I don’t even know where to begin….in Africa absolutely nothing is the same….food is different, cars are different, roads are different, shopping is different, culture is different, environment is different….need I say more? Did I expect it to be different, of course I did, but it is way different. Overall, I really enjoyed Kenya and would love to go back someday.
It’s 7ish am Kenya time and our plane has just landed. I have no idea what to expect or what is going to happen, I am fully relying on God to take care of me and lead the way. We head down the hall and stop to make a quick restroom break, which might I remind you isn’t the easiest because you have to take your carry on luggage in there with you in the small space. Bathroom break is over and I am nervous because I don’t know what is next. We then head to a counter to fill out our visa card application, next get in line to meet the customs officer, arrive to him, get fingerprints scanned, get visa, pay our fee, and get passport stamped. We then head to get our checked luggage which was 2 suitcases each and low and behold they are out of carts, but then we waited and got one, good thing because we had a lot of stuff. We then come to another person and they say go head and go on through. We get to the “waiting area” where there are tons of people standing there holding signs of the people they are supposed to pick up. We see a sign that says “Trizor and Ruth Uehle”, well that must be us, let me remind you again that yes I am nervous and putting my faith in God to get me where I need to be. I turn to Ruth and whisper, “Do you know these people?” she softly replies, “No I don’t.” Ok then here we go anyway. They start helping us with our luggage, we walk to the car get loaded in and I ask Ruth again, “Do you know who this is?”, she then replies “Yes, it is the sister of the Pastor wife we are supposed to be staying with.” Me: (Sigh) “WHEW!” feel a little comfort….but not for too long. I soon realize in Nairobi there is no traffic lights, no lanes, just honk your horn and butt in….yes scary for me….but after a while you semi get used to it. Oh and might I also mention that there are people walking in the road, weaving in and out of cars, heavy traffic…..ahhh!…..I am so exhausted I fall asleep within 5 minutes at this point so fortunately I missed a lot of that driving action. We then arrive to the people we are with’s house, which is in Nairobi in a gated community that locks and barb wire or something sharp at the top of all the gated area to keep others out. Their house is nice and was pretty cozy and yes we were pretty exhausted. They inform us we will stay there and rest and they will take us to Kijabe later, which is about an hour drive away or so. So we rest…and we rest….and we rest, which was nice but then we finally asked when we were going to Kijabe and they said they will take us that evening; we were there for about 2 days. I have learned through this part of the experience that Africa time is a lot different than America time. In America we go go go and never take a minute to slow down and breathe, in Africa it’s breathe and we will get there or do it when we get to it, kind of nice I have to say. At this point though I was really ready to get to the Pastor’s house and meet the kids soon. Don’t get me wrong or misunderstand me these people were all very nice and welcoming and took good care of us, I was very thankful. I was also a little on edge though at this point because I had no phone (other than expensive way of calling my husband) and no internet and was ready to get in contact with my family back here in America, as I am sure they were worried about me. I had chai here for the first time and it was amazing! I love chai, African chai that is! I am thankful for all they did for us and the time to rest and everything though.
We arrive in Kijabe at the Pastor’s house at about 11 pm. We visit for a little bit (they inform us at this point that we should probably keep our window shut because if not the monkey will come in and go through our stuff and take our stuff, yes they were serious!), sip some chai, and then he informs us we will be leaving at 9 am to go to the Children’s home to stay for the weekend at least. Alrighty then, surprise…I am thinking I still don’t have a phone because my plan was to buy a phone when I got to Kenya, no internet was fine, but I would like a phone. Oh and we haven’t exchanged currency yet so we technically had no money for anything if we needed it. Oh and in the mean time, my expensive every minute (American world phone) had quit working. The next morning Ruth and I get up early and walk to her Aunt and Uncle’s house to talk to them to get some advice and so she could briefly visit with them before we had to leave for the children’s home. Thankfully her Uncle let me use his Kenyan phone to call verizon to try to get my phone working again. We had a good brief visit with them, but we had to leave because it was time to go to Children’s home (Abba’s House and/or Orphanage). I then asked Pastor if we could stop somewhere so I could get a phone because I needed to call home to my husband to let him know I was ok, he said ok. We stopped in Navasha on the way to Abba’s house and Pastor took me to get a phone and get it all working, I was so thankful. He also took us to a bank to exchange some currency. On a side note, it is a very tough feeling when you don’t have any money or way of contacting your family (especially when you are in a completely strange place with “strangers”), I was very thankful when I reached the point where I could contact my family and had money in case I needed it. We also stopped at the grocery store to get some groceries for the weekend for the kids. By the way, did you know milk comes in a bag in Africa and sits on a shelf for sale? I have a working phone at this point and YEAH! I am so thankful! Pastor also briefly stopped by a National Refuge/Park on the way which was cool and had wild zebras and gazelles, very neat. I didn’t take my good camera the first go round because I didn’t know what to expect. So now we are on the “road” (dirt path) to Maragushu again to see the kids, well on the way there we break down along side the road…..uhoh….I have had a break down on the side of the road before but never imagined it would happen in Africa (kind of in the middle of no where) during my 3rdish ride, lol. So then we sat along side the road for a bit while Pastor made some phone calls and then we waited…..and waited….then a friend of his arrived in a jeep type vehicle. We transferred the groceries and stuff to it and Pastor was going to stay behind to wait on someone else to see about getting his truck fixed, so we rode with this guy to the children’s home. Let me just say….talk about off roading….after this ride I said, America does not know what off roading is, lol! Through mountains, dirt paths, huge rocks, rocky holey made up road paths, you name it we did it pretty well. It was interesting and fun, but let me just say “HOLD ON & KEEP PRAYING”. He was a great driver though, thankfully. I enjoyed the whole adventure!
