Wednesday was to be our last day at school for the week as we were going on an outreach program on Thursday and Friday. We walked out of the compound and up the rocky path when Caitlyn said “It’s already 10 past 8, shall we just get a matatu (bus)?” I knew I liked that girl for a reason.
We arrived before school had started so got to see the kiddies before they went to class. We checked in on what we would be doing that day and found out we would be taking Teacher Hellen’s English class as she wasn’t there that day. Lucky I prepared something earlier! We sat in the staffroom and marked some more English then visited our babies class and gave them the pencils we had bought the day before. We marked their books and helped them with some other work. There were lots of cuddles and smiles. That will never get old I tell you.
We were then off to English to take a properly structured class. Yep, I was just a little nervous. No need as it turns out, the kids were great. Caitlyn, my beautiful assistant, wrote up all the work and I took the class. We had a past/present table, a couple of paragraphs with choices of words to use throughout, then a long paragraph (part of what I could remember from the beginning of Alice in Wonderland) with loads of mistakes the kids had to correct. They were fantastic, just a few little slip ups but generally they got almost all of them right. Clever kiddies. Class was over and they went to PE after telling us to come back again.
Caitlyn was feeling a little worse for wear so we went to Connections for lunch and then home. This time I ordered the pancakes hoping they came out resembling something close to what I am used to. No such luck. Crepe type thingies with capsicum cooked into them. Sigh. Oh well, at least I’m figuring out what not to order from the menu.
We went home via our supermarket as we do, bought the family a cake just ‘cause then wandered home. Caitlyn took to bed for a while and I read. The Canadian boys were back from their jaunt in Mombassa so we planned to have dinner and drinks with them. Their (and probably now our) faithful taxi driver Elias picked us all up and took us to Connections (twice in one day, oh dear). We sat in ‘our spot’ out by the pool and chatted away. We found out more about the amazing work Josh and the volunteers do at their clinic. Their main work is with prostitutes from the local brothels. The clinic receives funding to distribute condoms, do HIV testing, provide counseling and run education programs when they can afford it. They have also been doing some mobile testing. It really is incredible how they have been able to help. They are working on a marketing campaign so the truck drivers and any others who visit the brothels know about the clinic and can go in to get tested or get some condoms. The clinic is applying for more funding as it runs out each year. They are through to the second round of an MTV grant, which would keep them going for another year. Crossing my fingers for you boys.
After eating outside, they wanted to go in and play some pool so in we went. Although it was quite quiet, they had a DJ who was playing some music. It didn’t take long until I was boogying away with Josh, Caitlyn, a couple of the waitresses and a couple of patrons. Fun fun fun! African music rocks. I must have danced for a good hour and a half as my sore abs will attest to. It was getting late quickly so Caitlyn and I caught a taxi home again. Joseph and Geraldine had gone to pick up their friends from the airport so we waited until they arrived, said, hi, nice to meet you all and were off to bed. Up very early for the outreach program tomorrow.
Lala Salama
