the photo room

Okay, so I know this is actually what everyone has been waiting for: the Kenya Project photo group! I just set up a project room for the Kenya Project on Snapfish-- a room for ALL of us to share our photos, videos, and projects with friends and each other.

http://thekenyaproject.snapfish.com/snapfish

I have set the room up on a password to establish a minimal amount of protection and privacy. This should be simple to remember: gideon.

Enjoy!!

Please keep in mind that Amy and I will be offering several of our photographs printed on archival/gallery quality paper, with the possibility for matting and framing. We are hoping to use our passion for photography to raise funds for the project during the holiday season. If you are interested, please let us know.

Also, please be judicious with whom you share our photo room and how you choose to use the photographs. We are more than willing to share and spread the love of our trip, but the images within our space are ultimately copyrighted by the "artists" unless otherwise noted...and that goes for ALL our artists!


Looking forward to seeing our trip through my teammates' lenses...and always, love hard.

tnick

And together we win.

We were graced with a recitation of the following poem by Maryann, one of Mama Robi's orphans, and again at the dedication of the children's home after a small group of students put on a play about the effect of AIDS on families. Aunt Lynn thought everyone would enjoy reading it again-- it is something we likely will never forget.

The mention of your name
Shakes my whole body,
Death, separation and destruction
You have cast in my village,
Then to the country and to the rest of the world.
AIDS, do you have mercy?

You have made children orphans?
You have made women widows?
You have made men widows?
You have kept everyone destroyed?
AIDS, do you have mercy?

But we will fight you,
By chilling and shillings,
By abstaining from sex,
Saying no to sex before marriage,
Being faithful to one another,
And together we win.
AIDS, do you have mercy?

our cute little alpha male

Thanks to Dee Ann (who may be our most avid blog reader) for sending this photo of the male lion showing off his mane and feigning interest in the tourists. He belongs to the first pride we spotted on our first game drive.

Enjoy!

saturday and sunday: lions, leopards, and wildebeest (oh my!)

It was difficult to pull out of Mama Robi's home on Saturday morning...at 6:00. As I have previously mentioned, I had fallen in love with Felix and EVERYONE was in love with Boniface, and of course Dee Ann has developed a very special relationship with George during her two journeys to Nakuru. Mama Robi's orphans (James, Mary, Maryann, Sarah, Lillian, Brian, George, Boniface, Felix, and Zachariah) crawled out of bed at 5:30 to express their gratitude and watch us pile into the vans. David and John, our incredibly friendly and talented cooks, prepared our favorites while dressed in their very own Kenya Project t-shirts: doughnuts! Yep, deep-fried goodness with coarse sugar for dipping.


We straggled. We pulled out of the gate late. We leaked a few tears. And so our second journey began...

Gideon gave us a stern warning the night before: while he expected the drive would require five hours plus a stop for gas and restrooms, he could make no guarantees. "Do not be upset if it takes eight hours to arrive at our camp. I have not taken this path since 1989." Boy, we were lucky! During our first stop, Julius (the driver-tour guide-walking animal encyclopedia extraordinaire) commented that the roads were in the best condition he had seen in 15 years.

We passed the vibrantly-dressed Maasai tribesman as we pulled deeper into Maasai territory, always in brilliant red or orange. We learned from Julius that the Maasai speak 32 dialects and for a period of months during the year, the men leave their wives to herd. Keep in mind that we are in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE-- no grocery stores or markets in sight to pick up a soda or a loaf of bread. How do they survive, you ask? How do they protect themselves from the wild game in their migratory paths? Answer 1: the men have perfected a technique of opening a vein in the neck of their livestock, siphoning the blood, and mixing it with milk for their sustenance. In dire situations, they will kill one of their livestock and eat the finer cuts (without fat) raw. Answer 2: the men sleep at the center of their herd. The animals intuitively know to circle their leaders when resting-- not that the Maasai men need protection. To become a Maasai warrior, you must leave your village and not return until you have a tooth or claw of a lion in your possession. However, contrary to popular belief, the Maasai are not a violent or aggressive people. The Maasai are simply steeped in tradition: strongly patriarchal, semi-nomadic, monotheistic, and an apology through a payment of cattle is usually sufficient to settle disputes. So that's your cultural lesson for today... : )

We were all blown away by our accommodations at Siana Intrepid camp. After off-roading for what seemed like more than the seven kilometers marked by the sign, we made our way to the reception hut where we were greeted with juice and dutifully informed that there were no keys. "Zipper only," the host said. That comment was followed by, "The monkeys here are very smart. They know how to unzip the tents. You must tie a knot. They do not know how to untie a good knot...yet." Awesome. We quickly trekked to our pod-- the "A" group. My evaluation is that luxury tents are the coolest thing...ever. With any luck from the technology gods, I will have more photos of our accommodations from Amy in the next few days.

