work, safari, home-stay

WORK: I work in the social work office helping with sponsorship..... WAIT.... scratch that.... I basically sit in the social work office and chat with the workers around: Mark, Elvis (hehe), and Presilla. I've been really struggling to figure out my role here. The pace of life is almost painfully slow and it is really hard to get things done. This is my main challenge, and so far I have been surprizingly active because of my own initiative. I have visited homes of families requesting sponsorships (sponsored kids get money from a Canadian organization to come to Camp David and get education and meals), I have seen an overcrowded health center, talked to many staff members for ideas, and had meetings with supervisors. I also have another intern, Sandra, working here and together we are working on our main project, we have many ideas and our main concern is SUSTAINABILITY. We have been researching and brainstorming a lot for that. We are thinking of a health resource center that offers classes on health... but we'll see!
SAFARI: wow. like........wow. I went on my first safari in Tsavo East and it was amazing. It was so nice to see the beauty of Kenya and the animals in the wild. The drive there was an adventure in itself when our van's water tank burst. We rolled to the side of the road and another van stopped to help. We were then pulled by another safari van, attached by a thin rope. The drivers didn't hold back either! They continued to pass other vehicles that were going to slow as our car was dragged from behind! "NO FEAR KENYA" is our moto. Our hotel was so nice and we were on the side of a mountain so we could see all of the Reserve to the horizons and could even see elephants, buffalo and giraffs from our patio! On safari, we searched for animals and ran into many elephants, giraffs, zebras, buffalo, umpala, dikdiks, that were right alongside the van. We even watched some cheetahs stalking giraffs and vulchars eating a dead elephant. And the waterhole was awesome because it was SO Lion King with all the different animals just hangin out together. haha. Just standing up and looking out the top of the van at Kenya was overwhelming. Oh and Hakuna Matata really does means "no worries" and Kenyans say that all the time. (pics to be posted soon!)
HOME-STAY: I am so comfortable there now. The kids are awesome and are really warming up to me. Noel (6 yr old boy) is crazy hyper. Irene (9, girl) loves to dance and read to me and tell stories. Edward (13) is still shy, but hangs out with me now. They love to watch tv and Walker Texas Ranger and dubbed soap operas- I am now a huge fan of their extreme cheeziness. The plumbing is broken so bathroom breaks are a challenge and unpleasant... but sall good. They actually made me spagetti and we used hotsauce as dressing! NOT BAD at all, well that's it for now. (I can't tell if I write too much or too little...) Tatuonana badai (see ya later)