Recap: First Three Days at TCOH!

We are hereeee after a long 3 days of traveling and a little delay getting the Internet working! I can’t believe I am actually on the Internet given my surroundings right now. Thank you little safaricom internet modem! We just finished up a day of painting, chai tea and mandazi (a homemade sweet bread thing that one of the students, Eliza, made), and a long walk with some of the kids to a beautiful lookout at one end of the village. Until we get the Internet totally figured out, here is a recap of the first few days and some pictures!

After 3 plane rides and a night in Nairobi, we took a 9-hour bus ride across Kenya to the Kenyan/Tanzanian border. The ride here was beautiful but tiring! No stop for lunch and only one bathroom stop (side note: Kenyan village bathrooms are bring your own toilet paper. Who knew?) meant we were exhausted when we finally got to the border.

Primary school in Kenya by the side of the road

Driving through a small village 

Where we crossed the border was basically a slab of cement between the dirt road in Kenya and the dirt road in Tanzania. We were the only Americans/foreigners for MILES. People were staring at us and mobbing us to buy things the second we stepped off the bus. We could not have looked more out of place! Mary, Alice, and I were traveling with 2 City of Hope employees who spoke Swahili, so we had zero clue what was going on but we just followed their directions! We WALKED across the border casually, got our passports stamped and visas accepted, and an hour later on a bumpy, narrow, dirt road we turned into City of Hope! We could see the children singing and jumping as we drove up, and the second we stepped out of the car they mobbed us! So many little hands and “what is your name what is your name?!” The kids are amazing. So smart, hardworking, and they come from the most unbelievable circumstances. I can’t wait to learn from them over the next 2 months.

View from the guest house at City of Hope

We are settling into our tiny little room. Mosquito nets and only one light bulb- niceee and cozy! It is going to be a long 2 months of “bucket showers”. If we want them to be warm we heat up water on the little stove in the kitchen and then pour it in the bucket and shower fast. It is a process! 

Home sweet home for the summer!

Loveee the bucket shower!

We’ve spent the first couple days getting settled, meeting the 90 kids who live in the children’s home here (school will be back in session in about 3 weeks and then there will be over 400 kids here everyday!), learning Swahili, and working on a small painting project for the new school “mother”, Mama Jane! More on that once we finish!