BELWOP Rescue Centre
Nyeri, Kenya
Day 3

Three of our goals on this trip were:
1) Look at possible housing options & associated costs
2) Look at medical facilities, hospitals
3) Look at automobile options/prices 

So, we were off bright and early (again after only 2 hours of sleep) and making progress on our list!
(click to read more and see pictures)
 

Looking for housing in Nyeri is much different than the US. They don’t have realestate agents, classifieds, or Craigslist. So… it’s all by word of mouth and who you know. We were able to see two “Guest Houses” that are for rent.

 We liked one house in particular because it was large enough to host small missions teams that will come to Kenya to help us do work at Belwop (which is part of our role with Extreme Response while serving there). This room was quite large and could sleep possibly 6 – 8 people.

Even in fancy houses, kitchens in Kenya are very tiny and not given nearly the importance that American kitchens are.

 “Honey, would it be okay if our master bedroom is pink???” 🙂

Then it was off to see some of the local hospitals and medical facilities…
We quickly discovered the prices of medical services are extremely cheap, which is good news for people like us without health insurance! For example a minor operation involving stitches is a flat rate of about $22. To deliver a baby is less than $100! 🙂

 

 Last to-do on the agenda: visit a car dealership. They kindly served us cold sodas in glass jars!
Veronica has a long-standing business relationship with a used-car salesman and he was very kind and thoughtful towards us, we will most likely work with him in purchasing something for transportation during our year there.
After a long day it was good to head back to the place we looked forward to the most!… Belwop.

 Vivian, Julianna, Niki, & Irene (I couldn’t get enough of these precious girls!)

 African spice tea is soooo yummy!!

 Vivian is the youngest of 4 sisters and Salome is the oldest of the 4 orphans who’s parents died of AIDS

 Some of the older kids love to play a form of dodgeball using a rag tied inside a plastic bag to throw at eachother

 All
of the children at Belwop have their head shaved for easy maintenance
and cleanliness, so they LOVE the opportunity to play with long hair
(even though mine is short, it’s long to them). Irene braided my hair
for at least an hour-and-a-half on two different evenings and we talked
and visited the whole time, so I really got to know her. She’s a very
bright girl with an ability to ask questions and a desire to learn.

 Little
Vivian would run up to me as soon as I got to Belwop each afternoon
saying “Colors Niki, colors?”… and that is what she would spend most
of the afternoon/evening doing!

 Ty
doing what he does best ~ throwing kids around 🙂 This is Peter (7), he
and his sister Judy were the first children that Veronica took into the
Belwop Rescue Centre when Peter was only 7 months old. They were
victims of domestic abuse, but you’d never know it by how joyful,
personable, & smart they are!

After two nights at our very noisy first hotel we were excited to head over to our new hotel and see if we could finally get a good night’s sleep!