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The 25th was a travel day with a few stops from start to finish. The first was a very heartwarming and touching residential school run by Brother Kennedy, who himself had been very poor while growing up and did not receive an education til an adult. He also had visited the CODY Institute in Halifax, a program that assists 3rd world leaders in developing their skills. Our team leader Bob had been asked by a friend to visit the school, and thus the reason for the visit.
The church gave BR. Kennedy, a small plot of land with a few dilapidated buildings but no operating money. Thus in addition to managing all aspects of the children he must fund raise as there is no gov't or church support. He invited us into his small home and related information about the school. Over 200 children attend and are all orphans and street children. Here they receive a safe sleep, food, education, support and most of all LOVE!!!! We toured the site and saw a dorm 10x16 that slept 60 boys!! Unbelievable. We then met a very enthusiastic school body where we heard songs and speeches (one of which was a very impressive one from an older student.) As a team we decided to support the chicken project and donated $750 to purchase chickens. This project will provide food for the school, and monies from sales to the community as well as teach the children how to care for chickens. Our sign, SCAW'S ROOST 2015, is proudly mounted above the coop. Bob is going to try to obtain new mattresses for the school from the company we purchased the mattresses from.
It warmed our hearts that Melissa and Lauren decided to sponsor a child's education and huge hugs and pictures were aplenty!!!!!! Joyce and Nancy were the lucky gals, both 16. We also learned that a uniform will help protect a child, as when in uniform they are not allowed into bars, people know that they will be charged with an offence if they harm a uniformed child, and the community also looks up to them as they are attending school. This was a visit we will never forget!!!!
We continued our travels north eastwardly, stopping at the Rift Valley for a panoramic view. The valley travels from Israel to Mozambique, a distance of over 9000km. The topography changed often, from lush to desert and very dry as it is the end of the dry season. We observed the many herds of cattle (some very thin) sheep and goats tended by their herdsman, both men and women tilling the soil by hand held hoes, groups of men talking, young men hanging out with their motorcycles, women tending their roadside shops with young children playing outside, children in their brightly coloured uniforms walking to school, and small and larger shops/industries operated by the men.
We arrived at our hotel about 7 hours north east of Nairobi, approx 7:30 pm and prepared for our next day.
The 26th brought another distribution with 500 children dressed in their new clothes, anxiously awaiting our arrival. They were thrilled to shake our hands, do the high fives, and were ecstatic when we produced the bubbles!!!!!!!
The 27th brought another distribution that gave us as much joy as the children who received the bed kits. This was in a very remote area and most were barefoot and dressed in very threadbare uniforms. Some were deaf and others were physically disabled. This community was certainly deserving and extremely grateful. On our return to the hotel we stopped to view Lake Victoria, the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world (the first being our own Lake Superior).
The 28th was a day off and we travelled to the Nakuru Game Reserve, another 5 hour van ride. Due to skillful negotiating skills we were able to stay at the Lodge inside the reserve rather than the Sports Club nearby that was an old Edwardian Club frequented by the elite in days gone by. The cost at the Reserve Lodge was finally reduced to a quarter of the original $500 due to a combination of what our volunteer work was and that there were very few staying there because of the ebola scare. It reminded me of Montebello and was very relaxing to say the least. We enjoyed the evening drive, as well as the morning one and saw many flocks of flamingos, water buffalo, giraffe, zebra, exotic birds, monkeys and baboons (one of whom jumped on our open roof looking for food) He gave us quite a scare and we were saved by Bill who shooed him away with his camera!!!
We left about 1:30pm for the 5 hour drive back to Heart Lodge.
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