Hi everyone!

Sorry it has taken me such a long time to post! We have had a whirlwind of the past few days. Morgan and Hilary had been planning a two-day safari to the Masai Mara for the weekend and at the last minute I jumped in on that. We flew from Nairobi to the Masai Mara and stayed in a tent/campground for the weekend. We saw all sorts of animals, and our tour guide was a Masai warrior who let us tour his village. I am on dial-up connection now in a cyber cafe so I will upload those as soon as I get faster internet connection! Anyway, it was neat to see the same animals you see at zoos in their natural home. It is hard to believe I am half-way around the world seeing these animals in where they actually live all their lives, it was so surreal. We got within 10 yards of a pack of lions, it was ridiculous.

After our little getaway, we left early Monday morning for the Nakuru orphanage which is about 2 hours outside of Nairobi. The New Life Home Orphanages have 6 branches in Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kisumu, Lama, and Nyeri. We spent the day in the Nakuru orphanage which is considerably smaller than the Nairobi one. The Nakuru orphanage had about 25 kids all under the age of 3. We left Monday night and drove 5 hours to Kisumu, the second New Life Home to be built. This is where I'll be spending the remainder of my trip. Morgan and Hilary are here until the middle of July and they will be visiting other parts of Kenya after I leave.

We are staying at the sketchiest hotel for $12 a night. I shouldn't complain though, because our room (despite the mosquitos and no internet) it's a lot nicer than most of the homes the Kenyans are living in that we have seen during our trip. Today, Tuesday, we woke up and walked to the Kisumu home and were given a tour of the orphanage and learned of the different nurseries it is divided into. They have a room for newborns up to 1 year, 1-3 years, and then 3-18 (however, the oldest at the home is 7 years). What is interesting about the Kisumu home is that it is the only orphanage to offer a special needs nursery. There are 7 kids in this part of the orphanage that are brought in from all over Kenya with various physical/mental diseases requiring them to have special attention. We learned today that because the Nairobi home is so close to the University of Nairobi, they recieve a lot of student volunteers. However, because there is no university in Kisumu they can go 3-4 months without volunteers. Needless to say, they were very appreciative of our choosing Kisumu for our next home to work at.

We stayed busy all morning, they divided the three of us up into the areas where they needed to most help. I worked in the baby nursery which has about 20 babies. Like the Nairobi home, they are understaffed and I spent my morning feeding, changing diapers, and playing with the kids. It is obvious that the kids here don't get as much attention because it is the largest orphanage of the 6 New Life Homes yet maintains about the same amount of staffing the others do.

We'll be in Kisumu until I leave on Monday for Nairobi to fly home to the US. It's weird to think the trip has gone by so fast, we've stayed very busy! However, I learned today that my flight home was cancelled and by the time I called to re-book, the only flight available has a 20 hour layover in Dubai. So, even more than before, I am dreading going home! My 30 minutes in the cyber cafe is about up, so I will post more another day this week!

Love you all,
Coty