Touchdown in Kenya

HOME has now raised 5339 Canadina dollars! I am so pleased and so happy to have everyone's support on this project.

First in HOME news, we are getting started with making plans for the chicken coop/cow shed. We have decided on 500 chickens, a mix of broiler and layers, so they can eat chicken and eggs. We're also looking into buying an incubator, to grow broiler chickens. I'm super excited about that. It can take up to 500 eggs. It takes 18-20 days to incubate the fertilized eggs, then they are hatched and kept for another 2-3 weeks. At this point they can be sold to the neighbours and give the orphanage more income.

We went to look at another orphanage in Ngong on Wednesday that has an incubator, with my friend Daniel. At Faraja Children's Home we met a guy named George who filled us in on how it works, costs etc. Now we just need to get Mama Tunza to agree.

Also a big thank you to Alberto Saavedra for his donation to HOME. Alberto is my friend from Portugal who was a fellow volunteer in 2007, working at an orphanage called the Sons of Manesh. And thank yous to Brett Davidson, owner of LadySport, my roommates Tom Bond and Rae Mitchell, and the best looking spectator/Funky Trunks model, Craig Simonetto for their respective donations.

In other news, Alisha and I are settling in well. This trip is already very different. We are living way out in the country, in Ngong Hills. It's a 40 minute drive into civilization, ie Junction, where I lived last time, where there is a huge supermarket and everything you would ever need or want. It takes about 30 minutes to walk to Ngong town, where there are Kenyan shops and 15 minutes to walk to the orphanage.

We are living with an ordinary Kenyan family (not a chief as previously reported) on their acre farm. They are Evans, who works in construction, and Alice who graduated yesterday as an Early Childhood Educator and runs a daycare. They have 3 kids, girls Favour who is 13 and Audrey who is 10 and a son Pistis, who is 8. And a bunch of dogs and a cat. We are settling in with them well.

It's a different world in Ngong from Kibera. The orphanage has tons of room, including a small playing field outside. They are still transitioning some of the kids, in fact we went ot Kibera on Tuesday to collect the year 8s, who have just sat their national exams. Yesterday, Cyrus, joined us. He is blind and attending a special school and will be there for the December holidays. In January he will start at a new school where he can learn Braille. Next Friday the rest of the older kids will come from Kibera and they will have nearly 100 kids at the orphanage.

I was excited that many of the older kids have remembered me and were very excited to see me again. The little ones don't, but they are pretty easy to win over. Push them on a swing, play a game of soccer with them, read them a book and you're golden.

That's probably it for now. I'm hoping to get construction started this week and the livestock out here before long.

I'm not by a computer very often, but will update when I can.

Countdown is on

Me and Peter, 2007

Off tomorrow night and I'm super excited. I can't wait to see the kids, though it will be Tuesday before that happens. It will be interesting to see how they've changed, who is still there and to meet the new kids at Mama Tunza's. I am especially excited to see little Peter, who was my favourite the last trip. He was 1 1/2 then and we were literally joined at the hip anytime I was at the orphanage. Peter was the child I saw change the most, when we first met he was a very quiet almost sullen little one. All he really needed was some attention and some fresh air, as soon he was a happy little boy, running around and singing. I've missed him terribly, but I'm bracing myself for the fact that he probably won't remember me. Mama Tunza's has a revolving door of volunteers and Peter is only 3 1/2 now, so his little memory probably doesn't have me in it. But I'm pretty sure I can win him over and we'll be besties again.

In donation news...

My auntie Kate is great. Last Friday, November 6th, she hosted a dinner at her house in Kelowna. It was African themed. Kate recently took an African drumming class, so there was drumming as well as plenty of African food. I wish I could have been there, as all reports are that it was fabulous and a lot of fun. And she raised $510 for the project! Yay!

Also a big thanks to my mom's Girl Guide friend Gail Rose and to Mama, my grandmother, and Linda Stevens from my work for their donations. Thanks as well to Mom and Dad who brought down a bunch of books for me to take with me.

Donation News

I have heard from a reliable source in Kenya that some of my estimated costs are high. Chickens especially should cost 1/2 to a 1/3 of what I quoted, so $5 to $7 a piece. The cows may be less as well. This is great news, as now the donations will stretch even farther. It may be possible to set up a contingency fund for veterinarian costs for the livestock, if there are any surplus funds after the animals are purchased and the barn is built.

I will also post a detailed account of how all the money was spent, on this blog, when I return.

Thank you again to everyone for your support
Kelsey

Today is brought to you by...

