Mancat Monday

The mancats have had a great week!  I took the week off from my second job, so was at home more in the evenings to play with them.

Everyone lined up waiting to play after dinner...l-r, Harrison, Flynn, Tanner and Oliver

Oliver had some Cat Scout events this week, as it was Summer Camp.  Here he is helping with one of his craft projects! 

Another project was making a Garrison Hat...Oliver was a good model for me and earned full points for his project! 

The panthers all helping me get ready for bed.  They rotate in and out during the night.

It was a lazy weekend so the boys took full advantage...Here is Flynn resting

Oliver

Harrison

Tanner

Flynn had a recheck this morning at the vet.  The lump is gone and his eyes look good.  He acted painful again when palpated and having his lower spine pressed, so he stays on the Dasuquin for a few more weeks.  The vet mentioned maybe doing laser therapy on him or acupunture before this becomes a chronic issue.  We will look into it.  He's only one year old, I hate to thing that he could have a painful condition his whole life!  He is a big goof and tears around the house like a wild man...no wonder he has hurt himself!

Thursday Travels

 Day Three was Sunday, so we spent the day at church and helping with an outreach event.  My church is multi-site, so we are one church, many locations.  One of those locations is Thika, Kenya.  We are so excited for all this campus is doing.  Because of cultural differences, they don't normally watch the sermon messages from our campus like the others in the US do.  They preach it in a context that is relevant to their situations.

They start with an hour long prayer service and they pray for any and everything you can imagine.  When you live in a place where material wealth is not common, people tend to be much stronger and deeper in their faith.  It is truly inspiring to witness and take part in! 

Auntie made a friend! 

We were privileged to be able to announce the pastors for the new campus that will be starting in Kiganjo Kenya next year!! 

I met my friend Esther. I first met her in 2014 and have loved watching her grow.  She is getting ready for high school and studying hard.  I am so proud of her!!

After church, we had a lunch together and then headed over to the outreach event.  It was held at a local mall and was tons of fun!  The church team had brought in dancers and singers and other talented folks to entertain and get the message out about newhope.  As the "visitors" we were asked to take part in some games and had a great time! 

This is our friend Daniel.  He has family in a town next to ours and visits America at least once a year.  We were happy to see him again in Kenya.  He will be returning in November and wants to come to our house to cook some American food!  He is also curious about vacuuming!  LOL

After the outreach event, we went in the mall and had pizza.  It was really good and a nice break from traditional Kenyan food.

Today's words were sharing and caring!

Mancat Monday

Flynn will be heading back to the vet this afternoon.  He has a knot on his neck.  I believe it is a lymph node but still needs to be checked out.  His eyes have been weepy since his last vet visit.  I think having to stay all day and be sedated stressed him.

Thankfully the boy loves the carrier!  He jumps in it as soon as you open it.  I hope he keeps this up!!

He acts like he feels alright but is taking it easy.

The other mancats are doing well.

Thursday Travels - Day 2

After our time at Dandora Dump, we went to Anga Afrika Tented Camp for the evening.  This was a wonderfully relaxing place and the perfect place to unwind and think about what we had just seen.

The tents are permanent structures.  The front part is tent material with lots of fresh air, but there is a concrete bathroom attached to the back, with a full shower, two sinks and a toilet.  My kind of camping! 

We had a beautiful porch to hang out on and read.

The food at the camp was amazing.  We were not hungry after dinner!

The next morning we headed off to Nairobi National Park.  It is the only national park inside a city.  Seeing the skyline was a unique view. 

Our team..

I didn't get many good photos of the animals on my phone, so I'll have to post about them later.  This is an ivory burning site.  Nairobi NP, and the Kenya Wildlife Service, is working hard to stop the illegal ivory trade and the poaching of elephants and rhinos. 

After seeing the beauty at the national park, we headed to Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya

We went to the Compassion Project.  These children and teens all have sponsors somewhere in the world.  This sponsorship is changing their life!  These kids are given extra help with their school work, food, basic healthcare and other assistance that may be needed.

We were then able to visit the home of one of the children.  This home was large by slum standards.  I am not zooming we are really that close to everyone.  There is a bed behind the family, and one beside the girl in the red sweater.  I am sitting on a bench.  This home is where nine people live.  I have seen it, and still can't imagine how it is going to work. 

My home was unique in that there were two parents.  The father is a trained mechanic and sometimes he can find work.  The mother is a homemaker.  They are both loving and kind people and are trying their best to make a good home for their children.

Leaving our home, we headed down many paths to get back to the main road. 

It is like a maze and I think I would get lost!

Back at the project, we met some older kids who shared with us all that Compassion has done for them.  We can see the dreams for a better life are real and attainable thanks to the support they have received.  One of the things Compassion stresses to these children is that there is life outside of Kibera.  Kibera does not define you or limit you as a person.  Most residents in Kibera never leave the slum, nor do they realize that there is potential and opportunity for a better life maybe a mile away.

We started our day with a feeling of hopelessness but through Compassion we can see potential and possibility.  

I challenge each of you to consider sponsoring a child through Compassion.  We can make a difference one child at a time.

Foster Friday

We are back at fostering.  We waited a couple of weeks after our trip to start up again, just so we could spend some extra time with the boys.

