We are writing from Nairobi tonight, having arrived back at the Mennonite Guest House safely from Amboseli! Our days on Safari were absolutely breathtaking - we saw so many animals at incredibly close distances including herds of elephants and several lions. However even with our persistence of trying to locate a cheetah and a leopard, their stealth-like abilities kept us from achieving our goal. We got some amazing pictures which we can't wait to share when we get back. We had a five hour drive from Amboseli to Nairobi, so most of our day was spent traveling, but we also got to stop at a curio shop near Amboseli to try our hand at bargaining. We ended up coming away with some really interesting handmade pieces at (what WE thought) good prices.
After our long and hot ride from Amboseli, we discovered that we still had one of the suitcases filled with shirts and other items we were intending on giving still in our possession. This gave us the chance to reunite with Mary and Cozmus, our good friends from the cheetah research camp. Even just after two days, returning back to camp felt like we had been gone for weeks and as if we were coming back home. After having a nice lunch back at camp, we left yet again for a long ride back to Nairobi. Returning to the Mennonite Guest House, we found rooms and settled in for the night. Now after dinner, the day is winding down and is leaving us to sort through our African treasures and relax.
Tomorrow we are headed to the children's orphanage to spend time with them and give them the remainder of our school supplies and clothing. We are really looking forward to spending our last few days in Kenya with giving hearts. We were able to have a discussion about the pros and cons of our trip last night and all agreed at what an incomparable experience this has been - something most people our age do not get to do with such amazing people and with the purpose of serving God. Thank you to everyone who made this possible! We'll let you know how the orphanage goes tomorrow.
PS to Dank - Alex and Marissa have been alternating nights with the blog, but tonight they gave me (Logan) a shot.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
End of Week 1, Start of Week 2!
It's our last night at the campsite, and we can't say that we're that sad to be leaving bucket showers and smelly tents, but we are INCREDIBLY sad to leave our experiences at Kiima Kiu, the game-counts, and company of wonderful people who have been staying with us/cooking for us/talking with us this week. We just cleaned out our suitcases, leaving the clothes we soiled for the staff here to wash and donate to our new friends at the school and keeping a limited amount for safari this week. We had a busy day today...
This morning we awoke to our first clear, warm[ish] morning and a delicious breakfast- of course. After eating, we all dressed up for the first time in a long time and headed to church. When we got to the church, we were herded into a conference room where we met some wonderful people who worked there that gave us a warm, warm welcome which we receive absolutely everywhere we go, it's great. Church was a lot of fun with lots of singing, dancing, and praying. The service was completely in Swahili, except for the sermon which was translated by a boy we met who knew both English and Swahili fluently. We weren't exactly used to a three hour long service, but we survived.
We headed back to the campsite to have lunch and prepare for a drive out past Malili to a game ranch. The ranch is owned and run by people who intended for it to be for cattle herders, but many wild animals live there as well and we got the chance to pop open the roofs of our vans and have a mini-safari! Good prep for next week. We took so many pictures - we'd share them with you but our internet connection is waning and uploading pictures takes a while :/ Among the wildlife spotted were gifaffes, zebras, wildebeests, Thompson's gazelles, and hardebeests...we were speechless to say the least.
We just got done eating a very delicious dinner- the last one. We are very, very sad to say goodbye to our cooks, but the campfire talk tonight has been a lot of fun. Scary and embarrassing stories are a lot of fun to share with our friends here. For the next three days we are heading to Amboseli for our safaris and we are unsure if there will be internet available or how expensive it will be, so stay posted but do not expect consistency in the blog. We're excited but sorry we won't be able to fill you in!
This morning we awoke to our first clear, warm[ish] morning and a delicious breakfast- of course. After eating, we all dressed up for the first time in a long time and headed to church. When we got to the church, we were herded into a conference room where we met some wonderful people who worked there that gave us a warm, warm welcome which we receive absolutely everywhere we go, it's great. Church was a lot of fun with lots of singing, dancing, and praying. The service was completely in Swahili, except for the sermon which was translated by a boy we met who knew both English and Swahili fluently. We weren't exactly used to a three hour long service, but we survived.
