Hola!

Hi everyone!

Here I am again. Sorry I haven't write since last Wednesday. I'm in Barcelona right now but I'll try to explain how my lasts days in Kenya were.

On Thirsday morning I woke up early because I went with Mary to the hospital. She wanted me to take pictures there because she got a big parcel form US full of clothes for the new borns. We got there and we went to the matirnity ward with the clothes... We saw beds with two mothers and thier babies... they had to share then bed. And loads of women waiting outside with theirs babies waiting for the check-up...

I went home around 12pm to finish packing and around 1pm we head off to town but it started raining soooo bad... we had to take a taxi to the matatu stage but we were: Lucy, Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, Liz and I... so 7 on the car with the driver... I went with Lucy to get the tea and she bought loads for me... I told her again I didn't want them to spend that money on me but she just looked at me and said "please"...

So I said goodbye to Mary and Elizabeth and I cried... We got to Nakuru and from there I took another Matatu to Nairobi.

On Friday we wnet to pick up a new volunteer. She's called Vicki and she's from Canada. She stayed for days in an orpahange in Nairobi and we went there to pick her up and to visit the orphanage.

On Saturday morning we woke up early because we had to head off to the airport... :( But something happened... I checked the paper I printed before going to Kenya with the flights times and I was in shock when I saw that the flihgt out was... on the 30th of April???? Ok, I started panicking and Samuel told me to go to the airport anyway. All the way to the airport I was thinking "I'm sure I checked it out before and I saw the 1st...". So when we got to the airport I went to ask to that women at the Virgin Atlantic Desk and when she saw my face she said "please, don't break down!"... We checked and my gflight was for the 1st of May as I supposed... She told me that they changed the day and they sent me an email. Apparently I checked my email, I saw that the flight was on the 1st of May and I forgot to print the new ticket so I had the old one which said that my flight was on the 30th of April...

When I calmed down I had to say goodbye to Samuel and Lucy and that was not easy... Samuel hug me and just walked away... I started crying and Lucy told me that for them I was not a volunteer, I was more than that and they will miss me a lot... Ok... I started crying more then... Then I walked in knowing that my time in Kenya was over :(

The flight from Nairobi to Heathrow was good, I had four seats just for me so I spent most of the way lying down and watching movies and reading "The River Between". In Heathrow I had to wait for two hours so it was't that bad but I felt weird seeing all those mzungus... and I felt weirder on the plane to Barcelona listening to all those mzungus talking in spanish...

My mother, my brother and my sister-in-law were waiting for me in Barcelona... The first thing I told them was "you are so white!".

Now, I'm in Barcelona. I still have no internet at home but I'll try to get once I'm back from Bilbao next week and I promise I'll upload those pictures I told you I was going to upload.

Next post... I'll explain how I'm settleing down here.

Thank you everyone for following my posts and for leaving comments or sending me emails. I think I'll keep writing this blog but just about things related to Chazon as Olivier suggested me :)

Well, I gotta go now, thank you everyone again and we'll keep in touch!

Wednesday

Here I am again!

Today I did something I didn't like... I packed :( Tomorrow morning I'm leaving Molo. The car is not working so we'll have to go by matatu and I'm carriyng two bags... Samuel and Lucy are coming with me though, we have to stop in Nakuru first and then off to Nairobi. Liz is in Molo too and tomorrow she's coming with us so we can stay at her place in Nairobi.

So today I didn't do much. I packed in the morning, I organised few things I wanted to leave here. Then Mary (Lucy's mum), Elizabeth (Lucy's aunt) and Liz (Lucy's sister) came home because we all were having lunch together. I forgot to say that also David (Sam and Lucy's son) and Brian (Susan's son) are here too because they have holidays at school so, counting Robert and Jemima we were 10 at home today.

We all had lunch together because today it was my last day... Then they surprised me with a cake they baked for me and it was delcious!

At night Robert slaughtered my chicken... I was supposed to watch it but... I can jump off a bridge (bungy jumping) and off an airplane (sky diving) but I'm not brave enough to watch someone slaughtering a chicken...

At night we ate it for dinner with delicious chapati that Ann cooked.

I told Lucy that tomorrow on the way to the matatu stage I want to stop and buy the tea I wanted to carry with me but she said that they wanted to buy it for me. That they tried to think about what they could give me as a present to say thank you for everything I've done but they didn't know and they don't have a lot of money right now. I told her that I don't want them to spend their money on me and she insisted that they wanted to buy it for me.

