Wana Duma Children’s Project

I’ve been home in the States for a month now.  When I left Kenya the kids were all getting out of school for the month.  As our house is not equipped to house the children for more than a day or two most everyone returned to stay with their Cu-cu’s.

Susan (staff mama in Kenya) has been calling the last few days with updates as they all head back to school!  In Kenya the school year is from January to November with April, August and December off.   Here’s a brief update on individual kids:

Elizabeth  is back at our Gilgil house after visiting with her Mom who lives eight hours away.  She was at the house when Susan called and was excited to say hi on the phone!

Mercy  was also at the house for the night and was happy to talk to me all way in the US.  Both girls were shy to talk long distance at first but pretty soon I got Mercy to share her contagious laugh!  She said her Cu-cu, brother Bismack and kitten Pendo are all doing well.  But she was disappointed that Pendo was growing so fast!

Our two Hannahs ( Kagure & Nyagothe)  stayed the night before Elizabeth and Mercy  – Susan took them back to school.  Both are healthy and well.  They reported that both of their Cucu’s,  that were very sick before I  left  in November were doing much better.

Titus  will be joining Josphat at the Combori Polytech School next week in carpentry courses.  He is one very happy young man!

Agnes  W. , ( for m 4)  Joseph G  (form 3) and Steven  (form 4) return to Gilgil secondary Day School along with new kids in the program in Form 1 Gladys and  her brother John and Anthony.  In Kenya Secondary School Forms 1, 2, 3 and 4 are equivalent to grade 9, 10, 11 and 12.  Gladys’ sister Lucy will go back to Utumushi Day School where the two Hannahs are and they are friends.

Susan took Geoffrey back to the Moi Primary Boarding School and got him settled.  He loves school and is really blossoming there.  His brother David is 18 now and interested in driving school so we will be checking out a program for that when I get there next time.

Willie returns to Kekopey Ranch Secondary Day School.  He will be joined by another David who surprised us by finishing up Primary School with good enough grades to move on up. 

We have been joined in the program by three siblings  that live with a Grandfather that is in poor health – Joseph (17) Mary (16) and a younger sister Margaret (15) in Kekopey Primary Day school .

Patrick and Denis attend Good Shepherd Academy with Mercy and Elizabeth.  Denis  is an A student and thriving in this environment.  Patrick is struggling but trying hard.

Irene, Catherine and Joyce are all making progress at the Wellspring Girls Academy.  Irene struggles more emotionally as her Mother is still living with AIDS at home with her four younger brothers.  They often don’t have enough food so we supplement them with staples.  We’ve also enrolled her 16 year old brother  Ian in automotive school.  It’s wonderful to see Joyce and Catherine thrive in Boarding School.  They both went from D students with no hope or dreams to C+, and B’s and a lot of smiles.

Simon will also be joining an automotive school in Nairobi.  Simon like so many of my kids that never did well in school but hung in there come alive in vocational school.  Hoping Nairobi not too much for my small town boys!  We will be keeping an eye on them.

At Kamathatha Primary we have David M, Martha, Agness and six new little ones: 6 year old Joseph and Agness’ siblings Joseph, Daniel, Jane, Margaret and Gladys.  Another little Joseph also six who asked if we’d feed him too will join our lunch program- how can you ever say no?

At Kekopey Primary we have siblings Caroline (12) Grace (11) and Daniel (10).  Sarah 3 1/2 still at home with  Cu-cu  who is 86 and in poor health.  Lucy 5 ½ and just out of the hospital being treated for TB and also HIV positive and 8 yr old Faith who goes to school at DEB have moved into town with older sister Miriam . We’ve been trying to find Miriam a college course but nothing that we can afford at this time…still looking.  Meantime we will be helping both Miriam and her Cu-cu with food and medicine for all the kids.

Nine year old Diana (also HIV positive) is doing great.  Stays healthy with vitamins and additional food we supply to her guardian who is also HIV positive.  She is in Standard 3 and a good student.

Another new family we brought in are 11 year old Faith who needs supplements for HIV, her cousins  8 year old John and 3 ½ yr old Raphael (also HIV positive).  They live with their Cu-cu and older brother Anthony also in the program.

Our kids in the Korogocho slums of Nairobi (Dickson, Brigitte, Fatuma, Suleiman and Richard Spice) are all in good form .  They live in such a tough environment but their Mom who has AIDS works hard to keep them focused.  We feed, supplement the family with vitamins and pay the rent to keep Mom’s stress level down and she can just concentrate on the kids.

