Going Home.

Wednesday finally arrived.  It was time.  Jan had accomplished her mission, Gary and Mary were the best helpers.  It couldn't have been done without any of them.  We each were allowed 2 bags, and without anyone of us it would have been a lot less in supplies.  I think we each filled a need and I am very thankful for the opportunity.

Our plane didn't leave until 10:30 that night, so after another wonderful night and great morning we took off.  Jan had found the Trout Tree restaurant before and we stopped there.  It is a trout farm and they built a tree house around this very large tree.  What a fun place for a great trout lunch.  There are white monkeys with black tails in the trees and at least 15 ponds of trout.  When we arrived Jan was a little light headed and she was holding on for balance.  We think it was the medicine she took for her cold. 

One more opportunity to buy trinkets and off to Nairobi.  My cough was starting also.  We arrived in Nairobi about 2 hours early so went back to the Methodist Guest House.  There we met the founder of the house, a missionary from Seattle (she's been there about 20 years) and several other Americans. 
Finally on the plane.  I took some of Jan's medicine.  About one hour later I thought I was going to die!  The thought "I'm going to die on an airplane" did go through my mind.  But got some water and made it, but that was a scare.  We both thought it was the medicine, and not eating before we took it.  Yuk!


Going for water, nice tree



Great scenery.

Landed the next day... And I think I slept for three.  There certainly was a fog trying to get used to our time zone.  I'm adding a few pictures... Hope you enjoyed my story.  May you have a great vacation in the near future and share it with me!  Thanks for reading.



New furniture store





Ugly Fruit, tart seedy





Masai moms & babies



Dance for us



scenery





Firewood collection



 



Day care children



rock quarry for roads





the end.



Souviners



Kasey



It's safari time!

Monday morning bright and early our tour guide arrived for the final leg of our adventure. It's approximately two hours to the Mt. Kenya Safari Club.  And what a nice scenic drive.  Of course we are ready for the R & R...

No more mashed potatoes with bananas, baked banana that tasted like wall paper paste, hopefully a mattress more than 4" thick and all the wonderful things we Americans expect.  We are spoiled.  Anyone who doesn't appreciate what their ancestors did for them should be ashamed.  There are a lot of people taking plastic jugs to various water fountains and pumps to fill for the day.  All ages, mostly walking, some on bikes.  Can't see where they are from, so have come a long ways.

We take our first safari before going to the five star accomodations.  Of course we see impalas (pretty plentiful) and gazelles.  The pea hens and lots of wild boar (which really made me hungry for a well done juicy pork roast).  My mouth really watered!

 One of the first sightings was water buffalo.  They are large!  Glad we were in the vehicle.  This 8 seater had a pop up top that we could stand and look out.  We saw a blind rhinoceros which they are protecting.  They saw off his horn and it grows back! Didn't know that.   We also tour the protected area for the chimps.  Some of them are from protected areas and transferred here.  Some they have found in private captivity, and abused in other areas.  Did you know their DNA is 98.4% the same as humans?  Quite startling statistic!  I know, ..some of us act like that yet.   

Next stop the Safari Club.  We had driven past Mt Kenya and it's three peaks till we were on the west side of it (I think) and only one peak was showing.  But we had arrived!  How beautiful!  Couldn't have found anything more lovely and restful appearing.      The room was wonderful.  The first thing I did was run the tub full of hot water with bath salts, grab a beer and enjoy.  How great that was!!  We ate there and just enjoyed the place.  This place had tennis courts, swimming pool and a large maze.  Oh, and the bed.  Large and soft enough.  It was turned down for us and she also put a hot water bottle in it.  Mmmm! This place also had it's own heliport with helicopter sitting ready.  Of course that wasn't in our itinerary... we liked the 4 hour trip by car.

 On Tuesday we hung around after a nice breakfast outside (with the pelicans who'd join us if we didn't chase them off).  The temperature the whole trip was 70-85 degrees.  Wonderful weather.  And did I tell you it was on the equator?  This next picture I am standing on the equator.  To my right is the northern hemisphere and knee wall on my left said southern hemisphere.  This place also had something to do with the actor William Holden (if you're old enough to know who that was!).

