Today is declared as a national holiday. Some of the children went to school and some did not. When they went to school the classrooms were empty because some recognized the holiday rule and some did not…..wait, what?

Tell me if this sounds familiar. Nairobi had their elections last August. The losing candidate – by only .6% – thinks the outcome of the election was not correct. He declared today a national holiday (which he can’t) for his supporters to march and protest the election.

SOOOO, back in peaceful Rehema, it was a lovely day. The older girls did not go to school so had fun coloring with the crayons with pages brought by Tom and Mary.

Miss Mary was hard at work mending clothes and had an audience of children eager to help. Mary is now thinking of a little sewing project for the kids and determined to turn one of them into a seamstress. In fact this would be a well worthy talent to help support yourself and family.

The tiling has begun and continued in shifts throughout the day. The trick this year is that there are three rooms and two of them are where the babies sleep. So, we started with the girls room and need to completely finish it so that we can move cribs into the room. Finish that room, move the cribs from the second room into the 1st room and then when all three rooms are done put everyone back in the right rooms. Oh, yea – we decided to throw in painting and Miss Mary is making curtains.

I showed you this last year and it still melts my heart. The older children help feed the babies to help out the Aunties. When there are 10+ to feed, 3 x’s a day every day you need all the help you can get.

Meet the latest most precious little one to come to Rehema. So small and will be loved and cared for in the biggest of ways.

For those that have been following me since 2020 you may remember Grace. She was a little girl that I just fell in love with and was glued to my side for the time I was here. It was because of her that I continue to come back. She has since been adopted and think of her often. Well, meet Ester, my little shadow and inspiration. At first she would just stare from afar looking at me with serious eyes and when she decided I was a good one took my hand sat me down and climbed up on my lap. Okay, the cookie had nothing to do with it.

We are sitting here at 9:50 pm talking about our day and looking at the pics the children took with our phones. We are heading to bed and will be lulled to sleep by the sound of the pouring rain. The rainy season begins in March so we expect this to happen every day. With the rain the electricity goes out – and thank goodness for a working generator that keeps everything on.

Lala Salama