July 2011 Trip: Team Updates

From Steph, Wendy and Collyn-

Tuesday: 

Our morning began with Wendy, Collyn and Steph receiving a wake up call knock at the door from Lynn because we all missed our alarm clocks and overslept a bit. Our crew recovered and after a quick breakfast we headed back over to the Mercy Pre-School to take visors left over from Castleton UMC Bible School (Steph's home church).

The older students loved the visors and we loved the photo opportunity to take pictures of the sweet children in their owl hats and visors. Our team then had the opportunity to visit the Squatters Hill preschool and community. For Wendy, Steph & Collyn it was our first look at the reality of life in a slum. The children in the preschool were happy and joy filled.

We were so blessed to hear the songs they shared with us. It was really incredible to watch when one of the preschool workers took the leftover porridge mixture from the students' snack and shared it outside with the neighborhood children who weren't able to be in the pre-school. They came, running towards the preschool, with cups- many sharing with one another. Mama Nancy, one of the teachers of the preschool then took all of us on a tour of the Squatters Hill village. As we walked around, children seemed to come out of all kinds of corners of the community and were so happy to just hold our hands and walk with us. Mama Nancy explained that many of them were orphans and were living wherever they could within the community.

Our team then traveled to the public school, Kaimina, to visit the children sponsored by Lynn and other Aldersgate UMC members through Childcare World Wide. The time at the school was yet another blessing to our team as we were able to tour the school, meet the sponsor children and sit down and visit with the school administration and staff. We talked about things like differences in class size and how students were disciplined.

In the afternoon our team spent some more time in Lake Nakuru National Park on safari--we had a beautiful view at the overlook of the lake and captured some amazing views of rhinos & the birds of the lake. We headed over to a brand new guest house in Nakuru. Bill and Chat were gracious enough to open up their home to us even with only having moved in 8 days earlier. They were so welcoming and hospitable. We had a wonderful visit and stay in their home and had the opportunity to meet some girls from the United States who were in Africa. One of the highlights of our visit with Bill and Chat was meeting their Massai warrior who watches over their yard & property during the night. We had a photo op with him and it all seemed a little surreal when he held his bow and arrow in the photos. It was a very full day--but we were all so blessed by the people God allowed brought into our lives through the day's events.

Wednesday:

Wednesday started with more creature comforts courtesy of Bill and Chat: Bacon and eggs, fresh fruit, coffee, and OJ! Then we packed up and headed to Ekerenyo on a road that twisted and turned with potholes that would put Indiana's to shame! We stopped in Kericho for a cup of tea at the Tea Hotel, an old english cottage.

We stopped at a supermarket for last minute supplies and then headed to the Amani Reading Center to set up a Health Clinic inside. We set up a pharmacy, lab, patient consultation rooms, and reading glass distribution area. It has been the mission of our team to partner with the Kenyans to organize the clinic, and this time we are working with ten local Kenyans who range from volunteers to trained medical professionals. After a day of set up, the clinic was ready for service!

Back to the Borabu where Lynn, Edwin, Wendy, Steph, and Collyn sorted pills for easy distribution in the pharmacy the next day!