Return to MCF

Written Friday, September 12, 2008

Last week I made it back to MCF after being gone for more than a year. It was a wonderful, beautiful, somewhat emotional trip being there again. I loved seeing familiar people and sites as well as so many new things.

A little background info: MCF stands for Mully Children’s Family. This is the children’s home that I lived at and worked for during my CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) internship last year. I was there for 8 months working as so many things – a cook, a farmer, a teacher, an HIV/AIDS educator, a speaker. I spent the first 3 months at the Ndalani location where the majority of the children live. Then I was transferred to Yatta where the girl’s vocational school is found, along with the newly formed secondary and primary school.

I began my visit to MCF by first going to Ndalani. I traveled with Redemptor, one of the MCF beneficiaries that now works in the Nairobi office. We caught a matatu (minibus) in downtown Nairobi from the exact place that I visited so many times months before. On the way there Redemptor even remarked to me, “You know Nairobi better than I do.” The matatu trip with Redemptor brought back so many memories since she was the one who had accompanied me to MCF Ndalani the very first time. The trip is less than 2 hours. There were so many familiar landmarks along the way. At Sophia (a teeny tiny town along the main road) we took a motorbike down the very bumpy, sandy road to MCF Ndalani.

It was a really incredible afternoon and evening. So many people were incredibly surprised to find me. They kept asking where “my sister” was. They were referring to Lindsey, the other Canadian intern who was with me during my internship. I told them that she was in Canada. I think they had expected that we would be traveling together again. I spent time hanging out with the children and youth that I had missed for many months. I only wish I had had more time. We walked around the property, went down to my favourite part of the farm (Farm C). We went to the tree nursery and I saw the new boys dorm. I also got to the farm office, saw many of the staff and farm ladies that I spent so many hours with in the fields. I even got to use the Kikumba greetings that they taught me ages ago.

I stayed the night at Ndalani and then Redemptor and I were off to Yatta. Yatta is 30 minutes away from Ndalani and is the more recently developed property. Until recently there were relatively few buildings at Yatta. In the past year there has been an explosion of activity on the site. Even though I had heard stories about the changes, I was absolutely shocked had how much construction had occurred. Four massive greenhouses are being built. There’s a farm produce grading room under construction, a new farm office, irrigation building, tree nursery and greenhouse. The fishponds (12 I believe) are all finished and stocked with fish. A house identical to the one where I lived has been built next to the house. The carpentry workshop has been renovated into a nursery for the small children. New dorms are being built for the mothers. New housing has been built for the staff. A road up to the cow dip has been constructed. All the land is being leveled and a massive dam constructed. A poultry operation has been started. A new kitchen has been built to cook food for the children. All the landscaping that was started while I was there now looks absolutely beautiful. Job’s house, where I ate all my meals when I stayed there, has been renovated. So many changes, it was overwhelming.

And in addition to the changes, there were so many people to see. Once again I was so sad that I didn’t have much time to visit. The children were just finishing 3 weeks of holidays and were having a day of prayer. I popped into the service and pastor called me to the front. I got to share a few words. After the service, the band played, the singers sang and we all danced to the music. It was so beautiful. There was such a joy in that place.

Then, after so little time, Redemptor and I walked down the long lane back to the main road and flagged down a matatu to take us back to Nairobi. There were moments when it felt like nothing had changed and moments where everything had changed. I am determined to get back there in December before I return to Canada. The place is too wonderful and the people too special not to go back again.