Hello! Well I have returned from Bumala and I leave for Canada tonight. I did not have internet access while in Bumala - yet so much has happened! I may have to write the updates in installments. (Thanks in advance for indulging me… ;) Feb 17, Tuesday We decided to see what the road trip would be between Nairobi and Bumala, rather than flying. We had a 7:30am departure on Feb 17 with Charles and Pius in a 7-seat mini-van. So lots of room for the extra luggage we had, i.e., children’s clothing, school supplies, books, computer gear, etc. from generous [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, Feb 19, 2009 We rested up after an afternoon (yesterday) in vain searching for a bank that would exchange traveller's cheques in Kisumu -- a 2-hour drive from Bumala. At least my mother was able to buy some inexpensive but good quality blankets. She purchased 20 blankets for the grandmothers we were set to meet during our second ever Beatrice walk. This walk was initiated last year when a friend of Todd's from the US asked that we give 1000 shillings (about $15CAD) to 10 grandmothers of the children attending the school. Receiving an unexpected and significant amount of money [View Full Entry]

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Hello, this will be a quick blog as I am leaving for Bumala in the next hour. Yesterday was a very busy day. Began with Charles and Pius joining us at our hotel so that we could head to the Kawangware slums together. We figured it would be safer this way. Only there was a little miscommunication such that I thought Charles was organizing the transportation for the ride in. Luckily we secured a driver through the travel agent who is helping us out. Charles gave us a tour of the dorms that he is renting for 26 students at the [View Full Entry]

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Well, this is my first blog. I am in Kenya from February 15 to 23. It’s a short stay, but there is much to accomplish! The flight from Ottawa to Nairobi (through Heathrow) went quite smoothly. The nine hour lay over in Heathrow, London allowed for a couple of naps and I had time to put together a photo album for Mercy Chirlden Centre of our collaborative work to date. I included some photos from Canada to show them that we think of them often! Also included pics of the animals Todd and I saw during our safari at the Masai [View Full Entry]

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I made it home at 7:00 pm, safe and sound! [View Full Entry]

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Wow!! I woke up at 5:30 again this morning feeling MUCH better than I have for days. The sauna and massage had really helped and my overall feeling had improved by at least 50%. A shower, then breakfast, a little email, and the driver was here to pick me up again at 10:00 am. We headed off to visit Kawangware again for the day. I arrived a little after 10:30 am and Sadie was already there. Sadie is the daughter of Lili and Lew Fulton, directors of Mercy Children's Center who were kind enough to let us stay at their [View Full Entry]

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I woke up at 8:00 am, feeling even better than the day before. A quick shower, finished packing, then down for breakfast. I manged to fit everything into my bags, but am concerend about the weight again (I think I am close, but hopefully not over). I have gotten good at estimating the weight of my bag, sometimes within a few pounds. I have always wondered why hotels, and especially airports, do not make a weigh scale freely available to people. They harp about baggage weight all the time but leave to the final weigh-in at [View Full Entry]

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I was up at 5:30 am today. Showered and had an early breakfast in anticipation of being picked up by Charles and his driver at 10:00 am. I was able to catch up no a little extra email this morning as well. As it turned out, Charles had a hard time finding the Sports Club and he did not arrive until about 10:45 am. The drive was about 25 minutes, I think, and the Kawangware slum looked even worse than what I remember it on my two previous visits. There were some burned out building and the litter on the [View Full Entry]

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It is Sunday today. I think I am going to rest a bit and keep the pace slow. I am still feeling poorly but seem to be keeping the sinus and eye infection at bay if I am not over-exerting myself. After a an early-morning shower and breakfast, I headed off to the museum, which is only a few blocks from here. It was closed last year when Cristelle and I was here, so I am really interested to see what the new changes have brought. It is a nice museum and and the make-over has served it very well [View Full Entry]

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I was up early, had a bath, and off to breakfast. Beans, hash brown potatoes, and cooked vegetables. It tastes pretty good. I struck out for a hike and walked down the streets of Nairobi to get to the Sarit Centre, another large mall/shopping complex. I was able to use the Internet there and got lots of work done. I made it back by noon and met Moraa for lunch at 12:30 pm. John Amendi was late due to some unfortunate computer printer issues. Nevertheless, we had a chance to have a quick bite together. At 2:00 pm we we [View Full Entry]

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