Sorry it has been so long!

Sorry, I write a mass email then get tired of being on a computer. So there has been a lack of update. I got my wallet stolen on Saturday in Nairobi..same day that two Americans were shot and killed..it was a crazy day, we are safe though. I just had to cancel my card..sucked, but oh well, atleast we are ok. The older kids are still here, haven't gone to school yet, so we are still being entertained. They have become amazing friends and I love our time together. The little ones are hysterical and make us laugh all the time. School is great, I have the older ones and am really learning a lot from there and am teaching a lot. Sorry my camera is dead, so can't put pictures up. I will soon though. Sorry for not having much to say...all is well, having a lovely time here in Kenya, can't believe it has been a month! We really miss Ninfas. And pizza. And ice cream. We talk about ninfas a lot. Can't wait to go there !!! Hope everything is going well in good ole America, we miss you all,

Love.

New Home

Well, Kenya is now feeling like home. We are missing our homes in America of course, but really loving it here. The past week was pretty emotional with Ben leaving, then the kids going off to school. We were sad moms. Many tears were shed. We had made great friends with a lot of the older kids so it was hard to say goodbye. I fell in love with a 7 year old named James, who I am going to sponsor now, and he left on Tuesday. We are left with the little ones (age 2-10) and a few older ones.
This week has also been very eventful. One day we walked to a school with some kids to get their certificates, then walked to Ngong, the nearest town. It took 3 1/2 hours and was ridiculously hot. We treated them to chips (french fries) and cokes and had a great time. It feels wonderful to make kids happy with a plate of fries and silly conversation. We also went to Ngong to run some errands another day and I brought back a street kid. Mary the director kept calling me their little social worker and calling the boy, "Meghan's son." He is going to rehab next week and will come to the orphanage in a few months. Yesterday I was sitting around with the older boys in the fields and I saw an antelope in the distance....that doesn't happen in Texas too often..haha. The orphanage is in the heart of Massai land so there are buffalo and animals all around. Haven't seen monkeys yet...The security guards are hilarious and gave us all Massai names.. mine is KaKenya, meaning born in the early morning. The kids call me KaKenya or Teacher Meghan.
I started teaching this week too. It has been VERY interesting. Remember when I said over my dead body would I ever teach pre-school? Well I have the youngest ones...it is hard, the language barrier is killing me sometimes, but I am sticking it out, and just trying to enjoy it. Little Jimmy flirts with me while I try and teach the ABC's or a song, so you can't get too annoyed when a cute 3 year old is waving at you while you teach.
Haven't gotten sick at all, have a small cold, which I am thankful for because it smells in NGong, the nearby town, so having a stuffy nose is great. I finally took a shower last night after another 6 days..we don't have water for our shower anymore. We used a bottle of water to wash our hair..hahaha. I hope all of you appreciate washing machines, dishwashers, and showers. We have come across many interesting bugs. We have 3 huge spiders in our room that we refuse to kill but I'm afraid they might kill us. The kids got a kick out of sticking a HUGE grasshopper on me one morning and we have it all on videotape of me screaming and running away. That thing was gigantic. I finally held it though.
We have met cool people from Australia and other volunteer named Bethany who is actually from New York, she is awesome and hangs out in me and Larissa's room every night. We have great meal times and laugh at eachother's accents and tell stories. I'll be sad when they leave at the end of the month. We have gotten into a regular routine of waking up around 7, I go to school (which is like 100 feet away from my bed haha) at 830 and get out at 1230 then we just play or help with cooking or washing, eat lunch, play some more, then eat dinner around 7. The food is pretty good. We have our own cook and they cook us different food from the kids. We are eating a lot of rice, meat, fruit, chips (french fries). The cook is a good friend of mine now and they make sure we eat something every meal haha. We are using a lot of Tricia's hot sauce on everything. Larissa makes me try things first like the fruit and if I don't kill over she eats it. The other day we went exploring, the security guard, Bethany from NY, some kids and I, and we tried to find snakes and geckos but only caught tadpoles.
It is so so beautiful here. I sit on the porch every morning and thank God for making such a beautiful place. Everyone here is so happy and full of life, even when they seem to have nothing. I am so blessed to know all of these people and be family with them. Mary the director of the orphanage calls us her white daughters and I enjoy having tea with her in the afternoons and good talks. Larissa and I have both had some marriage proposals, but don't worry we turned them down. We have made great friends with all the aunties and house mothers. They laugh at us all the time and tell me I am like a 'cartoon.' The kids here are too serious so Larissa and I make them dance and be silly. They love our cameras and have taken a million pictures with them. It's great because we forget to sometimes. We are in Nairobi today and tomorrow just visiting Edward and his family. We slept on a bed made of wood last night...I have a huge headache and my back hurts. We are missing the orphanage already so I think in the future we might just run to Ngong to use the internet. My sunburn is gone, pretty tan now, they had never seen a sunburn before so that was funny. They were like oh what happened to your face is it painful? So funny. I learned how to make fire with a stick. I'm going to be so awesome at life when I get back. You guys will be so envious of my skills. Fire making skills, hand washing clothes skills. I learned to milk a cow and feed chickens too. I haven't been homesick at all until today. We woke up to David Crowder playing at Edward's house and it made me miss Waco. My favorite thing so far about this adventure is that every day is new and exciting. I never know what to expect. I love that feeling. Next week we are having a bonfire and introducing everyone to "smores"..they are so excited. We are going to get burns to show we are true Massai.
Sorry for those on the email list, I am tired, and losing my train of thought, so much of this is repetitive. I love and miss all of you, enjoy the pictures :)

Meg

Enjoy these pictures immensely.. they just erased and it is taking forever to put them up :)





our room













James, who I sponsor now.



























