Africa Part 1

The first of June we headed to West Virginia for an outing with the Franklin youth!  We hiked Seneca Rocks. Easy hike with a great view. 

We went to a river after and ate lunch. We couldn't stay long at the river. 

At the overlook.

We saw this sticker....awesomeness! 

Sunday after church, we came home for about an hour and then left for the airport. My friend Millie had her sister staying with her. We drove to Millie's place and her sister took us to the airport and then brought our suburban back to park so we didn't have to pay parking for 2 weeks. We flew from Dulles to Charles de Gaulle to Nairobi. We really liked flying with Air France.

Game time at the airport!

Since it was Sunday I told the kids to wait till it was midnight overseas...maybe Iceland? haha, before watching any movies. 

If you don't look too closely, the guy sitting right by Lee looks like Cal. 

Yummy food!  For the small portions, it's still quite a bit! We weren't hungry, that's for sure. 

They asked many times about drinks and once I requested hot chocolate. 

We're in France!!!

Haha, such a weird mascot for the Olympics!

You need to stop at a bakery in Paris...even if it is the airport.  There is a chain bakery there, Paul, and we grabbed some goodies. 

Video game demos were there too.  I think you had to pay if you wanted to play longer. 

Back on the plane again to Nairobi!!!

We saw lots of city lights flying over this area.  I think from Cairo?

We made it to Kenya! We brought several donations with us for the girls' school and also Lee's eye equipment which is quite expensive. Going through customs was pretty easy.  All the important, expensive stuff went right through.  It was slow going at the airport and there seemed to be a backup because some pieces of luggage they didn't have go through the scanner. Right at the end when we thought we were clear, a guy pulled Lee aside with a duffle bag full of pencils, crayons and books and other school supply stuff.  He opened it up and told Lee about the tax due on bringing this stuff into the country. Lee said it was for a girls' school.  The guy asked how much it was all worth and Lee started telling him individual prices, like the crayons are probably only 50 cents, etc and was letting the guy figure out the worth of all of it. Then the guy said, well, can I just take some for my kids? Lee said take whatever you want. He took only one box of crayons and one box of color pencils.  Whew!

The drivers were waiting for us right outside the airport, with a group of other drivers. I felt bad that we were so late, but nothing I could do about it. We walked with them through some parking areas and loaded our luggage into one van, and ourselves into another. Patrick was our driver and drove us a couple other times too.  

First stop was Subiaco Retreat, a place run by nuns. Elden got his own room and Shanna and Haley shared a room.  Elden's bathroom and our bathroom had a shared window in them up above the toilet, so he could talk to us if he wanted. We stayed the night there. When we first arrive we thought the place a bit sketchy....by the end of our trip it was quite nice! 

Breakfast in the morning.  I think they were surprised that we didn't eat much. 

Ready for our rides!

The grounds were quite lovely.

Shanna loved this tree and its flowers!  For Kenya we had to buy quite a bit of clothing.  We wouldn't have a washer and dryer so packed enough socks and underwear and garments for 14 days.  We rewore stuff, and we could handwash items--I brought laundry detergent. We also had to wear pants or dresses. No jeans. 

Patrick picked us up!  I sat up front and chatted with him. 

People drive VERY slow in Kenya.  The larger vehicles have sensors on them. If you go too fast they start beeping, and if you do that for very long the engine will shut off. The drive to the school from Nairobi is about 3 hours. 

We stopped at an overlook for Rift Valley.  Some fun shops too. 

We bought a few items at this store.  I liked the nativities, but we ended up not getting them. I did buy a cool giraffe though. 

A cute church along the way.

After the overlook of Rift Valley, there is a long two lane road that is called the escarpment. Technically the Mai Mahiu Escarpment. Since people drive so slow, Patrick was constantly passing people, even with a solid line. 

Patrick said this is a pretty famous place for roasted corn. 

We saw baboons on the side of the road!!!

Lots of cattle on the roads. 

We made another stope.  Patrick on the right, quickly catching up with some friends. 

We made it!

Wow, what a dirt road.  Craziest one I've ever been on!

Love the little schedules!