The camp grounds and grazing area

The macaroni-and-cheese-colored bark of the Acacia tree

The lily pad pond on the trail to our pod of "A" tents

Instead of narrating the details of our extended game drives (then making this post 20+ pages long), I thought I would post the animals we spotted during each, with captions. There is inevitable a story and exciting details behind each...

Day 1: The Evening Game Drive

Zebra, of course. They have the natural knack to show their rear sides whenever you pull to the shoulder for photographs.

The first pod of lions we spied for the safari, four total and one of which was pregnant. The male showed absolutely no interest in the parade of vans at all. He eventually rose to sit on his haunches and show off his mane. That one is on Amy's camera...

I chose to spare our audience a telephoto glimpse of the lion-eating-a-zebra photos. This cute little fella on the right was the first to eat. Stuffed and satisfied, he was dozing on his back, feet in the air, just like roadkill. We were lucky to get within 15 feet of her hunting partner...

A Maasai Mara sunset as we make our exit...

Day 2: The Twelve-Hour Safari Drive

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that these guys are impalas. Those with horns live in bachelor pads where they spend their days in training to fight. If you want to live with the ladies, you must be able to defeat the one grand male that rules their group. If you lose that bid, you are rejected from the group...and most likely eaten by a lion in your solitude.

We spotted three Maasai giraffes in the early morning. Unlike the Rothchild giraffe we spotted at Lake Nakuru, the Maasai giraffe does not wear the ever-stylish white stockings. These two males were engaging in a "battle" of sorts. In what looked a lot like necking or a mating ritual, the two males were attempting to throw the other off balance using their necks. Whoever won the balance contest also won the right to the female (who was nowhere in sight).

It's an ostrich! Later in the day Julius spotted another with babies in tow, no taller than the high yellow grasses.

We must give thanks to the wildebeest for our stay at Siana Intrepid-- it was the only camp that we could afford considering it is the wildebeest migration period! This photo is a very small snapshot; we saw hundreds of thousands of wildebeests spotting the rolling plains. According to Julius and the Mara guidebook, the wildebeest arrive in June to graze in Kenya and leave in late October to return to Tanzania to mate.

These monkeys were vigorously digging through the trash bin at Hippo Point. While we walked to the edge of the Mara River where at least 10 hippos were bobbing in the water, one brave monkey soul jumped through the window in my van. Gideon had left the window cracked, which in the monkey world is o-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-y. Fortunately, no damage was done, there was no theft, and Gideon and David sprung into action.

This baby elephant stole our hearts, especially the heart of Lynn who thinks baby feet (no matter if they are human or animal) are God's greatest creation. I know this to be a fact-- I attend family reunions with her. : ) This little guy (or girl) could not have been more than two months old-- he was constantly tripping over himself as if those things were just too heavy to lift and his mother was still carrying milk. Again, thanks to the prime driving skills of Gideon, we were able to get within 20 feet once the group crossed the road...and then Mama Elephant noticed and expressed her discontent.

The cutest little heinie I've ever seen!

A final note:

Amazingly, after nearly two weeks of driving on roads that created a roller coaster effect in the vans, we managed to get TWO flat tires during our final hours of the safari. I did not add "tire changing whiz" to Julius's list of talents, but he got that baby off and new tire on in less than ten minutes. I also did not add "tire changing whiz in the middle of a herd of highly dangerous animals" to his talent list. Yep, he did that too. Our second flat occurred dead smack in the middle of a herd of cape buffalo, who happen to be the most dangerous animals on their plains because of the impulsiveness, aggression, and horns. While Julius and Bernard/Ben/Benson (we never quite got his name right) worked on the tire, Lynn stared down the herd and rebuked them with powerful telepathic signals. All listened except one-- one lone buffalo whose nostrils flared within 30 to 45 feet of our tour guides.