We headed back to the campsite to have lunch and prepare for a drive out past Malili to a game ranch. The ranch is owned and run by people who intended for it to be for cattle herders, but many wild animals live there as well and we got the chance to pop open the roofs of our vans and have a mini-safari! Good prep for next week. We took so many pictures - we'd share them with you but our internet connection is waning and uploading pictures takes a while :/ Among the wildlife spotted were gifaffes, zebras, wildebeests, Thompson's gazelles, and hardebeests...we were speechless to say the least.
We just got done eating a very delicious dinner- the last one. We are very, very sad to say goodbye to our cooks, but the campfire talk tonight has been a lot of fun. Scary and embarrassing stories are a lot of fun to share with our friends here. For the next three days we are heading to Amboseli for our safaris and we are unsure if there will be internet available or how expensive it will be, so stay posted but do not expect consistency in the blog. We're excited but sorry we won't be able to fill you in!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Last Few Days at Camp/Kiima Kiu!
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| Here are the Kiima Kiu Primary School children singing for us :) |
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| Here we are with our 36 freshmen, sophomores, and juniors from Kiima Kiu after our soccer game!
We're sorry again for not being able to blog yesterday, the internet was spotty once again and we were all pretty wiped out! But we are back and come with pictures :) They are a couple of our favorite with the best kids around! Today we are writing right after a delicious meal of goat that we killed, gutted, and prepared ourselves, it was very delicious! A little graphic, and Logan insisted on naming it Keith, but still very good, as is all our food.
Yesterday we did presentations with our students in front of the whole group, plus many of their teachers. Our coliform tests finished, and we were able to see that nearly all of the test tubes came back positive for bacteria (changed from red to yellow). Each student showed a map they had drawn themselves of the dam where they draw their water from and the things that surround it, such as farms, factories, homes, and roads. They then discussed reasons for contamination of their water and the bacteria they had seen under the microscope. Every student did such a great job, and it was so exciting for us to see how much they had learned this week. After lunch, we got together to discuss ways to purify our water - boiling, soda ash, and a complex water treatment process were all ways which the kids had used previously. These students have an immense amount of intelligence and curiosity and creativity - we never ceased to be impressed.
Today was a lot of fun and very emotional for us. We 'slept in' until 7 AM and then went to the community cattle dip where unfortunately only one farmer showed up, but we still got the experience! Its always entertaining to see the huge beasts jump into the water, as much as they hate it. Afterwards we ate a delicious breakfast (as always) and mentally prepared for our soccer/futbol match against our students. We had our Kenya t-shirts and game faces on...and we got scored on in the first 10 seconds. We were pretty shocked, and they were extremely pumped, but we came back to tie it! The entire game was very intense and they were all very good, it was the best. They scored in the last 20 seconds to win the game and we all drank sodas together after, their joy was never-ending and we were trying to soak up every second we had left with them. Mr. Dyk, Logan, and one of their students talked about the great experience we had this week and how we were a blessing to each other. Our departure from the school was emotional and bittersweet.
Our time at Kiima Kiu was like nothing we have ever experienced before, and we have all been thinking a lot about how much we take for granted. We learned so much about an extremely different culture and got to see how much happiness all these students and teachers had despite the resources and possessions they lacked - which we have an abundance of back home. We're thinking a lot and praying a lot and can't wait to share first-hand all of our stories and lessons learned.
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
Wednesday and Thursday!
