Sunny Saturday ...

Meshak, security guard, & Sheena

Picking out the bad grains from the corn

... Yes, sunny again and even warmer than yesterday. It should be rining though and, apart from a few clouds

bubbling up in the evening, there is no sign of any precipitation yet. 

 I felt pretty groggy yesterday through lack of sleep but had a good eight hours sleep last night and felt refreshed this morning.

Since I arrived, the electricity has faltered occasionally and has gone off four times, but three of those were only for a few minutes sodidn’t cause any real concern.  I did ask Josphat to buy me a torch this morning

though, just to be on the safe side.  

Rachel doing the washing outside

Since I wrote that para, the electricity has been on & off on several occasions  so I didn't have the laptop connected to the power, for fear of a surge, and the battery ran out of power so I have come back much later on.

Josphat & the ladies

There have been various discussions today about possible projects for the future and priorities too - there are so many obvious areas which would benefit from extra funds!  Some of these relate to buildings, others are projects like growing food crops for the boarders at the school and also to provide another vocational course for some of the older pupils. 

Aquinoe Again

Welcoming Party

It was lovely to reach Kitale and be met at the airstrip by some old friends - and some of the youngest children too, who had never seen a plane on the ground before.   They were fascinated, especially when the Fly540 37-seater took off for the second leg of its journey. 

View of school compound from entrance

The ever-industrious Rachel

The international flight from Heathrow was host to a few little difficulties: like sitting behind a drunken fourteen year old who was with a group going to Nairobi to help with an AIDS orphans project; like knocking over half a glass of wine and soaking my seat, my trousers and my t-shirt; likTe the screen not working so no films were available.

On the other hand, my internal flight left two hours early which could have been a problem if time had been tight, but in the event, meant I only had to wait four hours for it instead of six. 

Grace Mungo, deputy head

Anyway, it was all worth it with a wonderful reception and it was really great to see the immediate differences in the school compound, with several new buildings.  The children, as ever, were delighted to see a visitor and happily posed for photographs!  The teachers were very welcoming too and it was great to see several friends from previous visits. 



Sheena took six of us out for a meal in town this evening which was lovely.

Boarders doing washing after lessons

Mad Scramble

Departure day is Thursday and I've still got loads to do!

I'm hoping that I've done all the bits in advance like applying for the visa, ordering Malarone tablets as a malarial prophylactic and picking up some Kenyan Shillings.  It's just ordinary household and personal jobs that seem to be on my "to do" list now - apart from the actual packing, that is! 

Anyway, apart from the suitcase of my personal items, I also have a suitcase that will be devoted to items for pupils and staff at Aquinoe that I've been saving up for months.  Books, football shirts, puzzles, wall charts, vision assessments are amongst a diverse assortment.

I'll be hoping to add to this blog on most days while I'm in Kenya (30th March - 13th April) so if you're interested, keep checking.

Jean