Last Days in Kenya

Saturday 27th October

My time here is coming to a close, I’ve definitely had an unforgettable experience and through all the ups and downs I’m so glad I took myself (very far!) out of my comfort zone and came to this amazing place - what a month it has been!

Yesterday was my last day at Dada’s, I felt very emotional walking out of that gate, tears were shed. I’m gonna miss those kids, they’ve truly inspired me and I hope I helped them too. Saying goodbye was really hard, especially to all the little friends I’d made - I’ve gotten close to them over the month I’ve been here! To the mamas that work there too - older ladies that welcomed me into their family. The head Mama is an absolute legend, she’s very spiritual and just great to be around; she doesn’t have the best English, she wanted me to teach her, but you ask her how she is and pauses and goes, “my mind is good, my soul is good, my body...is good. The Great Benevolence is good today”. She’s great. She called me “my daughter” whenever I saw her and she gave me a big hug, thanked me for coming to Dada’s and told me I was a blessing and they’ll miss me. She made me all teary, I don’t want to leave them! She and one of the older girls both asked when they will see me again, saying I’m not sure and thinking I might not ever see them again put a lump in my throat. I’m forever changed and will hold them and so many other things and people from this trip in my heart for a long time to come.

It was a pretty carefree day before goodbyes tho, the older classes went through and gave the classrooms a thorough cleaning, leaving the younger ones to their own devices and to stay out the way! I had fun keeping them entertained, playing tig, giving piggybacks and just throwing them round a bit, hand slapping games and a brilliant game where we sat in the gravel that’s their playground round the back, found the bigger stones and built stacks on the palms of my hands by balancing them on top of each other. It was a good time, we got up to 7 at one point, so exciting! One little boy was fascinated by my hair too, he was just stood stroking my head and pulling and fiddling with my plots for ages! Such sweet kids, enjoying the attention and playtime I think :)

Friday evening at the house was entertaining also - since it was my last night everyone used that as a great reason to go out and get drunkkkkk. I wasn’t really feeling that, I’ve experienced a night out both in Gardens and in Nairobi, that’s enough for me! I was content to have a few ciders in the bar at the back of the House as everyone was prinking and then wave them off on their merry way. I still had a lot of fun, Kenyans know how to have a good time and it was nice to have a laugh with the rest of the volunteers before I had to leave!

They seemed to have a good night, a friendly cat came to visit in the early hours when they got back coz Tipsy Tora loves cats and wanted to let it say hi - was a nice lil wake up call - all in all, good fun!

Then this morning, as everyone else was sleeping and nursing their hangovers, I got up and made mandazis with Mickey for breakfast! It was so fun, another lovely guy, me and Megan had a lil play crazy time too.
After a slow and quiet start to the morning, I heard back from fairy godmother Lydia and spent the afternoon chilling with her! It was really lovely - a Kenyan faff getting to hers tho, shouldn't have expected anything less! Delayed leaving because Kenyan times, got a flat tire (thankfully just a loose valve, not a puncture) and then trying to remember how to actually get to Lydia's house! Minor stress but made it eventually - she took me to a Kenyan pottery place and i made a little bowl, she said she's gonna post it out to me when its been fired, she's such an amazing person. It was so relaxing, just what I needed i think. It was good to chat about my month with someone who knows Kenya a bit more too and has a different perspective on things - our other plans were scuppered by earlier closing times than we thought but actually it worked out quite well. We had a little wandering around a market and then went back to hers and prepared tea together, chatted some more about life and just had a nice chilled time. Her house is just so beautiful and Lydia and her husband are really zen and calming to be around and really kindhearted, was definitely a lovely end to my time here.
We had pork chops, peas and carrots and dauphenois potatoes! (i have no clue how you spell it but you know what i mean) It was soooooooo good - feel like that richness is gonna shock my tummy tho after a month of rice and beans!!
I feel so lucky to have met her and that she took me under her wing as she did, such kinds and compassion - on our drive to the airport too we had a great chat about the world and she laid some wisdom on me too! Just really crazy and lovely thing :)

And I'm gonna end this here!! About to take off after a crazy trip through the Kenyan airport, but we made it!! (Hope this wasn't too rushed!)

Looking forward to coming home and seeing my family again, so relieved I'm actually sat on the plane!

Over and out, see you on the other side! xxxx