Sorry we didn't get a chance to post last night - the internet connection here has a mind of its own! We can't believe tomorrow is Friday already...everyone has been commenting that at some points we feel our time is inching by but most points we are stunned by how quickly our hours have past. The cold weather has been continuing unfortunately- our only regret is that we did NOT pack for cool weather! Which is ironic, since we're from Michigan and have numerous cool-weather clothing options :/
Our days are very long here, although the sun goes down at around 6:30. We are all up and active by 7 AM and don't go to bed before 10 PM so it doesn't exactly feel like summer but there is so much to do in one day! Yesterday we ate a delicious breakfast which included the Kenyan doughnut and drank the infamous/traditional chai tea. Then we set off for the school where the students each brought water from their own homes that they could look under the microscopes we brought. They really enjoyed the new lab equipment! We also tested their water for pH, alkaline, and hardness. We are also in the process of a bacteria coliform test that is currently incubating and will be ready for analysis tomorrow...just in time!
Mary Wykstra's main colleague, Cosmoz, has been a blessing to us this whole trip! He is in charge of bringing us out on the game counts in the morning and at night AND is the one who makes us our chai tea lattes to enjoy. He goes with us to the school and interacts with the kids so well - an easily-loveable guy. We split into four groups with the students while doing our water labs, which gave us all a chance to get to know those in our group on a more personal level. The kids enthusiastically greet us every day - they love to wave and say, "Jambo!" which means "hello" in Swahili. As they became more comfortable with us, they spoke English more and more easily and asked us many questions about our lives. They also love to take pictures with us and view the digital images on our cameras.
Today we had the chance to split up into our groups and walk together to various water sources. Every group had a different experience on their walk- some sang the whole way in Swahili, some asked endless questions about life in America, and others just shared about their lives and inquired about ours. The walks were beautiful, although the water is not. The water sources here look more like giant puddles and its scary to see all the cattle and goats that walk through and poop there. The students tell us that we are "very, very lucky" to have water piped in our homes, and we are reminded of this blessing constantly while we are here.
Our mornings have consisted of taking walking tours of the surrounding land with Mary's staff members: Puce, Jimmy, and LaMomba. Even though the sun hasn't been out, the areas are fantastically beautiful and home to tons of animals we have never seen outside of a zoo - baboons, wildebeests, and dik-diks (small deer-ish creatures). All of us have been walking at least 3-6 kilometers a day and are feeling it in our butts and thighs :)
This afternoon was one of the most rewarding opportunities that we have ever had. We were each able to give away at least two or three backpacks to the students in our group. It was amazing to see their faces absolutely light up at the sight of a box of pencils or a t-shirt. They had never been presented with such a bounty of things before and one of the first things some of them did was share...it was such a blessing to watch. They all wanted pictures afterwards with their backpacks and to learn the new card games they had received or strike a model pose. Such a fun half hour, I'm sure not much can compare to the joy we witnessed in giving just the donated school supplies and backpacks.
To complete our wonderful day, we attended the school's chapel service where we got to sing hymns with the kids and listen to their chaplain give a message. The kids also wanted US to sing for them, so we shared some of our "American" worship songs with them. We had so much fun getting to know the many incredible students at Kiiwa Kiu and are looking forward to our last two days with them! We hope we don't have any more internet problems so we can keep you updated.
Although the wonderful food has been continuing (rice, spiced beans, kale, tilapia, YUM), we are all starting to miss some of our American weaknesses - Little Caesar's Crazy Bread, chocolate chip cookies, and Qdoba - just to name a few.
Tomorrow we will try and post pictures - missing you all!
PS to Eli and Isaiah Dyk: Your dad saw your favorite animal today - the gnu!
Our days are very long here, although the sun goes down at around 6:30. We are all up and active by 7 AM and don't go to bed before 10 PM so it doesn't exactly feel like summer but there is so much to do in one day! Yesterday we ate a delicious breakfast which included the Kenyan doughnut and drank the infamous/traditional chai tea. Then we set off for the school where the students each brought water from their own homes that they could look under the microscopes we brought. They really enjoyed the new lab equipment! We also tested their water for pH, alkaline, and hardness. We are also in the process of a bacteria coliform test that is currently incubating and will be ready for analysis tomorrow...just in time!
