Lots of things have been going on so here is an update post!
The holiday season was busy and very fun! Since schools are on break in December, it was slow at my site. I did a lot of planning for the next school term that starts in Jan. I will be starting a boys and girls forum in the secondary and primary schools. This will be a chance for the students to write down questions anonymously and put them in a box. In the forum, the questions are pulled out and discussed. This was a great activity that I did in college when I was an RA. It opens the discussion to go anywhere about anything, and the kids don't have to be embarrassed to ask. I'm starting a salon club for the girls in boarding at the secondary school. Thank you to everyone who gave my mom old hair appliances. The girls are very excited about receiving them soon!
I traveled to Loitokitok to visit my home stay family or my Kenyan family as I like to call them. It was great to see them for a couple of days and I enjoyed playing with my little sister who is talking up a storm now. I found that my Swahili speaking level is at a 2.5 year old's because we had some great convos that I understood completely! haha A large number of other PCVs from my training class came out to the coast for Christmas and New Years. It was so fun to be around each other again and not have to worry about going to training the next day. For New Years, we were in Diani Beach. There was a huge party at the beach bar 40 Thieves. They brought in 13 or so South African DJ's that performed for the 24-hour party. It started at 9pm New Years Eve and went far into the following day. We had an in with the DJ's, so me and some friends ended up hanging out with them a bit and making friends with a couple of the guys that live in Port Elizabeth, SA. I plan on traveling down there after peace corps and having a tour of South Africa with them! Check out Guns N Lazers They are amazing! I worked on my tan while hanging out in Diani and I'm happy to say it looks good and dark!
Back at site, I returned to find that the cell phone tower across the road from my house is up and running! I have awesome reception now and it makes my life so much easier! Still working on getting electricity to the dispensary tho.....The market is doing well. It's mango season here, so they are selling them like crazy! They are huge and delicious! Right now they are being sold for 10 shillings each....that is .125 cents US. I'll be posting some pictures soon to show you the size of them!
My main focus right now is getting the Resource Center funded. We were awarded a grant of $500 USD from the organization Kids to Kids! This is a huge help, but we still have a lot to go until we have the full amount raised and Peace Corps can release the funds to us and we start building. So if you haven't donated already, get to it! It's a simple process through the peace corps website www.peacecorps.gov/donate Search the project number 615-182. If you are really eager to raise some money, start a collection jar at work, find that spare change in the sofa, or go door to door, tell a friend, etc! haha It's girl scout cookie season too I've heard, so instead of another box of cookies, donate that $4 to the project! If you know of any organizations or people that are interested in donating to Kenya or this type of project, let me know and I can send you more detailed information on it. Donate Donate Donate! Thank you to all that have already donated too!
Other than that, life is back to simple in the bush. I'm working on doing some redecorating to my house. New mosquito netting on the windows, painting the inside, and putting up some shelves and such. I also had a bench/sofa/bed made for the sitting room. I'll put up some before and after pictures. I'm excited for this too because its much needed!
Hope all is well at home and I'll be sure to write more often.
Much love!
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