It is safe to say that whilst many of us struggled to sleep on the night flight out to Kenya, this was not the case on our return journey.
After a busy and tiring 2 weeks working at our projects, Jubilee Academy and Luchema Children's Home, followed by busy weekends seeing as much of the Rift Valley as we could squeeze in we were all shattered and slept on the night flight back to Heathrow. Not as comfortable as our beds but we all slept to some extent due to exhaustion.
We landed safely at Heathrow on Friday morning and after a short wait for our coach to arrive we made good time up the M1 to Lutterworth. No trouble fitting all of the cases on the coach this time having left 36 suitcases worth of donations in Kenya! Still shattered from being on the road for more than 24 hours you could have heard a pin drop on the coach.
With one final D.I.S.C.O. chant we turned the corner into the college gates and our waiting family and friends who were there to greet us.
It was great to be back home but we have some amazing memories that will stay with us forever......
Just some of our most memorable moments:
"when we were lucky enough to see the lions on safari"
"feeding the giraffes as the Giraffe Sanctuary"
"giraffe kisses"
"doing the cha cha slide with the children at our project"
"saying goodbye to the children on our last day"
"Mr Hodges saying "we haven't come half way round the world to mess about (whilst building the security fence at Luchema)"
"On any number of occasions watching our students interact with the youngsters at Jubilee, and the children's faces light up, culminating in the tearful farewell parade"
"The tears at Luchema on the final day - showed the Lutterworth students had achieved their goal of positively changing the lives of the Luchema children"
"the class we had taught at Luchema saying goodbye to us on our last day - it was heartbreaking but unforgettable"
"Having a welcome song every morning from the Jubilee children after they had all run to the gates to see the mzungu's arriving"
"the erraticness of the electricity and hot water"
"the amazing surprise of Nicholas Harmonies singing to us at our final celebratory meal on the last night"
"making little Nina smile for the first time, by playing with bubbles with her"
"seeing Joseph's (one of the children at Jubilee) amazing drawings"
"having survived 2 weeks without an upset stomach, most of the group having diarohoea on the return flight"
"singing Hannah Montana 'Best of both worlds' to the Jubilee children"
"walking into the project each morning"
"saying bye to all the kids - so many tears"
"reaching the top of Thomson Falls all together and singing"
"the whole trip - getting to know 32 fantastic students, seeing them take on the challenges and helping each other through the hardships. Sharing many laughs with them and seeing the tears on the final project day at Jubilee. A wonderful experience"
"when everyone had to say goodbye at Luchema, it was pouring with rain, but that didn't seem to bother anybody!"
"everyone getting up and dancing at our first visit to Luchema"
"the children's reactions to the gifts we took them"
"Thomson Falls - going right down to the bottom and getting soaked from the spray from the falls and then getting hassled at the market at the top by the shop keepers"
"Teaching little Simon to write his number 8's after many hours of math class"
"Standing next to Thomson waterfall after we climbed it"
"climbing to the bottom of Thomson Falls, where we nearly got stuck and had to help each other back to the top. Myself and Joe were last and were speeding along until Joe put his hand down to steady himself on what he thought was a rock only to discover it was a dead otter"
"our open safari truck got stuck in the mud 2 metre away from a pride of lions"
"Me and Poppy getting swarmed by children at Luchema because they had never seen orthodontic braces before"
"singing D.I.S.C.O at the top of the hike to the waterfall"
"feeding and being able to touch giraffes"
"playing waterpolo in the pool and Mr Hodges warning that we all would die if lightning struck the water"
"dancing with the children at Luchema on the first day"
"singing 'DJ Otz - Hey Baby' underneath the waterfall at Thomson Falls"
"Feeding the giraffes was a once in a lifetime experience"
"Falling over in front of 3 classes at Luchema when I was trying to demonstrate how to play stuck in the mud"
"watching the Luchema children playing with Lutterworth College students and gaining such enjoyment from simple things....skipping....catching a ball.....blowing bubbles - not an electronic gadget in sight!"
Some of our funniest memories:
"playing waterpolo in the Kivu Resort pool with Julius (our bus driver to our project each day), and then finding out he can't swim"
"the giraffe head butting one of the visitors at the Giraffe Sanctuary in Nairobi"
"having a singing contest with the school next door after they complained about everyone being too noisy"
"Following a 'delicate' day 1, visiting the Sunrise Medical Centre on day 2 where I exchanged my stool sample for the pharmacists contact details"
"moving the cows off of the football pitch before football training could start"
"Abbie's bed breaking unexpectedly in the middle of the night when she was sitting on it and Abbie falling through her bed"
"being chased by dogs in the slums (not funny at the time however)"
"playing waterpolo in the thunder and lightning"
"Cruze's attitude at the Jubilee"
"our vehicle getting stuck in the mud next to the pride of lions when we were on safari"
"the shock of 'football coaching' not being with children but a well organised 18 year old + team"
"When we got a bit too adventurous and got close to some cute puppies with angry parents - Rabies alert!"
"being chased by dogs during the home visits (Mr Hill's running)"
"running away from some very scary and protective dogs down a small alley in a Nakuru slum. 20 screaming Kenyan children, barging Lutterworth College students and one petrified teacher out of the way. The words 'lets go and see those puppies' will never leave my lips again!"
"childish as it was, one of the funniest moments was when we all turned off the heat whilst Alex was showering and waited for her to squeal!"
"getting to make new friends and getting to know them well enough that you can get away with switching the heat off on them whilst they're in the shower"
"Julius the bus driver playing waterpolo when he couldn't swim. Splashing around a lot in his lightly see-through boxer shorts!"
"when Adam scanned the Chinese man with the security beeber stick at (pretending to do the security guards job) the Giraffe Sanctuary"
"one evening we went to play football with a local team; our bus driver Julius said he would also play. When we got to the pitch Julius said he would get changed so proceeded back into the bus only to re-emerge barefoot with his trouser legs rolled up and announced he was ready to play"
"trying to teach the Luchema children tag team running races in PE and when we thought we had explained it fully and said 'go' every child on every team started running like a stampede - back to the drawing board!"
"Safari van races with Dennis (our driver) from the equator to Thomson Falls"
"taking a photo of the cute puppies then having a 'life flashed before my eyes' moment as their angry mother dog appeared"
"fighting with the mattresses we had just bought to donate on the church bus
"Mrs Hadley finding a picture of her bum on my camera memory card - thanks to Adam borrowing my camera!"
"The four of us lads going into the shower together singing 'Ho Hey' - The Lumineers and 'Life is a rollercoaster' - Ronan Keating into deodorant cans whilst waiting for the mosquito spray we had sprayed all over our room to settle"
"putting chilli sauce in George's lips whilst he was asleep"
"on one of the many nights without water, one of the Kivu staff was standing in our bathroom singing along to Shania Twain 'I feel like a woman.....' - he was a man!"
"driving through Nakuru having bought beads for bracelet making, riding in a tuctuc in a thunder storm with the driver holding the door shut to stop it opening. Leah from African Adventures in her speed swim hat to stop her afro hair from going frizzy, and Miss Sibley and I bouncing up and down through every pothole"
No comments:
Post a Comment