Elephant Orphanage!!

Guys, did you know there are baby animal orphanages in Nairobi?

Baby elephants!!!

SO ADORABLE!!!!

On Saturday en route to dropping off residents at the airport, we went to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which serves as an orphanage and rehabilitation center for rescued elephants and rhinos. There were 33 elephants (29 of whom came out to eat lunch and romp) and 2 ostriches there when we visited. The elephants we met ranged in ages from 3 months to 3 years, and had been rescued after falling down wells or mines, being rejected from their herds, or (most commonly) having their mothers killed by poachers. Have I told you this week how much I hate poachers?

Oh hai elephants!

Yummy!

The elephants stay at this orphanage til they are 3-4 years old, then they are taken out to one of the big national parks where they are slowly rehabbed (learning skillz for the wilderness from older elephants) and introduced into existing herds during days while still spending nights with the rangers. The hardest lesson to me seemed to be teaching the elephants to fear/avoid humans again so they have a better chance of survival--these babies seem SO close with their keepers/rangers, it must be hard to teach them to avoid humans (poachers!) in the future.


The elephants came tumbling and running down the hill to the viewing area in two large groups. Each group was fed from bottles (the little babies had poor trunk control and needed rangers to feed them, but the older guys were much better at feeding themselves), then drank from barrels, splashed around in mud holes, and were led around the edges for close viewing and petting. The youngsters also were not good at splashing themselves with mud/dirt yet for sun protection, so the rangers would shovel dirt all over them which they LOVED.

We like dirt! Shovel more dirt please!

There were two teeeeeny babies who were out of control adorable. The smallest little dude was so snuggly and had the longest eyelashes. The older group of elephants (2-3yrs old) were getting their tusks in and were also so doofy and adorable, tumbling and bumbling all over each other.

I'm scared to cross the bridge! Hold my trunk!

So teeny!! He can fit in my suitcase, right??

By far the best $5 I spent in Africa!!


We spent the rest of the day doing some souvenier shopping with the residents who were leaving (heavy haggling at the Masai Market), eating some amazing Ethiopian food, and then the Ob-Gyn resident and I caught a bus back in the rainstorm back to Naivasha (classic African matatu experience with 15 people in one van and a hole in the floor only covered in carpet we discovered once we drove through the first deep puddle. Lets just say we sat with our feet tucked up in a very uncomfortable position to keep mostly dry for the rest of the 1.5 hour trip home).

This Sunday we were planning to do the biking and hiking safari through Hell's Gate National Park here in Naivasha--the park the set of The Lion King was designed after!! Unfortunately the pouring rain restarted at 4am and continued until noon, then started again at 2pm. We fit in some grocery shopping but no good outside adventures for us. We looked ahead to next week's predictions, so hopefully we can do both Hell's Gate and climb Mt. Longonot (a volcano with most of its top blown off) next weekend once the new residents (2 UW internal medicine residents, 1 Kenyan medicine resident, and 1 Kenyan Ob-Gyn resident) arrive. I still have yet to get a 'boat safari' out on Lake Naivasha, so hopefully that will get tucked into to some afternoon soon! The lake is giant and gorgeous, and I would love to get a good tour and some hippo viewing in. Hopefully it all happens soon!

--M

Adorable AIDS Orphans

On Tuesday morning Shalina and I were walking to the hospital when we heard “Good morning, white people!” coming from an SUV parked further down the street. We looked up since the accent was not L’Ugandan and the voice was friendly, and we met Brian, a construction consultant from Australia. We chatted with him and learned that he and his wife Jan were building an orphanage for AIDS orphans outside of Lwamata, the next town south from Kiboga. We exchanged phone numbers, and told him we’d be in town this weekend if he needed help with anything.

We talked to him on Thursday and he told us he and his wife were driving to a place 3hrs away to visit some orphans on Saturday, and invited us to come along. Shalina and I were feeling adventurous and trusting, so we said we’d love to go on an all day trip across Uganda with two strangers to meet some kids.

