It's been so long since I've written I hardly know where to start. I guess a short over-view of how I got to where I am now would be good. After the WSOP I went back to LA and spent 2 weeks looking for a new manager. My old manager of over 10 years decided to retire from management to pursue other things. So I spent time interviewing people and companies and going to lots of meetings of my own. During that time I got an email from my publicist about a documentary I was asked to be a part of about Africa. It's called "Eyes on Africa" and a big part of it was to be about showing the horrible living conditions many people in Africa have to endure and then showing the changes and differences the non-profit Feed The Children have implemented. I already had a trip to South Africa planned at the end of August for something else, so the timing of this was perfect. It left August 8th and we would work until August 17th. Need less to say I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of something so meaningful.

So the remainder of my weeks at home were primarily getting ready to leave the country for a month. I was very excited, but sad to leave my doggies and boyfriend for that long.

Time flew and August 8th got there before I knew it. My best friend JD decided to go on this amazing journey with me. Neither one of us had ever been to Africa before and we knew we were in for some life-changing experiences. Three flights and close to 24 hours later we finally landed in Nairobi, Kenya. This is where our next four days would be spent working. One of JD's bags were lost, so we spent quite awhile at the airport trying to locate it. After no success we made it to our hotel where we met some of the crew who were putting this whole documentary together. At that point it was almost 10pm Nairobi time...noon LA time. We were exhausted and hungry and hoped that we might be able to avoid jet-lag. So we ordered food and crashed out. I can sleep pretty well for long periods of time-JD on the other hand liked to keep waking up and watching the Olympics.

The next day we met up with the group and went to a local giraffe center. Apparently the giraffe population is diminishing greatly because people keep building and taking their land. So this center is taking care of them and teaching people about them and the help they need. It was amazing! I got kissed by a giraffe!!! They are beautiful creatures. I'll get a couple of pictures up here for you to see. What an experience that was. :)

We met up with the crew at 8:30am the next morning to start work. We went deep into one of their very poor areas here they call "The Slums." Apparently everyone here calls various areas "The Slums," including the locals. This first slum we went into was quite shocking. Words can't describe it-but I'll try. There was garbage everywhere-and it backed up to their local dump that was over a mile deep. You could see vultures sitting on tops of the mounds of trash. The people lived in a space that was about 8 x 10. It was dirt floors and what looked like scrap metal for walls and a roof. There would be about 10 of these side by side with a community outhouse. There was no electricity or running water of any kind. Not where we were anyway. The families that lived in these spaces often had 7 or 8 members. The craziest thing to me was they still had a rent to pay for this space and apparently the outhouse was locked and they had to pay a fee whenever they needed to use it. Everything here costs money.

I interviewed a family of 1 mother, 3 daughters, 1 son and I believe another one on the way. They all lived in this tiny space together. I forgot to ask where, or how, they sleep. But the mother, Phyllis, told me her story. She is HIV positive and she had a husband who died of Aids in 2005. The two youngest children are HIV positive. The other two children have not been tested. The oldest girl, around 16, had to drop out of high school because they couldn't afford it and the next oldest girl (about 12) was in school, but then she just recently had to miss her exams because they couldn't afford for her to go anymore. The mother washes clothes by hand for a living. The story goes on and on. It's all so heartbreaking. I don't want to ruin the documentary for you-so I'll stop there. (The documentary will come out in December sometime). But this was just one story and there was thousands more just likes hers-just in this area. And giving them money doesn't exactly solve the problem for them because there have been many instances where men find out that money has been given to a family and they go and beat up the mother until she close to dead to get that money from her. So then she's even worse off then when she started. So it's organizations like Feed The Children that will step in and help. They help with many programs where they feed school children everyday-they give meds to people that are HIV positive free of charge-they get donations of clothes, shoes, school supplies and more to help the children of these areas...the list goes on and on.

OK-so that was quite a draining day. Our day 2 was very similar. We went into another slum area and visited a school and orphanage. They were together on the same property. The school rooms were very tiny-you could see that the roofs everywhere would leak when it rained-and there was virtually no kitchen. It's hard for Feed The Children to feed them with no kitchen. So something will have to be done. It's unbelievable what feeding them can entail. There has to be an area to cook in a large pot. There has to be a pot. There have to be utensils. There has to be a cook-plates or bowls and utensils for the children....There are so many things to think about and deal with. But I have to say-the founders of Feed The Children, Larry and Frances Jones, are angels. They create miracles and make dreams come true for hundreds of thousands of people everyday. They can overcome any obstacle. I've never met people like them in my life! If you ever have the chance to meet them, or work with their organization, please do it!

Ok-today...today has really been my favorite day. Today we were taken to the Abandoned Baby Center that Larry and Frances built here in Kenya. It's a beautiful facility that houses hundreds of children and babies. We spent time with many of the kids and they put on a show for all of us. I fed the babies in the nursery and played with a bunch of them before their nap time. But the best part of the day was yet to come.

After touring the center and playing with the kids we were sent on a mission to go to a local hospital and pick up 3 abandoned babies that were to be brought to the center to live. This hospital was by no means what we'd call sanitary. We were told that between 60 to 80 babies were born there everyday! We were taken into a small, very hot room where there were about 6 "cribs." What they actually looked like were tiny hammocks just big enough for a baby to lie in. I was immediately drawn to this one baby girl with big beautiful doe eyes who was looking around and almost smiling. She was so alert and immediately grabbed my finger when I was tickling her arm. She giggled and smiled and just stared at us with these eyes that would just melt your heart. We all couldn't take our eyes off of her-but nobody more than me. Larry and Frances were with us and Frances was telling us how mothers of other babies there would come down the hall and breast feed their babies and leave, never paying any mind to these abandoned souls right across the hall. She said that they are given food and their diapers get changed first thing in the morning and then once at night. That's it! Nobody EVER picks them up or rocks them or loves them. They just lay there day in and day out. At that point I burst into tears! To think that these gorgeous innocent souls are being treated like that is unbearable. Next a nurse came in and dressed the 3 babies we were allowed to take. I picked my baby girl up and they told me we can name her Shannon Elizabeth. I'm still crying just thinking about it. There are some very strict laws here about adopting children and leaving the country with them. But I'm telling you now-if I could adopt that little girl right now I would! I have never been so in love with with a baby in my life. She never stopped smiling and looking into my eyes. I bonded with her immediately. Talk about love at first sight. This was it!

I had such a hard time parting with her. Even knowing she was now going to be given a ton of love and everything she could possibly need, I just didn't want to let her go. I'm still sad thinking about her. I still want to help her. One thing I know I'm going to do is give to the center monthly to help take care of her. But if there's some way to cut through some red tape and take her home I would do it in a heart beat. I'm putting it out there in the universe.

So that's it for now. Tomorrow our whole group is going to head to the Masai Mara to go on safari! I'm so excited because I've never been-and we all know what a huge animal lover I am! So I'll say good night for now. I'll try to keep writing throughout my trip (assuming I have internet wherever I end up). Until next time...this is Kenya signing out.

xoxo-Shannon