Today was another long but great day! We started off the morning with a quick breakfast of fresh fruit and peanut butter toast, then we loaded up our backpacks with some jump ropes and headed out to see the Maasai people. The drive took a while because of the traffic, but I loved getting to see that much of Kenya. The temperature was pretty cool in the morning, and everything was really tropical and lush, the more we drove the hotter and dryer it got. While we were driving we saw three giraffes!! They were kind of far away, but still! We also saw two baboons sitting on a telephone wire and more goats and cows than anyone could count! We drove through so many different areas. Some places we passed through had huge houses behind even bigger walls, the other parts looked exactly like we were driving through Arizona.
All of the Maasai adults were dressed in their traditional outfits, and it was awesome to see.
Jump!
I have to keep reminding myself that this is the real deal, and we are soooo not in Disney World any more. We finally reached the school that was in a placed pronounced kind of like ol-donie-onie-okie. The school seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. All of the kids at this school are required to wear uniforms. Girls wear red and white checkered dresses, and boys wear the same pattern in shirts. All of their shoes are mis-matched, and in a lot of cases, the wrong size. All the children were so polite and so happy to see us. When their bell rang for recess, they all came running out and swarmed around me. The swarm got even bigger when they saw I had a camera. I spent a long time taking pictures and then showing them. They weren't really sure what to do with me at first they would just kind of stand around and look at me. They loved to shake my hand and I taught them high fives. What ever you did with one kid you had to do with all of them.
The Maasai people speak their own language, and most of the kids are just learning English so they had fun telling me a word and after I would repeat it they would all giggle.
The eyes have it
So who knows what they were having me say. I taught them how to say "friend", and "thumbs up", and my name...except they all thought my name was "Yamolly" because I would say, "Molly" and they would repeat it, and then I would say, "Ya! Molly!" and they would repeat that too. All the kids were so cute. A few of them walked up and put a necklace on me, and another little girl walked up and said, "teach me!" They all sang for me and had me clapping along, and then they instructed me to sing so I taught them "I'm a little tea pot." Dad and I brought jump ropes and played with the kids. It was a little hard to do because they all wanted to be so close to us they we barley had room to jump. They absolutely loved my hair. They were a little afraid to touch it at first. A few brave kids would run up and touch it and run away, so I kneeled down and showed them it was ok. I had probably 25 hands all gently stroking my head. I had my sunglasses on my head and they were very interested in those too. They loved when I put them on because they could see themselves in them.
The school had a very nice library.
Reach out and touch someone
It was one of the first put together by Don and Pat. It was so interesting to see all the books donated from the States. One little boy was carrying around “The Runaway Bunny,” and he said it was his favorite book. I borrowed the book from him and read it to all the children. They love their books and their library!
It was really hard to say goodbye to these kids...especially since they would not let go of my arms.
After we left Ol-donnie-onnie-okie (there is no way I am even going to attempt to spell that right) we went to see a nursery school in the same area. None of the kids were there because they already went home for the day but the school was adorable! The teachers and staff are doing a great job there. I had the honor of getting to meet some of the teachers and one of the students.
Smile!
We were taking so many pictures of him, that I helped him take a picture of Dad on my camera. His face lit up when we gave him a little goodie bag with a protractor, a ruler, five pencils, a tootsie roll, and an eraser (good job Mom and Gammy! He love love loved the candy and just kept looking at everything in the bag!)
After this it was time to head back to Nairobi. On the way we saw a whole troop of probably 15 baboons with little babies! And then we saw two warthogs! It is so crazy to me still that these are their wild animals..it makes our deer look pretty pathetic!
We stopped at a shopping mall that is so western looking it could be a mall anywhere in America.
Warthogs
Kenya is such an interesting place. In one day I went out to see the Maasai people in all of their traditional clothing, with the piercings and big holes in their ears and everything, to a shopping mall that could have been in Colorado.
When we got back to the compound we had dinner and I typed my blog...then I lost my blog..then I fell asleep while Dad was trying to find my blog. It is now 4:15 am, and we are both awake. Tomorrow we are driving up to Kissi, another town in Africa and leaving the compound, so that will be interesting.
I still miss everyone and I love getting all your messages and comments! Sorry if I haven't written back to you the internet is really slow! But I love getting them! I'll write back when I can
I also want to say thank you to all the people in Kansas City! Thank you all so much for all your books and for reading my blog!
Also hi to my Lunch Bunch-Kayrae, Chels, and Alex! Love you guys!!
And of course Hi and I love and miss you to Mom, Linds and Gam.
A perfect pair
