Blogs from Western Province, Kenya, Africa - page 4

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Africa » Kenya » Western Province June 26th 2011

There are certain moments in Kenya that change you; they change the way you think about everything in your life. I had one of these moments yesterday while visiting the Passion Orphanage located just outside of Bungoma in an area called Skata. A small boy entered the room where I had just finished eating lunch. His arms were only about as round as a quarter. His belly stuck out like a balloon, and just above his belly, I could count every rib in his little chest. His shirt was a rag being held together in the front by a frayed string. His feet were bare. Lydia (orphanage founder) spoke to him and soothed him in a language I could not understand. You see this orphanage is just in its beginning, it currently is not housing the ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province » Bungoma June 24th 2011

The sound of birds chirping was my alarm clock this morning…. It’s June 22nd, and I flew out of the U.S. 2 weeks ago. When I first arrived in Kenya… I stayed in Nairobi one night with a family I had just met. The next day I met my friend Jason at the bus stop and we were off to Mombassa- the beach! After an 19 hour plane ride, the 8 hour bus journey to the coast wasn’t even that bad. The coast was beautiful!!! We stayed at a little resort near the beach called African Dream Cottages. They were very nice!! ( & about 40 dollars per night—pretty pricy by Kenyan standards) While on the coast we swam in the ocean, walked the beautiful white beaches and even rode a camel! We ventured into OLD ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province » Bungoma June 6th 2011

I cannot contain my excitement!!!!! I am all smiles as I plan, pack, and prepare for my trip! I just can't believe I leave in only 48 hours! I just wanted to say Thanks to those of you who are currently following my blog.... also, thanks to everyone's support and encouragement over the past year!' God has blessed me so much this past year..... great job, great neighbors, great health, great family, great classes, great co-workers, great car, great friends, and many great experiences! Everything has been wonderful! I am so thankful! I think God has great plans for my time in Kenya.... His work has already been evident: Overall I've recieved a total of $ 2, 475 in donations!!! Thank You Thank You Thank You to all of you who've donated to the different projects ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province » Kakamega May 5th 2011

Jenn flew to Kenya for a week to help Manna Energy Limited with a consulting project to distribute 1 million water filters to families without access to clean drinking water. Inside the Nairobi airport, there was a man waiting at the bottom of the escalator, and Jenn asked, “First time?” He nodded, they linked arms, and on the count of three stepped on. At the top, he burst out laughing with relief. Next, Jenn climbed aboard a small plane to Kisumu, in western Kenya. The runway in Kisumu was pretty rough and the baggage claim consisted of standing next to the plane until the suitcases were unloaded. From there, Jenn rode in a pickup truck for an hour until reaching Kakamega, seeing a beautiful orange sunset along the way. Manna designed a program for use on ... read more
Typical house
Lifestraw
Distribution

Africa » Kenya » Western Province » Bungoma March 30th 2011

This past month I conducted a T-shirt Sale/ Fundraiser to raise money for St. Elizabeth's Nursery School. It was definately a success!! I could not have done it without the help of my lovely sister, Hannah Louise. Thanks Girl!' Altogether we sold a total of 116 shirts .... and made $3.75 per shirt, giving us a $435 profit. Awesome! Suprisingly we also received several donations totalling another $1,482 !!! I could not believe it! People are so generous and God is really showing through all of this. Thus, as of March 30th $1,917 has been collected for the school! Thank You So Much to all of you who donated or bought a shirt!' I am so excited to see the impact we will be able to make at St. Elizabeth's School this summer! It's going to ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province March 2nd 2011

Well, I’m almost a week behind in writing. It’s just been so much busier and fun than I anticipated, so it’s hard to sit down at the end of every day to write. I’m even farther behind in my personal journal. Oh well, I’ll have this to remember the important stuff. So where was I?? Wednesday?? Morning started out the same. But by about 10, a bunch of the grandmothers and mothers of our kids came by. The clowns had said that they would have liked to have had the chance to spend more time with the grandmothers on Sunday, so this was a way to make up for that, although it had already been planned. Todd said a few words and then we got to the task at hand – handing out a ton of ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province March 2nd 2011

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 ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province February 26th 2011

Okay, so I have 3 very full days to cover, so I’ll do my best, or just leave some for later. Each day feels like 2 – we do so much in the morning, and then another full afternoon that when we’re talking around the supper, we refer to things we did more than 4 hours ago as being yesterday. Today is actually Wednesday, and we’re all getting very tired, some of us are getting a little sick, but we only have one more day, so we’re all going to push on – we can rest on the long drive home on Friday. But I digress..... So our first day in Bumala was a walking tour of the countryside. But first we had to visit the school, show the clowns where we'd be spending the rest ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province February 24th 2011

Today is our last day in Bumala so we thought we would try to venture into the village a little before we headed to the school. We walked together to the market and began to break up with a plan to meet up at the school at lunch time. We were all very excited about this and took full advantage of our freedom. Some went into the market and purchased a bunch of oranges and mangos to give to the children that followed us to the school every day while some others experienced our very first taste of sugar cane. I personally enjoyed it but probably wouldn’t go out of my way to have it again. I gave most of my piece to a young boy who passed at the most opportune time. We met back ... read more

Africa » Kenya » Western Province February 23rd 2011

After arriving at the school we relaxed in the shade for a while. Today there were plans for the grandmothers to come to the school for lunch. When they came we all greeted each other as long lost family. They were the grandmothers from the walk we had done on Sunday to visit them all at their homes and if you meet a Kenyan once, you are friends for life. We had planned ahead of time to purchase some blankets, pots, dishes and buckets for water to give to them as a gift. The Patch Adams group also brought with them bags full of cloths for both adults and children. We all handed the items out to the grandmothers and they were so grateful. It was overwhelmingly emotional for many of us. A few members of ... read more




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