Mary Wykstra's main colleague, Cosmoz, has been a blessing to us this whole trip! He is in charge of bringing us out on the game counts in the morning and at night AND is the one who makes us our chai tea lattes to enjoy. He goes with us to the school and interacts with the kids so well - an easily-loveable guy. We split into four groups with the students while doing our water labs, which gave us all a chance to get to know those in our group on a more personal level. The kids enthusiastically greet us every day - they love to wave and say, "Jambo!" which means "hello" in Swahili. As they became more comfortable with us, they spoke English more and more easily and asked us many questions about our lives. They also love to take pictures with us and view the digital images on our cameras.
Today we had the chance to split up into our groups and walk together to various water sources. Every group had a different experience on their walk- some sang the whole way in Swahili, some asked endless questions about life in America, and others just shared about their lives and inquired about ours. The walks were beautiful, although the water is not. The water sources here look more like giant puddles and its scary to see all the cattle and goats that walk through and poop there. The students tell us that we are "very, very lucky" to have water piped in our homes, and we are reminded of this blessing constantly while we are here.
Our mornings have consisted of taking walking tours of the surrounding land with Mary's staff members: Puce, Jimmy, and LaMomba. Even though the sun hasn't been out, the areas are fantastically beautiful and home to tons of animals we have never seen outside of a zoo - baboons, wildebeests, and dik-diks (small deer-ish creatures). All of us have been walking at least 3-6 kilometers a day and are feeling it in our butts and thighs :)
This afternoon was one of the most rewarding opportunities that we have ever had. We were each able to give away at least two or three backpacks to the students in our group. It was amazing to see their faces absolutely light up at the sight of a box of pencils or a t-shirt. They had never been presented with such a bounty of things before and one of the first things some of them did was share...it was such a blessing to watch. They all wanted pictures afterwards with their backpacks and to learn the new card games they had received or strike a model pose. Such a fun half hour, I'm sure not much can compare to the joy we witnessed in giving just the donated school supplies and backpacks.
To complete our wonderful day, we attended the school's chapel service where we got to sing hymns with the kids and listen to their chaplain give a message. The kids also wanted US to sing for them, so we shared some of our "American" worship songs with them. We had so much fun getting to know the many incredible students at Kiiwa Kiu and are looking forward to our last two days with them! We hope we don't have any more internet problems so we can keep you updated.
Although the wonderful food has been continuing (rice, spiced beans, kale, tilapia, YUM), we are all starting to miss some of our American weaknesses - Little Caesar's Crazy Bread, chocolate chip cookies, and Qdoba - just to name a few.
Tomorrow we will try and post pictures - missing you all!
PS to Eli and Isaiah Dyk: Your dad saw your favorite animal today - the gnu!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
It's technically winter in Kenya, but all day yesterday we were enjoying 70-80 degree weather so we assumed that would be the case for the whole week. Unfortunately...we were wrong. Today we woke up to a campsite enveloped in fog - misty, chilly weather. Marissa, Steve, and Ryan were assigned to our first "Game Count," in which we take a pick-up truck out with the researchers to collect a count of the game we see along pipeline trails outside of Salama (the closest village to our campsite). We got to ride with our heads sticking out of the open top of the truck, which was very enjoyable minus the freezing rain hitting our faces. The group came back so thrilled with their experience, however, that they decided to lie to the rest of the group and say that it was the worst time they had ever had in their lives. Nobody bought it, and everyone is extremely excited for their game counts. The scenery was breathtaking.
Next up: The Stevens' Cow Ranch Cattle Dip. Cattle in this area experience a high rate of death due to disease-carrying tics. In order to prevent this, cattle ranchers must periodically "dip" all of their cattle in a chemical bath to kill tics. Our group had the pleasure of visiting the Stevens' Ranch, 5000 acres with over 1000 cows! The chemical bath smelled unpleasant, but it was seriously incredible to see hundreds of cows jumping into a trench and emerging tic-free. What a crazy experience!!!
