Kwaheri Kenya!

Hey all! Just sitting at the internet cafe in Nairobi after printing off my boarding passes. Sorry I have not updated you all in so long. We had no internet while we were on safari and the internet cafe was horrible in Mombasa! Safari was AMAZING! The first day we saw elephants, lions, buffalo, topi, zebra, Masai giraffe, impala,secretary birds, clown cranes, coke heart beastss, ostriches, wart hogs, African sausage trees, buzzards, jackel, tauwney eagles, guinea fowels and plenty of wildebeests. The second day we saw all of those animals and euphoria trees, violet breaded birds, copulating lions, lizards blue ball monkeys, mongoose, hippos and crocodiles. It was amazing. The last day focused on hunting and although we didn't see any cheetahs, we saw lots of mama lions feeding their husbands and young! The accommodations were wonderful and we had the best safari mobile in the reserve!! On Monday we took a nine hour bus ride to Mombasa where we stayed in a beach cottage (ON THE BEACH). It was fantastic!! We had fishermen bring us fresh fish and a cook-for-hire from the neighboring village cook our meals. He made coconut rice with prawns, crab and some fish from the ocean. It was divine! We went on a starfish tour where we collected them and took pictures with them all over our bodies. We learned about (and saw) starfish, clown fish, tiger fish, zebra fish, parrot fish, and many different types of crabs! On our last day we went to a little shop on the beach a two minute walk away from our cottage and got manicures, pedicures and full body massages! Then on Friday we headed back on the LONGEST bus ride ever. Staying at Upper Hill Backpackers Campsite. It is very fun meeting people from other places, doing various volunteer projects in Kenya! Now we are headed to the Masai Market in downtown Nairobi. We will be boarding the plane home at 11:40 tonight, and arriving Sunday afternoon (American time). Will update again once I am home. Heard that the culture shock coming home is worse than traveling here, and heard from missionaries that I should expect one to two months of depression. Hope that knowing about this will help me proactively avoid it! Love you all! Can not wait to see you all again!

Leaving Home

Hi all!
Getting geared up to leave home and go traveling! Very excited for what lies ahead but feeling very holey in the heart! Went to Nairobi to pick up mom. Hated it. Never was a big city girl. The hostile was very nice and I loved the people I got to meet there. We went to a little school in the city. Just as I expected it was much more city like. The kids said their favorite car rather than "present" for role car. Some of the favorite cars were Land Rovers, Mercedes, Lamborghini. It was intense. Tried brushing my teeth one morning. Put my toothbrush in my mouth without toothpaste to hold it. It didn't taste quite right. When I took it out. I found maggots. SWEET! Now I am full of maggots! (Ma says survivor man would be proud! Extreme foods man too!) I now eat five chipatis at one setting...eating for ten now! :D Hoping they make me skinnier after gaining 25 pounds! Made dinner with the family last night. Its going to be rough saying goodbye to my baby girl, Presh! We are trying to get as many pictures as we can. Having Mom here helps, because there are some things that I am just used to by now and she is wanting pictures of them which is good! Two heads are better than one! :D Missing my traveling partner more than I could have ever expected. She was amazing the whole trip. I can not believe we spent every waking minute together and NEVER got sick of one another. I feel as if I have yet another sister. Off to another horrible nine hour bus ride tomorrow morning! Luckily we have more traveling buddies this time. Hopefully we will be able to find an internet cafe on our travels! Will update more later. Off to get Ma a Tusker and buy all the things I still need before I leave. 6 Weeks is just not long enough in this place. Can't wait to see all of you!

All my love,
K

Nearing the end!

Hi all,
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to post again! I have realized that my time is drawing near and I wanted to soak up as much of life as I could! Things have been wonderful lately. I have strengthened many more of my favorite relationships since I have been here. We talked with a lot of the girls about growing up and their bodies changing. Many of these girls have no one to talk to about this kind of thing because their parents do not talk to them about it! They are all very scared and have a lot of scary misconceptions about their bodies! We first met to talk to them with their teachers. We soon found that they do not feel comfortable in this type of situation. Fed and I set up a private meeting where the teachers were not able to come. You would have thought we were giving these girls a brand new car! They were so thankful! We had meetings with the teachers of Epico Jahns and the families of the students that go there. We are working really hard to do away with the practice of caning in the schools. Although this is illegal in Kenya, it is rarely inforced (especially in the small villages). Unfortunately students are caned for bad grades, not dressing according to school uniform and not having shoes. There are so many things that the school preaches from the Bible and then goes against. We tried using this as our main point when talking to the headmaster and deputy (typically the disciplinarians in the school). Not sure how much will stick, although we are working to inform future volunteers of the problem so they will continue the fight! The students are so very grateful. Many are caned so much that they need medical attention, which is not readily available for so many! I spent a lot of time taking children to the local clinic! Many have piki piki burns on their feet from the motor bikes and the burns are never treated. With one student, I treated him every day to find out that his mom was taking off my dressing. I was able to talk to his mom with the help of some of the teachers at the meeting. I feel much better about his care after this!

I am currently in Nairobi waiting for my mother to arrive! I am saying goodbye to Fed and hello to my mom! It is going to be a lot to handle! I am having a hard time saying goodbye to Fed! We have truly been the most effective traveling partners. I love everything about here and practically spend every minute with her every day! It is very hard to internalize the holes that will be created in my heart when I leave this place! I am having a really hard time being in Nairobi, away from the farm for four days. I have called friends back on the farm multiple times a day to make sure my kids are taken care of and farm kids are supported! I know that I will be faced with a very deep depression when I arrive back at home! Kabula has completely changed my life and I am so thankful for even the worst events that caused this change! I have to stop talking about my little farm home before I lose it in the middle of a Nairobi internet cafe! I am very excited about my mother coming to the farm and traveling with us! It should be a blast! Thank you for all of your stories and posts while I am away. I cant wait to talk to everyone at home!

All my love and more,
K