Currently Virginia is making rosemary chicken and kachumbari (Kenyan guacamole) while I’m completing some doula work items for home and then settling in to write this post. I cannot manage to keep up Bryan’s pace of blog posts but will do my best! We’ve had a great few days of home visits, a peaceful Sunday, and then visited two of our main schools where we sponsor children.

Going to the homes to visit the families is time-consuming but necessary. The roads are very, very rough. Often we get lost as the Maasai live deep in the bush. We bring one of our Osupuko moms along as our liaison and guide. Agnes knows everyone; I call her the “Governor of Osupuko.” Most of the time we end up on foot as Agnes knows all the shortcuts. She also is our translator as some of the older folks don’t know Swahili. There’s a lot of translating from the tribal language Maa to Swahili to English. Agnes also quickly took us to her home to show us her own progress with her shamba (farm) and livestock. Her son Stephen proudly showed us their 6-day-old goat (see photo) as Agnes displayed the mounds of potatoes accompanying pumpkins under her bed—her private produce stash.

Home visits are a great way to find out about undisclosed needs and make sure the family is doing OK. We allotted Saturday for five home visits for our newly sponsored children. We were only able to complete four as we had plans with some of our post-secondary kids Saturday evening. Monday we completed the last one after visiting the school.

Janet (red shirt), Jane (behind), and family at home

Sunday Virginia and I separated for the day while my nearly 21-year-old Kenyan son, Ian, took me on his motorbike for a ride to the Oloolua Nature Trail. We spent a few hours deep in conversation about life, politics, love (yikes!), the future…all the things. He’s always mentioned the forest with its waterfalls and visits it regularly so I was happy to finally see it. These waterfalls I indeed did chase!

Monday Virginia, Wangari and I went to Kimuka to meet our 7 kids. Beatrice, the head teacher, is an incredible resource. We love to work with her. All the kids came with their letters for their sponsors; we took their pictures and were able to give them their gifts and letters as well. At one point there was a group of about 10 children standing in front of us just staring so Virginia asked them to sing for us. We were serenaded for a good 30 minutes. It’s an easy ask! Kenyans love to sing and dance.

Wangari (standing) and Precious writing her letter

Tuesday we took the long and DUSTY road to Osupuko. We took this drive on Saturday too; Virginia’s son had to take the car to the car wash on Sunday as it was filthy. Needless to say it ought to go again. The big trucks plow through and literally leave us in the dust. We can’t move the car forward until the dust settles.

Today we were able to meet with our 15 kids at Osupuko. Our young ones took a bit of time with writing letters and giving us the list of school items needed. We then took pictures and explained everything. There were lots of smiles and giggles, some confusion, and at times some chaos. These little ones are just getting the hang of writing letters. During the time we were working with them the whole school was having a football (soccer) tournament and games. The air was filled with more laughter, screaming, cheering, and song. The big kids then came in and shared their letters and needs, some urgently requesting new school uniforms as they have grown since January! One boy I didn’t even recognize.

Two children stood out to us in particular today. One was our little guy named Samson. The first time we met him he didn’t smile and was very, very quiet and stern. Not anymore! We couldn’t stop laughing as he was covered in red dust from playing so hard. Then after lunch he was even messier as he had githeri all over his face and hands, the whole time clutching the book his sponsor had made for him…which WAS white. So cute! The other was one of our big guys, Benjamin. His sponsor gifted him a soccer ball. There’s no way we could capture his gratitude in a picture. Between his shock and humility he nearly brought us to tears.

Benjamin receiving his letter and football

Our trip ended in Osupuko with visiting one of the moms, Sheila, who we support with her beading business. Her two boys, Lenny and Gabriel, are also sponsored. We were hoping to find Lenny home from school but he hadn’t arrived as yet. Sheila insisted we come anyway and fed us rice, potatoes, meat, and dried peas. We always need to leave a bit of room for food as most families kindly insist on feeding us…not the easiest thing if you have multiple home visits and much tea. But it’s a huge sacrifice on their part and a cultural norm. We also had a chance to admire Sheila’s shamba with her corn and sisal (the boys’ sponsor had given her money for seeds). After a cow invasion we are happy to report that everything is growing nicely!

The kids are now all coming home for break until the end of August. We haven’t quite seen all 53 but we’ve managed to catch up with a good majority of them. The letters are coming in as well as the reports. Sponsors, look out for pictures and emails…they are coming!

Child & Family Visits

Olmaroroi

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