Time here is flying by and I apologize for not writing again sooner! The weekend was a busy one and yesterday I was quite exhausted so I decided to take the night off from blogging. In a nutshell, this weekend included: house cleaning at the home of several of our students, playing football (yes, I actually played- just a bit), more dancing with Rosemary- but this time at a place called Summit and Guava (really fun places I will tell you all more about later), attending church with Chris and finalizing my donation plans (news follows below!!).
HOUSE CLEANING
We spent Saturday morning visiting the home of several of the nursery students. Many of the students had been coming to school with 'bed bugs' on their clothes. The school had sprayed to keep the bugs away at school, but the parents could not afford dinner, let alone to spray to keep the bugs away. So, the only solution to keep the bugs away for good: to clean it ourselves! And let me tell you- this was quite a project! The single room home (that houses a family of ten) was covered with literally millions of bed bugs. We removed all the clothing, kitchen utensils, seat cushions and curtains, sprayed the entire house including the walls, bed, chairs and couch frame, then scrubbed the place clean. The end result: much better than when we started. It had a fresh scent (minus the bug spray smell that lingered for just a bit) and was mostly clear of the unwelcome bugs.
FOOTBALL
In the afternoon on Saturday, I joined seventy Kenyan boys ranging from 11 to 20-something years to play a bit of football. The Centre started a league that plays every evening at 5p.m. to keep the boys busy. This week though Chris arranged a special match for me to see (and to play). I played goalkeeper for about 30 minutes- in the under 14 league because I told Chris that even they were above my skill level, so the junior and senior leagues would be out of the question. I let in about six goals.. yes, six. But then started improving just a bit and blocked two. Not exactly something to brag about for most, but for me I thought this was okay. At the end of the game, one of the boys did tell me I was "their best goalkeeper yet".. I'm not sure if he was saying it just to make me happy or because I had helped hand out the juice and snacks.. ;)
MORE DANCING
After a long day, I ran home to shower before meeting Rosemary out for one more night on the town! We hopped around to a few places.. all of which, I can tell you that you all would LOVE! The first was called Guava Bar. It had a quite "trendy" feeling to it with lounge-like tables. It was a bit small, but that made it all the more exclusive. The second was called Summit. Now this place, let me tell you, was something! It is on the boarder of the Lake Nakuru National Park fence. That means that less than 50 feet away from the gate there were lions roaming! (protected by an electric fence, but still it was exciting!) It was an open air place with a big dance floor in the middle. In addition to dancing, I tried Nyoma Chyoma (bbq meat) and another dish I can't remember the name, but it's basically sliced vegetables with hot peppers mixed in.. very spicy, so as those of you who know me might guess.. I am OBSESSED! (I had it three times this weekend actually..)
CHURCH
Sunday morning I woke up a bit early (considering we were out quite late Saturday night) to attend church with Chris. It was nice to be welcomed there. They had the service in English and KiSwahili so that everybody could understand. I also noticed how the people here really are just like one big family... the kids kept jumping around from parent to parent.
THE BIG NEWS!!
So, this weekend I finalized the donation plan for all the money you all helped me raise! As I believe I mentioned earlier, the day before I arrived the Centre had a graduation for its dressmaking students. Twenty-six of the students received certificates after six months of practicing and passing an exam. Unfortunately, since then, many of them have been idle because they cannot yet afford a sewing machine to start their business. Idle-ness is really one of the biggest problems here. Anyways, this weekend with your help, I purchased several sewing machines for the Centre to award to the graduates! It should work out pretty well because the graduates were put into groups to start their businesses. The machines were delivered to the Centre yesterday and I am VERY excited about this!! I cannot tell you how excited the students will be, but I can tell you that you have helped do so much here. In addition to the machines, a portion of the money will be donated to the Centre to start the building fund. Susan fundraised enough money last week to purchase land when she returns to Nakuru in June. This is VERY exciting news as well because right now the facility is a bit small for the capacity they would like to take in. After the land is built though, there is still much to raise to build a facility. And some of your money will be used for this as well! I cannot tell you enough times how appreciative I am.. but I hope you understand just how great an impact you have helped make here!
Okay, I have to scoot off now.. going to the supermarket to buy diet cokes (I haven't been able to 100% kick that habit here, although it's coke light and not quite as delicious as the real thing at home..) and then need to rush home for dinner with Rosemary. Oh, and our Mexican soap opera is on tonight.. it will be a good night! :)
Missing you all. MUCH L
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