The orphanage is within walking distance to the hotel. We generally will have a guide from the hotel walk us over and the stay and play with the children while we are there then escort us back- usually by flashlight as it is dark by the time we return.
Children in the village on the way to the orphanage will run up and say hello and grab your hand to walk with you. It is a very open community and children are not taught to be wary of strangers.
On the way home one night three children, that we knew from TAFCOM, grabbed our hands to walk with us and intended to walk all the way to the hotel gate! We were not comfortable with them walking so far so we gave them hugs and made them go home about half way😃
The orphanage has about 60 children between 3 and 22 years old. They leave for school at 745 and return around 4-5pm. They have a small meal at school and come home very hungry. So they have "lunch" of beans and mashed potatoes after school and then have dinner at 9pm. We have been visiting from around 4:30-7:30.
This is the math homework for a 6th grader. Monica, showed us the very specific way that the set up thur notebook. They have a draft book where they work out the problems, then they copy the work in the notebook. The girls shared that they are afraid of the math teacher. One forgot her notebook and "got the stick."
The children here are full of smiles. They adults that work there and volunteer their exude love. While they have all lost their parents (primary from AIDS), in many ways they are better off and receive better care than children living elsewhere.
There are four girls named Jennifer. Here I am with Jennifer 4 (they refer to themselves that way!) and a little girl from Maasai region that joined the orphanage recently and doesn't speak Swahili or English. They started calling me Jennifer 5!
Raymon (in the tie dye) can spin this very fast! He amost threw me off!
The trampoline is a favorite for the kids...it makes the rest of us a little nervous!
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