Bottoms Up!

The few day leading up to Friday's celebrations (or as Moses & Loice were now referring to it as the Opening Ceremony - which I knew meant there was some serious praying in the pipeline) were spent finalising things, using the money that has been raised since I left, which Aaron brought over with him. After sitting down & planning what it would be spent on, such as varnish to protect the wood, utensils for the kitchen, cups & bowls for the children to use etc. we headed into Mombasa together to do the buying! It was a fun day as Aaron got to experience the town whilst we purchased the necessary items. I took him to the fruit & vegetable market where we were hijacked by a small, excitable Kenyan man who was over the moon to accompany us around stall, testing our knowledge on spices, handing us exotic fruit to try & giving us free cooking tips for Swahili dishes. We both enjoy cooking so bought a few spices but are definitely going back for more before we leave. Things like fresh vanilla pods & saffron you can barter down to such low prices... Aaron's quickly become an expert in literally less than quatering the price they start at! I've decided I'm a complete push over, or at least I was until he arrived - I am determined to get better.


After slipping our market tour guide a small amount - the equivalent of 40pence - which he was thrilled with, we headed to the wholesale area to buy the bowls, cups, jugs - basically all the things I wanted to equip the kitchen/dining room with. It was rather stressful (again) carrying it all in the matatu - as they are not designed for you even to carry a handbag on your lap! We just about managed it by paying for an extra seat & at the annoyance of the locals!..probably thinking who are these 'mzungu' & what on earth are they up to? Mzungu means 'white person' in Swahili. Anyway, after a quick stop at Mtwapa hardware store on our way home, we were ready to start the last bit of work the following day.


Aaron was a complete star & helped me get everything complete & ready in time for Friday's celebrations. Nasorro & Kzungu, the two lads were also fantastic & the three of them all worked really hard together on Thursday, varnishing tables, gloss painting etc whilst I got on with general cleaning & girly things like hanging curtains. I was also busying deciding on what food to buy, as I wanted everyone to enjoy a decent meal on the day.


By Thursday evening, everything was ready & the place looked perfect. Nasorro had done a great job on the artwork & I felt really happy. That evening me & Aaron decided to treat the two lads to a pizza each at a complex that is near to our hotel, so we told them to go home, get changed & meet us at around 8pm. We met them near our hotel & all took a taxi to the complex where we sat down & had a meal together. It was great, as they'd never done anything like that before & you could tell they were really enjoying themselves. Although at the same time it was an eye-opener, as you think of something like going for a pizza as pretty run of the mill, yet they had never even come close to such an outing... Two sodas, some chicken wings, a pizza each & they were so thankful. We're taking them back to the complex tomorrow evening but this time to go & watch a film at the cinema theatre there. The complex is completely dead most of the time because the tourists are too afraid to leave their hotels & there are only a handful of wealthy locals who go there (politician families) so we should have the screening to ourselves pretty much! Whoo!


The following day, we were up early & setting everything up at the school from about 10am. The kids (& teachers) were so excited & somehow a huge sound system had made its way into the school playground already when we arrived. The music was booming all day long & it was great to see everyone smiling, dancing & generally enjoying themselves. The children especially were the life & soul of the party & they were just completely energised all day long - dancing, running, jumping, more dancing, football & we even staged a dance-off! This one little boy, who was no more than 6 years old put everyone to shame - his rhythm was out of this world! It was a struggle to get them to sit down for their meal but as soon as the food started rolling out they were in their sits, hands washed ready for the feast! It was great to watch everyone enjoy the food & the cooks did such a great job. We had huge pans, cooking over firewood filled with pilau, beans, coconut rice, beef, vegetables - the smell was mouth-watering. I gazed around whilst everyone was enjoying their meals & felt really happy deep inside that I'd made this happen with everyone's help...& you know feelings like that you really cannot put a price on - it's one I'll never forget.


The tidying wasn't as bad as I thought it would be as all the older school girls alll mucked in & it was done within an hour, whilst the celebrations continued quietly. It was a tiring day but absolutely wicked & it couldn't have gone any better. The speeches part was just bearable as I felt extremely embarassed but that was all over rather quickly. The prayers were not as long as I thought they would be so that was a relief, as I know church lasts a good 5 hours over here if not longer! Moses & Emily really enjoyed themselves & helped me all day as I knew they would. They are a beautiful young couple who really stand out as genuinely good-hearted people.


We got home & pretty much collapsed in the hotel bar & had an early night after only managing a couple of celebratory between ourselves. We didn't do a lot the following day...apart from mess around in the pool & packed our bags ready for the SAFARI on Sunday!

---

I just want to take this opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated money to this project & sponsored me to run the marathon - all of your money really has gone to such a great cause & I hope you feel I have done a good job. All of you have changed the lives of these pupils, as their school now has the facilities for them to give them at least one decent meal every day which is a real starting point out here, as hunger is something that almost every Kenyan family faces on a daily basis. The school are aware of all of your efforts, after having told them repeatedly this is NOT my own money...although it is a very hard concept for them to understand as they think all mzungus are extremely affluent! If only they were able to see my overdraft facility & total student debt, ha!


x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

---

Part of trip: Kenya, Mtwapa village

---