Out To Safari

Tomorrow we are going on a great African safari!! We are so excited and very grateful to be able to do this. We thank so many of you that helped us to have this opportunity. We will be leaving at 6:00am to drive to Tsavo West National Park. We will also spend time in Tsavo East, and Amboseli National Parks. We will take lots of pictures and put up a nice slideshow for all to see when we return. We will be away for four days and will return on a Saturday. The following Monday is a holiday so we won’t get a chance to add anything else until Tuesday but we’ll try to get something up that day. Thanks again to everyone and we will see you after we have conquered the bush!!

*Note - Due to the general instability and slowness of the internet here at our office we have not been able to post as much as we would like to. Just so you don’t lose interest in us, here is a preview of coming attractions (this preview is approved for all audiences).

Where We Live, Laundry, Yehu Microfinance, Meet The Staff, Matatus, Saturdays At The Beach, Church In Kenya, Nakumatt, Kenyan Food. (yea it’s a lot)

Life in Likoni

This is definately an adventure. On Sunday we were invited for lunch at a church member's home in Likoni, another island that we had to take a ferry to. The ferry was packed full vehicles first, then hand carts, then bicycles, then people.

After the ferry we walked about two miles to their home where the family of 4 lived in one small room, about 10X12. The room was in a small building with 8 other rooms filled with 8 other families. There was an open common corridor in the middle where everyone sleeps because it is too hot to sleep in their rooms. There was no running water, no bathroom, and they cooked on a kerosene stove in the corner. It was a whole new level of poverty. We have walked by places like this and wondered if people really lived there or if they just hung out there. It was very interesting to see how a home like that works. We had a really good meal! Our hostess, Fabian made fried fish - not fish filets, the whole thing, eyes, bones, tail and all.

They noticed that Emily wasn't eating the fish and insisted that she "take" some, as that was the best part of the meal for them. (They say "take" in place of "eat") She did, and it was some of the best fish she’s had! It was just very intimidating for Emily to watch her clean them and then cook them and then want to still eat it! The family also had a 2 week old baby. We were so surprised to see how she handled him. He could completely hold his head up already. I think they just come strong because Heavenly Father knows what kind of life they will have, so he gives them a little head start. It is amazing to see how little extra care a baby gets in Kenya and they still seem to grow up fine. No cribs, no running water, second hand clothes that don’t fit. The family was very warm and welcoming and took us around their neighborhood to meet their friends.

We never walked on a paved road and never saw a building with running water or another Mzungu (when the kids saw us they would run and get their friends to come and see us and they would all yell “howa you”). When we first arrived we were somewhat surprised at our living conditions but after spending the afternoon in Likoni we were so glad to be back in our apartment. The whole experience was really an eye opener. It made the part of the city that we live in look like paradise.

Four Blissful Years

We celebrated our 4th Anniversary on Wednesday by having dinner at a beach hotel followed by an evening of folding laundry and Arrested Development (a TV show we watch on our computer). We had COLD Cokes (rare for anything to be cold), the food was really good, and we had friends to share with (see last picture)! We are still so glad to be married to each other! We have become better through our marriage and our love has grown deeper. We were grateful to be able to go out and celebrate.

Emily was so excited to see the glasses they brought with our Cokes! Just like her Mom's glasses at home, it was a wonderful piece of familiarity!

Something interesting is that next to us there was a family with a little boy, who was probably 2 or 3 years old. They were sitting with two white women, one German and one translating, who had pictures of a little girl about the same age. The father showed the picture to the little boy and proudly said, "Look at this little girl, son, you're going to marry her!" Yep, they were arranging a marriage. Love was in the air! The little boy seemed more interested in the bouncy ball the German woman gave him.

Culture Shocked Mzungus

Our first word! Mzungu is the Swahili word for Englishman or white person. It is not a derogatory term and the Kenyans apparently like Mzungus. We certainly have experienced this "culture shock" that people talk about. Interestingly enough, although Emily and I have been to other countries that are not our own this is the first time we really felt culture shocked. Our first day in Kenya was a tough one. We were extremely tired, having only slept about 10 hours over the previous 3 days. We were surprised by the intense poverty that we saw all around us. The standard of living is very far below what we are all used to. The first two pictures below, for instance, appeared to us to be housing that perhaps the families built themselves; something fast and cheap that provides a roof a place to sleep. We later found out that these are actually rental units. While it is considered a slum, it is a nice slum because it has a nearby water supply, but no electricity or plumbing. This "development" is adjacent to the office where we work. There is no part of the city that we have seen that is void of filth and poverty.

