Posted in Kenya on October 8, 2025
October 2-4
Jambo! We have finally all arrived, from all across Canada, all 14 of us! A little excitement for some, flight delays, missing their connecting flight, having to overnight in Istanbul and doing a little sightseeing before flying out – bonus!
While they are checking out the Blue Mosque we are checking out the National Museum of Kenya and the national drink of Kenya, the Dawa!
The last group finally arrives at 2 am on Oct 5th and after a quick shower and a short nap we load up into 2 vans with a third one for our luggage to head to Naro Moru where we will be working at St Michael Macharia School, grades 1-9. Nderitu is our go-to person and will be with us the whole time.
October 5
First stop is to visit the David Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary. This is the most successful elephant orphanage in the world. The Sanctuary is only open for 1 hour a day and we witness the elephants being fed and getting a chance to touch them and watch them play. Next stop, the mall, to load up on snacks, beer, wine and cash as required.
We finally arrive at our home away from the home for the next 2 weeks, the Lusoi Ranch & Resort, a beautiful property situated on 50 acres, 45 minutes from the school. After checking in, we head to the dining room for a lovely buffet dinner, a quick briefing and off to bed early, exhausted but excited to be here!
Anyone having a birthday on a DWC trip doesn’t miss out on a celebration! We were fortunate to be able to celebrate Bills day with a lovely cake and all the staff singing and dancing! Truly worth getter older!
October 6
Our project is to finish the e lab classroom started by a previous team. Part of our group works on assembling the trusses and purlins and hoisting them into place. The rest of us start digging out the area around the kitchen to build a covered veranda for the children to eat their lunch out of the rain and sun. The school provides a porridge drink at recess for all the children and a meal at lunchtime. They line up neat and orderly, the youngest are the first served then run over to high 5 and hug us. The smiles and laughter truly warm your
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Teatime break under an awning with sweet potatoes and arrowroot to munch on and back to work but first, some picture taking of our team in our DWC shirts. Lenny has designed a beautiful logo for the back, that sits the Canadian and Kenyan flags side by side, underneath Mt Kenya. “Tunajenga Pamoja”, “Together We Build”. A beautiful, meaningful, inspirational sentiment.
We break at 12:30 for lunch, prepared by Lucy and helpers. Lucy is Nderitu’s sister, a lovely, warm kind woman. The sautéed cabbage dish is a big hit! Trevor asks for the recipe and if she can serve it again!
Exams are being held all week but once they have been completed for the day, we are invited to stand in front of the whole school to be welcomed with chants of “We Love DWC”, “Thank You DWC”and the students shouting our names out as we are introduced. It’s such an amazing moment, one that words can’t describe but all of with tear filled eyes gives you some indication of how moved we all were.
Once the formal part of the presentation was completed, 300 students rushed us to high 5, fist bump and hug us all! Massive smiles all around, ours the biggest!
The air was filled with laughter and love and we all knew we had made the right decision to be here and excited to return the next day.
Posted in Kenya on October 8, 2025
