Promotion

Just 3 more days of school!!

As the school year draws to a close here in Nairobi, Rosslyn Academy celebrates with many ceremonies and services to honour students' sports and academic accomplishments. We have attended Year End Banquets, Graduation Teas, Promotion ceremonies, and church services.




Today was Max's Grade 5 Promotion: moving to the Middle School for Grade 6 next year. It was a beautiful ceremony. Tim was the guest speaker and Max had the privilege of introducing him!
Max's class also sang a song called "Together in Harmony".

You are not alone
and I'm not on my own.
Together we're united by the love God has shown.
And I'll be there for you
Like you'll be there for me.
We're strong and undivided, finding courage in unity,
Together in harmony.

Max's best friend Isaac made a speech reflecting on the year.
This is Max and his teacher, Mr. Kranik.

And what would a Promotion be without food?!! Tomorrow we will attend the Grade 8 Promotion (moving to the High School for Grade 9) and on Thursday we will attend the Grade 12 Graduation. An exciting week for everyone!

Field Trip

Today, Simon's Grade 3 class went on a field trip to the Mururui Slum. Just 15 minutes from where we live and go to school is a "town" where people shop, work, live, go to school. Simon's class raised money to purchase school supplies for a Kindergarten class. They had backpacks made by a group of women called Jacaranda Creations (an organization that works out of the Mururui slum) and filled it with notebooks, pencils, erasers.
We went to the school and spent time reading and colouring with them. One little girl stared at Simon the whole time -- probably because he was the only white child in the group. Simon was amazed at how crowded the classroom was and how few supplies they work with. I am not sure if he fully understood the dichotomy between our life and their's but he was at least exposed to another way of life here.



The boys also had some fun in the sewing shop next door to the Kindergarten class. A group of women works there to create beautiful aprons, placemats, wall hangings, handbags. Because electricity is unreliable (or non-existent) they use the "old-fashioned" Singer pedal sewing machine.

Downtown Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago Tim was able to go with 12 other teachers for an early Saturday morning photo shoot of the city centre. The goal was to take some creative pictures while seeing the sights.

The first stop at 6:00 am was the All Saints Cathedral where we climbed / crawled up circular stairs and ladders, pass these church bells, to the top of the church steeple. We saw the sun rise over the city of Nairobi and through this stained glass window.

The Uhuru Park is a large green area with a pond which, until recently, was not a safe place to go. Now it is kept extremely clean and is enjoyed by thousands of people every day.

We were able to get to the helicopter landing pad on top of the Convention Centre Downtown to get a "bird's eye view" of the city.
Some of the other sights that we got to see were the Parliament Buildings, the Supreme Court Building, the site where the United States Embassy was bombed by terrorist in 1998, the Stanley Hotel, and the train station. The city of Nairobi was built as a stop on the train route from Mombasa (the coast) to Uganda.

Birthday Gift

When we returned from Canada at Christmas, Max commented that our house was not as "cosy" as those in Canada. I think part of that is the tile floors everywhere. Since then I have been looking for a rug for the living room to help "warm it up".......
On my birthday Tim and I spent the day exploring some shops that I have been wanting to visit. We went to a welding duka and ordered a table for the deck and to a woodworking duka to order some frames for photos. But we also went to a carpet factory and ordered a rug!
This is a sample of our rug. It will go beautifully with our Maasai red walls and our orange tile floor -- how's that for colour?

We were very pleased to then be able to meet Florence and Morris who will wash the wool and dye it.

Tomorrow we will visit the factory again to see how Catherine is coming along with our rug. She thinks it will take about 10 days for her to complete the rug.

Paradise Lost

Friday was a National Holiday (Labour Day) and a day off school. We took advantage of some free time and went to a local site called Paradise Lost. Just 10 minutes from our home is a large picnic area and caves for exploring.
The caves were formed by a river and are located behind a waterfall. Because the rains are still sporadic, the waterfall is just a trickle. But the scenery of roots growing on the outside of rocks and vines hanging from the cliff makes it a beautiful spot anyway.We spent a wonderful few hours together and had a picnic by the lake. The boys even rode a camel and played with an ostrich. It was the perfect day trip.