One Month at Maddison House

We have just completed our first month at Maddison House, and I thought this would be a good time to give an update on what we have been doing the past couple of weeks.

We have settled into life here very easily. Our routine of getting up, cleaning the floors, taking the lunch to school, cleaning the dishes, and playing with the children in the evening has become our new “9-5”, and has only been altered by the addition of two new mops (yay! - although one has already broken!), and one new volunteer – Hilary, from Vermont – who joined us here just after our safari trip. Each day we bond more and more with the kids and learn something new and it is a real pleasure to see them grow and change, particularly the youngest ones for whom a month is a long time in their development. When we arrived, Lydia, the 2 year old of the house was barely walking, not talking and hardly smiled. Now she is walking and running confidently, smiles all the time, and she can say “Emily” and has just about managed to call me “imo” on a few occasions, which I guess is close enough!

We took the kids on a trip out to the Nairobi International Show a couple of Saturdays ago. The trip was badly organised (not by us!) and needless to say, was nowhere near the high organizational standards set by our NYCares volunteer team leader back in New York (big props Christiana!). The show is a huge Agricultural show and also includes a number of stalls/exhibitions by Kenyan companies and government agencies, as well as amusement park rides. Although under different circumstances and with better planning, the outing may have been a success, the fairgrounds proved far too overwhelming for many of the children, was too expensive for them to thoroughly enjoy any aspect of it, and was WAY to crowded to ensure their safety. Given our close relationship with the organizers, we asked to be included in planning for all outings going forward. Fortunately, all of the kids returned safely, which is more than can be said for our camera, which was pick-pocketed from my shorts as we were leaving the ground. As frustrating and expensive as that is, I discovered that in a Nairobi crowd, it is impossible to protect two small children and your digital camera at the same time, and I’d rather come back with 32 kids and no camera, than 31…

The following day, we needed to go to the local market, in Kikuyu, to buy some more water, so we took two of the older boys with us, James and Sam as a treat. Once in the ‘supermarket’ we told them they could pick anything they wanted and we would buy it for them. It took us a long time to persuade them to actually pick something and that it was ok… totally different from what would happen with kids in the UK or US! They eventually chose some biscuits and some cologne and then we took them for lunch where they were treated to meat, and we treated ourselves to some fries! It was great to see how happy it made them, being taken out of the orphanage for a few hours and away from the younger kids, and buying them lunch and a couple of treats. As we are getting more and more settled here we are able to spend time building relationships with all of the different age groups. It is easy to play with the young cute ones who giggle hysterically when you tickle them or are occupied by a colouring pen and a piece of paper for an hour or two, but it is also very rewarding to be able to have an impact on the older ones. Sometimes making special time for them makes a huge difference.

This past weekend we headed back into Nairobi, primarily to purchase a new camera, but also to stock up on supplies. While there we went to the big Western mall – Nakumatt – where we had our first western meal in many weeks. Never has a burger tasted so good! :) While we were there we also bought supplies to make the kids pasta and tomato sauce. We cooked this for them on Sunday – boiling a huge pot of pasta on the open fire, and cutting up what felt like hundreds of tomatoes! The kids had quite a reaction to the pasta… many of them stared at these strange gooey objects on their plates, picking them up and wiggling them before tentatively putting them in their mouth. Probably about half of them realized what an amazing dish this is, while the other half were not so impressed... Luckily we also bought some meat to go with the pasta, which all of the kids love as they get it so rarely - so at least everyone was satisfied with some part of the meal. Despite the less than overwhelming success, it was good fun to be responsible for cooking and serving the dinner all on our own and to actually succeed at feeding 32 children!

Other things that have happened over the past two weeks; Em cut her hair (which fascinated the children), I still haven’t shaved, we have succeeded at building a fire from scratch, I have learned to eat Kenyan portions (HUGE amounts of rice, potato, and ugali!) and Em has impressed even Kenyan women with her own strength and stamina!


As many of you will have seen we have also started on a couple of projects for the house. Firstly we have been conducting a clothing inventory, the results of which have been quite depressing. Many children have only one or two pair of underwear and about the same number of t-shirts. We have had a great response to our emails so thank-you to everyone who has donated! (and this is a gentle reminder to those of you still meaning too…) At the beginning of November we will be heading to the market with the two house-mothers to purchase the necessary clothes and shoes for the kids to make sure they all have adequate outfits – not a day too soon! We have also been working on “Resident Profiles”, which will be a one-pager for each child with their picture, some biographical information and some fun facts about them. This will serve not only as a good record of who is here but will also help when fundraising for the home. Em is also working on some documentation for their medical histories and a way to keep records of doctor/hospital visits and medication. It is exciting to be working on these projects in addition to the daily chores as they will have an impact on the children and the home long after we have moved on.