My Synopsis from Kenya

summary of my trip to Kenya a few years ago

So this is an attempt at a debrief or synopsis from my trip to Kenya. We left for Raleigh on Wednesday August the 4th and when we arrived some of the team, who were Debbie, Donald, and Kayla, were already at the hotel and checked us in. We had our first on mission team meeting in the hotel conference room after we found our rooms with awesome pizza from Papa John’s. We played some ice breaker games to get to know one another a little better and then it was off to bed (for some of us). My roommate/buddy for the trip David and I decided to work out a little in the hotel gym around 9. This turned out not to be the best idea because our wake up call was around three. I woke up sore.

Early on Thursday morning we headed down stairs to pack into our shuttles heading for the airport. There was only one shuttle but three shuttle runs so the team arrived at the airport in groups of three and we began baggage check. This made me quite nervous because it was so early and there were so many people hustling around. I thought I was going to be left. So we waited in line and it was interesting because people in our group who arrived later were being called first to get their bags checked I had no clue how this system was working. So finally I get called to go up and get my bags checked. Who knew? It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. So we head over to security to get metal detected and scanned and what not. Apparently I looked like I have a weapon so a woman security officer asks me to stick out my hands and swipes them to check for gun powder residue. I felt really cool after that. Finally the whole group got through, all 25 of us ranging from 13 to 65 years old. This is when I start getting nervous. I hate flying and I didn’t feel the Meclizine (which similar to Dramamine) kicking in. We finally begin to board and my flying buddy turns out to be Capt. Rich. He’s a retired Marine around the age of 65 who’s a charter boat captain now. My friend Hannah who is sitting across the aisle from me sees that I’m about to freak out when we start rolling so she tries to distract me by getting me to listen to the different radio stations on the radio that they have built into the chair’s arm rest. Well that didn’t work as we started take off I didn’t think my heart could pound so hard and fast. We climb and climb and I’m squirming waiting to pass out from extreme pressure in my arteries and let’s just say that my reaction to take off and landing doesn’t do much better throughout all of the take offs and landings. After quite a nauseating and bumpy ride we get to Washington D.C. for a three hour lay over. After eating subway and buying a lot of Dramamine, which did help some, I pretty much spend the rest of our time in Washington laying on the ground in the terminal praying that the next flight won’t be as bad. Before I knew it, though, we were up up and away while I was down down buried in the back of my seat squirming a little less because the Dramamine had worked a bit. This was one of our long flights. It was around 9 hours with Rome as our destination for a refueling. While in the air I did not enjoy any sleep, though it was relatively smooth. The pressure, or lack there of from being up so high, made it feel like my inner ear structures were swollen and going to burst. It was nice though because people from our group kept coming and checking on me. The inflight food obviously wasn’t great but it did its job. I also enjoyed some movies but definitely left the books I intended to read in my carry on. This leg of the flight didn’t seem to take very long but the next one from Rome to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia dragged on.

 We finally land in Ethiopia and it is definitely different especially the smell. Apparently no one wears deodorant. We find out where we need to go and have little time to look around. I notice that some of the girls on our team seem nervous but so did I. We rush through security which was very similar to the U.S. and board quickly. This flight was probably my least favorite because towards the end we hit some heavy turbulence and drop 1,000 feet in literally a second. A woman adjacent to me begins to throw up so it must have been bad.

Anyway we finally land in Nairobi, Kenya. It is very similar to the Ethiopian airport in smell. The whole team just seems like they want to fall over. We get our visas and our bags and head for Nakuru, where we spent most of our time until the end of our trip.