I hope that everyone enjoys the photos and the brief narration. I will plan to write a parting note some time this week, as well as throw up a few more photos as they trickle in from various sources. It has been an absolute pleasure to share our journey and my journey with you-- I deeply appreciate your encouragement through posted comments and compliment through the grapevine. Please keep checking our blog periodically. While we may no longer be in Kenya, we are still doing good work here.

Love, love, love!

tnick

(last) friday: joy and tears and flamingos...and a little shopping

Hello again to everyone! Now that I am somewhat readjusted to the eastern time zone, I plan to post on every remaining day of the trip. While many of you may have already been absorbing the many stories and unique details from your friends and families that were lucky enough to be in Nakuru in person with the team, I will continue to post for the benefit of the rest of our organization, sponsors, and donors-- and well, for myself. It is nice to have a written record of these events for a non-journal-writer...

Friday:

Part of our goal on this trip was to uplift the teachers of Mountain Park Academy. It is simple enough to fall in love with many, many children when you visit Nakuru and provide them the basics-- our $20 per month goes a l-o-n-g way in their lives. However, behind those children are twenty-four BRAVE individuals who are doing amazing things in the classroom with minimal, minimal resources while fighting with the undeniable circumstances of living in a developing country: how difficult is it to teach a room of forty-two children who may not be properly nourished, who may be ill, who may be without family support, or who may be experiencing abuse in the home?

Anyhow, as I previously mentioned, part of our project was to serve as tools for the teachers: we delivered jam-packed bags of school supplies to each class Thursday (think about all those crayons in our earlier packing meeting post!) and we also took up a collection among the team in order to leave each teacher with a hand-written note and about five hundred shillings. After meeting for our final assembly at Mountain Park Friday morning and fawning over the few young children who trudged to the meeting place in bright rainboots, the teachers surprised us with their own gifts: traditional lace tops for the ladies and polo shirts for the men. Mama Robi was tickled, so much so that she demanded we all change into our new outfits for the dedication of the children's home fifteen minutes later.

After another arduous climb up the hill, we changed and headed to the children's home to begin the ceremony. It started with a bang! We had a full program of performances: the teachers kicked us off, followed by Ms. Waweru leading the 16 orphans to live in the new home in a chorus, followed by Mr. Ndichu's (Anthony, quite possibly by favorite) girls choir. And then I hit emotional meltdown stage: the first of eight homes was dedicated and named in honor of my grandfather who passed in January-- Hutch's House. I will not give you the long story, but my grandfather loved his nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren more than anything on this earth. That is not debatable. I am so proud that he will be shining love and maintaining his usual watchful eye over those children. The blessings continued: the house parents greeted the audience and shared their vision for the home and their new children, Pastor Francis lead a powerful, powerful prayer that yielded dripping tears among each of our orphans, each child was given a Bible and pillowcase embroidered with a verse on which to rest their heads in their new beds, Mama Robi was brief in her address yet striking carrying her stylish new black and white purse received from us the day before, and we were again entertained by the talented students in our audience. The final acts were an energetic dance troupe again lead by Ms. Waweru and a play addressing AIDS put on by a small group of older students. Amazing, stirring, and joyous-- and the clouds parted just long enough from the previous day's lingering rains to burn the crap out of my left ear (I really think my sunburn might be second degree burns) as I snapped photos.







By the time the program was finished, we were running quite late. Lunch was set for 11:30 so that we could leave promptly for the city to shop at the markets. Amy and I rushed to the school to complete some last minute administrative work and also seek out the child who my mother sponsors. Upon bringing her to the office, introducing myself, and explaining that my mother was her sponsor, she gasped and then giggled. We also had the pleasure of connecting Gwen with Jane, a young girl in the One Purple class. Still in our matching lace tops, Amy and I rushed back to the house to grab a bite with the rest of the team, and then we were off! As we pulled down the drive (i.e. dirt/mud road) that passed the school, the children rushed to line the fence and wave. It was quite a sendoff.

