January

1st January, 2009

Up at 6:30am to open the Clinic. This is the earliest I think I have ever got up on New Years Day. There have been several where I've still been up at 6:30am but not to have gone to sleep and woke up at this ridiculous hour. I can hear that the kids are up already. I go back to bed and try to ignore them.

This is a futile exercise. They are singing, laughing, fighting and practising how to say "Happy New Year" in English. I manage to block them out for a full hour but then I give up and get up. After the normal activities of cleaning my teeth, rinsing with boiled water, and shaving by touch (there is no mirror here), I put on my only clean shirt. Unfortunately it is also the one that is the most crushed. I'm hoping that within an hour with the heat the wrinkles should drop out.

I head outside to chat to Moses to make sure everything is arranged. The kids are beside themselves with excitement. They are all washed but are wearing the filthiest clothes. Manyara's shirt has a single button done up at the top. The rest are just button holes which are only out of place because of the neat stitching around them as opposed to all the other holes in his shirt. I have decided that even though it is a public holiday I want them to wear school uniforms. It will make it much easier to spot them in a crowd. I send them off to get their uniforms on. This is not happening at a lightning pace so I grab my camera and take some profile photos of the first person to be ready. An 11 year old girl called Joyce. The others immediately want their photos taken but I say only once they have their uniforms on. This creates a stampede as they all struggle to find their uniforms. They are running around with bits of uniform in their hands as the house mothers (I'm sure eternally grateful for the panic I've caused) try to find different shoes, socks, jumpers, vests and shoelaces. One by one they come out and have their photo taken. Manyara comes out and he looks like a proper little school boy. He has a light blue shirt (with buttons), a dark blue jumper, grey shorts, socks and shoes. I take his photo and it's only as he is walking away that I see that the back is completely torn out of his jumper and there is also the back half of the sleeve missing with this bare elbow poking through. I guess that is the problem with being the smallest. You are forever going to get hand-me-downs.

After several photos with the kids, some photos with the house mothers and a few other random shots we move towards the oval. The bus is due about 10:00 but doesn't turn up until 10:30. The kids go crazy and are running around the bus as it is driving across the oval. A couple of house mothers yell at them but it falls on deaf ears.

Whilst I go over and talk to the bus driver accompanied by Moses, i notice the kids have all gone silent. I look back and they are all praying being led by the house mothers. I wander over and one of the house mothers (Yoda/Grace) tells me that they are praying for the journey. Looking at the bus I'm not filled with confidence in it's road worthiness either but I'm not sure it requires a conversation with your imaginary friend and if so, there's fuck all he can do about the situation. When that book of fairy-tales was written there was no such thing as a car, so even if Jesus was a real person and it was possible to speak to him 2,000 years after his death, he's likely to know fuck all about the mechanics of a 20 year old bus. Allegedly he was a carpenter so if we were building a table he might come in handy but I think that would be limit of use for this subject matter expert.

After the praying comes some singing in Kikuyu. Then I tell them it's about time to get on the bus. I make them line up and count them on the bus. 45 orphans + 11 adults made up of 6 house mothers, 4 elderly kids of house mothers along to help out, and me. We lumber off down the dirt road. When we get to the little shop we pull over to get the soft drinks for the kids. As I only had 48, I order another 10 more. The house mothers ask me to get some bread as well. They want 25 loaves! The shop only has 13 (my lucky number!) I also see a bag of lollies there and ask them how much for the bag. They are amazed as nobody has ever bought a bag before. They just buy them one at a time. They eventually settle on a price of 70 shillings (€0.70) and both of us are happy.

We continue down the road with the kids singing merrily. About 15 minutes later we pass another hole in the wall shop so the driver pulls in. I buy another 12 loaves and when the lady sees the bus full of kids she asks about them. I explain that they are orphans so she throws in another loaf for free (again lucky 13!!!). Then we rumble off down the road; the kids high pitched singing occasionally interrupted by the grinding of gears by the driver. After about 45 mins of driving we have arrived.

We all pile off the bus and head towards something with reception written on it. There are two armed guards there in military style uniforms. I ask them where to go and they point me towards the animal orphanage. We make our way over there and again the kids line up as I count them through the turnstile. It costs 2,250 shillings for the 45 kids, 1,000 shillings for the 10 Kenyan adults, and 1,600 shillings for me a non-Kenyan tourist. Still, for under €50 I have got the 56 of us into the grounds. The kids are so excited to see the animals. There are cheetahs, lions, ostriches, crocodiles and a host of other animals. There is a baby giraffe in a pen near the fence which I think is amazing. The kids don't seem to share my enthusiasm and are more interested in trying to get some parrot to speak Kikuyu. As we walk around I've constantly got three or four kids holding my hands. We seem to get a lot of looks from both Kenyans and foreigners alike.

