Hello everyone!
I know I promised some pictures but unfortunately the computer system here would not allow me to upload some pictures.
The safari has been AMAZING and everyone managed to see the 'big five' over the course of our stay here! We start our journey home this afternoon. A reminder of our flight details from Nairobi are below. I encourage you to check the flight status of our flight home the day we are set to arrive.
Tuesday March 20 Flight KQ 102, departing Nairobi at at 11:45pm, arrives in London at 5:45am
Wednesday March 21 Flight AC 855, departing London at 2:25pm, arrives in Vancouver at 5:25pm.
I'll be flying back to Vancouver with the group. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again soon.
My kindest regard from this beautiful country,
Natalie
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Sunday, 18 March 2012
From Mombasa to Masai Mara
A giant hello to all of the parents!
We are here at our beautiful hotel in the middle of the Masai Mara. We arrived this morning after an early morning departure from Mombasa.
Our last days in Mombasa were structured similar to this: mornings spent with the MCF students in Vipingo village, afternoon and evening at leisure with dinner as a group then the students had free time. Often times after dinner there would be a band playing music and the students would dance until curfew.
Our second last day in Vipingo was spent visiting the homes of the children. The groups were broken up into their teacher groups (we are 10 students to one chaperon) and three, four of five MCF children came with each group. We were then escorted through the village with the children and representatives from MCF to visit the childs home and to meet his/her parents. My group was fortunate to visit 4 families. Every group had their own unique experiences, I will let your children tell you firsthand what stood out for them in their groups, as I know it was a special day for the entire group.
Some of the Lord Byng students were so moved that they decided it would be a good idea to collect funds from each group, pool the money collected and purchase food for the families to be hand delivered the next day, and we did just that. The following day we returned to the homes of the children that we had visited and handed over bags of rice and ugali (Ugali is the most common dish in Kenya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugali). The parents thanked us over and over. The handing over of the food and meeting with the parents will be a memory that will surely stay with us forever.
So in all, Mombasa was a very large success. A healthy combination of volunteer work and free time as our hotel was an excellent spot for our students to take in the sun and chill out by the pool.
This morning we departed Mombasa and traveled to the Masai Mara, and what an experience! We had an early morning flight to Nairobi where we were transferred to a smaller, private airport and we boarded our flights to the Masai Mara. We had a plane that fit 35 participants and a smaller plane that fit 10. All of the boys in Frank Tilley's group were VERY eager to be able to fly on the smaller plane and we allowed them. Hopefully they didn't cause the pilot to much grief :)
Upon arrival to our private airstrip, we were greeted by members in the Masai Mara tribe and staff at our hotel. While we waited for the smaller plane to arrive (they were roughly 10 minutes behind us) we were handed cool towels to freshen up and fresh passion fruit juice. Once the group connected again, we all boarded our jeeps, that usually held 6 passengers and took in a quick 45 minute game ride. Our first ride didn't provide much to see as the animals were discovered when we went back out this afternoon prior to our dinner. Every jeep had different experiences, but in my jeep we were able to see Elephants (at sunset!), giraffes, buffalo, impalas, gazelles and some two cheetah relaxing in the sun. It was absolutely magical to see these animals in the wild. Tomorrow we have a full day planned with an early morning departure to see the animals before the sun comes up, followed by free time in the afternoon and another game ride just before dinner.
I will be able to post the pictures of our last days in Vipingo and our game drives tomorrow ! I just wanted to let everyone know that we are well and safe and having a really great time.
Ms. Smith would look to say something as well! She would like me to pass on the following message:
Jambo parents!
Our trip has been wonderful thus far. We have accomplished a great deal in a short time and we are looking forward to seeing more of the Big Five on our safari tomorrow - To this point, we have seen two elephants and Cape Horn Buffalo.
All the students are healthy, safe and happy, and I am pleased with their behaviour and positive attitude. The impression students left at MCF was excellent and MCF really appreciated all of their help. I am thrilled to be working with this amazing group of young people! We all look forward to seeing you soon!
