The Sound of Music

I realize I’m overdue for an update on Jeptoo and the girls. I’m running a bit behind this week. I’ve been fighting off some sort of intestinal something. I spent a few days down and now I’m having fun playing catch up. You know that great saying “Two steps forward, one step back”? I feel like that is what we are doing right now.

Today the girls got their new dresses. William and I decided that each girl deserved to have a brand new dress of her own. But since finances are a bit tight we were trying to figure out how to swing it. Then I remembered that my colleague Adele had given me some material and some curtains. I told her if I couldn’t use the curtains I would find someone who could. As we were discussing dresses I remembered the part in The Sound of Music when Maria makes the children clothes out of the old curtains. So the three youngest girls now have dresses that used to be curtains!

William and I had just arranged for Jeptoo to get a job carrying water to a construction site. It’s definitely physical labor, but it pays well. And then she told us that she might be pregnant. Sure enough she is. So now we are working on finding work for her again. We are also realizing that our original plan of getting her on her feet in four or five months is probably not going to work.

The girls are doing very very very well though!! And guess what? Chelagat smiled!! She came up to the window while I was cooking dinner the other night. She spoke to me and asked habari yako? (How are you?) I told her I was fine and asked how she was. She smiled and said fine!!
All the girls got new clothes last week. I had planned to send our social worker, Ruth, to the market while I was in clinic. Something came up and Ruth was unavailable. So she sent Rashid and Henry, two young single guys. They went to Jeptoo’s house and measured all the children. Then they took the money and headed to the market. When the kids modeled for me I was trying so hard not to laugh. Chelagat was wearing a cute pink and white shirt with shorts cut from a green football print. The oldest had on snowpants. Snowpants in Kenya???!!! But at least the clothes are clean and don’t have holes or tears. The three youngest had never worn shoes before. Watching them put them on was a riot. The girls were walking really funny and staring at their feet.