Since Kelsey received so much donation money from home, we spent the day spending it on the kids. She bought a new set of clothes for every child, as well as 9,000 shillings worth of food. It is very true what they tell us in orientation: you can work to improve their educational experience all you want, but the children cannot live up to their full potential without fulfillment of their basic needs first. Hopefully, Kels and I were able to satisfy some of these needs for a while. Charles is just so incredibly frustrating about everything, though. He complained to me that none of the children needed new clothes, since they all share anyways. I have worked with these kids every day for the past month and I have seen one boy, Allan, wear the same sweater every single day because it is all that he has. The fact that Charles told me that buying clothes for them was a poor use of money and that we should use it on his project – “fixing” the toilets, which are pit latrines – was so infuriating. He also asked me for money again. Kelsey finally snapped and told him that we came to Kenya to volunteer our time, not to be fiscally taken advantage of, and that if we had the huge sums that he needed for his desired projects, we would ask how we could spend it on the kids. As usual, though, he just brushed off her rebuke. It is very unfortunate, because I love the kids and volunteering at the school, but Charles takes advantage of volunteers and if he continues to do so, NVS will stop sending them.
I promised the kids that I would spend my last night with them at the orphanage, so I went home, ate quickly, and then made my way back. It was pouring, cold, and muddy, but I made it there. I was hoping to go to bed pretty early, but by 9:15, the kids were still up. I discovered that they had not eaten dinner yet. To hurry them along, they were forced to eat in the dark in the dining hall. Luckily, I was able to provide them with some light from my phone. Sometimes it baffles me how happy these kids are living in such conditions. Yes, most of them know worse conditions, if any other, but they are always so happy. I am just so lucky that I have been able to spend time teaching them and get to know them, because each one of them is so special.
After dinner, we crawled into our bunk beds. There are about 4 sets of bunk beds in each of the three dorms, and anywhere from 2 to 4 kids will share a bed. I slept with one of the older girls and one of my babies from Nursery Class. My bunk was right in front of the door, so there was quite a draft. Since I ended up not being under the one blanket the three of us were sharing, I was freezing and did not sleep very well. Despite this, I was more comfortable than I expected. I am so glad that Ashlyn and Alex got another set of bunk beds, because I cannot imagine the girls being crammed into only 6 beds like they must have been before. Kinya, my baby sleeping buddy, was also adorable. She kept snuggling with my head in the night, squeezing it like a teddy bear. While it was a far cry from the most comfortable and restful night that I have ever had, I was so glad that I had stayed and spent the night with the kids. It is crazy how much it means to them to have the volunteers stay, and it made me so happy that I could do something so simple to make them smile.
