Saturday & Sunday: Open Day, Nakuru, a game drive, and Bethel House

I wasn’t able to post Saturday night because we spent the night at Jane’s friend Diane Hamrick’s house.  We had a big dinner of beef stew, chapati, lots of talk -- mostly Jane, and always fun -- and, to the point, no internet.  Mary McNamara, one of the two Cleveland beaders on the trip, told a great story about the time she took her 80-year-old friend to vote for the first time.  I'd love to tell you the whole story here, but it's not mine to tell, so you'll have to ask ask Mary Mac next time you see here.  Anyway, there's a lot to show and tell about the past two days so here goes.

Saturday was a special day for New Life Homes – its 18^th Annual Open Day, a reunion for New Life Homes adoptive families and friends.  Open Day had it all, guaranteed for family fun:  crazy relay races, face painting, lots of Coke & Coke Light, a bouncy tent, and – the most specific Kenyan twist – zebra-skinned acrobats.  But what made the difference between Open Day and the Pancake Fair at Spring Mill School was that Open Day was more than just a school carnival.  It was a celebration of life itself.

A conversation I had with a woman I met named Lydia made this clear to me.  Lydia was at Open Day with her 8-year-old daughter Ruth, whom Lydia adopted from New Life Homes in 2005.  Lydia is a single mom, a Kenyan, and a high-school English teacher.  “Adopting Ruth changed everything,” Ruth said.  “She gives my life purpose.”



Lydia and Ruth



  

Lucas at Opening Day

Around lunchtime we had to leave for the two-and-a-half drive to Nakuru.  The drive climbs steadily uphill along the eastern edge of the Great Rift Valley, with spectacular views and a good dose of Kenyan rural life.  In Nakuru New Life Homes has a home for around 20 toddlers and, within walking distance, a second home, Bethel House, for around 15 older children in a family setting.  The Nakuru home is on an incredible piece of mountainside property, overlooking the Great Rift Valley and Lake Nakuru (to steal a line of Jane’s, “think pink flamingos and Out of Africa.”)

We arrived terrifically late to the Nakuru home, which would surprise nobody who’s ever traveled with a Thompson.  It was almost bedtime, which actually worked out well, because Mary Mac and Rachel had brought from Cleveland a brand new book for each child (think Good Night Moon and Where the Wild Things Are).  It made for unforgettable bedtime reading, and lots of – maybe too much – fun.

Lee, sponsored by the Hullett family.

Jane & I with Daisy and Cedric.



Ginny, Mary Anne, Rachael,
Irene, Mary Mac and Diane.

We were up at dawn this morning, Sunday, to get a head start on another jam-packed day that would start with a game drive and hasn’t yet ended.  Diane Hamrick had been a great hostess – gracious, down-to-earth and accommodating -- and finished it off with a quick, easy breakfast and – who’d have guessed? – some last-minute bead-trading among the Cleveland beaders and Diane’s helper, Irene Njoki.  Francis was our driver and guide for the game drive through Lake Nakuru National Park.  The pictures speak for themselves.  It was a beautiful drive around the lake, in which we racked up all the sightings we could hope for.  But, truth be known, we couldn’t wait to get back to the babies.



 

Gale and Mary Mac.

Next was a return to the Nakuru home.  This was my fourth visit – twice in 2010 with my daughter Jean, a group of cousins, and my sisters Jane and Jean Corey; and now twice this time.  It is an impressive place.  Of course the kids are great:  always thrilled to have guests, and so well-mannered.  Some of them have been there since before first visit, and seem like old friends.  This visit, though, it became clearer to me that what really makes a difference at Nakuru, as it does at all the New Life Homes, is the staff and caregivers.  They are patient, kind, and loving, yet firm when they need to be, which is seldom.  They are thriving under the leadership of their co-directors, George and Laura Wanjala, who moved there from the Kisumu home a year ago.   And it’s clear that each caregiver takes considerable pride in her work and the kids.  My guess is they take it hard when a child is adopted and leaves them, and even harder when they have to wait.



Nakuru co-directors George and

Laura Wanjala.

  
<>Nukuru's social worker, Vivian, and Mary Anne        

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Ginny and Zebulon





 

Rachael and Calvin at bedtime.



   

    



Cedric, Darrius and Karl Fadhili.

After lunchtime at Nakuru we headed up the road to the Bethel House.  Around 15 school-age children live there, most of them having started in one of the other New Life Homes.  They live there as a family as they wait for adoption.  They all know Jane, and many remember Mary Mac, who is on her fifth visit.  Nine-year-old Wilson, the “oldest brother” of the family, even remembered me from the "Bingo Night" Jane produced the last time we visited Bethel House together. 

The kids at Bethel House also know that when Jane visits, they’re in for some fun.  This year it was a group birthday party for all 15 kids in the group, complete with pizza, birthday cake with candles, and gift bags from their friends in Indy, Cleveland, Jackson, Tennessee and Winston-Salem.  It was their first pizza ever for all 15, which prompted me to give a mini-tutorial on the proper way to eat pizza.  Most smiled and continued to eat it upside-down, crust first, which seemed to work for them just fine.

 
 

Joyce

The Bethel House birthday ended with a quick, fun little ceremony in which Jane called on each child, told them about their Amani sponsors in the United States, and gave each a photo of themselves from past visits.  The photos tickled the kids, and we were in turn tickled by their delight.

Jerome

I guess I hadn't known it before, but could have guessed, that Mary Mac is a fiancial sponsor of a New Life child, Jerome in the Bethel House.  Through the laughter and near-chaos I happened to notice her take Jerome aside and whisper into his ear,  “I want you to know that I think about you all the time, and I pray for the day when your mom and dad come to take you home.”