Multiple families would live in what you can see below for about 2000 KSH/month (about $29 USD) per family.

I think that part of our shock also came from the preconceived notions that we had about Kenya being a very dangerous place. Because of this, when people stared at us, which they constantly do, we were unsure if they we just having a look at the rare mzungus, or deciding how they would rob us. While we are still cautious where we travel and are careful not to be out after dark, we have come to feel rather safe in our situation. People are generally friendly and a group of small children that live under a large tree near our building greet us home every day after work with, "Hi howa you?" and a collective "Welcome to Mombassa!!" while their mothers smile and wave to us.

The road from the Mombasa Airport.

Here is a very short clip of some sights and sounds of the taxi ride from the airport to our apartment.

Well...we tried to upload this video and after more than an hour it is not done and we have to leave our internet connection. We'll try again tomorrow!

Arriving In Kenya

After another long flight we landed in Nairobi at 7am. Our next flight left from the domestic airport across the street at 11am so we had some time to kill, but we were so tired we just wanted to get checked in and try to sleep some more. We got off the plane and paid for our visas - we heard we could have some trouble getting visas and getting through customs but they didn't check anything, they are so desperate for tourists they just took our money and stamped our passports. On the way across the street to the domestic airport there was a group of nice gentlemen to help us with our luggage. Although we kindly declined their services they grabbed our bags out of our hands and pulled them for the final 50 yards and then told us we had to pay them. Luckily for us the airport patrol came strolling by and they dropped our luggage and ran. A few of them were courageous enough to come back and get a few shillings out of us. The airport was a small building with no air conditioning (a luxury we would soon be entirely without) and a small snack bar. When we flew into Mombasa and got off the plane it felt 20 degrees hotter. The coastal humidity was thick and has taken some getting used to. An employee from the bank, Bernice, was waiting for us at the airport and took us home in a taxi. Bernice took us to the grocery store and then we came home and got settled in for our first night in Kenya.

Nairobi Airport

Leaving the Domestic Airport for Mombasa

Boarding the plane to Mombasa - our last flight!

Finally there!!

London Bridgis

At our half way mark we got a break. We had a twelve hour layover in London and we took a train to downtown London.

We found a map of the tube (the subway system in London) and got busy. We walked through Hyde Park,

saw Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards,

then to London Tower Bridge. We also saw the houses of parliament, Westminster abbey, and Big Ben. The sights were great and the walking got us tired enough to sleep on the next plane ride.

At Buckingham Palace we met a nice little Englishman who told us all about the English military including old stories whilst he was in the military. We ate at ye olde McDonalds and had a barbeque pork sandwich (no Jim, not the Mc-rib, it wasn’t near as good) and headed back to the airport.

The weather was of course overcast and cold with a little rain.

Big Ben (actually the 14 TON bell inside, not the clock tower - a fun fact from our English mate)

The Commencement

It's finally happened; political leaders from opposing sides, Odinga and Kibaki, have arrived at an agreeable compromise and peace is being restored to Kenya. Things have been calm and peaceful in Mombasa for over a month now so Emily and I are off, only two months behind schedule. We will still return near the end of April to get back into school for the summer semester. Emily and I are flying out of DIA tomorrow at 8:35am MST. We will have a long day of traveling, with a half day of seeing the sights of London mixed in during a 12 hour layover there. We have set this blog up to keep all interested parties up to date on our great adventure. Anyone who doesn't know what is going on - Emily and I (Justin) are spending about 2 months in Kenya where we will be working for a micro-finance bank called Yehu Microfinance. Microfinance is very interesting and is making a real impact in the fight against poverty in developing countries as well as more advanced countries including the USA. We will try to write on a regular basis about the things we are experiencing. Feel free to send us an email, we would love to hear from you. Well here we go, Kenya or bust!!

Dulles International Airport - Washington DC

Mid-Air

Very Tired...

Our trans-atlantic airplane - Jim would know what kind!