Monthly Archives: June 2011

Kenya Diaries – Day 5

Another full day in the nursery, working in all the rooms. I was in toddlers again first thing completing an assessment on Peter. The staff, although unfamiliar with the process, when asked were very knowledgeable about the children they look after and easily managed to identify the development steps that they had achieved and those that they had not yet managed. Between us, we managed to complete the assessment sheet for Peter quite easily. Afterwards, we helped feed the 22 babies again. The production line of babies, milk bottles and bowls of rice and beans sprung into action and before long they had all been duly fed, changed and placed into their cots.

The afternoon was singing time with toddlers, accompanied by Bev’s guitar and my beautiful tenor! We repeated the delightful experience for babies. After music, I joined the special needs girls downstairs for some high octane antics. Ashley is quite keen to get through any locked door, including the classroom and the office. She had managed to rip one lock off the door frame already. She grabbed me by the hand – her preferred method of direct communication – and dragged me to the office. Pointing to the ledge above the door, she told me, ’the key’s up there!’ I managed to distract her enough so she forgot why she might want to invade the office and we did a tour of the garden together, hand in hand, with Ashley singing, ‘Mummy and Daddy’ very loudly, over and over. The staff told me she does this a lot with visitors because she hopes that they are her new mummy and daddy come to take her to a new home but sadly there is very little chance of that ever happening.

The ladies visited a women’s meeting in a school room in the slum. They walked there after lunch, past cows, chickens and naked children. They heard some heart-rending stories, a lady from Uganda whose husband left her with 4 children – 2 from his previous marriage. He ran off with all the money and cooking equipment. The women  in the group all contribute 10 shillings (8p) each week. They take it in turns to have this kitty.