I have been writing
some blog entries on my first four months that I spent at The Nest from April
to September 2013. Now that I have my
Kenyan permit approved I am now able to post them and not get into much trouble
as what I do on my free time on the K class visa is up to me. So I’m happy to share what I do with the
babies and how the system works in the coming month. I promise not inundate you too much with the
postings!
It was a public holiday this week - Labour Day, so there
were a lot more Mzungu’s at The Nest. A
lot of the smaller babies slept most of the afternoon so there were more
volunteers than babies for around an hour and then once they have been there
for an hour or so and had their hold they leave as fast as they came and I am
left again as the ‘rock’ mzungu and it makes me look good, so I’m not
complaining. I am glad I spend a good
solid 5 hours there as it gives me time to know the babies and also the house
mothers.
There was a special even on the Wednesday. There was a small party for a returning ‘Nestee’. Jack was 4 months when he came to The Nest a few years
ago and he is now 5 and has returned back with his adoptive parents to say
thank you and to start showing Jack his roots.
They were Dutch and they spent half the day helping with all the other
babies and seeing how Jack was nurtured for his first 4 months of his life. Their reasoning for the trip was that jack is
old enough now to know that he is different from other families back in the
Netherlands, so they are pre-empting his questions and are taking a lot of
photos and video and then when Jack is ready he can start to ask questions and
they will be able to answer them for him to the best of their ability. What a great way to introduce and explain to
an adoptive child where they came from and I congratulate them as I am not sure
it is an easy task, but one that has to be told at some point. They bought muffins and juice, balloons and
straws for us all to celebrate and it was a really nice gesture and to think
about it brought tears to my eyes as they have done a wonderful thing adopting
a child and to bring him back is just a heart lifting experience and I was glad
that I was there to help in the small celebration. Maggie was the only one that was at The Nest
when Jack was there, so it was really cool for her to see a success story come
back as she said it doesn’t happen very often, that you get to see the children
once they leave I mean. They finish off
the small celebration with the house mothers all lined up and they sing a few
songs to the beat of Joanne on the drum.
All the babies were transfixed with all the singing and they had little
smiles on their faces. They all seem to
like music and I wonder why there isn’t music playing more often. A small prayer was said for all the good
things that have happened and all the things to be grateful for. It was a long prayer and it bought tears to
my eyes as we look around and see these 18 little babies without their birth
mothers, but we are thankful that they are here and there was a lot of love in
that room, even though we may not be the birth mothers, we give a lot of love
to them.
We are thankful for:
Thankful for Irene starting the orphanage
Thankful to the house mothers and people that make the
orphanage run
Thankful for the return of Jack and his parents
And thankful for the food that is provided
I’m telling you it was just an amazing experience and to
now be part of that just hit a cord with me.
The babies over slept their mid-morning naps and I
arrived at 12 noon as they were all waking up.
They get fed first as they are bought out under the trees one by one, fed
and then taken into the playroom or we stay under the trees if the weather is
fine and spend some play time with them.
Around 1.30-2pm they start to drop like flies and are taken to the
nursery for their afternoon sleep and except for a few diehards that try and
fight the sleep fairies until eventually they all do succumb, which they need
otherwise they get over tired and creates problems for the night staff. While they sleep it is a time to get some
chores done. My main focus is getting
the mounds of washing folded. I started
folding the washing, and getting into a folding machine and if any rogue babies
wake they come out to the folders and keep us company. Caro was one of those today, so I fed her and
she was still wide awake, the cheeky devil wouldn’t go to sleep so I popped her
on to a massive pile of clean washing as I then continued to fold clothes again
as she gurgled and smiled at me. William
was another rogue, not sleeping-which is apparently par for the course for
William, but he also a lot older than the smaller babies at 10 months and fast
becoming the crawler, well the caterpillar, he hasn’t quite mastered the art of
crawling yet and seriously moves with a wave roll. He really is quite active, so I took him up
under the trees and spent the afternoon together playing in the beautiful
sunshine under the shade of a big tree until the rest of the babies awoke again
from their afternoon sleeps. I got to
feed PK today as Driver Steven arrived at 4pm, so I finished feeding him and
then said my goodbyes.
As I have made a commitment to myself and a silent one to
The Nest of coming twice a week I wasn’t able to make it on my second day as my
bags and boxes were due (hopefully) from Australia so I wasn’t able to show up
for my Thursday shift, but as I still want to show the house mothers that I am
serious I changed my day to Friday instead and explained to Maggie that I will
be away for the next 2 weeks, due to my trip to London but I would be
back. I felt so bad telling them as I
was starting to make some headway with them all and the babies were getting
used to me-how am I going to feel when I go for 10 weeks!!! I don’t want to
think about that just now, but it makes me apprehensive that all the good work
I am doing will be wasted and I will have to start all over again when I come
back after being away for 4 months. I
was like this with my work back in Australia when I had a job. I would feel bad if I took a sick day, which
was hardly ever and after 10 years of service with my employer and friend I can
count on one hand how many sick days I took over the 10 year period.
So I am getting to know the babies now, even the small
ones that you may not get to see much as they do sleep a lot and that makes me
proud, especially the smaller babies-as I always get one wrong every now and
then. So this week we have in the
‘house’:
Caro
Angel
Francesca
Sarah
Ruto
Samson
Faith
The bigger kiddies-well 3 months and up
Hannah
Rachel
William
PK
Louis
Beatrice
Matthew
Walter
I never thought I would enjoy the smaller babies so much,
as I have always worked with kids in the 5-7 year bracket but I am and I
wouldn’t swap it for the world. Finding
The Nest means more than I can tell you and I have talked for more than 12
months that this is what I wanted to do, and to be finally living my dream is
beyond words and some days, comprehension.
I am living in Africa, in Kenya and I am loving every minute of it.
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