Girls House Dinner

Last night we had dinner at the girls house. It was our last friday night dinner with the girls until we go home. Crazy. Just like these girls...



They sang and danced

This one goes, "Mama in the kitchen, cooking chipati, how many chipatis did she cook?" and then you have to say a number and count around the circle. Whoever it lands on has to put one finger out... The girls kept saying huge numbers like 35 or 42 so it would take forever to get someone out...But eventually it was down to me and Dorcas...I won!





The party then moved outside for a little bit and apparently they all love to pose with the same bush






Janet


I closed the evening with my best impression of an immigrant...

Picture of the Day

So Im walking from our new house to our old house and I come around the bamboo fence and find this on the other side...



Ayub has never done this and I thought it was hilarious so naturally made him stay put so I could take more pictures...



Ayub is my favorite for reasons such as these.

Update on Simon

We went to Freda's yesterday to pick the kids up to go swimming at the Kitale Club like usual.
I was hoping that Simon had stayed, after his many threats to leave. I found him as I walked into the hospital, just after he had been treated.
He said he wanted me to take some pictures.
The burns look a lot better than Tues. All the white stuff is just treatment to sooth and heal the burns.

Dinner With Richard

On Tuesday we went over to Richard's and had dinner with him and 2 of the kids that live on their compound. Freda's granddaughter Ida and a boy named Davis.
Freda has been in America since the beginning of January and comes back next week, so its just Richard and the kids at their house.
Richard and I were talking the other night and he mentioned how he loved Western movies. I asked if he had seen "Tombstone", a personal favorite, Western or otherwise, and he said he never had. So we decided to have dinner and watch Tombstone.


Between power outages and Davis & Ida's playing we had a nice dinner and watched "a cinema." It was a nice evening. Richard said that Davis had a lot of energy but we didnt really believe him because hes so quiet. I guess we were wrong....




I gotta give it to the kid, he's got personality...

I Got Worms, Not Me Actually, Alice

Alice has ringworm...here's my proof...


It's harmless, she got some cream from Freda's and it will be gone in a couple of days, she says it just itches a lot.

Alice has said the whole time she's been here that she has an immune system of steel because Chris and I got Malaria and she hasn't, well now I can say "False, you got ringworm."

Pictures from today

So while on break from class 8 yesterday I wandered into class 7 to find cute Joseph talking to himself and working out a huge division problem on the blackboard. Sidenote, he was using a huge piece of sidewalk chalk, which was leaving an amazing amount of chalk dust on his pants, sweater, not to mention his hand.
I said "Joseph, do this" and i put my right hand on my cheek. He copied me and went on about his business, not realizing he now had the pile of chalk all over his face...


I love this kid. Outside of class he messes around and can be a bit crazy, but he's incredibly smart


The chain


Then Bram wandered in from break after playing soccer, so he was all sweaty.



Once we got home from our day, I had to pack up more of our room and its safe to say I cried my eyes out from around 4:30 til i went to bed last night. I cant and dont want to imagine my life without seeing these kids everyday. I dont think they know how much we love them and their personalities light up our days.
Allison and I were talking and I was saying how I didnt know if the teachers strike has been a blessing or a curse. On the positive side, we get these kids everyday and teaching them we've gotten to know them in a different way than before, but now I am that much more attached, which will make it harder to say goodbye...
Ive decided Ill take the pain as long as i get to see them everyday...

Simon

This is a harsh story so just be prepared before you read...
Yesterday I took a boy named Simon to Sister Fredas. He used to live in one of the houses at Oasis until he ran away.Hes been gone for some time now, but showed up at the Oasis center about 2 days ago with severe burns all over his upper body and head.
And not blistering burns or anything, his skin had been so badly burned that it hadn't even blistered, it had already melted off.
We asked Geoffrey what happened and he said that Simon had gotten into an argument with a another guy and the other man had said some things about Simons mother and sister that apparently really upset him because Simons response was to pour paraffin on himself and light himself on fire.
This didnt happen a couple of days ago, it happened on the 11th, 2 1/2 weeks ago, and Simon has been living in Kipsongo since it happened. By the time he got to Oasis it was so infected and had been so long that he couldnt look at you straight because what was left of the skin had hardened with his head tilted to the side.
At first he refused to be admitted to the hospital but then Jane, the doctor talked with him and convinced him to stay. When I left he had been given some medicine and they were in the process of disinfecting and cleaning the burns. Were going to Freda's tomorrow so we'll get to see him then and see how hes doing.
Whats disturbed us, and even the doctors talked about it, was psychologically what would cause someone to do this to themselves...

packing it in

We had to start packing our room up in preparation for Saddleback's teams coming in a week and our departure 2 weeks later...Just crazy and surreal, its starting...

House Dinner

Last night was dinner with House 1 & 2. As usual we had so much fun. I had some great/funny conversations with Joseph and Steward.
The power went out for a while and Moses, Bram, Martin, and Stone sang to us, one of the songs they had written themselves. It was the highlight of Allison's and my night. It was beautiful.

But before the singing there was dancing...











Joseph was so proud of this amazing gold necklace, he let me keep it


The car ride home was a bit packed...

Today was my birthday and all i really wanted to do was hang out with the kids and have kind of a low-key day. I wasnt quite sure how to accomplish this since once you get the 20-25 house kids together they tend to go crazy. Allison suggested a movie and sodas at the Coffee Shop in town. I thought it was brilliant.
So this morning we went to the Coffee Shop and met the Oasis house kids for sodas and the movie "Enchanted"

Before the movie, we all had sodas and hung out taking pictures and talking...












They loved the movie. I was nervous the older boys might not enjoy it as much, but I sat next to Martin who thought it was hilarious. He even liked the music. I would dare to say the older boys enjoyed it more.