Africa Trip, June 2013

2013 Africa trip:

Day 1: Monday, June 10: Travel to Mutomo and water intake source.

After spending the night in the Hilton in downtown Nairobi, the group woke up at 6:00 am. After a quick shower, we headed to the main floor for breakfast with the group. The hotel had a wonderful breakfast buffet, including made to order smoothies & omelets, a full bakery, cereal, a fresh fruit bar, fish & cheese, and a bar of hot food including bacon, sausage, potatoes, rice, & curry. After trying everything on my first plate, I filled my second with my favorites: rice, curry veggies, fish, & cheese. They also had really good juice. I think it was fresh squeezed. Once breakfast was finished, I went to brush my teeth. It was hard to break the habit of using tap water for brushing. While in Africa, all water we put into our mouths must be purified bottled water as the tap water will make us extremely ill. After I cleaned my teeth and packed my suitcase, I used Google Hangout to video chat my mom & dad. I'm not sure how much that is going to happen because I do not believe that our hotels from here on out will have wifi. Even though it was 7:00 am Nairobi time, it was only 9:00 pm the previous day for mom & dad, who were actually in Vegas getting the RV fixed before heading to California. At 7:30, we departed the hotel and crossed Nairobi headed for the regional headquarters of World Vision. The roads were just as I remembered them from 2007: bumpy, bumper to bumper traffic moving in a seemingly unorganized mob, (similarly to the way a large crowd would navigate narrow corridors in a mall.) and lots of roundabouts. You hardly ever see a stoplight, and when you do traffic just does whatever anyways. I have complete trust in Justus & Zachariah, our drivers, but it isn't uncommon to hear a worrisome comment come from passengers.

Upon arrival at the World Vision HQ around 9:00, we joined them for a passionate chapel service on accountability and encouragement to keep doing God's work. Chapel lasted an hour and then we had a security briefing. Apparently a grenade was thrown in Nairobi last night, injuring twenty people, but with no casualties. I'm not sure how close it was to our hotel, but I didn't hear anything, so it’s not like it was next door or anything. Our hotel, along with most hotels, non-vendor businesses, apartments, and houses, was gated and had a collection of security personal guarding the parameter. The briefing warned us that theft is high, so our belongings are at risk, even in a locked hotel room unless it is in the safe. They even say not to talk on the phone with your window down in the car as it is not uncommon for someone to snatch it right out of your hand! We learned that the Kenyan government recently changed from a single, centralized government with only a president and a parliament to a national government with regional governors and senators, similarly to the US system. With the new government, came a new constitution, providing a solid justice system that isn't as easy to bribe.

After the brief finished at noon, we loaded into the trucks headed to Mutomo ADP to see the intake spot of a proposed water pipeline/project. As we headed east out of Nairobi, we gradually left urban Africa. The drive was very pretty. The trees are just like the ones in the Lion King and the terrain became more mountainous the further we drove along. Our guide, Justus, said that on a clear day we would be able to see Mt. Kilimanjaro on the high altitude points of our road trip. Hopefully the clouds will be gone when we drive back on Wednesday. Often along the road we would see a shepherd herding goats or cows. It wasn't uncommon to see a cart full of water & goods being pulled by donkeys or oxen. There were quite a few farms of corn, beans, mango trees, & papaya trees. Some of the trees could even be found in the wild. They became scarcer though after 3 &1/2 hours of driving as the land was dried up and was unsuitable for some of the fruit trees. We drove through many small villages and past many schools. The Kenyan children would always smile, waive, and scream "Mzungu!" as we drove by. Mzungu means "white people!" It made their day when we waived back. There were a group of men in their twenties sitting in the grass on lunch break. One guy waived. When I waived back he fell over laughing with delight. Justus said that in some of areas outside of Nairobi, it is extremely rare to spot a Mzungu.

Over the course of the five hour drive eastward, the road turned from paved to gravel, and then got bumpier and narrower as we progressed. Our final ten minute stretch we were driving on a path that an ATV would nearly be too wide for and it had ruts two feet deep and even large tree stumps to navigate around. The last three hours of the drive it was all dry African plains. It stayed that way until we came over a hill and met the large Athi River, which eventually drains into the Indian Ocean. We walked down to the river and David talked about the proposed water project. David is the head engineer in charge of the designs for the project. He explained that they chose this spot for the intake pipe because this spot on the river created a natural pool because there were rocks both upriver & downriver about forty yards apart.

 The place would be comparable to the upper falls at Falls Park, only wider and with way more water flowing through it. David explained that this is where the intake pipe would be, which should divert 38,000 gallons of water per hour. The water will then flow about a mile where it will collect in a large pool, which will filter the dirty water from the clean water. A pump will then take the clean water and pump it four miles to the top of a plateau. There, a second purification process begins. The water is decontaminated by the use of chemicals and cleaners so it is safe to drink.

 Once at a suitable Ph level, gravity will transport the water for 25 miles, providing much needed access to clean water to over 80,000 people in Southeast Kenya. Construction on the project is scheduled to begin in October.

We left the river at 6:30, just at dusk. An African woman was so thrilled about the project that she insisted we take a bag of melons from her garden (she lived close enough to the river that she had adequate water for farming.). We graciously took the melons, because it would have been offensive not to. She understood that by her giving us melons, she was blessing us. And most of the time, the person doing the blessing receives the biggest blessing of all. Remember the story of the woman who put in only $.02 in the offering and received more satisfaction and blessing than the guy who gave $100? Same concept. Despite the fact that her family lives in a grass shack, has to walk miles to school each day, and has probably never had something as simple as a stick of gum or a can of Coke in their lives, she still had an abundance of joy in her heart that overflowed into her generous expression of gratitude. And to think that a week ago I was complaining because my internet was slow. Kinda puts a thing or two in perspective, huh? How humbling, which I'm anticipating will be a common theme of this trip.

After driving for an hour and a half, we decided that after a day spent largely in the truck that it was time for our daily exercise. So we all piled out of our trucks and went to go push the first truck in line which had gotten stuck in a dried up, sandy river bed we were attempting to cross. Took a few minutes, but we got the job done. While it's only 8:00 here, it has been dark for at least an hour already because it is winter here. Despite the darkness, we noticed two Kenyan women digging in the river bed with hopes to find some water. It looked like they dug down a couple feet and started filling their buckets with what hardly resembled water. I really hope they weren't planning on drinking that water because I'm sure it was equal parts mud as water. Hopefully it was for livestock and/or crops. But in all reality, I'm hoping optimistically. It truly does break my heart seeing such extreme poverty. It's sights like that in which God truly stirs me up on the inside and ignites a passion for what He is doing here in Kenya. 

Driving through the villages at night, I noticed that almost every room (which is a house for an entire family) was lit by a single kerosene lantern. At 8:45 we arrived at the town, Mutomo, where we will be having dinner and spending the night at the hotel. We ate at a restaurant called the Paris Restaurant, even though it clearly had no French influence at all (for which I'm glad. We are in Africa, not France. I want to experience African food to the fullest.) Dinner was awesome, consisting of rice with a goat mix, chicken, kale, cabbage, cornmeal substance, and a grain that represented a pita flatbread. Delicious! Our dinner got adventurous once the generator wasn't providing enough power to consistently light our dining room. It went dark for a couple minutes until a lantern was brought in and we ate using the light of the lantern. The main light flickered on and off for the remainder of the meal. After dinner we crossed the street to our hotel in the village. It definitely isn't the Hilton from last night, but I prefer it this way; it adds adventure. Showers with taped wires hanging out, electricity that goes on and off as it pleases, mosquito nets over the beds, and doors that may or may not lock all add to the experience of Africa.

 Personally, I would love to wake up tomorrow morning, walk to a local cafe/coffee shop (if this village has any, but I bet they do, it will likely just be served out of somebody's home), and spend some shillings on local coffee; but I'm not sure if it is safe. I'm sure whatever the Lord has in store for us tomorrow will be nothing short of a blessing beyond what we deserve or could ever ask for. Can't wait! Cody out: 11:00.