Kelly, who Genevieve sponsors. She's my best friend.













School time!













I love when they fall asleep on me! This is Mercy. She's a mess.

Riding in a matatu. I forgot to say that we took a girl to the hospital to get stitches. They think we are doctors, with our first aid kits and gloves haha.

We are silly

.

This bug was HUGE

Church, I love to hear the kids sing

Willie, Mary the director's son.

Nairobi

Well, last day in Nairobi. On the internet again. Haha, we take every chance we can get since it might be awhile before we get another. This morning we got up at 5am again and went with Boniface to feed the street kids like yesterday. Today there were 30 kids. Many had glue out this time and were high. They said our names were hard to remember. I decided to go by Mary instead since that is easy and everyone here is named that. They spelled my name Magin, and I decided to not tell them it has an h or they would be completely confused. The kids teased me about my swahili and we talked to a few who knew English about their lives. Joseph, the youngest, told us about how he buys the glue, why he does it, and that he is addicted. He has been on the streets for a year and a half now. It is very sad because many of them have homes and families looking for them. I wanted so badly to hug them all and give them a good meal and clothes. They choose this life though. Joseph begged Larissa and I to take him with us. It was hard to say no, he is so cute. James, another boy, found out I was a teacher and told Boniface to tell me to build a school nearby so I could teach him and the others. He kept telling me in Swahili to teach him and come live there. I definitely almost cried several times and wanted to say OK, I'll come live here after the orphanage! Who knows, perhaps someday I will. Pray for the boys on the streets of Nairobi that sniff glue all day everyday. It is ridiculously sad and breaks my heart that they feel they have no hope. Boniface is doing great work though and there has been progress with many of them. They really respect Boniface and I thank God for people like him. It has been a lesson learned that you cannot change people. I cannot take the glue away or scold them for doing that. I cannot put them back in their homes if they don't want to be there. Boniface consistently invests in their lives and prays for them and teaches them about how we have hope in Jesus. The results are not immediate, but there has been progress, and God is working in their lives. We are going back in a few weeks with clothes, soap, shoes, and food.

We are eating lunch with Mary from the orphanage then going to buy things for ourselves and for the kids. We have to buy lots of water for the next week or so. Even though I keep drinking their water on accident. Ben and Larissa and I were laughing last night because the first day Ben was all careful about what he was eating and Larissa and I just chowed down. I really think I am part African. I am learning Swahili very easily and have impressed our driver with my skills. It is mainly memorization. Can't wait to go back to the orphanage today. I have missed the kids the last few days. Tonight they are having an all night prayer service...we are hoping to make it through all of it. I don't know if I can pray for that long haha.

Here are some pictures, enjoy! I miss and love you all.


















Gabu, short for Gabriel, I'm going to adopt him.













Kabera, largest slum in the world.














Jimmy, cutest thing I've ever seen.












Me, La, and Mercy.











The kids' home...the building to the right (can't see it) is the offices and guest house and kitchen for volunteers.













Our view, doesn't get any better...Great Rift Valley and mountains in the distance? Oh yes.












Cooking dinner. Everyone helps, there's a macheti on the table, can't see it...haha.

















We are so American.














Goin on a safari! haha there were people dressed like this in the airport...ridiculous. I'm so sunburned, my arms and face are scorched.

Jambo!

Love Africa.
Love the people, the language, the food, the land, the culture, everything!
It is beautiful.
I am so so happy here.

I sent a email telling everything about the orphanage...here is a little about what we are doing in Nairobi today and tomorrow. We met at 5 am (yes I got up that early and was smiling) with pastor Boniface, who ministers to street kids. We were stopped on a shady street and were going to round up the kids (there are about 45 now that he ministers to) but the alleys were muddy and Larissa and I are brilliant and love our flip flops so we couldn't go. The kids came to us though and we prayed with them and shared about ourselves then fed them bread and milk. There were only 12 since it was rainy. The street kids sniff glue and get high all day to escape their lives. They beg for money then buy the glue from older kids nearby. 5 of the kids were noticably high and one even had the glue bottle out. It was very shocking and sad. We were pleased to hear that 6 are now sober and have become Christians through Boniface's work. Some of you remember the mother and baby form last May when you went. The mother is sober and I met her today. Pray for her though, she was burned badly when she was high in August and couldn't walk for 4 months. Her baby, Michael, has been adopted. Boniface is incredible and encouraging as he is making a difference in these kids' lives. We are going back in the morning and will meet more kids so that will be interesting. It is hard to talk to them since they speak Swahili only and are completely out of it, but we shall see.

We met some Americans from Baylor today, that was funny, nice reminder of home.

I am going to be doing a lot of teaching at the orphanage which is great. I also get to spend a few weeks with pastor Edward working with AIDS support groups and in the Kabera slums. Larissa and I are excited to finally have an idea of what we are going to be doing. I hope we can fit it all in!

I have so many stories and pictures to share after only 4 days so imagine what it will be like when I get back... I will have to sit down everyone for a month each haha. I just showered for the first time yesterday after 5 days...my feet are disgusting...we don't seem to mind though. We wish all of you were with us and keep wanting to call and tell you funny things or stories.

Time to go, I will write soon, hopefully have more pictures up :)

Love you all,
Meghan