Brief look into my everday life

Today I went into the orphanage to help out and get some extra hours in. All I ended up doing for the most part was peel potatos and say hello to all the children. I dont know if you recall the child who rarely smiles and has malaria. I beleive I mentioned him in one of my first posts. Anyway, his name is Isaac and he is just getting over malaria and has some sort of bug living in his ear that has laid eggs. He was found in a trash site similar to the one posted below, and is an incest child from his moms dad raping her. Today I saw a completely different Isaaq though. He greeted me and hugged my leg. This is EXTREMELY unusual for him. He usually moans whenever you try to touch or grab him, not today though. I was allowed to carry him around the house and he had a great big smile on his face. It was very rewarding to see. I feel this is a sign of the new Isaaq and that he is getting better. Little things like this brighten the day.

Many have been asking about the place where I stay. Here are a few pictures of the outside, my bedroom, and the living room. It is more of an apartment than a house. If you look at the picture that is of the outside of the complex, and follow the stairs to the top floor, my family lives in the first door on the left. It is small, has one toilet and one bath. the water tends to run out a lot, so our apartment is stocked with barrels upon barrels of water. This is a very common thing in Kenya. If this happens, bucket showers are the only way to get clean. It doesnt take long to adjust.

This next picture below is of the street that I walk down daily in order to get to work. It is incredible to see and can be quite shocking at times. It is even a shock for them to see a white kid walking around. Since there are too many pictures to take, I may video tape it instead to get the best effect possible. Although, even this will not do it justice, since the smell is also a huge part about the experience in Africa.

Lastly, I was going to post a picture of the outside of the orphanage I work at, but I cannot post more than 5 pictures at a time. I will have to wait to post them later. At the moment, the orphanage rents a small home. They are building a new home on a larger piece of land that will have a seperate building for volunteers to stay in even. Hopefully I can return one day and stay there.

I know I said in my last post that I was going out on the town, but I ended up staying in and having a few Tuskers while watching a movie. Turns out that there is a bar just below our apartment where we can go to buy drinks and bring them home, as long as we return the bottles in the end. It is quite convenient!

Next weekend we are planning on heading up to Lamu. It is an island off the coast up north that only has two cars on it, one for the sherrif and one for the mayor. Everyone else gets around on donkey. I hear it is supposed to be an incredible place to visit. It is suggested to visit towards the end of your stay since you will not want to leave, but then again most of Africa is like that for me.