Lucy also says that Jemima is going to really notice that I'm not around anymore and she is sad for her because, actually, lately Jemima has been coming with me a lot, she wants me to hold her, she wants me to feed her and... after three months finally she is able to say my name (well... more or less...). I'll miss her too...

And that's all. I don't know if I'll be able to write again, maybe on Friday from Nairobi but I'm not sure because I want to meet another volunteer that is coming to Molo to spend one month.

As I said yesterday I'll try to upload pictures when I'm in Barcelona and, if I can't update the blog in Nairobi, I'll write another post from home explaining my lasts days in Kenya.

I can't believe this is coming to an end. I remember the day I arrived in Nairobi and how I struggled at the beginning. So many things have happened during these three months here. I can say that my three months here have been one of the most special, intens and amazing three months of my life.

But I'm starting a new adventure now, I'm going back to Spain after 6 years away... and I know it won't be easy. I'm sad because I'm leaving Kenya but I'm also excited of starting a new life and carry on with all the projects I have in mind.

The kids at the centre have fulfilled me with the energy I was lacking of during my lasts days in Ireland. I know that that energy will help me to start my new life in Spain but I know I will continue working with Chazon from the distance. I'm happy I came here. I'm happy I found Chazon. This is a real and genuine place to volunteer in. There are no NGO's or organitations behind, just Samuel and Lucy, two wonderful people I never thought I could come across. But they exist, they are not rich in money but they are rich in kindness. They love those kids and, I can guarantee, the kids love them... and how not to?!

From here I want to thank Samuel and Lucy for the amazing work they are doing and for letting me be part of it and part of their family.

Asante sana!

Tuesday

Today it's been a very interesting day.

We decided that we were going to go to the streets to look for street kids and to try to take some of them to the centre.

We went near the matatu stage were I usually meet the kids. We saw big boys sniffing glue and one kid. Samuel started talking with the big boys but Lucy talked to the kid. Samuel told the big boys that we were willing to take the kids to the school so if they had little brothers they should let them know so they could come to Chazon and they won't have the same life they are having. One of the big boys went to look for the kids that usually are around and after few minutes some of them came over.

Lucy talked to them and we realised that some wanted to go to school. There were four of them: Brian and his brother Geoffrey, Thomas and David Chege.

Brian took us to his house, there we met their mother. The house was extremely small. The mother told us that they had no job and that they couldn't take the kids to school because they have to pay 700 ksh to register them and then they have to buy the uniform, the notebooks, pencils, etc and they don't have the money. They are also not able to feed them so that's the reason the kids went to the streets and they slept there... Sam and Lucy told her that if they really wanted to go to school she should take them on Monday to Chazon to start, that they don't have to pay anything, the uniform, notebooks, pencils, etc are free of charge and they provide them with one meal and porridge in the morning. The only thing that they were asking for is that the kids are always clean and that she makes sure that they don't go to the streets and they don't sniff glue. She agreed.

Then Thomas took us to his house. He lives with his grandmother, there is no father and the mother left him. He told Lucy that he really wanted to go to school. When we got to his house the grandmother was not around so we took to the neighbour and she agreed that she will tell the grandmother to take Thomas to Chazon on Monday. I really liked Thomas, I noticed that he really wanted to go to school. His clothes were all ragged and dirty and he had no shoes. He had no english but he kept smiling at me and walking near me. His house was another small room. The grandmother also looks after another grandson because the father died...

We left them there and we were just left with David Chege. We talked to him and he really wanted to go to school but he said that his mother stays in Turi, another village near Molo, the father dies and he has 7 siblings. As we don't have the orphanage yet it's very difficult to take kids that have no guardians in Molo because even if he comes to Chazon then he has no place to stay at night. He told us that he was sleeping in the streets in Molo because Molo is a bigger town and the probability of getting food is bigger than in Turi.

Lucy had to go as she had a meeting with some women and as David was with us for the whole day we decided to go to a restaurant and buy chiken and chips for him. While he was eating Samuel told me that we could try something... He told David to go to Turi and to come back on Sunday with his mother so they can meet and talk. If he is willing to go to school and the mother agrees we could look for a guardian for him in Molo. He agreed.

