Long Overdue!

---

First off, I am so sorry for the lack of updates! My recent move left my with no internet access, so It's been tough to get the time to come and update in an internet cafe!

I moved around 2 weeks ago out to Mlolongo, I think I mentioned that I was planning on this in my last blog update. It's pretty far away from Waithaka, which was where I was working before. We managed to get things wrapped up pretty well at Agape, the sponsorship site is still under construction but hopefully it will be ready soon.

Our last day at the centre was pretty tough and draining. I'm going back to visit once or twice more before I come home, but saying goodbye to the kids even just for these couple weeks was really hard. It just made me realize that yes, I am actually leaving this place, and yes, I will eventually have to say a real goodbye. Michelle and I worked on this huge poster for the boys room at the centre, it looked so good! It was a big sun with rays coming out saying things like "Tutuwapenda Sana!" (We love you all) and other Swahili words that I can't remember. We also bought some paint a week or two before we left and had a ton of fun with the boys painting their room. Before it was just bare tin walls, and now it's covered in red and blue paint. We just gave them the brushes and said "Go for it!". They were so thrilled to be able to make the room their own. We brought all the kids sweets on the last day and said goodbye...

I can't remember if I wrote about Ben before, so if I'm repetitive, ignore me! He's a little 12 year old boy who just showed up at the centre one day from off the street. He's literally got no one, no one. No mum, dad, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents. No one. He's been living on the street for 5 years on his own and after that was taken into an abusive home where he was treated like absolute dirt. And after all this, this little boy is somehow one of the most high spirited and smiley 12 year olds I've ever met. He walks around with a smile just waiting to break out if someone even just says hi to him. He laughs constantly... I just can't understand how it is possible for this boy to still love and laugh? I've never met someone stronger. Of course there are times where he is down, and needs to cry, but he always keeps his chin up through it all. After spending a month and a half with him, he has become my second little brother and my baby. Saying a final goodbye to him is going to be one of the hardest things I've faced yet. I feel like I am letting him down by leaving, that I am one of the only people he's ever met that has loved him and been there for him solidly. Leaving him just seems like a betrayal, and I hate that. But I know I have to go, and that we will remember and think about each other constantly while I am gone, however long that might be.

The move went really well, I love where I am living now. It's very different from Waithaka, out here is a desert! It's really dry and dusty and so hot all the time. I'm working at a clinic in Kitengela, which is a town about half an hour away from my house. Yesterday I almost got to help with a birth! The woman didn't feel comfortable with us in the room though, so we had to leave. The nurses and doctors there are really wonderful, they are so supportive of anything we do and are just a riot to spend time with! The kids in the orphanage were at school for the past two weeks so I couldn't work there during the day, but now they are out on break so I'm hoping to go there on Monday to check things out and meet some of them.

That's all for now, the sun is setting here so I've got to start heading home! Sorry for the short update, I'll just have to tell you all everything in person in two weeks when I'm home!

Much love,

Inki

---