In a few days from now we'll be catching a flight to Cairo, closing the door on this four-month East Africa chapter... Before heading to Nairobi I decided to stop in Nakuru for a few days to visit my host family and see how everyone at camp is doing. Having to say 'Kwaheri' this time around reminds me of my 'official' goodbye in early August, when all the income-generating groups got together to throw me a fantastic farewell party. 
On that day, V. and I were told to arrive by 12pm and to my amazement we found several of my friends busy stirring a gigantic pot of mokimo, the Kikuyu's favorite dish (a mix of mashed potatoes, corn, peas, spinach and meat if you can afford it). Mokimo takes a long time to prepare so these ladies must have started early in the morning to pull off this quantity!
On that day, V. and I were told to arrive by 12pm and to my amazement we found several of my friends busy stirring a gigantic pot of mokimo, the Kikuyu's favorite dish (a mix of mashed potatoes, corn, peas, spinach and meat if you can afford it). Mokimo takes a long time to prepare so these ladies must have started early in the morning to pull off this quantity!
At this point I was already humbled and moved by their thoughtfulness, but the afternoon got even better after that.
As you can tell, the mokimo was lip-smackingly good and enjoyed by all :-).Once we finished our huge lunch portions the ladies treated me to some very enthusiastic singing & dancing, captured on this video clip:
Then it was time for an elaborate round of speeches and gift giving, reducing me to both fits of laughter and bouts of tears. The award for most original present certainly goes to Susan (right), who used her kalabash-decorating skills to create a unique one just for me. Many other ladies handed me one of their self-made necklaces, and their generosity really touched me. My own 'thank you' speech had to be interrupted by several pauses to wipe the tears away so that particular video won't be made public! Suffice to say that seeing my volunteer time come to an end was not easy. This experience can't be expressed in words but I will truly never forget these inspiring people.
My good friend Bindan with V. (who was very popular with the middle-aged women by the way!)
Bindan's daughter Damaris, one of my favorite children at Pipeline
With Joyce, another lovely friend and a person whom I greatly admire for her tenacity and incredibly kind heart.
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