Blogs from Western Province, Kenya, Africa - page 5

The gruelling 9hr bus ride turned out to be an 11hr bus ride... The last of the Patch Adams group arrived on time. We were all to be ready and waiting for the bus at 8:30am but now dealing with typical African time, we ended up leaving at 9:30am. Todd (Dad) started out with a great plan for the day, although, we all know how plans work out in regular life, try having a plan in Kenya. We drove by the Great Rift Valley instead of stopping for pictures as there was supposed to be a better viewpoint down the road, but turns out that was on the other route. So was the Italian-built chapel that had all the Italian clowns excited. There are always baboons to be seen along the road, but apparently they decided ... read more

Today was our first official day at the school. After we arrived at the school and finished our second breakfast of the day, we were escorted around to meet all of the classes. Starting with Baby class (Kindergarten), we walked in with our clowns in full uniform. The kids were all a little unsure as to how to react. Most of them have never seen white skin let alone white skin with a big red nose dressed in all these crazy colorful clothes. It didn’t take long for them to warm up though. As soon as the bubbles and balloons came out, they couldn’t help themselves. They were screaming and laughing in excitement and jumping all over the place for the balloons. It was so much fun. The volunteers were so great. They had just as ... read more

Hello friends of One Child’s Village! Some of you may know that One Child’s Village (OCV) was recently in Kenya. The purpose of the trip was to monitor infrastructure projects completed in the past year - such as the volunteer quarters/dormitory and brick school addition partly funded by the Alberta government’s Community Spirit Initiative, International Development Program and Scona High School’s fundraising campaign from 2009. We also experienced our trip to Kenya as a crucial opportunity to nurture our valuable relationship with Mercy Children’s Centre (MCC). We have to say that after spending 10 short days in Kenya, we feel closer than ever to our dearest friends, and we are overwhelmed by the progress that has been made possible at the Bumala school by OCV supporters. Though we did not provide regular travel blog updates ... read more

Community: a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other So today marks a week since we arrived in Mutumbu and there is so much I could write about that it’s hard to know where to start. All the team have adapted quickly to village life and love our new base. For us, home is now the “white house”, a large compound which until about two years ago was painted white, but now thanks to telecommunications company ZAIN it is a blinding shade of pink with a touch of fluorescent yellow. It keeps its nickname due to the fact that it has ‘whities’ staying in it almost all year around (all WYI volunteers). We have electricity about 70% of the time (blackouts have quickly lost their novelty), but no running water. ... read more

Gender: the wide set of characteristics that are seen to distinguish between male and female entities, extending from one's biological sex to, in humans, one's social role or gender identity So my participants have all arrived, orientation is almost complete and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the program! It’s hard to believe that only 4 days ago, we were all relatively strangers as everyone has bonded so well already. Both Fran and I have teams that couldn’t have been better picked for us. My participants are all really amazing individuals and I am completely blown away by each of them. They are a mature, like minded bunch who are so positive and genuinely passionate about doing ‘good’ in this world. They are also absolutely pumped to get into the program and start ... read more