I suck at blogs/journals

Hey there,

I know that I haven’t written in a bit and part of that is because I am horrible at the journal thing. I am really going to try to blog each day if possible.

It’s Thursday and the team has just walked through our offices and programs. They are now headed out grouped into pairs and have been matched up with a local volunteer for a tour of Maai Mahiu and the home of that volunteer. I have to say there is something really cool about watching the faces of the team members as they take in this experience. You know the first time they see goats eating plastic on the side of the road…. the look in their eyes as they realize that flip flops or sandals is a bad idea here….the look on their faces when they see the work that CTC does here. I have to admit that it’s pretty cool because you kind of get to relive your first experience a little bit.

I had a great time in London with my friend Daniel but I was pretty wiped out by the time I got to Kenya. Nathan and I met up on the plane in London (another 9 hour flight) and afterwards stopped to grab some stuff for the house like coffee and such. I am staying with Nathan until the Kansas College Team arrives which helps to save CTC some money but also gives me a break from MM for the evening. It’s not that I don’t want to be down in the town but we have a lot of work to do and just like anyone else we need a break from work.

I arrived on Sunday night and we spent Monday walking through the offices and had Nathan show me around and bring me up to speed. We worked with Rocky and Mwaniki to make sure the budget is arranged properly for the next month as our programs are still ongoing here.

The CTC building hosts two of our business offices, Classrooms for Malaka Kids, Malika Mums, and the kitchen where food is prepared for the Malika kids. I am currently sitting in our business office and a man , a Maasai man just came in to retrieve some glass bottles that Mwaniki is holding. I realized that I suck at speaking the language here.

Maybe it’s time I take Natalie’s (Zane’s wife) idea and carry a book where I write down the words so that I can catch on.

It has began raining and will probably carry on this way for the rest of my trip. Maai Mahiu never catches the rain that the other areas catch mostly because the trees have been depleted. Instead of having rain they just get this weird misty overcast..sunshine… weird misty overcast… sunshine type of day.

Things are good so far, I just wanted to catch everyone up. I am bummed to say that my internet isn’t fast enough for me to download videos.

I will continue to try.

So far the highlight of this trip is getting to be in Maai Mahiu and work in the office with the people that run our programs, it’s easy sometimes to loose sight and sometimes when this work gets difficult or breaks your heart you can remember these people and those children singing in the next room.

Love Love Love,

Mindy