 About noon we were again picked up and had a second safari.  We went to a neat resort, had lunch and went out back to a watering hole.  While we were eating two rhino were enjoying the water.  They left and some impala, guinea hens and more came and went.  Then came the giraffes.  Thirteen in all.  What I took as a dominant male giraffe walked around the watering hole, stopped and looked at us and we must have been okay... they drank and we enjoyed the view.  There were several large herds of elephant today also.  It was a great day. 

Jambo!

Jambo is the Swahili greeting for Hello.  Jambo!

I've forgotten to tell you a few things from some of the days and wanted to get them in. 

Everytime we visit a school or church we are "honored" guests.  We are alway given a seat in front and an interpreter if needed.  More often the interpreter is used to tell them what we say as the teachers and ministers all know English. 



Outside meeting



Doing the "bump"



All of the schools we visited were teaching English.  And they understand they will need it to go very far in life.  I tell a few of them my story of knowing 2 languages you're a bilinguist, 3 and you're trilinguist and if you know only one you are an American.  (Sad but true.)
We see some of the lessons on the chalkboard and it is in English.  Another thing to remember are the children who have never seen white people.  Some cry and don't want us to touch them and the older ones come up an want to feel our arms.  But they all loved doing the bump

   I  also forgot they love and served us french fries.  It was a treat for us and them.   Funny what foods are universal.  We had many kinds of cabbage salad. One night we had been given some fresh spinach.  We asked Fridah to cut off the ends and we would steam it.  She chopped it into shreds like slaw.  It was easy to cook!

 Shower curtain?  It was hung about Friday.  We had mentioned they could put the wooden door from shower on outside of the bathroom (hall) for privacy and plastic inside.  When we got home one evening the shower curtain had been split in two, with half on out side of room (by the hall) and rest next to the wooden door (but outside of shower).  Hmmm.  I took down the one inside and hung it next to hall half so it gave us the privacy.  You see we had smiles most of the time.

Another supply Jan had arranged and bought was rice and beans.  She had bought a mineral/chicken powder like the one "Save the Children" packs and sends.  I believe she bought 180 kilos of beans and 200 kilos of rice (2 large sacks each), plus the powder and bags.  These were put into individual bags (about 2 cups each) and large quatities given to different groups. 

I kept trying to take a picture of a local hotel, and tell you we stayed there, but after I thought of this I never saw one I could get in a picture.  So to tell you we saw quite of few like the ones that had a "butchery" below with the meat hanging in the windows, or selling beans or even cafes below wouldn't do the story justice.   We were very lucky to have the accommodations we had.

  I took a picture of the "facility" which most of the schools, churches and homes had but decided not to publish it. We do have it lucky in many ways. And think how impossible it would be to put all this in when the cities are already large and homes so close together. It seemed as though where ever we were there was always someone giving Jan a "proposal".  And the rest of us were asked if we could "sponsor" them with this or that.  There were so many a person could help. 

Monday we go on our Safari!

Kwaheri (good-bye) to Meru.

Masai has 2 new churches

Saturday morning we were met on time by the Bishop and the pastor (Aaron) of the Masai area.  We were going to see two new churches in this area.  It took 2 hours over very bumpy, rocky roads.  This has to be hard on his car, we hit bottom more than once. Aaron had given up class to take us to see his people.  On the way we passed into the game reserve.  It is surrounded by a very high fence to keep the elephants inside.  We had been around this area before and was looking forward to new territory.  On the way we notice the people were quite a bit taller and of course they were all walking also. We saw elephants at a distance, giraffe, camels and a zebra.  We got to the first church, and the parishners were inside singing and praying (loudly).  You could tell it was a new "building".  They were given money for a window. We bought a few souvenirs here and moved on to the newest church that had been formed. 
   If you look at the two pictures you can see a difference in the building method.  One question they always asked us was what we did for a living.  I told them I sold houses and land.  They always had a puzzled look when I told them that.  So at this second church I told them I worked with new construction and their method of building with the leaves in between sticks was better insulation and I'd have to take that back and show it to Americans.  That got a few laughs. You can see the difference in the two.  The first is more typical.


