Tuesday 31 March 2015

Donations

Day 6 in project

Where has the time gone, we are on week two already!

So after sorting our donations out the night before we headed to our projects for a day of teaching, invigilating and handing out donations.

In Destiny they used a large classroom to lay out all the donations, then each child was invited in to pick three items. The rest has been stored safely away for when the 150 children start in the Summer. 

The next project was slightly different as they are full to bursting point with children. Here the clothes were sorted into classes and the students then handed these out to the children. We had enough donations for every child to have 2 items of clothing as well as some pencils, and pens for the older children. 

The highlight was going into the youngest room (the babies) where they were all asleep and placing a knitted teddy in front of them and watching their faces as they woke up to find they had their very own teddy to keep. 

What a day :0)

Sunday 29 March 2015

Sunday

Up for 9 today which was a welcomed rest. Left for Church after breakfast which was interesting. Returned after Church for a trip to the supermarket to stock up on supplies.

We had an hours free time before supper after which we all sorted out our donations. Everyone is on high looking forward to projects on Monday.

Laura is hoping for an early night!!!!


Day Off

So after an early start in the morning we set off in 3 vans to the safari, which is less than 5 minutes from the resort. On arrival we all pushed the roofs up so we could stand and see from the top of the bus. We headed round the park and spotted many animals: antelope, zebra, water buck, buffalo, baboons etc. We moved further in to the park and to Lake Nakuru and the flamingos, the lake was incredibly beautiful and we were allowed out of the vans to walk to the edge of the lake.

Our journey continued with a drive around the lake where we saw lots of giraffe and one lion resting on the rocks in the sun.

We stopped at an amazing view point where we could look over the lake which was truly stunning, whilst here Ben and Ollie made friends with a hyrax (rock rat).

We then travelled around the rest of the lake till we reached the gates. Next stop was a local supermarket for lunch before heading off to the equator. On route we pulled over by a plantation to hear about how coffee and tea is grown.

The journey from here to the equator can be best described as an episode of Top Gear with all three vans avoiding the pot holes, which one driver thought was very funny and said he was Captain Slow!

The equator was interesting and we were shown an experiment to prove we were at the equator, and yes it's true the water does swirl a different way when you step over the equator.

Next stop was Thomson Falls which was amazing. Most of the group headed down to the bottom, big shout out to Lauren who completed this and the girls who fell in at the bottom! We then headed back home. Although everyone was exhausted a great day was had by all. Shout out to Fred for accompanying us and always smiling.

Friday 27 March 2015

Day 5

Today we had a great day at Destiny we painted the desks blue and then had a great teddy bears picnic. Each child had a bear and they all named them mostly George! 

Today Destiny came to visit Haddasah and helped to teach some maths classes. The others continued with painting and will hopefully finish next week when we can get some more paint. 

Highlight of today when Ben arrived and the children all picked him up, he is coming a bit of a celebrity!

An early night will be needed tonight as we head off on safari at 6am tomorrow!

Thursday 26 March 2015

Day 4

Jambo! Breakfast was lush:-) in the morning at Destiny we did some painting and went shopping to buy some materials such as wood, paint and white wash. We've almost finished painting one of the classrooms but we ran out of white wash, we also started making the floor for the office we have been building. Katie, Mollie, Ollie and Aimee worked so hard! Well done them! Ollie took a football today and all of the boys played a massive game, it was so much fun! With the wood we bought we started constructing a table for the kitchen so they have somewhere to prepare lunch, we hope to finish this tomorrow.
At Hadassah they finished painting the wall outside with some beautiful pictures, care of Georgia, Lucie, Sophie, Emily, Lauren, Chloe, Summer, Lucy and Laura. Lucy and Summer taught two maths lessons today which they really enjoyed! The group from Hadassah visited Destiny today and were surprised at how much space we had to run around. We sang a lot of songs with everyone and it was a good laugh! 
Laura would like to introduce you to the pusswammas called George- our mascot!
Back at the resort while we were all chilling after a busy day, Mollie managed to fall off her chair backwards!!!!!
Overall it's been a lovely day, with lots of sunshine and smiles!!!

The Elephant

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Day 3...

So, how are we doing? Well a little exhausted, but have really enjoyed our day. Ben and Laura helped dish out porridge cooked by Mama Mary, see picture. Followed by an awesome teaching session, which would have been graded as "outstanding" by Ofsted. Many of the students visited a local shop/shack to buy paint and then continued to decorate the classroom and the wall outside, see picture tomorrow for Laura's traditional elephant. 
In Destiny the focus was on painting and preparing the classroom for the arrival of 130 children in August!! The decorated consisted of painting on mud walls. There was some good teaching, and the children were entertained by Ollie as he threw some shapes and sang and danced "follow the leader,leader,leader with all the children. We feel Ollie has now found his niche. 
After 'stew' tonight the amazing Fred delivered a lesson to us on Swahili, this was very complicated but Sawa Sawa. 
Tomorrow we get to visit each other's projects, which will be good.

Night Folks 

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Day 2 in Project

Jambo! Today was our second day at the Destiny and Hadassah projects. It's safe to say we are all exhausted. Summer from the Hadassah group had to teach a class all on her own today with 30 seconds of planning, see the picture below of a very tired Summer!
Over in Destiny they spotted about fifty baboons! They had fun teaching, building, cooking and playing! Abbie, Sasha and Alena had an amazing time with the children, see pictures below. There is also some of the guys from the Destiny group below.

Monday 23 March 2015

Day 1 of projects

Our first day on the project started with a cracking breakfast, sausages
eggs 🐣 and donuts (kind of). We feel like celebs as we travel around, everyone smiling and waving at us!

We were all very excited to start our first day, receiving a warm welcome from the children! We started construction, helping to lay a floor and doing some teaching. Summer took charge, singing songs to the children for them all to copy! Who doesn't want to hold your hand all day? Destiny had some interesting visitors today as some hungry baboons lept over the wall! 🐒🐒🐒

We are very excited about our second day at the projects, everyday is a stew day! 😁


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Sunday 22 March 2015

Kivu

Arrived safe and well in Nakuru, we stopped at the Rift Valley see photos, which was a beautiful view. We then headed to a hotel for lunch where we met the African Adventures team. One highlight for today was spotting the numerous zebra along the side of the road. Followed by football style chanting "we love you zebra we do, we love you zebra we do, we love you zebra we do, oh zebra we love you!" Which the staff team loved! Having our first meal in the resort then an early night for our first day in the Projects.

Saturday 21 March 2015

Nairobi

Have all arrived safe and sound and checked into the hotel. Night a Folks!

Here we go

A 5.25am start at college!


Heathrow

Well we have made it through checkin with a little reshuffling of luggage to get all donations through. Passport control was also fine. We are now relaxing air side before we board the plane.

Just need breakfast to arrive 😀