Thank you so much for your e-mails I received after my last blog entry. It was so much fun to read each of them and picture each of you - I do miss everyone of you and our interactions together. But for now we will keep in touch this way. I was so glad to get some photos to you and want to thank Mark for posting them on the blog then and now. I think I am doing good just getting a blog entry done!
The photos this time should be:
1. two little boys with a hoop. They made this toy, which they roll around the grounds with a stick. It's made of sticks then wrapped with string to hold it together.
2. I love the photos of hands - we had so much fun doing it!
3. The two girls sewing are making Christmas dresses for every girl in the orphanage. Remember there is no electricity there, so those Singer Sewing Machines are run by 'treadeling.'
4. There should be one of me (not my best photo) and my two little friends, Lucy and Brenda, who run up to me when I arrive and grab my bags and carry them everywhere for me - what service!
5. Photo of the coffee beans (red) and after the red coffee beans are peeled, the white beans have to dry on racks (behind the red beans).
6. Course there is the photo of my sponsor boy Joshua and his friend Vince wearing the two pairs of shorts that Sharon Goddard sent - don't they look great!
7. The photo of all the students lined up in their uniform - well the neighbor to the orphanage gave a bag of gwavas (Sp?) and the word got out and the kids ran to get one!
Today I'm in pain - have pulled a muscle in my thigh. Hummm, too much walking up that hill or possibly 'the hole' experience has irritated a muscle!!
The power continually goes off at our home. It happens almost nightly at 6:30 p.m. just when our host lady is fixing our dinner. Lucky she has a propane stove. I wake each morning hearing Gabriel (one of the workers) getting water out of the well for our use by cranking this handle which makes the water flow. Then he lights a fire in this brick fireplace so we have warm water for our showers.
I continue to work with kids one-to-one, hearing stories of their childhood. They loved to be hugged and have some individual attention. I am also having them write to their sponsors back in Canada. They can't believe I drive! Keep asking to take out my silver teeth! Were wide eyed when I took out my playing cards and shuffled them - guess old people don't do those things!
It is hard to relate to Canadian holidays when the weather here is the opposite of what it usually is in Canada on those holidays. They do not celebrate Halloween nor do they know anything about it.
There is a huge malaria conference going on right now in Nairobi. The statistics of cases and deaths from malaria are staggering. If a vaccine could be found to deal with this little mosquito infected parasite it would be such a break through.
Here's an interesting tidbit I learned from the newspaper yesterday. Thousands of girls are missing thousands of days of school each month because of their periods. Families are so poor here that girls cannot afford to purchase pads so they stay home from school during menstruation. There is a group from California here who have been helping a widows group and one way they help these ladies is by having them make cloth reusable pads to sell or give. This will also help all these young women not to miss school every month.
Well, we will see how the rest of this week goes. Our water at our host home and every other home as well has been turned off because Kitale is hosting an agriculture show which the Kenyan government has traveling around the country. Guess they need the water from November 2 through 7th. We do have well water we can purify for drinking but we're praying for more rain, rain, rain so we can collect it and maybe have a shower!! And the whole of Kenya itself had a power outage this week for about 7 hours - some glitch. Oh well, we have not suffered any since arriving so maybe now we'll get a taste of no water and no electricity like so many people here experience daily.
I won the prize yesterday for the most mail received in one day! Poor Candice had to give up her 'title.' One of the letters I received was mailed October 4th and the other October 18th and I got them November 2nd! But it's fun to get mail (hint, hint).
Not too much to write about so I will leave it for now and 'chat' with you later! Just one other thing: Had to use the 'hole' again - faced the right way this time - no back splash!
Love,
Nancy
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Hi Mrs Miller,
ReplyDeleteWe are all missing you here at Gibsons Elementary. We hope your back gets better soon. We were wondering if you've ridden any giraffes lately? Do the children in the orphanage have made up games they play because they don't have lots of other stuff to play with. We also wondered if you could you tell us what the weather is like right now? Have you gotten over your fear of snakes yet since there are a lot of snakes in Africa? We hope you are having fun and we wish the kids at the orphanage good luck. Ms K's class.
Hi Nancy, Glad to hear you are thriving! Mark posted some of your pictures in the hall by the office, and it's great to see the kids milling around looking at them. In fact, when I was walking up the stairs this morning, I heard one boy looking at the pictures and saying, "There's Mrs. Miller!". Take Care! Love, Jean
ReplyDeleteNancy you don't TAKE a bad picture, at least not when you're smiling! All the pictures are wonderful and your descriptions are lovely. Still waiting for more of an explanation regarding the "hole". There's a right way and a wrong way? Are there two doors "into" the hole. Does the "hole" have walls at all? If the hole doesn't have walls, why USE the hole, why not a pit? (Camping 101 or the Boy Scouts dig their own bog.)
ReplyDeleteAh well, I guess I might have to wait until you get back to get an explanation. You've got so much more to say and I'm enjoying every comment.
About writing. Do we just send it care of the Mercy and Caring Children's Home?
Be good! Love Jackie.
Keep the great posts and descriptions of your pictures coming Nancy. The GES Community really miss you and appreciate your blog and the pictures. Vicki has set up a board outside the office where we post the pictures.
ReplyDeleteWe had great weather for Remembrance Day-- Adam Goddard played the trumpet for the ceremony and did a great job.
I trust that all is well with you and the rest of your team.
May you continue to be blessed as your time in Africa continues.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Mark
Hello Nancy. Your trip to Africa sounds like a fantastic journey so far....and in the process has forced me to become more technical with this computor. I have opened up a blog account and you can check it out to see our initial message to you. Thank you for all the great pictures of the children you are meeting and descriptions of your new experiences. We miss you. The boys say hi. Good luck with the chickens.
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