Hey everyone! It’s been a crazy past week or so and I am just finally getting a chance to sit and write about it! This past week we have been at Kongoni Primary School which is a public school located near Naivasha, Kenya. On friday our day started off with some shadowing in classrooms in the morning, then in the afternoon Simon took us to a flower farm!! We were expecting maybe a field with some flowers but we were wayyyyy off! We arrived to the most enormous greenhouses ever that were FILLED with flowers! We spent the afternoon there in awe of the beauty of them! This weekend was our first weekend off with no project so we were able to do some pretty fun stuff! On saturday morning we were told we could sleep in (for the first time!!) until around 9:00 and we were pumped! But, with our luck, 7 am rolls around and we were all abruptly awaken by the sound of singing, yelling, drumming, and horns. We were all super confused and a little bit concerned so we jumped out of our tents and saw huge groups parading into our campsite area. Shortly after we found out that the entire day was going to be filled with different companies chanting and singing as part of a Kenya energy company team bonding thing. Let’s just say we were not impressed at first, but eventually it was Just too funny we all laughed a lot! Later that morning we grabbed a local transport vehicle which took us up to Elsamere conservation centre where we watched “Born Free” and learned all about Joy Adamson and her story! We also learned about different birds and conservation efforts the centre is taking to protect different trees and animals. We ended our visit with a visit to see 5 different types of owls and eagles that are endangered and they are working with. It was a really neat day and it was really interesting to learn about so many environmental issues in the region. When we arrived at our campsite we were all surprised when the energy companies bonding events were still in full swing with an insane speaker system and music and dancing, and it did not stop until around 4:30 the next morning. On Sunday we did a bunch of random housekeeping tasks around the truck and campsite, then in the afternoon we did some group Olympics! There were four teams- Madagascar, Uganda, Djibouti, and my team Zimbabwe! My team was me, Kat, and Paul. We all had to dress up in clothes that were the colour of our country flags. Mike and Lindy created about 15 different events that ranged from fitness to skill to luck to intelligence. Our team came in 3rd place but it was only a difference from first place of about 6 points so we were pretty proud! After that we all showered and got dressed in our nicest clothes. We walked to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the lake where we had amazing food and drinks! Although we enjoy pasta and sandwiches, this was a very nice change!
Heather Goes Abroad 