Update

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Today is Thursday, March.5th 2009.
I came back to Nairobi on Monday night. Last week the group continued teaching in the school out in the Mara. We also built onto the teachers accomodations. Sunday was a wonderful day. We got up early and went to church and hour an a half away. We walked in at 8:45 thinking we were early for the 9 am service, however as we came to find out it started at 8 am. The service was so humbling. They sang and danced almost the entire time. In between readings and teachings they would surround the sanctuary and sing and dance. Even the smallest of children knew the dances and followed in their brothers and sisters steps. You would never know that so many hadn't had anything to eat that day or that they enjoyed being away from their homes to help ease the stress and pain of their daily lives. We sat with the priest after the 4 hr church service and he said they would have easily sat until 5 pm. Being at church gives them so much hope. Little did we know or expect that guests are often invited to the front to introduce themselves and sing. Our group, being no exception, was asked to come to the front of the church, likely containing 400 people, to sing and introduce ourselves and what we do. After introductions, we sang Oh Canada and then a Kenyan song we knew. Everyone was so welcoming and interested in hear about us.
That night we had a talent show amongst the facilitators, educators, participants and Maasai Warriors. It was hilarious. The Maasai Warriors danced to Beyonce's "Single Ladies".

We drove back to Nairobi to get prepared for the next groups coming in this weekend. The drive back at night was alittle nerve racking. The roads do not have lines to show where it is, or that separates the right side from the left. There are no street lights and other vehicles expect you to get out of the way if they are in the process of passing or if they are the larger vehicle. They also put their highbeams on when coming towards you- so blinding! The roads on top of that were extremely bumpy and certain areas were deamed dangerous so we did not stop there. Needless to say I was very happy to arrive at our other home in Nairobi.

The last group has been amazing. They will be going back to Toronto on Saturday.
Everything is going smoothly and I can't wait to get back out to the Mara. My next group is a split group. Half the group is from a Vancouver High School and the other half a Toronto High School.

Thanks for the emails, keep them coming!

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