On the Ground Again

I’m supposed to be sleeping, but I cannot. My mind is spinning with the work that will be done in he coming week. It’s going to be a very short trip, so I’ll need to stuff as much activity into the small window of time I have. First up: we will be building an addition on to the dining area, which doubles as a playroom and study hall. No more. Last month, as I sat quietly in the dining hall eating my dinner and observing the children, I thought “how does this happen? How does life travel so rapidly that one sees growth before their own eyes?” Yet, it’s happened. The children no longer fit in their existing space. Not that they care, they don’t even know the difference. But I do. Once the dinner plates are moved and the floors swept, they settle into their nightly routine of studying. The thing is, the mtotos are no longer mtotos (babies). Even they are studying at night now. Tiff is back to being our mtoto, since Millah and Jolene have been adopted. Tiff is 6 years old now, hardly a baby.  But...she is our youngest child, and as much as I’d like to give her pills to keep her young, it’s not going to work.

In the past 6 weeks, I’ve become fairly obsessed with watching WWC over CCTV during my own sleepless nights. I roll over at 3:00am, flip on my phone and watch WWC operating in full color. It’s far better than Netflix, trust me. The shamba is being tended to, Penina is running to and fro and our new girl Ruth looks like a bolt of lightening as she performs her duties. I see Tony arriving to check on the chickens and harass him with quick WhatsApp messages, always making us both laugh. “What are you doing right now, Tony?” I’ll text. I get back a little chicken emoji a few minutes later, and just crack up. Tony doesn’t know the expression “Don’t you have a life?” If he did, I’m sure he’d use it. Then, a half dozen images of the chicken projects come bursting into my phone. Brightly colored images of our watermelon harvest pop on to show me what’s happening on that front, too.  We’re farmers now. Who would have thought! I can’t wait to get back and see what is happening and to walk the compound. I miss the grounds and the black cotton soil under my feet. I miss the smell of dirt, dust and heat. I miss the children, badly.

What was started above on the plane was not finished. I ended sleeping on the flight from Paris to Nairobi and then right through the night once I arrived at the hotel. As an aside, I flew on the 737-800 last night, also known as the Dreamliner. Kenya can't feed her children and offers no support to Rescue Centers, but Kenya Airways owns four of these aircraft. Go figure. (Majority of the company is owned by the government)  This plane is quite magnificent, because jet lag is almost non-existent, due to the higher levels of oxygen, ambient lighting, quieter environment, electronic dimming of windows and high efficiency air filters. Before you know it, 350+ passengers are sleeping.  But I digress...

I woke up at 8:00 feeling wonderful. Tony collected me around 11:00 and off we went, making stops along the way. I knew the children would be in church, so we took our time. Tony and I communicate regularly, so there really was no catching up to be done. After I left in January, we put two staff members on final notice, along with a two week suspension without pay.  The good news is, they simply didn't show up after their two weeks were up. This takes all the pressure off of us to exit them from WWC correctly. One temporary fill in matron is here now, and Tony hired a man to do the daily cooking.  His reason? "A woman cannot argue with a man."  Stifling a guffaw, I mumbled mmmmm hmmm to him and when he looked at me, I burst out laughing.  "If you say so, Tony."  The thing is, here in Kenya, women in remote areas really do not argue or talk back to men.  They're asking for a beating if they do. Fred comes in the morning to prepare breakfast for the children, goes home after for a bit and is back around 11:00am-9:00pm. All the cooking and cleaning of the dishes and the kitchen is done by Fred.  He seems like a happy fellow and the kids tell me he makes mondazi whenever they ask him to. Mondazi is similar to fried dough, without the confectioners sugar.  It's out of this world. Fred's only other responsibility is chopping the firewood. 

Penina is sleeping at WWC until we get a full time matron.  I will be meeting a potential candidate on Tuesday, who was recommended to me from a friend in the US, who knows this woman. My friend sponsored her education and now she is looking for employment.  Her qualifications are sound, so we are interviewing her and told her to prepare to stay, should the interview go well.


Sammy and David are doing a terrific job on the chicken project. We lost four to "a sickness" which was contained.  We also lost one to an eagle flying overhead, so Tony has put wire above the pen to keep flying predators away.  We are collecting over 400 eggs a week, which is fantastic. Tony's only complaint about this project is he cannot provide our suppliers with enough eggs. Great problem to have!  Project two and three are both coming along beautifully.  

                                              
                                                 Project 2 Layers

Project 3 'Roasters" with a wired roof, now

Tony asked me today how I felt about turkeys. I said I'd think about it, for eating only. He claims they keep away rats and other unmentionables away from our chickens.  I claim they are good for eating, twice a year.  They are otherwise noisy and very dirty. Guess I already made up my mind :)

The shamba is magnificent. Our watermelon crop was and is something to write home about!  While we sold some, we most likely are not going to continue to sell this fruit, as the children adore them.  I've never known a child to tire of watermelon, but if they do, we will begin selling them again. Otherwise, squash, spinach, sekuma, carrots, onions and drum roll....mangoes are all doing beautifully. The patch of coriander outside my door is heavenly.  I am asking David to make an herb garden, tomorrow. The pili-pili (hot peppers) we grow need to be offset with some fresh herbs. 

                               
                                 Crop of beautiful looking spinach

Maize and sekuma wiki

It was late before I knew it, so we ended the day with a raucous game of hide and seek.  

Faith doesn't seem to want to cover her eyes while she counts:

Jecinta

Josie, running to home base

Tiff ("hiding")

Peter and Mundia, showing the jewelry they have been working on every Saturday since I left in January. Way to go, kids! I should have a good amount for the Fundraiser in June.

     
                                                          Brian

Eric, miffed by the lack of places to hide

It was a wonderful, wonderful day here in East Africa. It feels like I never left, and I like it this way.  The kids are all great, healthy and sound.  It's tradition for the boys to escort me home each evening, so I delighted them each with a new torch and 2 "story books" each.  Reading under the blankets at night was a favorite past time of mine - I can't imagine its going to be any different for these boys.

Lots of love from East Africa ~ more tomorrow.

Simmie, Sheila, Josie and Faith