Cochrane in Kenya: Hello August!

August 3, 2014

This week started off slow because although Monday was a work day, Tuesday was not. I did not realize until Monday that Tuesday was Eid aka the end of Ramadan. Although the village is completely Catholic, the holiday is recognized as a national holiday. The primary school kids did not attend classes and the secondary school kids did not sit for their end of semester exams. The volunteers and I did not exactly realize the extent of the holiday though, so we went to work as usually, however it did not take me long to realize that the majority of the staff has not come in to work. Most of the day I therefore took off. Most of the day, some volunteers and I wandered around the village, visiting clusters and houses. It was fun to visit the kids and grandmothers in their homes and in the afternoon we even helped milk the cows. We were more of entertaining than help to the livestock staff, but I think they appreciated us attempting to help. Tuesday, therefore was a relaxed day and a nice break from the work week. Wednesday marked the departure of one of our long term volunteers, who we were all sad to see leave. However, that same day, another volunteer arrived. Pepe comes every year during August to help with summer activities for the kids and grandmothers. Each year he holds a spa for the shushus and an Olympics for the kids. He also does therapy work with some of the disabled children. He is a great addition to the group of volunteers. There are 9 volunteers now, plus me.

This weekend was rather quiet because the majority of the volunteers took off the weekend to go on safari in the Maasai Mara. It was rather weird to have no one around but I definitely caught up on my sleep and reading. Many hours were spent in my travelers hammock, which I am so grateful I decided to bring right at the last minute before I left home. There is a lack of comfortable seating here, so the hammock is perfect for lounging. I included a picture of it below, as well as some pictures of the volunteer office, which all volunteers can use, but which I find myself using mainly. I recently cleaned it out which was a nightmare. There were documents from 2009 and much trash. It was necessary to purge and now everything seems much more organized.

Sorry this post is shorter, but there was just not much going on this week! Enjoy the pictures! Xx Maggie