Cedric

Sunday always seems to be a kind of family and friends day at the Mzungu Oasis. People always stay over from Saturday and we wake up to lots of company. It was great to see other volunteers that are still working and living in Kenya. One thing I love about our house is we do not have any kind of electronics other than our laptops. Most mornings and evenings are spent reading or talking with one another. However, we do have a small TV that hasn’t worked for at least five years. Our neighbour who is shifting, “moving”, to another compound outside of Nairobi thought we might like his VCR and his collection of old movies. By the time we gathered around his trunk of his car we discovered his small collection actually was around 100 videos. Now our living room looks like a video store…

Sunday afternoon I went to see one our youth Lynda’s new baby son, Cedric. Just under a month old, I was happy to see she had delivered a perfect, healthy son. Our volunteers ended up finding her a much safer place to live, a compound in Mlolongo where she can work at the store front that is attached to her house. Her house had about the space equilivant to maybe three times the space of my closet. But it works for them, and she is so happy and optimistic about her new life with her son. Younger than me, Lynda at age nineteen, continues to work actively with the centre as well as caring for her newborn son and taking care of the storefront. She shows incredible strength and on top of that is always happy and in great spirits. She is someone I have come to truly admire.