Momba Village Here We Come!

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Leaving an hour early yesterday from school to “rest” has really worked...the kids are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to go. I notice that many of the kids are dressed in what I would consider their “best” clothes. This trip is obviously a big deal and we’re thrilled that we could make it happen for them.

The bus arrives late, or should I say on time by Kenyan standards :0) Everyone has such good intentions for being on time, but the roads and the traffic almost ensure that this never happens. The kids all pile on along with Margaret and the teachers...Nicole and I intended to go on the bus as well, but it’s a really tight squeeze so we follow behind instead. We leave on a road out of Kibera in the opposite direction we usually come in and out and this is probably the worst we’ve experienced - the black fumes spewing from the bus in front of us are just about killing us, but we don’t care!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though we’re excited about the trip, the weather is heavy - grey clouds and cool, which almost mimicks how we’re feeling since this is our last day. The weather has been absolutely fantastic so far, 23 degrees everyday and cool in the evenings. I hear it’s been really hot at home - who knew Canada would be hotter than Kenya, Africa?! It’s really only because of Nairobi’s elevation, a mile above sea level that the climate is so temperate. I’ve overheard in conversations about other places in Kenya being in the mid to high 40s. Yikes!

Our guide meets us at the front gate and takes us through to see the crocodiles. There are so many of them and for a minute I have to take a closer look to see if they’re real. Some are lying so absolutely still with their mouths open that they look like statues. The only thing that gives them away is the slight movement of an eye now and again. The kids are fascinated - there is excited chatter all around, but no one is getting too close as the guide starts telling them about the crocs. The guide pokes them with a stick which has seen better days - the end of it has obviously been angrily snapped off more than once and I can imagine that it used to be a few feet longer as well. The crocs hiss loudly when poked and a few snap loudly sending the kids jumping a few feet in the air! It’s hard not to giggle at their reaction since even though they’re frightened, they want the guide to do it again.

We move on through wide open green space, a place to have lunch and a place to play, past medieval looking rides to the ostrich pens. What weird and wonderful creatures ostrich are! The guide doesn’t dare poke these guys with the stick! I’m more frightened of them than the crocs, probably since they look like they could jump the fence effortlessly. The kids are getting restless, especially since they noticed the rides...

I’m really confident that the 3 rides at the park wouldn’t pass any kind of safety inspection ever, but what the heck? The rides are an extra fee from the park entry, so Nicole and I pay for a round for everyone and everyone gets to choose which one they want to go on. The younger kids all go on the car ride which gets manually pushed around and around and around. They are thrilled!

The older kids decide to go on the motorized ride and I’m kind of worried since it looks like it’s going to rain any minute. I’m thinking that the exposed electrical wires aren’t going to take too kindly to being covered in water. We all pile on - even Nicole managed to squeeze the belly on and off we go. We start slow at first and gradually build up to a speed that would defy Clockworks at Canada’s Wonderland. The only problem is that the ride goes on for about 5 minutes too long which is an eternity when you’re not used to being twirled around and around and around very fast! Luckily everyone is just woozy getting off and there are no casualties.

Lunch time! Margaret and her helpers have everything so organized. I’m sure she was up early helping to prepare lunch for 60 kids and adults and based on the number of bags we’ve hauled out here, it’s going to be good. Nicole and I brought cookies and juice for everyone and Margaret took care of the rest.

We were the first to arrive at Momba Village and had the whole park to ourselves for awhile. Now there are other school groups arriving, much larger groups dressed in matching, pressed uniforms, looking very smart. I don’t think they’re from Kibera and I don’t think they’ll appreciate and enjoy the day as much as we have. They don’t take much notice of us either until we pull out our new skipping ropes, balls and colourful parachute to play with. Then all of a sudden we’re a bigger attraction that the medieval rides! The teachers from the other schools have to come and pluck their students out of our little gang. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the day. I look around and see them rolling in the grass and playing so freely and am so filled with joy.

It’s time to head back to school - we still have Smile Packs and Andrew’s toys to hand out. While I’m excited about this prospect, I’m filled with dread too since the time to say goodbye is almost here. I can feel the tears welling up already and wonder how the heck you turn your back and walk away from these amazing kids and teachers. We are greeted back at the school by Daniel and many of the parents since it’s already after 3pm. The Smile Packs and toys are handed out and the kids are fascinated - the bags are clear and they hold them up to see what’s inside. The excited chatter hits fever pitch, but no one dives in and starts pulling things out, like I know my own kids would. Instead they hold the bag close to them, almost protectively, like they want to wait until they had some quiet time away from this chaos to really enjoy what they’ve just received.

Frank translates into Swahili for me as I thank them all for allowing us to come and visit. He tells them how much we’ve enjoyed getting to know each of them and how lucky we feel to have spent time here at their special school. Frank then translates into English how thankful they are that we and our Canadian friends cared so much about them to do all that we did. The tears freely flow then as we hug and say goodbye to each one of them. My heart is truly aching, but as I look around at the classroom with the new teaching aids, the windows with the happy face flowers, the fans, the new tv and dvd player and the water that was finally installed today, I feel such pride that we were able to make a little difference in the lives of these 54 children on the other side of the world.

Daniel left work early today to ensure that the water was finally installed. There has been delays since we’ve arrived for one reason or another, but it was obviously very important to them that the water be flowing before we left. They wanted us to go home armed with photos of the windows and the water flowing to properly thank everyone for making it possible. You’ll see in the photo that the water is flowing, but Daniel will still be adding an extension pipe to bring the source up from the ground to hip level. This will make it easier to fill the water containers. The water actually will make life easier in general for everyone.

It’s time now to say goodbye to our gracious hosts - to Mama Margaret, Daniel and the teachers. We hug hard, reluctant to let go and promise that we’ll be back again next year. We also promised to stay in touch regularly and follow the progress of the children.

Frank and Edwin accompany us to the airport. There is dead silence in the cab as I know like myself, everyone is reflective of the past week. I can’t believe that we have been so immersed into everyone’s lives here, like we’ve known them forever. We were taught words in Swahili to greet other Kenyans that would set us apart from tourists and they were insistent that we aren’t tourists, but part of their family. I have left a little piece of my heart in Kenya, at Tenderfeet with the kids and all the good friends I have made. I have also made a promise to myself that I’ll continue to support them from my little corner of the world.

I am so crazy proud of what we’ve accomplished. And when I say “we”, I mean “us”, each and every one of you reading this right now that so generously donated. I hope you all feel as proud as I do and that this travel blog served as a window into a world that we were able to brighten and improve just a little. To be able to give back like this is what life is all about.

Through www.tenderfeetkids.org, there is an opportunity called Ten for Tenderfeet to sponsor one of these 54 children for $10/month. This $10/mth will ensure that each child receives 2 meals per day and has a safe and supportive environment to go to each day. Unlike some of the other “big” organizations that I have fostered children through, I can absolutely assure you that 100% of anything you donate goes directly to the children. There is no money spent on admin costs and marketing and at the end of the day it’s hard to believe that $10 can make such a huge difference, but I have seen firsthand that it does.

The Ten for Tenderfeet Program has sponsors for 20% of the children so far (10 children in total). Each of you has so graciously donated in one way or another, but I want to challenge us to try and make up the other 80%. I am so confident we can do this collectively, to ensure that the needs of these children are being met on a regular and consistent basis.

Thank you everyone for being part of this journey. We could never have accomplished what we have without your support.

God Bless
Kathy and Nicole xo

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