Safari Park and SAIPEH

Last full day at Fran's was filled with a mini adveture safari into the local park. We off-roaded for a bit, needless to say a few wrong turns were took, but finally made it down to the edge of the lake where hundreds and hundreds of flamingoes were chilling. They are such beautiful creatures and we felt privileged to be able to see them in the wild. The sun was shining, the trees gave us shade so we hopped out and stayed a while just staring at the site...flamingoes, pink lake, sleeping warrior crater in the background - we have pictures! We drove around the other side over a battlefield of volcanic rock and on turning a corning we got a very...full frontal surprise. The Masaai were washing both clothing ans skin in the hot springs. Fran's cries of, "Oh dear, he's very naked." kept us amused. We left and drove up to a new safari lodge that was in the process of being built. No one was around, the houses were half done but beautiful. It seemed a sad place because it showed so much potential. We caught our first glimpse of wild baboons and zebras (which George got excited about in a moment of her inner tourist bursting out). We had to eat lunch in the car for fear of buffalo then headed into Nakuru for a lovely Chinese.

Fran lives in a beautiful place surrounded by a pletherer of things to do. She is admirably involved in her community, so much so we couldn't walk down a dusty track without her knowing at least one person to chat to! For Fran - Thank you, thank you, thank you, for having us, we had a lovely time. See you soon hopefully.

Our 7 hour journey from Nakuru wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. It went quickly and smoothly and we arrived on time! shock horror!! We're sure that it wasn't wholey safe to be traveling at such speeds, on a mountain face with a 50 foot drop on one side - but it was thrilling, which is always good for the heart. Justin greeted us warmly into his home and we met his wife Linet, Violet and their children (all of whom we terrified, obviously). They'd set up a bedroom for us with 2 beds and an en suite. Living the high life! The power was in black out stage for now though so we whipped out the wind-up torches and ate by lantern!

Monday was introductions (and plenty of Kenya-style waiting) to the SAIPEH offices and what they do. Mainly they work on AIDS and HIV awareness and have loads of projects helping orphans, people who generally need help feeding themselves and also a brilliant scheme where by dairy cows and goats are donated to deserving families. In the mornings, everyday, we are meant to be teaching computer skills and helping with the data logging of projects running locally, however this week the power has been more often than not off, so a good chunk of our books have been devoured. But at the feeding programme or Day Care Centre, we were welcomed so warmly and all our efforts recieved with such excitment this made up for it. The 10 women who run it are so lovely and funny that we felt welcome immediately. We arrived by motorbike (George carrying Jess on the back! long story...can't wait to tell it! :P ) and that made them whoop and laugh for a good 10 minutes - they were so pleased to see women astride a bike, ezpecially white ones!

So far we have milked a cow, ground maize, picked beans and leaves, used a shamba in farming, swept and mopped in the typical double over fashion, and washed clothes by hand. We also help dish out the grub to the 20 odd children who rely on the programme to survive.

Lacrosse-wise. We have already introduced it to one school, St Therese Bumini, and met with the head of another. It was so much fun showing them lacrosse for the first time. They really enjoyed it and begged us to stay even though rain was seriously threatening to wipe away the field! We had to move location from the big field because there was no room to move as the ENTIRE rowdy school came out to watch. The girls picked it up so quickly and we can't wait to teach them more skills and get them playing a game. We're hoping to have a small tournament with the 4 schools we'll be teaching at the end of our stay. The bikes have been awesome fun. It's a joy to impart lax skills and we have pictures of us dressed up in kangas and headscarves!

We're enjoying our evenings sat in the kitchen helping preparing the family meals, and this morning we cooked pancakes for all, which they said they enjoyed...but of course they would - good or not! Tomorrow we're recieving full Kenyan names, because they want us to be fully part of their community, and we're told there'll be dancing...oh dear god!