My roommates and I woke up about the same time so we had a good time chatting and getting to know each other. Joelle (25 yrs old) is from Prince George and has an extensive produce farming background. Carly (24 yrs) is from Saskatoon and grew up on a farm. They are both very much into the holistic lifestyle and are very careful about what they eat and even what products they put on their skin. They are both a fountain of knowledge on this stuff so I will be able to learn tons from them as it has become a new interest of mine.
As there are no organized activities on the weekend, a number of us decided to walk to the neighbouring property where the Minister of Law & Justice lives in a huge mansion. He has some caged lions, water buffalo and cheetas on his property and permits the general public to come and see them.The walk was much further than any of us anticipated and there were few trees to shade us from the hot sun. I accidentally walked into a thorn bush and the thorns easily tore through the flesh on one of my shins creating a bit of a mess. We were very lucky to run into some of the employees on this property who had come to feed the animals. They asked us if they could give us a ride back to the main entrance of the Minister’s house so that we could sign a guest book. They were trying to keep track of how many visitors were coming to assess if they should be charging an entrance fee. The employees then showed us through their greenhouses, gardens and took us to see their fish pond. It was a beautiful property and really highlighted the discrepancy between how the rich and poor live in Kenya. After hearing us mumble a bit about the heat, one of the employees took pity on us and drove us back to the entrance gate. What a blessing!
Later in the day, Erin, gave us a short lesson on how to wash our clothes in a bucket. Erin is another Canadian who came to Kenya for a DTS 5 years ago and fell in love with a Kenyan named Paul. They have since married and are bringing up Paul’s brother's twin boys that are age 4. Paul's brother died from aids when his wife was pregnant with these children. She has more children than she can handle so they offered to help her out. They have been trying to adopt the boys for 3 years now but are unwilling to bribe the officials and this is causing delays in the whole process. I am sure I will be sharing more of their story with you later.
I spent the remainder of the day organizing my belongings so that I could find things easily in my suitcase. While I organized my things, Carly, Joelle and I talked about our expectations of the program. It seemed that we had all been told different things about the program so we ended up with many questions at the end of our conversation and were feeling a little confused about what we had gotten ourselves into. We are looking forward to Dale’s arrival so that we can get clarification on the program we will be involved in the next year. The other 3 ladies have signed up for the whole year whereas I have committed to 9 months only.
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