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Day 21 - back home

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The final sunrise for our adventure was onboard our flight from Kenya somewhere over south east Europe. The final part of our journey now complete and seeing all of the parents back at school and hearing their thanks and how much they have enjoyed reading this blog was a great feeling. For me the blog was a way to remember each day and the experience that we had, I know for lots of you it was a way to feel a part of the experience. Saying goodbye to my new family was tough. We have shared some amazing experiences over the last 3 weeks it is really hard to part ways. We are now all back home and I have read so many messages from the team with their thanks and appreciation of this experience of a lifetime. It has been such an honour to lead this team this year, and I am so proud of each and every one of them. This was easily the most amazing trip I have ever lead. It certainly was the most emotional one.  Enjoy the rest of your summer, I miss you a...
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Day 20 - Monday

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Our last morning in Kenya and the start of our journey home. This morning I snapped the sunrise out of hotel window. The market traders hadn't started yet but it wouldn't be long before Moses, Richard, John and all the others out there trying to carve an income out of selling souvenirs at any price to generate, come out and flock to all of the passing tourists that drive through Nakuru. During our breakfast we took the time to write on each others team sheets, I don't really know what to call them, but during our team building weekend we all drew a self portrait and then everyone wrote something around the picture. This morning was part two of this process with everyone writing another comment on the back. Apparently there wasn't enough space on mine so I have an extra side and a half. I haven't read mine yet. I am sure it will make me emotional reading it so I'll take some time to read it later. A last chance to do some shopping after breakfast, I p...
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Day 19 - Sunday

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As usual I am sitting here writting the blog for the day before. This is my last one that I will write in Kenya and I will write the last one on Tuesday morning either in Frankfurt or once we are back in the UK. An early start this morning to go to the Nakuru safari. We are definitely in a luxurious hotel here and breakfast was happily served for us at 5am! It has to be an early start to get the most out of the Safari.  The safari park is a really short drive from the hotel. It takes just about 15 minutes to get there and then there is a multi-stepped process to get in. Firstly, a ranger comes on board and does a head count and checks the numbers and the number of seats on the bus. Then off to the ticket desk at 6:30 when it opens to get the tickets. This took longer than I had hoped as we thought we had lost a passport and the panic set in. Lo and behold it had obviously just gotten stuck in with another one. The park, for the first time ever, gave our under-18s the st...
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Day 18 - Saturday

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My morning routine this morning was interrupted by most of the kids coming down and watching the sunrise. It was spectacular this morning and I loved being surrounded by my Kenyan family.  Leaving Kitale is always an emotional day. The Karibuni and it's staff were our home for the last 2 weeks. Theresa and her team always do an amazing job of looking after us and it really is a home away from home. Her boys, Kalvin and Morgan become part of our team, our family too and there were many tears shed saying bye to them. We had arranged to make a quick stop near where our Kenyan grandmother Mrs Sitti lives and we stopped for a few words and photo with her whilst we were there. This was the first moment that I couldn't hold it any more and simply burst into tears. She is such a force for good and always takes care of us while we are Kitale and I will miss her immensely. My 'Kids' Our students, my kids, have continued to be brilliant up to this point. I ...
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Day 17 - Friday

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I had planned to write this blog on Friday evening so I could take my time on Saturday and enjoy the sunrise, but all best-laid plans and all that. I started it and then went to bed with a bad back. However, sitting here this morning, of my birthday I might add, I was self-indulgent and sat with a couple of the kids who had decided to get up early and watch the sunrise! So my apologies if this ends up coming out late! The Last day in schools The last day in our schools is always an emotional one and with two of our schools being extremely large primary schools, there wasn't really a strong bond with individual students, whereas St Columban's school for the deaf is a really small school so our students created really strong bonds with the few students that they got to know over the two weeks.  I was at Erang today as Paul, their chairman of the board had requested me to come along. The team spent about 30 minutes finishing their mu...
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Day 16 - Thursday

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The penultimate day in our schools and a day of firsts for me. Our students are now realising that their new normal is about to change again and whilst there is excitement about the safari and going home there is also the sadness of leaving home for the last few weeks. This morning my routine was interrupted by students wanting to see the sunrise. Amusingly it was a cloudy morning so the sunrise was hidden from view. St Columbans school for the Deaf Today was my first full day at St Columbans, although I had visited it a couple of times, this was my first and probably only full day there. I was so far out of my comfort zone and it felt like I was something of a failure. The school has around 70 children who are all deaf or partially deaf. Which means our primary form of communication is completely useless. The school was really quiet, which I hadn't really appreciated at all. I was a little surprised by the lack of staff here today too. There were no lessons...
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Day 15 - Wednesday

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No building or painting today, instead a day of visiting schools that we have funded but not built at due to the covid pandemic.  Lol - Keringet Secondary school The welcome we received as we arrived at the school was incredible. The singing and dancing started right at the school gate. Our route into school was lined with students and the parade meant we had to get off the buses at the gate and join in with the singing and dancing right from there. The school had really pulled out all the stops for us. The classroom was finished and decorated with ribbons and a plaque was curtained off ready to be unveiled. The dancing and singing were led by one of the parents from the school, who is a professional singer and by a couple of other parents who could create a sound that none of us could manage! The building looked great. A couple of issues with the guttering for them to resolve but otherwise a good sturdy, finished classroom. It transpired during the morning ...
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