I feel like we are finally leaving the twilight zone and starting to enter into the reality of our move. Travel is always hectic, and exhausting, and finally, 36 hours later, we are here. I am writing this to the sounds of wild dogs fighting, from under the mosquito net in our new room for the next ten weeks. Samson and his family are the kindest hosts ever. We got off our last flight in Kisumu and picked up our bags, and as soon as we walked out the front doors, glancing around just starting to wonder where they might be; Samson, Jackline his wife, and his entire family were waving us down like we were old friends. We were warmly greeted with handshakes, hugs, and introductions. And every piece of luggage we had was adopted by one of the children, they looked like a caravan of giant backpacks with legs sticking out wandering towards the van. We all squished into the beat up bright blue van with purple neon lights, writing all along the side and God's Life printed in giant white letters on the windshield. Packaged like sardines in a technicolored can, we were off. As soon as I sat down four sets of hands were playing with my hair, combing their fingers through it and braiding it, commenting on how soft it was (which shocked me seeing as I had been travelling for hours, and hadn’t showered in two days, but lesson 14: everything is relative). Gina and Dorothy, Samson’s oldest daughters were asking us all about our lives, families, and our hobbies. We hit it off with them instantly, their english is excellent, I can tell we will become close with them. Bumping along through the dirt streets that somehow smell equally fresh and like sewage. We were taking in the sights that will soon become familiar; the empty rickety stands used to sell wares during the day, the broken down buildings painted with advertisements, cows and dogs running through the streets, the classic african trees that make my Disney brainwashed mind instantly think of the Lion King. Exhausted, we were finally settling down, breathing easier as we travelled through the streets of Kisii, we had made it, no more tight connections to make, no more standing by half broken conveyor belts wondering if our luggage had made it through. And just as I was starting to marvel at how seamlessly this trip had gone, giant bolts of lightning lit up the sky, outlining the horizon. I am a huge fan of lightning, watching storms from my front porch is one of my favorite pastimes, but I had not seen lightning anything like this before. Vibrant glowing purple bolts shooting across the entire sky, creating daylight for a full second. Brighter, bigger, and stronger then any lightning I’d seen, it became soothing, and soon both Kira and I had fallen asleep on each others shoulders. We were woken up by Gina, trading seats with Kira. The seats are fairly small and they were worried we were going to fall over, so each one of them sat with us and laid our heads on their shoulder. Gina stroked my head and played with my hair until I fell asleep again. The next time I woke up I realized my knee was wet, I was sitting next to the window that leaked, and it was down pouring, I could barely see through the front windshield. Gina laid her coat out over me, and I nodded back off to sleep. The next thing I knew I was being woken up, and the car was stopped. It took about half an hour, but soon we figured out that the car had broken down and something in the wiring was shot so the headlights were not working. Luckily the rain had stopped, and we thought it was probably just an easy fix, no one seemed to be that worried. They had it under control, I thought, for the first hour or so. Then I was wondering if maybe they should find someone who knew more about broken down blue painted vans with purple lights. Soon a motorcycle with two men I assume Samson was friends with came speeding in to where we were pulled over. They tried their hand at fixing the truck, until another two manned motorcycle skidded to a stop and they both tried to fix it. There was such a great sense of community, and repetition... Each person would lift up the drivers side seat, pull out some metal that was covering the engine, play around in there for a bit, slam the drivers seat back down, hop in the car, a few men would push the car as someone inside was trying to start it, we would lurch back and forth about 3 times, then the van would sputter to a start, and we would drive forward about two feet, rev the engine about twice, then back up to where we had started, the engine would die, and the whole process would start over again. And again. And again. And maybe 20 or so more times. Finally about four hours later, we were woken up (the rhythmic stopping and starting became very soothing) and bleary eyed, we climbed into a cab. The cab lit the way for the van which drove, but had no headlights. I commend their dedication to fixing the van for four hours and not giving up, and the driver’s bravery for driving the van with no lights. So our little caravan of two was off to Ogembo, the town in which Samson lives. Tired and grateful to have finally arrived at our destination around 3 in the morning we climbed up to the top floor in the pitch black, and settled into Samson’s adorable apartment (the photo is the view from the stairs climbing up to his apartment during the day). We are so grateful to his family for taking us in; they made us feel so welcome.
We have now been here for two days. Samson told us to spend at least two or more days resting and then we will start our work at the orphanage. So these two days have felt sort of like a blur, we wake up to eat some rice and potatoes, fall back asleep, wake up and ate more rice and potatoes, and fall back asleep, and repeat. Today we woke up finally feeling rested, and we are hoping to get out and visit the town to get some errands done.
And so ends our first official blog post from Africa. It’s crazy that in a community where even getting clean drinking water is a challenge, there is a way to get internet. We are so grateful to be able to keep HCIC, Charity Works, and all our friends from home in the loop. HCIC (Helping Children in Crisis) is the organization that funds and helps run the orphanage that we are here to do work for. And Charity Works is a wonderful New Church organization that helps fund service projects, they have immensely helped us with our financial needs for this trip. Without both of these organizations, and the beautiful people within them, our trip could not happen. It has taken all day to figure out getting the internet for my laptop, surprisingly, getting our phones connected is much easier. We went out to Ogembo for the first time, so much has happened since I wrote this blog post, but I desperately need a shower, I can wipe the dirt off my skin. We are playing with the kids, and about to eat dinner. Next time we post we will share our first impressions of the town of Ogembo, how wonderful Dorothy is, what it is like to be the ONLY white people in town, and how soothing Orange Fanta can be.
We've made it to our first stop in Doha, Qatar after a long 12 hour flight. This morning couldn't have started out better, with green smoothies, loving friends to send us off, and maybe a missed alarm or two ...or six.
It's been months of preparations, a few crazy last days of packing and shopping, and a whole lot of love and support from the people around us, and now that everything is coming together it feels pretty surreal.
We have another flight to Nairobi in a few hours, and then yet another to Kisumu, where we will be picked up and driven home to Kisii.
Our layovers are pretty tight so we haven't got much time to introduce this blog, but it's exciting to be able to share this incredible and terrifying experience with whoever wants to get a glimpse.