I’m heading  back to Kenya in two weeks and I’ll be updating you at that time.  We have a volunteer, Kathleen King, coming to Gilgil in April to do a photo documentary of our families – especially our Cucus.  I’ll update you more on that project later as well.

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Wednesday is market day in Gilgil and it’s turned into a good day to catch up with many cu-cu’s.  We look forward to two of our favorites, both great grandmothers in charge of their great grand-daughters named Hannah…both currently in Primary Boarding and doing well.  First we decided to go check on cu-cu Kagure and found her happy to see us but looking a bit strange…something wrong with her left eye.  Then she admitted to two weekends of bad headaches loss of vision and hearing in one ear. Didn’t seem to be a stroke but went to a Doctor to consult and they just sent me back with a stronger pain killer????  At any rate a couple days later and she said the headaches are gone.  Then on to find cu-cu, Nyagothie.  She walks 6 miles into town every other wed for food and to find us.  We went to her daughters to find her gravely ill and rushed her to the hospital (if that’s what you want to call it….amazingly aweful and inadequit to me).  She was unconscious and in very bad shape.  We had to get a taxi to take her from one building to another and then carry her in to the ward and lay her on a plastic coated bed with no blankets!!  I had just bought a blanket for the house and pulled it out of my bag and wrapped her up….then they made us leave as we weren’t family….. sadly waited the night out and went back in the morning to at least find her conscious….and very happy to see her mzungu!  Then she went back to sleep. As of this writing she is slowly recovering…we brought warm sox, sweater, vest and stocking cap to warm her….no one had done anything else…her kids started showing up to fight over the “plot” of land she may leave behind…never bothered with their mothers comfort…AFRICA is so hard to fathom sometimes…you just walk away with tears in your eyes and hope for a better day……

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What a busy weekend!!  Still recovering! Saturday I had 23 of my new kids (and a few older ones to assist) aged 3 to 13 over for beef stew, rice, bananas, juice and cake.  Half were from very rough situations….4 little girls and their brother came dirty, smelly and crying after walking 2 and 1/2 hours to get here and another 3 little ones with their older sister arrived after 2 hours of walking, also filthy and tired! The first bunch live with their 86 year old Grandmother who is in failing health and the second bunch have a father working in the field and their Mother an alcoholic and in jail more than not.  All were severely neglected and needing attention. All but the brother are under our sponsorship but it is becoming clearer that our Children’s Home is a must!!! I didn’t want them to leave.  They all had fun drawing and writing thank you notes, eating and just getting attention….if I had a tub they would have all gotten a good scrubbing too!  :)  When it came time for them to leave I sent them all home on transportation (on the back of bikes!!) but at least I didn’t have to worry about them walking home!!  They all left very tired little munchkins but they all had smiles and new clothes or shoes and full tummies.

Sunday was the day for our big kids to come for Joseph’s 17th birthday party…Joseph asked for sausages and birthday cake….so that’s what he got along with a rice dish and local veggie dish…lots of juice and a beautiful birthday cake.  Joseph never stopped smiling all day…orphaned young he has been raised by his ailing Grandmother who recently left him with his brother this year so she could stay with other family.  I’m proud of him for sticking with school and dreaming of a future.  Most the older kids have known each other the last 8 years in this program and have a fun time together….so much fun in fact that they never want to leave!!!  Daniel brought a distinguished elder to visit our project and he was very impressed and promised his support….this is great to be recognized within the community and confirms it was a good decision to rent a house and get settled and seen! Now I have budgets, accounting and a game plan for the New Year. Now cu-cu’s to visit and school to sort out for the new kids and those joining different schools!

I’m also in need of more sponsors!!!!

Gladys (16) and her brother John (15) They are both going into Secondary Day school (Form 1 to 9th grade)  $400 each for the year.

Joseph Kogomu (6) first grade   $150 per year.

Faith  (11) 5th grade.  Has a sponsor for school but is HIV positive and needs a sponsor for vitamins and medicine $150.

John (8) younger brother of Faith first grade  $150 a year.

Raphael (3) youngest of that family is HIV positive needs vitamins and medicine $150 per year.

Daniel (10) brother to five of the new little girls in our project that have sponsors…he does not and is a sweetheart – $150 a year.