And then the sky fell open-- MASSIVE raindrops as soon as we stepped out of the vans to peruse the local goods. After about five minutes of that, Gideon corralled us back into our respective vans and directed us to an indoor shop (thank goodness!). With bags of souvenirs in hand, we were in for a surprise: a game drive in Lake Nakuru Reserve! Less than twenty minutes from the chaos of town we witnessed the majesty of TWO MILLION pink flamingos, four black rhinos (one of which we saw progress to full speed across the road), baboons, larger-than-life pelicans and storks, cape buffalo (the most dangerous beast on the plains), dickdicks (think about a deer, but chihuahua-sized), a Rothchild giraffe (they were the white stockings) and tree leopard from a distance, and a breathtaking view from the lookout.




The sheer beauty and grandiosity of the game reserve was an odd juxtaposition to our ride home through the packed city streets of Nakuru-- after all, it was a Friday night! Gideon explained that all of the randomly scattered young men were referred to as "packing boys" and that the bottles they were ALL carrying was not in fact alcohol, but glue. They were huffing to get a cheap high. One seemed to apparate next to Amy's window; her head nearly hit the roof while simultaneously letting out her signiture squeal. That was some of the only 'ugly' we had seen during our entire beautiful week.


I'll be headed out of town this weekend for my cousin's wedding, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for Internet access. Certainly by Monday I will post a summation (and awesome photos) of our safari in the Mara...

Love hard and love this fall weather,

tnick

hot stuff

Before I begin blog-o-mania later today, I wanted to share this link with everyone before I forgot. The kaleidoscope that was given to the house parents to share with our orphans was a donation from me, purchased from a fair trade shop-- meaning that it was handcrafted, a fair price was paid for the product and for the labor (i.e. no sweatshops), and the health of the environment was a priority in the production process. Fair trade means dignity, respect, sustainability, education, hope, joy, and a fairer world.

Because I know our team members are BIG shoppers, I thought I would direct you to my favorite fair trade retailer. Keep Ten Thousand Villages in mind for this year's holiday gifts-- not only will your friends and family be receiving a unique handmade piece, but you will make a strong, socially conscious statement in the process.

Also, keep checking the blog for the "Kenya Project Collection 2008." I hope to have a limited quantity of holiday ornaments (crafted from my Kenyan soda bottle cap collection), necklaces and earrings (created by our Standard 7 students at MPA), and prints (from both Amy and me) in various sizes available within a few weeks and just in time for Christmas!

Thanks!

tnick

we are alive.

Greetings!

We apologize for our extended blogging absence, but as always, things do not always run smoothly in Kenya. Friday was our busiest day yet-- dedicating the first of eight children's homes, saying our final goodbyes at Mountain Park Academy, going into the city of Nakuru to peruse the markets, and a visit Lake Nakuru Reserve for a surprise game drive to catch a glimpse of 2,000,000+ flamingos.

Saturday morning we left for safari expecting to arrive at the base camp with amazing Internet access. Sadly, we were mistaken-- no computers, nada. We are now in Nairobi finishing a meal at the Methodist Guest House and will be headed to the airport in the next 45 minutes.

Thank you all for your patience! Please expect a flurry of posts detailing our last four AMAZING days in Kenya, photographic illustrations, instructions on how to access the thousands of other images we captured during the trip, website updates, and some very cool gift offerings that we will use to benefit the project (spearheaded by Roz, Amy, and me).

Love hard, and see you soon States-side!

tnick

i am muthoni (moo-DOUGH-nee) and i love felix.

Greetings to all!

The past few days have been intensely busy here at Mountain Park. As many of you may know from the blog, we have been without electricity since Tuesday. Tuesday evening in the wee hours the transformer was vandalized for the entire village. Fortunately, we have been lucky enough to produce light from a generator, but unfortunately there is no hot water and no electricity at the school.

But there is SO much good news…

On Wednesday, although it was a national holiday for Kenyans, we met with the 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade girls in small groups to talk about female issues and purity. After moving beyond their initial hesitations and embarrassment, the girls became enthralled and we were touched. As much as Kenya is an indescribably beautiful country, it’s children have many disheartening secrets and are yearning to learn more about what things as simple as their own bodies—things that we learn in 5^th grade health class or from our parents. Jonathan and Gideon, as well as Pastor Jeff worked with the boys upstairs where the discussion turned to the cultural stigma attached to the rites of passage.

