Eli finally goot his new trunk. It would have cost 900 bob (slang for shilling) at the Mzungu price but Heron got it for 450 ($5.60). That’s a pretty cheap trunk. Unfortunately it’s really noisy when they climb in it, it’s been relegated to their room, permanently.
Anne;s new favorite pet. Lets say shes having some pretty sweet desensetization therapy here for her bug phobia. Completely free of charge.
This is a boda boda. The name comes from western Kenya where bicycles were taking people to the border (“boda” say it like a Jamaican mon) to flee crisis. The drivers would yell out “boda boda” meaning going to the border border. Get it. The name stuck and you can get anywhere on them for about a buck. You’ll see a woman in a suit with two kids on her lap getting rides on these things.
More bathing options. Bath time is our new playground these days. Not a lot of kid friendly stuff to do so we get creative.
Salvation Army Headquarters compound in Thika.
Well, yesterday I spent around 6 hours in the Thika Barclays Bank. It was a truely enlightening experience. I won’t go into all the details mostly because I just dont want to talk about it again, the experience itself was tiring enough. I left with two bank accounts and a bank check to purchase a car, so at the end of the day it was a win. I do have to go back this morning to finish up some details, but that should only take about 2 hours :(. Today we’ll hopefully make it over to check out a school that’s nearby, they call it the Mzungu school here. We’re really hoping to get Eli involved in something, he’s not doing well all cooped up. Or rather, we’re not doing well with him cooped up 🙂 I would kill for the Stoughtons Trampoline some days.
Ive been running with Haron in the mornings and that has been a life saver for me. Today we ran up the road but got trapped by the water (our road turns into a lake when it rains) and had to turn around because there was no way to get through. So we ran the other way until it started to rain on us and he had to turn back. Kenyans do not like to be out in the rain. Lena was joking around the other day that when it rains is the only time you see them running…running for cover.
Poor Anne has been stuck here so much and with the kids all out of sorts it’s been very hard. There’s no getting in the car to go for a drive if things get tough, or running to Target to pass some time and entertain the kids. So with all the frustrations I’ve been having out in the community, its nothing like the struggle she’s been having here at home. She can’t send them out back when they get riled up because of the COBRAS. After six we have to stay indoors because of the bugs. We stayed out on Sat because the evening was just so beautiful. In the morning Eli had about 30 bug bites. The no- itch salve is getting some good use.
We’ve got a decent supply of food now and have found things that the kids will eat. Sleep is going much better, and for some reason, Eli hasn’t gotten tired of the smurfs dvd yet. We’re making progress crossing things off the to-do list, slowly but steadily. Our new life is beginning to come together but we still have a long way to go before daily survival is not the priority.
Yesterday it RAINED all day. We had a river running through the gate, 10 feet wide in spots, with little rapids (could have gone tubing). We’re going to have to fix the road drainage ourselves if we want it done. Our grounds men are pretty handy with that kind of stuff, people are used to fixing their own problems here, by hand. Hey, Haron scored us a cow. We’ve going to allow a man to graze his cow here and we’ll get the milk (he says 10 liters / day). We’ll boil it and save it to use with the children in the program which is a huge deal, nutrition is the priority here and milk is very expensive.
Got to go, our keys aren’t working and the secutity gate is stuck..we’re locked in the house. Wish me luck….Ian