Home Again

Arrived home about 9pm.  The entire trip was uneventful, for which we are thankful.  The only issue was traffic around Chicago, which extended the drive time from three hours to about four hours.  Everything else went smoothly and on-time, which is the answer to prayers.

I am thankful to be home, thankful to have been a part of the projects that took place the last couple of weeks, thankful for new friends I have made around the world, and thankful for amazing experiences.

Things I did when I got home:

• Drove on the correct side of the road.
• Drank water directly from the tap.
• Had pizza.  We had a hankering for pizza a few times while in Africa, but could never find any.  Event the airport in Amsterdam was devoid of any good pie.
• Took a shower and actually touched the shower head without fear of getting electrocuted.
• Shaved.  Deb said I looked like Grizzly Adams when I got home.

Although I have made some of these descriptions public to allow others to come along side of what I have been experiencing, the primary purpose of these descriptions is to serve as standing stones, as reminders to myself of what God has been doing in my life.

After crossing the Jordan River towards Jericho, the Israelites were instructed to set up twelve standing stones as a reminder of that the Lord did (Joshua 4:19-24), so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.  These are my personal standing stones which serve as a reminder of God’s provision, His protection, and His power in my life.

Out Of Africa

I’ve started the long journey home.  We had a leisurely breakfast at Kim’s Breeze Hotel with Dave and Joy and finally circled in the parking lot to pray and to say our goodbyes.  We loaded up in the Land Cruiser for the three-hour trip back to Nairobi.

Kim’s Breeze Hotel gave me one last souvenir just as we were leaving.  I used the bathroom one last time just before checking out, and the bathroom door is about a quarter inch shorter than I am.  In my haste to get downstairs, I forgot to duck when leaving the bathroom, and connected solidly with the top of the doorframe.  I was seeing stars for a bit.  That’s one of the reasons I wear a hat--to hide all the scars on the top of my head.

The trip to Nairobi was uneventful, although slow at times.  The road from Narok to Nairobi is not just the main route, it’s the only route, so it sees a lot of heavy truck traffic.  This road climbs an escarpment for several miles, gaining 1500 feet in elevation while winding around the contours of the escarpment, creating a narrow, winding road with few opportunities for passing slow vehicles.  And there are some slow ones.  Many trucks climb this grade in granny gear at about 3 miles per hour, much to the frustration of everyone else, including other truckers who could probably manage six miles per hour.  So in true Kenyan driving spirit, the thing to do is attempt to pass.  Never mind the blind corners or oncoming traffic, just pull out in the other lane and pass.

Michael, our driver, was more on the cautious side, for which I was grateful, and so did not attempt these hair-raising maneuvers.  He got us to Nairobi safe and without a scratch.

We stopped at the Galleria Mall for a bite to eat and to do some last minute shopping.  We have had such a full schedule the last couple of weeks that there has not been any opportunity for this, so today, our first travel day, we had a couple hours to shop for trinkets to take back home.  At one end of the mall is a Maasai market with a lot of little booths set up crammed with souvenirs and the people eager to sell them.  I managed to pick up a few gifts, negotiating each one.  We then headed over to the Biblical Conference Center, where we had stayed for a couple nights coming in, just to have a peaceful place to rest for a few hours.  We bade goodbye to Michael, who had been our driver for the last couple of weeks.  So many new friends to say goodbye to.  He expressed a desire to come to Michigan to experience snow.  I told him to come on over, we can have a snowball fight and make snow angels and attempt to drive on icy roads.  Can’t be any worse than slippery muddy roads, right?

On the way to the conference center, we passed through Kibera, the largest urban slum in all of Africa and a place where Kenya Hope has one of their Hope Centers.  Packed with tiny tin-roofed and mud structures, this is home to hundreds of thousands of people making less than a dollar a day.  It’s easy to look at the endless patchwork of rusty tin roofs from the freeway and take a picture from the car; it’s much harder to enter into the lives of the people living here.  Kenya Hope does just that, providing lunches for schoolchildren, providing clean water through the use of water filters, and teaching skills to widowed women to allow them to provide for themselves and their families.  Hope to those in desperate need.

George came at 6pm and gave us a lift to the airport.  From here on out, we are on our own.  Check-in was hakuna metata (no problem) and now we are waiting at gate 13 to board the plane to Amsterdam

Back In Narok

I woke up early this morning to the sound of birds.  Lots of bird calls  I didn’t recognize.  And just LOTs of bird calls.  Far different than waking up to the city sounds of motorbikes and trucks and the general roar of a city starting its day.  It was very peaceful and enjoyable and I even tried recording the sounds I was hearing using my phone. Unfortunately I can include photos and even Youtube videos here, but there is no provision for including audio media, so you will just have to ask me to play it to you next time you see me.