Wednesday afternoon was marked by our women’s ministry event held at the dining hall on the Mountain Park campus. Over 250 women trickled in throughout the 3-hour session to enjoy Dee Ann’s message, our attempt at singing, and tea and bread afterward. Luckily, I managed to sneak out of singing in the name of photography—and what an amazing view I had from behind: babies wrapped delicately on their mothers’ backs, brilliant and bold scarves dressing every head, and passersby peeking through the windows as they walked past on the street. Wednesday afternoon also marked our first torrential rain and it was a powerful thing upon the tin roof. That joyful noise was only trumped by the sound of Kenyan voices singing—there is NOTHING like it. I promise.

After the women’s’ event, I had the pleasure of walking upon Mama Robi’s orphans in the field in front of the school where they were slipping and sliding while playing soccer with Jonathan. I have NEVER seen such big smiles, even from our little Boniface who was giggling and grinning with his new toy, even tangling himself in the string. After taking a few photographs of George, Felix (my new love and brother of Boniface), and Boniface, I dropped my apprehensions and let the children play with my $1,000+ camera equipment. Guiding their hands, each rushed to take their own photograph—even James (who has such a silent power) approached and requested a turn. It was pure JOY for me. Joy, joy, joy...

The goodness did not stop coming…

Dinner was marked by ugali, a local dish of boiled cornmeal. It is almost the consistency of grits that have been put in the refrigerator for later frying. Annamarie worked with David, one of our two chefs, to create a cake—flour, pineapple, cashews, coconut, and carrots. Again we were serenaded by the newly-coined “Van Robi Family Singers.” Bummed by the continued presence of clouds obscuring our stargazing, most of the team crashed quickly anticipating the even BIGGER day Thursday boasted.

SO, this is Thursday:

This morning we returned to our message: to uplift and to inspire the teachers of Mountain Park to love and to nurture their children—the ultimate future of this village and this country. We met with the teachers during their Thursday morning prayer sessions and offered them gifts of supplies for their classrooms. After proposing a collection last night, we each wrote a personal note to include with a 500 shilling note. While that roughly comes to $10 USD per person, it is a big deal here.

Our teachers quickly dispersed to begin their final day of activities in the classrooms while I continued to work the administrative end with the headmaster. Unfortunately, the day was so busy for me that I hardly had a second to enjoy it and I only was able to snap a few photos. However, I will ask that Amy add more detail in the next e-mail—she joined Jonathan and Susan with the baby classes. I was touched by meeting Peter, a boy of 9 years who has a severe vision deficiency. He is currently attending another school close to his home where he has been relegated to a class for the mentally handicapped because of his vision. He is the youngest of 11, we believe he continues to suffer from seizures, but we have already lined up willing sponsors to support his move to the school for the blind where another MPA student, Lewis, is in attendance. Apparently Peter must undergo further testing as regulated by the Kenyan government. We will keep everyone updated…

Today was not only a big day for our educators as it was their last day with the children, but today was also the day where our gifts were delivered to EVERY student at MPA. Bedecked in my bright green rain boots and a poncho, the team and I delivered the bags classroom by classroom. The little ones were in awe of the toothbrush, and the older students took pride and expressed creativity in marking their bags with their name. The gifts sent with us by sponsors were also delivered today, and we worked very hard to capture that in photography for those sponsors who were not able to join us in the moment physically—we know you love your kids!

And then dinner rolled around…

After a meal partially prepared by generous gifts given to Lynn from a local woman whose child she sponsors (this woman seriously gave up part of her livelihood for Lynn—beans, bananas, and eggs—the floor was yielded to Dee Ann for her devotional and to Mama Robi for a special presentation. We were each given a Kenyan name based on Mama Robi’s impressions of us. It was quite intimidating, but here is what we came out with: Nynguthi (Lynn), Mumbi (Roz), Wanja (Paige), Muthoni (Tiff), Wangui (Trahlyta), Wangeci (Susan), Maina (Jonathan), Mukami (Missy), Wanjiru (Amy), Wairimu (Ashley), Wanjiku (Joan), Nyambura (Annamarie), Nyawira (Dee Ann), and Mwihaki (Gwen).

