Masai!

On Monday, we faced another long bumpy ride, this time to Najile Girls school. It's a school for Masai girls and is doing an amazing job. Compassion provided the funds for building the school and the running of the school and funding for some of the teachers is now provided by the Kenyan government.

Without the school, most of the girls there would already be married off and have no opportunities for an education or choice in their future. The school is extremely popular and competitive, so only the brightest can get in. It is so sad to think that those that don't make it won't have the chance to go to high school at all. There is a great need for more schools like this one.

Afterwards, we visited the Compassion project just up the road. We were greeted by lots and lots of kids and their parents - all Masai and dressed in the most amazing outfits! We were treated to the best singing and dancing we've heard the whole trip - it was magical. I could have listened and watched all day.

Ben had lots of great photo opportunities with all the children and some of their mums and dads. Here's a few of them :)

A great project

The next day we visited a Compassion project in Nairobi which had some amazing things going on. They have a hair salon where the girls go to learn skills in hairdressing - I even got a free blow-dry! It was fun to watch them all doing each others hair in braids and practising platting on hair mannequins.

They also have a medical clinic where they were doing eye check ups and dental work. Ben filmed a tooth extraction (yuck) and we able to buy glasses for a little Compassion girl whose glasses had broken and her parents couldn't afford to replace them. There was a computer room too - the kids learn skills there and the community can also come and surf the net or use the printer for a small fee.

They also make school shoes and sell them to other projects in the area. They buy the soles and make the leather top of the shoe. These people were very innovative and we really enjoyed seeing all the different initiatives they had started at the project.

The team...together in a photo for the first time:

More mums and babies!

On Friday we went to a project which runs a Child Survival Program (CSP). As we stepped out of the car we were greeted by about thirty mums with their babies on their backs, singing welcome songs to us and dancing. It was beautiful!!!

Once inside, we were grabbed one by one to dance with them - Ben had to be the funniest 'dancer' there - I took video footage, so stay tuned for a youtube video upload!!!

We got play with the little ones in their playroom - it was so much fun! They are all so adorable, I can't wait for our own little bundle of joy :) We also got to spend some time chatting with older students too and learning lots of Swahili from them - although I don't know how much we will remember in a few days.


The women had amazing testimonies. One lady had experienced three miscarriages before she joined the CSP program, and then she was able to learn how to take care of herself during pregnancy through pre-natal classes and regular health check-ups - and now she has a beautiful healthy baby boy named Samuel. Another women's husband claimed the baby was not his when he found out his wife was pregnant for the third time and he tried to get his mother to perform an abortion. But after he saw the pregnancy kit and supplies provided by the CSP and the support his wife was receiving, he changed his mind and they now have a gorgeous daughter. It was a very inspiring and uplifting day.

Babies and LDP

Thursday saw me stay at home in the morning for some much needed rest while the others made the 2 hour bumpy ride to a project to do some interviews. If only I'd known there were going to heaps of mums and babies there, I might have faced the ride!

Ben had a great time photographing all the cute little bubs, with the help of his handy assistant Ben (Bernard). Ben is an LDP graduate - it stands for Leadership Development Program, and it's a Compassion program. When kids show outstanding leadership qualities, have great academic results and are also actively involved in prayer/devotions/church life, they are nominated by their Compassion teachers for LDP. Those that are chosen for the program are able to go to university, their fees are paid, they are given food/board allowances and also mentors. it's been amazing to hear the testimonies of some of the LDP students and their dreams for Kenya.

Ben walked with the team through corn fields at one stage, to visit one of the children's homes. When a siren rang, they were told to run - as rocks go flying everywhere everytime they set off explosions in the nearby quarry! Apparently each time the siren rings, the locals go running to the next village! I'm glad Ben was ok :)

In the afternoon I joined the team and we visited another project in the city of Mombasa. We had a ball taking heaps of photos of the kids in the classrooms and around the school. Some of the girls tried to do my hair, but it's too soft to braid - they can't believe how different our hair is to theirs! I'd swap any day of the week for some gorgeous African hair, although it'd look pretty silly with my pale white skin!

Mombasa

Wednesday started at 6am, as we needed to catch our flight to Mombasa, which is on the coast of Kenya. Once there, we drove a very bumpy hour and a half to the M'bungoni Methodist Child Development Centre (CDC). Along with the centre, they run a HIV/AIDS support group for Compassion parents who have children who are positive or who are themselves positive - it's called "People Living Positive".

They provide education and support, as well as health check-ups and assistance in receiving treatment. The mums were full of so much energy and were all great friends by the look of it. It was, however, heartbreaking to see one of the mums with her little baby girl, both positive. She has hopes and dreams for her daughter, even though the life expectancy of children born positive is only 15 years. She holds out hope that a cure will be found.

In the afternoon we visited the home of a seven year old boy who is HIV positive. His aunty looks after him (as both his parents have died, presumably from AIDS) and he himself doesn't know he is infected. Most parents wait to tell their children when they are old enough to understand. The stigma attached with AIDS is another reason they try to spare their children the knowledge earlier on.

He was the happiest child we have met yet, and while his aunty was interviewed, we ran around with him, visiting his goat and grandmother, whose name happened to be Sarah too. She was fascinating - full of wonderful stories and energy. At eighty years old, she still cuts and carries firewood, thatches her roof, digs in the garden and more. She told us that bodies are like machines - you have to keep working them or they will break down!