Friday, October 23rd, 2009: Last day at the Farm

In the morning we went to the nursery-preschool to see the small ones, it is right next to Tabatha's farm.  They are already learning at this age.  They sit at long desks on long benches.  The teacher was teaching them english words like chair, book etc.  We came in and did a small craft project with the children.  Old Cd's decorated with stickers then a piece of yarn so they could hang it around their necks!  Denise read them a story and they laughed at the pictures of the fruit and veggies with faces on them.  We also put up some posters etc that Denise had brought.  As the teacher explained things the children, in unison, "mmmed" after each statement.  Saying "mmm"  is very common for Kenyan's to say.  It is their way of acknowledging what a person is saying.  Kind of like us saying sure or ok when someone is talking, or we nod our heads to let them know we are listening.  But to see the 3 and 4 year olds doing it, like little adults, was hilarious. 

We left the kids to return to the town with Paul and Tabatha to see the tailor for Mary's apprenticeship.  We came up with an agreement.  1 year of training for $14,000 ksh.  So Denise paid $5,000 ksh now, with $5,000 ksh in January and $4,000 ksh in March.  She will start monday.  The money will help the owner buy material and thread for Mary to practice on.  In less than a year she should be employable.  I played lawyer in the van and drew up the agreement. Thank goodness for that realtor's course I took!  Though I am sure in Kenyan courts it wouldn't hold up!  But we wanted the tailor and Mary to know, we are serious about her finding an employable skill.

We also saw the carpenters working on Catherine's new bed and table.  They were finishing them up for delivery today. They were looking really good.

We stopped by Catherine's on the way home to deliver some men's ties and other goodies.  Peter can give them to some of the men at the church who need them.  We also showed her how to paint, as we had brought the left over can of white from the orphanage.  We hoped it would brighten up the sitting area a bit.  Hillie had given her a beautiful piece of lace to hang up around the top portion of the room which is common in Kenya too.

The cow shed was being constructed too, which is really good news.  It will be simple but will allow them to milk the cow once they get one.  This is something we still need to raise money for, but I am sure it will happen, as they are a very deserving family.

Denise got a picture of me by a Kenyan cow on the walk home, he moo'd like he had laryngitis.  Pretty funny.  They tie their cows up to the grass on the front of their property sometimes with a ring thru their nose, and only a  3 foot  tether.  Kind of like what we do with our dogs.  They do this with the sheep as well.

The nursery kids were out again on our way back to the farm.  They waved at us as we passed by.

We got back to the farm, packed up and had a nice late lunch before heading out for Nairobi.  Lentils, spinach, rice, chipatis and fresh pineapple.

We headed east to Nairobi and met Paul's wife at a gas station, he wanted to see her quickly as he would be gone with us for another 4 days.  We picked up some items quickly at the Nakamart. Groceries for our hotel tonight in Nairobi.

We got to the hotel and each got a room, basic but fairly clean and the door locks.  Couldn't get any hot water so took a cold shower.  Then headed out for dinner.  Hillie stayed behind as she was sick.  Met Dwiga, Cago at the nyama choma restaurant/bar.  Very good meal.  They wash your hands at the table, Kenyan style, and the nyama choma (grilled meat) tasted so good with kenyan salsa and coarse salt, especially because we got to eat with our hands and wash it down with cold Tuskers.  We called it a night early because we knew tomorrow would come early and we had a long drive to Mombassa.

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009: New beds for Catherine

Shower day!  More like sponge bath day!  Basically you get 1/2 bucket of hot water and add cold to it and into the shower room you go.  Hair first, pouring over your head while you stand in another bucket of some warm water so your feet don't freeze.  All the water drains outside.

Today's agenda is to speak to Denise's Mary about sticking around and not leaving her kids behind.  Paul will have a talk with her too.  Sometimes it helps in their language and not english.

Then we picked up some school supplies for Harry and Susan's class in the town center.  Took Mary and her son Paul with us so they could see the Dr. for Paul's infection in his leg.  

