Greetings from Kisumu!

We arrived safely Friday morning after thirty or so hours of flying and layovers in Amsterdam and Nairobi and were greeted by our hosts Sarah and Chris Nicholson and a few friends from RingRoad, Neema, Alex and Fabbish. It felt great to see familiar faces and to be back in Kenya. 

We hit the ground running to make the most of our time and day on Friday by venturing out to Allara a village school along with Lakeside orphanage. The kids were having a celebration as it was the last day of school for the term and the top three in each class were rewarded for test scores. I was able to participate with handing out awards to the younger classes, 1 - 3 and we also had the chance to distribute some of the new underwear we brought to all of the girls afterwards. Since the term ended, they will not return unitl January of next year so the school also distributed bags of “Christmas” food, a new mosquito net and a new tshirt and pair of shorts to each child. It was organized chaos but great to be a part of the day and meet some new friends. We drove two brothers, Lenox and Frank back to town with us to stay with their elderly grandmother during the break, but her home is made of mud and it literally falling down and they have no means to repair it. Chris and Sarah have been helping them as the mother they were staying with previously passed away a few weeks ago and they really have no one to care for them. Frank is the younger brother and he has sickle cell anemia and is ill often and needs care. I plan to visit them this next week and see the house and work with the Nicholsons on a way to help rebuild the grandmothers home as they want to help these boys before their time in Kisumu ends. Cassi and I pretty much crashed Friday night, exhausted  from the traveling and 8 hour time difference and full day.

After a good nights sleep, Saturday started out fairly low key and we all went to town for morning coffee and breakfast at Java House, a popular Kenyan coffee spot. We returned home and Neema, a sweet smart sixteen year old we met two years ago was at the house to visit. She and I decided to walk to the nearby baby home called New Life and volunteer for awhile - you know I love the baby lovin’ and they were in need of helpers during feeding times. I was placed in the baby baby room where the littles were all 5 months and younger so we took turns bottle feeding each of the 9 babies. One in particular a sweet and tiny 3 week old, they named Beverly stole my heart. She was dressed impeccably in a white dress and I was able to feed and cuddle her twice throughout the day. We took a break and walked back to the house and Cassi joined us for the second round of feedings in the afternoon where she and Neema spent time with the older babies. New Life also has a division for kids with special needs called Amani which means Hope in swahili, and a couple of the girls joined me in the baby room to observe feeding time. 

This facility was very nice and impressive to see what all they do for these children in need or “crisis” as a staff member told me. The rains were coming down hard throughout the afterrnoon so we made our way home in a Tuk Tuk, with our trusty driver Solomon from our last trip.

Day two was another full and good day, filled with new experiences and kind people and precious little ones.

Thank you all for the love, prayers and encouragement as I journey throughout Kisumu and Kenya the next ten days.

Xo,

Mandy