 
Another Daniel also 10 years old – brother to the other bunch of sisters in the project also NO sponsor also a good big brother and will be forced to work in the fields to help support the family if no sponsor. $150 a year.

Robin at 14 orphaned and has been assisted by friends that can no longer afford his school fees…he will go to Form 1 (9th grade) Secondary Day school.  $400 a year.

We are also adding two other Form 1 kids a brother and sister we just brought in (sorry don’t have their name yet.  They are living with an old Grandfather who can no longer afford their school fees…each $400 a year for Secondary Day school. More on these kids later

The requested money per child helps feed, clothe and school them.  My staff here and I work hard to meet their needs and appreciate any and all support!!

Thanks to all….spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots of love from Kenya
Susanne

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It’s been quiet on the home front in a way….cu-cus and kids just drop in as this is their safe haven and I never know when.  The kids start to return to the house tomorrow.  The two Hannah’s Thursday night (after staying with their cu-cu’s a couple days) and I’ll walk them back to school Friday morning. Then Elizabeth and Mercy get out of their Boarding school Friday AM and stay for a few days.  They are at the end of their term and out now until January 5th as are Denis and Patrick.  All other schools continue until the end of November. Saturday morning planning a beef-stew party for the younger kids and on Sunday a birthday party for the older kids….so a busy weekend ahead. I met a woman today, Nelly with Shepherd Academy.  She stopped by to hear about our program and found we are doing much the same thing so we can network together.  One day next week Susan, Daniel and I will go visit one of her Academies near our house.  She has an Academy for boys and one for girls.  It will be nice to see what others are doing in the area. Now off to do shopping for the weekend!

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We had a busy weekend with kids in Boarding school…starting  Friday with visits to our two Hannahs at Utumishi Boarding for “Pray Day.”  We found out we could bring them home for a week while the older kids did exams.  They gave us no notice and if we hadn’t gone to Pray Day they would have sat around that horrible place for a week!  So they are happy.  Hannah K not feeling well so we took her into the clinic to find out she has malaria and another infection!  So she is being treated for that and foot fungus!  Other Hannah is in good form.  Susan left for the weekend to attend a seminar so that left me with the Hannahs to go to “Visiting Day” at Wellspring Girls school where Irene, Joyce and Catherine are going. We stopped on the way and loaded up with chicken and chips (at their request), bananas, juice and cupcakes.  It was fun to spend time with them even if only for a picnic. Irene’s 17 year old brother was visiting and joined in… we are in the process of finding him an automotive program to join by January….otherwise to make money he breaks rocks in the rock quarry!! We Need a sponsor for him…estimating $500 for his year in the program  We found out this group of girls don’t get out of school until after I leave the country but I’ll try and have them come stay next weekend.  The girls seemed to think they could get permission.   Elizabeth and Mercy will be out of school next Friday until January so we will have a full house…

We’re planning two parties that weekend – Saturday all of the Primary school kids will come for beef stew and to write thank you notes and draw pictures. Sunday is Joseph Gitu’s 17th birthday and he called and requested a party (last year his birthday fell on the day we went to Nairobi for a field trip so we celebrated!  Now he wants a party every year!!) He’s a good kid now living with his older brother…his parents are gone and his Cu-cu has moved north to be with relatives.  So we will have sausage and rice dish of his choice along with birthday cake and other goodies.

We went to visit Mercy’s Cu-cu and bring food for Pendo (our rescue kitten) again. He is doing very well…Cu-cu loves having the company during the day and Bismack has a new best friend and takes good care of him.  Bismack is Mercy’s younger brother who will be 10 on Christmas Day.  We brought him into the program officially this year.  He needs a sponsor!!  Only $150 for the year….he’s a neat kid never without a smile!

Last two days have dawned bright and beautiful.  Nice after all the torrential rains and the mud it leaves behind.  Other parts of the country are still in drought and the Coast is swapped with flooding!! The church is in full swing this morning but the volume is down to an enjoyable level – the law now! Oops!  They must have read my laptop…the volume just went up a few notches!! My kids are hungry so time for sausages and french toast!

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Back in Gilgil again after a week gone.  We were welcomed by rain and muddy roads.  Some roads so bad they were almost impassable.  But little green shoots of grass already popping up and everything –looks better….clean and fresh. Our Gilgil dogs were neglected while I was gone….really nothing new there.  Poor Momma dog was hurt pretty bad by a stray and I’m having trouble getting a vet to help….she needs antibiotics now (where are you Dr Kate!!! I’ll have to bring some antibiotics for bites on my next trip!!)

