The following is the ninth in a series of journals written by members of the SRU Athletes for Forgotten Angels service group chronicling their trip to the Hekima Place orphanage in Kenya. All entries in the journal can be viewed at the Forgotten Angels page.

Day 9 (Written by Brooke Edwards and Izabel Scott) |  Photo Gallery

Today was a very busy, busy day. We woke up and wanted to go on one more final hike on our last full day here to just take everything in. It was absolutely breathtaking and along the way back, we decided to go a different way and take a trail that led us up a hill. We met some girls along the way and they went with us and they told us that they take this path (going up the hill) every single day to go to school. They also wake up at 4 a.m. to walk to school everyday as well. It was a nice experience to meet some native Kenyans while on our hike and gave us a different perspective on how people outside of Hekima Place live.

When we got back, most of us went to the kitchen because tonight we were making the girls dinner. We made them Chapita (Kenyan version of a pizza), which included meat sauce, cheese and chicken sausage, and then of course chips (fries)! It took us all day to prepare and make more than 100 Chapita to feed all the Hekima residents. It was a big eye opener in how long it takes to prepare the food because we started around 2:30 p.m. for dinner around 6 p.m. We couldn't be more thankful for the Mums here at Hekima Place because we realize how much they have to prepare and cook, three meals a day, feeding at least 40 girls. Once we finished preparing the food we stood in an assembly line and served the girls supper. After serving the food we sat down ourselves and enjoyed the food.

Once we finished, Edith (a girl from Hekima) called a girl up from each of the houses to say a few words about our group. Then the Mums and Mum Kate thanked us for coming and told us that we were always welcomed back. They sang to us, presented presents and gave us cake and celebrated our farewell. After that each of us said a few words to the girls and thanked them for allowing us to get to know them and love them. Then we presented Mum Kate with a Slippery Rock University picture and the girls with SRU bracelets so they will always remember us.

After dinner we came back to our place and the girls followed and were dancing, singing and laughing and didn't want to go to bed. They all gave us letters from each house and gave us hugs goodnight. We finished off the night with playing cards and spending quality time with each other and with the other volunteers. It was also the first night it rained and thunderstormed.


Shoutout to Hekima Place's US Board of Governors based in Pittsburgh.