I did hear the tree hyrax sometime during the night last night.  I’m glad I was clued in because the screeching those animals make is other-worldly.

I had a shower completely free from the risk of electrocution.  The water was plentiful, it was hot, there was plenty of elbow room; a completely pampered experience.  I didn’t make use of the bathrobe and slippers provided just outside the bathroom area, just having hot, un-electrified water was enough for now.  Breakfast, likewise, was over the top, with a made-to-order omelette, fresh mango juice and orange juice, danishes, French toast, and other foods too numerous to count.

The game drive this morning was every bit as much fun as the one yesterday afternoon.  We were able to get up close to several elephants, and we happened upon a pride of lions that weren’t yawning.

I have several pictures of lions yawning.  We saw several pairs of lions and a couple of groups (prides) of lions lounging around looking very sleepy.  Lions sleep nearly 20 hours per day, so it’s easy to see a lion in this state.

But we happened upon a scene in a large grassy area where the first thing we saw was a couple of wildebeest galloping away like their tails were on fire.  We then saw the probable source of their urgency.  Several lions at the alert, all looking in the same direction.

We stopped and watched this for a while.  We were a bit far away so it was hard to get a good shot. The wildebeest were long gone but the lions continued to look in that direction.  They started to look about and move about and we were able to count more of them, finally ending up at a count of 13.  

After a while they started to move in a direction away from the road so we started to move on.  We had no sooner started moving when we noticed a couple of the lions running in the opposite direction.  Michael hastily stopped the car and backed it to near our original position.  It was then that we heard the squealing of a warthog who was suddenly having a very bad day.  It apparently had blundered into the pride of lions.  We couldn’t see what was happening because it was over a small rise and the grass obscured it.  But the lions all running in that direction and the frantic squealing of the warthog told us all we needed to know.  A snack attack was in progress.

Lots of other animal sightings; this was a very good day for a safari.

Kind of a shame to leave when we did, but we were only scheduled for one day, and one day is exactly 24 hours, strictly enforced.  Leave a little too late, and you are paying for a whole ‘nother day.  So we were out of the entrance gate by about noon.

One of the Kenya Hope centers, Orkarkar, is fairly close to the Maasai Mara.  We went to visit this center.  Once again, getting off the main road is an exercise in bumpiness, but at least it didn’t rain last night, so it was mostly dry and bumpy instead of muddy and bumpy.  It is over an hour off the beaten path so we did spend some time driving, both there and back out.

But we were in for a treat on the way in.  The road to Orkarkar goes through the Ol Kinyei Nature Conservancy, a large private tract of land that borders the Maasai Mara.  We got a pass through the gate because we were visiting a mission site.

This road was just like taking another game drive.  There were probably more animals here than we had seen in the Maasai Mara.  This area is more open, with less grassland, so the predators are rare, having no place to hide.  So there were animals scattered all over the place nearly the entire way to Orkarkar.  Wildebeest and gazelle, giraffe and warthog, and a whole bunch more, all in abundance here.  We made a lot of stops and took a lot of pictures.  The goal was Orkarkar, but the way to that goal was incredible.

Orkarkar is a center set up by Kenya Hope with a church, a school, some housing for the teachers, and some open area for gardening.  Started as just a preschool several years ago, it now has all the primary grades with 440 students.  Looking around this area, you can hardly imagine that this many people live within a reasonable radius, let alone this many primary school students.  They come in from  quite a distance, usually on foot.  The rain keeps some from school because of impassable roads that become rivers, and the elephants keep some from school at times when they lounge around the established path to school, making it too dangerous to go there.  We may have snow days in Michigan, but they have elephant days.

We met the pastor and a couple teachers and some others who happened to be nearby and we were able to walk the grounds and see what has been done here.  The school is sparse compared to what we are used to here in the US, but the presence of a school and the availability of fresh water caused this community to grow from just about 30 students at the beginning to the 440 today.  

We took a marginally better road back to the main road, taking over an hour to reach the tarmac.  Then it was back to Narok, to Kim’s Breeze Hotel, and here I am, back in Room 205, listening to the sounds of a busy city and the rain.  I could go for more tree frogs in the evening and bird songs in the morning.  That was a real treat!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we make the trek back to Nairobi where we’ll hang out for a while before boarding the plane towards home.  The flight leaves at midnight.

Updates from here on out may be a bit spotty as I have burned through nearly my entire data allotment on my phone plan and wifi may not be available.