Day 2: Tuesday, June 11: Exploring Mutomo ADP (Area development project)

I woke up at 5:00 am, even though we don't have to be ready til 7:15. Last night was interesting. When I laid in bed at night, I secured the mosquito net around my sleep space; however, that didn't stop me from hearing the malaria bearing insect. I was having placebo bites and my mind was playing tricks on me until finally I pulled the blankets all the way over my head for added security and peace. I laid in bed until 5:30 at which I got up, took a shower, and watched the Kenyan sunrise. The cloud filled sky prevented the full radiance of the sun's magnificent morning colors from illuminating the sky, but it was a beautiful 67 degree morning nonetheless. As the sun came up, so did the wildlife: roosters, donkeys, goats, dogs, a variety of birds, and other creatures all singing their morning praises. As the sky brightened, a Kenyan man approached, but he wouldn't come within twenty yards unless invited. After assessing the situation, I decided to approach the man. His name was Uderra (pronounced You-dare-ay, roll the R) and he was a security guard for the hotel. Uderra was nice and I learned he had a wife & three daughters in their twenties. Uderra then left as he had to go help prepare our breakfast.

At 7:15 we walked across Mutomo to the Paris Restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of eggs, plantains, sausage, and arrow root (a potato like vegetable.), juice, coffee, & tea. Stories around the breakfast table consisted of stories about the night in the hotel, including locusts in the bedroom when they woke up, getting shocked in the shower, and some who didn't have water at all. So far, it has been a wonderful adventure.

After breakfast we had a short five minute drive to the World Vision office in Mutomo, where we were led by our Kenyan brethren in an hour-long chapel on being passionate. After chapel, we had a half hour meeting discussing more details about the pipeline projected to start in October. As discussed yesterday, the pipeline goes 25 miles. From there, it disperses in every direction, adding more than 100 miles of additional pipeline. The project isn't cheap. They have raised $1.4 million, but they still need $4.5 million more for total completion. World Vision plans on partnering with the Kenyan government and local communities to help raise funds; but the majority of the funds will come from donors.

At around 11:00, we departed to go see a borehole, or a hole dug in the ground in hopes to find ground water. It used to be that women and children would have to walk 12+ miles, just to lower themselves into a twenty foot hole for roughly four gallons of muddy water. Now, World Vision has a pump there and a pipeline which distributes clean water to surrounding villages & communities. The water goes to kiosks where there is a charge of $.02 per five gallons of water. The fee is for the sustainability of the water project. So when the water pipe breaks or has a malfunction, the communities have the funds and the means to fix it instead of having to wait until the next World Vision representative comes around and use World Vision's funds to fix the issue.

 We visited two kiosks, two pump wells (boreholes), and a storage tank system today.

We also visited a farm that has access to the water that World Vision provides. They have a drip irrigation system in place that uses very little water, but maximizes the crop potential. The workers in the field were all women, who were all wearing very colorful attire.

The women sang Swahili songs and danced for us in an expression of gratitude. It was truly a blessing, but the highlight of the day was still yet to come. From the farm, we loaded into the truck again for a short drive to a nearby village. As we approached the village we heard hundreds of voices screaming in excitement for our arrival. We pulled into Kitoo Primary School where there were hundreds of students ranging from age 3-14 celebrating our arrival. As soon as my feet hit the ground after exiting the vehicle, a swarm of young Kenyan students in blue uniforms ran up to me and wanted a hand shake. I have never shaken so many tiny hands in my life. I probably shook a hundred hands in a matter of just a few minutes. I decided to change gears after my hand-shaking episode, so I pulled out the tablet I had along and recorded a video. I set the recording to the front camera, just like you would if you were going to video chat someone. The children loved seeing themselves on the tablet screen and I got a neat video too.

 I put the tablet away as we were then guided to a row of seats the teachers had set out for us. Once seated, the student choir gave a beautiful presentation of songs, poems, and a skit. It was truly amazing to see the impact a single water kiosk can provide to the children, their education, and the community. All the students kept expressing their gratitude for the water every chance they got.  After the program, each member of our group introduced themselves and each time the students would all laugh and giggle at our funny American accents.  I think only the older students could understand us as the younger students knew very little English as Swahili is the primary language in Kenya. After we introduced ourselves, we had to go, partially because we had other stops to make that day and partially because the students had to take exams later that afternoon. As we headed to the truck, we were once again swarmed by a multitude of children wanting one more handshake.  Needless to say, it took nearly ten minutes to board the truck because neither we nor they wanted to say goodbye. In fact, I remember when I was only a step from the truck door, but still shaking hands, the kids grasped onto my arm and would not let me go. It was really quite an experience. Finally we piled into the truck and made the twenty minute drive back to Mutomo for lunch.

Lunch was once again provided by the Paris Restaurant and was once again delicious. Noodles, rice, goat, cornmeal, kale, cabbage, chicken, and juice was for lunch. I added some chopped peppers to my rice and goat, and oh man were the hot! Speaking of heat, I must mention that the weather has not been near as hot as I expected. The past two days have been partly to mostly cloudy with temperatures not exceeding 80 by much, if at all. It's great! I do hope that the clouds disperse tomorrow so we might see Mt. Kilimanjaro on our drive out of Mutomo.

Once dinner finished we made a quick pit stop at the hotel for a restroom break. While there, we got a quick lesson on brick making from Kenyan builders repairing a building across the street. Kurt offered Zach for manual labor, but I don't think he would be able to keep up with the locals. Maybe he could help place the bricks on the top of the wall as he is 6' 9". 

Our short break concluded and we were back on the road to visit another kiosk. The village leaders were there to thank us. They set out chairs for us, gave us a soda and cookies. They said that the kiosk saves the women 11 hours a day that it used to take them to fetch water. While the meeting was going on, a little boy was looking on from the distance. I motioned him to come, and he very conservatively made his way over. The little guy always had a smile on his face, but we were unable to communicate verbally as he knew no English. So I never did catch the boy's name, but I estimated him to be around six years old. I tried speaking to him in Swahili (I had an English/Swahili dictionary app on my phone) only to find out that in that particular village, they didn't speak Swahili either.

 The boy was very shy, so I'm not sure he would have said much even if we didn't have a language barrier. We just exchanged smiles & handshakes, which we were both ok with. Grandma pulled some gum out of her purse, but the boy wasn't paying any attention to grandma. So the gum got passed to me and I handed the boy a piece. He didn't know exactly what to do with it until I started chewing a piece for myself. He seemed to enjoy it. I turned my camera front facing again and showed him it. He was intrigued by it, but was camera shy and kept hiding behind my chair. I just set the camera on my lap and left it run. He slowly came around and really had fun with it when I let him gradually warm up to it on his own pace. The boy's father called him home about ten minutes before we the meeting adjourned. I didn't think I'd ever see him again until we were all walking back to the trucks to leave and here he comes running, bringing all his friends with him. Actually, I think he brought the whole school because there were about 60 children that were running with him. We played with the children for five minutes or so, I said goodbye to my new friend, and we departed. As we drove away the children not only waived at us, but chased our truck for a good half mile until we rounded a corner out of sight. This was my favorite stop of the day.

We drove for a half hour and stopped at the base of a large cliff/mountain. We exited to another group of dancing and singing ladies who were ecstatic seeing us. We thanked them for the song and dance and proceeded to walk to the very base of the steep mountain, where a dam had been built up. The dam collects rainwater that runs off the mountain during the rainy season and drains it into three 21,000 gallon storage tanks, where the village nearby will be able to withdraw water from during the long dry season. Once we had a good understanding of the system and adequate photos, we walked to the village just 100 yards away where the village pastor said a prayer in his native language. Once again all of the people in our crew introduced themselves and gave words of encouragement and blessing to the village people. Then I stood up and gave a prayer in my native language too. I hope the local Kenyans found my interpreted prayer as rewarding as I found their Swahili prayer. After a few more photos with the native Kenyans, it was off to home base Mutomo for dinner.

