Still no pics

I can't upload at this internet cafe, but I'll put them on a fellow volunteer's laptop and have him email them to me. The truth is I've been having way too much fun to take pictures anyways. I need to take more but I hate whipping out a camera and looking like a spectator. But I'll get over it cuz this is stuff I never want to forget.

We didn't get to go to Pokot after all. We were all really bummed, especially Carol who really wanted us to experience it. We'll do another trip around Christmas, but it won't be on a famine feed day so we won't meet the remote families that live way way out in the bush. The reason we couldn't be there is that we didn't have transportation, which is a MAJOR problem for the center. They own a van, but it's totalled because it got swept away in a flood earlier this year. We were ready to pay the exorbitant fee to have someone drive us out to the site, but we still relied on a matatu to bring us past Lake Barringo. Well, matatus don't run on Sundays. We found this out at the 11th hour.

The kids watched The Jungle Book last night and were absolutely hypnotized. It was adorable to hear them hoot and holler and chatter away in Pokot. Their joy is just infectious!!! Considering the hell they have been through it's amazing they are so happy. Carol brought me to a little girl named Caroline that had fallen asleep despite all the excitement. She was one of the newest arrivals from far out in East Pokot. She is severely underweight, malnourished, and had chronic diarrhea and malaise. Carol told me straight out that this kid might not make it and she had seen several like her in the past year die just like this. Heavy duty stuff. So she gave me strict instructions not to let her eat too much at once (this was making her sick) and to get her to a private hospital ASAP in the morning.

This morning we cooked breakfast for the kids and staff. Well, that's actually a misnomer because no one in their right mind would trust 5 westerners cooking on an outdoor open flame for 80 people. So we buttered and jammed bread and passed it out with a Chai tea that the Pokot mummies had prepared. Even though the mummies knew about Caroline, I saw her with 3 pieces of bread and a full cup of tea. I ran over and (gently) wrenched the remaining piece away and told an older kid to let her know I'd give it back in a few hours. In 10 minutes she came into our dorm looking really really rough. She was in a lot of pain and started crying and was all listless and it was heart-wrenching and I just kept remembering Carol saying she could die any minute. And there was no money to take her to the hospital! All we needed was the equivalent of $10.00 US, and it wasn't available. Finally we scraped it together and she was off to the doctor. I did get her to smile finally by making a couple calls to the states, my friend Jillian told her hello and she loved it.

Me and another volunteer went to our cook Pauline's church this morning. The whole thing was in Kikiyu (a tribal dialect) but the dancing and singing was great. Then she invited us back for a special dish at her home that was really delicious; potatoes and chipati (a flat bread) and beef stew of sorts.

We returned to the orphanage and lo and behold we had a new kid...Caroline! She was back from the doctor and literally, a different kid. She was smiling and laughing and running oh my gosh it is amazing. Apparently she just got a vitamin and worming treatment, along with antibiotics and perked right up. Yay! I will definately get you before and after pictures so you can see the transformation. She's not up yet, but you can check out some of the kids and their stories here: http://ihfonline.org/DisplayOrphans.php . Scroll to the bottom, then select the Nakuru "Orphanage or Education Center" from the dropdown bar (If I mention them I'll try and spell their names right!).

Now I'm off to the store to pick up some stuff (like shoes for Ruben and meds for Patrick) and then I'll head back to the center. Hopefully I'll be able write fairly often since the phone thing is patchy at best.

p.s. I am in love. His name is Kiptoo and he's 5.