March 15

---

Hello from Vihiga, Kenya!

Saturday (March 13)

We arrived yesterday. After 36 hours of travel, we made the 30 minute flight from Nairobi to Kissumu. After the short flight and our feet were on the ground, we counted suitcases. Miracle -- they all arrived! Is this a good omen for our trip? We had each brought extra suitcases filled with books, clothing, vitamins and special gifts for our children at the Vihiga Children's Home. We were met by our van driver, Moses. Our first stop was the grocery where we stocked up on bottled water and other supplies. The children have developed a love of peanut butter so we bought jars of it along with jelly and loaves of bread. PB&J -- a special treat for the kids!

Next stop, MBale High School were we pulled D. (note, I will only use initials for the children's names to protect their privacy) out of his classes. He has just arrived in secondary school and our fellow traveler, Ellen, has just agreed to send him to school. She wanted to say hello, reassure him that he is sponsored, and ask if he has the supplies he needs. He came out of class and was met by 10 friendly but strange mazungas !! I was impressed by his poise and yes grace in light of this surprise visit. The look on his face when he learned that he's being sponsored was worth the 36 hour trip....a beautiful grin complete with dimples. Dr. Ellen departs tomorrow for her infectious disease class in Tanzania. We'll miss her indeed, she does keep us organized!

We've spent this morning organizing the things we brought and refining our to-do list for our time here. A major priority is to improve the children's diet. Chris on our Steering Committee has researched the nutritional needs of growing children and the availabilty of ingredients, as well as the traditional African diet. Having nurse Nancy has certainly improved the overall health of the children though -- many fewer cases of malaria and no recent hospital visits.

Our home away from home is Sosa Cottages. It's a vast improvement over the MBale hotel, where we stayed 4 years ago. It's clean, quiet -- a little oasis.

We made a brief visit to the Vihiga Children's Home on Friday night. It was exciting to see with my own eyes the nearly completed 3-story dorm . Curtains on the girls' windows and bright coverlets on the beds. Perhaps my daughter Danica who is with us on the trip can brighten the walls with murals while we are here.

Mrs. A, her sons Alfred and Jeffrey, and Geoffry the accountant joined us for lunch at Sosa. Danica and I were honored to sit with Mrs. A and Alfred. We learned that L., whom Danica sponsored beginning in 2004, is doing well. He finished 8th grade, but did not perform well on the high school entrance exams. He went to drivers' school and now, a few years later, has a steady job driving an ambulance. Mrs. A says he is a good boy. Success!

Sunday

This was a wonderful day! While 2/3 of the group took children shopping for needed clothing and supplies, Danica, Stacey and I stayed behind. We walked from Sosa to Vihiga Children's Home in the hot mid-day sun, behind beautiful women carrying all sorts of things on their heads, dodging motor bikes, and saying "Hello How are you?" to all the children. Two brand new soccer balls tucked under our arms.

The children were delighted to see us. Sunday is their day off from school, and they were washing clothes and generally hanging out. We witnessed their lunch of maize and beans and then organized several soccer games, according to age/size of children. Boys vs. Girls: girls won, 1 goal ahead! Then a tournament among the younger children. Danica and Stacy each played on a team. Stacy lives for this, and is now organizing games and drills with interested children to take place in the late afternoons, b/w the end of their school day and their supper.

Danica and i have begun to sponsor two girls whose parents were killed in the post-election violence, 2 years ago. C. and C. are in the 8th grade; they are such beautiful young women. We'd brought clothes for them, guessing at their sizes from descriptions given by our previous U.S. travelers. We brought them to Sosa in the afternoon, they took showers, and tried on the clothes -- most of which worked! We'll see what Mrs. A thinks of the pants we gave them, in this country where girls wear skirts. They are both athletes, so we did want them to have clothes in which they can compete. I am sure that one of my favorite memories from this trip will be sitting, waiting for the key to the room , drinking Fantas and teaching the girls pen and paper games ! The giggles!


Last night we showed the movie Peter Pan to the 80+ kids at the dorm -- we hung a sheet on the outside wall of the classroom. As Charlie noted, the laughter and squeals in response to Peter, the boys and Captain Hook were priceless. Lights out and the sky was magnificent with horizon to horizon stars. This is the benefit of the lack of light polluting the night sky! And yes, the children received and loved 1/2 a PBJ sandwich each for their movie snack.

Monday


Today we are experiencing some frustration -- it seems to take so long to accomplish anything! But we are trying to begin our projects. Danica and I surveyed walls and decided on paint, I've purchased paint in MBale. Well, to be exact, Moses purchased the paint since I was afraid that my white face would double the price. Charlie is working on setting up the new library -- organizing the books that we've sent before and brought this time. More discussions were had with Mrs. A -- she is very happy about our food plan, so we must see what we can do to implement it while we are here. Stacy and Marcia have waited all morning long with 3 children at the dentist. And now I am writing to you!

Love to all. Know that we are well and happy and happy to be here. Deborah

---