29 May 2017
So after a 30 hour trip from home to Nuru Palace in Nakuru, the first day to St.Trizah School for my fourth time had arrived. Nuru Palace is our new resort as we are no longer staying at Kivu. It is a beautiful place, with ceramic rooms, lovely beds, a cupboard for clothes and a decent shower… and I felt massively guilty. Compared to Kivu, Nuru Palace is luxury! But I felt bad that we are living in these quarters, when our friends at the slums are only a couple of miles down the road.
We arrived at St. Trizah School to a wonderful celebration of children dancing and cheering. A proud moment for our Newman family was seeing my nephew Max cut the ribbon to officially greet us. After been led through the school grounds, we saw new and familiar faces, including a boy that I have seen every year and that is James. At 13 years old, he has now become a teenager, a bit taller and definitely with a new attitude. Although he was pleased to see me, he had certainly more matured and acted somewhat cooler.
Our opening ceremony consisted of the boys and girls performing and singing. Something that I have always enjoyed. Although nervous at the start, all of us joined in and ended the ceremony by dancing with the school children. I met brothers Maxwell and Shabrach who sat on mine and my son Reece’s rewspectively, fascinated by smart phones and cameras. We did take a few selfies to show off their smiley faces.
I was able to see how the children were eating. I’m happy to report that the food portion sizes have significantly increased since last year. A great achievement. I’ve always believed that if a child eats regularly with good sizes, they can concentrate better and therefore learn more at school.
After the celebrations, we decided rather than work, we would enjoy the remaining time with the children, playing football and catching up with ones met on previous visits. What a great opening day.