Traditional home



Today's home



  We next were shown their homes and we walked over and took these two pictures.  The first is a traditional Masai home with the leaves insulating the sides and cow dung on top.  The second is what they build today.  Can't figure out how these tall people lived in the first one!

Off to 3 more schools.  The school supplies are gone.  We stretched the last 3-4 from what we had given to 1-2 schools in the past.  But they kept adding schools and churches to the list.  The lost baggage could have been used.

That night Bishop William and his wife Katherine hosted dinner for us. Guess what we had... spaghetti, and chicken.  It is a real treat to serve a whole chicken.  I took a bite and heard Jan laugh.  I looked over and she had a hard time not laughing out loud. It was tough, hard as a rock.  I kept chewing.  When we got home she said she pulled off one piece, couldn't chew it and put rest back!  They told me about the arrowroot, not the chicken!!

 For dessert there was some ice cream.  They do not like cold food. It was always a challenge to find cold pop or any drink. Of course most of them don't have refrigerators.  Did I say the Bishop had just gotten electricity the year before?  And the TV last year was solar powered.

Katherine is also the superintendent of the girl's boarding school that we did a cooking demonstration for the first or second day.  She told us the girls came to her afterward and said we had cooked with fingernail polish on.  Their instructor had told them to never do this.  Also we salted the potatoes after we fried some and the teacher right then asked us if we didn't need to "cook" the salt.  Hmmm. 

The school sent a certificate to us.. mine said Jacey Riggs. 





One of better roads



It finally dawned on me that without freezing weather the rocks are never going to break down.  They also still had the volcanic appearance.



Orphanage, construction, & dinner



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Water barrels at Orphanage.

Today we visit the Orphanage which is next to our location.  It is really nice, and of course everyone gives to it.  It has three barrels for collecting rain, nice nice grounds & buildings.  They are promised money for a talapia farm if they will furnish the quarters we are in with fish when there are visitors. Good for them and good for our place which they are trying to make a meeting house and quarters for other visitors.  There is another being built, our house will be the new Bishop's home.

Next we stop at the Methodist headquarters.  They are also building a new building. The concrete is dumped in a pile. Men then shovel it to a step, and the men there shovel it up to next step, and up to the platform.  It is then shoveled into wheelbarrel and pushed to the form they are filling.  The scaffolding here is pretty straight.  I saw lots of scary building sites.  Our workers would never use them.  And the govt would be shutting it down! 

As we travel down the road we again see men on rock piles along side of the road.  We are told a pile of rock is dumped, then for a living, individuals sit on top of these rock and break them into small rocks used for the roads. Also some donkey carts, some with oxen.  Bicycles with 6 plastic carts piled high, motorcyles with 5 & 6 people on them, including babies or small children. 

We see more women's groups and another school.  Lots of supplies to deliver. 

Tonight's dinner is at the Assoc bishop.  Spaggetti with the carrot, pea and meat dish again.  It is their staple.  Also some fruit, the 'tea',  sweet potato (it's white not yellow) served plain, arrowroot and corn (field corn past picking time). Her husband is in Korea for 3-4 years of study.

We've given to the ladies groups panties, patterns and washable sanitary napkins (girls have to stay home during these days) chickens, goats, scarfs and bags for shopping and paid for talapia farms.

The schools have received pens, pencils, crayons, soccer ball, frisbees and sometimes money.  We still have lots to deliver.

Warm showers!



Fridah with broom/mop



What a luxury, and no picture of this.  Why didn't I take more pictures?  The handle on the shower is same as our outside faucets, open small handle.  Turn it to far and you scald, but it's warm.  Door on the shower is wood, and we've suggested they put that on the outside of the bathroom and hang a curtain in the shower... see if that works.



We watched Fridah clean and she is pouring her wash water in the quarter size drain, floods everything.  The toliet is squirting inside and out, fills the bucket and overflows-- no wonder we have water on the floor all the time.