Final note: the stars are beautiful tonight, really just like a planetarium. Children’s Home dedication in the AM, shopping trip to the markets in Nakuru in the PM.

Love hard,

tnick

i wear my shades in the dark

News brief:

We will likely be without electricity for the remainder of our stay in the guest house at the Robi Family compound. The transformer for the VILLAGE was vandalized last night, and as tomorrow is a national holiday in Kenya for the close of Ramadan, I can't see the Kenyan electric company jumping on our problem.

Sadly, we were also unable to paint today. After another excellent and productive morning in the classrooms (you MUST see the handmade bead necklaces the Standard 7 students created that we will be posting and selling soon to support the project), the construction crew was not able to finish sanding the walls before lunch.

Happily, we took a tour of the village, met some family friends of the Robi Family and Lynn (Stephen and Elizabeth, who supply the eggs to Mountain Park Academy from their 500 chickens), toured the hallowed grounds of Lucy (this woman has built FOUR prayer dwellings in the bush...really in the BUSH), and will be stargazing soon!





And those clouds are NOT computer-generated people! Hoping for electricity, Boniface's health, and to share more with everyone soon about our Tuesday...

tnick

big.beautiful.day

(This post is reflective of events for Monday, September 29, 2008)

Holy cow.

I think this is the second post that I have begun with an expletive, but it is so appropriate. Firstly, let me just say how AWESOME Amy, our guest blogger, is and what as asset she is to the team. I will brag on her-- her father-in-law is the gentleman who donated the money to purchase the land for the first children's home. Furthermore, it is so encouraging and incredibly fun to have a fresh perspective on our daily activities through the blog and through photography. Secondly, we would like to apologize to everyone for the lack of photography on the blog and the slow e-mail updates. We are using a dial-up connection, taking it back to 1993! As you can imagine even if you are only slightly tech savvy, posting photos on that speed are nearly impossible, but we are giving it a shot every day.

Now, on to the good stuff! Today was our first "BIG" day-- the first day in the classrooms with the children from the time they arrived for the morning assembly to the last bell for the older children. We are so honored to begin our day with them and they were incredibly inspiring. They lifted our spirits in the early hour with singing, followed by the unfurling of the Kenyan and American flags side-by-side. We did our share of singing too. Thankfully our rendition of the national anthem was better than our attempt to sing three hymns at church. Without background music on Sunday, we stumbled over the words and received blank stares in return. Today we redeemed ourselves!

I had a very special personal moment right after the assembly concluded and the students hurried to move desks and begin class. One of the two children I sponsored shyly approached me with a big hug. Only a few hours later, I was meandering with my camera over to the shack where the cooks prepare porridge and lunch for the children. As I approached a woman exited the hut and yelled, "Tiff!" I was confused, not quite sure how she knew my name. Beautiful moment: the woman is the mother of the two girls I sponsor. I was greeted with two, HUGE hugs, she took me by the hand to meet the women with whom she works, we exchanged stories about our families-- it was like we had been friends for many, many years. So cool.

In other amazing news, Susan's trunk arrived! Gideon received news last night maybe 2 minutes after Susan concluded her devotional that the trunk was found in Nairobi. He crawled out of bed at 4:00 this morning to pick it up so that Jonathan and Susan would have supplies for their lessons today. All of our teaching teams gushed over their experiences at dinner-- I am hoping to sit in on more of the classes on our next full day, Thursday, so that I can report more on the creative teaching techniques and lessons our team is introducing to strive to differentiate Mountain Park Academy in the future. Otherwise, we were avidly working to collect updated photographs for our sponsors. Amy and I pushed through close to 100 children in about 1.5 hours with white board marker-stained hands to show for it. Dee Ann, Joan, and Annamarie (with the help of two teachers from Mountain Park serving as interpreters) interviewed every child to be considered for the children's home. Jonathan introduced the children to NEW soccer balls and flying discs. And before you know it, the final school bell was ringing and we were all exhausted...

And we are still exhausted...even after our special Kenyan treat at dinner: corn roasted in the husk, Kenyan popcorn.

Thank you for reading and for your support of our goals. You are making an incredible difference, really. You are making an incredibly difference, really. As a preview for Tuesday, we will be painting the inside of the children’s home and spending another half day in the classroom!

