Jambo Sana

Yep, one more week in Githinguri with Elizabeth and Samuel.
One more week until I say goodbye to my babies at El Shaddai.

Then off to Happy Life with Kyle!
We are being visited today by the VICDA team to ensure we have only positive things to say about our placement, but apart from that its another day of feeding cows, cooking food for 150 kids and having my hair braided by the primary school girls.

There have been a few young boys around the 1 or 2 year age who are scared shitless of white people, But after much effort one has come round and will now come up and say Jambo and give me (and Claire) a cuddle, I am quite proud

After using the cyber caf previously to write on my journal, I was handed a small peice of paper along with my change, on it had “Sammy” and a phone number, I took my change and the peice of paper and left, today we have decided to use a different cyber caf and sure enough as I log onto my Facebook a friend request pops up from him. Slightly amusing.

Tomorrow we have the day off from the Orphanage and we are going to a womens fellowship for Elizabeths church…. Afterwards Claire and I have decided that we will make our Kenyan mum and dad dinner, Western styles.

I will be sure to update over the next few days and let everyone know how it went.

Before coming on the adventure I was so sure id loose weight, that is not the case!
People here get very offended if you do not eat a substantial amount, and our subtantial compared to their substantial are worlds apart. So many Japati’s and rice and bread and potatoes!

The TV shows here are hillarious, most are filmed in Mexico, With a very dodgy english overvoice that one in a blue moon will actually match the words coming from the characters mouth. Its all very dramatic and quite funny, there are few Kenyan shows, with much voilence and little english. I usually head to bed when they come on.

I have been given a Kikuyu name (not sure if I have stated this is previous posts)
WAJIKU is the name people have been shouting out to me from the streets, and Elizabeth calls me whenever she cannot be bothered to try and pronounce Renae.
The people he have much trouble trying to pronounce my name, I am starting to introduce myself as Wajiku.

Still adjusting to Kenyan time, Claire and I enjoy being quite organised and punctual in our lives back home so when someone agrees to pick us up at 830 and doesnt arrive till almost 10 it is tricky to get used to, we have started adding an extra hour to the times we are given here just so we arent dissapointed each day.

The artwork in the markets is amazing, Im loving it! I have bought a small piece already, it is brightly coloured dye on canvas, and it illustrates the Kenyan people at the market. I am a big girl when it comes to batering the prices of things, Im sure I have been ripped of quite alot, althought with my painting, I enquired of the price with no inetntion to buy it then and there as I only had 1200 Shillings on me, He said the painting was 9,000 Shillings and I said thankyou and left, He chased me around the markets writing smaller and smaller prices on his hand for me. I continue to refuse saying a honestly did not have that amount on me right now and that I plan on returning the following weekend with the right amount. He didnt beleive me and I claire and I left the Markets he chased me asking how much I did have, When I responded with 1200 he handed me the painting and asked for that. I ended up paying a little under $15 AUS dollars for something he originally wants over $100 AUS dollars for, and I didnt even try! I do however plan on buying some more from him, he deserves it.

Oh and Claire and I saw Vultures, I beleive they were taller than me, Claire however disagree’s. Either way they were HUGE and being on a bus did not stop me from having a little girl moment and squeeling.

Well, I think I stretched the brain enough to make anopther post, I’m getting quite used the Kenyan living. I am doing lots of reading (Alain De Botton- The Consolations Of Philosophy) and little writing, but im feeling pretty mentally healthy.

Now we are off the get the Matattu to the Orphanage, Love!

R

So i left off with michelle leavin. so to get my mind off of it me and rob went to see preach perform at the college. Preach rapped that night but we were to late instead we were tryin to get in for free but no dice, so the only way to get in was to be auctioned off for v day. We got in there and there r people performing in like a talent show or something then they have a dance off. I almost didnt go down but nobody else was goin so i was the 3rd person and my buddy adil was the 4th. Adil is the prime minister of saudi arabias son. Me and adil went to the finals i got in with my feet action. I pulled out some stuff and the audience couldnt decide who they liked better so for sudden death i did some ground work and won the dance competition with that. On thur we hung out with peter all day. We went to the new spot in juja where the orphanage is goin to be relocated in july. The other pastor prepared a chix for us i got to see from the time it was alive until it was ready to cook. It was kind of brutal u think of choppin the chix head off but he more or less slit its throat. The property is way bigger and the kids r gonna be so happy there. Then we went to this fancy restaurant and the scenery was beautiful it was like a tropical paradise. It was so green and there was a waterfall, stream, and pond which i zend out for like ten min. The soup was amazin coconut chix, the buffet was ok. The were peacocks just roaming the lawn it was so breath takin. Fri i spent all day recording my song, its called Love will follow u. i spent from 11am until 9pm. We made it perfect jacuzzi the beat maker changed a couple things but most of my stuff was honored. I come down durin the mornin and am greeted by prince first every time, then by the other kids. Which proceeds to require pickin all the kids up and tossin them in the air or puttin them on my shoulders. I brought out legos and dominos today the kids loved it. I chased the older boys around and played tag. On a sadder note one of the toddlers died last night. It was the new one so i didnt grow an attachment to her, but its still sad because its a human life. Im a bit confused on the whole situation old people r supposed to die not lil babies, she died of dehydration. She was eatin fine but she had a bacterial disease so the food she was eatin wasnt being processed right. We found out what was goin on bcause one of the workers cried out this heart felt cry and we knew that wasnt a baby cryin. I am kind of ashamed that i didnt even know the babies name. what bothers me to is that the grandma came to pay her respect if the grandma is around why was she in happy life u dont just give up on ur baby. Its so sad how some babies r found on the side of the street, in the garbage, on somebodies door step. And it really hit me to when we found the lady cryin because she had so much passion for the baby that she fell down because she was weepin so hard. She is truly a good person because she cares about a baby that is not her own. I couldnt even imagine what rob went through he went to the hospital with the baby and held the lifeless baby in his arms. Just remember everybody life is precious dont waste it if ur 1 or 100. That baby will never have hopes and dreams. Never get to play with the kids here or make friends. I have been a zombie all day i dont think about when I zone out. I dont even think of anything. I tried contacting tucker for some comfort but he hasnt responded yet so if u read this before ur email tuck contact me and facebook is messin up right now for me so if u want to send ur condolences for the baby my email is weasel2321@yahoo.com  Love u guys thanks for keepin up love everyone peace we need ur support and prayers over here