And the cots are coming!

Wednesday 02.02.11

Today we headed into town with Yasin and ordered 10 cots from Sharif.  He is giving us a good deal considering the specifications we are requesting.  We are having each cot larger than usual and a removable divider down the middle, so the cot can be used for two small babies or one large one.  We are also having a larger cot/bed made for an older child with mobility impairments.  This bed will have four sides to prevent the child from falling out, but they will be low enough so they do not feel like they are in a cage!  It will also have wheels so it can be moved to areas of activity in the house such as feeding room or windows etc.  This bed would be perfect for Alvin, who Tammi is thinking of taking in if it can be organised.

We then went to Nawal Centre to get some material for curtains.  We are going to try to sew them ourselves so that will be interesting to see how we go!  We then headed home to meet the property manager to discuss some outstanding maintenance issues such as the pool, unfinished painting, cracked roof tiles and too many other things!   He ended up not coming at all which was very frustrating as we had cut short our time in town to rush home.  So we spent the rest of the afternoon around the house and made an interesting yet lovely dinner of vermicelli noodles with minestrone soup and tuna!

We then headed into White Sands on a motorbike to enjoy an evening by the bar and the ocean.  We met an American guy living in South Kenya working for a government consultancy agency that worked closely with the Kenyan military in an advisory role.  It sounded like an interesting job and he said he also worked with many orphanages so he gave us his business card and we will send him an email to see if he can be of any help to the Upinde Centre in the future, and hopefully he will turn out to be a valuable connection!

We headed home and on the way stopped at a late night bookstore at the Nyali Nakumatt complex.  It was a very western bookstore which was nice too!  Then we headed home where we had a bit of a stressful night with dramas from Mel and Kim.  It became clear that they had been in the house while we were out, eating the food and using the internet and many other things.  It even made me angry, so you can imagine how pissed off Tammi was!  Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day as we sit down with Mel and go through some rules.