TGE Trip 2018 – Day 1 8/20
Today, August 20th, the official first day kicked off with the fourth trek to the airport for the group at 4:30 AM to do a drop-off of one of the kids to the local medical clinic, pick-up Sandrine, collect the lost bags, and pick-up some supplies for the week. The airport trip was a success and we got the missing bags and our new friend! The store trip proved a little more of a challenge as plastic bags are banned in Kenya and it was harder to find replacement bags than we thought. It took five and a half hours for the group to get back to Morning Star!
This morning we played with the kids in the courtyard for awhile – Waldo has never been lost and found so many times in two days! On day two we saw that many of the kids (and adults) had memorized where he was hiding!! We also tried to help one of the older boys, Charles, with his senior project. But “try” is the operative word hear because unfortunately none of us are experienced in Microsoft Access. He is such a dedicated student and honestly had the most beautiful handwriting!
Later on, we took some time to organize the amazing donated supplies we had for the week. We sorted pencils, crayons, markers, stickers in to bags to gift to each of the kids at the orphanages we will visit this week and figured out which activities we wanted to do on each of the days. There is going to be a lot of fun!! This week we will be visiting the Njoo Dada Trust, Riruta Shade Orphanage, Dream Children’s Home, and Divine Hope. We will also be donating various items to each orphanage including soccer balls, first aid kits, clothing, coloring books, and more. We also sorted supplies to donate to 10+ medical clinics in the area including first aid kits, digital thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, salves, bandages, etc. When we were done we had several filled bags ready to deliver to all of the orphanages and clinics and felt prepared for the week ahead!
Afterwards we joined the kids to test out one of Sandrine’s games for the week: Prison Ball. The basis of the game is that an area is split in half with equal teams on each side and a “prison” for the other team on each side. A foam ball is thrown back and forth to get people in and out of the game with the goal of being the last team standing. The kids absolutely loved the game and played four rounds! The adults joined in and it was a total hoot!
After lots of game time, the courtyard was rearranged and a bon fire was built in the center in preparation for a BBQ for the whole group. We ate a delicious meal courtesy of Chef Benjamin. Yesterday we sorted 34 kg of small potatoes and Chef Benjamin, Panina and the Morning Star staff peeled and chopped all of these to make a mountain of french fries!/“chips”! All in all, 11 packets of spaghetti, 34 kg of potatoes, 25 kg of pork and beef, 3 loaves of bread, and a vat of sautéed greens grown right here in the garden at Morning Star were eaten – and it was all delicious! After dinner the kids enjoyed the bonfire and toasted some marshmallows. Terri and Susan got to try their first strawberry marshmallows. Then the kids treated us to a performance of a dance that Reanna taught them last year. They like the dance so much that they gave us a very special encore! An awesome day and night!