Our first morning back Cu-cu Lucia and her older Grandson, Anthony (who Deb Kerr is sponsoring) and younger Grandson three year old Raphael came by.  We were able to go over things with Anthony about starting back to school again in January when the new school year starts.  He is so grateful and excited…thank you Deb!! We gave him a warm coat and new backpack and since we haven’t started Cu-cu on a food program yet sent them home with food for the week.  Little Raphael very cute and not afraid of the mzungu who gave him juice and muffin then color crayons and paper for him to color a picture for his sponsor (who wants to sponsor a three year old for vitamins and clothes for a year at $150).  Then our boy Willie came by to get school socks as he was sent home from school because he didn’t have any!!  Again any excuse to send a child home….Willie said they were sending half the school home for one reason or another…teachers wanted a paid day off!! He had juice and Mandazies (like pastry sort of).

 As soon s we got a break we left to walk to Mercy’s Cu-cu to check on her and see how our kitten Pendo was faring with her and Bismack.  We have to make sure he is getting fed…not the African way.  He is fine and Cu-cu feeling good and Bismack is doing very well in school. Next we went into town for mail and groceries and vet meds for Momma dog but no luck.  As I’m fighting some kind of bug myself I didn’t want to get stuck out in the rain and get sicker so I came home to work with Daniel –  he picked up Titus so we can see how he’s doing on his exams….

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I’ve been on the road for the last week.  First flew up with Helen to the Northern Frontier where she has a Camel Safari business and the sweetest camp on earth.  This is where we also have a school, the Milgis primary that we support and built one of the classrooms.  The kids are doing great and are always happy when I come.  The little ones will usually sing me a song and the big kids know I always bring them a soccer ball or two and mechanical pencils that they love.  I bring them photos from the last trip for them to keep which they get very excited about.  They have just over one hundred kids now at this school and lost one teacher but added two more.  The school is thriving and always a joy to visit. I walk to and from Helen’s camp 10 kilometers away so I try and start very early so I can get back to camp before the debilitating heat hits. Upwards of over a hundred everyday, which is a bit much for me!

The night before I left it rained good and instantly things start turning green…the dry river beds flowed all around us making incredible noise as the water rushed down in muddy brushes filled torrents and even created rapids…not something you want to get caught up in as you will go with it!  Even small elephants can get swept away! I got a hop down from Helen’s camp to Nairobi on a cessna that dropped Helen’s next safari off. A beautiful flight over stunning landscape, over herds of elephants, giraffe, Cape buffalo and much more.  Unfortunately a bummer to then land in the dirty chaos of Nairobi!!  

I’ll stay in Nairobi a few days.  Yesterday we went to visit our little family in the slums.  It was a wet muddy day which makes the slums even more depressing! The Mom (Maureen) and the youngest boy (Richard Spice–great name!) are sick with malaria and Brigette, the older girl, is fighting something also. The other three kids seemed well and their beautiful faces light up when they see me pull up.  It is too dangerous to go to their shack so we parked at the Catholic Church.  I brought medicine and warm clothes, school supplies and a couple balls for the kids.  We then went food shopping for extra supplies as I leave six months worth of rent and food money with the church and Maureen goes once a month and picks it up.  Just hope to keep her healthy for these kids…not sure what to do when she dies as she has AIDS.  She’s a good committed Mom and the kids all very bright and doing well in school.  The Dad died from AIDS years ago.

Back at the Nairobi house sorting things out with Mary and our projects….time is always short for the two of us together anymore as she goes south to her camp in the bush to study cheetahs and I go north to be with my kids…  so always lots to go over… Rainy and muddy in Nairobi and the traffic HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!  The driving of Kenyans is really something to see/experience….truly unbelievable! Back to Gilgil with Susan on Tuesday…..

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This weekend Susan and I have sprung our two Hannah’s from “prison!” Boarding school over here is like prison!  The kids are so happy to get out and just be kids. We live close to the girl’s school and usually walk there to see them but as we were on the other side of town late in the afternoon we got a taxi
to take us and pick up the girls in style (anything with wheels is considered stylin’).  They were just out of classes as we arrived and were ecstatic. We got back to the house and they immediately changed into clothes they leave here for these occasions…..dove into an afternoon snack of bananas, cookies and a soda (I know it’s bad but it’s a special treat!).