After we've traversed the animal orphanage we re-group to exit. A house mother asks if she should call up the bus driver but there's no way I'm leaving just yet. On the other side of the national park there is a Safari Walk so we make our over there. There is a small queue so make the kids wait further away as I line up. When I get to the front they have employed much the same pricing scheme as before. I was rather hoping that because I was paying for 55 Kenyan nationals to get in, they might give me free entry as opposed to paying 32 times more than the kids and 16 times more than the adults.

We slowly wander through the safari passing hippos, rhino's and countless monkeys. On the way to a large lion enclosure I spot a drinking fountain and being parched grab a drink. Then I stroll up to the lion enclosure to see a large male lion standing up close to the fence showing off it's impressive size. I turn to say something to kids and I'm alone at the fence. My first thought is that they were scared off by the lion but as I turn around I can see all 45 of my kids crowded around the drinking fountain. I don't think they have seen one before. Bless. They are trying to work out how to use it while the larger kids are holding up the smaller ones so that they can get a drink. This has been the highlight of their day so far! We eventually move on to see other animals but every 100-200m there is another drinking fountain and again, I lose all the kids. We eventually get to the end of the safari walk, 9 drinking fountains later, and the kids are amazed by a pair of crocodiles very close to the fence. There is a sign saying that they are Nile Crocodiles which are the largest reptiles in the world growing up to 6m. Horseshit! The Australian salty is much bigger than that. I pull out my iPhone and jumping on to Wikipedia confirm that the Australian Saltwater Crocodile is the largest and grows up to 9.1m long (50% larger than those pissy little Nile Crocodiles). I look around for a ranger or other park attendant to point out the error but none are to be found. Typical.

We leave the Safari Walk and head back to the bus. The kids have already climbed on board but I make them get off so that we can eat and drink. The bus is conveniently parked next to a shelter with seats and sinks so we camp there. Each kid receives a soft drink, 4 slices of plain bread, a banana and a handful of popcorn. (Jamie Oliver would be up in arms about this school dinner!!!) Then again, this is a special treat for them and they normally would have ugali and sukuma wiki. After lunch we pile back on the bus and begin the journey home. I'm pretty exhausted by now and nod off for a power-nap on the way home.

When we finally get home, the bus pulls up and the kids stream off the bus. Being kids of course, they have left jumpers all sorts of other things behind so we collect them, redistribute them to their rightful owners. I pay the bus driver and take a check on the day:

Beat up old bus: 12,000 shillings
Entry to safari park: 10,000 shillings
Food & drink: 2,500 shillings
Seeing the excitement on the faces of 45 orphans as they discover their first water fountain: priceless  

The kids all get changed and come back out in their beat up clothes. I play with them for a while and teach them how to do wheelbarrow races. They roar with laughter as they take it in turns to push each other down the grassy strip between the clinic and the home. I think Manyara is a bit tired as this normally indestructible little boy is hurt and bursts into tears. I'm sitting on the grass watching them so I grab him and cradle him in my arms. He hugs me so tight as he continues to sob and then slowly the sobbing subsides. I look down at him and he is so small in my arms. Little tears run down his dirty black face and onto my shirt. Even though the crying stops, he snuggles into me for another 10 mins. I don't think any of these children get hugged like this very often.

We play a bit more and then dinner is ready so I take the kids inside and head back to my room. A few minutes after I've settled down and have the computer out reviewing the photos, Mercy comes into my room. She holds in her hand a folded bit of paper and gives it to me saying, "I wrote you a letter". Bear in mind that Mercy is the little 9 year old girl who until about two years ago didn't go to school because her deranged mother kept pulling her out, burning her school uniform and beating her. I'll quote the letter verbatim below.

"One day we go to the trip. we was go with Uncle Jordan. when we go we see mani mani things like snak and totoise and lion and ostirich and hainh and hipo and reopard. Uncle we love you and Uncle when you go where you live remember me. Amen"

That's the second time this little girl has broken my heart.

Phyllis, one of the house mothers, arrives soon after with my meal which brings me back to a sobering reality. Ugali and red beans for dinner tonight. After my meal, I wander outside and up the hill and make a call to Amex. I'm spending one night in Nairobi and I want them to find the best restaurant in town for me. No ugali or sukuma wiki though!!!!

As I come back to the Clinic in the dark, I can see a bright little light towards the bottom of the wall of the clinic. I can't work out what it is, so bend down to investigate it. To my surprise it is a glow worm with the brightest of tails. I think this is my reward for doing a good deed today. This little worm shines a light inside of me and I head into my room, happy.

This was a good day.