Vision Academy class

This is the class, but remember not all of them are there because it was a holiday but there they are! Aren't they beautiful?

Kiminini school - Vision Academy

This is a photo of one of the schools that we went to. It's the one that we went to on their holiday but the children still came to see us "white visitors". This school has ECD (kindergarten to us) to standard 7 (grade 7). This whole school is made out of temporary structures, the ones that are made from mud, sticks and cow dung. They hope to put in permanent structures soon, but of course they are expensive so they are waiting on the Lord for provision.

Soweto Slums

This photo is also from back in Nairobi. But I wanted you to get an idea of what the slums look like and what the shelters are like. Maybe are just a room, made from either mud and dung or bricks and the all have iron sheets for a roof. The streets are not big enough for a car and are dirt. There is garbage everywhere because there is no garbage disposal here in Kenya. There is one big garbage dump which is called "Chombo" and that is where many mothers go to find remains and scraps for her children to eat.

Auntie making Chapati

This is in Nairobi. Auntie (the housemaid) is making chapati on a jerico, which is their little coal stoves.

Just giving you an idea of how the most wonderful Kenyan food is made.

Jon working at Soweto

This photo is of Jon, Wycliff and David levelling the ground at Soweto. When we left Nairobi they were hoping to pour cement the next week so that the children can have a playing area that is flat.

Another cute pic of Rachel and Courtney :)

This is just another picture of Rachel and I, because I was feeling that there weren't enough photos of me haha. Just kidding. Sorry, I forgot that they go on the web the way that they were taken and that I can't rotate it.

Crazy Matatu

This is a photo of the crazy matatus. They are supposed to only fit 14 passengers but really that means, 'how ever many are willing to get in'. I have sat on many people's laps :). They are the means of public transportation and because not many Kenyans own their own vehicles there are many of them everywhere in Kenya.

Handsome Soweto boys

This is a photo back in Nairobi of the all of the boys in their new uniforms.

Sorry that I don't have any recent pics (of all of the things that I have been talking about) but I can't find a town that can burn my memory card onto cd so that I can upload them onto here. I will keep trying and hopefully in Kitale I can get you some new, more recent photos :)

Hope you still enjoy these photos though. It's all part of the experience right?!

Love and Mercy Ministry

We had the opportunity to meet with the Love and Mercy group of Grace Community Church (Patrick and Mary's church) and it was wonderful. This is a ministry designed to meet the needs of the widows, orphans and needy in the church. We asked Pastor Patrick if there was someone in the church that we could bless by buying soap or a mosquito net or blankets and we have come up with a plan to bless two homes and bring them gifts that they need. I am very excited about that and will post after we experience that.
Church services here in Kenya are much longer than those at home. We have not yet been to a service that was under 3 hours. They sure do love to be at church!

Chipati

This is a typical meal here in Kenya, featuring my new favorite on the bottom right had corner. It is a flour pie type thing that is cooked over their coal stove (similar to a camping stove). Right beside it (on the left) is deep fried eggs, which were surprisingly good. The food here is great because it's simple, just the way Courtney likes it :)

Back in Soweto

This is back in Nairobi on the morning break. Skipping is a huge activity for the children because it does not require a lot of equipment.
Try to notice some of the boys new uniforms.

New Life Academy

We are staying in a village in Bungoma right now with Pastor Patrick and his family. He and his wife Mary have adopted 5 orphans as their children. Faith and Pheobe (6 and 8 years old) are the two girls that live at home with them and their other 3 are at boarding school. They have a church within the village (about 1 km away from their home) and there is a nursery school there as well. I visited there yesterday and had a wonderful time with the children. I got to teach the "Hokey Pokey" for their music class. They pulled out some drums, shakers and other musical instruments they use and we danced together. I wrote the words up on the board and we all did the actions together. The children loved it and when I came back after lunch, they all said "shake, shake", which is how they asked me to sing for them.
After lunch the children drew pictures of their homes. The children shared pieces of pencils that had been broken and the teacher used a razor to sharpen them which is when I almost started to cry thinking about how much canadian children/students have to use. 45 children shared a package of 16 crayons to colour their pictures with. So I also told them that I was going to town tomorrow and would buy them more pencils and sharpeners and crayons.
Seb, Trevor and Luke (the 3 boys that I nannied for last year, in Abbotsford) donated their Tsunami money they raised for me to buy supplies with. We were able to buy 168 lined paper books, 400 erasers, and 288 pencils with their money. THANK YOU BOYS!!!! (I will post a photo as soon as I can). We gave some to all of the school we have visited and (as well as the Staples supplies that we brought from Canada) and the reactions from the children have made this trip worth it in themselves because they are so grateful and so excited to get the new supplies. A little goes a long way here in Kenya and I am so lucky to be here and be able to give things that they only dream of. The parents are suppose to pay a school fee to cover the expenses of supplies but many of them can't afford it and the school would rather have the child getting education than at home so the teachers try to buy the supplies but many of them don't get paid so you can imagine the vicious circle with no solution.

Kabula Widows

HERE IS THE PHOTO - YAY!

We were blessed to get to meet with 3 widows while we were visiting a church in Kabula, a sub-district in Bungoma. They were very sweet and wonderful ladies. One of the widow's husband had only died 2 months ago. It really made things real, when you meet people who have experienced things that we only dream of in Canada. I mean disease isn't as much of a killer as it is here in Kenya. Jon and I were able to give them each a blanket and a package of sugar. God put it on our hearts to give some money as well. We gave them 1000 KSh (about $16.50 canadian dollars) and you would've thought that we gave them gold by the way they reacted. They all cheered so loud and later the pastor explained to us that no one has ever even given them 100 KSh and now you have given them so much. They will be able to feed their families for 3 weeks off of that, which is amazing. It was very humbling for us.

Ruth and her son Emmanuel

HERE IT IS!!!! Ruth(the standard 1 teacher at Hope and a Bright Future) and her 11 month old son Emmanuel. She is a dear lady who has a heart of gold. She invited me to come and see her home in the Soweto slums. We walked for 45 minutes to get there and she had time to feed her son and then we talked for 10 minutes before walking back. Just to give you an idea of her situation...she gets paid 2500 Ksh per month and her rent is 1000 ksh per month. Her place is 6 feet by 9 feet. It is the smallest thing I've ever seen. There is a sheet to divide the "bedroom" from the area with the couch. Her 2 children can't even sleep in the same room, they sleep down the hall in her friends room/house. I had brought some bananas, a chocolate bar, teddy grahams and cashews for myself because I was just going to stay at the school for lunch and read my book or finish a scarf. As soon as I pulled out my lunch, I offered it to Ruth and she was so grateful. That was when I knew that she didn't ever get to eat lunch. She gave her son most of the food, so I just left it all for her. She saved some for her daughter as well.