Dinner started shortly after 7:00 at our favorite Paris Restaurant with our favorite meal of rice, goat, chicken, noodles, kale, cabbage, & juice. We did have a new vegetable: cow peas. It was like a cross breed between a pea and a bean. It was good. Tonight we split up between three tables with our group on the North side of the tables, while our Kenyan guides sat across the tables on the South side. It truly enriched the conversation. I asked if the meal we were eating was typical for an average Kenyan. The answer came back an overwhelming no, as meat is served on special occasions such as holidays and when they are hosting visitors. I explained that back home in South Dakota, we ate meat almost every meal, primarily beef and pork. They had a hard time understanding what that is like, considering the only time they have beef is if someone slaughters a cow for a wedding or other once-in-a-lifetime celebrations. They were also amazed at how the American wedding process worked when they inquired about Jenny and my engagement. They can't fathom not having to pay a dowry. In Kenya, the groom pays his future father-in-law to marry the girl. The price can vary based on what village the bride is from. They were fascinated by how the groom doesn't see the dress until the wedding day, how Jenny didn't know I was going to propose nor knew which ring I was getting, and that we are inviting 300 people to our wedding. We also mentioned what the weather can be like in January and they couldn't imagine two feet of snow and temperatures in the negatives. It was a great time and a rich conversation, but by the time 9:00 approached, we were all really tired so it was back to the hotel. By 9:30 everybody was lights out in bed for what could be another "lively" night with some local wildlife.

Day 3: Wednesday, June 12: Departing Mutomo for Eldoret

Woke up at 3:30 with a dozen mosquitos buzzing around the outside of my mosquito net. I even had a malaria plagued insect inside the net which I kept trying to swat down in my sleepy daze. I think I won, but I can't be sure cuz I woke up a little itchy. Sleep was on and off after that. At around 4:30 or 5:00, chanting could be heard from just across the street. It sounded similar to the Islamic prayer chants we heard when we visited Israel & Jordan a few years back. That's not to say it was an Islamic chant, but it could have been. (Update: I actually did find out later that it was an Islamic prayer call.) Kenya's major religions are Christianity, Islam, and tribal religions. The chanting ended after 45 minutes about the time the sun decided to come out of hiding from behind the mountains. There were some low clouds again shielding the sun's brightness, but it was another beautiful morning. By 7:15 everybody was showered and heading to the Paris Restaurant for breakfast, which was the last time we ate there. Breakfast was the same as yesterday and was equally delicious.

After breakfast we once again headed to the Mutomo World Vision base where we finished out chapel on passion and shared stories, experiences, and lessons from yesterday's adventures. After close to an hour of discussion, it was time to say our goodbyes to the Mutomo World Vision crew. Goodbyes are never fun, but the world is a lot smaller thanks to technology, so we all exchanged emails. I promised to send pictures of Jenny's and my wedding, but that wasn't enough because they wanted to be in attendance. So we agreed on a virtual attendance via online video chat. As we concluded our goodbyes, we all piled back into the trucks for the 5+ hour drive back to Nairobi. 

We stopped for lunch at a convention center a half hour out of Nairobi, where there was a glorious buffet of all sorts of food! Boiled ossobuccu (lamb & goat) with vegetables, chicken in peanut sauce over rice, cabbage, & potatoes were all on the buffet. It was the best meal of the trip thus far. There was also a salad bar with delicious farmer's soup. The dessert bar contained multiple kinds of cupcakes, cake, and fruit. It was all SO good!!! At the dinner table, I set by Jenny, Connor, and David, who was the chief engineer of the Marich Pass Pipeline and is currently engineering the Mutomo project. The conversation was filled with stories of past trips in which Grandpa was along. (This is the first African trip the Huisken family has been on without grandpa, who passed away in 2011.) Grandpa would have loved this trip. Lunch concluded at 3:30 and we continued on to the airport.

Security in the airport was a lot different than it is in the United States, even for domestic flights. The security was a simple metal detector and x-ray. It wasn't necessary to remove liquids, there was no 3 ounce rule, and we didn't even have to take off our shoes or belts. Everything was seamless. Our plane was not much different than it would be in the states. In fact, if I were a betting man, I would say the plane was made in the USA. I remember in 2007, we flew in an airplane that would never be legal in the US. It was so old it felt like the plane was going to fall apart midair. Upon second thought, that might have been the plane to the safari, not Eldoret. We'll find out in a few days if our safari plane is this nice. The half hour flight went without a problem, even though we flew right between a few storm clouds as we flew Northwest into Eldoret.

It didn't take but a few seconds after we got off the plane to recognize that it had recently rained. The twenty minute drive from town had its unique beauty. Shops were bustling, the smell of fire & food was in the air; and everything was so green and lush after the rain. The crops were over twice as tall as the ones east of Nairobi and looked to be in extremely good health. Job, our guide, said that most of Kenya's Olympic runners are from Eldoret, and even if they win gold and come into money, they still return to their home town because land here is valued & expensive. Our hotel in Eldoret was no different. If you removed the foreign language signs and Kenya references (and the mosquito nets), you could have convinced me we were checking into a Florida hotel.

 After dropping off our bags in our exceptional rooms, we walked to the restaurant provided by the Noble Hotel. Dinner was the same as the previous nights, but had better quality meats and used different spices for unique flavor. They had Kenyan sodas and beer, so I had one of each. They didn't taste much different than the American drinks, which I found disappointing. After dinner we all headed back to our hotel rooms and jumped online to get in touch with my family and friends back home. By 10:30, it was lights out because we had an early morning and a big day ahead of us.

Day 4: Thursday, June 13: From Eldoret to Kitale & Marich Pass.

6:00 alarm ringing. It really is something waking up to Toto's "Africa" while in the heart of Kenya. After a hot shower and a delicious breakfast, we were off. The morning drive through Eldoret was bustling as ever. Everybody was either on their way to work or already working in their shops. Butchers were beginning to hang their meats in the window, families were bringing their produce to their stand, and carpenters were displaying their wooden furniture on the roadside. The majority of the buildings that were made of concrete (as opposed to tin) had advertising from corporations painted on the side. Most of the wall advertisements we had seen thus far were promoting Coca-Cola, or Safaricom, but Eldoret had many buildings with Simba Concrete paintings. The logo for Simba Concrete is a lion, which I can appreciate being a Lion King fan. As we left the city, it didn't take long for the shops to transform into maize (corn) fields, much like back home in Sioux Falls. All the maize looked healthy and about a month away from harvest. Job said that a wealthy farmer could 5-10 acres of field, while corporations can own up to 200 acre plantations. Crazy part is it is all planted and harvested without the assistance of any machinery. It takes three weeks on average to get the crop out of the field no matter how large the field is. That's because the larger the field, the more hands are hired to help. Both planting and harvest seasons are real blessings for the Kenyan workforce because, as a nation, Kenya has higher than a 40% unemployment rate.

At 9:00 we pulled into Kitale, which was equally, if not more, healthy as Eldoret. You didn't have to look too hard before you noticed that Kitale was a relatively wealthy city. There were still many impoverished people, but there seemed to be a larger middle class and a wealthy upper class. We pulled into a country club, which I didn't know they existed in Kenya, much less golf courses. We off loaded out suitcases, because that's where we would spend the night. To be honest, I was slightly disappointed that we were staying in such a classy and well-to-do place. My personal feeling is that I came to Africa to serve and enrich the livelihoods of those in need and to see & experience their lifestyle. Staying at a country club just feels too luxurious considering the people we are visiting/serving are living in grass huts and extreme poverty. To me, it can almost detract to why we are here and make it feel a little more like a vacation. Personally, I would love nothing more than to spend a night in a grass hut with a dirt floor and have to walk for water to truly walk in their shoes and live a day in their life. I do not mean to complain or be negative, but rather to be transparent and share my honest thoughts and feelings.

By 9:30 we were back on the road, headed to World Vision's office in Marich Pass. Upon our arrival at 11:00, we were introduced to the staff, many who have been with the now completed project right from the beginning. Introductions concluded and an hour briefing began about the Marich Pass water project. The stats are nearly identical to the Mutomo project, but the main difference is that this one began construction in 2007 & finished in 2010. So the really interesting stats were in the positive effects in the community as a result of having clean water. The amount of children attending school in the Marich Pass area has increased from half to two thirds of all school age children in the area. While 66% is still below the national average, it is a step in the right direction considering it was over 15% less just a few short years ago. The progress caught the attention of the Kenyan government, which is now working in the area to increase that percentage even higher. The percentage of people in the area who have access to clean drinking water has increased from 3% to north of 40%, providing access to over 40,000 people. The average journey required to walk for that water has decreased from over 16 miles to less than a mile and a half. Plus, water-borne diseases were cut in half across the affected area.