The few waiting for clinic

 Wednesday.  This day and Thursday are a big reward.  Maybe one of the best feelings I've had about being here.  We (Trinity United Methodist Church in Lincoln) and Jan and her fund raising.. have paid for a medical clinic.  (This is the "we" when I say we have supplies or money or such.)  So we get to this new church and there has to be 200 people waiting for the free medical clinic.  And of course we are later than we wanted to be (African time... whenever).  We take a while looking at facilities and getting it set up.  The Dr.s and pharmacists arrive later and we get to work.
The Dr. in charge decides the older people should stay on main level and we want the rest to come up to the hall.  Upstairs we get three Drs and all the pharmacy.  Line them up and it's a go.  We see 571 people today.  My job is to usher each person to a Dr's door, and make sure there is no time lag.  Mary is doing that with the other 2 Drs in lower level.  Gary is getting them in the door,  making sure they have their name on a small paper and the lines (to Dr and pharmacy) keep moving. At one point the Drs take a "tea" break and another time the pharmacy runs out of a certain drug, so we have some breaks.  Jan saw a lady selling bananas out front so Grace (our new friend) goes out and buys a few.  We have bananas, not tea. 

Waiting for Dr or pharmacy


I decide these children need some fun so I start the bump with them. Or the High Five.  Pretty soon they are smiling and so are the Moms.  I think they must come in batches because will have five kids lined up at the same time.  Anyway it makes the day go a little faster to see the kids having fun.

Thursday is clinic again. Today there are 791 patients, and we've put them all in the upstairs hall.  I'm the usher again, Mary is getting them to the Dr or pharmacy location and Gary is making all the other lines and people moving.  We've got this in the bag!   Everyone is patient and never tire or want special treatment.   They don't get upset if we put an older person or crying baby ahead of them. One lady brought a chicken under her arm.  We have also given a bag of seeds to everyone who comes.

When this is done we still have time to deliver chicks.  We get in the car, it has had the boxes of chicks in the seats loaded and ready.  Yep, as we move the boxes there is chicken "poo" all over.  So, try to clean, put down some plastic bags (small) and no breathing, but get the chicks delivered to a disabled group.

And we've decided to celebrate a job well done.  Off to the pizza parlor where we meet Grace and her twin sister Faith who was one of the Dr. techs.  Nice night. 

Monday is school day.



Chalk board with classes books

This has to be the poorest school.  These schools are started by a church, and when they get to a valid point the government will step in and help. But the parents still pay some, and this is big reason the education never goes very far.  Poor pay for the teachers.  Children in ragged uniforms with dirt or mud floors. They are fed from one large pot of beans. But they are smiling and welcome us.  They are so happy with the frisbees, and we know every pencil and crayon is needed. And always tea afterward, rice and soup.
Then another church womens group. 
Some observations:  Bad roads, washing by the streams, oxen carts, and hoeing the fields by hand hoe. Some oxen in the fields.
We made our own dinner tonight.  Baked potatoes and cole slaw. 
Each time we get in the car we wash our hands with wet wipes (it's so dusty -red dust) and I've managed to wipe my face.  Now I have a rash for the 3rd day from this.  But we did get mosquito nets yesterday and they are hanging!
We also get a promise they will fix the toliets and showers.  I hope, I hope!

Saturday night in Meru, Kenya



Fridah & Grace

 Well I have no phone service so a wonderful young lady named Grace buys me a new Sim(sp) card.  She and I both try to get it to work over several days with no luck.  She's only 22 yrs old, don't the young people know all that stuff?  It had her baffled too.  Our private cook is 22 also but doesn't understand english as well.  Fridah always says yes to what we ask, then does her own thing. 
So we go to town to get a few items this house will need.  And we find a pizza place!  What a treat!  I bought a beer and took it home. Do they have pizza everywhere?


Offerings to auction



Sunday is church day, all day.  We divide and visit.  Each of us are guests at different churches.  I am picked up by the leader of all the Aids volunteers.  Meru needs more like her.   Anyway, I get picked up at 9 am, and we have tea when we get to the church. Tea is approx 2 quarts milk, 1 qt water and 1 tea bag.  (No comment). They also serve fruit, rice and more. 2 elders were both named Festus. Service starts about 10-10:30.  At 2:30 the minister gives the message.  Lots of singing & loads of prayers.  Offering (taken 3 times) was also in the form of fruit and chickens which they then auction off.  (Jan bought the rooster to wake us each morning.) It was a long day... 

