A warm ‘hi’ from Kenya!
Half of our stay is already over, and filled with countless experiences, emotions, and impressions, we’re now reporting on our first month at the MCC. We are Paulina & Vanessa, two volunteers spending our time in the project from October to December.
Our stay began with arriving emotionally and physically at the MCC, which will be our new home for the next two months. We settled in, got to know the children and the local team, as well as the area where the MCC is located. We had our first experiences in the various departments and got an overview of the existing structures. Together with Mercy, the local social worker, as well as Barbara and Julia, who were also visiting from Germany, we also got an insight into the Skills Centre and the Mobility Centre. Time and again, we felt the exhaustion that hit us due to the initial sensory overload.
A lot of beautiful and new things have happened in the last few weeks. It’s the time when the holidays are getting closer, the final exams are being written, and graduations and new beginnings are celebrated. It was fascinating to experience these celebrations. We were able to be part of the graduation at the primary school – every class helped shape the day, and the pastor was also there to pray together. Afterwards, there was a delicious and colorful cake for every class and a joint lunch for all the guests. The end of the school term was also celebrated at the secondary school. There were joint prayers for Form 4, who are writing their national exams in November – the most important exams and also the last ones they will ever write in their school careers. In the evening, we organized a movie night with popcorn for all the students to end the school year in a fitting way – except for Form 4, all the other students headed off for their well-deserved holidays and made their way home to their families.
Living at the MCC lets us feel the energy that the kids project together, but also individually. In the first few weeks, they showed us their home, their daily routines, and traditions, such as celebrating birthdays. And it’s incredibly fun! The birthday child is ‘washed,’ which means that the other children pour water over them – this usually results in a water fight where you run through the garden laughing and trying to catch the others until everyone is wet in the end, including us.
To get to know the country itself with its culture and society better during our stay, we used our days off to drive to Tala and Nairobi again and again. After consulting with the team, we also went to Lake Naivasha for a weekend – that was great!
The holidays also began for many of the MCC kids at the end of October. A new daily structure and new activities are ahead for the next few weeks – for us too. A few more projects are planned for this. Before that, we already used the time to bake delicious apple pie with the kids – they certainly haven’t lost their love for apples yet. To stay true to the unspoken ritual of the volunteers, we also cooked pasta with the kids; we decided on spaghetti with a spinach-cream sauce. After some initial skepticism, the kids got into it and were quite enthusiastic about it in the end – experiencing that joy was a wonderful feeling! In November, among other things, we want to redesign the library and need new shelves for this, which we want to build together with the kids. In addition, a soccer goal wall should be standing in the garden by the end of our stay – stay tuned!
