Tuesday - Orphanage

I did end up going back to the hospital until about midnight last night to help out in Casualty. Nothing too exciting happened, same old, same old. Since we were out late the night before, I was glad that a few of us were going to the orphanage this morning because it meant that I got to sleep in a little bit longer.
We took off for the Rebby Junior Acadamy around 10:30. It was within walking distance so we just walked as a big group. I didn’t get any good pictures, but we had to walk into one of the poorer areas. All the buildings (houses and shops) are nothing but tin and a little plywood. Some of the “nicer” ones are rocks held in place by mud. One of the alleys we cut through was a garbage dump and smelled so horrible yet houses were right next to it and completely open. The orphanage was somewhat hidden and not marked with a sign at all. We all assumed it was for safety of the kids there. When we walked through the door it was shocking to see that the floor was dirt, the walls were rocks held with a frame made of sticks and the holes between the rocks (since they aren’t bricks, they are literally rocks) were filled with mud. The roof was tin, where there was roof anyway.

The street that the Orphanage was located on.

After overcoming the initial shock we all settled in and the teachers introduced themselves. Then the teachers introduced the kids and they sang a few songs for us. We danced and played with the kids until almost 2:00. It was fun to see how enthusiastic the kids were about us being there. They were so proud of the things they knew. For example, they have tons of songs and poems memorized. They don’t have any music so they would get up and sing solos acapella.

Introductions

Dancing

Sisters singing us a song.

Just before we left the owner of the school gave us a little more information about the kids and the school. There are 75 students total. Some are orphans and stay there while others come from poor, single parent homes. They all have come from a little village called Shauriyako. All of the children suffer from lack of healthcare, food, clothing, and shelter. It was really sad.

As you can see in the pictures the dirt walls and floors are horrible. One of the guys that is here right now, named Joel, has raised some money and bought cement for the walls and tiles for the floors. They are going to start work on it sometime next week.

When we were through at the orphanage, we started back for the compound and about eight of the older kids from the orphanage came with us for swimming lessons in our pool at the compound. The few lifeguards that are here with us volunteered to instruct, so I just watched, but it was fun to see how excited the kids were to play in the water.

Swimming Lessons

After we ate supper a group of us went into the market area to see a movie at the Cinemax. We went to “The Dark Knight Rises.” The theater was huge and very modern. It was just like the theaters back home with the stadium seating except it was twice the size of any one I have been in before. I ordered popcorn and pop and both were exceptional! It was the most American thing I’ve done since we left the country. The only odd thing was that after we all got in and sat down, one of the ushers comes in to the theater and says, “will you all please stand for the Kenyan National Anthem.” A short video of the Kenyan flag played on the screen while we all stood there for the anthem. That one took me a bit off guard.