PS..........

22/12/12

When I reread yesterdays post I realised there was just so much I had forgotten to share....for example how could I have overlooked telling you about Nick pulling into a look out point, and as I stepped out of his dusty white car that was constantly popping out of first gear, to find that I'm gazing down from the misty roof tops of the Rift Valley.  This enormous gouge out of the landscape with its five majestic mountains lining this Volcanic valley. Legend has it, the Rift Valley is the birth place of mankind, but in 2013 it has a rickety look out, that a very persistent souvenir salesman assures me is safe, all the while he tries to sell me a row of tail holding wooden elephants with the names of the five mountains burnt on one side, and five basic Swahili greetings on the other, and then to not tell you about the little dusty footed boy who pushed his cage of rabbits through the car window for me to inspect, sadly I don't think I was assessing their "cute factor" more their "yum factor"

As we continue along the road to Nakuru there are donkeys as far as the eye can see, now some of you may know I have a soft spot for Mary's chariot, and as we drive I tell Nick the story of the time a good friend of mine knowing my love of donkeys, took me to a donkey sanctuary..(donkey sanctuary? a concept a little lost on a Kenyan I think) as we travel a little further I shared another story about an animal I love the zebra and how they sometimes breed with donkeys and the result being the aptly named zonkey... And low and behold just a few kilometres further on our journey and Nick suddenly pulls to the side of the road and pointing into some scrub land I see a cluster of wild zebra grazing in the long grass... One stood so close, and stared so directly at me I could swear he was posing for me, and nestled amongst the five others was a baby zebra being guarded by his family......

How could I have forgotten to share all of that......?

........Meanwhile back at Pipeline, (the area is named so, due to the gas pipeline that runs through it.)

On my first morning, after sharing breakfast with Mary and her family the two lovely young kiwi woman that are here showed me the way to the HH, we made our way down the dusty track leading from home, in the distance I can see some blue roofs, I'm told that is the school and HH is just beyond there....as we walk we follow small tracks worn by the feet of locals and their herds.  Just outside the school we encounter three small children ranging in age from maybe 18 months to seven years old, the youngest greets us with her tiny outstretched hand and the standard "howareyou mazungu?" The difference between these three young children and their kiwi counterparts is they were responsible for at least thirty free range goats, that were grazing alongside them, of which they appeared to have under total control. We stop for a minute and chat and instantly the youngest snuggles into me and tells me her name in Sonya...  

On arrival at HH I'm shown through by my young kiwi companions, soon we have a small entourage holding our hands, and all constantly approach with their little outstretched hand and the now familiar "howareyou mazungu" though I've now learnt that the Swahili phrase is "Sasa" to which I get the reply "Pua"

A lovely man by the name of Joseph, proudly shows me his huge vegetable plot and two large plastic covered tomato houses, all of which provide a large number of the vegetables for HH.  The diet is very simple, but healthy, nutritious and plentiful....As we continue on our tour the children excitedly pull us into the rabbit enclosure, where there are about twenty beautiful conditioned rabbits of varying ages and sizes, and nestled up alongside the rabbits is a chicken coop with dozens of free range chickens. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realise this isn't the animal petting corner, but an integral part of their food supply.

As I continue on my guided tour, I'm shown four immaculately clean dormitories Big boys, Small boys, Big girls and yup you guessed it Small girls..every child has a bunk, with the pink or blue sheets made to exacting standards by the House-mum each morning, and on each bed, every child has his or her very own teddybear.  This beautiful teddies have been donated by a generous British soft toy company. Alongside every bed is a four drawer unit, two drawers each for the child's personal effects. On the wall is posted an outline of the days schedule, starting with 05:30 rise for wash and prayer through to the end of day with wash and prayer.

Panic not, I have no intention of boring you on a daily basis of the comings and goings of the children's home, for that would be boring for all of us... But to paint a picture of daily life is my aim..

Soon after the arrival of Emily the educational director and Rita the project manager, we are put to work transporting large amounts of donated goods into a recently built upper level of the children's home.. We proceeded to unpack and store masses of used children's clothing, books, art equipment and lots of other donated items...as well we begin to create 78 individual Christmas gifts for the children... All the while below us we can hear the children practising their Christmas songs and performance..