WAAAAIT FOR MEEEEEE.........!

LOLA REID ALLIN: Ten minutes before this adorable months-old elephant crossed our path, our Cessna Caravan touched down upon the hard-pack dirt landing strip in the Masai Mara.

It was our third week in Kenya but we were desperate for a vacation. Our guides, two traditionally-garbed Masai men, escorted us to their Land Rover - our safari vehicle for the week. Hot-coloured beaded chains dangled from their necks and their stretched earlobes. Wide, beaded bracelets adorned their arms and ankles. Siololo's spear rested on the floorboard, projecting between our rear seats. A knife was strapped to his calf.

The previous two weeks were consumed by our volunteer vacation at Mully Childrens' Family The personal commitment by the founders, Charles and Esther Mulli, had inspired my husband and me to volunteer with 20 other Canadians at the MCF Medical Clinic in Ndalani. My husband, Dr Jeff Allin, and four other physicians examined approximately 1300 patients during the two-week clinic. Every morning I taught Life Skills to former street girls at Yatta, a second MCF establishment. Every afternoon I photographed the patients: MCF children and employees, and rural villagers.

Poverty, political turmoil and HIV/AIDS have claimed lives and livelihoods, homes and hope from Kenyans. Determined to make a difference, Charles Mulli and his wife Esther, began by inviting three disadvantaged children to live with them in their home. Twenty-one years later MCF is recognized as a model for other organizations. MCF has provided shelter, food, education, skills training and health care to nearly 6,000 children with the goal to reintegrate productive young people into society. Each of us in our group felt honoured to have helped, if only in a small way, to help guide them in the right direction.