Boxing day in the Nest

 Klara, feeding and playing with the kids.

I brought my Swedish guests with me to the Nest for dinner time. The staff were happy to see us and appreciated the help with feeding all the babies. I was surprised to see a lot of new, small babies and even more surprised that some of the older ones moved to the orphanage in Limuru. Both Isac and Maggie were not there anymore, so I have to rethink my photo project. Maybe I'll make a more "generic" photobook, and give it to any baby when the timing is right. I'm sure I'll have plenty of photos on most of them at the end of the next semester.
It was great to bring friends to the Nest! They asked me a lot of questions, and it struck me that sometimes you need to get the input from fresh eyes. They are not used to helping out on an orphanage and were very happy for the experience and maybe I'm getting too used to the situation.... Them asking questions really made me think and reflect on my own experiences.

Christmas break!

Finally, all the work is done for this year!! We have friends visiting from Sweden all through the break, and I'm going to spend time in Diani beach, Nairobi and Mount Kenya. I'm so looking forward to it! I'm also planning to read a lot of books for research form my extended essay, but I've chosen a very interesting topic, so It will be interesting. Merry Christmas to all!

Grading soon....

On my last Taekwondo training, I mainly got to perform basic kicks, blocks and punches. And of course the poomsese. All for the grading for yellow belt, and one of the most important part is the poomse. I only have to learn the first one, but my mother and sister is working on number two and three. My father got us a DVD on one of his trips with all the 8 Poomses on, up to black belt, so I can practice in front of the TV (I will need it!). Number four seems incredibly hard - so I dread my fourth grading. I will start practicing the next one soon....

Celebrating "Lucia" at the Swedish Ambassadors residence.

Lucia is a very nice celebration of light in Sweden on December 13. We have girls and boys singing in white dresses with candle lights in their hair and hands and they traditionally walk around the neighborhoods to wake people up in the morning. They offer coffee and christmas sweets to the families they are visiting. They sing the usual Lucia songs that are very traditional, and it makes me think of Sweden. There is a slight difference here in Nairobi- in Sweden, this time of year, it's dark and, if we're lucky snow. It is strange to listen to these Swedish traditional songs in T-shirt and shorts.... and on the ambassadors big lawn by the pool.

Diplomas

Producing Diplomas to donors from Sweden. I'm in a bit of a hurry, because I'm supposed to send them with friends who are spending Christmas in Sweden. I also have a lot of Christmas cards to produce, and final assessments in all my classes in school - so I really feel the need for a long holiday. I'm very glad that we are raising money for the school, so I should really be glad to produce the Diplomas and cards (and I am, even tough there is a lot going on right now!)

Facts of life in the slum and the end of the first term.

I went out to the school to celebrate the end of the semester. The school closes at December 1 and they are on break until January 3:rd. I had a long conversation with Reverend George where he was telling me about the challenges in running a school in the slums. He told me that school doesn't cost anything in Kenya, but the overcrowding and lack of good teachers makes the quality bad. In Mathare, there is a public school but it is mainly just a place to go to and play football and hang out during the days. There is not enough teacher to accomodate all the kids in the area. This is why he started Excellent about 6 years ago.
Excellent is a private school and it's run by a board of parents. The school fee is 300 kes a month (about 3 USD) and this is a big amount for many families in the area.
Many of the kids don't have enough food during the days and this makes them tired during class. This is a big concern for George and he would like to establish a food program, but with 600 students the money is just not there. They only give their teachers a small allowance and this is also a problem. Who can afford to feed a family on  a small salary of 2 500  Kes a month?
The primary school ends after grade 8 when the students take the national exam. If they perform well enough, they are allowed to go on to secondary school. The students from Excellent performs better and better each year. Last year Reverend George went around to boarding schools all over Kenya to beg them to admit his students. He actually got almost everyone in to a secondary school on scholarships/reduced school fees and for free.
He also told me that even though school is mandatory some kids just don't show up. Sometimes they have to care for siblings or other family members, but sometimes they just run away. Young girls often gets offered to marry an older man and think he will provide for them but more often than not they just end up alone with a few kids. Sometimes the kids need to collect scrap metal to sell and help provide for their families. Often they turn to criminality to provide for themselves.
George is really a concerned head master and told me that sometimes, when the students run away he brings the police and goes to find them. He's usually successful in getting them back to school.
It is believed that most of the adults in Mathare is infected by HIV/Aids, but no one really knows because the opportunities to be tested are limited. Most of the children are, surprisingly, not affected (the ones that are, die at a very young age) and if affected, are given medication in the school.
Excellent also helps to care for people in the community who are bedridden. They give them food and medication. The need is endless and unfortunately the staff in Excellent can only tend to the ones who are really sick. The school also has a counseling program for the members of the community and offer them a refuge in the school when there are problems in the family. Often on my visits on saturdays there is mothers with children in the school, hiding from spousal abuse.
It is surprising to me that although life is so hard in the slums, every time I go there to visit, the kids are so happy and welcoming. They sing and clap their hands and loves to be photographed (and they absolutely want to check their photos on the camera display). They always wants to shake our hands and follow us around the school. I'm so impressed by Reverend George who truly is an inspiration. He treats the kids with respect, love and lots of humour and makes a big difference in a lot of children's lives.