Ms. Smith
Have a great day parents, please check back tomorrow for some pictures!
All the best,
Natalie
We are here at our beautiful hotel in the middle of the Masai Mara. We arrived this morning after an early morning departure from Mombasa.
Our last days in Mombasa were structured similar to this: mornings spent with the MCF students in Vipingo village, afternoon and evening at leisure with dinner as a group then the students had free time. Often times after dinner there would be a band playing music and the students would dance until curfew.
Our second last day in Vipingo was spent visiting the homes of the children. The groups were broken up into their teacher groups (we are 10 students to one chaperon) and three, four of five MCF children came with each group. We were then escorted through the village with the children and representatives from MCF to visit the childs home and to meet his/her parents. My group was fortunate to visit 4 families. Every group had their own unique experiences, I will let your children tell you firsthand what stood out for them in their groups, as I know it was a special day for the entire group.
Some of the Lord Byng students were so moved that they decided it would be a good idea to collect funds from each group, pool the money collected and purchase food for the families to be hand delivered the next day, and we did just that. The following day we returned to the homes of the children that we had visited and handed over bags of rice and ugali (Ugali is the most common dish in Kenya http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugali). The parents thanked us over and over. The handing over of the food and meeting with the parents will be a memory that will surely stay with us forever.
So in all, Mombasa was a very large success. A healthy combination of volunteer work and free time as our hotel was an excellent spot for our students to take in the sun and chill out by the pool.
This morning we departed Mombasa and traveled to the Masai Mara, and what an experience! We had an early morning flight to Nairobi where we were transferred to a smaller, private airport and we boarded our flights to the Masai Mara. We had a plane that fit 35 participants and a smaller plane that fit 10. All of the boys in Frank Tilley's group were VERY eager to be able to fly on the smaller plane and we allowed them. Hopefully they didn't cause the pilot to much grief :)
Upon arrival to our private airstrip, we were greeted by members in the Masai Mara tribe and staff at our hotel. While we waited for the smaller plane to arrive (they were roughly 10 minutes behind us) we were handed cool towels to freshen up and fresh passion fruit juice. Once the group connected again, we all boarded our jeeps, that usually held 6 passengers and took in a quick 45 minute game ride. Our first ride didn't provide much to see as the animals were discovered when we went back out this afternoon prior to our dinner. Every jeep had different experiences, but in my jeep we were able to see Elephants (at sunset!), giraffes, buffalo, impalas, gazelles and some two cheetah relaxing in the sun. It was absolutely magical to see these animals in the wild. Tomorrow we have a full day planned with an early morning departure to see the animals before the sun comes up, followed by free time in the afternoon and another game ride just before dinner.
I will be able to post the pictures of our last days in Vipingo and our game drives tomorrow ! I just wanted to let everyone know that we are well and safe and having a really great time.
Ms. Smith would look to say something as well! She would like me to pass on the following message:
Jambo parents!
Our trip has been wonderful thus far. We have accomplished a great deal in a short time and we are looking forward to seeing more of the Big Five on our safari tomorrow - To this point, we have seen two elephants and Cape Horn Buffalo.
All the students are healthy, safe and happy, and I am pleased with their behaviour and positive attitude. The impression students left at MCF was excellent and MCF really appreciated all of their help. I am thrilled to be working with this amazing group of young people! We all look forward to seeing you soon!
Ms. Smith
Have a great day parents, please check back tomorrow for some pictures!
All the best,
Natalie
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Jambo from Mombasa!
Hello everyone!!
We have arrived safe and sound in Mombasa! Our hotel is beautiful, the food is wonderful, the pool is large and the sun is shining. Life right now for our group is truly amazing.
My apologies for the delay! There were varying technical problems over our last days at MCF, including the whole village being without electricity for a day as well as wifi being down for 3 days. I appreciate your understanding with the delay with the updates.
