Day 3, Sunday 09/16/07

After a satisfying breakfast of sausage + banana we headed for day 2 of orientation. They briefed us on Kenya customs, culture, language and host families. Afterwards we signed up for a 3 day safari at Maasai Mara. We will go with Calvin and Carol. We ate BBQ Beef and delicious chicken with carrots and other vegetables. After lunch we split + sent on our ways. It was sad to see everyone leaving now, excited to meet the children. We were 7 in the Van. We dropped of Jane and Allison first. Allison has been here since a month and she works in the slums of Ngong. Lucky Jane had Allison with her. It was a bit frightened outside just alone. We drove through Ngong and searched the Children Shelter Home. As we founf it, it was beautyful there. A private complex that you can see that is developed well. Meredith and Serena are placed there. We then headed towards Kaye's host family. Unfortunately they are not home so we had to wait a bit. It has been raining for 2 days now, not constantly but nethertheless it is raining. Kaye met the family, but she wanted to see where we stay. Guess what? I did mention the rain. We got stuck! We got out of the car and pushed. Kaye, Ali, Charles and I while James steered. We were successful after being completely carved in mud. I thought "no problem" we do have running water but we got teached better later. We arrived upon a blue gate and Joseph honked. A house in poor condition was shown. There were so many kids. They all ran and hugged us introducing themselves once we stepped out of the truck. We said our farewells to Kaye and we were shared around. Two older boys introduced themselves as Brian and John. One of the girls brought me water so i can wash my face which was covered with dirty red mud. They showed us the older gilrs quarter and then the main house. This is about 30 some girls in 2 rooms. 4 girls in one bed. In the main house there is a kitchen without a fridge or a stove. A small bathroom. 4 girls sleep in an other small room. And a room where the 2 male teacher and 4 young boys are sleeping. Wendy sleeps in the 3rd room with Mary and Sweety, the youngest girls. Unfortunately as we arrived Wendy was not there. The kids entertained us for 2 hours before Wendy came back She introduced to us the 2 teachers, James and Joseph. We talk for long and the and then dinner was prepared by the older girls. The adults get served first. We tried Ugali for the very first time. It felt like a lump of clay in my stomach. We also had Kale and pasta with beans. That was actually good. After dinner we continue talking. The other girls that lives from the main house ate in they rooms. Everyone just holds a plate of food, standing or sitting. We have a group meeting. All the children introduced themselfes and then we introduced ourselfs. I felt a bit shy but made it trough anyways. Then we had a pray before they turned in. It was almost midnight before we were done. They have pray every night with different girls reading verses or singing songs. After another hour we turned in also. Try to imaging we have a bathroom with running water. But no, we had to pour water into the toilet after using it. Of course the girls had to fetch the water from outside. We are not able to wash our hands the whole day, also did the kids. I did think sereral time about health conditions. We turned in just brushing out teeth. They had to rearrange the bedrooms for us because there are only 3 bedrooms in the main house. The 2 teachers moved into the office and the 4 boys into Wendys room. The 2 younger kids then slept together with us. Sweety snored so loud the whole night. She is sick. Later we come to know that she is HIV infected, carried to her by her mom. Poor Sweety.