The Dustiest Day

Yesterday was an interesting visit to Mbaruku IDP camp in Kikopey. Tami, Irene and I were joined by three lovely lasses from Ireland and their Australian friend who had heard about the Dust Babies and wanted to assist in some way. As soon as the van rounded the corner we had a hard time seeing the camp with all of the dust that was blowing around. When we arrived, a group of men were trying to salvage a tent that had started to blow away and within minutes our sun screened skin was coated with a thick layer of dust. The wind swept through the camp, bringing with it dust galore! The poor kids started coming toward us, most of them shielding their little eyes from the dust.

Despite the weather we had a fun time playing with the Dust Babies and our visitors were taken by them at once. As Irene always says, "you just can't help but love them." Never were there truer words! Our generous visitors decided to outfit the new school house, built by Irene and VICDA with 30 desks with benches, enough to fit 90 babies who will attend the school. They also offered to fill the four underground water tanks for the community which will give them enough water for about a month. Asante sana!

And, of course, we had a chance to check on the chicks! I'm happy to report that 202 of them are doing very well! They are healthy and strong and active, running around the coup from feeder to feeder. As Purity, the woman who has been primarily looking after them, reports, "these chicks eat non-stop! Eat, eat, eat!" It's nice to be able to visit an actual project at Mbaruku and to see so many people excited about the prospects. Thank you, again, for your generosity and support in this project! I hope that we can all visit Mbaruku for a scrambled egg breakfast in a couple of months!

Our next goal for Mbaruku is to get a couple of doctors to come from Naivasha to volunteer on Friday for a medical camp. The doctors would supply the free treatment, and donations would cover prescriptions and supplies. If you would like to donate to the Medical Camp, please let me know ASAP as I am trying to organize this one last project before I leave for Tanzania this weekend.