Saturday brought back the demoralising early mornings for some, as we were due to depart at 6.30am. Fortunately for Seb, who happened to also turn 20 that day, Captain Moses was delayed and did not arrive until just gone seven!
The following three hours consisted of first picking up a gentleman called Eric, then (as always) the unique minibus trip towards the heights of Kilome for a fun day with the children there. Most of the guys and girls attend the school because they have suffered from HIV or other issues within their families, resulting in many of them being orphaned at an early age.
There were many things we saw on the outward journey, from good sights such as a herd of Giraffe 15 metres from the side of the road and zebras, to the hard realisation that we were on one of Kenya's most notorious roads for accidents. We passed many incidents that were left on the side of the road, one of which being from early that morning, where three lorries had collided and ignited. Captain explained that this was mainly due to careless driving and over taking - an experience throughout the trip we will probably never forget!
Once we arrived, we were welcomed by Major Mary and Joseph (no joke!), who provided breakfast with yet more eggs and cakes. After breakfast, we headed straight out to meet the children...
We started by playing a game together with all of the children and guardians, in which we had to get into groups of the same number that the Major called out. I don't think that any of us had a clue about how violent grandmothers could be! (More than one of us were left with marks around our arms and necks!). After that, we played a few small ice-breaker games with the children.
Once this ended, we split the group into two, with the younger kids going off into the church for some crafts and games, whilst the older lot stayed outside and played some football with Goodreach and I. The look on the children's face when Major Joseph, (who was translating) told them that I would be giving them the equipment to keep after we had finished I will never forget! Then the match was on...
To see the children enjoy themselves over something as easy to come by in England as a football was very humbling, even though the altitude did make the game interesting for us! It was similar to Thursday evening, when we went to Mathare North SA for their sports project. To see what the guys had previous, and to know that you have given them not only just a day to remember, but a legacy that they can continue to work on with the equipment that they received made me think about just how lucky we are in the UK, and how we take many things for granted.
As always on African time, we left Kilome slightly (two hours) late, resulting in us having to slightly tweak the itinerary, and postpone one trip for 24 hours. Leaving at two pm, we didn't return back to Mt Carmel until just gone five, where the hotly anticipated announcement regarding the President Elect was being unveiled. There was possibility of tension from the supporters of the rival parties, but the decision to not re-count, mixed with the sudden, rather heavy downfall of rain, greatly reduced the amount of people in the city.
Richard popped over in the evening, and brought Luke and Neve over which ended up in an embarrassing defeat in a race for me, and a 'competitive' game of hide and seek! Richard let us know an update about both Captain Moses, whose car was behind a Matatu (Kenyan Taxi) which a tree collapsed on, killing two people; and Lieutenant Patrick, who had to look after many people who fled their homes in fear of violence due to the election result. Our prayers are with them both.
So all in all it was an exciting day, with our work touching more people from around the East of Kenya (not including the sun touching some of the group!).
I was going to say it's nearly Easter, but I was late.... Happy Easter!
Mark
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