We ended up with a group of 4, 6 week olds, without a mom.  None of them are solid black...those two black ones have white feet at least!  Whew.  We have three girls and one boy. 

They are 6 weeks, but only weigh a pound, so they are rather thin.  We are working on fattening them up and giving them the nourishment and love they need to thrive.  Here's Eloise and Leon hanging out on the condo (laying on it's side for safety) 

Before our trip, we got a frantic call from a friend saying she had found a kitten in a parking lot.  She waited around for about an hour but never saw a mom. 

Lilly was soon at our house getting fed.  She could slurp up the canned food if you made a slurry out of it with extra water.  She also enjoyed a bottle a few times a day too.  Here's Oliver checking her out.  I think he remembered the bottle too!

Lilly was moved into another home the day we left so she would have other kittens to play with.  I have since received a new photo of her and she is growing and doing well!

We should have our current group a couple of more weeks at least.  They have to reach two pounds before they can return to the shelter for their surgery and find new homes.

Thursday Travels - Day One

Our trip to Kenya started out with a lot of travel.  First flight left at 6pm from Raleigh and went direct to London.  

We had about 4 hours of waiting once we arrived.  Plenty of time to walk around, shop, and get a good breakfast.  We finally boarded for Nairobi and of course the flight was delayed.  In addition to being delayed, it had to have been at least 90 degrees in the cabin!  We were all sweating and miserable.  Thank goodness we had packed cooling towels, so we survived.  I refilled my towel each time I went to the bathroom, so it stayed cool.

Because of our delay, we arrived in Nairobi at 11pm.  Thankfully, all of our personal luggage, plus most of the extra bags arrived. Two odd sized boxes decided not to join us, so time was spent filling out lost bag forms.  Here is the team waiting for the lost bag folks to finish so we could be on our way to the hotel and bed! 

Our first night was spent in luxury at the Fairview Inn.  It was a beautiful property with wonderful food and people. 

A water tank...these are seen pretty much everywhere in Kenya. 

We met up with the Kenyan pastors, Street Hope leaders, and the founder of the Ark Children's Home for breakfast.  It was so nice to see friends and catch up!  Here are Pastors Joshua, Gloria and Peter. 

These ladies are Carol, who runs the Ark, and Susan, Peter's wife. 

After breakfast, our time of luxury ended and we were thrust right into intense poverty at the Dandora Dump.  From my reading on Wikipedia, the dump is 31 acres and has been considered "full" since 2001.  Over 2000 tons of garbage is still dumped there daily though from all over the city and airport. 

There were many people picking through the garbage and large Marabou Storks scavenging as well.  The dump is a dangerous place because people are desperate for food and the recyclables they collect to sell.  We were escorted by armed men at all times.   We spoke with one of the pickers and she said that a bag of plastic bottles would bring about fifty cents, and it may take 3 hours to fill the bag.  Just imagine.

Here is a better shot of the storks...they stand about 5 feet tall!!

Rita and her siblings walked with us through the dump.  They live in Dandora and the trash helps to provide for their family.  I also read that many of the kids in the area have respiratory problems because the dump is always burning.  They also have high levels of lead in their bodies.  The very thing that is helping them survive even a meager existence is the very thing that is slowly killing them all.

This river separates the housing in Dandora from the dumpsite.  

There has been discussion about closing the dump, however it is a tough subject because so many individuals rely on it for life.

The words for today were Overwhelmed and Helpless.

Let's Catch Up!

So a lot has happened since I last posted in early June!  This will be a start at getting you all caught up...

The Mancats are all doing well!  

Tanner had fun in a new box! 

Tanner has gotten one of the PetPatch Loops to try and help with his stiff hips.  At his annual visit his back right hip was extremely stiff and painful.  We agreed the loop couldn't hurt! 

Oliver is as goofy as ever...he loves to talk up a storm 

Flynn is tolerant enough to wear costumes...here he is on the 4th of July. 

Harrison can't get enough bird watching time.  He loves to chatter at them.  He is a big talker too and goes around the house just squeaking away! 

Tanner has had plenty of playtime with his girl! 

Flynn ended up at the vet because he seemed to be in pain.  The vet couldn't isolate the pain, but felt he had probably strained/sprained his back.  He was given pain meds and seemed to improve.  This was in mid June.  In mid July, he went to the vet for his annual visit and caused quite a scene when his stomach was being palpated.  The vet still thought it was a pain response and decided to x-ray him just to make sure nothing structural was going on.  Everything came back normal, so again it is thought that he has sprained something and that it will take time to heal.  He is acting fine at home, but we are doing dasiquin every day for 6 weeks to see if that helps the inflammation/soreness. 

We got a new foster girl, four days before we left for Kenya!  It was a mad scramble to find her another place to go...she was still taking a bottle some, but could eat on her own.  Harrison loved to sit on her heating pad! 

Auntie and I left for Kenya June 21st..here is all the food the boys were going to need while we were gone!  It's 12 cans a day plus dry food.  They were well taken care of, but happy to see us return.  I will start a Thursday Travels series for anyone interested in what we did and saw this time.

Well that's about it.  We now have a new group of fosters that will be posted on Friday.