On Thursday, I was able to take a tour of the school and see all that they are doing with the property. Much of their 7 acres is used for farming. They have quite the variety of crops—maize, beets, tomatoes, cabbage, pumpkins, banana trees, and huge rosemary bushes that they encouraged us to pick a piece to chew on. (This is how I figured out that my host family uses LOTS of rosemary in their tea. I may never want to taste rosemary again by the time I’m done here.) Cows, goats, and sheep wander the school grounds, and they had a handful of pigs in pens. There was some sort of contraption built under the pig pens that, as I understand it, is used to convert their waste into biofuel. How awesome is that?! They also have several tilapia ponds, and are building another.
Building is the word that seems to describe much of the Tania Centre. It seems to be in a constant state of growth, from what I’ve gathered, and I hope, with time, that these projects come to fruition. There is a room under the kitchen that they hope to make into a bakery, a small building along the main road that they hope to make into a store to help with some income for the school, a few unfinished rooms in the school, including a future computer lab. The school administrator told me that they have a donor lined up to donate the computer lab equipment to them as soon as they are able to get the computer lab room up to code with electrical equipment.
The biggest unfinished building that touched me the most was the new dormitory:
How beautiful is that building!? The current dorms are a small tin shack with one room for the boys, and one room for the girls. I got to peek inside, and the current dorms are crowded, dimly lit, and not a place that I would want to spend 9 months of the year like most of these children do, or 12 months like some of the children do.
The new dorms are set up much like a college dormitory—the lower floor is for the girls, the upper floor for the boys, including that wheelchair ramp for students in wheelchairs. Each floor has a room for the dorm mother, as well as many rooms lining each side of the hall. Each room has 1-2 bunk beds inside, and huge windows that allow in so much natural light. At the end of each hall are the bathrooms—toilets on one side of the hall, showers on the other side. Then, just past the bathrooms, is my favorite part—the balcony with the most gorgeous view of the Ngong Hills area. How awesome would it be to wake up to this view every morning!? (I think clicking the picture will make it larger, in case it comes out small on your browser.)
Unfortunately, the Tania Centre has been unable to secure funding yet for mattresses and bedding for the new bunk beds. From what I gathered, that is just about all that stands between the students & their beautiful new dorms. I’m praying that they are able to find the funding soon so the students can take advantage of the blessing that this building is for them!
The area where the Tania Centre is located is called “Kona Baridi,” which means “cold corner,” and whoever named it that wasn’t kidding! By my guess, it’s been in the mid to upper 50’s in the mornings when I go to school, though it warms up to the upper 60’s or lower 70’s by the end of school in the afternoon. I do wish I had packed more sweaters, though. Kona Baridi is situated on a higher hill than Nairobi city, which is what makes it colder than I was expecting. I could even see my breath when I walked to church this morning! The elevation here gives Denver a run for its money, hence the cold temperatures despite being only 2 degrees south of the equator.
I’ve started teaching some of my classes, but I’ll leave that for another post. Thank you all for your wonderful support and prayers! Asante sana!
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