The outside of the Orphanage, Toto Love. Dirty and needs some TLC.
The sitting room, water stains and cracks in the walls!
One of the bedrooms, this one is to become the girls room after we paint
and put bunkbeds in there!
Finally we landed in Nairobi. 7 am ish! $25 usd visa fee, thank God Denise told me to bring US cash. Pretty easy to get into the country, just a bit of a line up.
Virgin lost one of my bags too, must have been that manual check in thing. Hopefully it will come soon. I have no idea what was in each bag. Luckily I divided up my clothes so I know I have some things to wear, just hope it's the painting stuff!
Ndwiga(part owner of carivan safari) and Paul(Driver) were at the airport to pick us up and off to their office, then breakfast at the mall. Denise and Hillie got their Kenyan phones working. Called Doug and he seemed relieved to hear my voice. It is hot now, no airconditioning in restaurant, feet sore too, still wearing my boots. Can't wait to get changed.
Picked up a few groceries at the superstore, things like water, cookies, towels for the girls then back to their office to pay for driver, van and safari.
We left Nairobi, traffic is awful and scary. But Paul is a good driver-just traffic is crazy. Everyone is passing even on solid yellow lines.
Hit the Delmonte fruit stand. Funny smell in air-find out it is burning wood to make charcoal. People pile up everything on road side to sell, soil, rocks, charcoal, goods. They use the charcoal to cook their food with. I guess better than a flame, more even heat I guess.
Picked up rice for the kids. Big bag. Made Paul go and negotiate the price because when they see foreigners they ask for more because they think we are all rich. We make it to Embu finally, so tired. Stop at the hotel, not our original choice but it is clean and breakfast is included. $20/each per night. Not bad for 1 room. All the staff were helpful in taking all our heavy bags to the room. We decided on 1 room with 2 double beds, Denise and I will double up.
Settle in and have a quick shower, cold water only right now as there is no electricity until 7pm.
Off to the Orphanage, a 10-15 min drive.
We drive up, it is so small and dirty on the outside with a small yard. Kids start to swarm as we get out of the van. We try to catch all their names but hard with their accents in English. But they are not offended if we ask again.
We tour the backyard, chickens for meat and eggs, and 2 dogs both named Scooby. I girl has clung to me by now and won't let go, her name is Bansy. I remember it from the list of names Ruth had sent us.
We sent the men to go get Fanta (pop) as a treat for the kids. We tour the inside of the orphanage. It almost reduced me to tears. So small with paint peeling, the ceilings are a mess. Not sure how we will paint it, water stains too.
We are shoved or pulled by the kids from room to room. They all want you to see their beds. We all don't fit in the rooms, so we take turns poking our heads in and smile as they tell us which one they sleep in. One room smells very much like urine.
Finally we make our way to the sitting room, where we do the introductions, stories and prayers plus drink our pop. I have caught about 1/2 the names...but I am sure they will come as we get closer and start working together. Kenyans love to shake hands. Even the kids shake hands and not just a meek shake, a real shake!
We decide to leave at 5:30pm to catch the stores for paint supplies, but unfortunately the stores are closed when we get there. So we checked out the Bata shoe store for the kids, definately do-able when we are ready to purchase their shoes. We figure it will cost about $20 cdn a child to put them in new shoes for school.
For dinner we made our way over to the Isaak Walton for beef curry and beers. Very good and cheap. Spent about $42 for 4 meals and 6 beers. They have a hand washing ritual here in Kenya. They come around with a large bowl, some soap and you wash your hands right at the table while the waiter pours warm water over your hands with the bowl to catch the running water. I really like this idea, but can't believe the waiters have time to do this step.
Then it starts to rain...there has been such a drought here. The rain is needed but not for us. Paint won't dry as fast in the damp weather. We have such a tight schedule and tight quarters we are really pushing it.
Very tired when we got back to hotel, could barely keep my eyes open and only 9:30pm. Washed up and crawled into bed.
It was good to see and meet everyone, like a welcoming night! I am glad we got this done, as tomorrow we can start painting!
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