The fastest six weeks ever.

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Supa!

I can't believe that we've finished working in Saikeri already. I seems impossible how fast the last six weeks have gone. This place has become a part of us and we are so sad to leave. I can't imagine we won't be returning to Saikeri at the moment. It has really become a second home for us. The people here have been so amazing and loving. We have really become a part of their community and the last couple days have been hard. There have been many tears and hugs and photos and kisses. But, we leave knowing that someday we will be back. I can't imagine not coming back to here.

Today we've come into Ngong for the last time for a while and spent the day getting some donations gathered for a family of six children who lost their mothers recently (here people take multiple wives so the children have the same father but two different mothers and are considered full brothers and sisters) who are being cared for by their father's 91 year old grandmother. We visited their compound and had tea with them and the grandmother a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing to watch her and see how they all lived in the small manyata. We used some of the remaining donation money to buy them all new clothes, book bags, pencils, toys, stuffed animals, socks, sweets, some toothbrushes and toothpaste. It was really fun putting all of the bags together as we have become close to the children and grandmother over the last couple of weeks. They are really an amazing family.

This morning while here in Ngong we got professional portraits taken with our host mother and father and one of the teachers, Emanuel, who we've become great friends with. Gladys (our host mother) wanted to get them done. We thought it was a great idea and we can't wait to see the prints. We were all laughing and it was just so funny to go into the back of the shop with our very dusty clothes and dirty hair (a result of the truck ride from Saikeri to Ngong) and get portraits taken. Even now just thinking about it I am laughing out loud. It was just so funny. You know how sometimes you take a step back from your life and just kind of look at where you are and you wonder... how did I get here? That is what I did when we were getting that picture taken. How did I ever end up in rural Kenya in the back of this photo studio in this dusty brick building in these dusty and dirty clothes posing for a portrait with these Maasai? The pull-down screen behind us was a computerised image of a waterfall.

I have a funny story about teacher Emanuel and his children. He has two small children. One is about six and the other three. We met them while we were at the sports show the second week we were here. His little three year old had never really seen white people before and was really shy when we met him. He hid behind his dad's legs and covered his eyes. Eventually he stepped out and I got down to his level and was holding out my hand and he was giggling and I was giggling and he was gathering enough courage to actually touch my hand. He was kind of slapping my hand quickly and was laughing and seemed more comfortable so once when he was going to slap it again I kind of made a noise like a growl and closed my hand around his. I scared him to death. He started crying and ran away... he wouldn't look at me again... and I felt awful... kind of... but I was also kind of laughing... it really was kind of funny. But, alas, the poor kid will be afraid of white people for the rest of this life. Nice work, Brooke.

As we came into Ngong today we were able to see the shops that burned down last week being rebuilt. They get things like that going quickly here. It was good to see because when we saw the burned remains last week it was pretty heartwrenching. People put their heart and souls into their shops and wouldn't have any type of insurance to cover if anything went wrong. So we were very happy to see things going back up.

We are off tonight on an overnight bus to Mombasa and then tomorrow will be heading to Lamu on the northern coast of Kenya near the Somalia border. I am really looking forward to it. It will be relaxing and we will be there for a week.

Before we left Saikeri we made sure to finish everything up with the donations. I have many pictures and will try to get them onto here while we are in Lamu. The maternity is set up and ready for mothers and babies. The school addition is almost complete... it is just awaiting the roof. The water tank is ready to be fixed and all the money is there. They are waiting for the government workers to come in from Nairobi. We have worked with the community to come up with ideas so it dosen't break like this again and they have decided to set up a bank account where they will deposit the money they collect from people, people pay 4/= (/= is the sign for Kenyan Shillings) for 20 litres of water, and they will also have a committe that will watch over the running of the well. We have donated small things throughout like pens, pencils, clothes, books, sweets, balloons, bubbles, toys, balls, frisbees, hand sanitizer for the hospital, brooms, mops, buckets and anything else we could pick up that they could use. It is amazing to help people like this and we are so proud of our family and friends for donating to allow us to do it. Everytime someone in Saikeri thanked us for donating we mentioned all of you and all that you've done to help. We are so proud to be a part of a network of people that are so amazing. You have really made a difference in the lives of the people here. Thank you.

On Tuesday this week we prepared a meal for our host family. We made them a version tacos/fajitas and it was so funny. There were a few things that they have never eaten like mushrooms or zuchinni or sour cream and it was so funny to watch the kids eat the things they liked (the mushrooms) and the things they didn't (the sour cream). It was interesting cooking it over their traditional cooker and coal. Gladys was talking about growing mushrooms in her garden with her beans in the future.

I think that is about all. I will have a lot to blog from Lamu and will try to get pictures put up on here. I hope that everyone is great and it will only be a couple of weeks before we see all of you. I can't believe how fast the summer is going! We are sad to be leaving here and have made some amazing friends... actually it's more like a new family. We will miss everyone here very much. But, we are off onto our next adventure now and are looking forward to the next week in Lamu. This country is so beautiful we are looking forward to seeing more of it... plus it will be the first time either of us will swim in the Indian Ocean. We miss you all and hope that everyone is wonderful and we can't wait to see you soon.

Much love from Africa,
Brooke and Alan

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