Hillie, Denise and I went to the school.  It looks really old but in fact it was built 2 years ago.  This school is also open to the court yard, single level.  They still cane children at school, for instance 3 per hand for being late.  There are atleast 35 students in a class.  School has class 1-8 and the forms go to another school (1-4).  They also have a "kindergarten" class which is called nursery.  Children in Kenya are in classes appropriate more for their abilities than there age.  For instance Betty is in Form 3, she is 16, but would like to repeat it to get better marks, and is then better prepared for Form 4 which counts for you university credits.

We sang O Canada for Susan's class and we are sure everyone in the school could hear us as it is a pretty open style wood building.  We left the school supplies for Susan and Harry's class.

After the school we went back into town and had a "sit" with a Fanta with Denise and baby Paul.  Mary, Tabitha and driver Paul continued to look for a tailor who would take Mary as an apprentice.  Hillie had left on a bora-bora (motorcycle taxi), to visit another family she has been helping.  100 ksh ($1.50 cdn) to go about 20 mins or so.

We then stopped by to see how the bunkbeds for Catherine were coming along.  They were loading them onto the cart for the donkeys to pull up the road.  We told Catherine we would be up to her house shortly.

We got to Catherine's to help her "prep" the rooms for the bunkbeds.  Kenyan people are often slow and late, it was already 1pm and we wanted to leave for Limuru to pick up stuff for Catherine and hit the ATM's for more money.  Since Peter was home, Catherine's husband, we were able to take off while they assembled the second bunkbed.  The beds looked amazing and I am sure the children will be so happy tonight, in their new beds!  Off the floor to boot!

It was a 1/2 ride to the town and we have to pass by Rift valley where Catherine and her family are from.  She couldn't look, it was too painful.  To lose everything!  Chased out of your home, your town and to become homeless.

At the department store we purchased mattresses, sheets, and some food.  Plus I bought her a cell phone as she had been using her oldest son's when necessary.  We also bought a sprayer for pesticide for her crops, which is really important.

We left for home but stopped in the town just before the farm to pick up Susan (the sister of Tabitha) from work.  She is working at an organization to help orphans in the area.  This company is assisted by the Canadian Government.

Got back to the farm, packed up to save time in the morning and went to Catherine's for dinner.

We had a wonderful time at their house.  Talking about Canada, playing games, jigsaw puzzles of course all by lantern in their small home.  Dinner consisted of rice, cabbage, beef stew and chipatis which I have come to love.  Can't wait to learn how to make them.  They sang songs and then to end the night off we sang......you guessed it.....O Canada.  Peter, Catherine and Ben the son walked us back to the farm.  Only a 2 minute walk but it is in the dark with only a flashlight to shine the way.  So it can be very dangerous.

Got home and had a tusker with the gang while we talked about the day.

*Biggest hit today was the glow in the dark sticks we gave Catherine's kids.  They went outside and danced around in the dark, it was hilarious!

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009: Farm life

Wonderful sleep, about 10 hours, must be the mountain air and the higher elevation (8000 ft).

First a simple breakfast, instant coffee and granola bar from home while I wrote in my journal in bed.  Got ready to go see Catherine, quick peanut butter and jam sandwich for the road.

We walked down the road to find Catherine's new home.  Interesting to see all the crops.  Mostly cabbage.  Catherine met us on the back road and showed us her humble home.  It was clean with hard clay floors (like cement), 3 bedrooms, 1 sitting room and a cookhouse outside.  The bathroom is an outhouse.  Her beautiful daughter, Betty, is 16 and in Form 3.  She is tall, and has a beautiful smile with really nice teeth (sometimes that is rare in Kenya).  They were so happy to see Denise, tears started to flow as they thanked God for Denise and Terry who are helping them.  They are a displaced family from the political problems last year.  Had to leave their beautiful farm in the Rift Valley with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

We sat for Kenyan tea, bread and fried eggs.  We discussed her story and she showed us pictures of her tractor, which was now burnt by those chasing her family from their home because they are Kikuyus.  Her husband was at work today, and the other children at school.  Betty had stayed home because she wanted to see Denise which meant extra work the next day to catch up.  Catherine obviously had been better off before the almost Genocide, but because they had been chased from her home, they lost everything.

