Some have asked me, if these are orphans, what family are they visiting? They will be going to stay with older sisters, aunties or grandmothers. They’ve lost their parents, but most of them still have some family. Why aren’t their families taking care of them? The families they have left don’t have the means to clothe, feed, house and educate them. Often the aunties and grandmothers are trying to raise their own children as well as the orphaned children of sons and daughters. AIDS has taken a huge toll, and left those remaining with a huge burden and limited resources. Some of the girls don’t have anyone, and they will be staying here with us until school starts.
This morning bus included four of the class 8 girls - and therein lies a tale. The class 8 girls came home for their holiday with several pages of homework to do in all subjects. We told them they’d have to have it done and done well before they left for family visits. They had two weeks of tutoring and support to get the homework done. As of yesterday morning, exactly one of them had completed the work. So I got to be the heavy. I told them they weren’t leaving here until the work was done. Whoa! I am mean, I am unfair, I am unjust! They said they could take their homework with them and get it done while visiting family. My reaction was, sure, just like you got it done in the two weeks with no distractions you’ve had here! Then, a miracle occurred! By dinnertime, two more of them had completed the homework. And by this morning, a fourth had hers done! The only one not finished doesn’t have anyone to go visit and will be staying with us. I’ll have to keep after that one.
After they left, I swept the night’s crop of bugs off the Amani House porch. Here is a picture of what I collected after sweeping them all onto the first step. Can’t be here during rainy season and be squeamish about bugs!
As I have mentioned many time, we are in the midst of the rainy season. That means a lot of mud gets tracked inside. And this morning, the dining hall got a thorough mopping. It was still wet at lunchtime, so we ate in the courtyard of Dominica Hall. One of the older girls showed up carrying baby Blessing on her back in traditional African fashion. I have been hoping to get a good photo of a woman carrying her baby that way as they all do - and here it was, right here at Hekima! They wrap a kanga (long rectangular piece of brightly printed cloth) under the baby’s butt and behind its back and then around their shoulders. The whole thing is finished by wrapping a blanket around the baby and kanga (Kenyans are quite chilled when the temp dips into the lower 70’s). So you can just see little Blessings eyes peeking out of the wrap.
I spent a good part of the day cleaning in Karibu Guest House. We are expecting a family of volunteers in tonight and I wanted to have everything ready for them. Part of the cleaning process involved washing the potty dirty puppies. Zwadi and Rafiki have been having a great time out in all the mud created by the rain and the “black cotton” soil around here. They bring it into the house so that the floor had become a network of muddy paw tracks. So for there to be any point to mopping the floors, the dogs had to be cleaned up. After dinner we brought them in and confined them to the bathroom so we could wash them in a tub in the shower. They may only be clean tonight, but they and the floor WILL be clean when the Humphrey’s get here!
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