After the briefing, we dismissed for a short ten minute break while the table was set for lunch. Our food was the same as previous days, but the different cooks and change of scenery make it so it never gets old. We ate and had a good twenty minutes after lunch but before we departed, during which many people de-watered themselves before continuing our adventure for the day. The toilet in the restroom wasn't much more than a buried toilet, and it wasn't just the guys toilets that were this way. (Squatting may be required.) However, we still consider ourselves blessed as it was more luxurious than many other restrooms in the area.

At 1:30, it was all aboard and we were off. We drove for roughly 45 minutes through beautiful mountains as our elevation climbed. The farmers on the mountains made the best of their inclined circumstances and put terrace farming into practice. Instead of the rain water running down the mountain without stopping to nourish the soil, the different hand-dug levels prevent the water from running off without giving the crops a drink. Very resourceful! These farms continued as we traveled up the winding mountain road until we crossed to the valley, which is where our next stop was located.

We crossed a small river at the bottom of the valley and parked near a water kiosk and storage tank a half mile from the dying river. It may seem funny to have a kiosk so close to a river, but they said that the river is dry for half of the year once the rain from the rainy season (April & May) dried up. The kiosk was not much different than the ones we visited earlier in the week, with the exception of this one was a station along the Muruni (another name for Marich Pass) pipeline rather than a kiosk provided by a simple borehole.

The kiosk had a drainage system for any water that might spill while transferring the water hose from jug to jug. The excess water was transferred to the nearby restrooms, which actually had showers, a rarity. The showers used this excess clean water as well as water from a nearby storage tank. The drain water from the showers would run off into the crops surrounding the area. (The water does not hurt the crops because the soap used by the rural communities contain little to no chemicals.) The field had both maize and beans in it. It was explained to us that because everything is picked by hand, fields contain multiple crops, to maximize the ground space. That whole system was very well thought out as not an ounce of water went to waste.

While we were at the kiosk, an elderly woman approached with three jugs, ranging in size. The woman filled her jugs and proceeded to bring one home. The jug she took was around five gallons and weighed close to fifty pounds. For a worn down 70 year old woman, that's a lot of weight to carry. Heck, that's a lot of weight for me to carry. She had a system where she would strap the jug to her back and proceeded to walk home. We offered assistance with the jugs, but were declined as her grandchildren were actually coming to help. Also at the kiosk, there were other people at the other spectrum of life. Mothers carrying infants gathered to acquire water. The babies were super cute!

The kiosk episode ended after forty minutes, and it was on to the next chapter, which was Tapoyo Primary School. Kurt and my late grandfather were at that school in 2005 when they went to plan and prepare for the pipeline. They were so honored by their visit, they planted both grandpa and Kurt their own trees and promised to keep them alive using the water that was promised to come. For three years, before the pipeline was built and they still had to walk six miles for water, they made extra trips and kept the baby trees alive. Each tree was named after Kurt & Grandpa and the school had reading sections under each tree, so if the students were to read at the "Rodney Reading Station," they were to go under grandpa's tree and do their reading lessons. During my visit in 2007, a school honored me with a tree. I thought that it was the Tapoyo, so I must admit I was slightly disappointed when I learned that we would not be revisiting that school on this trip. That disappointment lasted only a moment though when I reconsidered where I was standing and that I am blessed to be here.

After I checked out the tree, the school headmaster greeted us and gave us a briefing on the school and the impact that the water has had. Since grandpa's 2005 visit, the school has tripled its size, taking on 400 new students. He said that he has seen a dramatic change in both the physical and mental health if his students, who have way better nutrition at school now that the school has a large garden. The briefing was kept short because it was no secret the kids couldn't wait to see us and we were equally as excited to play with them.

As we started walking towards the kids, you could see their excitement level rise, but also the uncertainty of how shy they're feeling. When we finally entered the school yard filled with students of all ages, we were once again treated with a hundred handshakes, and, like before, the students absolutely loved seeing themselves on the tablet screen when I brought out the camera. Jenny showed the kids how to make a popping noise by pressing your finger to the inside of your cheek and flicking it out. The kids kept laughing and trying to do it themselves, but couldn't quite make the noise. Next Jenny taught them to fist bump and blow it up afterwards. The children could grasp that and all wanted to take their turn in trying the new handshake with Jenny. I don't think the kids stopped giggling and laughing, nor did a smile leave the faces of Jenny & I, for twenty minutes. It was such a heart-warming experience.

After twenty minutes of just playing with the kids, the headmaster asked us to sit down on chairs his staff had set out for us. We had just taken our seats and a children's choir of unparalleled talent started an upbeat song welcoming us to their school. By the end of the ceremony, there was so much more than just singing going on; mixed in were vuvuzelas, tambourines, clapping, stomping, dancing, jumping, and even a couple backflips. It was way better than any show you could go to in Vegas or Disneyland. The kids were so talented and so grateful for the water that has changed their lives. It was really neat seeing their expressions of joy. The ceremony ended and it was once again time to move on, but before we drove off, we had a gift for them. Chris Pope, our World Vision US leader, inflated a soccer ball and gave it, and the pump, to the headmaster, which made the children go absolutely crazy! It was a great site. 

The primary school waived us off and it was a twenty minute drive to our next destination, which also happened to be a school. This school was different on two fronts: A) It was a secondary school (high school). And B) It was an all-girls school. As we arrived, we were not greeted by song nor dance, in fact, the female students were nowhere in sight. We were greeted by the principle and staff of St. Elizabeth's All Girl Secondary School right on their front doorstep. The school itself was in a beautiful location.
 To the east were majestic mountains with mighty cliffs and rock faces, while to the west were rolling hills and trees. I wish cameras could capture the magnitude of the scene as much as I wish these words I write could adequately describe my African experience, but nothing can replace the real thing. As I was admiring the landscape, the principle called us into her office where we discussed the school's layout, the 288 girls they board & educate, their sister primary school next door, and the impact the water has had on their program. We learned that 33 girls in their programs were girls that ran away from home and were rescued by the school. ... Warning: graphic content ahead. Please skip to next paragraph if needed. ... The girls ran away from home to not only escape their family, but to also escape a tradition that has plagued the Kenyan culture: female genitalia mutilation or FGM for short. FGM is an abusive process that forces girls into taking an initiation process into womanhood that physically & emotionally cuts deep. FGM is accepted in many parts of Kenya, and even promoted by families and communities. The principle shared stories of the many negative influences, pressuring girls into this harmful initiation process. These pressures come from both men and women, young and old, in all sorts of ways. In these cultures, the girl's own parents encourage FGM because it is a sign that she can be married off and the parents can collect on the dowry. St. Elizabeth's is a Christian shelter for those girls who are trying to escape that life. Fortunately, World Vision provides much more than just pipelines, but also Christian messages, AIDs prevention education, and FGM awareness & prevention education, which is really having a positive impact on the areas where World Vision provides water. FGM is now a relatively nonexistent factor in area with World Vision influence, but the problem is that Kenya is a large country and World Vision's arms can only reach so far. The goal is to educate the boys and girls of the future, who will in turn go educate their communities and surrounding areas and put an end to this evil tradition... Also, while we are still in the graphic department, rape cases have dropped dramatically since the pipelines were installed because women no longer have to walk 11 hours (often at night) to go get water, leaving them less vulnerable to the men with wicked intentions. ... End graphic content. ... 

The principle finished the briefing on the school and gave us a tour of the premises. It was a really nice facility, all things considered. We walked out behind the schoolhouse and there stood all 288 girls, plus the primary school students, who immediately started singing songs when they saw us. There singing was absolutely beautiful and joy radiated from every note. They sang for about ten minutes and then the principle said a few words. The women in our group stood up and each of them shared words of encouragement and blessing to through female students.

