DAY THREE--
We left the airport around midnight after landing, going through customs and retrieving almost all of our luggage. Shane (the missionary who works for Special Ministries) met us outside and we all loaded up the vans. One van was solely for our luggage and the other two were meant for passengers. Shane and Rick both drove passengers vans out of the parking lot.
The ride to the 'hotel' (for lack of a better word) was fun. Bumpy, but fun! I was amazed at how many billboards there were, and all of them were written in English. I guess I didn't realize at first how prevalent English is in Kenya. I was also surprised by the companies out here. Companies like LG, Mitsubishi, DHL and Car Max!! Granted, Car Max wasn't the same thing... but the others were. For a little perspective on gas prices... we passed a gas station listing gas at 104.9 shillings. That is approximately $1.31. At first, that sounds pretty good, right?? WRONG. Think about it... Kenya is on the metric system... so that is $1.31 per liter. That is almost $5 a gallon. Bet you are liking your $2.65 right about now.
When we got the hotel, we unloaded the bags we needed for the night, checked into our own personal rooms, grabbed a bottle of water for our drinking and teeth brushing needs and headed to bed!
Sunday Morning.
I woke up around 5:45am and couldn't get back to sleep. I took a shower, careful not to swallow or inhale any of the water... yes, I actually plugged my nose and closed my eyes and mouth. I got dressed and went in search of other team members. I happened to be the only one from our team on my floor, so I felt a little lost. I met up with some of the group on the floor above me and we all headed down for breakfast.
Breakfast consisted of toast, coffee, eggs and pineapple. I really enjoyed the meal, but I was a little disappointed. I was totally ready for some food that I DON'T eat in America. Anyway...
Just before 8am we re-packed the car and headed out. It is about a 4 hour ride to Cheppema from Nairobi... extremely exciting for someone who gets motion sick. However, the team was nice enough to let me ride up front... more like they didn't want to be next to me when I got sick. Thankfully, that never happened.
After traveling for an hour or so, we came up to the Great Rift Valley. We got out to take pictures. Right next to where we stopped there were a few shops. The vendors came out with baskets full of merchandise trying to sell it to us. Most of them had carvings of the volcanoes and milima (mountains) in the mtaro (valley) with a few Swahili words translated to English. I was surprised again at how well they all spoke English. I mean, I know it is taught in the schools, but it still amazed me for some reason.
It was so hard to say no to these people, especially because I knew it is their livelihood. I managed to do so however, not sure whether I like that yet or not...
We hopped back into the vans and headed to Cheppema. Amazingly enough, we only needed one bathroom stop on the way. We stopped at a hotel, and they actually had toilets... so no Kenyan bathroom experience yet.
The ride itself was one of the best! We saw so much of Kenya. It was amazing! We saw warthogs and monkeys and even zebra on the side of the road. Along witha a thousand or so cattle and a couple hundred donkeys. Tons of goats and a bunch of sheep. It was so great to see all those animals on the side of the road (and sometimes in the road)... the only problem... I couldn't take pictures. For some reason, the memory card I had for my brand new camera was acting up... evidently I brought a faulty memory card to Kenya. My camera couldn't read the card and I therefore, could not take pictures... UGH!!!
So, we got to the Hope Center around noon. Evidently, the church had been doing its thing since 9am and they were singing songs while waiting for us to get there. We went inside the chapel and sat in the blue chairs. They told us that as visitors, we were to sit in the blue chairs. Once the church finished their shong, the pastor welcomed us... while the other pastor translated the English to Swahili. IT was neat to hear the word Caribou and know what it meant... (welcome, btw). After they welcomed us, Shane got up to speak.
Shane had the team get up and introduce ourselves. So, we all stood up at the front and said our name, something about our family and something unique about ourself. When it was my turn, I said "My name is Britt, I am a student at a University back in America, and I come from a very large family... I have 9 brothers and sisters." Somewhere in the translation, my name turned into BREAD. Well, it stuck. I will always and forever be Bread, to 16 members of my church, the entire nation of Kenya and anyone else who wants to join in on the fun.
In hindsight, I should have said Brittany.
After we sat down, Shane preached on a chapter of Psalms (can't remember which one... sorry). He did an EXCELLENT job and I really think he got through to a lot of the Kenyans there. When he finished with prayer, the children from the home got up to do a song and then a dance. I took as many pictures as my messed up card would allow. When the kids finished, church was over.
At the end of church, people don't just leave though... Everyone files out and gets in a line to shake hands with everyone else. It was really neat, I shook probably a hundred hands, gave a few hugs and said hello/jambo too many times to count. Then, when everyone was done, the Pastor said a prayer and the people dispersed. Most of the kids and quite a few adults stayed behind to talk to us (their visitors).
I met SOOOOOOOO many kids, it was way too hard to remember all of their names. One kid, Jeff, taught me a cool handshake that many of the boys at the school do for a greeting. He also taught me the proper greeting and response (Habari and Mzuri). Shortly after that, a couple of girls came up to me and latched on. Viola and Massey were the only names I understood. Those two (and others) took me up to their school and showed me each classroom and told me which grades sat in those rooms. They then went on th show us the bathroom (evidently they know it is different than ours). The bathroom consisted of a hold in the ground... that was it.
They took me around the massive pile of dirt that would soon become their soccer field and showed me the buildings that will be the homes for their teachers. They said that one of their teachers walks all the way around a mountain to get to school in the morning. After the hike back to the chapel, we sat down and the girls played with my hair. They told me that it was 'very smart'. I really had no idea what that meant, so I just smiled and said thank you... even though it could have been an insult. (I later found out that it means 'nice'... it's a British term).
There was some dancing going on in the chapel, so the girls and I went in to check it out. Sadly enough, right when I got in there... it was time to leave.
It was so wonderful to be around these children. They were extremely friendly. They loved to hold your hand and give you hugs... and they also asked a LOT of questions... it really seemed like they wanted to know who 'Bread' was.
We said our goodbyes and headed toward Sunrise Acres. We stopped at a supermarket to pick up lunch. Then we made it to Sunrise. We will be staying here every night for the week we work in Cheppema. It was absolutely beautiful. And the accomidations were a LOT nicer than we all thought they were going to be. There was even a toilet... a flushable one... I was very excited!!
Anyway, we ate lunch and sat around talking for a while... it was then that Rick tried to fix my camera... it didn't work... BUT, by the amazingness of God... Rick had a 2GB card that he allowed me to borrow. So, I will be able to take pictures!!! We also dumped the pictures that were on the other card onto his computer so I wouldn't lose them.
We went to dinner around 6:30pm. We all walked over to the home of the people who run Sunrise Acres. Turns out that land has been in ther family 3 generations. The meal was wonderful, and very filling!!
After dinner was the team debrief! We talked aobut our impressions of Kenya and how we were feeling about the trip. Then, Amanda led a very moving devotional about God giving us the words to speak while we are on the ground in Kenya.
After devotional I headed back to my bunk... I journaled and went to bed... cause I was EXHAUSTED!!!
The Great Rift Valley
Zebra on the side of the road....
Signs at the start of the road to the Hope Center
The girls playing with my hair...
That's it for now... please comment and let me know you are reading and what you think!!!
-Britt
