As we leave the tea plantations of Kericho behind and begin our stint in Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest city, today has once again been full of incredible and emotional moments. After marshalling 140 boisterous boys into four games of kwik cricket this morning, this afternoon brought tears to our eyes at our second orphanage visit in two days.
I would not be doing this afternoon’s visit to the orphanage justice by trying to sum it up in a few sentences. Each of us seemed to come away with incredibly personal stories involving different children so I will instead share one of my own and let the others expand in later blog posts.
It was coming to the end of our playtime at the orphanage when I ventured over to the metal boundary fence to say hello to seven small children who had gathered outside the perimeter. Their mother was in the dusty field behind and they clearly lived in abject poverty because they looked into the orphanage as if it was a theme park. This scene was emotional enough, but then something happened that I will never, ever forget. Three of the orphans ran over to the fence and, without provocation, immediately pushed a brand new tennis ball through the fence and into the hands of one of the children.
Clutching his new toy.
This was beyond my comprehension. We knew that our 60 balloons would provide hours of fun so had only brought three tennis balls to the orphanage. The fact that they would choose to give one of these away as a present within minutes of receiving it was beyond anything I had expected and is making me cry just thinking about it. I actually managed to catch the moment on video and genuinely plan to re-watch it whenever I feel ungrateful about something in the future. Mum – you can hold me to that. I am unlikely to see anything as selfless as that in my life, so thank you to those three orphans who taught me a life lesson today.
This morning was less emotional, but also fantastically rewarding. The day started badly for Leigh as we left the hotel before he could bid a final farewell to his good friend Dave (the monkey…). This grief was quickly forgotten when we reached the boys’ boarding school and were greeted by 140 young lads for a morning session of cricket. We split them up into eight teams – with team names including ‘the Stallions’ and ‘the Lions’ – so that their competitive instincts could be ignited by a few fast-paced games of kwik cricket. There was some serious raw talent on display, particularly in the distance and accuracy of their throwing which put most of us volunteers to shame!
Post kwik cricket celebrations at Kericho Boys’ Boarding School.
We finished the morning by reiterating the ABC message, linking the session with the key HIV prevention techniques: Abstain from sex, Be faithful to one partner and use a Condom. The group of boys were at an age where this message is particularly important, so hopefully we were successful in reminding them of the risks of sex and have convinced some of them to resist the temptation.
We are now settled in Nakuru and are looking forward to a few days here. Tomorrow we have a whopping three schools and one orphanage visit planned so it’s now time to rest up before that!
Thank you to the town of Kericho, the teacher training college, the three schools and the two orphanages that we visited. It is mad to think we are only three days in to this trip with so much achieved and witnessed already.
– Max