The Many Adventures of Life...

Well it has definitely been an interesting few days here in Kenya. Yesterday, I got the chance to visit one of the other ministries of Missions of Hope. It is a boarding school named Joska, which is about an hour outside Nairobi. Leann, Tahia, and I were heading out there to help Timothy (the CHE worker) with an AIDS education presentation and then spend some time with the kids. We three girls were also planning on spending the night and then returning to the Pangani center sometime today.

So on the way to Joska we made a quick pit-stop because Peter, the driver of the van, was hearing a weird noise. We came to find out that one of the belts was broken, so we sat there in the heat of the day for 3 hours waiting on the mechanics to fix it! Timothy and Leann had to catch a mutatu in order to make their presentation on time, but we caught up with them about 2 hours later.

Finally we made it to the camp and got some really late lunch ;) but the beauty of the place definitely made up for it. I wish I had pictures! But of course, my camera's batteries were dead right when I wanted to capture a moment! And when I say beautiful, I mean more of a 'peaceful'. There are almost no trees or grass, just dust, wind, and metal buildings. But the children and their smiles is what makes it all worthwhile. I plan on going back there soon so I will be sure to take pictures then.

They took such good care of us there and the children just loved having new people to play with and talk to. I am pretty certain we will be going back though to teach more lessons on AIDS education and other hygiene topics. Soon enough our time had ended and we made our way back to Pangani to pick up the van. We got back around 1 and headed to the clinic to help sort multi-vitamins for the kids. Well, Leann and I sorted them as we watched Tahia teach Lillian and Martha how to salsa ;) Finally we were on our way home!

But that was not the end of our adventures. We got home to find that we were locked out of the house! We had to climb the gate and walk around to see if any of the windows or doors were opened, but of course none were! Some of the windows were open but they have bars across them so only a small child would be able to fit through. So we decided to walk down the drive to pick up little David Kamau from school and have him climb through the window! We eventually found the keys to unlock the door and rushed to get ready for a dinner across town. We were planning on meeting one of the visiting groups for an Ethiopian meal, but inevitably our plans were changed when the spare tire rack under the car came loose and started making a horrible noise each time we went over a speed bump. After about an hour of rigging it up, we were on our way.

And that was the end of our adventures, for now. Although nothing seemed to be going right, I have to admit I enjoy the aversions because it keeps life interesting. And here in Kenya, one is never late! There is no pressure, and I have come to love that. Why do we run around so much anyway?

I will be honest though, I am beginning to miss the ways and routines of home. As would be expected, Kenyans do things much differently here and there have been times when my patience is tested. So please keep praying for me regarding humility, insight, and patience. I am so extremely thankful that God has placed a burden on your hearts to support me in this awesome opportunity. I hope you are enjoying my blogs and please let me know if there are any questions you have or things you would like me to ask the people here. Love you all! Bwana Safiwe?