Terry, a friend of Denise's in Canada, has been assisting them somewhat finacially and Denise had come with some extra money from Terry to buy more items for the family.  We decided that the family could use beds as they were sleeping on the cold floor.  She also needed a pesticide sprayer for the crops.  So we headed into the town of Mookayoo. (Not sure of the spelling though, about 1/2 hr away from Limuru).  Wow what a dump of a town, dirt hole!  We saw a carpenter about 2 bunkbeds ($9,000 or $130) and a double bed and a table.  He said they would be ready in a day or 2!!!

Betty wanted to "sit" for a fanta (pop), so we found a cramped cafe for a 3 pops, a tea and 3 plain cake (160ksh or $2).  We also went to the church where Denise had fed the IDP's and where she had met Catherine.  We saw the clinic area and they were very broke too.  We asked them to give us a quote of how much money they need monthly in case we can find a new donor in Canada.  It is mostly for wages and to have a mobile service.  Very needed to get Dr's and nurses out into the community to see HIV and other patients.  They have an HIV testing lab there, Denise says people from the community don't go to it, they would travel to another town to find out and vice versa, don't want the town to know if they have HIV or not.

We picked up a few groceries for Nada's Mary (Nada is a lady that does work thru compassion Canada and helps to support this family) who was working on Tabatha's farm.  She has 5 children Steven, Leah, Elliott, Moses and Kelvin.  We gave her the items at the farm but carried it to her shack for her so other's didn't see that she was getting stuff.  We brought colouring books and crayons for the kids and I gave Mary 1000 ksh (14 cdn) to get some medication for Kelvin (age 15) who has sinusitus and it is affecting his eyes.  A nosey neighbour came by to see what "special" treatment we were giving her.  Sad.

We then stopped at Denise's Mary to find her.  She was home, children filthy, but the house that Denise had built looked good.  Denise is worried because she keeps taking off to Nairobi and leaving her kids behind with her parents.  We think she might have a new boyfriend.

Got back to the farm around 5:30 pm, had a one hour nap and then dinner.  Hillie had arrived with John from the Hope orphanage.  Sat up till 1130pm talking about her adventures with the orphans with Paul, Tabitha, and Denise.

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009: Sad goodbyes to Toto Love

Boys on the new bunk beds!

Catherine and the beginning of her hair being plated.

The boys in the soccer jerseys!

The start of the outside, roof will be red and bottom portion will be black to keep it from looking dirty from the rain and mud!

Last day in Embu.  Denise left for Toto to give them money for the hair salon, I stayed in the hotel to pack my suitcases.  Denise returned about 9am, so we went for breakfast in the hotel with Paul and then brought our items to the van.  We also figured out the money for various projects still underway.  We wanted to pay the workers, and leave money for the last of the projects.  We returned to Toto Love where just the boys and the older girls were to see them and bring gifts and say goodbye.

Peter and painter Benson had started the grey on the outside and it looked so good.  They loved the rollers and we promised to bring them more next time.  Normally they would just use a brush to paint the whole house, in and out, as rollers are so expensive there, I heard they were around $20 each.  We took them aside to express our thanks and pay them for their work.  $6,000 ksh each ($85 or $15/day).  Well worth it as we then didn't have to paint the outside!  Can't wait to see pics of the roof, it will be red.  We really had a fun time with them.  They are hard workers and eager to learn.  At first we were kind of mad at them because Benson had watered down the paint so much, but not realizing for a roller you need it thicker.  We told him to trust us, and paint Canadian way!  By the end he was so happy with our direction, and that we had been painting for many years.  Benson painted more like me, Peter painted more like Hillie!  Benson and I did the precise stuff.

The bunkbeds still hadn't arrived and we waited as long as possible.  We gave out the shirts, soccer jerseys, leis, noisemakers, bracelets, necklaces, new socks, new underwear and put glow in the dark stairs on the ceiling in the bedrooms.

