The Children of Gachie

I have often remarked about how happy I am in Kenya, and particularly with the happiness that seems so evident among so many of the Kenyans I've come to know.

The situation is especially pleasant when visiting a typical Kenyan neighborhood. On these occasions, one is almost swept away by the beauty - and the joy of the children. There's something about being around the little ones that brings much delight.

Such was the case when I visited Gechie - a village near Nairobi not far from where I live - last Saturday. I went - as I like to do - to have lunch with my driver. Readers of these posts know Charles well by now, and I love to go to his house where he fixes me good African food (and, yes, we eat it the African way, with out fingers - which I love to do!).

As we take Charles's son Justine along with us on some of our safaris and day trips, Justine has become very adept with the camera (readers of these posts will recall some of Justine's good work shared in previous blogs). So while Charles and I were planning to spend part of the afternoon working on the arrangements for our big December safari, I said to Justine and Charles's cousin Steve Onpinta that they should feel welcome to take my camera outdoors and have some fun.

Look at what they did!

Delighted with the results, not only because Steve and Justine obviously exchanged the camera back and forth and got some splendid photographs (see them at Gachie Children). In doing so they captured some real beauty and happiness - as I noted above - that I as an visitor would never have been able to achieve.

I'm very grateful to Justine and Steve for giving me these photographs to share with my readers - these children are our real Kenyan friends (even if one little boy is kind of shy), and we're so fortunate to have them for friends.