Saturday, November 29, 2008

Oasis Contact info





So...
Ive had a lot of people emailing me and asking how they can help Oasis and the boys who were stolen from.
The best thing to to would be to contact the American Director, Lydia Monroe. Anything you donate is tax deductable and goes straight to the kids…Here is how you can reach her…
So many options...

You can email her at oasisofhope@mac.com


You can mail a check made out to Oasis of Hope:

Oasis of Hope
1600 East Mcfadden Avenue
Santa Ana, CA 92705

Or you can go to the myspace page and donate on a credit card through the groundspring site (blue donate now button)
if you want to use a credit card...
If you have any questions get in touch with me or Lydia



It brought tears to my eyes to read everyone’s emails about wanting to help. Thank you so much for loving this organization and these kids as much as I do and helping. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we don’t take it for granted and you are an absolute blessing. And believe me when I say, these kids know who you are. We talk about home and friends and family all the time.

House 2

Oasis and Shimo

Oasis boys, Evans and James


Yesterday was spent hanging out with the kids at Oasis. There was no class and they just washed uniforms so it was a pretty relaxing day. Nothing too eventful, other than the funny kids...
Kamao. I carried this little man around for about 30-45 min visiting and picking on all the different groups of kids...he was like my little backpack




Steward in his new clothes


After Oasis around 5-530 we went to a slum just down the road from where we live called Shimo Le Tewa. Some of the Oasis kids and their families live there and didn't have basic things like blankets, soap, and flour, so we wanted to visit the families and take some things to them.
Our first stop was Amos and James home. They had been living with their uncle until he lost his job a couple of days ago and the uncle just up and left and moved to Eldoret, about an hour and half away, to find another job, just leaving them alone in the house. We don't know if he'll come back but the boys are just living there for now. I asked Geoffrey how much rent cost a month and he said about 200-300 shillings, which is equal to less than $5, crazy...

Amos and James



Next, we went to Elizabeth and Teresa's house. This family has to be the sweetest. Elizabeth is 14 and Teresa is about 6. They have a brother, David who is around 12-13. They come to the center everyday and are a great family, so I was really excited to get to visit them.

Teresa on Camp Day


The bridge leading into Shimo...


Kevin


Next we went to the area of Shimo where a handful of girls from Oasis live, Jennifer, Celinah, and Irene (the little girl who had the jiggers in her feet). One of the homes we visited was actually the mother of Pato who lives in House 3 and Ajix who lives in the girls house. She probably has like 8 kids running around and they all look like her and Pato.


The smallest of Pato's siblings




The Oasis girls, holding it down in Shimo








Since we were already in Shimo and near one of the boys homes we went to house 3 for dinner. Of coarse we brought our cameras and of coarse they were returned with some really great pictures...


What's that? You want some of this cash? Too bad, Wiki had to borrow it from the house dad...




















Friday, November 28, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday was crazy, it was such a busy day. We were all over the place. Allison, Chris, and I were in different places and sometimes together, but pretty much all over the place...
We started our morning out at Oasis, but after an hour split up.
Allison went into town with some of the boys to get some blankets and basins for some families in a nearby slum called Shimo Le Tewa.
I took Joseph, John, Eso, and Moses to Kipsongo to meet up with Sister Freda and Richard for their mobile medical clinic. Chris met up with us there shortly after...

When we got there they were feeding the kids, then they were going to de-worm them. That sounds gross but really all they have to do is swallow a tablet and kills the worms.
After the de-worming they treated the adults and Joseph's grandmother was the first. Im not quite sure of what she had but she had some severe infection in her chest, her legs were badly infected to the point she couldn't walk or stand for very long.

Moses took these pictures of Kipsongo







After Kipsongo we hurried back to Oasis so the boys could eat lunch. After we took Moses, Johnstone, Esokon, and Steward into town to replace some of the things that had been stolen on sunday...It was a hilarious experience trying to buy shoes, jeans, and trousers (A.K.A nice pants/not jeans). Steward refused to get a pair of trousers until I told him he either gets a pair of jeans and a pair of trousers or only one pair of jeans...the woman working at the store just stood there laughing at us as Steward and I carried on arguing for about 5 minutes half in English/half Swahili. After a while we mostly kept it going because it was funny to us and we liked making the woman laugh...it was like shopping/arguing with my little sister.

Johnstone was careful about not getting the most expensive shoes, the ones he and Stuard picked out were middle of the road price and when he saw cheaper ones, he offered to get those instead. I said its ok as long as theyre not the most expensive.

The process of trying on clothes was also quite entertaining. They kept picking pants that were either WAY to short or WAY too big, all the while trying to convince us that they fit, yeah right. Not to mention that when Moses and Steward were trying on clothes, Johnstone thought it was hilarious to try and rip open the changing room curtain and shriek, then run away, fortunately both boys had some sort of clothing on...

As soon as we got home we started preparing a (somewhat traditional Thanksgiving Dinner) This was my first Thanksgiving away from home and for the last couple of weeks have tried not to think about it because its one of my favorite holidays where I love getting to see all my family. Because I live in Nashville, I only get to see them a few time a year and i love getting to sit around and swap stories and argue over football and politics...I knew this one was going to be special, being here in Kenya, I just had to detach from home for one year. Ill be able to look back and remember this really different/amazing Thanksgiving in Kenya.
We made chicken, because a turkey would have cost a fortune, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, rolls, and of coarse pumpkin pie...It all turned out pretty well. Geoffrey, Oliva, baby Charlotte, and Alex (our new Canadian friend) joined us to celebrate. We had a really fun time. It was nice even being so far from home. And, to be entirely cheesy for a moment, thats what Thanksgiving is about. Celebrating and finding a way to be thankful for who and what you have, no matter where you are.

Thanksgiving dinnner

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Wednesday

Today was kinyozi day today at Oasis. Some of the older boys had been made to go on Monday because their hair was so long. But some escaped by either avoiding Geoffrey or wearing a hat.
It costs about 20 Kenyan shillings to go to a regular kinyozi and the boys have to go every few weeks. Over time that adds up, so they just decided to buy a shaver for Oasis so they could do it themselves. Some kids were excited others not so much…Timo didn’t want to say goodbye to his hair…



Look how sad/scared Timo is...


Johnstone



Charles was sick with malaria so Pato took him to the hospital for some medicine and class resumed as usual…Its been fun to have the house boys around everyday. They’ve taken on the responsibility of teaching.

Moses


Its so fun to see Evans, Justus, and Moses working with the baby classes. Paul, Martin, and Bram help me with the older classes. And Stuard usually just causes trouble and tries to distract the kids…

Stuard


Collins


Andrew


Johnstone...the best is when he gets really excited or you can make him laugh really hard, because he shrieks and squeals, its hysterical!


Timo




We left Oasis a little early today to go into town and see if we couldn’t replace some of the essentials the boys lost when they were robbed on Sunday…You might not think it would be, but Allison and I had so much fun running around and pricing things and picking out shirts for the boys. We didn’t get everything but we were able to replace a few things…After town we went to house 2 to drop the stuff off.

Stuard's bed


Joseph's bed


Moses' new mattress and bed


None of the boys had made it home yet, so Allison and I put the sheets on their bed and distributed the some of the shirts and took off before they could get home and catch us…
Today was a good day. Not that days at Oasis are anything less, tomorrow is the medical clinic in Kipsongo and Oasis...Oh yeah and Thanksgiving