Back from Dadaab

Sorry it has been so long since our last post. We have just got back from a week in Dadaab where we spent Tristan and Emma's Easter vacation. This was a chance for us to travel with the Carline family and get orientated before they leave for Canada for the summer.
People are on the move with the changing of the season. While Soamli's walk, they will put small children on the backs on camels or in this case on the back of this donkey.

If you look very closely at Emma's hand, you will see a baby rat that she and Kenan found on our compound. It was a miserable little fellow (so young that his eyes were still shut). They made a house for him in the sand, and gave him a bath in hopes that they would be allowed to keep him. -- Only in Africa. . . .

20 kms south of Dadaab lies a small village whose bore hole collapsed after the fall flooding. The people have been without water for over three months. The Kenyan government arrived a month ago and dug a new hole, 150 ft deep, but found no water and left. Five children have died, including the daughter of a father who came to us in Dadaab. He has spent the last week trying to find someone to help. The Red Cross will be delivering a water container in a few weeks but in the mean time they have nothing. We helped him in getting water on the bus that day and dropped some more off on our way to Garissa.

Past Garissa, there are only sand paths to Dadaab. The kids had fun riding in the back of the Wards landrover on the three hour drive out. We saw many dikdiks, geranuks, camels, a giraffe, and a warthog on our journey. This was also Erica's first time driving a standard.

She did fantastic!!

Among the many visitors, Bashiira, an old friend of the Carlines, dropped in one afternoon. She brought Somali dresses for Erica, Kelly, Kara and Katie.

Kelly Carline found this black scorpion crawling into her luggage. The kids soon went on the hunt with our kitchen utensils and found three more white scorpions (although they are much smaller, their sting is far worse). Our fearless little warriors had a very fun adventure -- no children were harmed in this desert safari.

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