I’ll give you a rough idea of what food is like in their boarding and other school. They start the day at 5am and at six they get a cup of uji  (High protein porridge). Class starts at 6:30 and at 11 they get a cup of chai  (tea with milk….the only milk they get).  Back to classes at 11:45 and lunch at 12:40 with a rice and beans dish. Classes start again at 1:40 and go until 3:10 when they clean classrooms and have a break until 3:50 when the day school children go home and the boarders do their homework for one hour. Between 5 and 6 they bathe, wash their dorms and wash clothes.  At 6 they have dinner which consists of ugali (corn porridge-which the girls say is so thick it sticks in your throat!!) cabbage and water. At 7 they return to class for evening “preps” or homework …getting ready for the next day.  At 9 is bedtime. So you can see why they love to stay with their two Mommas and get a little spoiling and free time to just be kids!  They love to have a delicious rice dish called masala – sausages, eggs, bread (they get twice a week), cakes, lots of fruits (as they only get fruit once a week), meat stew (they get twice a week), juices and a soda treat.

Saturday we walked to town and the girls had their hair done by one of our graduates Grace.  We then met Agnes R. to give uniforms to her three younger sisters and we all 5 went to lunch for chicken and chips.  A few more errands and back home so the girls could write (and draw) their thank you notes to their sponsers….the day goes quickly!  We don’t have TV so we are creative instead!  We all love to read.  If possible I work on the computer but at night we seem to have signal issues and my computer won’t work after 3 in the afternoon.  We are close to the Army base so that could be why?? It is now Sunday morning, the girls are sitting next to me (as is our kitten, Pendo) correcting my writing errors (and laughing at me)!  We will go and have a good breakfast of french toast, sausages  (our Willie will be joining us) and chai. The girls will finish their laundry (by hand), pack their things and we will walk them back to school at 1:30. We will then continue on to Cu-cu Mercy’s house where our kitten Pendo has found a new home.  He is really doing well now and relaxing more. The girls say hi to everyone…come visit some time! They say goodbye!

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The last couple days we have spent checking on cu-cu’s.  First found cu-cu Nygothie (one of the Hannah’s cu-cu) in town on my way home from Nairobi…she was patiently waiting for us and because of car issues we were a couple hours late!!  This cu-cu is quite the character!  We bought her coco and powdered milk and when she heard we could give her a lift back to her shamba she asked for her big shop…cabbages, onions, ugali (maize like porridge mixture that is big part of their diet) and other fruits and veggies…weighed a ton!  She lives 6 miles out in the boonies and walks into town every Wednesday …now every other Wednesday as she said it has gotten to be too much.  She herself was amazed at how far she walked!! Our taxi driver was most impressed!! Her shamba (farm/home) is in a horrible state as they have not yet gotten the rain….nothing green just desert dry and depressing.  But she was happy there would be food in the house and she had her “neighbors” (her husband and daughter buried next to the house) so wasn’t lonely!!  Also a great grandson aged 6 dumped on her last year.  We now have him in our program and he walks 3 miles to school each day (excitedly as he also knows he will get lunch—so runs the whole way!) and is just as scrappy as his cu-cu….a very lucky little boy!! Next we stopped in to check on the other Hanna’s cu-cu.  Another Great-grandmother raising young ones .She too loves when we can pop in. Asks each time when I’ll being going back to America so she can pack and be ready to go with me!!  Then she starts to laugh.  She also has 5 year old Moses with her…he goes nuts when he sees Susan and we always bring him something special…this time a nice pair of trousers and sweets.  He immediately put them on and exclaimed he was dressed smart enough for a ride in the car!!  So sweet.  We left them with some food (after Moses got his car ride). We were going to hit the Wednesday Market as we had a car when Daniel called and said we had one of our boys at the house.  So went home instead…