We were most looking forward to visiting the kids today, and sure enough we were able to make it out for the end of their school day (approx. 2 pm to 4:30 pm). Kiima-Kiu Secondary School has about the same amount of students as KCHS - but we were working in particular with about 36 students grades 9-12. Here they refer to high school grades as Form 1, 2, 3, and 4. We all went around and introduced ourselves in slow English (since they're still learning) and played a bunch of "ice-breaker" games to get comfortable with one another. Every kid was very enthusiastic and full of smiles - it made our day! We are so excited to spend the rest of the week with them.
Quick endnote - on FOOD! Our meals today consisted of seasoned eggs with vegetables and delicious pancakes and sausages and ham for breakfast; "chapata" bread with curried lentils (green gram, so Kenyans call them) for lunch; and "ugali" corn cakes with beef and carrots. Yum. Our stomachs are being fed well :)
We are absolutely loving our time here - the only thing we are really missing (besides YOU) are continuous hot showers - a luxury we have taken for granted! Our showers are buckets with a small faucet - we heat up our own water over a fire, pour it into the bucket and mix it with some cool water - and hope it will do! Oh well. We're getting relatively clean. We think.
Next up: The Stevens' Cow Ranch Cattle Dip. Cattle in this area experience a high rate of death due to disease-carrying tics. In order to prevent this, cattle ranchers must periodically "dip" all of their cattle in a chemical bath to kill tics. Our group had the pleasure of visiting the Stevens' Ranch, 5000 acres with over 1000 cows! The chemical bath smelled unpleasant, but it was seriously incredible to see hundreds of cows jumping into a trench and emerging tic-free. What a crazy experience!!!
We were most looking forward to visiting the kids today, and sure enough we were able to make it out for the end of their school day (approx. 2 pm to 4:30 pm). Kiima-Kiu Secondary School has about the same amount of students as KCHS - but we were working in particular with about 36 students grades 9-12. Here they refer to high school grades as Form 1, 2, 3, and 4. We all went around and introduced ourselves in slow English (since they're still learning) and played a bunch of "ice-breaker" games to get comfortable with one another. Every kid was very enthusiastic and full of smiles - it made our day! We are so excited to spend the rest of the week with them.
Quick endnote - on FOOD! Our meals today consisted of seasoned eggs with vegetables and delicious pancakes and sausages and ham for breakfast; "chapata" bread with curried lentils (green gram, so Kenyans call them) for lunch; and "ugali" corn cakes with beef and carrots. Yum. Our stomachs are being fed well :)
We are absolutely loving our time here - the only thing we are really missing (besides YOU) are continuous hot showers - a luxury we have taken for granted! Our showers are buckets with a small faucet - we heat up our own water over a fire, pour it into the bucket and mix it with some cool water - and hope it will do! Oh well. We're getting relatively clean. We think.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Traveling/Day 1
Well, here we are at our remote campsite in southern Kenya...we can't believe there's an internet connection! We'll try to cover as much as we can because we don't have much time. We're in the same room with our guide, Mary Wykstra, as well as a bunch of masters students and assistants who are looking at the pictures of cheetahs they captured with a hidden camera earlier. Wonderful people doing crazy things!
Traveling wasn't so bad- the flights were smooth and we all watched lots and lots of movies. Swiss Airlines was incredibly nice, we all had our own tv screens with a wide variety of music and movies and tv shows, it made the two very long plane rides bearable (thankfully). Total it was 28.5 hours of traveling and we were all extremely loopy at the end when we finally arrived at the Mennonite Guest House in Nairobi! At last.
The Guest House was absolutely beautiful - all stone buildings with lots of old-style windows, patios, and French doors. Mary ordered our group 6 large Kenyan pizzas from down the road - barbeque beef, spicy chicken, and veggie! Delicious...and we were all starving since most of us had slept through the second flight and missed our meals. We settled in, chatted a bit about our agenda for the next day, and went to bed. In the morning we packed up the backpacks for the kids after a wonderful breakfast with fresh coffee and were picked up by our drivers, Joseph and JJ, to travel once again.