Unfortunately I won't be here on Sunday or on Monday to see those kids going to Chazon but I'm happy we got to take four street kids off the streets. Well... we still have to wait until Monday to see if they are really interested but I hope they will be.

Tomorrow is my last day in Molo as I'm leaving on Thursday to Nairobi, I'll spend Friday there and on Saturday I'll leave.

I'll try to write again but I don't know if I'll have the time before leaving. Otherwise, I promise I'll upload pictures from Barcelona. I'd love you to see the kids I visited and the kids of the streets.

I'm not saying goodbye yet because I hope I'll find the time to write another post again.

So... tuonane baadaye!

Monday

Today it's Tuesday, but I want to explain but I did yesterday. I'll explain in another post what I've been doing today.

Yesterday Samuel, Lucy and I woke up early because we went to Nakuru.

On the way to the matatu stage we met again the street kids, when they saw me they run towards me very happy and asked me to buy bread for them. I realised that some of them were sniffing glue so I told them I was not buying bread for them because they know I don't like they sniff glue so they throw it away. I bought them bread... but I'm sure that after the bread they most likely went to get more glue...

We went to visit Melon in Nakuru, the other orphanage. Then we met Alfie and we went to see Chelsea to New Life, the orphanage were she is volunteering. New Life was opened by two danish and the facilities they have there are amazing. Chelsea showed us around and we got some ideas for our future orphanage... There was a women crisis centre too and Lucy loved it!

Then sam and Lucy had to go to do some personal stuff and I had lunch with Alfie and Chelsea. Then we wanted to go to the slums in Nakuru but it started raining and we couldn't.

We went to Chelsea's place and after cahtting I had to say goodbye. It was hard again. Chelsea and Alfie have been my only mzungu friends and the ones that could really understand me here. I'm very happy I met them and they came to Molo. Chelsea is leaving on Saturday too but Alfie still has some weeks left and he probably will spend one in Molo :)

When I got to Molo I was walking home and I saw two kids runing towards me. They were Philip and Vivian! They came and hug me and hold my hand. I was so happy to see them! I walked with them and with their mother few meters but then I had to take a different route and the kids didn't release my hands... They are so cute!

Sunday

I'm going to try not to write another long post, specially because I wrote one yesterday and I don't have that many thing to explain.

Today I went to church.

I wanted to go to Samuel and Lucy's church to say goodbye. Even though they are the Pastors of a Pentecostal church, they have been very respectful with me and very understanding when I told them that I'm not a religious person therefore I don't go to church.

Every Sunday they left me at home or in town, they headed to church and I headed to other places. But today I wanted to go because I know almost all the people of their church and I thought it was good to go to say goodbye.

But before I went to Joseph's church. His family belong to an African religion and I though it would be interesting to go and see what they do. And it actually was! Africans a veeeery religious and some of them don't understand that I'm not but they were very understanding too when I told them I wanted to be there as a cultural experience.

Their church is a very small room with no pictures or anything hanging on the walls. They don't have chairs, they sit on the floor, men on one side and women on the other side. They sing and dance very energetically clapping their hands and using drums. I said few words to all of them and then I went to Sam and Lucy's church. When they finished I was invited to say few words so I walked to the altar and I started talking. It was not easy. I had to say goodbye and I started crying a little bit again... Samuel finished the service with a beautiful speech. He said that it's not easy to say goodbye to someone you love and that for them I have become their first daughter.

Then we all walked to town and I carried Jemima the african way, hanging on my back.

We went to visit a woman that had a baby a week ago. We brought her a pacifier and a feeding bottle that I brought from Spain. They gave us a lot of food again... Poatoes with cabbages and chapati... I'm putting on so much weight just in this last week... On the way back home we met Erick that was going home. I was so happy to see him :)

Visiting my kids

As I said on my previous post... time really goes fast. Just 6 days to go now.

I've been very busy again... My schedule for this week is very tight.

On Thursday I went to visit Nancy. Nancy is in class 1, she's 7 years old but she looks like she is 4. She lives with her aunt as her mother died when she was 3 and they were abandoned by the father. She was not properly fed for some years so that's the reason she looks that young. The aunt has two other kids and, again, there is no father around... They live in a very small house made of wood with no electricity. The aunt had another sister that also passed away leaving John Njoroge, one of the pupils in class 7, orphan. John and Nancy are cousins and both orphans of different parents. John lives with his grandmother and he helps her in the small shop she has when he's not at school and that's where we found him on the way to Nancy's house.

