My African Adventure: A word from V

Her kommer et lite innlegg som V skrev på sin blogg forige uke. Hun blogger ikke så ofte, og jeg har bedt henne om å skrive et innlegg her hos meg, men ting tar tid.

Greetings from Kenya!!

I know some of you have been waiting for me to write a blog...well here you go! It took me a little while to start it for a few reasons...

1) I didn't have wifi connected to my laptop just to my phone and I wasn't gonna start a blog using my phone lol.

2) I ended up having really bad jet lag plus a cold and to top it off I got sunburned pretty badly....and yes I did use sunscreen and not just any kind it was SPF 50, the type you use on children and I still got burned. Ok, well maybe I didn't use it the first day I was out in the sun but I did use it the next day....anyway lesson learned sunscreen does not work too well if you are already burned ;) So enough about the mumbo jumbo, let me tell you about my first week in Kenya!

Ok so first of all I ended up flying into Kenya alone....my cousin Miriam's flight from Oslo was delayed due to fuel problems and therefore would miss the connecting flight. I was going to change my flight so that we could all fly together but it was almost $300 CAD and I would have to pay for another night at the hotel. There were no problems with getting the Visa...just had to wait in line for a bit, which wasn't too bad.

So the drive from the airport was approx. 30 min according to my driver Tito, unless there is traffic....well there was traffic and it took about 3hrs to get to the orphanage. The traffic is crazy, drivers just merge whenever they feel like it, people run across the road whether theres a car coming or not...it reminded me of that game 'frogger'. Oh and when traffic is slow and there's a bit of a jam....you have people selling newspapers...they just walk between the cars...If you've ever been to India or have watched Slumdog Millionaire you get the picture ;)

Rush hour traffic

Newspaper anyone?

Miriam and I are staying in an apt on the top floor of the orphanage. It's quite nice, 3 bedrooms, a living room, bathroom with a shower...that has hot water ;), and a kitchen. There's no fridge but we just use the one on the bottom floor.

So let me tell you about the orphanage. GoodHope Village is quite large...there's the school, there's a hall where church is held and other functions, there's the actual orphanage and there's a farm. The school is like an elementary school, only goes up to grade 8. Children who attend the school are from the orphanage as well as local children who live in the area.

GoodHope Academy

Children playing at the playground

Orphanage

The Hall

There are 105 children who live here in the orphanage, 48 girls and 57 boys and the ages range from 7 - 14. There are 'parents' who are like dorm leaders...they each have children who they look after and parent. Every year there are new children who come to the orphanage and the ones who are now 15 and ready for high school leave. They go live with sponsors and attend high school in Up Country as the locals call it. They are still supported throughout high school and there's an outreach team from the orphanage that go see them every week and make sure that they are doing well and bring them clothes.

The children are so cute and have already attached themselves to me....they run up and hug me and want to be so close to me. The other night we taught them how to properly introduce themselves and how to greet people they already know and see everyday...they had this habit of shaking hands every time they saw us...anyway I taught some of them how to high 5 and a couple of hand shakes....like the one you've seen on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air' and now they are all doing it...it's so cute and its funny at the same time.

The food here is not too bad...I actually enjoy it ;). Corn or Maize as its called in Swahili is the staple food here. They actually grow the corn here on the farm as well as beets, kale, onions and spinach. They also have a cow and goats where they get the milk from, chickens which they sometimes eat...I actually saw them kill one my first day here. They just built a fish pond...there's about 1000 tiny tiny fish...in about 3-6 months they'll be ready to eat. Right now it's harvest time for the corn so they are cut down and then they are shucked by hand, which is what I've been helping with. After it is shucked it is then dried in the sun and then its taken to the mill where they grind it down to flour and then it's used to make Ugali, which is a dough. Its very bland but when eaten with other foods it's not too bad.

So far I've eaten almost everything they've served....rice & beans, beans & corn, kale & ugali, chapatis & bean/lentils, Mandazi which is like a donut...I've not tried the tiny fish called omena...they remind me of the dried fish I would feed my cat when I was young lol. So far the chapatis are my favourite...oh and chai, Kenyan chai is so good, I drink at least one cup if not more a day ;)