Things started to wind down, and right when I thought we were going to conclude, the girls started clapping to a beat and singing another song. The principal asked all the ladies to come to the front. The four women in our group separated themselves from our group, as did four upper-class students from their peers. The four Kenyan students proceeded to place a headband of beads on their heads as gifts. Next, the men were called up and four male teachers approached and put a belt of beads around each of our waists as a gift. Grandma and Kurt each got an extra gift because they were the male and female leaders of the group.

It was so cool. My only regret is that we didn't get to talk to any students after the gift giving as we had to rush off as it was nearing dusk. I would have liked to have asked a Kenyan teen what high school is like here and what they were learning and how their college system works. I guess I'll just have to come back and ask them some other time!

We left the school around 6:30, arriving at our hotel in Kitale around 8:00. We ate dinner at 8:30 and you'll never guess what we ate. Yup, you got it! But I'm still not sick of it. And actually, I think they had duck instead of chicken tonight. I must admit disgust at the dinner table tonight as conversation was polluted about the food and what one would give for a McDonald’s. It almost made me sick to think that here we are in the heart of Africa, where the majority of people eat meat once a month and there are kids less than five miles away in the slums literally dying of malnutrition, and there's complaining as we live like kings. Remember my fear earlier today that this luxurious hotel would make us forget that we came to serve, not to come on a vacation? Yeah... Anyways, dinner was done shortly after 9:00 and it was off to our hotel rooms for a good night's rest.

Day 5: Friday, June 14: Visiting Marich Pass water intake & storage.

7:30 departure. I slept in today, waking up at 7:00, so I did not get to partake in breakfast, but that's ok with me. After being on the road a half an hour, we drove past an HIV testing booth. The booth was no different than any other shop on the street. I would have expected to see a medical center like that to appear more sanitary and modern, but I was wrong. However, I suppose that a run down testing boot is better than no testing booth. We pulled off the main road onto a winding, climbing, washed out gravel road up the side of a mountain range. We stayed on that road for a good, extremely bumpy, half hour. As we climbed, the view got more & more majestic as the valley below became more and more distant. As our elevation increased, the houses were built less of processed materials such as concrete & steel, and more with sticks, mud, & grass. By the time we reached the ridge of the range, every building & fence were made of 100% raw materials.
We began our descent into a lush river valley, where we parked between two mountain ranges relatively close to the river. We off loaded the truck and found a path into the forest, which surrounded the river. As we hiked between the mountains, the air was filled with the sound of rushing water and smells of freshness. After a mile of walking we made arrived to the source & intake of the Marich Pass pipeline.
The intake had a man-made dam, which diverted a portion of the water into a filtration process before entering the pipeline. The water would be cycle through three chambers. The first chamber would force the water upward and it would leave the big heavy rocks on the bottom. The second chamber forced the water downward, where the dirt gets left behind as the water moves upward through the third chamber. Most of the dirt was filtered out as it left the last chamber and into the pipeline, where gravity takes it to the final purification tank. There were tears of joy as emotions ran high from thinking that this exact spot is changing the lives of over 40,000 people. Together as a large group of combined World Vision staff and our American crew joined hands and spent some time in prayer praising God for what He has done. After emotions settled and pictures were taken, we made the uphill, mile-long hike back to the vehicles. On our way back, Connor discovered a hanging vine dangling from a tree. The vine made a perfect rope swing, as it was sturdy enough to support our weight. After we each had gotten a swing or two in, we continued the hike and loaded into the trucks.

From there it was back up to the ridge and partially down the other side where we stopped at the water purification tank. It seemed like we were at a higher elevation than the water intake point, but we actually weren't, proven by the fact that the water is transported 100% by gravity. The view from this mountainside was absolutely breathtaking! You could see over 1000 square miles of the Marich Pass Valley.

 It was amazing to look down at the valley and once again think about all the people affected by the water and to think that all hundred some miles of this pipeline was buried completely by hand and carried up the mountain. As I looked out, two thoughts crossed my mind: 1) God is big. And 2) God is good. It might seem simple, but it really hit home with humility. It truly is amazing to sit back and think of all the moving parts to God's kingdom and how He orchestrates them perfectly to His will. His awesome power and love was the sole reason the project succeeded. So there we stood, next to a 40,000 gallon tank, in which chlorine is added to kill harmful bacteria in the water. From this tank, pipelines branched off in every direction, providing life to the people below. While we were up there, we were privileged enough to get to interact with a group of children from the same family. The kids were terribly shy, but they warmed up to us with the help of a Kenyan translator. It turns out that these kids were sent home from school because their hair was too long. Their hair was hardly a quarter inch! However, this rule is in place for health reasons such as lice.

Once again it was time to say goodbye and head down into the valley. We pulled into a village where there was a small Muruni Water Project office that was the area's headquarters for a small section of the overall pipeline. This office was in charge of the finances (such as accounting & collecting payment), monitoring the pipeline, and maintenance. They explained to us that it is not required to pay cash for the water on-site, but they actually keep tabs. If they haven't paid off their tab in two months, their account will be closed and it can't be opened again until the balance is paid in full, plus a 100 shilling ($1) re-activation fee, which isn't awful considering there is no interest charged. The activation fee increases by 100 shillings every time the account needs to be activated. It was really a well-organized system. The office staff was very friendly and excited to meet us.
They were such a blessing to us as they sang songs and danced for us. Halfway through the celebration, they began to call our group members out to the center of the floor. They called out the ladies first, in order of age and leadership, from oldest and most respected to youngest and most future potential. The guys followed suite after all the women were through. One by one we were called out and showered with gifts as a token of their gratitude. The women all got a colorful beaded necklace & headband that were both traditional beautification attire of Kenyan women. The men received gifts of chairs & canes, or chairs & gourds for the younger men. The chair as hand carved and was in the shape of a stool. All chairs, gourds, and jewelry had decorative beads and had traditional African influence. It was such an honor to be the subject of a celebration of gratitude, but all the praise and glory belongs to God. As the celebration concluded, we prayed together and departed back to World Vision's office for lunch.

Lunch was served and was once again tasty. The fellowship and conversation was rich, as we reflected on our thoughts from the morning. After lunch, everyone gathered for a time of praise, worship, and reflection. It was really neat praising the Lord with the people of Kenya. I thought it was really cool when we would sing a verse in English, and the Kenyans would then repeat that verse in Swahili. After worship, we all shared our thoughts on the trip as a whole, what we learned, and poured blessings & encouragement out on the other parties. This was a very emotional time and many tears of humility, joy, & love were shed. Some of the thoughts shared during this time included God's grace, His Kingdom, how humbling it is to know that people who have it worse than us pray for us every day from across the globe, and encouragement to continue doing God's work. Sharing tears and open hearts made the goodbyes especially hard with the spiritual bond that was newly created, but it was time to depart as our crew was to spend the night back in Eldoret. Almost immediately after we pulled out of the driveway, it began to rain. I silently thought that it was a sign of God's approval because the timing was impeccable.

The two and a half hour drive to Eldoret was filled with stories and laughter. Even when our drive turned from the projected two and a half hours to over four hours due to a traffic jam, we kept our spirits up by looking at photos from the trip and reminiscing. The traffic jam was crazy; the two-lane road quickly turned into a five lane road as cars would try to pass each other on the sidewalk (or where the sidewalk would be if one existed) and the oncoming traffic lane. These cars too would get jammed, forcing the oncoming traffic to go off road simply to get around those in their lane. It got so bad that we traffic stopped completely for a good hour and when we did finally begin to move again, I doubt we averaged ten miles an hour. When we got to our destination, our butts hurt from sitting so long, but the passengers in my truck unloaded with smiles on their faces and thanked each other for the wonderful stories, laughter, and conversation we shared during our extended road trip together. We arrived at our hotel around 9:00, where we offloaded our bags and headed for dinner. Dinner was the same as before, but it didn't last too long as we were all tired and in bed by 10:00.

Day 6: Saturday, June 15: From Elroret to Nairobi & Heritage Orphanage.