Love hard! And as Missy would say, love like crazy!

beautiful nakuru

Hello! My name is Amy and I am helping Tiffany write today.

First let me say that traveling here to Kenya has been an eye opening experience already. You know you see the pictures and you hear the stories, but it isn't real, vivid or truly experienced until you actually get here. At least that's what happened to me.

We left Nairobi yesterday and traveled to Nakuru. It was about a two our bus ride. The first hour we spent driving through the HUGE city of Nairobi. There were people walking around everywhere to buy and sell things on the side of the road. Behind the makeshift markets were massive clusters of shack-like homes. I wanted to take pictures but it seemed wrong or invasive. I didn't fully realized that people lived in such poverty until I saw it with my own eyes. However, as we drove through these towns full of people...everyone was smiling and laughing. It made me second guess my feelings of "sorrow" for them. They might be even happier than we are with all the "stuff" we have. It made me realize how much I DON'T need and how much MORE they have than I do.

As we drove out of the Nairobi there was wide open land with sparce trees and a few wild animals to see. We stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of some zebras, monkeys and wild boars. Finally we made it into Nakuru, you could definitely tell when we made it there because the road got VERY bumpy! We drove up a steep hill, pass the school's dining hall to the Robi Family's home. Mama Robi, Mr. Robi and Gideon along with a few other helpers in their home - chef David and house hand Mary made us feel very welcome. One of the women on the team expressed that she felt "at home" in their home and I couldn't agree more.




After getting to our rooms and unpacking we took a tour of the property. We were able to see the children's home that is almost finished. I know this was a joy for Dee Ann and Lynn, to see another realization of dream come true. I could almost hear the children's voices and laughter running around the unfinished house as we walked through it. It is truly a gift from God. We also walked through the dining hall, the buildings that house all of the classrooms. The sunset was incredible. It seems as though the sun is SO much bigger here!

Finally we walked back up to the house to see a few children running around in the Robi's front yard. A little boy named Boniface was one of those children. His sweet smile and bright eyes just warmed my heart. Tiffany's grandmother and Lynn's mother, Barbara Hutchins, sponsors Boniface. He has a heart defect that they are trying to fix. He has his whole life ahead of him and I know he is thankful to have someone that believes in him and supports him here in Kenya.

This post is getting quite long, so I'll wrap it up here. All in all we had a fantastic day, with great people, and we saw the amazing things that God has already done here in Nakuru with Mountain Park School. We covet your prayers. Thank you for walking with us on this journey.

Blessings and Peace,
Amy Cathy

day 1.5

Good morning!

Today begins our first full day in Kenya-- in a little over 1 hour we will begin our drive to Nakuru for a full day of planning and work for the week's activities.  I thought I would briefly catch everyone up on the events of our travel and last night...

After some peanut butter trauma in the Atlanta airport as my jar of reduced fat Jif was deemed "gel" and therefore contraband, bomb/drug sniffing dogs, and Roz's realization that the batteries to our documentary camera were still on the chargers at home, we made it to Amsterdam!  And then we experienced Europe briefly (and mostly in the wallet)...$4 mini cups of coffee and $5 Diet Cokes.  We were wildly impressed with KLM despite the fact that the food on the second 8-hour leg was...well, interesting.  I got to watch old episodes of 30 Rock and the Big Bang Theory, while others enjoyed the newest films; Sex and the City was a popular choice among our group of 99% women.

And then we finally touched down in Nairobi!  We were greeted by Mr. Robi, Mama Robi, Steve (Gideon's brother), Ken (one of our two drivers), and two other gentlemen who helped load the vans.  Of all 15 trunks and personal suitcases, only one was missing.  We are hoping that the supply trunk was accidentally left in Amsterdam and that is will arrive this morning before we hit the road.  After settling in at the Methodist Guest House around 11:00 PM and enjoying a small meal and sodas, Gideon lead us in prayer and communion-- and then it was off to rest!

The sentiment this morning is anxiety-- we are all eager to get to Mountain Park and see the Kenyan countryside on the way.  I think everyone's spirits were lifted by an amazing breakfast-- fresh fruits, omelets, croissants, breads, tea, and coffee-- and a little down time.   And here I am writing to you...

