Kenya, part 4 - final days
The days after our hospital stay have been a blur of awesomeness and blessing for me. After we were released from hospital (following a 4 hour long discharge ordeal trying to deal with insurance) we went to pick up the others from the train station. I knew that after this we were going to Shawn's house to celebrate his graduation.
What I didn't know was that they had organised a surprise birthday party for me there, so it was a double celebration! They totally got me, I had no idea - there was cake for me, my name on the wall... I was utterly blown away. This isn't my family but they embraced me completely as one of their own, and my heart was so full. Even though they did call me Suzy.
N(5) was absolutely in her element, after four days in near isolation with just me for company, she loved party time with so many friends!
The next morning was Sunday and we went to the church through which the school is being built. A long service, very good though and they sure know how to celebrate! In the end, completely unexpectedly for us, they asked us to stand at the front and receive gifts! Many people from the congregation came up and put bags in our hands, we were blessed with many pieces of beautiful African cloths, clothing, jewellery and a bag. We were blown away completely. People were extremely welcoming and friendly, and of course the kids had fun.
I cannot believe how quickly the time went! We had planned to visit the children's home in Nairobi that the church has been supporting for years, but that had to be moved so we decided to actually have a look around. First, we went to a hill within Nairobi where you could look at the city. Beautiful, but unfortunately the children outright refused to cooperate.
To be fair, they've had to go along with everything is adults have wanted to do, so today we did something just for them: we went to a wildlife place and saw some animals. We saw a rhino pee (forever!) and even fed an ostrich!
We finished with a posh lunch at a restaurant, where for the first time here we saw a few white people. Apparently there are some here after all! And then the kids needed a nap break, since we never get into bed before 10 here...
Back to the UK
Our return journey day started with a 3.30am wake-up call - that's 12.30am UK time - which would have been ok if we'd had an early night, but if course we didn't... so, leaving the house at 5am we arrived in very good time for our flight and even found time for a spot of breakfast at the airport.
The flight this time was a daytime one, which I was a bit apprehensive about because the kids wouldn't be sleeping, but they did have a bit of a kip and the rest of the time they kept reasonably occupied with the inflight movies. And Emmanuel showed D(3) some Greek islands and boats on the water when we were above those, which D found fascinating!
Coming home to a clean and tidy house, left so by our German house sitting guest, was the best - but we were absolutely finished and went straight to bed. It is nice to be back in our own beds!