Saturday, November 21, 2009

Breakdown: On the side of the road

In Nairobi security guards were everywhere. Neighborhoods had gates with guards and the walls around the neighborhoods had broken glass or razor wire on top. Businesses had guards at the front door. The cops carried AK-47's. The police made check points by dragging logs with giant spikes in them across the road. This made vehicles slow down and drive through the barriers in a "S" pattern. We cleared the city with its traffic and about an hour later one of our buses blew a coolant hose.


It was warm so we all got off the bus and looked around. The British left Kenya in 1963. Many of the things the British built have deteriorated since their departure. Check out the telephone poles with no wires in the picture above. Almost every road, town, bridge or city that we visited showed signs of decay. Decay of something that was nicer in the past but was presently wasting away.

Children showed up to see what was going on. We took pictures of them we turned the cameras around to show them the picture. They were amazed. Most of the children we had contact with had never seen themselves before. They did not have mirrors at home so they had no idea what they looked like.

The children were grazing their sheep. They would have to walk for miles to find a spot where their sheep could find something to eat. Some times they would not even go home for days.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Leaving Nairobi to Nanyuki



Breakfast was interesting. Everything was cooked well done. The coffee was instant and I was very scared about what to eat and what not to eat, but the buffet table was huge and I ate like a king.

We ate breakfast, we prayed, had a meeting and loaded everything onto buses for our drive to Nanyuki. When we drove out of the gate I was shocked with the number of people. Nairobi had people everywhere. I was amazed with the traffic both cars and pedestrian.

Cars in Nairobi drive so close together that the hood is the best place for rear view mirrors. Check out the picture of the truck above. We drove for hours and hours to the town of Nanyuki. Nanyuki was our base of operations. We left every morning to drive to the Segera Mission (about 90 minutes) and returned every night.

Friday, November 6, 2009

P.C.E.A. Guest House - Nairobi, Kenya



Kenya is on the equator so the sun sets very early, about 630pm. When we arrived it was dark and the capital city of Nairobi was a ghost town. The streets had very little traffic and I could not see anyone walking around the town. We went to the P.C.E.A. Guest House. The guest house is basically a hotel that was surrounded by a wall with guards and razor wire. The staff was very friendly and they met us outside with a table offering juice. It was a juice blend of passion fruit and grapefruit juice. In Kenya fruit juice is a luxury item and it may be the sweetest thing in a Kenyan's diet.

My bed in the guest house had a mosquito net. I was very tired so I took an Ambien (sleeping pill) and sleep like I was in a coma. I do remember hearing mosquitos flying around and I felt very safe inside the net. At 5am the Mosque next door played it's prayer calls so loud that the windows rattled. My roommate woke up with the Muslim prayer calls but I slept on until about 630am. Breakfast was an adventure by itself because the food was so different and I was not sure what was safe to eat. I had the omelet with cheese and sausage (in natural casings) with instant coffee. We prayed and boarded our buses for an all day ride to Nanyuki, the village that would become the base for our work over the next 10 days.