Our drivers told us the usual time traveling estimate, "It'll take about 10-15 minutes." Instead it took about 45 to get to the money exchange and then back on the road! We headed to Mamba Village for lunch, which is named after its huge crocodile population. They served us a huge buffet style lunch that was extremely delicious and we all left stuffed and refreshed to travel to Kenya Wildlife Services. Here we toured the animal orphanage and got close to leopards, lions, giraffes, and lots of other beautiful creatures. It was a lot of fun!
Next we had a two hour drive to the campsite we are at now. Upon arrival, many of us were having small panic attacks since few of us have ever TRULY camped before - here they collect their own water in a rain basin (though as a backup source there is also a house which can connect its hose to the basin) and boil and filter it to purify it. We had to set up our own tents (which, actually, was not so hard) and got settled in. We went to the main campsite, started a fire, and waited for dinner to be ready. We, VERY fortunately, have a cook who will be preparing our meals all week. Tonight's was white rice with a minced meat dish (broth, vegetables, spices). Very yummy.
After dinner, we all bonded with stories over the bonfire. We played "The Poop Game" and talked to the masters students. Its been a lot of fun and you can tell that everyone here is unbelievably passionate about their work, its extremely inspiring and admirable. A couple researchers here only work with poop- that's dedication. Its beautiful here, although very cold at night, and being without technology is really freeing. We'll blog more when we can :)
Traveling wasn't so bad- the flights were smooth and we all watched lots and lots of movies. Swiss Airlines was incredibly nice, we all had our own tv screens with a wide variety of music and movies and tv shows, it made the two very long plane rides bearable (thankfully). Total it was 28.5 hours of traveling and we were all extremely loopy at the end when we finally arrived at the Mennonite Guest House in Nairobi! At last.
The Guest House was absolutely beautiful - all stone buildings with lots of old-style windows, patios, and French doors. Mary ordered our group 6 large Kenyan pizzas from down the road - barbeque beef, spicy chicken, and veggie! Delicious...and we were all starving since most of us had slept through the second flight and missed our meals. We settled in, chatted a bit about our agenda for the next day, and went to bed. In the morning we packed up the backpacks for the kids after a wonderful breakfast with fresh coffee and were picked up by our drivers, Joseph and JJ, to travel once again.
Our drivers told us the usual time traveling estimate, "It'll take about 10-15 minutes." Instead it took about 45 to get to the money exchange and then back on the road! We headed to Mamba Village for lunch, which is named after its huge crocodile population. They served us a huge buffet style lunch that was extremely delicious and we all left stuffed and refreshed to travel to Kenya Wildlife Services. Here we toured the animal orphanage and got close to leopards, lions, giraffes, and lots of other beautiful creatures. It was a lot of fun!
Next we had a two hour drive to the campsite we are at now. Upon arrival, many of us were having small panic attacks since few of us have ever TRULY camped before - here they collect their own water in a rain basin (though as a backup source there is also a house which can connect its hose to the basin) and boil and filter it to purify it. We had to set up our own tents (which, actually, was not so hard) and got settled in. We went to the main campsite, started a fire, and waited for dinner to be ready. We, VERY fortunately, have a cook who will be preparing our meals all week. Tonight's was white rice with a minced meat dish (broth, vegetables, spices). Very yummy.
After dinner, we all bonded with stories over the bonfire. We played "The Poop Game" and talked to the masters students. Its been a lot of fun and you can tell that everyone here is unbelievably passionate about their work, its extremely inspiring and admirable. A couple researchers here only work with poop- that's dedication. Its beautiful here, although very cold at night, and being without technology is really freeing. We'll blog more when we can :)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
The Purpose of the Blog!
This blog was created by the mission team so that all of our generous donors, supporters, churches, and family members could keep an eye on our activity while we are across the globe in an effort to serve. Please use the gadget to the right to follow this blog by e-mail! :)
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