Thursday 20TH June and Friday 21ST June
The weather this week in Nairobi has been cold to say the
least and today I think was the coldest so far and when I got to the babies in
the afternoon they were all rugged up like they were about to set off on some
ski slopes. They are generally always
rugged up, even on warm days, but today it really warranted all the clothes and
jackets and the smaller babies had socks on their hands (lack of gloves for
them) to keep their tiny fingers warm.
Cold and cloudy weather also means that the thousands of items of baby
clothes aren’t drying as quickly as they are needed. A few days we can cope, but when it is the
whole week, the house mothers have to resort to the plastic diapers and paper
towels for bibs as they struggle to find dry clothes for the babies. They are all washed and on the lines, they
just aren’t drying. The poor washing
lady is trying to get them all dried by laying the larger things on the bushes
and on Friday the sun popped out for a little while in the afternoon and we all
never thought we would be so happy to see it.
If I had a dryer at home I would offer to take the clothes, but I only
have a washing machine.
Last week I was given the opportunity to take photos of
the babies and the staff and I didn’t feel like I was a mzungu taking snaps as
most do when they fly in and out of The Nest.
Well this week I got the photos processed and took them with me this
week for them all to keep and you should have seen their eyes light up. They were absolutely tickled pink that I had
printed them and then let them actually keep them. As mentioned before, the housemothers have
their favourites and it was interesting that they would show certain photos to
the house mothers that were ‘theirs’. It
was something small I could do that I think will last a long time in their
minds and I was happy to do it. The
great thing now is that the house mothers are asking me to take their photos
now, which is really nice and the least I can do is get them printed for
them. You guys know me-I LOVE to take
photos.
I have never really had a ‘favourite’ baby per say but I
have to say I have changed my mind now and Lennie aka Leonard has fast become
my fav little bird. He is 10 months old
and I am sad to report that he weighs less than some of the 3 month babies we
have at The Nest. He looks like an old
wise man trapped in a baby’s body; he really does look wiser than his 10
months. As I mentioned last week, the
babies are getting used to me now and when Lennie sees me his whole face lights
up and he puts up a hand to be picked up, or maybe it is a wave? Either way you just can’t resist him and even
though he was dog tired and still in the teething process he fought off the
sleep as long as he could so that he could just be with me. I also spent some time with Bakita today and
when she came to us she was 12 days old and now she is nearly 6 weeks and not
only with her, but it is amazing just how fast these little guys grow. Even Bakita now at 6 weeks looks so much more
different and is really just thriving in her temporary home. Some of the older babies are starting to
teeth the poor things and you just have to try and hug them and reassure them
as much as you can as they don’t have Bonjella, so it is just the sucking of
fingers (not normally allowed), some cold teethers from the fridge and really
just riding it out. It is sad to know
there is nothing we can do as Matthew, Walter, Beatie and Lennie sprout their
first teeth.
Louie left on Monday to his new home with Kenyan adoptees. He had been at The Nest for nearly six months
and as sad as it is when a baby leaves, no matter how long they are at the
orphanage, but it is also a good thing as they have a new home, with new
parents and a new start to their tiny lives and of course a more stable
environment with people who will love him.
Not that we don’t, but nothing beats family, whether it be biological or
adopted. Caro leaves tomorrow and I hope
to be there when the family come to pick her up, Francesca leave The Nest on
Monday next week with her new family and then next month Matthew has been
approved to a family and will be leaving in the middle of July. Bakita has also been approved and allocated
adoptee’s but I think there is still a 2 week window for the biological mother
to change her mind, so we get to keep her a little longer before she too will
most likely fly the coop with the mass exodus of our little birds. It really is a good thing and it is nice to
see that the babies generally don’t stay too long in our care before they are
either reunited with their biological family or adopted out-really it is the
best outcome. I find it sad saying
goodbye to them and I am only there twice a week, imagine how the house mothers
feel. I guess it is like losing one of
their own but they also know that it is a good thing for the babies, but it’s a
natural selfish thing to miss these little guys, just for a little while as we
are all only human.
And as it goes we say goodbye to some family and we pick
up some new family members. This week
Baby James was added to our nest. He is
a 6 month old baby boy whose mother is currently serving time in jail for
neglect. Out of most cases this seems to
be the number one reason we get these kids.
The mothers are sent to jail for neglecting their kids, receive help and
counselling while incarcerated and then hopefully they have a different view
when they come out of jail and can be reunited with their children. The debate always rages whether the mothers should
be given their children back after such a heinous crime-do they deserve a
second chance? There will always be
pro’s and con’s to peoples point of view and I believe that there is no cut and
dry answer. It’s like when some does do
time in prison are they ever 100% rehabilitated? You will just never know. But welcome Baby James to our fold. He seems a quite soul and looks a little
overwhelmed with his new environment.
