EAMO: Lots of kids, good food, beds, clean clothes, school and
many soccer balls and a dog! What more can you ask for???
many soccer balls and a dog! What more can you ask for???
Folding The Clothes: Could you imagine having almost 130 children and having to wash those clothes. At the orphanage we have two twin tub washing mach-ines with one lady employed from the local community washing , hanging and drying.At the Nursery, we have one twin tub machine to wash all the babies clothes and cotton nappies.The same washing lady also washes these babies clothes.
Repairing Our Road: One of the reasons why we chose to buy the property that we did a number of years ago, was because of it’s good access that it had. Most dirt roads are not maintained at all so you can end up with some seriously poor roads over time. Since the boys are on holidays now they have volunteered to repair our road by filling it with road base.
But on Sundays, all the kids have to do their own washing. For the Nursery we have our young girls on rosters to help the carers with the babies, this includes washing all the clothes.
Potty Training: (Pics below)
We now have 16 babies in the nursery due to Mathew and Minnie moving down to the orphanage. All the babies once they turn 3 years old pack up and move down to the orphanage with the big kids. It seems a little hard to begin with, but within days we can see a huge change with them. In an institute situation like the baby orphanage, we noticed that while ever the infant now grown out of babyhood stays in that environment he/she seems to remain a baby. Going down to the orphanage and living with older kids actually makes them grow up quickly.
We now have 16 babies in the nursery due to Mathew and Minnie moving down to the orphanage. All the babies once they turn 3 years old pack up and move down to the orphanage with the big kids. It seems a little hard to begin with, but within days we can see a huge change with them. In an institute situation like the baby orphanage, we noticed that while ever the infant now grown out of babyhood stays in that environment he/she seems to remain a baby. Going down to the orphanage and living with older kids actually makes them grow up quickly.
Another Young Pregnant Mother:
Last week, May was asked by the Children’s Department if she could take in a sad case that needed help. Lynette is 16 years old and 3 months pregnant with her 2nd child! Lynette was locked up in a room by her boyfriend who apparently is a compulsive thief. The boyfriend used to come in and abuse her and beat her up. Then a self proclaimed humanitarian worker was walking by the room where Lynette was locked up and somehow saved her. The man took her to the Police who then took her to the court because she is a minor. The Children’s Department became in-volved, so Lynette ended up at EAMO. She has been with us for 2 weeks, and today May took her in for a scan to see how the baby is growing. After the scan, May had to take one of our ba-bies in to see the local surgeon as he has swollen testicles. (Talk about when it rains it pours, just last week Joe, a little 12 year old was in hospital with the same surgeon having the same operation. The total costs was $1,240 Aud which we really struggled to pay) While May was seeing the surgeon, Lynette decided to disappear with the keys to May’s car, leaving her stranded for almost an hour. It seems Lynette decided it was better to live out there with her boyfriend on the streets. We just spent $45 Aud for her scan. It is really sad the decisions that some young people make these days. We have had similar things happen before, but with time the child always comes around to his/her senses.
Last week, May was asked by the Children’s Department if she could take in a sad case that needed help. Lynette is 16 years old and 3 months pregnant with her 2nd child! Lynette was locked up in a room by her boyfriend who apparently is a compulsive thief. The boyfriend used to come in and abuse her and beat her up. Then a self proclaimed humanitarian worker was walking by the room where Lynette was locked up and somehow saved her. The man took her to the Police who then took her to the court because she is a minor. The Children’s Department became in-volved, so Lynette ended up at EAMO. She has been with us for 2 weeks, and today May took her in for a scan to see how the baby is growing. After the scan, May had to take one of our ba-bies in to see the local surgeon as he has swollen testicles. (Talk about when it rains it pours, just last week Joe, a little 12 year old was in hospital with the same surgeon having the same operation. The total costs was $1,240 Aud which we really struggled to pay) While May was seeing the surgeon, Lynette decided to disappear with the keys to May’s car, leaving her stranded for almost an hour. It seems Lynette decided it was better to live out there with her boyfriend on the streets. We just spent $45 Aud for her scan. It is really sad the decisions that some young people make these days. We have had similar things happen before, but with time the child always comes around to his/her senses.
The children at the orphanage also love it when new babies (or they are really called infants by then), come and stay with them. You can really see the affection our children have towards these little one’s. They even love getting new kids into the orphanage whether they are large or small. If you ask them all if they would like to have more kids here at EAMO, you will hear a loud “yes”. The pics below are what we call “Potty Training” !!
Home Grown Wheat & Maize: I think all Kenyans just love playing in the dirt. I mean many live in mud huts with dirt floors, so many are used to it. As soon as they can hold a “Jambe” what we would call “hoe”, they are in the garden. Besides our agricultural gardening program that our teachers arrange, you find the kids just digging the dirt anywhere and planting maize or beans. These items are the staple for Kenyan’s, and they just love them and never seem to get tired of them.
In fact they say “if you do not feed a Kenyan Ugali (ground maize flour made into a cake) they will say that you did not feed them”. We grew a total of 60 x 90 kilogram bags of maize this last season. This is enough to keep us going for a whole year as we consume one sack per week. We grew 12 x 90 Kilo-gram bags of Beans which is a great shortfall for the year as we consume approx 70 kilograms per week. The costs for buying a 90 kg bag of beans is $110 Aud. We also grew wheat which was not a bad harvest of 160 x 90 kg bags. This is a big saving for us and a good little in-come for EAMO. We will be replanting maize, beans and wheat again in mid March next year.
The local quarry down the road is donating all the road base we need, as long as we transport it and spread it!
EAMO Update 54