First news item - Wednesday night Rick arrived safely from the States and even a few minutes early. I went to the airport to meet him accompanied by Maggi Wambui, the young woman from Hekima Place we have been sponsoring for the past 4 years. All of the high school girls (18 of them) wanted to come along, but there was no way to make that happen because all of the vehicles large enough to carry a crowd (short of the school bus) were out of commission. Kate’s car was having starter problems (fixed on Thursday) and the van was not operational either. So our friendly hired driver, Sam, picked up Maggi and me here and drove us to the airport. Maggi spotted Rick first as he came down the stairs into the baggage claim/check area and the three of us had a great reunion visit on the drive back to Corner Baridi. It is so wonderful to have him here with us!
He has immediately made himself a part of the Hekima family, helping the secondary girls with their studies, playing with the little ones, weeding and sitting with the little ones for their movie night while I chaperoned the computer room. He has also begun analyzing energy usage around here to see what might be done to bring down the very large electric bills.
Thursday was closing day for the term at Good Hope School where all the primary girls attend. Mum Evelyn and I went over to enjoy the end of term ceremony and collect the girls’ grades. The ceremony lasted from about 10 am to 1 pm, and it was great fun. There were the usual speeches, but also wonderful entertainment from the kids - singing, dancing, and dramatic poetry readings. After the entertainment they handed out the academic awards. We were pleased that some of our girls were honored. Teresa Areyo had the second highest score in grade 2. Purity Nyambura took top honors for grade 6. And Edith Wanja came in 3rd and Nancy Wanjiru 2nd in grade 7. In addition, Lavender Atieno was honored as the most improved student in grade 5 and little Regina Wairimu (4 years old, in preschool) as the “most obedient”.
Thursday night after dinner, I announced the names of those recognized for their academic achievements, calling them to come stand on the stage with me. There was lots of applause for everyone and all of these girls are very proud of themselves. But the most fun was calling little Regina up to the wild cheers of the rest of the girls. Her smile as she walked to the stage was bright enough to light up the room!
I took photos and some video, but you’re not going to see any of it because I used Rick’s camera. After I returned to Hekima Place from the school, I found out that he had not brought his download cables. My fault - I should have requested he bring them. Sorry about that!
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