Mekdes' 9th Birthday

On Saturday we got to celebrate Mekdes’ 9th birthday. What did Mekdes request for her birthday? A mango! Unfortunately no mangos came with last weeks fruit delivery, and none were to be found on the blankets laid out on the side of the road in the nearby village. But, one of the other families here put the request out that mangos be brought for Mekdes by a family traveling from Buja the day after Mekdes’ birthday. So, Mekdes did get her mangos, special delivery, and enjoyed them thoroughly.  What other gifts can be found around here for a 9 year old girl? Well Greg and I gave her a bucket. Yep, a big blue bucket, with the explanation that if she finds a chameleon she can make a habitat and keep it for a pet. We also did bring a small lego dolphin set from home for her. Ella made her an origami swan mobile and the “older girls” put their creative minds together and made a very cool Barbie house out of cardboard boxes and whatever else they could find.  

 On Saturday afternoon, after an unsuccessful chameleon search, we held a birthday party for Mekdes’ and her friends.   We ate cake and played pin the tail on the chameleon.  Later in the afternoon  we took a bunch of the kids for a little hike up to Kibuye Rock. The walk is through the village and up a path, about 20 minutes from our house. We gathered quite the crowd as we went through the village as kids like to follow and watch us. It was Mekdes’ first time to Kibuye Rock and she had a lot of fun climbing about and playing with her friends.  

 Beyond the village kids and our kids in this picture you can see the hospital, the group of buildings in an L shape. Beyond the hospital in the field is the church and beyond the field and under the trees is our house (not able to be seen in the photo).

The local children mostly just quietly watch us, we’ll exchange greeting in Kirundi and  sometimes they try to practice some english, typically it’s “Hello, how are you? What is your name?” The boy pictured below said “Photo?” as I passed, so I took his photo and then showed it to him on my camera. I really like the photo. 

o.