You wonder what his daily routine was and where he was living and I spent
some time with him this afternoon with him falling asleep in my arms and just
before he dozed off he gave a little smile, the first I had seen all
afternoon. He has the most wonderfully
long lashes and I am looking forward to spending some more time with him.
I got my haircut this week and as I was waiting for my
lift to The Nest on Thursday apparently The Nest van drove past and Ruth and
Maggie saw me waiting and Ruth noticed in that small moment that I had a new
hair doo. When I got to The Nest I had
several comments about the cut and I have to say I really like it and I like my
hairdresser Debbie. She is the one that
actually told me about The Nest in March and she is always giving me tips and
advice and always seemed really interested in what I am doing and how I am
going. The house mothers always want to
touch my hair, which I am fine with and they always ask permission which is
sweet and I guess in a culture where the local women have heads of weaves,
natural wiry hair and braids, which they can change a style in a jiff (well
some of their hairstyles take up to 3 hours)but their looks can change as much
as they want if they have the time and the money, I guess a mzungu’s hair is
something different and softer to what they will ever have. Touch away my new friends, touch away.
Today I witnessed firsthand why it took me a while to
gain the trust of the house mothers and I can fully understand now what they
see, from their eyes and it is really quite pathetic. It started with a mzungu spending 2 weeks at
the orphanage and today was her last day and out came the big camera. Really it was massive and she was taking a
billion photos, most of the time with the flash on and I thought it was totally
disrespectful and after taking around 200 photos she finally asked if it would
be okay to take them. I of all people,
can understand taking some photos, but that many all the time, and at times
there were crying children and she wouldn’t put the camera down to help them as
she kept snapping photos. She was young
and it upset me a little as it was Caro’s last day today and she was all over
her like a rash when it would have been nice to let the house mothers spend
some past precious moments with a child they have cared for for months. Anyway that is just the start. This afternoon as the babies were waking up a
bus, yes a BUS, of American teenagers-16 in all turned up and man were they
very ‘American’ and I am sorry to my American friends, but these ‘teenagers’
were loud and obnoxious. I was the perfect
host though and as the babies were brought up from the nursery I made sure that
they all had a baby, and they were actually polite to me, but there were IPhone’s
and cameras everywhere and it sadden me that it seemed they were there to just
take photos of them with the babies.
They were full on posing with kids like they were shooting pictures for a
Baby’s Galore magazine and I just had to get away. The funny thing was that some of the house
mothers were looking at me and giving me the ‘can you believe this’ eye roll,
and I returned with a ‘I know’ eye roll back and it was nice to be included as
‘one of them’ now and not a mzungu who flies in and flies out.
I used the time to get away and visit Rachael. She was back from her operation she had last
week. I didn’t get to see her on the Thursday
as she was sleeping most of the afternoon but apparently the operation went
well and now it is just a matter of time for the healing. They are keeping her in one of the house
rooms, as she needs to be kept in semi darkness for her eyes to slowly adjust
after her operation a week ago. She
opened her eyes briefly for the first time yesterday afternoon and then today they
were open all day. She had an operation
to improve her sight from what she had of approximately 10% to hopefully when
her eyes fully recover she will have at least 70-80%. Imagine.
She hasn’t been able to see properly her whole life and all going well
she will be given the gift of eyesight at the age of 2.5 years old. She was still a little unsteady on her feet, as
she gets her balance all sorted out, but that is just getting used to having
some sight. Rachael was totally happy to
see me and I spent the next 30 minutes with her just trying to occupy her, as
she wanted to go outside and see what was happening, as she could hear all the
American mzungu’s out there, but she really needs to be container in the room
for another 2-3 days and then she gets a doctors check-up next week. She seemed in very good spirits and just
imagine trying to contain a 2.5 year old in a small 3x5m room. She has had one of the house mothers stay with
her 24 hours a day for the last week and they stay in the room with her. So they are on a roster and each work 2
nights/3 days before the next shift is handed on. I just want to mention that they are away from
their families for the 3 days and they get no extra pay and no extra time off
for the 72 hours they spend with Rachael.
Imagine doing that in Australia?
Yeah…. NOT. So fingers crossed
that little Rachael recovers well and in the coming weeks she will literally be
seeing the world through new eyes.
I can’t believe it is nearly the end of June
already. I look forward to my 2 days at
The Nest and even though I still haven’t been able to post my ‘Nest’ blogs yet
I am enjoying writing them for my own memories for now.
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