So last week it was my 23rd birthday. I was surprised with a German birthday cake made my French speaking Vietnamese nuns. It was such a lovely cake! It’s a tradition here that the birthday person spoon feeds people some of the cake for goodluck. So I politely spoonfed some priests, Gemma and Paul!
Gerard, another student in my course, arrived on Tuesday! We all went to the airport to meet him. He is staying with us in Bosco boys, but he is traveling to secondary schools to raise awareness of sexual violence against minors in kenya. The public schools are on strike at the minute here, demanding a 50% – 60% salary increase so this has set his project back a bit.
This week we have all been very busy interviewing and doing focus groups with the staff and children here in Bosco boys. We have heard some unbelievable stories that have been both positive and negative.
Paul’s wife arrived this week too. We all went for pizza on Sunday and met up with other irish people who have spent the last few years working in Nairobi and Somalia. We got the privilege of visiting an orphanage run by sister Mary Jane. She has cared for over 200 children and is currently caring for 25. Most of her children have become doctors, teachers, priests and nuns.
This week myself and Gemma are writing up the report for Bosco boys. This will be based on the focus groups and interviews we have done over the last two weeks so it might take a while to go through all of our data and summarize it all.
Tonight myself and Gemma had dance-offs with the children after we said the rosary while walking the length of the basketball court throughout. Typical Mondays.
Hope everyone is keeping well!
Cynthia In Nairobi 