16 Dec Our Holiday Plans: Spreading the Christmas Joy Together
Our children were blessed to have a year filled with happiness and growth in our homes. Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and a shorter school break, our children have accomplished great things. So, we decided to do something special for them this holiday season. We’re so excited to share that we will be celebrating Christmas by bringing our two homes together this year!
Both Homes Coming Together
Our Kitalale children will be travelling to the city of Nairobi, approximately a 9-hour drive away, to spend time with their brothers and sisters at the Kikuyu home. This long journey would not have been possible without your support in helping us purchase new vans for our homes. The new vans will help our children have a smooth, safe, and comfortable journey, and we feel incredibly grateful for that.
Our Kitalale children are set to arrive on the 23rd of December at Kikuyu, and the festivities will begin as soon as they get there. The children are delighted to spend their first evening together, watching fun movies and enjoying popcorn.
After getting some rest the first night in, the children are looking forward to exploring the city and taking part in fun activities together.
Hiking and Mountain Climbing
All children aged 10 years and older will go for a lovely hike to the Ngong Hills to appreciate what nature has to offer.
The Ngong Hills are breath-taking ridges along the Great Rift Valley, an area inhabited by the famous Maasai tribe of Kenya. In fact, it was the Maasai tribe that named these hills Ngong, meaning knuckles, due to their shape. The Ngong Hills has four peaks, which make it look like fisted knuckles from afar. The children are fascinated by the history behind these Hills, especially since they have studied about this in school, and can’t wait to visit them in person.
Swimming and Playing
While the older children enjoy exploring the Ngong Hills, the younger children will spend the day swimming together and playing fun games and activities. We’re also excited to have a bouncy castle planned, which will be a fun surprise for everyone! At night, everyone will take part in carolling at the local church.
Christmas Day
Due to a short winter break, we knew that it would be difficult to host our normal traditions of having the children spend the holidays with our staff members and their families, which is why we’re delighted to make this Christmas an equally memorable one.
The children are extremely excited to spend Christmas day with their brothers and sisters and to take part in prayer together. We will start the day with our morning devotion to the Lord and then break into four cooking teams to prepare a Christmas feast. Each team will cook different types of food, and during lunchtime, everyone will come together to celebrate a hearty, nutritious meal.
In the afternoon, both our homes will be performing skits for each other. Our children are very excited to put on a show for their family and have started practicing their skits for Christmas day with great enthusiasm. In the evening, the children will get together once again to play indoor games and take part in fun activities at home.
The following day, all our children and staff will attend Sunday Service in the morning. After that, they will be free to spend some time resting or exploring the village with their brothers and sisters. As the busy day comes to a close, everyone will regroup to spend some time by the bonfire together.
Fun Activities and Tour of Nairobi
The fun doesn’t end there! We will have games, team-building exercises, and competitions where everyone can enjoy themselves
The following day, we are going to give the children a proper tour of Nairobi. The children are beaming with excitement, and can’t wait to explore different parts of the city. As the Kitatale children haven’t gotten a chance to see Nairobi before, their Kikyuyu family is very excited to show them around.
The first stop will be at the National Museum of Kenya, followed by the Nairobi National Park, Uhuru Park Gardens, the Kenya International Conference Center (KICC), the New Nairobi Train Station, and a few more fun places to sightsee. The children will be grouped together according to their age and interests so that everyone can visit places where they will have the most fun.
After a packed week of activities and celebrations, the Kitalale children and staff will say goodbye to their Kikuyu family and make their way back home.
The holidays are all about sharing love and good faith with our family, and we feel so blessed to be able to bring all the children together this Christmas to celebrate as one big, happy family. Our hearts are filled with gratitude, love, and excitement for our children, and we feel so humbled to have your support. We’re so thankful to have you be a part of our family, and we can’t wait for the festivities to start.
We wish you a blessed Christmas season!