A peak inside the "Living Way Orphanage" (July 31, 2011)

Today was a much-anticipated day for me: I got to go to the orphanage and meet the children for myself!

In preparation for our visit, we stocked up on sweets - love of sugar is universal.

The orphanage, called “Living Way Orphanage”, is located about a 20-minute drive outside of Naivasha Town.  Actually, one of the first things I noticed was how isolated it is from pretty much everything.  After a 10-minute drive up the main highway, one must navigate another 10 minutes of windy, dirt road to arrive at the gate of the orphanage.  It was later pointed out to me that the owning land in an area this isolated is probably very affordable.

When you enter, you see the entire orphanage property is quite small, consisting of only a few buildings and a small amount of open space.  The first item on the agenda was a tour, starting with the girls’ dormitory.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by how warm it felt.  Each of the girl’s beds were covered in colourful pink sheets and each girl had a bright blue metal chest beside her bed to hold her belongings.  On a string hung across the breadth of the room was a series of many flags, but because I am internationally unaware, I have no idea which countries they represented.

This is the girls dormitory.

Next we saw the boys’ room, which was similar in contents to the girls’ room, except that the pink sheets were replaced with sheets of a more manly blue.  Also unique to the boys’ room were the sketches hanging on the walls that many of them copied from newspapers and magazines.  On young boy, Rueben, was particularly proud of his artwork and promised to make me a picture for me if only I could bring him some drawing paper and markers.

A bed and chest of belongings in the boys' room.

Next, we moved to a second building, which contained the school room (singular) and the food storage room.  Please note that the food storage room is empty.  To my surprise, this ended up being what the orphanage co-ordinator, Onasmes, identified as the thing that they needed most.  In fact, we left them a small amount of money before we parted today and Onasmes immediately went into town to buy groceries so that the children could eat lunch.

George and Godfrey show me their school room.

So it turns out that everyone learns to multiply in the same way!

This is the food storage room.  Please note the absence of the food.

After the tour, we spent some time hanging out with the children.  Most of them were full of enthusiasm, sang songs and were excited to pose for pictures.  The children were also sure to tell us what they thought they needed most.  Interestingly, none of them thought food was as big of a priority as school supplies.  After discussing the list of school supplies that they would most like, the girls also requested a private meeting to discuss things that boys would surely not understand.  Pads, panties and bikers (spandex-like shorts worn under skirts) were high on their priority list.  I’ve actually re-written the complete chicken-scratched supply list below.  It’s much more legible now!

School supplies

·      Shoes

·      Socks

·      School bags

·      Books to read (children’s books at various skill levels)

·      Pens, pencils, markers, pencil crayons, erasers

·      Paper

·      Exercise books

·      Geometry sets

·      Long, white girls socks for with school uniforms

·      Calculators

Items requested by the girls

·      Pads

·      Panties

·      Bikers

·      Long, white socks to be worn with school uniforms

·      Toothbrushes/toothpaste

·      Bars of soap

Food stuff (to be purchased in Kenya with monetary donations)

·      Maize flour (for making ugali)

·      Beans

·      Rice

·      Cooking fat

·      Sugar

·      Carrots and other vegetables

·      Tea leaves

The children had lots of their own ideas on what they needed more of.   While most children I know in Canada would be quick to tell you about their desperate need for a new iPod, these children were most interested in school supplies (and toothbrushes so they wouldn't have to share).

So, my thoughts are this.  I know that there have been some people who have already expressed an interested in sending school supplies and I think that is a great idea – the children will love it!  Warren is going to buy a big suitcase and collect supplies (school or otherwise) from anyone who wants to send them.  Kelly-Lyn, I did get your email and I will send an email to daybreak to tell them what is on the list.  Please say, “Thank you very much!” to all of your friends at daybreak for their help!

For anyone who is not interested in collecting and sending supplies or would prefer to help with a food donation, you could send me an email money transfer or send money with Warren and we will use it to buy food here.  We are going to look for a wholesaler where we can buy many of the food items for less money and in bulk, so any donation, no matter how big or small, will make a difference to how much food we can provide.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been excited about helping with this initiative.  I can’t wait to see what we can pull together!