Friday: The Kilimani home in Nairobi, shopping at Kazuri & the Village Market

Today's Amani Power Shoppers

Today was all about the beads and the babies.  It started with a quick stop at New Life Kilimani (Nairobi), the network's headquarters and home to  50 infants aged 0 - 3.  We delivered gifts to Guy and Susannah, a Scottish couple who direct the Nairobi home, and to Clive and Mary Beckenham, NLH's founders and directors.  We didn't stay long, because everyone at the Nairobi home was busy getting ready for Saturday's (now today's) Open Day, an annual reunion and celebration of families who have adopted through New Life Homes.

The team includes Rachael Rice and Mary MacNamara (photo, left and second from right) of Cleveland Amani; Ginny Schwindt and Mary Anne (Whitten) Poe, Jane's college roommate, and my sister, Jane Stephens, and myself.



Jane workin' it at the Village Market.

 

Edwin's custom-painting Amani gifts.

 So what did the women and I do today?  We went shopping!  I have to swallow hard as I write that, but it's okay; shopping in Kenya with Jane Stephens for the babies is a deadly serious, take-no-prisoners affair.  The point is to buy Kenyan beads and other goods from local markets to take home for sale to friends of the Amani Children's Foundation, with every penny going back to support the babies in New Life Homes.  It's all about pricing and marketing and negotiating and logistics, which is all to say I did my best to stay out of Jane's and the rest of the team's way and made a lot of trips back to Francis and the van with the loot.  This was just  the first leg of the journey for this life-giving merchandise, and it wore me right out.

But it wasn't over when the lights went out at the Kazuri Bead Factory.  We hurried back to Nairobi in time for dinner at the Italian Restaurant, and then back to the rooms for some packing.  We have 8 large duffles and containers of gifts from our friends in Indy, Cleveland, Jackson, Tennessee and Winston-Salem to deliver to kids in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu and Nyeri, and the van leaves this morning after Open Day for Nakuru.




Mary Mac & Rachael late-night packing.





Jane, Mary Anne & Ginny.



My last thought of the day goes back to our first stop this morning at the Nairobi Home, when a small band of toddlers came marching out for play-time, their caregivers and volunteers in tow.  They were led by Angus, an alert, feisty, fun-loving little two-year old who had "leader" written all over him and looked like the kind of guy who just can't wait to see what each day will bring.  What Angus couldn't know, and we didn't learn until dinner that night, was that today was a big day for him, after all.  Because today his future mom and dad let Angus march right into their lives as they decided he was the one for them.



Angus is Scottish for "unnaturally strong; the only choice."