Kiminini, Kenya

It's Jen here.

Amanda still hasn't written?! It's okay. I wanted to write this journal entry anyway.

After our adventure in South America, we decided to go take about a two week break back at home in New York. That amount of time flew by though. We were already on our way to Kenya before we knew it.

September 2007
Kiminini, Kenya

It was actually my idea to come to Kenya. I had always wanted to volunteer in Kenya. It was a dream of mine since I was really young. I just hoped that Amanda and Holly would come to love this experience as much as I have already loved it.

We joined an organization called Village Volunteers to volunteer for about a month. Since all three of us wanted to help with children's education, we joined a program inside of the organization called the Common Ground Program. The program didn't involve the government and had a primary school that gave homes to many children. Those children had no parents or at least one of their parents had died from illnesses.

After we had gotten off our plane, we traveled to the house of our volunteer leader, Joshua Machinga. He invited us in his house and introduced us to his wife and five kids.

When we came into his house, there were already three people sitting in his house. They were medical students. They told us that the program we were involved in was actually pretty well off. I was surprised at that, because there was no plumbing or electricity in Joshua's house.

After we were all introduced, Joshua and his wife prepared for us a big meal. We all ate happily and talked with each other.

That was when we all heard voices from outside the house. Then, fourteen girls walked into the house. They danced and sang with us until Joshua said it was time for them to go to bed.


Kenya Pop


Those fourteen girls were few of the children that stayed in the primary school, so we guessed that most of them had lost one parent or both parents. They were called boarders since they stayed at the dorms at the boarding school.

Since it was my idea (and my dream) to go to Kenya, I decided to let Amanda and Holly bunk together in one room and I would stay with another one of the volunteers, Irene. It was only fair.

The bathrooms were a little less than tolerable. They were outhouses with only a hole for you to do your business in. I couldn't be complaining though. I knew this would happen. The only people whom I was worried about were Amanda and Holly.

After we slept for a good couple of hours, we woke up and Joshua led us through the Pathfinder Academy, the school that the boarders stayed in.

That's Holly there in the picture with Joshua and the boarders.

When we entered the school grounds, a flood of children rushed in to not be late to class. They all greeted Joshua since he was practically the principal of the school.

I asked if there was any way that we could teach the children, but Joshua said that all the children already had teachers. He said that we could help some of the kids here by sponsoring them and paying for their supplies for school. He asked us if some of our friends and family back at home could sponsor some of the kids as well. We all happily agreed to ask our friends and family to sponsor these kids.

Joshua had explained that most of the girls stayed in the dorms at school, because there was a potential risk of rape if they walked to and from school. He explained that they wouldn't be able to do anything and that it was normal for girls to get raped. I wondered why the girls didn't fight back. Joshua had talked about it like it was common and that it couldn't be changed. I wondered about that.

That night, we all hung out in the room that Irene and I were staying in. Amanda had her laptop out and she was uploading the pictures that we had taken so far. The fourteen little boarders from the other day had popped into our room and asked what Amanda was doing. She was saying that she was uploading pictures.

Amanda then asked if they had ever seen a movie. One of the girls, Naomi, answered yes. She said that they had seen a movie when a previous volunteer had come and brought one. Amanda then popped a movie into her laptop and everything and everyone became silent. We all watched the movie in awe and wonder. Then, the girls started talking to us and played with our hair.

Holly and Amanda were having fun too. I was happy that they were starting to adapt to the life here.