Wamaitha na Waithera

Yesterday Nancy, Betty, and Lilian gave us Kikuyu names; Wamaitha and Waithera. All the girls have two names, the first of which is generally an English name while the second is a name from their tribe. Most of the girls at the center are either Kikuyu, Luo, or Akamba. Often Kenyans can tell what tribe others are from just by knowing their second name. The other day we were telling Christine about Vivian, Lilian, and Betty, and she was able to tell us where they came from and what their tribes were. We hadn't realized until this week that the girls mostly call eachother by their second names rather than their first names. It gets a bit confusing sometimes because a lot of the girls share the same first names.
The above picture is of two girls we really love, Wendy (right), and Citrus. Wendy has been here for the longes out of all the girls. At a very young age she was brought to the Nairobi Children's Home by the police who found her wondering around alone in a slum in Nairobi. Despite the fact that she most likely doesn't have a home to go back to, Wendy is always in high spirits. If we were to give the girls superlatives, Wendy would easily be "the sunshine". Whenever we look over at her, she grins, but then quickly hides her smile shyly. We can't think of one time when we've seen her in a bad mood. Citrus would most definitely be given the superlative "class clown". Almost every morning we hear her loud, distinguishable laugh over the other noises such as unidentified, suspicious animals climbing around on our roof and girls running (we still don't know what exactly their doing).

From left to right: Vivian, Citrus, and Betty in the back.


** Aliya-We were so happy to read your comments! We miss you!! Hope Kirov is great!