6:30 breakfast with a 7:15 departure time. We arrived at the Eldoret airport at 8:00, took off at 8:50, and landed in Nairobi by 9:30. Everything went smoothly, just like on the flight a few days ago. We gathered our bags, said goodbye to Job, who had to go back to the World Vision office, drove across Nairobi, and dropped off our bags at the Hilton where we had spent our first night here. We arrived at the hotel close to 10:30, got checked in and situated, and then headed to the hotel restaurant for lunch before our next adventure. The Hilton's buffet was not open for lunch yet, so we headed to their poolside restaurant, where they had a menu to order off of. I could hear a sigh of relief as everybody ordered grilled cheese sandwiches or burgers with fries. I was going to order the lamb chops or the fish, but it was slightly out of budget, so I ordered the beef burger topped with bacon, eggs, & cheese. First, the condiments came out. There was almost a rioting celebration when the Heinz Ketchup came out. I was going to ask for a Kenyan dipping sauce for my fries, but I did not know specifically what to ask for, so I bailed on that idea. The waiter started to come with our food and there was literally a small celebration when the group saw the American dishes. Even I must admit that it felt good to sink my teeth into a chunk of beef. It seemed that everybody really enjoyed the American dishes that they ordered. 

As lunch concluded, we were introduced to Theresea and Martin, who were from Heritage of Faith and Hope Children's Home & School, the orphanage we were about to go visit. On our way through Nairobi to Heritage, we decided to make a pit stop and buy ice cream for the children. Every single time Grandpa used to visit the orphanage, he used to give ice cream out, so we decided to continue his legacy. The children and staff were waiting outside when we pulled in the driveway at 2:00. The way the children's faces lit up when they received the gifts was priceless. The younger their age, the cuter their face. Along with the ice cream, we handed out candy, pencils, notecards, & even a half dozen soccer balls & couple basketballs. 

After we had handed everything out and had some good interaction with the children, Theresea and her husband Joseph gave us a tour of their new building. In 2007, they were operating out of a tin shack with dirt floors and was in rough shape overall. This trip, however, they had a solid concrete building with six classrooms, a girls quarters housing 48, a guys quarters housing the same, an executive wing, a study hall, and a lunch room. It was a really well-structured and well-designed building. The same could not be said about the campus surrounding the main building. The play area was simply a dirt field with two sticks jammed in the earth at each end of the field; this comprised their soccer goals. The kitchen wouldn't even have sufficed for a garden shed in the United States as it literally was a 10x10 tin shack. They at least had a gas stove, which was a gift because they used to have to cook using firewood, which would fill the room with smoke and caused other health concerns. The lights did not work in the shack, but there was enough natural light to see the thousands of flies feasting on the food about to be prepared. Just next to the kitchen, was the barn, which was in the same condition as the kitchen. Animals included chickens, ducks, geese, and even a turkey. Next to the barn, they had a large boiling pot of cow intestines that gets donated every Saturday. Alongside of the farm, was a huge greenhouse in top-notch condition. The greenhouse was roughly the size that you would see a landscape store use in the United States. The whole greenhouse was filled with healthy tomato plants. They were almost ready for harvest and were really excited, because they were selling for 75% more than what the asking price was last year at that time. This is due to the fact that during the rainy season, Kenya got too much rain too fast and it washed out many tomato fields, thus spiking the price. Surrounding the greenhouse was other crops including maize, beans, and sugarcane.

The campus tour then concluded and a meeting was called for whoever wanted to join. Grandma, Kurt, Dianne, Tami, Mike, & I attended the meeting while the rest of the crew played with the kids. They played soccer, painted nails, and had meaningful conversations with the students. Inside the meeting a lot was discussed, including thanksgiving for what God has provided as well as making needs and wants open. The meeting lasted nearly two hours, but was very important and essential. After everything was on the table, it was time for us to leave. However, as we went outside, Heritage had one more surprise for us.

Joseph called grandma over, while he was standing next to the entrance. Grandma stood next to a towel suspended along the wall of the orphanage. Joseph gave a short introduction and all the kids and family gathered around as he instructed grandma to remove the towel. Even before grandma had the towel completely removed, there were tears in her eyes as the removed towel unveiled an honorary plaque on the wall, which read, "To the glory of God, this plaque was unveiled by Char Huisken on 15th June 2013 in loving memory of Rodney Huisken, who together with his family were 1st international partners who supported Heritage of Faith in 2003."

There wasn't a dry eye among the whole family during this bittersweet moment. Grandpa would have loved to see the finished project, and we know how happy he would be to have his family surrounding him during that moment. As tears were streaming down our faces, the heavens joined us as rain began to fall from the sky. I turned to Connor and whispered in his ear, "Grandpa is here, these are his tears of joy."

As emotions settled, we actually did have to say our goodbyes and depart back to Nairobi. The journey took an extra half hour as traffic was bumper to bumper, but nothing like the night before. We made a quick restroom break at the hotel and then walked four blocks to a really nice Italian restaurant. The food was absolutely wonderful as most people ordered pizzas. The pizzas were thin crust and fire baked, my favorite. I ordered a pizza with shrimp, calamari, and octopus with some garlic and tomatoes on it. Connor ordered an Indian pizza which had spiced curry, onions, peppers, olives, & chicken on it. We shared pizzas and they were both excellent. (Yes, I realize that Connor and I have weird taste buds and preferences.) The dialog at dinner was again filled with reflection and laughter. Everyone enjoyed their company and dishes and headed back to the Hilton we stayed at our first night for a good night's rest.

Day 7: Sunday, June 16: Sit back, relax, and enjoy the SAFARI!

Our 8:30 hotel departure time felt like sleeping in, and was really refreshing. Breakfast was the same as the last time we stayed at the Hilton. After our stomachs were satisfied, it was off to the airport to fly to Masai Mara, the safari plains. We boarded a single prop plane with a dozen seats in it. Our group had to separate and take two planes. Our plane had to make one pit stop to drop off some other passengers. We landed on a gravel runway and on each side of the runway were a couple herds of zebras. In 2007 we didn't see Zebras until the last 15 minutes of our 3-day safari. Today, we saw them even before we were at our safari destination! There was also a lone warthog (I call them Pumba's) mingling amongst the zebras.

As we took off from that runway, we were blessed to spot some giraffes eating the leaves off trees and a lion relaxing in the shade next to a grove of trees. Before we landed at our airstrip less than five minutes later, we had spotted hippos, impalas, gazelles, and wildebeests. Our group piled into two jeeps with no windows or roof. Our driver and guide, Joseph & Kupen, were both village people wearing traditional clothes, jewelry, and stretched earlobes. They lived in villages before the government bought the land and created a preservation. Most village people were employed as drivers and safari guides. Within ten minutes of landing we added an ostrich and many topii (like a really big impala) to the list along with many repeats of gazelles, warthogs, and zebras.

As we continued our journey, we asked Joseph how often a tour would see a fresh kill from either a lion or a cheetah. He said that maybe 25% got to see the animals eat a freshly killed animal, but fewer than 10% actually get to witness the hunt and pursuit of the kill. Roughly ten minutes after he told us that, we came across three cheetahs feasting on a gazelle that had probably been alive while Joseph was giving us the information. It was clear that there were two younger cubs and a mother. The mother had hunted the gazelle, evident by her exhaustive panting while lying in the shade of a bush. It was probable that the mother didn't actually kill the gazelle, but rather just paralyzed it so that her cubs could have the satisfaction and experience of finishing it off. The cubs ate first while mother caught her breath, but soon she joined in on the feast. We watched then for probably 15 minutes before we drove off, and the cheetahs were just finishing their meal. Whatever scraps the spotted cats left behind would likely be cleaned up by hyenas, which devour the bones and all.

After an hour of driving through wildlife & African plains, we pulled in to our base camp. The camp was made of large tents, including our sleeping quarters. These tents were fully furnished with African influenced beds, couches, & tables. It was truly an amazing place.

The camp managers, Jamie & Katie, had a spaghetti lunch ready for us and served wine. We were treated like royalty, and quite frankly, it was very relaxing. After dinner, we had some down time and I took a two hour nap. The reason for not going sightseeing was because during the peak of the day, the wildlife rest as well because it is often too hot outside to hunt.

