other children also cuddled in very close to us.
The staff is very warm and do the best they can, under the circumstances, to provide a loving environment for the children.
We sang Jingle Bells and Away in the Manger and then Don prayed for and with the children.
We were emotionally exhausted after being there...it was an incredible experience and one that we have not had before!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)