So now, we arrive at the Children’s Home (Abba’s House) and the kids are so excited to see and meet us! I honestly did not know what to expect when I arrived. The kids were so kind and wanted to help carry all of our stuff and help out in anyway they could. They were and are so adorable! We get everything in and met all the kids and Ruthann shows us around. Ruthann is a 24 year old who has been living with the kids for a year and basically been mom to these 17 kids and she is awesome at it! The children’s home overall is pretty nice. Ruthann has it all painted nicely and everything. It is all concrete basically and there is no electricity accept when they run the generator very minimum at night (unless it is out of petrol (gasoline), which did happen a few nights) after generator goes off it is old fashioned lantern time, which was neat though. There is no running water, the only water they have is what they have bought and put in huge tubs to be used wisely as needed only. Of course no heat, no air, no refrigeration, the stoves and ovens they have heat from burning firewood in the furnace of them. Laundry is all done by hand with wash bucket, rinse bucket, ringer bucket, and bucket to put them in right before they get hung out on the clothes line. Bathing is done by two buckets, one bucket full of water they heated right before and the other just regular water. The kids “bathroom” was outside the home in a shed type building, which was literally a hole in the ground. The bathroom we used was a semi toilet and to flush it you had to poor water down it, so it was used conservatively. They had about 200 chickens, which is where their eggs came from and one cow, Daisy, who was pregnant while I was there. The eggs just sat on the counter until they were cooked. They had about 4-5 acres in the back where the shamba (garden) was where they had planted lots of different kinds of foods. The kids are great at helping with everything, they all have their own chores and they know what to do and when to do it. The older kids help out the younger kids when they need help with anything. It is just such a loving, caring, family oriented place! Amazing! These kids have basically nothing, especially compared to America, and they are so happy and satisfied with that. They are such a blessing!
The kids….
One kid in particular became especially attached to me, and his name is James. He is somewhere around 6 years old, most of the kids don’t know exactly how old they are. James was clinging to me from day one, which was so precious! He was my little buddy! Though he was somewhere around 6 years he only weighs about 37 pounds. He is the smallest and youngest kid of the 17 kids. He loves to be held and loved, I don’t blame him a bit. Some of these kids have seen and been through such terrible traumatizing situations in their life that we can’t even imagine seeing or going through and they are so young. Some of the kids lost their parents to aids, some of them witnessed their parents death, some of them seen one parent kill the other, a lot of the parents were killed in the political war that went on there in 2007 and kids witnessed that, and so on….so sad. My heart truly goes out to these kids because they deserve a lot of tender, love, and care. These kids are so special, I love them all and miss them so much already! Like I said there are 17 kids total, 9 boys and 8 girls. They range in age from about 6 to about 15 or 16. Each kid was very unique and special in their own way. There is one girl named Zippi and you can just tell she truly loves God and worshiping Him, she loves to sing and she has a great voice! One of the younger boys loves to dance; he just dances all around and is great at it as well. A few of the boys really enjoy sports, like volleyball or futbol. Their ball that they played with was made from plastic bags and string and they were completely satisfied with it. They also enjoyed frisbee. Their frisbee they used was a bucket lid….who would have thought, right?! A lot of the girls loved to sing and dance as well, there were a few songs they did (and taught me) that included motions and stuff so that was fun! While I was there I taught the kids how to play ultimate frisbee and I also taught them some new songs/activities as well. I really enjoyed spending time with them!
Well I have a lot more to say and tell but I think I will continue to tell my adventure in another blog (I have been going back and adding to this one for a long time now.), this one is already pretty long, sorry, there is just so much to tell! So please stayed tuned for part two which I will hopefully post soon! God bless you all and I hope you enjoyed my “novel”, lol, thanks for reading!
Great job on the blog post and pictures babe! Love you! proud of you!