Reverend George,  the Headmaster

Me, walking in the street, all dressed up.

Holding a speech for the students at the end of their first term in the school year.

Facebook

Updated the Facebook page, asking for donations! Hopefully, this and my messages on my wall will help me with the Christmas drive...

Diplomas

I realized that I need to make some sort of reward for people giving money to the school. I decided that a diploma would be a good idea. It is hard to find ways of encouraging people to give and a diploma is an easy way to show our appreciation. Still, you can't make it to advanced, it is after all charity. The money is so much needed and I really want to encourage people to give. I also need to find ways to market the school. Facebook and e-mailing is te easiest way right now, but I need other channels too! The most powerful is word of mouth, but being in Kenya makes that kind of hard. Next summer, I will spend time both in Sweden and in Washington D.C, and I need a plan to make the most of that opportunity. Right now I'm so busy in school, so I guess I have to take the christmas brake to figure things out.....

Christmas cards

I finally sat down do design the Christmas cards for the Christmas fundraising. The idea is to post them on facebook, have all my friends and family buy them as gifts. They can give as much money as they want in the name of a loved one to the school. I'm really hoping I can "spread the word" through Facebook, but I think I need to be very persistent in reminding people of the opportunity. We also started a fb page for the school and I'm going to post it there too. I have to personalize every card, but for once, I hope I will be very busy doing that closer to christmas. I also got the good news that a distant relative and her friend wanted to donate some money to the school! She sent me a message on facebook that she deposited 13.000 Kes on the account! The group from Northern Sweden also got a donation of 120.000 Kes! Instead of giving christmas gifts to their clients and partners, they are giving the money to Excellent school. I quickly had to design a christmas card for them and send it by mail.

The special Christmas cards for the big donators!

The regular ones.

More laundry from the Nest

OK - second batch of very, very wet clothes from the nest. I'm starting to feel I made up for the time I missed during the Macbeth rehearsals and performances. But unfortunately, this is a never ending story.... I start to sympathize with my mom who does the laundry all the time. She thinks this is a good way for me to learn to do my own...

Christmas Market with the Swedish Society in Kenya

    Selling lottery tickets and Swedish specialties.



Saturday was a fun, but busy day. We started the day out early, going to the Swedish school with prizes for the raffle, Swedish candy and caviar to sell and my poster from Excellent school. We started by hanging all the posters. This is one of the demands from the Swedish Association, every project that has received support need to display the result on the Christmas Market.
The board were busy with setting up the tables for selling the Swedish products, setting up the café and restaurant where Swedish christmas food would be sold.
I continued by helping out with organizing the prizes for the raffle. A lot of companies around Nairobi had donated the prizes and some of them were really good. Like two nights at a resort on the beach and a painting from a well known local artist. The other Scandinavian countries were also participating, and it was a lot of fun to see what they were selling. The Market opened by noon and I spent the next four hours selling lottery tickets, helping out in the kitchen, manning the tents were we were selling things and chatting with Swedish people. I had a good day, but was dead tired when I got home.
The money earned will go to projects in Kenya, another opportunity for me to apply for funds to Excellent. school.
I had a good time, but I also worked really hard and sold all the lottery tickets. It was nice to talk to a lot of people from the Scandinavian countries and there were many familiar faces. It was however, hard work and I was dead tired after the market. Even though I enjoyed it, I'm glad this event only comes around once a year!

