As Mombasa is an island to get off it and go onwards to Diani we either had to swim or get a ferry...we went with the ferry option. I was dropped off by my first mama and handed over to my second family; my new parents are lovely and are just as fussy as the ones i have back home. They were determined to keep me happy so after harassing me on what my favorite meals were, we're now having chapati's almost every night!
For the first week i was working with the children from Born Again Childrens Home, everyday i came up with something new for us to do in the form of art. It was great fun as i got to act like a kid again and throw paint around, we managed to make chainmen, paper mache, cards, envelopes and a massive poster saying Born Again Children (they decided on the wording)... i mixed up two bowls or paint and got everyone to dip their hands in and leave a handprint on the poster - even the adults joined in and now they're proudly displaying their work.
Now that term time has started the children from Born Again go to school during the week, so i've also volunteered to work at 'Shikamana Community School'. On saturdays and sundays i spend the day with the Born Again children, then on mondays, thursday and fridays i work as a teacher at Shikamana; and tuesdays and wednesdays have become my weekend. So for the last two weeks i've been desperately trying to remember the names of about 70 children- its not easy as the children test me and if i cant remember they pretend to be deeply hurt, they are such good actors that i'm nearly always fooled! (i will try to get some photos with my classes to put up next time)
Last weekend i took the children from BA to the beach and they loved it! Some of them had only been to the beach once or twice before - this i found surprising as they live so close to it. The children ended up taking turns with me holding them by their tummies so they could pretend to swim, and they all wanted me to teach them to float! We made sandcastles and buried Mercy, and had long jump competetions which everyone cheated in. I think it was a definate success so will probably be repeated again soon.
In my spare time i'm to be found mainly at the beach or in the public pool nearby, also i've managed to find a few people to go scuba diving with and am in the middle of doing my dive MASTER course.
I've been going jogging on the beach in the early mornings (watching the sunrise here is amazing) before going to work each day - so i'm getting almost too much exercise and by the time i go to bed every night i'm practically a zombie.
I managed to convince my mama here that having breakfast on the beach was a good idea so one weekend we tried it, she actually admitted it was good fun; although we did get a few beach boys hassling us as they wanted to know what a mzungu was doing on the beach at that hour.
Also as promised, my mossie bites: I have over 50 - just counting on my legs! We cant figure out where the bites are coming from as i'm wearing insect repellant and long clothing in the early morning and evenings, we use mossie spray in my room and around the house... and i have TWO mosquito nets.
The conclusion we've come to is: my blood smells so sweet that all the bugs in Diani are making beelines towards me :D
Hopefully i wont be coming home with maleria, so until next time!
Tutaonana badai - See you later.
