Photos!

It takes quite a while to upload each picture so you'll have to live with these for now. I'll try and put some more up later while I'm here in Nairobi. After two weeks so much has happened! It would be impossible to write all of my stories here. I spoke for the first time the other day in fellowship. Every night at 6:30 the kids all come together and sing (in Kikuyu) and dance and one of the kids usually leads it all. The day before, Cecilia, the woman who runs Tumaini, asked me to speak so I talked about 1 Timothy 4:12. For me to speak to them I need a translator so after each sentence I have to wait for Lawrence to relay what I said to the younger kids who don't speak English. Overall it went very well and then I was asked to speak at the staff meeting next week for everyone who works at Tumaini.

My favorite thing to do is to work in the kitchen. I get to cut cabbage, peel potatoes, and grate beets all while sitting in the blazing morning sun and talking with the staff. Around 1:00 a lot of the kids come home from school and eat lunch with us and then they're free until fellowship. One thing they've really enjoyed is cards. Right before I left I happened to throw a deck of cards into my bag as a last thought and it's a good thing I did. These kids don't have anything else to play with so I taught them War and they'll play it for hours and hours. I remember one day I played War with them for over four hours and they never got sick of it.

I've been learning a little Kikuyu so I can effectively greet people as well as answer some questions about myself like what my name is and where I come from. I can also say "I'm eating..." and various foods. Everyday for lunch we have githeri and at dinner ugali with sakuma wiki. I thankfully haven't gotten sick of it yet because I'm usually so hungry by the time we have it that it's a treat!

I hope everyone is doing well at home! Feel free to send me an email at mwirkkanen@gmail.com and I'll try and reply to all of them! I only have internet about once a week so be patient with me!

Peace,
Maryanne