First Full Day

3 April 2012

My first full day at the home--pretty cool! The kids and the Aunties started moving around at 5:00am. Every morning, while fully staffed, every kid is bathed, dressed, and fed by around 9am. 106 kids, EVERY day! While this was happening, however, I was in bed asleep. I think I have adjusted to the time change fairly well, but it was SO hard trying to stay up until 9pm last night. Pushing myself to stay up made all the difference though. I finally got out of bed around 8am, ate a breakfast of orange juice and a granola bar, and then I went on a tour of the property with my dad. I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with what is already here and what the future plans are for this place. There are two green houses with plans to build at least two more, fields containing banana trees, orange trees, pineapple plants, and many other organic goods. There is also a two-room school house with plans to build more classrooms by January when a new group of kids is old enough to enter school--pray for the funds and the means to accomplish this task by that time. The health clinic is well on its way to being finished soon, and a new dorm is in the works as well. Progress is being made and God is providing the means for that.

After the tour I spent the remainder of my time during the morning working with the two 4th grade students on contractions and reading. There are 13 second graders in the same classroom as 10 4th-7th graders--two teachers share the space, and I am amazed at how well they work together. The other school room normally contains 23 first graders, but the teacher is currently way from the orphanage. I enjoyed working with them, but I also remember why I chose secondary education for my major... Some of you may be thinking, "During Spring Break a teacher CHOOSES to work in a school? CRAZY!" And you are probably right, but it was fun. I played with the kids during their breaks, and I'm pretty sure the older kids know my name and know that I'm a teacher too. I then I had a quick lunch and spent most of the afternoon straightening and organizing the hospitality room and spraying for bugs (more to come about the bug spraying extravaganza). This is the room where all the visitors' food is kept and where you can go to escape from the chaos if needed. I played with some of the babies until dinner time when I was called over by Vero (one of the cooks and according to my father, one of the brightest Kenyans he's ever met) called me over to help serve food to the kids. I'm looking forward to spending more time in the kitchen with her. After a dinner of beans and rice, I researched bats in Kenya because jeff and Carla (the people who run this place) are thinking of building a few bat houses to help control the bug population and help stimulate the agriculture. The internet didn't hold out for long, so I made a phone call to my mom to fill her in on things.

Life is good. God is good.