Another Two Amazing Days

The last two days have been amazing. With the help of our supporters at home and our friends and kind advisors here, we are accomplishing great things for our students at Compass.

We spent the entire day in the company of our kids and their educators. Micheline, Principal Brian, and Faraj did a thorough grounds and building walk-through to make a list of needs and next steps. Then, Mich and a group of teachers labelled, stamped and numbered the new curriculum purchases and updated the inventory. We were pleased to see that materials our group purchased on the last several trips have been well used but have remained with the school.   With the new World maps Tumaini bought this week, Mich showed the kids our route to Kenya and invited the kids to explore geographic differences between Kenya and Canada. They also reviewed their maple syrup lesson from the day before and recorded thank you videos for Jessica, the maple candy fairy godmother.

In the meantime, Linda, Gabi, and the grade sixes stitched up a storm in the sewing room. All the sixes have become masters at sewing on buttons, and the entire school can now boast a full complement of fastened shirts and dresses. The sixes have also greatly improved their straight line machine sewing and have moved onto triangles and circles. One young man even challenged himself to repair his trousers while he was still wearing them! With a little improvising, he was able to remove them to fix them properly (and more safely).

Gabi and Linda were thrilled to have Jean, a mother of two students and a fantastic seamstress, join them for a second time. She quickly learned how to sew shields and liners and produced three of each. Her work is an inspiration to the kids and the beginning of community involvement. They are so proud of this new class, they cleaned it up beautifully. 

Three of the group enjoyed a lunch of samosas with the staff and shared in some of the tasty stew of beans, maize, tomatoes, and onions prepared for the kids by cooks Anastasia and Lucy. 

Sheree missed out on the lunch treat because she and Flora, our social worker were walking into Kikuyu with fourteen students ages three to twelve who’d been identified as having possible eye problems. After a half hour walk in the heat on dusty roads, they arrived at the Kikuyu Hospital cafeteria where they had tea, a sausage and mandazi before carrying on to the eye unit where the idiom “Hurry up and wait” may have been invented. 

Fourteen screenings and exams later, we had various prescriptions for many, and an appointment for one for a retinal dye scan to confirm diagnosis of a retinal disorder. And three girls will now be seeing their friends, family, and school work through their new glasses! It was a delight to spend the day with these beautiful, patient kids. The older ones helped and entertained the younger ones, and they sat fairly quietly for hours sharing their thoughts and questions about Canada and life in a distant country. 

After such a busy and rewarding day, the Tumaini travellers took a much-needed break on Friday, visiting Kazuri Beads, Ocean Sole, and Amani Ya Juu. Each of these very successful businesses was founded to teach, support, and encourage women to work together towards self reliance. And the shopping is pretty good, too. Of course, at Amani Ya Juu, we enjoyed lunch with former Saultite, Julia Clark.

We enjoyed the delicious meals in the gardens very much, but not so much that we couldn’t make room for the delicious samosas, bbq chicken and goat, and great company provided by Kamal Said, his wife Margaret, and their grown children Naina and Barkat. Kamal has been a valued mentor to Tumaini since its inception and it was a delight to be welcomed once again to his home. 

Off for a good night’s sleep because tomorrow is goat day!