Let’s start with Thursday and work backwards. Not sure why, but it’s the writer’s prerogative 
.
Today’s trip to Brown’s Cheese was a huge change from our usual routine. Despite intermittent downpours throughout the day, we enjoyed cheese tasting, a tour through the Brown’s operations, and a delicious lunch where we were joined by two other Canadians who had come to visit their daughter, a journalist and humanitarian who had, inexplicably to them, moved to Kenya six year ago; a young couple (one from the Faro Islands and the other, a Kenyan-born Dane) who assured us that they were not interested in taking a certain president up on his offer. The final four included three fifth generation Indo-Kenyans and a granddaughter from Australia.
We were all impressed with the fact that Brown’s collects 30000 litres of milk from local small operation farmers (3 or 4 cows) daily and processes it all by end of day. They focus on natural ingredients (fresh lavender, mint leaves, coffee beans, Tanzanian vanilla) to flavour their delicious ice cream( we tested everything), and prepare their own caramel, rocky road brownies, and chocolate brownies for three more flavours. Numerous local people are involved in all aspects of the production and the surrounding biodynamic regenerative garden is a peaceful oasis, even in a rainstorm. It was fun and informative and offered us a view of a different Kenya. It also left us breathless, situated as it was at an elevation of up to 2500 metres (over 8000 feet).
Sadly, this is an area most of our students at Compass will never see. Still, we are thrilled to be a part of Tumaini Afrika which works so hard to improve opportunities for our kids. Some of our past Compass kids are individually sponsored by TA members and friends. Last week, Sheree met with Kenneth, whose sponsorship she has continued on behalf of her late husband; Linda met with her Kenneth and his sister; one sponsored student, Joyce, dropped in to the Compass celebration to say hello; and Sheree met with Caroline who is in her fourth year of veterinary medicine at the University of Nairobi.
Today was good, But yesterday far surpassed it in importance and joy. It was Community/School Celebration Day, a chance to meet the parents, publicly recognize the dedication of the staff and to share with parents and whole school community the history and extent of Tumaini Africa’s support of Compass School.
We started the day scraping great gobs of red mud from our shoes after we’d squelched through the rain-soaked yard. Many parents were already present to greet us and the kids eagerly assisted in unloading cases of water, juice, cookies, and unknown treats from the van. They were so excited to see us, now comfortable enough to greet us with hugs and high fives.
In order to start at 10:15, head teacher Brian had invited parents to arrive at 8:30. Some were still arriving throughout the morning but we did pull off a 10:30 start. And the sun came out!
Teacher Peter greeted everyone and teacher Sarah opened the event with a prayer of thanksgiving followed by a lively and well- rehearsed musical presentation by the grade six class.
All of the teachers were introduced and took the opportunity to speak to the crowd.
Teacher Susan brought tears to our eyes speaking of her thanks to Tumaini and her love of teaching. The parents responded with nods of agreement and were very receptive to Brian’s and others’ invitations for them to become more involved in the school community. On behalf of the travellers and all of TA at home, Micheline addressed the crowd, first expressing how delighted and gratified we felt to have the opportunity to work with such dedicated students and staff - these are not just pretty words, you need to live it to truly understand - and then shared information about the many projects we supported at the school. Brian recognized the outstanding work led by Gabi and Linda to establish the sewing classroom and invited the parents to come and make use of the new facility. The final address was from a parent who very eloquently thanked us and urged parent involvement in the school.
All of these speeches, delivered outdoors to a standing crowd, really warmed things up, or maybe it was the sun. In any case, when they ended, the real fun began. Parents, including many moms with babes in arms made a beeline for the water and biscuits, while the kids were over the moon about the lollipops donated by friend of TA and Compass, Kamal. These treats were topped off with a juice box and biscuits - nothing like sugar to liven up a party!
Many of the parents visited their children’s classrooms and chatted with the teachers while the kids had lunch before returning to class.
Class!!
But why?
Because that’s where you get your gift bags filled. We were like Santa Claus filling stockings - each child received underwear, new uniform socks (the look of sheer delight on the faces of children receiving new socks is something never to be forgotten), souvenir lapel pins from Canada, Ontario, and the City of London, even more candy, and peanuts. Each also received a banana before heading home.
Before leaving, there were more pictures to take. Teachers Peter and William had great fun posing with their “grandmothers” (Mich claims “Mama” but . . . ) and Sheree joined the three new spectacles models for a group photo. Brian made sure to join us for some final snaps, too.
Too soon,it was time for us to say goodbye - lots of tearful farewells and those wonderful Kenyan hugs! We’ll see the fives and sixes one more time when we visit the game park on Friday, but we were sad to say goodbye to a place and people that had stolen our hearts.
Later that evening, with Lois fulfilling other commitments, we enjoyed a relaxing dinner out with Faraj where we reflected on the day and enjoyed learning more about him, his culture, and his family. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
