The day started with an
early morning game drive (5:45 am) that everyone was looking forward to. We
picked ourselves up and readied for the 3-hour long safari within the
conservancy. Unfortunately, things were not as expected, and we weren’t able to
see many animals. However, we did come across some elephants drinking near a
river crossing and a family of ostriches. As well, we were able to enjoy a
fabulous sunrise amongst the animals.
Mr. Denstedt and Andrew
went to Ntugi Primary School to work on the play set. The first thing they did was to visit the
adjoining town Meru to pick up some building materials and paint. When they got
back, Patrick, one of Mr Denstedt’s assistants in building the play set was
reassigned to work on the mural. Individual
blades of grass was difficult to draw, so we picked grass and used them as paintbrushes.
Andrew had no experience at all with construction paints, but Patrick knew all
their properties. The mural turned out
very nicely. Although the construction
paints dried slowly, the dry Kenyan air sped it up so that it had very similar
properties to acrylic.
Tomorrow we look forward
to painting a nice tree and, most importantly, the animals.
While Mr. Denstedt and
Andrew labored at Ntugi Primary, the rest of the group headed off to Subuiga
Primary to teach the kids about the OLPCs and to play soccer with their school
team. After a late start from the campsite, we departed for Subuiga where we
were only able to help the students with their typing for half an hour.
We
proceeded to play a game of soccer with the Subuiga school team, testing our
athletic skills at the demanding high altitude once again. Luckily, we were
able to pull off the win, riding on the late game heroics of Thomas and
Jonathan, where they scored to pull us away from the Subuiga team.
After the game,
we donated two soccer balls to the school and they were ecstatic to receive the
gift. The bright smiles on the Subuiga kids made us realize that even though
two soccer balls may not mean much to us, it means the world to them. Once we
returned to camp, happy from our victory, the night was relaxing, with cards
and our reminiscing of our soon ending trip.
