August Holiday

The month of July went very fast and August is almost over as well. I have been in Mombasa for the last week attending a HIV/AIDS conference. Tomorrow I am going on Safari in Tsavo National Park and then it is home to Kativani because I have school on Monday. Even though it is the vacation the children are in school. The last week on August we are taking 50 students to Mombasa for an educational tour. I will be in charge of the girls, 25 village girls in the big city...could be interesting. Thank you to those of you who sponsored a few children, they are super excited about the tour!
July brought a lot of school strikes at many schools across Kenya. I was very fortunate that our students were disciplined enough to not participate. The students went on strike for various reasons. July was a busy month at our school with end term exams and setting up the library. Thank you to those of you who have donated novels for the library, the students were very excited to take home novels over the break! For those of you who have been asking what they can do or send, I would love to recieve some reference books or textbooks so I could add them to the library as resources. It is great to have the students see pictures of things in the textbooks as well. Also, I am trying to sponsor a few students school fees so if anyone is interested in sponsoring a childs school fees let me know. Many students miss a lot of school or do not even attend school because they do not have fees. I continue to hear their stories and they break my heart. I am so thankful I grew up in a system of free education and where I had a supportive family.
It currently is pea season so when I have free time I love going to the shamba with my students and picking peas. I love that we go to the shamba together to collect our food and then we sit in a circle and peel them as a community. I love the concept of growing our food as a community and preparing it as a community. Water is still a problem but I am managing.
I went to Kitui to visit my host family there. The children are getting so big! JoAnne (who has been renamed JoRae) is 10 months old and walking. Kali and Cynthia have improved their English so much. They told mama to stop speaking to them in mother tongue so when I visit they can communicate with me. Kali and Cynthia also convinced mama that JoAnne needed to be named after be because she fears people but as soon as I walked in the door she reached for me so they are saying that she remembers me caring for her when she was born. So they actually changed the birth certificate to JoRae.
I need to keep this short and without photos again because I need to catch my matatu out of Mombasa. But I will try to update again soon and add pictures.