Monday, October 3, 2011

Kwaheri Kenya

The day is finally here.  I fly back to America tonight and it just seems crazy that it is already time for me to go home.  I have been in Nairobi for 3 days and I am already missing the children at Tumaini so I can't imagine how much I will miss them when I get home!  It has been very strange being in Nairobi because it is not at all like the Kenya that have been seeing for months.  It's a well developed city with many restaraunts, expats, and luxuries.  I have seen Americans and Europeans everywhere I have been.  It a little disturbing to see the difference in how some people live here in comparison to how the majority of the rest of the country is living.  Just about everyone I have met is working for some type of non profit or NGO that involves development, so hopefully that is a sign that conditions in East Africa will be impoving. 

During my stay in Kenya I have realized that I have a strong desire to work on the improvement of education systems both in America and abroad, and hope to continue this type of work.  One project that I am very excited about is something Eline and I plan to work on together.  We realized while staying at Tumaini that none of the children or people in the community have access to books.  They obviously don't have the money to buy them and there is no where to borrow them from, so even if they can read there aren't many options of reading material.  We talked to Rose about the needs at Tumaini and have decided that they need a library!  Eline and I are hoping to be able to fundraise all the money within 2 years, but it's going to be a lot of work.  The school also has no administration office or place for the teachers to hold meetings so we are going to use the building for both purposes.  Eline and I are very excited about what opportunities this could bring to Tumaini and how it could improve the education for the kids.  If anyone is interested in learning more about our project please contact me.  I will also keep this blog so I can let people know how the progress is going.



I don't feel that my stay in Kenya has been long enough, so it makes me happy to know that I have this project to keep me connected to my second home and I know I will be returning!  I feel extremely lucky to have had the chance to do something like this and it has definitely changed who I am and how I see the world.  

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