Recap of the week!

I thought this week was going by slowly and then I realized it is Saturday! We have been busy this week preparing for the start of school on Monday, and the arrival of a 16 person medical team that got here late last night. The guesthouse isn’t really equipped to handle this new team plus the 9 of us, so things are going to be different for this next month! It was nice to have these first 3 weeks to get used to things, but I guess we have been living the “posh” African lifestyle so far.  We now have to say goodbye to luxuries such as honey, eggs, mangoes, cereal, and hot water… beans, rice, and cabbage for the next 4 weeks! Good thing we have a secret stash of peanut butter and hard-boiled eggs.

The kids were busy enjoying their last week of “break” before school starting on Monday. Their schedule over these past few weeks has been work in the morning from 6 am to lunch, and then free time and an occasional class in the afternoon. On Monday, a music group from Kenya was here to film a video with the kids. Apparently they have been to City of Hope a few times before, and the kids love their music and listen to it during their Friday night dancing time. So Monday was a little chaotic, as the kids practiced their dance moves and we painted faces.  The kids had a great time being in the video and taking a day off work.

"music video" in progress

Tuesday we finished up a few projects around the compound and just enjoyed spending time with the kids. We took some long walks through the village, and are starting to get to know the village children better. Robin and I finished up some murals at the new medical center up the road, and a baby girl was born there on Monday night! The mother, Agata, walked home a few hours after her delivery later that night. On Wednesday, Robin and I went with Dr. Dennis to visit Agata and her new baby girl.  It took at least 30 minutes to get there, and half of the walk was through cornfields and brush. I couldn’t believe Agata had made this trek alone in the middle of the night, hours after a very complicated delivery.  We stayed with her for over 2 hours, holding the 2-day-old baby, meeting her 5 other children, and talking with her (Dr. Dennis speaks decent English, so he translated!). Agata was so hospitable and welcoming, and kindly offered us drinks and a bag of beans to take back to City of Hope. The interns had a discussion the other morning about how those who have the least give the most, and that is something we are finding to be true almost every day. We brought a few baby clothes and a little beanie baby lion for the kids, and the kids were absolutely terrified of the lion! They had never seen a stuffed animal before, and all ran screaming from the room! It took several minutes of me cuddling the lion to show the kids that it wasn’t real and it wouldn’t hurt them. Robin and I both agreed that the afternoon was one of the best so far, and I am looking forward to going back to visit Agata in the coming weeks. 

Agata and her family

In addition to visiting Agata on Wednesday, we had a mini 4^th of July celebration! Marion made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, some of the girls made mandazi for an after lunch treat, and we had mac and cheese for dinner! It was a good last American-ish meal before the big team came yesterday. Sadly we can no longer turn on the oven with this many people here, so we are going to have to wait until our trip to Nairobi for some big meals!

Today we are trying to finish up last minute details on the new school building, so it will be ready for the 400 kids that will be streaming through the gates Monday morning! Things are about to be crazy around here!