My auntie Susan and Uncle Mike Gardiner, Elaine Hughes-Games who is Fiona's auntie, my friend Leah Kimura from first year Ross, and my cousin Heather Gardiner and my friends Jen Chapman and Flo Sanchez. Thank you for your support!

A big thank you to David Saito at DeSerres for donating art supplies and to my sister Rebecca for donating a huge amount of clothing.

Last minute things

I had my last day off before the trip today (I'm working til Friday afternoon, we fly out at 9pm, crazy I know...)so I've been running around doing all the little things. Buying rubber boots (apparently it's been pretty rainy over there, so probably awfully muddy as well), laundry, packing and I got my H1N1 shot today. I hadn't originally planned on getting it, as I'm not too concerned about getting sick, but a pharmacist I know mentioned that she was more worried about giving it to someone. Since there are kids with HIV at Mama Tunza's it seemed like a good idea to get it so I don't give it to them.

I'm up to $3716 thanks to my dad's cousins Joyce and Bob Tremblay, my friend Mel Harmer from my UBC years, Steve Maltby who let me be his temporary roommate when I got back from Australia and was an awesome photographer at Ironman and my wonderful friends/cousins/former employers Andrea and Dave McFadden. Thank you!

Nearly at $3500!

Me and Hannah with our little family. Kevin, Kemto and Peter

First off I would like to thank my Mom and Dad who were the first to jump on board with a generous donation back in the spring when I first started thinking about the project. While they weren't completely thrilled when I decided to go to Kenya the first time, they came around quickly and visited Ethiopia with my Dad's Rotary Club last fall. Besides helping me with the project they are also involved in one there, paying for desks for a school.

More thanks go to Maggie Bowden from LSport, Rebecca Clarke who is a friend of Fiona's and my dad's cousins Michele and Richard Allegretto.

Even though we leave on Friday, it is now a week until we actually arrive in Kenya! We have an overnight layover in London. My friend Hannah, who was a volunteer at Mama Tunza's with me last time lives there and has been nice enough to put me and Alisha up for the night. Hannah spent some time back in Kibera this spring so I'm looking forward to catching up with her and hearing all the stories!

It hit me...

last night that I'm actually about to go to Kenya, as I took my first anti malaria pill. It's funny with big things like this, so much anticipation and then bam! you're almost on your way and you can't believe it.

Alisha and i got our placements. We'll both be at Mama Tunza's and living together with a chief and his family in Ngong. Interesting, I'm not sure what he's a chief of, but we'll find out soon enough.

Donations keep coming and I'm getting closer and closer to the goal. Now standing at $3286. Thank you to my sister Shannon and her husband Alex, our family friends Fiona Steele and Jessica Lemes Da Silva, Shannon Lawrie from LadySport, Becky Flanagan a friend from my KSS days, half of my favourite set of twins Meg Braem, (Hot) Beck Wiasak my lovely friend from Canberra and Mary Beckmann one of my mom's bridge partners! It's great to have your support.

More donations and a Facebook Group

I've now got over half the money needed, up to $2941 today. Thank you to my sister Rebecca and her tenant Jared, Auntie Mary Ellen and Uncle Mark, my good friends Gill Martin and James Markus, Tom and Wendy Paterson from the Sunrise Rotary Club, my friend Melisa who I've known since I've known since first year UBC and Lynn Royes from Canberra Girls Grammar, who I job shared with last year, all of whom made a donation!

Also I've started up a Facebook Group, HOME (Help Orphans with Milk & Eggs), if you want to join!

Thank you Rotary!

My dad has been a member of Kelowna Sunrise Rotary Club for a number of years now and Rotary has had a huge influence on my life.

My parents have hosted 5 exchange students, starting with Marie from France who stayed with us when I was 11. We've stayed in touch with Marie (I have seen her twice in France and Mom and Dad just visited her and her family in September). as well as our two brazilian sisters Ana Lu and Isis.

I thought Rotary Exchange was great and in Grade 12 applied to the program. In July 1999 I was on my way to Haderslev, Denmark for a year. I stayed with three wonderful families, attended school there and learned Danish. That year was pivotal for me. It opened up the world for me and made me eager to seek out opportunities to see and live in other parts of the world. I gained a huge amount of confidence that year and learned so much about myself and what I was capable of doing. I think it's safe to say without Rotary and their Youth Exchange Program I would never have considered going to Kenya.

I spoke to Kelowna Sunrise Rotary in December 2007, right after my first trip to Nairobi. This summer I presented to them again in hopes of getting them on board with my project for Mama Tunza's Children's Home. I am happy to say thank you to them for their generous donation of $500, which brings total donations to $2500, half way to the end goal. Thank you very much!