Update from Sr. Julie
Category News
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Good Morning! Hope all of you are well.
This week we celebrated 4 birthdays - Junior in AB, Michael in C, Mungai in G and Grace in the hostel. I think everyone enjoyed the decorations,the presents, the cake and the ice cream. Thank you for all of the contributions you made to make this birthday celebration possible.
Another part of the celebration was that each celebrant got a visit form Sister Mary to deliver birthday greetings to each of them. It really made them feel special. All those little added personal touches mean so much to the children. The children are so lucky to have Sister Mary who does so much to show she loves and cares for them.
Of course, since Mungai is involved in this there has to be a Mungai story. On Wednesday evening Mungai the magnificent was very excited about his birthday. he ran past me as i was delivering ice cream to the cottages. He was looking for Protus who was supposed to be at his party according to Mungai. Of course, Mungai is very myopic and he does not realize that he is not the center of everyone's world at Nyumbani. There were 3 other children also having parties. Well, it just so happens that Protus was out at a meeting and could not attend Mungai's party. Luckily, Mungai did forgive him but Protus was probably told he had better be here next April when Mungai celebrates his 13th birthday. The kids love Protus so much. He is such an important part of their everyday lives.
You might also enjoy hearing that Mungai decided that yesterday afternoon was a good time to put on his Mr. Incredible outfit. He went all over the compound flexing his muscles. He was Mungai the Incredible. All enjoyed seeing him and all asked where did this outfit come from. I had to explain to them that this was his Halloween costume when he was in the states and that he wore it as he went around trick or treating and collecting lots of candy. Most of that candy he actually saved and brought back to share with the kids in cottage G.
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Ken seems to slowly but surely be progressing. Most afternoons he can be found driving my car to Karen to get chips and juice. He still has a long way to go but he is slowly but surely improving. he seems to have more energy and be a lot happier although he still sleeps late into the morning and has not been able to join the April School program. I'm not sure when he will be able to drive my car to Mombasa but he is working toward it. Please continue to pray for him.
Elizabeth is up and down. She has had a trip to the hospital and had some tests done but the tests were mostly negative except to show a slight elevation in her liver function. She spent a few nights in the nursing room since she was put on an IV so she could get dextrose. It seemed to give her more energy and lessen the vomiting but the vomiting has not completely stopped. She has been returned to cottage C where she seems to be comfortable and where she is still being closely monitored by the nursing staff. She has lost so much weight. Katie Kogurt (ed: Kogut?) is presently visiting us and she and I each took a night staying with Elizabeth in the nursing room. She slept pretty well except about once an hour she would have a coughing fit that would wake her and then she would go back to sleep. Her sister Joyce has also been very attentive to her and the big girls have been watching over her as well. This helps to keep up her spirits. She also likes fruit so i purchased some for her and she seems to be able to tolerate all of the fruit except the oranges. It's been great to have Katie back and to have her keep a watchful eye on Elizabeth. It is also great to have the nursing staff so attentive to her. Please pray that Elizabeth will continue to improve.
The April Program is going well. The volunteers are doing a great job and we have only had a few troublemakers. This will be the last week of the formal program and next week we will begin Olympic Week and go on a couple of trips with the kids and then it is back to school on May 7th.
Please continue to pray that Helen can get Mungai into a normal school. He really wants to go to Karen C and he is so ready to begin. His hearing has improved so much. I do not know what we will do if we cannot get him into school. We'd probably need to look for a private school.
I've also been working on 3 new programs for Nyumbani. Two of the programs have been approved.
One is the volunteer School Holiday program which will invite volunteers to come just to work during the school holiday program. they'll come two weeks before to prepare for the program then teach the program and finished up in the next two weeks. It will be about a 2 month commitment. all applicants will go through the usual volunteer screening with Becki.
The other is the Travel Study Program for people who want to come for 2 weeks to visit all of our sites and learn about all of our programs and then go on a safari and head home. This program will be run in conjunction with our neighbor Spurwing Travel and will cost about $1500 USD to cover daily transport, lodging and food. All interested would directly contact Spurwing Travel to make their reservations. So, keep an eye on our Nyumbani website to see when the first Travel Study Program will be offered.
Please take care of yourselves. i hope the weather has improved in the states. if it hasn't, hop on a plane and come enjoy the warm Kenyan weather. Great time for a safari.
You are all loved and missed. Julie
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