Nancy is a sweet girl. She likes playing with me and she similes and laugh all the time but the situation for them is very difficult as the aunt has no job and she has other two kids... But even though they have nothing they always cook something for me. The day before, on Wednesday, I went to visit Damaris. She is one of the cooks at the centre and she kept telling me to go and visit her house and finally I went with Lucy. She has 4 kids, they live in a very small house with again no electricity and the husband has no job. Damaris is happy because she works at the centre but Samuel and Lucy can't offer her a big salary so she and her family try ti survive with the little she gets form the centre. Well, so we arrived to her house and she was cooking lunch for us. She gave me a big plate of lentils and another plate with chicken. I know they don't usually eat chicken but they got one because I was coming to visit them and, again, I can't refuse the meal even though maybe there is no chicken for the rest of the family.

At Nancy's place her aunt cooked a big plate of rice and potatoes.

The following day, Friday, I had to say goodbye to Erick, my kid. They are five: Peter the father, Lucy the mother, Loise the daughter, Manasseh the son and now Eric who they took from the streets. We went to visit them to their house. They live in a very small and dark house with no electricity. When their house was burned during the clashes they were given a tent to live in but luckily they found this small house where they live now. They had no jobs, two kids and they decided to look after Erick. People told them that they were crazy, that they should leave Erick in the streets... but they didn't. Now the mother bakes some cakes at home and the father tries to sell them to the shops to get some money but it's not easy...

I talked a lot with the father and I played with the kids and, obviously, we were offered loads of food again: cakes, chapati, potatoes and cabbages...

Then I had to say bye to them. Erick doesn't really speak English so I think he doesn't really understand what was going on. I said goodbye to him but I think he thought he was going to see me again soon... maybe it's better this way.

Then we went to see Sylvia. She is another mzungu and she has a nice house in Molo. She's friends with Lucy and Samuel and she's supporting a lot of people. She was very welcoming and I promised I will visit her again when I'll come back.

Today I went with Samuel and Lucy to Moses' and Mary's house. I talked about them in a previous post. They were abandoned by their mother for a week. When we got there the mother was not at home and Moses was in the forest looking for wood. So we found Mary with her sister Faith who is 9 years old and the brother Kelvin who is 5 and still doesn't go to school. They were at home alone and they didn't know if the mother was going to be back soon. We asked Faith who looked after them when the mother was gone and she said that Moses was the one looking after them, the problem is that when Moses, Faith and Mary were in school, kelvin was left alone for the whole day...

We asked them if they had anything to eat that morning and they said no. We asked if they had any food to eat and they said no so I went to the shop and I bought some bread. They eat it in 2 seconds, they were starving. We left and we didn't meet Moses because he was not back from the forest yet but we met the mother on the way back, we asked her about the older daughter that was not around. She told us she is in a boarding school in Meru because some relative is sponsoring her. Samuel asked her for the phone number of that relative to check that out...

Then on the way to town we stopped at David Maina's. This is another tough story. David, his brother Peter who is in class 5 and John Gichuki who was in class 7 (he went back to the streets) live with their grandmother. Their parents died because of AIDS. Then another son of the grandmother died too leaving three kids that the same grandmother is looking after too and, if that's not enough, another son had two kids, Nicholas and Jane both in class 1, but he went into drugs and left them with the grandmother. So, this grandmother looks after 8 kids all by herself. I met her today, I liked her so much. She is a hard worker. We couldn't comunicate because she doesn't speak english but I enjoyed looking at her talking and laughing with Samuel and Lucy. Guess what? Yes, they cooked loads of rice and potatoes for us.

When you see the kids at the centre you see them all with the same uniform and you don't really realise about their tough lives. You just hear the stories that Lucy tells you but when you visit them in their houses... That's tough. It's so frustrating to see the way the live and you can't help them all! It's so unfair ! They are just kids!

After visiting all those kids I really see the need of having that hotel and my mind just thinks for the whole day in how fundraising money to buy it.

Oh, by the way, there is this website www.idealistas.org about volunteering and there was a contest where volunteers could send their experiences as a volunteer. Ok, I sent mine, I talked about Chazon, about Samuel and Lucy, about Molo, about the kids and... yes! I won! I got an email today saying that they were choosing a winner for every country and my experience is going to represent Spain. They will publish it on their website. I understood that I was getting a prize too, money or material for the centre but I'm not sure though, I'll see what they tell me. It will be good for the centre!

