Today we met with 15 new students we are bringing into the program!!  Some are to replace students that have had to move away as their family relocated to their rural home, some are looking for sponsors!!!  Let us know if you are interested - they are too cute!!  Some of them are especially needy - this year we have 5 orphans in the group.....

These two sisters, Purity and Joyline, sang for us!!  Voices like angels!  Recognize anything, Claire??  There are 9 children altogether in this family as the Mom has taken in some orphans, one of whom is already sponsored by our program!  So you can imagine it is a real stretch to pay school fees.  Both girls are in the pre-unit class - Mom held Joyline back as she was unable to pay for school.

We finished off our afternoon making some purchases from the "Tumaini Bead Group", the group of parents who raise money doing beadwork and running a small craft shop where they can sell their products!  Lots of great purchases for us to bring back - get ready to buy!!!

Today we spent the morning handing out all the packages from sponsors to the students at Tumaini - it was a great deal of fun.  The students sure get excited, and they are very pleased to be able to tell us who their sponsor is!!  

This is a picture of Rachael with her student, Faith and Faith's mother, Polly, who is in charge of sponsorships at the school as well as being the head of the pre-school.  Faith has been with us since grade one, and is now in grade 6!  And Polly, of course, has been with us since the very beginning and is an invaluable resource, both when we are here, and when we are back in Canada!!

After finishing with the packages, we created havoc in the pre- school classrooms - blowing bubbles, both soap bubbles and bubble gum bubbles!  The pre-unit teacher turned it into a science lesson!!  Sandra blew all the soap bubbles and had the kids screaming and jumping to pop them, and Rachael taught the students to blow the bubble gum bubbles, demo-ing some mighty fine ones!!

The Pre-School is made up of three classes; Baby Class (age 3), Nursery (age 4) and Pre-Unit (age 5).  Then at 6 years old, students start into grade 1.

We finished off the day with a meeting with the majority of the board for Tumaini.  They filled us in on all the great stuff happening, as well as areas where they need further help.  It was very informative and great information for us as we plan fall activities!

Tumaini was ranked 262 out of 900 public and private schools in the entire Nairobi area!! The Kids for Kids students showed great academic achievement. Overall, we were very pleased with how the school is progressing!

This morning we went to Mathare to attend church at The Living Word Church - it was a fantastic service and we were blessed with spending time with members of the community around Tumaini School, staff, some students and some parents.

After church we were invited for lunch to the home of Johnstone and Esther Ndunde! Johnstone is the Chair of the Tumaini School Board, and our main contact here in Nairobi.  We are very fortunate to have a man so dedicated to the futures of our students.  Johnstone and Esther have become very good friends and we are richer for it! 

Today we went to the Masai Market to do some serious shopping!  Rachael again proved herself an expert haggler!  Sandra as well!  This is a picture of a Masai woman Sandra bought a traditional bracelet from!  Get ready folks to do some shopping when we get home!

We then went for a late lunch to 'The Carnivore Restaurant'.  It is an appropriate name as we were able to sample many different kinds of meat including ostrich and crocodile! A very interesting experience, especially for one who is a 'fish and fowl' person!

The school building is finished!  The first three floors are being used by Tumaini, with the fourth floor still being used by Neema Secondary.  The plan is that they have purchased a different spot and are moving in August.  At that point, the remaining three classes (1,2 &3) will be moved up to be in the building and the whole school will be together!

The students were very excited to see us and were smiling, laughing and greeting us!  

We were also able to go visit our new project in Kenya, The Living Kids Centre.  This year we were able to secure some funding for their building, and were very excited to see how far they've come!  There are 90 students at this school, ranging from the 3 yr olds in the baby class to grade 4!

We've been preparing for awhile now for our 2012 trip to Kenya and Rwanda!  The time is just about here and we couldn't be more excited!  Please follow our adventures on this blog, feel free to comment / ask questions!  Thank you to all for all your support!!!

Sorting the packages to go to students at Tumaini from their sponsors!!!

Veterinary supplies to take to Rwanda!!

Three of the four packages of donated student packages and veterinary supplies coming from the Edmonton area!!!

Three of us travelling with 11 pieces of checked luggage!!