We met the Australians at 7:30am African time yesterday, which meant it was 8:15 when we hit the road. We quickly learned everything about their lives since Brian is a talker and a storyteller. The short version is that after Brian’s father died and he also received a terminal diagnosis, but then was completely healed, he decided he wanted to make big changes in his life. A series of events led him to Uganda, and to an orphanage named Mountains of Hope that was about to be forced to close due to lack of funding. Brian and Jan got involved and haved turned the situation around with their passion to help, their love for the kids, and Brian’s business savvy.

They have a 5-10yr plan to make the orphanage, which they’re moving from its current location in Mpigi (3hrs from here) to outside Lwamata (where it will be renamed Valley if Hope), and the school they’re building as well to be fully self -sufficient, and to introduce microfinance projects to the community on multiple fronts. It’s a well thought out and patient plan, and it reminds me a lot of the Ratzloffs’ work in Cambodia. Here's their website if you want to learn more or make a donation! http://wellspringcharities.org.au/home/

ANYWHOODLES, we drove to Mpigi yesterday morning, picking up a Ugandan named Sarah along the way. Sarah is the first “graduate” of the orphanage—she finished secondary school, spent a year being trained as a teacher, and is currently teaching at the primary school meeting at an old, scary-looking church building that will move to the new site next door with the orphanage once its built. She is cute and smart, and survived extremely rough times with her family before she lost them, and at the orphanage before the Australians came along. She was of course the most popular person once we reached the orphanage, since she was basically a mother to many of the kids.

There are currently 8 orphans staying at Mountains of Hope (and the two kids of the caretakers). (The number of kids fluctuates and was at 13 last year, but besides one sassy 4yr old who needs a lot of love and medical attention they are trying not to accept any more orphans til they make the move in September). They are so adorable, and clearly healthy, happy, well-fed, and well-dressed. They are very loved. It was awesome watching them interact with the Australians after not seeing them for a year. [you can see a lot of the courtyard of the orphanage here, with bedrooms and classrooms around the borders. you can also see Patrick, who hammed it up for every photo]

The kids were pretty shy with us at first, and just knelt around watching us while we met with James, the caretaker. He brought out blocks to distract them with after a bit, and I made friends quickly by joining them on the ground building towers and knocking them over. Knocking over block towers is fun in every language!

It wasn’t long before I’d stolen Blessing, the caretakers’ 8 month old baby to cuddle with, and was playing with a curious-but-suspicious two year old on the side. The older kids took longer to win over, but I just rough-housed and tickled the boys (and perfected my warrior pose and warrior grunt), and played swings with the girls (with some more tickles). Once we brought out the camera we had lots of fun taking pictures with them, and letting them try to take pictures of us (it was mostly just their fingers blocking the view of our chest or our legs…they were funny but didn’t get saved).

Shalina had been more reserved with the kids, chatting with the adults instead, until she pulled out her chapstick. For some reason the kids, who didn’t speak much English besides the usual greetings, knew “Lipstick! Lipstick!” Shalina donated her chapstick to the cause, and the kids had a riot putting lipstick on themselves and others. We think the boys enjoyed it the most.

We had a delicious meal cooked in the outdoor kitchen, and used the bathrooms which, while clean, were interesting…just a hole the size of the brick in the floor with doors that don’t close. We left around 3pm to start the drive back, and since we made it to Lwamata before it was completely dark we drove out to the construction site of the orphanage and the school (and dropped Sarah off there). It’s such a lovely, peaceful location. We know the kids will love it and thrive with a great school, good food, and medical care. The Australians treated us to a meal at their guest house in Lwamata (sooo delicious) before driving us home.


It was a wonderful day, and was such a treat to speak rapid English with people that understand you and to play with adorable kids all afternoon. We want to meet the sassy 4 yr old, Marissa, since she still has some unresolved medical issues that they’d like some advice on (she’s staying with the family of one of their Ugandan associates near the construction site), and hopefully we can direct her to appropriate doctors or medical facilities. They’ve received a lot of conflicting advice and aren’t sure what to do. We don’t know if we can help, but we’ll try! So hopefully we’ll see them the next weekend we aren’t out of town.