 

The nest and laundry

Friday was free from school so I managed to go to the nest for a short visit. I didn't have much time, so unfortunately I made a mess in the room with the one year olds. They were, as always, very hungry for attention and I was hardly inside the door before I had two babies in my arms. I forgot to close the door behind me and one "escaped", so I had to put the two down and run after the third. As I let go of the two I held, they started crying and after lifting in the escapee, he was crying too.
I hugged them some more and played with them for a few minutes, but they just wanted to be held.

I had to go down to the laundry room, because I heard that due to the heavy rains we're having in Nairobi, they have a hard time drying the laundry. I volunteered to bring the wet laundry home and dry it in the dryer in our house, but got a bit concerned when they brought bag after bag after bag...... My reflection on this trip is once again, how lucky I am. To have a dryer when it is raining is very practical especially after it's been raining for days. The staff hardly had any of their cloth diapers dry and my parents just put disposable diapers on my butt! Imagine the hard work they put in, and being so dependent on the weather, luckily it is mostly sunshine in Nairobi!

    Pouring rain and lots of laundry

   Hanging diapers

Football self-evaluation and reflections

 I missed the last training sessions due to my Drama production, but I think it's been a big challenge being on the JV team this year. I didn't get to play in the games as much as I wanted, which made me negative at some stages during the season.
When doing a full IB, it is difficult to remain positive when you could be home studying as you "warm the bench". The thing I was enforced of, yet agin, is the importance of team work. To keep your friends motivated, to participate in training and to be positive during games is very important to get good team-work. Winning also contributes, but that is a result of practicing. I'm not so sure I accomplished that this season. I got frustrated and upset when I didn't get to play and I got angry with the referee when they made strange calls. I also got quite angry when my team mates didn't show up for practice, but still got to play in the matches.
Our football season was mixed, with brilliant results at the beginning of the year but with defeats in the end of the season. We did not progress as far as we had anticipated, therefore I am angry because this season cannot be compared to the last one. Even though we reached the final last year, hopes were even higher for a return there.
I'm proud of that I didn't quit and that I was working with my bad temper all through the season. I truly love football, but I think I'm not going to do the tryouts next year. It is just too time consuming. Maybe Taekwondo is more for me: you develop quite quickly and it is an individual sport, and maybe this is one of my conclusions from this  experience. I will not achieve my goal of being on the Varsity team next year, but I will absolutely continue to play for fun. My new plan is to do the pick-up games at the U.N, maybe not every week but always when I'll have the time to spare, and always just to have fun!

Po, our captain, is making the crowd laugh at Sports Celebration night.



















Meeting Rosslyn

My coach gave me credit for being one of the most reliable players and always giving a lot of energy to the team!

Application

Finally completed the application! We decided to seek funds for buying new rooms and to fix them up. Concrete floors are especially needed. The school is built on the river bank to the Mathare river and the slopes are not som efficient to build on, it is hard to put desks and chairs on the ground and imagine the mess when it is raining! A few months ago, the department of education threatened to close the school if they didn't fix the floors but fortunately we raised some money and was able to fix the worst parts. However, new rooms are needed so each class can have their own! Another problem is that the school is located in the middle of the resident area. The result of this is that there are people, laundry, crying babies everywhere on the school grounds and not very safe for the students. They really need to have all their rooms within a fenced in area to get some peace and quiet to study. This is why we're applying for funds to fence in the school from the Swedish society in April of next year. It is hard to compare Excellent school with the International School of Kenya, where only authorized persons, students and parents are allowed in. We have a beautiful campus, with walls around and guards at the gate. We have nice classrooms and are rarely disturbed when we have classes. The difference is monumental! I hope DSA and the Swedish society will accept our application because the kids in Excellent deserves a reasonable safe, calm and clean school with proper floors!

George emailed me the budget, so I managed to get it in!

Appying for funds from DSA

I had really good information: Due to one of the ladies in my mothers group, we're eligible to apply for funds from the Diplomatic Spouse Association! The application is due the last day of November, so we need to hurry up! I e-mailed Reverend  George, asking him what his current priority list was like and we decided to ask for funds for more floors (they don't have cement flooring in all the room and this makes it hard to put a desk there, not to mention when it rains) and fencing around the school. My mother is meeting the ladies wednesday to talk about it, so I need to make an application very, very soon. This is a great opportunity, but I still face the fact that they might not accept the application (very frustrating!). I had planned to visit the school on Saturday, but it didn't work out because of my busy schedule this week. Reverend George and I had a long conversation by telephone and mail and I got a lot of information and inspiration. He is going to e-mail me quotations shortly and we discussed the budget.

