Apologies for the lazy blogging. My phone has died, and along with it, my ability to easily access the internet. i have bought a cheap Kenyan ph, but it is very temperamental and anyone who calls me must scream the entire conversation.

The last two weeks have been hectic. I visited the local hospital in Kinangop when I was in rural Kenya, which was a really interesting experience. Only 2 staff members are medically trained, excluding the chemist, who dispenses medications with only the knowledge of an admin assistant! The staff members do everything- from maternity work, through to general practice, school presentations, HIV testing and counselling. The hospital is low on non urgent supplies, such as chairs and curtains, and so the family must stand, and women give birth with zero privacy. Sometimes medication levels run low when the government hasn't dispensed new supplies.The host dad was thankful when the other volunteer I was with gave some nursing supplies, as it meant he could have free medication to finally treat the chest infections every child at the orphanage had.

A few days after my last post I was unexpectedly moved from my placement at an orphanage in rural Kenya, to a volunteer house in Nairobi. I had contacted the volunteering company who informed me that no other volunteers were coming to replace the ones that were leaving and they did not want me there on my own. I have been staying here in Nairobi since, and working in a special school for 5 adults and am much happier.

The students are all in their 20's and vary widely in abilities, from a young man who has unmedicated epilepsy (as the parents don't believe in medication) and a moderate intellectual disability , through to a lady whose cognitive functioning is normal, but is paralysed from the waist down as a result of a car accident. These students are not formally diagnosed, making it challenging to know where they are at, and some do not speak English, making communicating very interesting!

We have held 4 interviews to obtain a special needs teacher as they have been without a qualified teacher, and and have relied solely on volunteers, for almost 6 months. I had to teach the others how to run an interview as they had never participated in one before, and we have chosen a lovely lady to hopefully start on Monday. She believes in creating individual education plans with specific goals for each student, which will be great since everyone is at such a different stage, and since the volunteers aren't exactly sure what we are doing!

My placement is located in Kibera, one of the second largest slums, which is an interesting experience! The homes are tin sheds, and the smell is overwhelming as raw sewerage runs either side of the road (which they cook over). There is only 1 toilet for every 100 people and gangs run rampant at night, so people poo in plastic bags and throw them onto the roads- the heat makes this smell very intense... We also learnt that as people have so little, stealing is taken very seriously and people are regularly burnt alive up the road from where we volunteer.

I'm still adjusting to 'Kenyan time', where things might or might not happen today, or next week, or even next month. Often the driver that picks up our 3 students in wheelchairs doesn't feel like working, and so they never make it to school. One of the volunteers here was working with a deaf child,but the dad didn't feel like bringing him in for the free sessions, and they stopped coming without notice. Frustrating!

I was taken with the other volunteer working on my project to a special needs orphanage. That was intense- lots of the childrens were in wheelchairs, not able to control their bladder, screaming, crying, drooling with bloody gums- it was a lot to take in. We also visited another orphanage- it was beautifully run and they take in only the most needy children.

We had a physio volunteer individually assess our students and create physical therapy programs. One of them had a stroke at 14 as a result of her her HIV medication and is hopeful to regain some ability to walk using an aid. The girls' wheelchairs were broken (the ground is incredibly rocky and twisted) and so we visited them in their homes in the slums- fascinating. How they get so many people to sleep in such a small space is incredible. The walls are literally made of mud and sticks and lots of small bugs fly out of the walls.

I have so far run the students throuhg their physical therapy programs as the physio is not based in Nairobi- it's tough work! The girl I was working with has an intellectual disability, no English at all and is super strong. She just started taking off without her walker or without me anywhere near her- coming so close to toppling over, and once just started randomly pulling her pants down! Need to practice some Swahili I think!

I have done my first tourist tour and visited a giraffe centre, elephant orphanage, crocodile farm, animal orphanage and a monkey park. Afterwards I went out to dinner and ate MEAT (we very rarely get to eat meat here)- I even ate ostrich, crocodile, chicken gizzards and ox balls for the first time! An expensive day, but lots of fun. I have booked in to do a safari next weekend and am super keen for it.

One night we cooked for all the volunteers in the house as we were missing Western food- delicious! It's really nice to be in a house with so many other volunteers and to hear their stories about home! Am getting mocked a lot for my accent and words I use, though! NOt many Aussies coming through!

Went to the local school one afternoon and participated in their after school music class as their music teacher cannot read music! It was fun singing songs and playing with the kids. This was very different to the orphanage, and rather than being standoffish, these children would run up to you, braid your hair, ask to have pictures taken of them or be taken for a piggy back ride.

We have started to teach the students how to make friendship bracelets that we can sell when the bi weekly tour of the slum comes through. We are planning to use this time to teach life skills of money to the students. We are currently working on getting our 2 high functioning students into work- one into beading, and the other into car panelling, an it is here I am hoping to use some of my fundraising money.

This is long so i think i will love you and leave you. Talk to you all again in another 2 weeks!

please stay in touch!

XOXO