The Orphanage!

This is the school classrooms of the Orphanage and the kids are all coming out because they are delivering the wood to build the library we are financing so that they can have for the children. The two large rooms that they use for the girls and boys rooms are right behind these classrooms.

The other is a picture of their menu for the week....but they only eat about 2 of those things.

The first picture is of the women cooking in the "kitchen" of the orphange...which is a dark room that has a fire in a hole they cook over.  They only eat beans and Ugali, which is like a grainier cornbread everyday.  The Ugali takes all day to smash, stir, and cook...these women have MUSCLES!

Working in Africa

THese pictures are of us all at Pysical Education (PE).  So this is what is happening. The orphanage is a few buildings in a community with dirt roads and on the side of a moutain. The orphanage is basically a school with a room for each class level. They have an early class which is all the young kids and they learn counting and ABC's. Then there is a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, classes. They have schedules each day and learn in each class. They stay in the same room and different teachers teach different things. They learn English, Math, Social Studies, Science, Creative Arts, and Pysical Education. So i haven't taught a class on my own yet but i have been sitting in on a few. I did teach the socail studies class today about Ranches in American. I also taught the little kids the Hockey Pokey song. Each class has about 5-6 children in it and they are the most well behaved, repectful, and eager to learn children i have ever met. The younger ones have about 12 kids in the class and they are SO loud. I stay in a house down the road and walk up each day to teach and see the children. I taught the children how to play baseball today and they pretty much made up their own rules. We had so much fun. The children are loving and SOOO glad you are here to help. They are not so clean all the time and if you think noses run at IPS you should come here. It is easy to remember most of the kids because they wear the same thing each day. I think it is funny and sad that they wear the most interesting shoes. One kid wears cleates (those soccor shoes) and fancy girl shoes to school, obvious donations. They call me Teacher Tara and they love us coming to help them or teach them. Also there are two girls here working on the project with me and they are for the UK and the other is from a tiny island between Ireland and England called Isle of Man. THe one from the UK aksed last week what she could for the orphanage and they said she could help build a library. SO when i came I helped to donate money and time to help to build this library. We are VERY excited about it and so are the children. HAPPY SAINT PATRICKS DAY (yest) to all the Irish. We celebrated by taking a taxi into town and eating at the coffee shop because they had an St. Patty's Day celebration which was just a buffet and paper shamrocks on the tables. But we had fun. So that is all for now...JODI i am doing fine...i know you wanted a seperate shout out so here it is. It is all so fun so far but hard to remember about the water as it is sooooo hot here and i want to drink GALLONS of water but it is expensive so i am getting very deyhdrated. The time is great and I will update you all soon and hopefully with pictures. Hope eveyone is doing well.

At the Orphanage

Okay still no pictures yet but maybe tomorrow. BUT i survived a bit of a crazy start. I got to Niarobi and had a little bit of communication hiccups and then finally got to a nice hotel on beautiful grounds. I tried to take a picture in the dark. I got to the hotel and checked in a 1am and got up at 3am to get ready to go back to the airport. on the way to the airport...guess what i saw that was just hanging out on the road...ZEBRASSSSSSS!! it was cras=zy and i made the driver stop. Then i met a friend, Ann who was very nice and we flew together and when i got to Kisumu i had to take a 5 hour bus ride smashing my head into the roof as we drove 21 people with 13 seats. Yeah you do the math on that. We got here and had lunch with the two other girls (british) that are on the project too. Judith met me at the airport (woman who opened and runs the orphanage) and took me around. Then we had lunch and got some water. Then we drove to the orphange and met the children. HOW AMAZING! They are all so sweet and just want to hold your hand. They call you "Teacher Teacher" all the time, all ages. Then we came back to the room we are staying in talked, ate dinner (cabbage, pancakes, eggs with tomatoes and onions) and then now we are watching a movie...it is sooooo hot. So that is the update now but i will put pictures on as soon as possible i promise. Hope all is well back home. Oh by the way since Obama's grandmother is from the town i flew into they LOVEEEEE him here!

Head Smacking Ride of My Life

I arrive at the Kisumu airport and as you have heard i have no idea who i am meeting and i was told by Real Gap, the horendous company that i went through to go on these trips, that the travel to the orphanage was 10 minutes.....they meant to say 10 DAYS!  So I get there and meet Judith, who started and runs the program and she says "Okay lets get a cab to town, where we will get a bus."  My heart sinks but i still ask "how long will it take us to get there."  Judith says like it is nothing "oh to town 10 minutes...to the orphanage about 5 hours or so."  WHAT!?!?!  Let me give you a little heads up that i have managed to get through customs (i can say this as i am thinking no one from customs in kenya reads blogs) two HUGE bags (one a rolling duffle bag and the other a HUGE duffle minus the wheels that is FULL of donations eventhough you are not allowed to bring donations to the country...go figure).  Oh and it doesn't stop there...i also have a rolling backpack that weighs about 400-500 pounds.  So i jump in the cab that needs to have a meeting with WD-40 and get greased up and shove all my bags in the "boot" as they call the trunk.  Then when we get to "town" (not our town that we are going to) it is CRAZY busy as most towns in Kenya are with people just walking around, hanging out, selling things, sewing things, and riding on things that someday will graduate to be a car.  I feel bad that Judith didn't sign up to carry all these crazy bags i have but she is one tough woman so i gave her my back pack and i struggled and carried the big duffle on my back and rolled the other knocking over kenyans all over the place. but i didn't know if what they were going to do with me and what i would do if i lost Judith so i just pile drove through the people.  Then we arrive at a Westfalia looking bus (as they all are...evernthough in post election war times only a few months ago they used to pull these buses over and if you didn't speak the right language they would cut your head off right there and then let the others back on the bus...well i was praying those days were over).  They throw my bags on the roof and tie them down and Judith and I shove ourselves and my backpack in the last row...BIG MISTAKE!  The last row is higher and the roads in Kenya are pretty much gauged out with pot holes and just large creases...they should not be considered roads...so our heads SMACK against the metal roof of this "bus" for FIVE HOURS.  By the time we got to the orphanage i think i had a mild concusion.  Oh and there were (yes i counted) 13 seats on the bus and somehow 33 people on the bus...nope i am not sure either how they were all sitting.  so i took a picture of their heads in the bus and pictures of scenes along the drive...enjoy..i didn't i think my head is now flat on the top.  

Hotel Boulevard- First visit

Before I got on the plane to Kisumu I stayed at a hotel in Nairobi called Hotel Boulevard, which you will see later again because Mel and I stay there before and after our safari too.  But when i got in the room it was 1:30 am and i left in a cab at 3:30 am to get back to the airport so in the 3 hours i redid my bags and showered, as i wasn't sure when i would be able to shower again.  It had the most beautiful backyard with flowers and all that you will see later.

arrival in Kisumu, Kenya

My new friend Ann who i met at the airport and was going to help on a nursing project. She helped to make sure that i was okay and that i actually had a compnay to meet up with since no one had contacted me. We were both a little nervous but she is from Virgina and so sweet. The other picture is the control center for the whole whole airport...yes i mean that little white cement building and sometimes it shuts down. THis is right before i found out it was going to be a FIVE HOUR bus ride to the orphanage.

KENYA

So here is Kenya. Fist I flew into Nairobi, then flew to Kisumu (which is to the West of Nairobi, on the boarder), and we rode to Kitale (which is where Great Mercy Orphanage is...to the North of Kisumu)! Then the safari we took was in the Masai Mara (which is in red letters just to the west of Nairobi). Enjoy the geography lesson of Kenya.