We are enjoying a visit by, Dula (my friend’s nephew) for a short stay as he took a break from school.  He took a hot shower and we served him beef stew, chapatis and soda…loaded him up with school supplies and tooth brush/toothpaste (thank you Dr Green!!) and away he went to be immediately replaced with another momma with request for help.
Today rented a taxi for a couple hours to check on Patrick’s cu-cu, Grace’s cu-cu (Carole and Marty!) she was so concerned we would no longer love Grace since she is now a hairdresser making money…we explained that once the kids are in the program they are family forever…she was tremendously relieved and “gave” Grace to us!!  She is in very poor health, I’d never seen her so bad so we left her happy and soothed that her Grace will be loved when she is gone. Then on to see Agnes W.’s mom…home with ten kids ..they are ok. On our way home we ran into a trench and got stuck good….got out of the car in the middle of nowhere and wondered what now and out of nowhere three good samaritans turned up and after an hour we were free!  Decided to celebrate by stopping to see Willie at school…he is fine and had a good talk with his Headmistress and decided to have him stay in school and mature a bit…he’s a clever boy but lazy and rather cheeky…but seems to be coming around a bit now after some talks! Now tired and hungry and almost afraid to go home to see what’s waiting but Grace’s cu-cu sent us home with githari (a delicious bean corn dish) and the smell made us go straight home for late lunch early dinner… kitten and landladies dogs awaiting……

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Well Friday taking David to Jomo Kenyatta Hospital turned out to be a monster of a day…. Daniel and David spent the night at the house so we could leave by 6 am from Gilgil for the two hour(+) drive into Nairobi. The rains started the night before and I delayed our departure by 20 minutes so it would be better on the roads. It got us into Nairobi a touch later then I wanted as we then had to navigate rainy rush hour traffic. At one point Daniel started making a lot of noise about something in the road and then under the car.  Knowing me and animals he came to a dead stop….cars rushing by hooting their horns, a guy on the corner came out in the street and tried to get this small kitten from underneath with no luck….so I jumped out crawled under the car in the mud and rain and snagged the little bugger threw him inside my fleece jumped back in the car and away we went.  Crazy!!  Popped the terrified tiny little creature into my kiondo (woven bag made by one of my Cu-cu’s).  There it stayed for the next 10 hours as we waited for David to have his echocardiogram without a peep, it was so exhausted. Spending the day in a third world hospital….the largest in Nairobi for the poor is quite the reality check to say the least.  We waited on hard
benches (actually taking turns sitting as there were not enough seats for all in line) from 8:30 until our number was finally called at 4 pm.  All those waiting behind us were told to come back the next day!!  Yes we were very lucky!  In more ways than one as our boy’s echo came out perfect!  We were indeed the lucky ones.  Now we still have to define his pain but now can eliminate his heart and concentrate on his stress levels, ulcer issues and possible allergies. This all came about by a friend from UK who pulls together incredible heart, eye and soon dental missions with nothing but the best surgeons and staff from the UK.  I e-mailed Dee when concerns for David’s heart where first raised  and asked what she thought we should do and she told us to hang on and come that Fri Oct 16 for free diagnostics and if surgery was needed that too would be free. Unfortunately it doesn’t work out that way as we were to find out.  As we first had arrived to sign in we befriended two different people who had traveled a long way to bring their young children to this free surgery. MEAK the UK organization is phenomenal and does everything for free BUT the lovely Kenya hospital for the poor would not admit anyone unless they paid an outrageous admittance fee!!  So I got on the phone with Dee and she had some donors lined up to assist…these poor folks almost left after spending everything they had just to get there.  Kenya is truly a strange, cruel place.  The Kenyans are surrounded by it and don’t even feel it anymore….for newcomers it is a whole different story.

I had made masses of sandwiches for our boy and bananas for eating along the way…but he was too nervous to think about food…he thought he had open heart surgery in front of him.  But we were surrounded by many little children their folks too poor to buy them anything…so we fed the masses. 
So some long days are for different reasons….ours wasn’t for David who was fine…but God’s excuse/push to get us down there to help those other folks who would have lost their only hope and of course to rescue that terrified kitten….

It took another hour for our all clear report for David to be processed and the car wouldn’t start when we got to the parking lot….the rains started and it was getting dark fast and we were back into Nairobi Friday
night rush hour traffic which never ends….Daniel finally dropped me off at our Nairobi house at 8….he and David drove on back to Gilgil to get the car back…in the pouring rain…stopped by police at a police check
for a half hour of harassment and finally home by midnight! So it was a long horrible day for all of us and one I was happy to have over……

but after being surrounded by such poverty all day and holding up very well…I crashed…had a meltdown….really admire the MEAK team they really did and are still doing a fabulous job….they continue on all week with surgeries….truly they are a gift.

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