Final Days

Saturday

Hello Everybody,

Although I believe there is always a reason why things happen, at the moment, I can’t figure out why I am still in Nairobi and not on my way to Amsterdam! Bob and I and Marshall showed up at the airport at 5 AM this morning to be told that the flight was cancelled due to lack of passengers!!! This is not Air Timbuktu, this is KLM!!! None of us could believe that nobody contacted us, no phone, no e-mail, not a thing.

After about two hours of running around from one terminal to the other and going from one counter to another and issuing tons of paper work, while carrying all our suitcases, the three of us together with about 20 other passengers are now in this 5 stars hotel, on the 9th floor overlooking Nairobi and the country!! We have been rebooked on the night flight leaving around 10 PM tonight.

The airline bought us one hour of Internet (for about $5!!!) and thanks to Skype, we were able to cancel our room in Amsterdam and change our car reservation. Marshall will try to reschedule his appointments in Amsterdam too.

Other than that, these past two days have been probably the most hectic of my life. But… thanks to that wonderful team of ours, our goals have been reached!!! By the time we left on Thursday, all the bunk beds and desks were built and moved to their proper location. In addition, Nash had taken on a new project: fix all the bicycles that were in storage. We bought new tires and inner tubes and this young man, with the help of our own kids, repaired and fixed all the bicycles!!! You should have seen our kids! They love the bikes and had not had a chance to use them in a long time. I bet you that Nash will be their hero for a long time!!!

I am coming home with a carry on full of the children art work that Chuckie and Brady and Karen did with the children. All the kids, little and big and all the teachers had a chance to spend time and learn the computers thanks to Jennifer and Kristin. I am also bringing home for the sponsors the letters that the children typed and printed by themselves. They took pictures with our digital cameras, printed them on our little printer and are sending some of them to their sponsors too. Our computer room was not very big and the computers took a lot of space but still at times there were twenty kids in that room!

Teresa and her two girls, Ashlee and Morgan spent countless hours with the children and so did Patsy and Sonia. They had class activities in the morning and outdoor games and fun in the afternoon. Several times, I heard the kids laugh so loud that I had to go see what was going on. The children loved every single minutes of what they did. We spoiled them with cookies and treats, gave them goody bags and hats not to mention prizes for the race winners.

Karen spent a lot of time explaining why we need to protect our planet. She tried to convince our teachers to enforce a trash policy, took them on a field trip around the campus to show them what she was talking about. She and Richard explained how to make compost and re-use the things that we discard. Will it work? I have my doubts but at least, we tried. I hate to say this but we had an egg hunt on Friday for the kids and by noon, there were tons of empty half eggs laying all over the place!! But, this is Kenya and things take time to be accomplished.

Laura, Wallace, Rye and Stu not only worked like beavers but they also taught the kids while assembling the beds and let them use all the tools except the saw. In return the kids provide the additional manpower that allowed us to complete the project earlier than expected.

On Thursday night, six of the team members had to say good bye and that was tough on them. On Friday, the rest of us had to do the same and tears were flowing on both sides. I would not want to try to speak for the team members but I could see how they had bonded with the children. All of us received notes from them telling us how much they loved us and how much they will miss us. One of them even reassured me that I would not have to worry in my old days, she would take care of me! Isn’t that sweet!!!

How do I feel myself? Torn between two places. My heart tells me that I have to stay there but my mind knows that my time is more valuable in the States where I can raise the money to continue to support them. I have seen these kids grow over the past six years and I am so proud of what they are becoming: beautiful children who had nothing earlier but now are giving and teaching so much to people like us visiting them.

We have taken about 25 additional new children and they all will need sponsors. That will create opportunities for me to visit new churches, talk to new groups and brag, brag, brag about my 133 children from Africa.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. To God the glory of all that was accomplished. And to our mission team participants my deepest gratitude for helping, sharing and loving these children.

Asante sana! God bless.