My relaxing nap ended when we heard two impalas fighting, just a ways outside of my tent. Their war cries were more of deep barks than high pitched screaming. I wondered back to the main tent, where we had a quick snack and departed on our safari adventure at 4:00. We couldn't have been more than a mile out before we spotted our first elephants. Two elephants were trotting along a river side, eating leaves off the trees. They were so large and magnificent and their tusks of ivory were truly beautiful. We watched these elephants for ten minutes before we moved on only to find more elephants in yet another grove eating some dinner.

As we continued, we saw a whole troop of baboons climbing and swinging in the trees over a river. The baby baboons were so cute as they would jump and grab a branch and the branch would bounce them around as the baboon clumsily attempts to keep up with its friends. However, when the troop travels, the baby baboons ride jockey-style on their mama's backs. Anywhere you looked at almost any time, there were multiple animal species to be found. For example, while viewing the baboons, we could see elephants eating, zebras grazing, giraffe necks in the distance, and impalas playing. The Lion King soundtrack was practically a praise and worship album considering our surroundings.

We spotted a giraffe in the distance, and so the jeep gracefully drove through the prairie and pulled up next to two giraffes. One was way darker than the other, and Joseph explained that the older they get, the darker they get. The same is true with zebras, who are actually born with brown stripes that blacken with age. The giraffes were such graceful creatures and were exactly as one would imagine them.

We left the giraffes and continued driving.

 We asked Joseph about his life in his younger days, at which he replied with a story about the time he hunted a hippo. First off, hippos are one of the most dangerous animals on the safari. They are nocturnal and can reach speeds up to thirty miles per hour. That combined with their size and toughness of skin, they make a deadly beast that can kill you as they sleep. Their jaw is so powerful it can snap a crocodile in half with one chomp. Anyways, Joseph decided to gain more respect in his village by hunting a hippo. He speared the creature in his neck, which as you can imagine, didn't please the beast. The hippo charged as Joseph fled. As fast as the native Masai are, he was no match for a hippo. Luckily for Joseph, he found a small cave next to a river. However, unfortunately for Joseph, the cave wasn't deep enough to escape into darkness and hide from the hippo. So Joseph laid in the river bank, covered himself with mud, and then laid as far into the cave as he could. The hippo paced back and forth for about an hour, looking to hunt Joseph down. The hippo finally left, and Joseph made his way back to tell of his adventure to the village. The next day the village found the hippo dead, bled out with Joseph's spear in his neck.

Just as Joseph finished his story, we spotted a male lion lying in the grass. The massive cat was more magnificent than I remembered, and it was a real treat meeting the king again. We learned that he is one of three brothers who are king of their pride. Joseph explained that there used to be two cubs in the pride, but one of the neighboring pride's leader killed the cubs in hopes to someday take over the pride. Infanticide takes the life of 25% of all cubs. Even the leaders of the same pride will kill cubs, because they feel that their kingship is threatened by them. The female lions are the cubs' biggest advocate. It is not uncommon for lion pride leaders to fight to the death, attempting to take over the other pride.
 The losing pride belongs to a new king, who hunts out the cubs, which often flee with their mothers. Sounds a lot like the Lion King, huh?Once we captured pictures of the king of the jungle, we drove off into the sunset which was vibrant with reds, purples, oranges, and yellows that even my colorblind eyes could appreciate. The way the colors fell on the distinctly African trees was truly breathtaking, making for some awesome pictures. We parked the car in the middle of a plain, where we were surrounded by wildebeests, zebras, warthogs, gazelle, impalas, and even the occasional hyena. We got out of the vehicle, sipped drinks as darkness fell, and said a prayer of praise before we departed back to camp for dinner. Dinner was absolutely amazing. There were Indian bread for appetizer, beef, potatoes, broccoli, and carrots for dinner with wine. Dessert was an amazing peach cobbler. We talked a lot with Jamie & Katie, who were from the UK. Learning more of their culture was very fun and seeing the similarities and differences was fascinating. After dinner we shared fellowship around the campfire with a mixed drink in hand. After the glasses were empty, it was time for bed, anticipating waking up at sunrise for another safari adventure. Lying in bed with nothing but a tarp and a couple guards armed with flashlights between you and the wild animals of the Masai Mara was quite exciting. Lying there, hyenas could be heard barking at each other over the cricket chirps, as well as an occasional baboon or lion. Some might have found it terrifying, but I actually found nature's lullaby to be quite soothing and relaxing, resting peacefully in God's care, just like Daniel did when he went on his safari.

Day 8: Monday, June 17: Safari.

At 6:00 we were woken up by the safari security simply as a wakeup call. At 6:05 an elephant could be prominently heard blowing his trunk less than a quarter mile a way. How cool is that?! It took a while before we got on the road, but we were off by 7:00. I changed vehicles, so I had new guides named Johosaphet & Kumani.

Within ten minutes, the other jeep found a lion and lioness, but by the time we arrived, the royal couple had disappeared into the bushes and over a hill. The other jeep moved on and found a small herd of seven elephants. We were headed over to join them when we spotted the same mother and cheetah cubs from yesterday running on a nearby hillside. Within an instant, the mother burst into a speeding blur and left her cubs in the dust. Sprinting at insane speeds she made an instant 90° cut and took down a thompson gazelle. The cubs rejoined their mother and they had themselves a nice bloody breakfast. (If only 25% see a cheetah feast, and less than 10% see it run, hunt, & kill, how blessed we were to have seen two feasts & a speedy kill!

After spending a solid half hour with the cheetahs, it was off to find the elephants. The elephants were as magnificent as yesterday, but today we had the added bonus of seeing a baby elephant that was only a few months old! It stuck right by its mother's side at all times.

 We did not stay by the elephants for very long, as we were determined to find lions. Our drive across the Marai plains was absolutely beautiful! Beams of sunlight pierced the clouds and illuminated the prairie beneath the blue hills in the distance. Everywhere you looked there was some sort of life. At one point I could see a family of elephants, a cluster of zebras, multiple wildebeests, scattered gazelle, massive topii, and colorful birds all grazing the prairie grass shaded by the occasional African tree in a single view. If my camera was that good, I would have mailed you a postcard of the scene.

After searching for a half hour, we found a pride of lions. The male was not around, but there were four females and a dozen cubs, the youngest being only a month old. Last night, the four females hunted a large impala that the whole family was dining on in the grass. There wasn't much left of the impala as the lionesses and cubs had hollowed out the insides, and eaten both the meat and rib cage from the thigh to the neck. There was still meat to be found on the creature as some of the little cubs were still gnawing away. Other cubs wanted to play. One would run up to mother and jump at her face or bite her ear, but mom wasn't in a playful mood. The little cub would then go find a sibling, who was taking a nap in the grass, but there was no playful spirit found there either. Finally, the cub ran over and tackled another sibling who had just finished eating. The two cubs wrestled for a bit until both tuckered out and crashed in the grass.

After the cubs settled down, we departed and drove off to eat some breakfast. On our drive, we spotted mongoose, crowned cranes, and more zebras and the like. The mongoose and cranes feed on snakes, meaning we were in snake country, but we didn't see any. We parked the truck on a hill right next to a ridge names Leopard Ridge. The managers had chairs and breakfast set out for us, consisting of bacon, sausage, pancakes, toast, & fruit. The clouds broke as we ate and the whole prairie brightened. It was another amazing meal overlooking amazing beauty as zebras, wildebeest, and even a hyena lurked on from a distance. They probably came in looking for anything we might have left behind as we drove off at 10:30.

We followed Leopard Ridge until it merged with the plain. The grass on this plain was very short (ankle high) while all the other plains had grass at least thigh high. We drove across this plain for twenty minutes and while there was life consisting of zebras and wildebeest, I called it the plain of bones because you couldn't go two minutes without seeing a dried animal skull. We crossed the plain and parked next to the Masai River, where there was a score of hippos keeping cool during the heat of the day. The hippos can hold their breath for five minutes, but the average was shorter while we were watching them. The hippos would come up to breathe and shoot air & water into the air similar to how a whale would when it surfaces. Even a couple of baby hippos could be seen. We also saw a half dozen crocodiles, the largest being roughly ten feet long and weighing approximately 400 kilograms. Crocs can live up to 100 years.

