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!
My first questions now when I arrive at The Nest after
being away for the week is ‘are there any new babies’ and ‘have any of the
babies left’. This week was a no to both
of these, but it is a little sad (but good) if there are babies that have left
as it means that they have gone back to their families or have gone to a new
home to start a new life. But this week
was another great week for me at The Nest and I really, really, really am
loving my days and time there. Not just
for the babies but also now to see the house mothers who are now starting to
realise that I am committed, I am here to stay and I am now making some new
friends. The next thing I noticed when I
got to The Nest on Thursday was the absence of Rachael. She was in hospital having an operation to
help get some of her sight back. She was
admitted in the morning and the operation was going to be tomorrow. I hope all goes well and I look forward to
seeing her next week hopefully. I asked
when Rachael was due back and nobody seemed to know but I guess it depends on
how her recovery goes….
Louie’s final adoption papers have been signed, sealed
and delivered. He officially leaves The
Nest on Monday with his new adoptive parents.
I’m not sure how long he has been with us, but he has been at The Nest
since I have been there at the beginning of April and to have seen him grow to
the young 10 months old little man he is has been amazing. It was nice to know before hand of a baby
leaving as I usually find out about it after the fact. As it turned out I told JoAn about some
pictures I took of Matthew yesterday (her favourite) and told her I would get
them printed and bring them next week and I mentioned I should get some of
Louie which 4 of the house mothers said that would be great. So I fetched my camera and without feeling
like a ‘visiting’ Mzungu, I was freely able to take photos of some of the
housemothers and the babies. I have held
back taking photos when I visit The Nest as I don’t want to be just like all
the other Mzungu’s that visit and they have their big cameras posing with the
babies to get their photo with an African baby and the second they have their
shot they just put the baby back down and then continue taking photos. I see it a little as an invasion of the
babies and the day, really some of them are just blatant about the photo taking
and this is just what I have seen in the last 2 months. Just think it has been going on for years and
the house mothers have seen it all I am sure.
I made a comment that I didn’t want to seem like all the other ‘mzungu’s’
with their big cameras and they said that could never happen! So it was nice to be able to take some snaps
with the house mothers in them and I could see in their faces that they were
okay with that.
The babies slept a lot on Thursday and Friday so there
was plenty of time to fold the washing. I’m
starting to get a reputation of being a great clothes folder and also a fast
one which is sweet as several comment were passed over this week. I love folding as it helps pass the time
while the babies are sleeping, but it also allows the house mothers to have a
bigger break while they can. There is a
roster on who does what duties each day, so I know I am helping some of the mothers when I power through what
seems like (and probably is) 10 loads of washing. As I folded the small onsies (you have never
seen so many), shirts, skirts, nappies and pants and it was Mercy’s job today
to try and find the matching pairs of a basket full of odd socks. All the babies clothes are hand watched , and
after seeing the time it took for Mercy to find (and not find) pairs-it was
actually reassuring…. No quite interesting that no matter if the clothes are
machine washed or hand washed the mystery of the missing socks continues
on-even in Africa. Needless to say the
job was not finished and there were still a lot more missing socks than pairs
that had been found…..
I’m finding that the kids seem to recognise me now. There are baby’s smiles and then there are
babies that recognise you smiles and it is the latter that I can see coming
through now and it is an amazing feeling to see these massive brown eyes
looking up at you with a big gummy smile when they see you looking at
them. My little champion Lennie is
teething at the moment so he is a little sad and trying to suck anything he can
lock his lips on. There is no Bonjella
here, but they do have the plastic teethers in the fridge, the ones with the
water inside them, but he wasn’t too keen on them and in the end his fingers
are the thing that seemed to work the best.
We generally don’t let the babies suck their fingers but as he was
teething and the only thing that was keeping him happy so we were happy to let
it slide. Poor little man.
I have been talking to a few people this week about
asking the house mothers to come to my place as friends, over a few dawa’s and
have a small party. There has been mixed
reaction to this suggestion and for me the initial issue laid with them seeing
my place as a ‘mzungu’ place with all my ‘western’ things and my massive
TV. But after talking to Jo about it
this week, she said that I have nothing to lose as they probably assume that I
live this way anyway, so it is just reinforcing what they thought in the first
place, and you know what she is right. So
I mentioned to them on Friday about having a few of them over in the coming
weeks and they all thought that was a great idea and I think that they were
secretly pleased that I would offer them to come to my house as I am sure that
there aren’t too many times that something like that has been offered from a
mzungu. Lorry was there (an American
volunteer) and she was included in the invite list, so definitely think I will
do it in the next few weeks. They really
seem to be great women and I would love to be able to call them friends as I
forge my way into their country and culture.
As I sit and fold, or feed babies I just listen to the
house mothers talking and I try and pickup what they are talking about. Sometimes it will be Swahili and I’ll
understand a word or 2, but most of the time they speak in Kikuyu, which is the
largest tribe in Kenya and I know nothing about this language. So this week and last week, I have asked for
a Kikuyu word for me to learn as I try and understand more of what they
say. When they are talking you sometimes
here an English word interceded into the conversation and there are times that
even though I don’t know exactly what they are saying you get a gist of it and
I just sit there with a smile on my face as stories are told and you hear them
all laugh or banter back and forth between them. I don’t really feel left out as I am
preoccupied with my own thoughts as well, but I do love to listen to them as
they have some down time while the babies sleep or while we are feeding
them. I generally know when they are
talking about the babies as you hear their names in the rush of Kikuyu and
again when it is like that I can understand the gist… has Louie been changed,
has Beatrice been fed….. even though they aren’t talking in English. I have been complemented on the words that
they have taught me, on my pronunciation, and I must say I do have a good ear,
but I also need to write the word down, spelling it phonetically so that I
retain the word and say it right a week later.
I think the house mothers appreciate my efforts as well, especially when
I come a week later and am saying the word right and it must sound so strange
coming out of a mzungu’s mouth!!!
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