HOPE

Today was pretty good. We started off by grabbing breakfast at this cafe. It was very good and very cheap. I had bacon, toast, eggs, and a cup of coffee for KSH250, roughly two american dollars. Kenyan bacon is good, but Kenyan coffee is out of this world ha. After breakfast we went on the induction tour around to different volunteer sites around the area. The first one was a school with about 70 kids. This was one of the better schools we have seen. They had a shack where they cooked meals, three classrooms where they taught, and two small offices. This is pretty rare in this area. The next site wasn't as fortunate. There were about 40 kids in a school no bigger than my bedroom at home. There was one teacher to care for the lot of them, so she really needed some help. We visitied another school/boarding house which was much nicer, and finally a halfway home for babies and their mothers when they return from prision. We got the chance to choose a site where we wanted to help, so I chose the second site, Hope School. I helped them with math problems and shapes. We played outside for a good bit of the time. The kids were so energetic! Nothing but smiles and laughter, it really warmed my heart to see it because they were so appreciative, yet they had so little. There were a few kids who did break my heart though. A girl, probabaly 6, was taking care of her younger brother. She carried him on her back and took him everywhere she went. She was so mature for being so young, so responsible and had so much love.... she's someone American children can def. take a lesson from. There was also this boy who had a stomach bug and diarreah. He had a wart on his foot which made it really painful for him to walk, and it's so sad because there was nothing anyone could do. His mother was mentally diasbled, so there isn't much care given at home. All he can do is wait it out. It seemed like thats all they really ever do... is wait it out. 15 of the children were HIV positive. They played around with the other kids, even is they got a cut or a scratch. Im pretty sure that they didn't know they have it, the disease is such a subject of taboo here.

Im learning that it's great to help now, but there should be things that we do that can make a lasting impact that will actually affect these people in the long run. The only problem is finding out what those things are...

We learned a bit of Swahili today, hopefully when I get back to The States I'll be able to speak a little. We got the schedule for our Safari this weekend. We leave tomorrow morning for the game park and stay the entire weekend. There are lions, cheetahs, giraffes, baboons, crocodiles and much more, so I'll def. have some good pictures to upload.

I'm still learning more from the friends we made from UK. I've caught myself picking up a bit of their accent from time to time, which is pretty funny. We had a discussion on the American/English ways of life last night which was pretty eye opening. I'm sure I still have a lot more to learn..

I probably won't get back on until the beginning of next week, so peace out until then. Hopefully we aren't eaten by a pack of lions...