This is how a floor in a classroom can look. Imagine this when it's the rainy season!

Performances

We started up with a dress rehearsal, with audience coming from our neighboring schools. It was really tough, because every thing needed to be in order and the nerves of the cast were not! We finally pulled together and only experienced a few glitches in all the technical stuff and only a few moments of confusion. It is nice to know that rehearsal really pays off. The next couple of nights went on smoothly and we got a lot of appreciation for all our hard work. Today is the last play, so tomorrow I will be back to a normal life with school work and my Cas work.

   Tickets                                                 The entrance

    The cast and crew

Macbeth is coming to ISK

Due to my workload the last week, I haven't been able to update my blog as much as I have wished. However, I want to inform you of what I've been doing. No trips to the Nest or Excellent school, no football and MUN and minimal homework has been the routine - just work, work, work for the Machbeth play, going up on the 17:th. I'm the assistant stage manager and these weeks has been filled with, painting, fixing wardrobe, props and various technical stuff. We had a few setbacks: Duncan was forced to drop out of the play, due to a very heavy IB schedule, and Macbeth himself, was ill during rehearsals. I just hope (and think) we will be ready for the 17:th. All of this week, we're working until 8 pm and all through the weekend. Drama is one of my favorite subjects, and I'm doing the higher level IB. It's very surprising though  I've never done any types of performances in my previous life. I discovered, during 10:th grade (when I had to do two credits of fine art), that I enjoy drama a lot, and are actually quite good at it. I just love working backstage and these days working on the set are so much fun and very educational. I also discovered that Drama helps me in other subjects. My oral presentations has become a lot better after taking drama and to read all the plays I've been reading makes me have an advantage in English.

Busy 2/11

Today I was very busy. I’m working backstage for the Macbeth performance ISK is putting up, and today was the start of two busy weeks. My teacher tells me I should expect to get out of school at 6 pm this week and 8 pm next week. I’m working as a stage manager and props manager and it’s very interesting to practice the things I only studied. I love drama and really enjoy the work, so the only problem I’ll have over the next weeks is fitting in my schoolwork, my training and of course CAS. I will not have the opportunity to go to the Nest in a few weeks, and that is quite sad.

I did however manage to find some time to make a poster for the Swedish Christmas market. We applied for funds in April and got what we needed to buy 16 new blackboards and almost 90 new lecture chairs. One of the conditions from the Swedish society is to bring a 70x100 cm poster to the Christmas market and give them all the receipts. Luckily, I’ve taken the photos on my visit to the school - but I still had to design the poster! I knew that the deadline was coming up, but had a hard time getting myself to do the design. I finally decided to do it very simple: Write some headlines and print them and a lot of photos, and finally glue them to this big poster. To make it look a little more professional, I begged my parents to give me a nice frame to put it in and luckily they did (because of IKEA there's always old stuff around). 

I’m actually quite happy with the result, even if it took ages to decide what images to use, print them, cut them out and finally glue them. The whole operation is very important though. It will inspire the Swedish community to buy more (expensive) Swedish candy and other Swedish foods, buy more drinks and food on our parties and be OK with that most of it is overpriced. 

As I’ve blogged about before, I’m planning to apply for more funds for Excellent School in Mathare in april and the Christmas market is a way to earn the money. I know I’m going to have to work hard at the market, selling food, candy and lottery tickets, so hopefully the board of the Swedish Society will consider my application. I can only hope, write a good application and wait....

Work in progress........

Finished!

Taekwondo 30/10

This Taekwondo class was a different story from the last one! We practiced kicks and did a lot of sparring. A friend from Sweden with a black belt in Karate was visiting, so he joined us. We all got a little carried away so my sister put on all of her protective gear. I really had to strain myself to just mark the kicks and not kick her for real! We had a lot of fun and were sweating buckets! I also had a very enlightened  talk with Max about self control. In Taekwondo, you have to keep really cool and strategic when fighting. If you get angry, you'll just lose the game - because you have to be "one step ahead" of your opponent and really plan your attacks. At the same time, the moves, kicks and punches should really be in the back of your head all the time and be executed without even thinking. This is why every kick has to be practiced so many times and even if you're a black belt, you'll still have to practice even the most basic kicks!

