My last blog!

---

Being back in australia is so surreal! All I can think about is my next trip and I've been back for only a few hours!


It was so sad saying goodbye to everyone at Ronaken. The teachers worked all morning putting together an assembly to say goodbye to me. Each class had a little act, singing or reading and presenting me with a hand print of one child from each class with a little message to go with it so I had a 'little representation of everyone in the school' as one of the teachers tony put it. The whole school was taught a song that basically said 'goodbye dear dear mollie we love you so much' over and over again, there's a video of them singing it on Facebook, it was the most amazing thing a hundred and twenty odd kids belting this out at the top of their lungs, dancing and stamping on the tables. They were already so excited after the lunch I got for them of ugali and beef stew, many of them rarely get the chance to have meat and everyone got two or three serves of the stew. It was such a fantastic feeling to see them patting their bellies and saying I can't eat any more I'm so full! Another teacher also wrote and performed a poem for me called 'Look Around Mollie' and was about seeing the despair on their faces turn to joy and hope that I gave them. The owner Jane also got up and sung me a Christian song, blessing and thanking me and had organised to get a special little 'certificate of appreciation' made for me for moral support MJGGMJBEU. It was the most incredible and touching thing I've ever experienced, they are all so so kind and open-hearted. I cried like a baby saying goodbye! Hahah


My last week in Kenya was spent at Kigio Conservancy, a privately owned conservation area between Nakuru and Naivasha, that focuses on conserving and breeding the endangered Rothschild giraffe. It is such a beautiful place, the volunteers house has the most perfect view from the top of a hill, with families of pumba's (warthogs) and Impala's coming right up on the lawn!Only being there for a week I obviously didn't get the same sense of the place and the work as other volunteers would but it was interesting to get a taste of it, it's very different to the experience the volunteers in Nakuru have.

On the first day we did a 12km fence patrol, not the best after a month and a half of next to no exercise in Nakuru haha. Everyday we worked in the morning, then returned to camp for a few hours for lunch then worked again from 2-5. We did giraffe surveying and monitoring their activity patterns, identifying them by matching their patterns to a folder of photos of all 27 giraffes, and noting down things like where they were, what other giraffes they're with and for activity patterns what they're doing every five minutes, like feeding or standing or walking. I'm very lucky that only a few weeks ago two new giraffes were born, seeing baby Nduta running after baby Mads and jumping to kick him in the bum would have to be one of my highlights of the week! So cute.

I came back to Nakuru for one last weekend before flying out on Sunday evening. There's still so much I didn't get to see just around Nakuru let alone the rest of Kenya and Africa! I am seriously planning coming back in the middle of next year, Priscilla, my host mum already told me all her plans of where she wants to take me if I come back and I can't imagine never seeing the kids at Ronaken again! My time in Kenya has been such a great experience, I've learnt so much and gained so much personally in terms of experiences and self confidence. It's opened my eyes to so much and made me get really serious about trying to change the way we think and do things in the spoilt, greedy and incredibly lucky countries of the world like Africa. It was everything I hoped to get from the experience and more, and I can't say thank you enough to the people that helped make it what it was! I have met so many amazing people and I have friends from all corners of the globe now and I am serious about taking up your offers of a place on your couch when I'm travelling! Hahah. Time to get back to reality and work my bum off saving for my next adventure!

I hope this blog has done what I promised to everyone back home and kept you well informed, I will be doing a huge photo upload when I get around to it, I have almost 3000 photos of amazing memories to sort through ! Kwa heri Kenya xx

---