We left the river at around noon and headed back across the plain of bones, but took a slightly different route this time. Again, there was no shortage of wildlife or the remains of wildlife. There were thousands of wildebeests grazing before they migrate in a month. Quite often the males would fight, trying to dominate the other male and claim his females. One time two males came charging had down at each other and made a head on collision, horns and all. The smaller got knocked down and didn't get up for a minute or two. It was a one round knockout. As we continued along, we found a wildebeest that had recently died of old age and was now a meal for the vultures and dogs.

We pulled into camp at 1:00 for showers and lunch. While we were all seated at the dinner table enjoying our pizza, the monkeys decided to come to the row of trees closest to our tent to check out what we were eating. We watched as the swung from tree to tree, occasionally stopping to see if we were going to toss them any scraps. They didn't have much luck as we didn't wish to feed wild animals. They have, however stolen food from camp during the night before. Lunch finished and there was down time until 4:00, which people spent either napping or playing games. Once everyone was up, it was once again off to find animals. We mixed up the seating again and each jeep had different sightseeing goals. My jeep was hunting leopards, while the other jeep was searching for baboons, since they hadn't gotten to see them the previous day. Both jeeps had ambitions to find more giraffes. The funny part is within our first ten minutes of leopard hunting, we found a troop of baboons. We didn't stay but a minute or two because we were determined to find a leopard. 

Not ten minutes after the baboons, Zach spotted a pair of female lions enjoying an after dinner nap. (We know it was after dinner because we could see, and smell, a devoured wildebeest carcass unwind.) The lions rolled around for a while and then got up and started to walk back to camp.

We drove around for twenty minutes searching for a leopard with no luck, but we did find almost a dozen tall giraffes eating dinner. We got really close to them and snapped pictures of the graceful giants for fifteen minutes. As we drove away we also spotted hippo in the water and the two lionesses again, but still no leopard. After a half hour of driving, we found no leopard, but did find the king and queen of the jungle. The lions were lazy and just laid there Hakuna Matata style.

The sun began to set as we drove off to find a campfire under an African tree. The sky was too cloudy to see vibrant colors like last night, but the fire under the trees with animals in all directions was truly relaxing. Thunder could be heard in the distance complimented by lightning on the horizon. Along with the drinks, Jamie & Katie also brought a couple wooden bow and arrows for us to play with. After shooting at an empty juice bottle unsuccessfully. Kumani took the bow from us, stepped back a few steps and pierced the bottle with power and accuracy that we couldn't match if we combined all our talent. Best part is he didn't seem to aim; it was all done off reflex. It was awesome. We sat around the fire until the sky completely dark and then we drove back to camp. Although we did not find a leopard, it was still an awesome day.

As soon as we arrived at camp, I headed to the tent to drop off my bag before dinner. I used the restroom and headed back to the main tent. As I was walking, one of the security guards came running down the path yelling "leopard!" My first reaction was to shine my flashlight in the grass and look for it. I then realized that the jeep was reloaded with passengers ready to go. I hopped in the jeep and we used infrared lights to spot the leopard about a hundred yards from camp. The leopard didn't seem too fond of having the jeeps bother him at night, but the infrared lights don't affect their night vision. The cat was so beautiful, bright yellow with pitch black circles all

over his back. We followed the leopard for a couple hundred yards before he disappeared into the woods. Isn't it just like our God to give us an amazing day, and then put the icing on the cake in His timing for His glory? Wow! What an awesome God we serve!

We got back to camp and sat around the fire and shared drinks and stories before dinner. Dinner consisted of butternut squash soup (amazing!), tilapia with rice & onions, green beans, and a pie for dessert. As our last real sit-down meal in Africa, our conversations were filled with reflection and favorite parts of the trip. Favorites included standing on top of the water where the water is sanitized and looking at the valley below and thinking about how many lives were changed, the elderly woman who got water at the kiosk and carried it on her back, the orphanage and the stories tied to each unique child there, and the realization of how much the people of Kenya pray for us all topped the list. While we exchanged stories, lions could be heard, and actually sounded quite close. Also, two bush babies (like kuala bear/monkey mix) kept taking leftover bread that was on the table. The candlelight dinner was absolutely wonderful as there was no electricity, but that just adds to the adventure.

Back to our tent we went after dinner was over. The nearby lion grunts reminded us to zip up our tent and keep the zipper handle inside the tent so the baboons don't unzip it while we sleep. Once again nature sang its lullabies in the form of chirps, squeals, grunts, growls, and a few unrecognizable noises.

Day 9: Tuesday, June 18: The Final Countdown.

Speaking of countdown, today marks exactly seven months until my wedding. Wake up was the same time as yesterday, with a breakfast of fruit, omelets, bacon, sausage, and beans for breakfast. The breakfast conversation was good, but there was some worry that a lion might break in a tent and make us a human happy meal. That is something that I don't understand. Also, the comment was made at how lucky we were not to get sick and how surprising that was. I don't think luck had anything to do with it. We prayed to God each morning for health, safety, and His blessing and that's exactly what He blessed us with. God loves to give us gifts of blessing according to His mercy, all we have to do is ask and believe. We serve the same God that Daniel prayed to as he was spared from the lions; the same God that Shadrack prayed to as he walked into the fiery furnace; the same God that Moses prayed to before He split the Red Sea for the Israelites. I think sometimes we think that we are praying to a deaf God or a God who doesn't care about the little things. However, I really beg to differ. He knows if one hair falls from our head and he is like a father longing to bless his child, so He absolutely does care about the small things, both wants and needs. He cares about our health & safety; all we have to do is ask. Once we ask, we need to trust in His unfailing love that He is willing and able to provide what we ask for and even more, according to His grace and mercy. We must learn to have peace as we trust in Him. I know that this is a hard concept for Americans to grasp, but we really can change our emotions and habitual thoughts by changing our worldview, which comes from first believing whole-heartedly in the Truth found in God's Word & secondly, being aware of our thoughts and consciously choosing to align them with God's will.

Anyways, after breakfast we headed out for two and a half hours of safari, on which we saw more lions (two male, two female), more zebras, gazelle, impalas, wildebeest, warthogs, cape buffalo, and merecats (Timones). Our last stop before the airstrip was along the river to see more hippos. There were a ton of hippos lying on top of each other and the small birds had fun playing frogger and running from hippo to hippo without using its wings. One hippo was standing up on a rock.

 He was really funny because he was so large he was almost clumsy as he tried to move; but he wasn't super big; which makes me think he was in that awkward teenage stage. We watched the hippos for about a half hour before we headed to the airstrip.

We landed in Nairobi, ate at a "western world" restaurant with burgers and fries and the like. Lunch adjourned and it was off to Heshima Special Needs School & Dignity Center. The center had 19 children who were handicapped with cerebral-palsy, autism, and other disabilities. The people who run the place used to live in Minneapolis, where they had a disabled son. Tracey had the heart of a missionary and her husband developed a heart for Africa. Combined that with their love for Simon, their son, they moved to Africa and started the school for disabled children. On top of caring for the children during the day, they also employ the mothers to cook, clean, and make jewelry to sell, which paid their salary. The mothers were so grateful for both a job and a school for their special needs child. In Africa, both the mothers and children are rejected by community and their family. Often the disability is treated like a disease and it isn't uncommon for the community to try and torture the "disease" out of the child. Heshima rescues the mothers and children from this abuse and provides care for them forty hours a week. They had a really nice facility that was only a year old.

 They had drilled a borehole on the premises which provided running water to their facilities. They also sell the water to the people living in the slums for a very small price. This brings people to the facility where they can slowly educate them on people with disabilities. They teach the people that it is not a disease and that the disabled are human beings and should not be treated like dogs. Tracy and her family had an absolutely wonderful, well-run program. They employed a physical, a speech, and an occupational therapist that work on site five days a week. The kids were so beautiful and God is really blessing the whole place. However, they can't take on any more children as it costs $300 per month and they need more sponsors to take on more children. Even if people don't wish to sponsor a child, they can visit their online shop and buy African merchandise and read their story at www.heshima.org.

The school was our last stop of our Kenyan trip. After that we quick picked up our bags that were being stored for us at the hotel and headed back to the States via Amsterdam. Welcome home!