Nyumbani tamu “Home Sweet Home”

Saturday, August 20th

It was dark out when we flew into Kenya on Wednesday. Our good friend, Lucy, had arranged to pick us up from the airport, but having not spoken with her for a few days, we were worried while walking into the greeting area that no one would be there to pick us up. Instead we found not only Lucy, but her daughter, son, and two other cousins grinning at us. On our drive from Nairobi to Machakos, Christine (another friend) surprised us by meeting us on the side of the road. Since we couldn’t “see Kenya” because it was already dark, it was seeing all of our old friends that made our return feel real. Lucy and her family took us straight to the Malia Children’s Home, where we’ll be staying for at least the next three weeks. We enjoyed our first Kenyan meal of the trip, complete with rice, stew, Muthakoi, and chai…everything was just as delicious as we had remembered.

In the past three days, the Nindi’s (the retired Kenyan couple who started the Malia Children’s Home) have kept us very busy. They have taken in thirteen orphaned children, ages 3-8, and spend a great amount of their time and energy making sure that the kids are happy and educated. Today we walked down to the shamba (garden) with the kids and their teacher, Jacqueline, and spent an hour playing in the dirt. We’re very focused on learning Swahili, and between the help of the Nindis, Jacqueline, and the kids especially, we can communicate better in Swahili after only three days than we could after six weeks last summer.

Last year, we roughed it like the girls at the rescue center, and were able to literally experience the living situation of these girls. This year, we’ve been living a very different type of lifestyle. Living with Mr. and Mrs. Nindi is more like a homestay, and at first, we missed our rugged life at the rescue center. However, every day we spend here we find ourselves enjoying it more and more because of the warm and loving family feeling. The Nindi’s call us and treat us like their daughters, and even have told us to call them babu and susu (grandpa and grandma). There is never a lonely moment here, and we often spend three hours talking to Mrs. Nindi about the history of the home and the children who live here. It’s so apparent how much the Nindi’s genuinely care about their children. After seeing how cruelly the manager of the rescue center treated the girls, we’re given new hope and happiness when we feel how much love there is at the Malia Children’s Home.