Day 6 “How many people does it take to make cool aid?”

We tried once again to sleep in; however, the rooster thought otherwise and the Muslim call to prayer at 6 am kept us up. Breakfast was cereal and tea, one that we have gotten used to. We had many house guests as we have had throughout our stay here and decided to discuss our schedule for the day. Our house guests included: Duncan, Michael, Kuria, Naomi, Peter, Gilo, and our team of Lance, Rachel and I. Then, Pastor John from the Kibera slums came to see when we would be able to see his 45 orphans that he takes care of. Lance explained that I would do a physical assessment on all 45 children while Rachel helped keep them entertained. Then, Coretta, Jackie and Jan (Head of Daystar U.S. scholarships) came over to discuss our future plans. They took Lance to their office while Rachel and I went to the bank exchange our dollars to schillings so Duncan was kind enough to take us.
After we had all convened back at Lancaster we took the 1.5hr drive to in 2 cars to Athi River Daystar Campus to speak with the students at that campus about our student community development chapter and how to apply for the proposals. On the ride up we stopped to get some sugar cane on the side of the road while we waited in traffic. You chew it and it was sweet but very hard. As usually half way through the car ride plans changed and we switched cars so that Rachel, Naomi and I could get to Athi River Campus on time while the others went to look at an agriculture project nearby. We rushed to get water to make cool aid to go along with our cookies and popcorn for the students. We got to Athi River with just enough time to make the cool aid and set up. One thing we did not consider is how much work it takes to make cool aid here in Africa. We had to buy large filtered water and then pour it into a larger container to mix it up and then pour it back into the original container. It took us a lot longer than we thought and we ended up with red and orange stained hands.

The students had registration that day for classes so it was very busy on campus and because we had to change the day that we came to Athi River not many students were there at first. Therefore, Peter, Nadia (a student we met), and I went around campus and invited people to attend while meeting much of the student body. Thankfully, we got many students to attend the meeting and Rachel and I ran the meeting while Lance and rest of the group came 1.5 hours later. Then were in time to address the students and had a long, insightful meeting. Afterwards many of the students stuck around to play Frisbee and discuss future proposals and projects with our team. It was nice to meet all the new faces and see some old ones as well. Elijah also came to meet with us; he is one of Daystars Alumni who we are working with an Orphanage in Muchakos.

Once we had finished meeting with the students we were told Rachel, Naomi, Gilo, Peter and I had to catch the student bus back to Lancaster because Lance and the rest of the team had to gather sand and gravel for the bio-sand water filters. So we boarded the bus back and after the beautiful views and a much smoother ride back we returned to Lancaster. Naomi decided that tonight we were going to cook for the group instead of eat out. So Lance and the team brought back minced meat, rice, potatoes and peas. Peter also had to leave to attend some things at home. Naomi and Rachel cooked while Gilo beat me at “pick” the card game they taught us. We also taught Lance and Kuria how to play so they joined us. We had a wonderful dinner discussing our journey so far and our plans for the team tomorrow. We also arranged the Mombasa train ride that the team will do on our last week here in Africa. Rachel didn’t feel well after a long day in the sun and cooking over a hot stove so she went to bed earlier and shortly I joined her. The rest of the group including Lance stayed up late discussing future plans. We were all so excited for the rest of the team to come tomorrow!