What did our days look like at the orphanage?

     Good question.  We took several trips outside of Fiwagoh (these will be discussed on future blogs).  When the team traveled to observe another organization in the area we always brought things to share with them, so preparations before hand had to be made: shopping, sorting, bagging,… On shopping days the team leader, Ryan, and a few others, would leave for Nakuru between 9:00 and 11:00 AM and return somewhere between 5:00 and 7:00 PM. The rest of us that stayed back rotated between various activities:  observing teachers and/or teaching in some of the classrooms, working in the gardens, helping in the dorms, assisting Mama Grace in the kitchen, helping with laundry (using tubs and buckets as there are no machines), popping and bagging popcorn to feed 300+, working in the clinic to help administer medicine, and just hanging out with some of the kids reading, walking, and exploring. I always opted to stay at Fiwagoh so I didn’t have to enter the shopping mayhem and loved all the various opportunities I was exposed to at Fiwagoh.  Below are some photos of these activities.

Hanging out with kids.

Cole and Jameson reading to Joy and Anita.

Coloring while older kids went on nature walk.

Reading always draws a crowd.

Imani and Lisa showing they can swing (jump) with the Africans.

Doneva and Lori spending special time with the girls down at the field.

Gardening

     Since my first visit in 2012 the gardens have grown and grown.  They have a few  adults that work in the garden as well as some of the seniors.  They are vegan at Fiwagoh and use all their produce for the orphanage.  Left over food is sold to locals and given to those in need.  Some of the plants they grow are sukuma wiki (kale), avocados (200 can be harvested in one day), Papaya, beans, peas, mangos, bananas, cassava, pumpkin, many types of squash, watermelon, sunflowers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, maze, green onions carrots, spinach, black night shade, lettuce, red onions, and much more. Some of the seniors built green houses several years ago and in them you will find green peppers and tomatoes.

 

Pastor Benson gives a garden tour on our first full day at Fiwagoh. You can't see him because he is a very small man, however he has a HUGE heart for the orphan.

Duncan, Lori, Ashley, and Doneva helping out in the gardens.

 

Everyone gets in on the action.  This little one is threshing the beans.

I learned there are both male and female papaya trees.  This is a male tree.

After working in the gardens the kids rush to take all the stickers off of Lori's skirt.

Working in the kitchen

Winnie and Mama Grace in the kitchen, always smiling.

Preparing the bananas.

Winnie, Duncan Senior, and Joseph preparing a wonderful meal for the team.

Visiting the classrooms 

Lucy is teaching the class Swahili.  She was a senior in high school in 2015.
I was fortunate to teach her and Dennis, who were the first graduates from Fiwagoh's
school.  She is an amazing teacher!! 

Taking notes in Swahili.

This is the nicest chalkboard they have.  In the high school rooms the chalkboard is half this size.  My goal is to get new  and improved chalkboards in all the classrooms.

I know these faces.  Happy Dance!!

Did I mention the kids LOVE to a have their pictures taken.

The structure in the background represents the elementary school  classrooms.  The have baby classes and kindergarten through grade 8.  After they complete grade eight they must take a state test and pass in order to move on to high school.  Pass or not, all that finished grade 8 take a year off and work at the orphanage. It gives them a chance to experience different duties and perhaps determine what they want to  do when they are out of school.

Laundry

     We use buckets and soap (sometimes it is shampoo if the soap runs out).  Rinse bucket, wash bucket, rinse bucket, and then squeeze as much water out of the piece as possible and hang it on the line.  I don't have many photos of the process, however this first one shows the amazing view we have from the dorm.

Clinic

     Records have to be maintained on every child whenever they are treated at the clinic.  Eunice, who also teaches, reports to the clinic every morning at 6:00 am and again in the afternoon to help the kids.  Team members would also show up to update the records or to help administer meds. Some of the kids have HIV and need to report to the clinic twice a day for meds.  When we arrived at Fiwagoh we noticed many kids had ringworm and needed medical attention ASAP.  This  was the first trip to Fiwagoh where none of our team members had a medical background.  The closest person to that was Jessica, a college student.  Both of her parents are doctors and were a part of our medical team that traveled to Fiwagoh in 2014.  Jessica is an amazing young lady that put her heart and soul into everything she did on this trip.  She contacted her parents to find out what would be best as far as treating the kids and the team obtained the necessary medicine.  By the time we left they were all looking much better.  

Jessica.

The line for the clinic.  It seems never ending.

     I hope this gives you a glimpse of what we did when we were not on a special assignment.  I will finish this post with the picture below.  When you bring out photos, or worse yet, photos on your phone, you get swarmed.  It gets worse as the time to leave nears.  I believe I didn't take as many photos because it is overwhelming.  However, they just want to see themselves (there are no mirrors at Fiwagoh).  They want to see our families, they want to see America or anything on our phone they haven't seen before.  They love to make movies using our phones, especially slow-motion movies.  

This is a mild swarm:)

Peace and Joy, 
krees (kris)