Wednesday 15th February 2012
My lovely niece Tamara’s birthday today. Amazingly I remembered!! Pretty proud of myself considering my memory! A couple of the volunteers wanted my website so gave it to them and they too will spread the word and were so interested in Umoja. We headed off at 9 on the light pink bus to about 1 hour’s drive to Usa River Campus of St. Judes. (Pronounced Oosa River because that is where it is situated, close to the River). OMG!!!!!!! It was like coming across a University. Situated on 30 acres – with only some developed for the secondary boarding school at this stage. 80% of this school and land and running of it was donated by an American family. Hard to get your head around. 480 students in forms 1-4 (grades ,7,8,9, 10), all dressed neatly – most in jumpers – something I find really hard to understand here in Kenya and Tanzania.
People wearing jumpers and big coats and mammas having beanies, jumpers and big thick rugs around little babies. I just break out in a sweat when I see it. We were shown the girl’s dorm and the boy’s dorm, study rooms, art room, biology, physics, chemistry, and administration rooms, and computer labs, library as well as ovals, common areas, 1 massive assembly undercover hall, and also the dining hall which also can become an assembly area. No television here.
Was lovely seeing the girl’s individuality how they set up their beds with how they put their pyjamas and blankets. Not one bed out of place, 8 to a room and the boys bedrooms and wash areas also spotless. We had morning tea with the staff and then waited for our driver to take us to the airport. It was an amazing accomplishment again of Gemma’s. You just can’t get your head around that it is all donated!!!!! And that all these children have done all their schooling at St. Judes from grade 1 (standard 1) – a life now worth living – educated, happy and being fed. We were told by our guide that many, many of the students don’t want to go home in the holidays at the end of term and cry and cry to stay as they know they won’t have beds to sleep in, or be fed. Such a contrast in their lives, but what a chance for them to be the future of their country and to be taken out of the poverty cycle. Gemma is incredible what she has done here. Just can’t get my head around it. The grounds were green as, tropical and tropical plants – all the same as home, with a few different sorts, and was simply a ‘wow’ moment to see sprinklers!!!!!!! I had to ask where the water was coming from. Silly me – Usa River, and it’s all free from Mt. Kiliminjaro – snow runoff. This is a land of so many contrasts – it is so hard to take in.
A dust storm began and it was so hard with my allergy now to the dust, cough, cough, cough, thank goodness I had Lesley’s puffer. You could hardly see in front of you. Reminded me of the dust storms we used to get in Charleville, Queensland, Australia when I was growing up there as a kid. Then we gets pulled over by the police, the driver had been late because he couldn’t find the campus as it is off the road a fair bit and if you didn’t have business there you wouldn’t know it existed. The guard wouldn’t let him in the gates and we were waiting at reception so lots of calls back and forward. The driver didn’t have something he was supposed to have on him, so several police came over to the car surrounded him and a lot of Swahili back and forth. The driver had obviously been asked to get out of the car. I just kept thinking ‘we have a plane to catch and we are already late.’ Anyway as usual in Africa money changed hands (didn’t ask how much), to bribe to keep driving. This is Africa. The dust worsened and I was beginning to think we wouldn’t even leave. Once at the airport we were only there about 10 minutes and had to board a small twin engine plane. I wasn’t comfortable with the dust storm and the small plane, but little I could do. It was a rough flight to begin with but settled down. The view of the coast of Africa to the island of Zanzibar was magic. The colour of the sea around the small coral atolls was such a beautiful aqua.
