Hello all!
Happy
February! I can’t believe another month has gone by and I am 7 months into my
fellowship! It has flown by.
First
of all I want to wish a belated birthday to my amazing mom, Pam Cochrane! Hope
you had an amazing day and wish I was there to celebrate with you on the 30th!
On a side note, I am amazed that I am stuck in the middle of Kenya’s summer
where everyday temperatures reach upwards of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, while my
parents have received over 50 inches of snow in the past week outside Boston.
What a crazy juxtaposition!
One
highlight of the past couple weeks has been the arrival of a care package from
the States. One of our previous volunteers sent me a package full of yummy
American snacks and candy that I have been craving for haha! It was such a nice
surprise and funny to learn that apparently it had been sitting in the post
office at Kitui since November, and the package notice had been lost. Thanks
again Mike for the package! It was a big pick-me-up and made my day!
Last
week we had a group from the US visit the Village. A woman named Lloydie runs a
company called KEST (Kenya Educational Service Trips), where she runs bi-annual
trips to Kenya for Americans. Lloydie has been a part of Nyumbani for roughly
10 years! This was her 16th visit to the Village. Her group of 10
guests did all sorts of things the 5 days they were here. Some helped plant 5
acres of sisal, the plant, which is used to make baskets. Others collected life
histories of the grandparents.
Lloydie also has an organization (Tuko Pamoja) that sells the
grandparent’s baskets/crafts in the United States. Some of her visitors (many
of whom are “returners” and have visited the Village many times) are
doctors/psychologists who work in the clinic doing grief counseling with the
children.
One
of the most amazing parts of the week was a Day of Remembrance Luminary Ceremony
that took place on Thursday. Earlier in the week, some of the volunteers had
collected the names of all our children’s deceased parents. These names were
written on white luminary bags, and then filled with sand and a single candle.
Then the bags were set up in a huge circle on our main football pitch. There
were over 400 bags in total! They were arranged in cluster/house order so that
the children and grandparents could easily find the names of their lost ones.
Staff and volunteers were also invited to make bags with the names of those
they have lost. During the evening mass, the bags were all lit and upon the
completion of the service the entire Nyumbani community exited onto the now
candlelit football pitch. It was overwhelmingly beautiful to see everyone find
his or her spot in the circle. For the next 40 minutes all the names on the
bags were read out loud with singing interspersed throughout. It was a
beautiful ceremony and so important for the emotional healing of our children.
It was a time to honor and remember their parents. It was also a great way to
bring our entire community together and realize just how universal grief and
suffering can be.
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Our
friends from KEST departed Friday morning, but I didn’t have any time to relax
because Saturday was a very important day for the Village: our annual
international summit. Beginning on the 26th, members from almost all
of our international boards (USA, Spain, Italy, UK, Kenya) arrived in Nairobi
for a week of meetings/annual review. Saturday was the day they came to the
Village! On Friday we were busy preparing for their arrival aka cleaning,
organizing, etc. I was very eager to meet our international supporters,
especially the president of the US board. They arrived by Micato safari
vehicles (very posh, best safari company in Kenya/Africa) at around 10am and
were greeted at our offices by our director, heads of departments and myself.
Then there was a fancy tea in our conference room where each department head
explained their projects/role in the Village. In total there were 2 Italy board
members, 2 Spanish board members, 1 USA board member, and 1 Kenyan board member
(and previous Kenyan ambassador to the USA!). It was a very impressive and
powerful group of people. Following tea, we began a tour of our schools. We
began at the polytechnic because the Italian board (who are big supports of the
polytechnic school) had recently funded the building of a new workshop
facility; therefore we had a brief ceremony where a dedication plaque was
presented. After touring the secondary and primary schools, everyone (guests,
staff, all the children, all the grandparents, volunteers, and myself) gathered
in the social hall for some speeches and performances by the kids. All the
board members were introduced, and then each school performed a
dance/song/poem. The kids did so well and you could tell they had practiced all
week. Following this was an amazing lunch in our new guest house/eco-hotel.
This facility is almost complete and new furniture had been put in just a few
weeks prior. It was a great place to host lunch so that the board members could
see the new facility. It was also an amazing meal, with fresh mango (its mango
season here!), salad, stew, rice, chapatti, cookies, spinach, soda, etc.
Following lunch was a quick tree planting ceremony at the old guesthouse (where
I live) and then our guests went “shopping” aka perused our
baskets/sustainability products like honey. Then they were off. It was a short
visit but packed with great activities that really encompassed the Village
energy and identity. It was really cool to be part of the summit gathering.
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| The children in the social hall for the summit meeting |
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| the polytechnic school performing |
After
so many visitors/events in one week, I’m enjoying the quieter atmosphere this
week. We now have 5 long-term volunteers who are doing amazing projects for the
next couple months.
Until
next time!