Lots of yummy food from a private chef--Robert. He made all of our meals while we were at the school. 

After lunch, we settled in a little and started meeting kids and helping with eye exams! We did youngest to oldest. 

We had our own tent, which was great. It was quite roomy and as you can see we each had our own bed. My mattress wasn't that great, but much better than sleeping on the ground.

Backtrack to unloading...

These girls are quite the athletes! They love their outdoor free time playing soccer and volleyball. 

The stuff that looks like mashed potatoes is ugali.  Kenyans love it.  They have it almost every meal. It's ground corn meal, cooked to a very thick consistency. 

These are Nairobi flies. We were told not to smash them because if you get the bug guts on your fingers, the bacteria from the flies can damage you eyes. Best to stay away altogether!

Day 2

Breakfast! We had this fried bread a few times...slightly sweet and very yummy. Mandazi. I didn't realize that Elden couldn't swallow pills.  We took malaria medicine every morning. He would dissolve his in hot chocolate and drink it. Not sure if that affected its effectiveness, but he never contracted malaria. We had Yellow Fever vaccines at Costco before we left. Those were expensive!  About $1000 for our whole family. Ouch. 

Lee and Elden had fun kicking around the soccer ball a lot. 

Shanna and I helped Lee with eye exams and Haley and Elden helped with and art project and taking photos. 

We were given an empty classroom to set up in. 

All these girls make me smile!  Such beautiful people. 

The water tank ran out right when Haley and Elden were trying to wash out paintbrushes.  They were able to later, thankfully. This is where we washed a couple items too. 

Random cows walked around the property. 

More playtime!

I am not sure if I explained this yet, but some boys attend this school till they are in about 3rd grade.  At school they learn Swahili and English. You can stay at the school full-time if you can wash your own clothes by hand and are of course, a girl. Boarding schools are the normal in Kenya.  It's weird to think of sending my kids away for two months at a time and not being a part of their everyday life. 

Clean up time at the tent!

Shepherd's pie for lunch.  I love their rice there!

Book reading!

Another picture of the classroom for eye exams. 

Calendar items!

Lee bought this item specifically to bring to Kenya. A hand-held auto refractor. Lee had to get the lighting just right and then it would work.  He thought it wasn't working at all.  Thankfully it did....in the right conditions. 

Outdoor games and afternoon eye exams. 

Dinner time.  We didn't snack a lot at the school so were very hungry at each meal.  Meal-time was one of my favorite times on the trip. 

Little Jimmy is in heaven...fried chicken!

The second night Alice, the founder of the school, told us her story about growing up in an extremely poor Maasai family. Her dad died when she was young and because of her brothers she was able to attend school. About age 12, a guy came to take her to be married as Alice was promised to him by her father when she was little. Alice's mom refused. The man then said that since he couldn't marry her that the mom had to pay him with livestock or something.  She again refused. Through Alice's hard work she was able to get scholarships and go on to university as well. Later as an adult she visited JMU for a special teacher training. There she talked to people about her idea to start a school for the Maasai girls. Some students and faculty raised $5000 and bought this land.  It's grown ever since.  

Shanna was super tired so went to bed.  A local did some singing for us too. 

Alice is standing. 

Day 3

Celebration day at the school for the opening of a new building--a health clinic and a computer lab. The building cost about $50,000.  Alice spoke and a few local and regional leaders came and parents were invited too.  It was fun to see the Maasai singing and be part of the ceremony. 

Shanna and Lee sat in back. 

Robert with his little boy, Lyle! He was so cute!

The rolled up flat bread is chapati!  We loved eating it.  Haley's made it a couple times since we've been home. 

Playing games after lunch. 

One of the leaders, Tracy, brought out some goodies back from the USA, purchased at Target, haha. We had fun playing some games that afternoon. 

We did a self-tour of the library too. 

Shanna and Lyle!

Skip-bo became a regular game.

So beautiful.

Dinnertime!

We played some games at night as well.  Each evening the girls go to their classrooms and hang out for a few hours before bedtime and do homework.  Much like Harry Potter and the Gryffindor Common Room. They are just there, by themselves.  So cool!  There are guards at the school walking around outside too.