We hung pictures that Denise had brought, lamenated photos that she took from the airplane one day. We hung the kitchen curtains too.  They had also started repainting the black portion in the kitchen with the oil paint so we had to be careful not to ruin the kitchen curtains!

The kids loved all the gifts.  The soccer jerseys were a big hit, and Deredk was even able to find a Ronaldo one, player from Brazil, in the pile!  He loved it, and even showed me his soccer moves with the new soccer ball outside.

We left with the older girls, Edna, Rhoda and Bansy, for the hair salon.  The little girls were there getting their hair plated.  Very long process.  Took pictures and gave out t-shirts.  Paul had bought chips (french fries) for them to share.  Talia had been bugging him the night before to show up with chips and he did!

We said our goodbyes to the girls, I hugged each one and when I got to Bansy the tears just started to fall.  I just held her a bit tighter and she held me back.  I hated the idea of leaving her behind.  Her story was so bad.  Not able to walk because of her leg deformity.  How she would crawl out to the streets to beg for food to feed her and her AID stricken mom.  And cook for her, and feed her, and how her mom died right in front of her while she was feeding her one night.  Something a child should not have to know about let alone witness it first hand.

We left the first salon with Ruth to go to the next salon to visit the house moms.  We gave them $3,000 each ($40).  Both Carolyn and Milka are HIV positive and make no money.  This would give them a bit of spending money, something they don't usually have.  They work so hard for the kids.  Do all the laundry, meals, cleaning, and get no pay.  It would be nice to set up a salary for them, that way they don't have to rely on volunteers.

We just got word that the bunkbeds had arrived so we quickly went back to see them.  3 sets were outside and we took pictures of the boys on the beds. 

 We gave Ruth the money, individually packaged in baggies!  Each with a note telling what it was for.  Plus extra money for new backpacks and for more black paint for the kitchen/outside.  We also gave her a thankyou card and $5000 ($70) for all her hard work.  Told her to treat herself or take her family out.  They don't get to see much of her, she works and is at Toto Love most of the time.

We were on the road now for the farm, 2 hour drive and we had to make it before dark and before the rain or we would be stuck on the bad roads.

We stopped quickly for rice then later for Tuskers, then at a really nice hotel for Samosa's.  We also stopped for groceries, spent $4,000 ($55) personally on shared groceries with the farm.  Just the basics though, loaves of bread, peanut butter, jam, bottled water, soap, air freshener, cookies.  Dinners would be provided at the farm, mostly just something to eat for breakfast and cookies to snack on during the day.

We stopped for a bathroom break and take a picture of the Rift Valley.  Very beautiful area.  These were the true Kenyan outhouses.  A squatter as they call them.  Denise and I were giggling as we took our bathrom break.  The funniest thing though was the first out house had "mens short call only" written on it, in other words men may only pee in that one!

Roads were good, but the last 1/2 hour of roads are scary!  Very large rocks embedded in the dirt roads.  I can see why Paul wanted to get to the farm before dark.

We arrived and Tabatha, Susan and Monica had prepared dinner.  We unpacked and then sat for the most delicious meal.  Beef, rice, lentils, cabbage, kale, and the tomato/cilantro salsa/salad.  Had tea after dinner.  Talked a bit.  It is quite cold in this region.  Needed jacket on, blanket on lap too.  Fireplace was going, only heat and though there are glass windows and metal doors, there are openings at the tops of the rooms to the outside!  The cement clay building material they use to build the houses also doesn't help.  Cold floors, cold everything.  But the farm and home was much nicer than I imagined.  Very clean.  They get alot of missionaries here.  They charge $20/night per person and that includes the dinner, and you can have a warm shower (sponge bath style) in the morning if you like.  House has solar to power the lights.  Otherwise no real power.  They have a cook house outside for the traditional cooking and inside the 1/2 kitchen has a fireplace that they keep a big pot of water on, for various duties!

Well I was very tired must have been only 8:30pm when I turned in.