Counting down...

This week, time seems to have accelerated yet again. I had a farewell picnic in the garden on Sunday with friends from church which was lovely although sad, I am going to miss everyone very much. I have been writing for the Seedsowing website/ newsletter and not on here, so click here to read my report. I hope when I get home I will be able to post some more photos etc, but my computer has been very annoying and even mucked up the external hard drive which was my back-up photo storage, so I'm just leaving photos alone right now! Anyway, I really appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I try to tie up loose ends and get everything ready to leave on Sunday.

One month left...

Apologies (again) for an extended absence on here, I have a few posts in my head and many pictures to delight/bore you with, but this is just a quick update. Since I last wrote, I had a visit to the doctor and some antibiotics for an ear infection, failed to do several of the things I had on my 'to do' list for the holiday as I was feeling pretty rubbish, helped entertain Dee and Peter's grandchildren, attended a 90th birthday party, had a friend to visit and looked after the house and dog of a couple from church, went back to school and started on a long list of 'things I must do before I leave Kenya'.... eek!!

Anyway, tonight/this morning (by the time I post this!) marks exactly one month until I leave Kenya and return to the UK - I can't believe it's coming up so quickly! The borrowed computer is being really slow so here are just two photos to conclude my waffling:

Lion cub in the Maasai Mara when Jon and I went

All his own idea from sticklebricks!

Cute animal pictures!

As promised, here are some of the pictures that the children drew of the animals they saw on safari. I love the way children draw! There's such character in these - look out for the giraffe with just a long line for a neck!

I like the shell on this tortoise!

Can you see the baby baboon on its mother's back?

Fearsome cheetah!

More end-of-term fun!

The fun didn't stop after Wednesday's trip to the safari park! In fact we had a fun-filled last day of term too, although it turned out slightly differently from how we'd planned! The lovely Su who organised the trip also booked a bouncy castle to come to the school for the day. It arrived and was set up, and the bouncing began! However, not very long afterwards... the power went off! Disaster!

However, all was not lost. The guys who brought the bouncy castle had so many other tricks up their sleeves! First, they painted the children's faces:

They played loads of games with the children, such as 'What's the time Mr Lion/Mr Cheetah/Mr Tiger?', which went down very well, as you can see from this little video clip:

They also put on a puppet show, which the children (and adults!) loved!

We all had a fun time, despite the lack of power. It was nice to have time just sitting and playing with the children on the last day. Here's a cheeky little one who climbed on my knee and stole my hat!

At the end of the day we gave each child a knitted teddy bear which had been donated by some very kind ladies back in the UK. The children were really happy - and we saw one who willingly handed over all her other things to her mum but kept a very tight hold on the bear!

Oh, and one other postscript to the day: for various reasons there was a muddle over paying the bouncy castle guys, but later they said that they didn't want any payment, it was their way of giving something back! So hopefully we may book them for another day of fun for next term!

Mahali goes on safari!

The last Wednesday of term was an exciting day! I mentioned a while ago that we were taking the children on a trip thanks to some lovely people from church - when their little boy had his first birthday they asked for donations for Mahali instead of birthday presents. They raised enough money for a great trip plus some other treats! We went to the national park where there is an animal orphanage and also a safari walk - we had a brilliant day! Here are some photos for you to enjoy.

The children lined up so nicely ready to go on the walk

We're going on an animal hunt!

Look! A giraffe!

 The ostriches decided to help the giraffe smarten up!

What's next?

We love the baboons!

Baboon family

Mum and baby

Baby eating fruit

On the walkway

A tortoise - but where's its head?

Baby cheetah!

Yes? What do you want?

Look! What are those?

Albino zebra

Looking at the rhino.... and more baboons!

Framed rhino

Spot the leopard!

Hello Mr Crocodile! What fine teeth!

The babies spent a while in the playground

We love the slide!

We've had a great time....

... although some of us are tired out!

Time to get back on the bus

Even the bus is exciting!

Bye! We had a wonderful day!

As I said, it was a fantastic day and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Most of them would never have seen any of these animals before, even though they live so close to the national park, and it was great to see their reactions! The next day we did some follow-up at school, showing the children pictures of our trip and talking about the different animals. Then the older ones made little books with drawings of the animals, and the younger ones coloured pictures. I'll try to post some photos of their drawings soon - they were very cute!

Thanks to Jon for some of the photos! And to everyone who came and helped make the trip a success!