Beginning from the left, we have
Pastor Martin - He's the director of the Kenya branch of Christ's Hope International. He's married to Mamma Josky who is also in the picture. As you can probably tell, he is a native of Kenya and he's also a pastor. We visited his church the first Sunday that we were in Kenya. He's the last remaining son in his family as his brothers all passed away due to HIV/AIDS. As a result, he and his wife "inherited" a large number of children as soon as they were married (taking care of his orphaned nieces/nephews). I forget exactly how many children they're taking care of in the house but it's a lot (Ok, I just asked someone and they said it was 22(!!!!!))
Michael Kim - Michael is the other volunteer who is staying here for the same time as me (until the end of may) and like me, he is also Korean. He hails from Atlanta, though he travelled around a great amount growing up since his father was in the military (he was born in Germany). He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (so he is a reserve officer in the US army) in 2009 and just turned 23 last Friday. He will be attending medical school in August at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and would eventually like to become an orthopedic surgeon . He says that he likes cars, he hates chemistry, and that he likes tennis - he also wanted me to mention that he went to jump school (so he jumped out of a plane as part of his training).
Since we're both volunteers, we have similar roles and responsibilities. For some of the activities, we are scheduled together - but more often than not, our schedules are alternating by week. So one week I'll go to Nyahera while he goes to Manyatta and then vice versa the next week.
Marieke - Marieke is a nurse from Holland and also stays in the house that we are living in. She's 21 and has been in Kenya since August of 2009 and is staying here for a full year. She originally came here with her cousin Anna who briefly went back to Holland but will be returning soon. Marieke is also a volunteer. Crazily enough, she found out about CHI through the internet while she and Anna were looking for organizations where they could both serve together given their different professional backgrounds (Anna's job is in human resource management). Since she's been here for over half a year, she's been showing me the ropes around Africa.
Denise - Denise is from America (Wisconsin) and like Marieke, is also a nurse. She has been in Kenya for 1.5 years. She was actually the first person from Christ's Hope that I met since I met her at Urbana and the person I spoke to about the organization. Prior to CHI, in the United States, she worked at missions to the Navajo but felt that she was being called to Africa. She's the volunteer coordinator here and sets our schedule. She's also a crazy driver lol.
Mamma Josky - Mamma Josky's name is actually Edith but in Kenya, women who have children are called Mamma and then the name of their 1st child (Josky is the name of her 1st son). She's in charge of the Children's ministry aspects of Christ's Hope International called Our Valuable Children (OVC) and is married to Pastor Martin
Desmond - Desmond is from Northern Ireland (very important that it is distinguished from regular Ireland). He is the coordinator for the Care and compassion arm of CHI which is the segment in charge of the home-based and hospital care for HIV/AIDS patients. Although he doesn't live in the CHI office with Mike, me, and Marieke, he lives in a house next door which is all inside the gated area. He also usually has a patient living there with him who he takes care of (feeding, cleaning, clothing, etc). He just Kenya left today to go to the United States for the next 3 weeks where he will be be visiting his supporters as well as different churches and friends. We're all not sure how Care and compassion is going to go without him but God will provide!
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