First Day in Bumala!!

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Today we all met for breakfast energized for the day to come as it was our first day at the school and we were planning to do the grandmother trek. First, we went to the school and as the school is closed on Sundays, there were very few students there. We were greeted by distant drums and singing. It was amazing. You could feel this overwhelming energy coming closer and closer. We were welcomed and taken into the Volunteer Centre where we enjoyed our second breakfast of the morning consisting of butter and jam sandwiches, groundnuts that are very similar to peanuts and hot fresh milk with coco and sugar.
We were then taken to a classroom where they played us the traditional African music with drums and dancing. There was so much energy and all of our Volunteers were dancing and trying to learn the dances even though we didn’t come close to the abilities of the students. My body definitely doesn’t move that way.
We started out on our walk to the first grandmother‘s house. It was such an opportunity to see where our orphans live. We saw the countryside and met a lot of the community on our way. It felt as if you were getting a very close and personal look into the lives of poverty. All of the homes are basically the same. There are usually chickens, goats or pigs running loose in their yards. There were a grandmothers that had anywhere from 3 to 12 orphans with her as the main provider. They were so generous that they gave a few of us a gift. Some were given woven baskets or clay pots. They even gave fresh eggs or a chicken for the school.
After about 7 or 8 grandmothers, we returned to the school to regroup. We had a delicious traditional lunch of Sukamawiki, Ugali, rice and beans. We then had about an hour to just relax and play with a few of the kids that were still at the school. Many of the clowns played basketball while others just relaxed in the shade and watched.
After returning back to the Hotel to shower and clean up and have another delicious meal of the day we decided to organize all of the supplies that everyone had brought. We all brought it to the restaurant area to lay out and take inventory. There was a mountain of amazing supplies that our generous volunteers brought with them. There was everything from duffel bags full of medical supplies, art supplies and jerseys to school books and musical instruments. We played with some of the toys, played music and made a lot of noise. It was a perfect end to the evening and created a lot of excitement for the next day. Who knows what will happen tomorrow.

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