Taekwondo 23/10

Last session was not good at all. I was a bit annoyed when I started warming up. Furthermore, my inability to concentrate was adding and I became very negative towards myself (because I could not preform the most simple of kicks) and of others. It was not a pleasant feeling and I just wanted to get out and take a shower. However, I am planning to, after the football season, continue and increase my time in Taekwando. Instead of being just satisfied with a yellow belt, why not a blue or red?
It is vital, in any activity, to come with a positive behavior and open attitude. This was maybe not the best day of my life, but very educational in order to understand the importance of bringing a positive attitude to the training session.

Max getting help from his son to massage me.

14/10 - 25/10 Excellent school exam fees

I recieved a text message from reverend George telling me that he needed 30 000 Kes to pay the fee for the national exams for grade 8. Knowing that this is really important, whereas I contacted the Swedish ladies asking them to contribute with 5 000 Kes per family. I was really happy that they were more than willing to contribute and quickly I got 20 000 Kes in place. I asked my mother to contact her friends to ask for another 10 000 Kes. 

On sunday we’re going to the beach for the brake, but when we get back I hope some more has agreed to contribute. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the last 10 000 Kes in place before November 7, because that’s when it’s due! 

Thanks to Karin, Linda, Åsa, Christina, Jeanette and the Öberg family for giving the money needed! Unfortunately, I couldn't join the group going there on tuesday because of school, but I’m happy my mother managed to deliver the fee for the exams to reverend George, he was hugely appreciative for this! No kid in Excellent will be excluded from Secondary school because the fees for the exams were not paid!

The Öberg family also brought notebooks, pens (for the older students) and stuffed animals (for the kindergarden classes) from Sweden to the school. The children in 5:th grade in Sweden wanted to make pen-pals in Excellent school and the kids happily accepted.  This is a great way for both Swedish and Kenyan kids to practice their language and writing skills as well as exchanging experiences and learn about other countries. The father in the Öberg family is a priest, and this is great - Reverent George usually think the Swedes has a bad connection with God. Now we could prove him wrong! I hope this restores some of his faith in the Swedish people! 
It was very successful in both getting the funds needed, but also for my own experience. I felt awkwardly by knocking on the doors and ask for donations. Personally I would not like to do the door knocking process again.

I also got to see pictures of the new water tap that we managed to raise money for. It is fantastic that they now have their own water and can wash their hands and clean the toilets without carrying the water so far. Imagine that these small things we take for granted can actually be so important. The sanitary situation is really getting better in the school because of the money we raised. Both concerning the new toilets and the water tap. Hopefully no kid will get sick just by going to school. My mom also arranged for a visit to the school on Saturday in two weeks, so I can join. I’m really looking forward to it!

Dinner at the Nest 15/10

Back at the Nest with clean laundry and desire to help out with the dinner. I met Irene, the German lady who is the manager and she thanked me for the help. She also thanked me for coming with the middle school "cinder" performers to the other "Nest", where the bigger children lives. I spent a few hour there yesterday. She was afraid that we'd get stuck in the mud with the schoolbus, but I assured her that we did ok. The babies at the hospital were getting better, except for one who is now in the ICU. They are not sure what the problem is and Irene is worried there is some bacteria in the water that makes them sick. They are testing the water too, to see that it is OK. Irene also mentioned that it is good for the kids to meet young men because it is usually all women in the orphanage. This made me feel even better to spend time here.
I got busy right away feeding and playing with the babies. All of them were quite irritated at first, but it got better as soon as we started to load them with food. After feeding the children, I put a couple of them back in their beds. It was a good spend of 2 hours. 

The Nest visit 11/10

I went to the nest to help feeding the kids and take some pictures. I think I’m going to do my “photo book project” on two kids named Isaac and Maggie. They are really tiny, about 3 months and because kids will not get adopted until they're 6 months at the earliest, I will have some time to get good photos.

The nest had 8 kids in the hospital due to some respiratory problems, so the staff needs a lot of help (parts of the staff needs to stay at the hospital with the babies). I decided to come back this weekend to help with the feeding. It was quite chaotic, with about 20 babies to feed at once, but I also got some time to play with them. They bigger babies, (about 1 year) are extremely contact seeking and as soon as I sat down they came to me. They wanted me to play with them, sit on my lap and be hugged and they would not let go! Fortunately it was “nap-time” so I helped the staff put them in their cribs.