Beyond this list of tasks we've marked off and completed, I simply want to express how wonderful and kind the people are here.  Every guard and guest house employee greet you with a smile, a hello, and sometimes a handshake.   

That is all for now.  I hope to be able to share my photos with you soon, and Amy may also be doing some work on here (she's a fellow blogging/photography enthusiast).

Love hard and be loved-- thank you all for the support.

tnick

t minus two and counting

Is it sinking in yet for you all?!? I must report that I am not quite there yet and it may take me stepping on the airplane in Atlanta, or stepping off the airplane in Amsterdam to arrive at the conclusion that we are forty-eight hours from take-off and just over forty-eight hours from stepping on Kenyan soil!

As I am sure that everyone is busy making their final preparations at home and at work, my entry will be short tonight-- one humbling linguistics fact and just a few words that you may find useful in sharing your life story (or at least a few important details of it) with the children.

Swahili does not distinguish between 'he' and 'she' - the language treats all people the same regardless of gender.

• Mother - Mama (MA-ma)
• Father - Baba (BA-ba)
• Grandmother - Bibi (BI-bi)
• Grandfather - Babu (BA-bu)
• Sister - Dada (DA-da)
• Brother - Kaka (KA-ka)
• Child - Mtoto (m-TOH-toh) / Children - Watoto (wa-TOH-toh)

Disclaimer to the team: despite how simple these terms are, I imagine I will fumble them greatly and you will be highly entertained. While in a foreign country and speaking to natives, I have the tendency to automatically switch my brain into Spanish thanks to my six months in Salamanca and ten years of study. Yes, I did this in Austria and Italy, and trust me-- they laughed and then replied to my Spanish question or phrase in English.

Looking forward to travelin' light with you all soon...

tnick

happy autumnal equinox day!

Okay, so I know I have done a TERRIBLE job following through with my self-proclaimed blog extravaganza. I offer two excuses: 1) I am savoring every minute of this beautiful weather and eagerly anticipating the true arrival of fall, and 2) I spent 3 hours this evening with Mom and Bob and Joyce Burnett pouring over the new Mountain Park Academy class rosters to finalize new spellings, which students have withdrawn, which students have graduated, how many students and babies have joined us, and for which students we have been able to collect updated data (pictures, bios, letters, etc).

Phewwwwwwwwww!

It was a TASK (yes, that deserves capital letters) and the administrative team will have a TASK to complete on our upcoming trip! A horror to my mother in light of her role as multi-purpose data collector, we learned from Bob that name changing is quite common in Kenya: older students often change their own names on a frequent basis, some children change their names when their mothers remarry, and other prefer the mother's maiden name upon divorce. Despite the fact that the practice is a bit of an abomination to the ritual of record keeping here in the States, I am actually a bit envious. I've always wanted a name a bit more exotic-- Stella or Sofia, perhaps? : ) Nevertheless, the exciting news gathered from the Bob and Joyce's new compiled rosters is that we are growing every day at Mountain Park. Though some students may withdraw from school under various circumstances, many others eagerly fill that space and expand our mission. Joyce emphasized that some students had enrolled as few as three days before the first team arrived on September 1. Thank you Bob and Joyce for your time tonight...

I would like to take this time to share with you all a 'preview' of our upcoming trip. Lynn passed along a few photos of the daily life at Mountain Park and our very first children's home to be dedicated next week. I hope that this sneak peak will amplify the excitement for our first-time travelers and renew that same inspired spirit in our veterans. After listening to Carol's personal stories tonight, those even as simple as her listening to a mother's tuition concerns, I can only hope that we will all come away with such unique pieces and details that will undoubtedly enrich our lives for many, many years to come.

We also have an updated photograph of the staff and new headmaster-- education team, this is for you!

And now, for our Swahili lesson...short but very sweet.

We LOVE to love in this organization, hence our philosophies of "It's all about the love." and "Love the children. Feed the children. Teach the children." And, I think we will be discovering love in one of its purest forms in Kenya-- one without an ounce of materialism but with an immeasurable about of gratitude. Appropriately, the first of the eight planned homes for orphaned children in our village will be named upendo.

• Love - Upendo (oo-payn-doh)

I'll sign off on that note. : )

tnick