Last week Juli, Sabrina, and I visited Matungu Special Needs School! I really wish I had seen this school earlier on in my stay here in Kenya, so that I could have had more time to be involved with them. The school is mixed day and boarding, and has about 50 or 60 special needs kids, but on the same grounds they have a primary school, so many of the kids are integrated. It was neat to see teachers so passionate about making sure these kids could have a somewhat normal life. At the school, they teach everything from behavioral skills, to mathematics, to everyday life skills like cooking, farming, and even going to the market. There's even an exercise bike for muscle conditioning!
I wanted to go to this school to donate some of the toys I brought from home: plastic toy animals, pipe-cleaners for arts and crafts, and a whole mess of Legos (special thanks to the Brenan family!!). This was truly the perfect place to leave these toys! The kids were so appreciative and had so much fun playing with the Legos. We joined them for an hour or so, watching as they all built planes, cars, or random structures. Everyone was so incredibly focused! And somehow, the four gallon-size bags of Legos were enough for the dozens of students in the room!
For me, it could not have been a better experience! [I have loads more photos that I'll put up soon! I really went picture-crazy at Matungu.]
Afterwards, we visited our friend Hamza at St. Joseph's Secondary School. Hamza was so happy to see us! We had him give us a tour of the school, and then the head teacher Bernard offered me two hectares of land if I promise to come back and stay in Kenya forever!! I'm not exactly sure how much that is, but it sounds like a good deal!
So here is what kind of offers I have received in Kenya:
-two hectares of land
-a house built just for me and the other volunteers
-our friend Fanuel's wife to cook lunch for me every day
-my very own chicken (this one I have for real! His name is Lord Henry! We got him as a gift just two days ago)
Sounds like I'm all set for life!
I really should update the creepy-crawly page soon... The other day, a giant green caterpillar fell from a tree. When I say giant, I mean ENORMOUS -- and even that doesn't really cut it! This thing...ugh. It must have been 6 inches long and an inch in diameter. Then Fanuel poured some sort of creepy-crawly-killing chemical on it and Anerico's son carried it away in a shovel. Bummer...I was looking forward to a nice protein-filled dinner!
Legos are a hit everywhere! Thank you Brennan family!
ReplyDeleteHopefully you can visit again before you leave.