Our last few days were memorable, albeit extremely tearful and sad. We had to say our ‘see yous’ with our friends that we had made. During our stay at MCF we were able to build relationships with the students and staff and we found that when it came time to spend our afternoons or evenings with them, as opposed to introducing ourselves, we would start the conversation from where we left off. We learned about their past and heard about their futures.
The building project of the boys dormitory was very hard work, for some of us it was the first time we had ever done manual labour! While some of us dug the trenches for the foundation and pipes, others would move piles of dirt using a potato sack. A Lord Byng student would hold on to one side while an MCF student would hold on to the other. While doing these trips, partnerships were formed and stories were shared. I found that it was common to do up to 30 trips with your partner while working… so you can imagine the stories and the connections that we were able to make with the students while walking and talking.
Our final day at MCF was spent working in the morning. We split the Lord Byng and MCF students up into two groups since day one was so successful the second group was able to work on a different project, the Chicken coup that MCF is building. Though the sun was hot, our spirits were very high and the students worked very hard.
Over the two working days the teachers and chaperons decided to give out MVP’s for the students demonstrating the most effort. The following MVP’s were given and will receive a small token for their efforts one evening while we are here in Mombasa.
Day 1: Andy, Gordon, Liam, Emma W., Lucy & Georgia
Day 2: Tom, Jack, Tabriz, Ayden, Noa, Christina, Emma C.,& Haiely.
That afternoon we had an assembly. The MCF students sang songs, danced and even did an acrobatic show. I’m told that the show that we watched at the assembly was the same performance that MCF did on their cross-Canada tour a couple of years ago. Following their performance it was Lord Byng’s time to shine and the students sang their song to the entire assembly. It was very well done and the MCF students seemed to really enjoy it! Following the group song, a small group of Lord Byng students did a dance for the assembly, which was also very well received with the MCF audience standing on chairs and practically each other to see the students dance! After this we had another small group of Lord Byng students sing with MCF students to the assembly.
We had to say our final ‘see yous’ at the assembly and we carried on our way to prepare our luggage and eat our final dinner. Parting with the students was very sad, we wished them well and told them to continue with their studies. The students and staff have asked me to send greetings to the families back in Vancouver, so I am happy to pass on the greetings on behalf of them to all of you.
This morning we woke up, enjoyed a very delicious breakfast and went to visit the MCF branch in Vipingo Village. We had class time with the students then there was a soccer match with MCF kids vs. Lord Byng students. I wish I could report that the Lord Byng students demonstrated strong soccer skills, but much like their previous hockey match while at MCF Ndalani, they got completely schooled. It’s alright though, I think everyone watching the game, some 200+ people still enjoyed to watch.
We now have our first ‘afternoon at leisure’ in a very long time. Some students are enjoying the gym while others are in the pool.
The following are pictures that have been taken over the last week in Ndlanai as well as today in Vipingo. I will try to send more pictures and videos while we are here in Mombasa as the internet seems more reliable than while we were in Ndalani.
Sending you all our very warm wishes,
Natalie
Getting ready for some lunch
Riley with some friends
Afternoon time with friends at MCF
Singing songs with the children
Getting our hair braided :)
Ms. Smiths group
Hailey meeting her classmates today
The children enjoyed our sunglasses
Planting a tree in Ndalani
Frank and Ayden taking a break in the shade
The song we were greeted with today. Ensure your volume is on, the song was adorable!
Today's classroom
Some of the students that we met today
More students today at Vipingo. They are holding a homemade soccer ball composed of paper and string. The students played with a real soccer ball, but this an alternative for the students that wish to play but do not have a real ball.
Lord Byng students with their MCF representatives, Judy and Freda
Ms. Makris' group!
Stay tuned, more to come!!!!!
Natalie
Friday, 2 March 2012
Is everyone almost ready??
Departure is quickly approaching and everyone here at Georgia Hardy Tours is committed to making Lord Byng's trip to Africa the best ever! For a taste of what's in store at Mully Children's Family, check out this video! Bon Voyage!
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