Monica and her happiness with the girls from Kenya
«We arrived tired after a flight where we barely slept a wink. Upon arrival, Edwina (center coordinator) was waiting for us at the airport. It is sweetness personified! From there we went to exchange local currency. The traffic in Nairobi is crazy so we spent quite a bit of time in the car before reaching the project. The chaos of the cars contrasts with the wild environment that can be guessed at the side of the road, which announces a National Park.
Arrival: meetings and dances
Arriving at the project we were nervous. The first thing we saw is some of the girls with Óscar, another volunteer from Tumaini that he had been there for almost two weeks and that he is charming. It caught our attention that the girls combed his hair all the time because he had long hair... but even if you have it short like Ale or me, they manage to make you braids, it's great!
That same night we were introduced to the girls, who ranged from two to 17 years old. There was also a baby that just arrived in those days. After dinner we lived a magical moment: the girls read the Bible and commented on what they had heard. But the best thing is that, when finished, they began to dance and jump. We jumped and danced with them while we clapped our hands and thought: "what pure souls and full of life after having lived through such traumatic experiences. I assure you whether you are believers or not, religious or not, it is irrelevant... You just want to give them love. And they seem happy.
On Sunday we went to church and it was amazing to see children and women from the surrounding villages wearing Maasai clothes. The mass was in English, Swahili and Maasai. We went out to introduce ourselves and everyone danced and sang.
Giraffe Park Adventure
Another day we got up early and went with the girls to see giraffes in a park ten kilometers away and we invited them to eat. We saw the giraffes up close and ate chicken with French fries and ketchup, which the girls love. Arriving after a very dusty walk, it's Africa... we were able to take a hot shower, a luxury where we were.
The girls are organized in groups and each group is in charge of cooking for everyone one day. The little ones don't cook but they scrub the floor or collect papers. I hallucinated because At four years old they take washing clothes as a game and when the others do it, so do they.
They assigned me to a group and the day we had to make the meal I helped cook the rice and black beans for the meal. Despite the smoke in your eyes and hair, it's worth it. I helped serve and rinsed the dishes that another girl washed. Then I washed the clothes as they do with two jars and soap. At five in the afternoon you are already tired! The day starts intense and dinner is early (7pm), just like going to sleep.
these girls share everything. If there was leftover peanut butter, they divided it among several, a spoonful to sweeten breakfast. I helped some older ones with English grammar and some ten years old with English too. While I was doing this, Ale was always playing with them, making games in English and one day they even played soccer and organized a bingo!
One of the anecdotes that I agree with the most is from a day that I had to take care of the little ones' naps. Since there were four of them, I was shaking with nerves! But to my surprise... right after eating, they themselves climbed into the crib and covered themselves with the sheet and went to sleep. I freaked out."
Monica, Solidarity trip in a training center for girls (Kenya), December 2016