When we were about to leave, the staff told me they didn’t have water. They asked us to take some laundry home. Of course we took a huge load home (my mother promised to do the laundry as long as I help with the folding.) 

I’m hugely impressed by the hard work the staff puts in. Imagine 30 babies and the water comes and goes...... And still the babies are so well taken care of. I feel very encouraged by that a few hours working in the orphanage actually makes a big difference, but at the same time I feel blessed that I have a family that cares for me and that I really have nothing to complain about! To work at the Nest is really a humbling experience!

Northern Sweden helping Excellent school

Mom had a meeting with the Swedish ladies and came home very excited. They had a few new, good ideas about fundraising. They are all from this place in northern Sweden, called Piteå and it’s a quite small community where everybody knows everyone. They wanted information and pictures from the school, to get their friends and various organizations involved. I think this is a really good idea. Stockholm is such a big city, and all the big companies are already committed to different charity projects (right now, the horn of Africa which is needed!) so It’s really hard to get  money for smaller projects. The ladies all seem really smart and I’m sure they are known as trustworthy and efficient people in their community. I started right away to design a special page for them. This flyer is designed to get people and/or companies to buy Christmas cards. Here’s the result:

MUN

Due to higher levels, my participation has been limited to just one meeting every Monday on week 1's. However, I feel that MUN is very interesting so far. The things we continue with, are to identify what world problems we should address and why. I get a lot of inspiration being around people like Amir and Parijat, who both have previous experiences in MUN and have very interesting ideas. Generally, the group is thinking like each other, which is good in order to agree on ideas and suggestions.

JV Football Games and Taekwando

30/9
Another opportunity to stretch our perfect start to the season with an away game against Strathmore Academy. The only blow was the loss of our star striker Izzat, whom had netted around 7-8 goals in just 4 games and gotten promotion to the A-team. We went there, along with the Varsity team. However, nothing went to plan. The JV played in such a bad way that it cannot be called "football". It ended up with a 2-1 loss, with multiple injuries. We just had to shake it off for an even bigger and more important game.
1/10
Oshwal Academy was our next opponent, who also had a good start to the season. ISK's record away to them was a very unsuccessful one, although I was with the winning side a year before. However, they,like our last opponents, were more focused than we were, and also got a lot of luck with a referee decision going against our way. Personally, I believe we can come out of our current negative form, but our practices must focus more on our bad elements than try to improve on our best abilities.

30/9 Taekwondo

Today would be my first training session for over 2 weeks, which felt good. I had missed the fast movements of kicks and punches, and since I did not participate that much during the week's football matches, I felt good. However, what haunts an athletic guy like me are injuries. As I was stretching, I pulled a muscle (which I still cannot identify) I could not kick with my right leg, so I focused on my other leg. Overall, it was an okay practice but not the ideal one. It ended with my teacher Max demonstrating how to do Pumses (Specific fighting patterns).

Discussing fund raising

28/9 Excellent school and care center

My mother invited some new Swedish ladies to our home for dinner. I told her that this is a good opportunity to present the school, myself and my role as well as ask for help in raising funds for the project. I told them about the school and their problems and they immediately started discussing ways to help.  I stayed at the dinner table for about an hour and then went to my room for homework.  The ladies wanted a brief presentation in Swedish of the school that they could e-mail to their friends and family, so I made one. This was also a way to get my presentation skills in Swedish better, or updated as I had not made any presentation in that language for more than 3 years.

It is really great how easy it is to get people to engage in good projects. I’m expecting a lot of help in the future from these ladies!

Excellent School and Care Center in Mathare

14/9 Excellent School and Care Center

Went to Excellent School and Care center in Mathare. This trip was mainly to reconnect after the summer. I also got the chance to see the improvements they made since last semester, partly with the money I helped to raise. Friends and relatives in sweden got together to raise some funds for the most basic things for the school and I was happy to find new, nice blackboards. All kids in grade 8 had also been given lecture chairs and were really happy. It inspired me to start thinking of the “christmas gift fund raiser” that I’m going to start soon.

I also bought 4 chairs in the streets of Mathare. I gave them to the teachers, so they can have a seat when they have their breaks.

I had a long talk with reverend George, who is the Principal and Founder of the school. We talked about future needs and what they had done since last time we met. I also got to reconnect with some of the 600 students of the school. It is really fantastic to be met with so much positive energy from the kids that doesn't even have pens and paper in class. I was glad to hand over the supplies I brought with me.