I'm also getting loads of emails of people interested in coming to Chazon. I wrote about my experience in two websites and now people are very interested and they send emails inquiring. That's the way I have got two volunteers from Barcelona, they are coming in July :)

Farewell Chazon :'(

Today it's been a sad day.

Today I had to say goodbye to the kids at the centre because they have finished their tuition and they are not going back to school until the 4th of May (I won't be here).

So I went class by class saying goodbye. I started with class 7 and I finished with class 1. I did well with class 7 but when I got to class 6 and I saw this boy, David Maina crying... I could feel my eyes filling up with tears. David Maina is a very bright boy, he's always the number one at class and he's such a nice kid. His parents died because of AIDS and his aunt after the clashes so he lives with his siblings and orphan cousins with their grandmother. Four of them are at the centre, they were actually five before but one of the went back to the streets... When Pili arrived to Molo she brought clothes to donate and we gave them some of them as they are really in need.

So, I saw him crying and my heart broke. Then I went to class 5, class 4... and when I got to class 3 I was already crying. Lucy didn't want to come with me class by class because she said she didn't want to see the sad faces of the kids, and Samuel was busy working on the new latrines with Alfie. Some of the kids were asking me: "So you go back to Spain but after a week you come back?", "You go home because you miss your mum?", "So you are leaving us?" Some of them were looking down with sad faces. I've been the first one staying for so long with them but I know that other volunteers will come soon and they will show them new games and the kids will enjoy them.

I spent last weekend in Nakuru with Susan, it was a good one. And then on Sunday I went back to Molo with Chelsea and Alfie. They spent two days with us and at the beginning I didn't know if they were going to like it here because they are more used to Nakuru, a bigger town where there are more mzungus but in fact... they loved it here. They were amazed with what Lucy and Samuel are doing. Chelsea is leaving the 1st of May too but Alfie said that he will come to spend a week here for sure, now he's going somewhere near mount Kenya but he has to spend his last two weeks in Nakuru and he wants to come here.

After saying goodbye to the kids we went to visit Philip and Vivian to their house, they are in nursery so they haven't been coming for tuition. I don't know if I told you about them... They are 3 or 4 years old and they were found abandoned in a cave. The man that found them decided to look after them even though they are extremely poor but now they both, the husband and the wife, have AIDS so no one is hiring them and they are quite weak. We went to their house. A house made of mud and no electricity and they offered us tea. I was happy to see Vivian and Philip, they are so cute! They gave me a big chicken as a present (a chicken alive) which I couldn't hold because I fear animals but Chelsea did it on my behalf. Samuel told me that among the luhyas (the tribe they belong to) giving a chicken as a present is a very precious gift, it's an honor so I really felt honored and touched. I would have loved them to keep the chicken so they have food but Lucy told me that I couldn't reject it and I understood. I really wish I can find someone to sponsor Vivian and Philip. And I also wish Sam and Lucy can buy that hotel so they have a house where the kids can stay because Vivian and Philip are very young kids and the parents are very sick so no one knows what is going to happen with them when the parents are gone...

Philip usually is very serious, Vivian is the one that talks and talks, but when we were leaving the house he hug me first and then he hold my hand and he walked out with me until we got in the matatu and then he ran behind the matatu saying goodbye while we were leaving...

Then we went to the matatu stage as Chelsea and Alfie were going back to Nakuru but we have decided that I'll go back to Nakuru one day next week so we can say goodbye. I cried again...

When I was coming back from the matatu stage with Lucy, I met this street kid. Every time that I walk near that area he comes to me and says that he's hungry. I bought him bread sometimes and I tried to find out about him but he doesn't speak English so today we found him again I bought bread and milk for him and Lucy talked to him. He told her that he's 12 and he left school in class 2 and he spends the day in the streets begging for food. He has some relatives but they don't look after him. Lucy asked him if he wanted to go to school and he said yes so he told him to go to Chazon in May so they can talk if he's really interested.

From tomorrow, I have just 9 days left here and I plan to visit Erick's, Moses's, etc... I'm going to have a busy 9 days left so time is going to fly... I know... even though... let's see if that volcano let me go back the day I have to go back.