Next few days in Meru, Kenya

Let me tell you about our beds.  Of course they are welcome.  It is a 4" mattress on a bed frame.  Lots of boards.  Takes getting used to.  After the flight and trip to Meru we were ready for rest.  One is concerned about mosquitos and of course there is one or two in our room.  So I covered my head with the sheet.   To hot.  Sheets are brand new and scratchy.  It is a long night.  Next evening we're so tired we are silly, but it's fun.  I tell Jan I'm either going to love her or hate her at end of the trip. 

2nd day we awake to the sound of goats.  Our first batch of goats have come. 16 of them.  We get to wrestle them and take their pictures for all those who have bought one. 

We visit 2 groups today.  They alway sing greetings us. And have big smiles.

Have welcome speeches and on to business.  We have panties, chickens, rice & beans for them.   The second group is established and have done real well. There are 4-5 with an education and they are teaching the other 25 to read, write, math and other life skills.  They have built a water reservoir, new church, nice kitchen.  They are given panties & napkins, 30 chickens, pens, tooth pics, and money for a talapia farm. And they have "tea" for us. I'll explain tea later.

The next few days are mixed, but will try to get all activities in, in some order.

More from Africa

Our first day of working is with a ladies group that has been established.  They greet us, sing for us and show us their projects.  They have an established Talapia farm, large garden, & some chickens.  We give them some chickens  and they have for us some Talapia they have raised.  Each of these women's group are formed to empower them, so they can survive on their own if necessary. We have also unpacked, counted and divided the supplies, met our cook and house keeper and more.  We are in a gated compound with a guard, and the house looks pretty good, considering what I heard about previous years.  We find.......   the toliet kind of flushes, and there is water on the floor all the time.  We switch on the hot water, one shower and the switch has broken and now only cold showers.  One small sink with only cold water in our bathroom makes for great morning wakeup when I wash my hair.  Wow!  Gary & Mary's bathroom isn't much better.  No hot water yet, floor is full of water and why not.. the floor drain is about the size of a half-dollar and it's plugged.

Our shower has a wooden door.  Mary's hair dryer stops, so no hair dryer for rest of trip.  (My excuse for hair style.)  Gary's shaver isn't charging, so he's anxiously awaiting the end of shaving (not). 

We squeegie the floors, put bucket under shower heads.  Hear it drip all night and I'm thinking we have it licked.. Ha!  In the morning we move the bucket to under the toliet tank.  Gary has been up and trying to keep ahead of the mess.  We find a hole in side of tank that I plug with a plastic bag and Gary gets a fork and fixes the float.  American ingenuity!  Shower is still dripping. 

Africa, Sept 6-7th, 2011




Roadside market for fruit & trees

 

Counting money & having tea



Here we go, leave Omaha at 1:15 pm and arrive in Nairobi 10:25 pm the next day Sept 7, 2011, which is 26 approx hours later. We stay at the Methodist guest house overnight and get ready to start our adventure in the morning. Our trip was Omaha to Chicago and then to Brussels, Belgium. Small layover and on to Africa. Wednesday morning we are met by William the Bishop of Meru area churches and Arnold a retired banker. It takes 2 vehicles as we have 350 lbs (one bag didn't make it) and our persoal luggage for the four of us. The main road out is under construction and what a sight. We go around the work and back in alot, but that's not the interesting part. Every kind of vendor is along side of the road and I mean along the side. Not only are there workers and equipment but people are crossing at will. They lay out their wares in the dirt and sell. We could buy jeans to toliet paper. Lots of fruit and more. Roads are terrible and people everywhere. No cell phone service for me but locals all have service. No internet yet either. Driving would be impossible for us-- they honk and plow ahead. Drive on left, dodge others, honk and turn. How could I guess it gets worse, I see a man in the netting above a truck full of goats enjoying a ride and a public bus full of people with chickens in crates above. And it's stuffed full....people and chickens. But it beats walking. Takes approx 4-5 hours to get to Meru. We stop to buy some fruit, trees, a drink and straight to the bank for money exchange. That is different too, as we sit and have tea while they are counting money right in front of us. On to our quarters for our 14 day stay.
More to come!