So after having only briefly encountered a few toddlers and one of the boys called Isaih last week after my day shift, I was fairly keen to spend a bit more quality time with Tumaini’s children at my first official sleep over. When we got there I was hit by a wave of interrogations from the kids; What’s your name? How old are you? Etc etc. Though I’d gotten more familiar with the extroverted nature of Kenyan children, it still struck me how completely unafraid of random strangers they were. Also I was slightly intrigued to find that as an Asian I was still classified as another ‘Mzungu’ – honestly it was a slight relief to know they didn’t shy away from the unfamiliarity.
GVI volunteer Claudia and a one of Tumaini's young residents
Things run at a fairly structured and fast pace at Tumaini. ‘Operation Dinner’, as I’ve dubbed it, was over in a flash. As a treat Elly had brought some music to play on speakers – Michael Jackson music. I wasn’t even sure the kids were that familiar with MJ, but they clearly recognised and some were even word perfect. What a surprising and phenomenal success. It was good to see how much joy a simple bit of music and dancing brought to them. Anna and I got a devoted crowd surrounding us as we tried to strut some fun moves for them (they seemed to like copying our 70’s disco tricks anyway), while some of the older girls proved to be much better hip shakers than us.
The kids gather around the speakers blasting Michael Jackson
Tumaini kids showing intern Elly some moves
It was certainly an eye opening experience. What struck me most was how hard the ‘mothers’ at Tumaini worked to ensure the good health and wellbeing of their kids. I was really glad our volunteers have the opportunity to come and lend a hand during ‘operation breakfast’ or ‘operation dinner’ to relieve the work just a little for the mothers.
GVI volunteer Anna with one of Tumaini's youngest children
But I loved hanging out with these kids. It was amazing (especially for the psychologist in me) to see how such a close knit environment contained kids with such incredibly different and interesting personalities. One could easily see the fulfilling satisfaction of looking after them.
- Claudia Chow, GVI volunteer Olives Project
Tumaini Dance-Off
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