My own happy place in Kenya . . .

About a month ago our wonderful neighbor in Gatundu told us he wanted to take us somewhere on Nov. 20th. Kathyrn and I both agreed to go even though he refused to tell us where we will be going. We kept tying to get out of him for about a month where we were going, but he STILL refused to tell us. As many of you know, I can be quite persistent, but he never broke. So we just had to wait until November 20th to find out.

Well it was now November 20th and all we knew was we were to meet him downtown and he would get us the rest of the way. So Kathryn and I headed to the city center and met up with Anthony. We got on a Matatu and after an hour and a half of the most amazing views we finally reached a small city and hoped on yet another matatu and headed to the small city of Kiambu where we went to a primary school. Needless to say Kathryn and I were super confused.

As it turns out our good friend Anthony is the national coordinator for a group called Agape Touch for the Aged. To say that this was exactly what i needed in my life was an understatement. They are an organization that runs medical camps for the aging population. They get doctors to volunteer their time and get medicine to be able to give to those who can not afford it, which is a lot of people in the communities.

Most of the people in the smaller villages are mostly uneducated and work in service positions or are farmers. All of which do not offer retirement plans or really the opportunity to save money. So most of the aging population is being supported by their children or trying to fend for themselves. Some are even taking care of grandchildren whos parents have died due to AIDS or other reasons and have no money to take care of themselves.

On this day they had 2 doctors, one pharmacists, and 2 eye doctors to be able to help serve this small community of people. We saw well over 100 people and all of them where in great need of a medical doctor and medicine. While I have no medical degree I was still able to help by talking all of their heights, which was a feat since I speak only 4 words of Kikuyu(the local language).

about half way through the day, Anthony grabbed us from our jobs and asked us to go with him to deliver porridge to some people who can not make it to the camps. For the very needy cases they deliver a porridge that contains peas, beans, milk, wheat, and many other ingredients, which create a full meal in one cup. This was amazing to go and do. The first home we went to was for a woman who was over 100 years old and her husband who was about 120 years old. When we walked in she was doing her own laundry. The woman is over 100 years old and still doing her own laundry. She was so fail and seemed to have a hard time, why is she still doing it. It's crazy but she was so thankful for the porridge we brought to her and her husband. Next, we went to visit and elderly woman who was 105 years old and she was the cutest. She was so happy that the "white people" came to see her. It was very sweet. Lastly we went to the house of a man who was also over 100 years old. He was "taking care of" his grandchildren. I really think the grandchildren where mainly taking care of him. As we were leaving the house he yelled in Kikuyu to his eldest grandson to make him a cup of porridge. It was awesome.
One of the other really amazing parts of this organization was that it is fully funded by the people who run it and volunteer there. All of the volunteers are under the age of 35 and the fact that they are not only giving there time but also their hard earned money to help the aging population touches me so much. They are truly amazing people and I am so grateful to call them my friends now.

I think if anything this day solidified my future and that I really do want to pursue my Social work masters with a specialty in Gerontology. So wish me luck as I fill out my grad school applications and hope that the GRE goes well for me this month! Miss you all so much.
Nakupenda,
Ellen