The ride to Nakuru was bumpy and dusty and four hours long but compared to our 16 hours worth of flying it definitely was a dream. I was able to get some video footage and a good bit of rest. I don’t remember much about that day but I think we arrived at our guest house, the Marlin, in the evening and I think we went to dinner at a buffet restaurant that we had dinner at every night while in Nakuru but after dinner I don’t remember anything. The next day I remember waking up full of energy because the roosters went off around 5 (I made sure to wear ear plugs every night after that but it didn’t help much.) We went down for breakfast and had some awesome mango juice, bananas, passion fruit and eggs. After some devotions, which he had every morning, we head to the heart of Nakuru to exchange our currency through ATM for Kenyan Shilling. Downtown Nakuru was interesting obviously because we were the only Mzungus (white people) walking around. I was greeted frequently and met a Kenyan man nicknamed Picasso. I began by saying sina pesa which means I don’t have any money and he rattled off something in Swahili. I had no clue what he was saying so I responded with unasema Kiingereza which means do you speak English. Apparently he didn’t run into many Mzungus who knew some Swahili and we chatted a bit.

Eventually we headed of for Mama Helen’s Rehabilitation Center, the total focus of the trip. As we sped down the road through bustling Nakuru we get on a road equivalent to a highway and begin to fly. We come to our turn off point which is about a 45 degree inclined road which quickly becomes a four-wheelers dream. Our drive whose name was John, but we called John-John, called the extremely bumpy drive the African massage. I felt like I needed a massage after every trip down this crazy road. We make our way passed little side roads where children would come each day to greet us and sadly beg for sweeties. But we had to ignore their demands and ventured onward finally arriving at the center. I remember driving up and seeing around five groups of children all scattered around the property standing in rows with older youth standing facing them and leading them in song and dance. This, I was told by Stephen, one of the older boys, was called Sike, which was for boosting morale.

All 25 of us get out the vans, put our stuff into a room on the downstairs floor of the boys dormitory and after we get settled a bit we find the people in our small groups. Hannah and Alisha were with me and we all pick a group to head to. Hannah, Alisha, and I head over to the group a kids whose group name was Enigma. The other groups were the Pentecost group, TAG group, Emmanuel group, and the Mississippi group. Our group leader was Stephen, who I mentioned above. We said hey and then attempted to follow along behind all the other kids. We had no idea of the dance moves and no idea of the lyrics to the songs and come to find out all the groups were going to perform in the dining hall in about 20 minutes. This was definitely new and scary. After our attempt to “fit in” we all sat in a circle and went over names. My group consisted of Violet, Christine (pronounced Kristin), Claire, Benjamin, John, Rashid, Abdul (I called him Abue every time I met him and talked about him and no one corrected me until the end of the trip), Moureen, Nicholas, Stephen, Hannah, Alisha, and I.

After we went over names a few times it was time to hit the stage. We were the last group to go. We felt as sense of ease when we noticed all of the other Mzungus had no clue on stage either. We get up there after being introduced by Peter Maina (Maina), who was one of the first orphans saved and is now pretty much the center director, and go for it. I think I blacked out because the next thing I remember was Pastor Jackson, the founder of the center, being on stage introducing us and Maina translating everything he said in Swahili.

We were sadly informed that Stephen and Abdul and many other of the older boys, Joseph and Alex were the only two others I could remember, were leaving to go back to school to take a very important test at the end of the week. We found at the end of the week that Stephen and Joseph achieved number one in their class out of the whole country which is pretty ridiculous to me. They were geniuses in my eyes.

After the announcements in the dining hall I believe we had lunch which was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we had these everyday and I was very happy. Next we headed down to the football field after that to... obviously play football. It was older boys versus older boys. I must say I couldn’t breathe at first but then my heart and lungs picked up. The boys definitely lived up to the label of being good runners. We played for around 30 minutes and then it was the girls turn.

After the game the day was ending and it was time to head back for some good Kenyan food. We said our good byes for that day, informing the kids that we would tutuonana kesho, see them tomorrow. Many hugs were exchanged and we headed off for a Kenyan massage.

Dinner was awesome and we had some debriefing. Again I don’t remember but I’m sure everyone was extremely excited for the next day and Monday when we started our Bible study groups.

The next morning the rooster beat my alarm again as he did everyday through the week and I awoke very stuffed up and exhausted. We had breakfast and headed out after devotions. We had some worship and testimonials for church. It was very low key but awesome. Next I believe we performed again and not having a clue what to do and then it was time for football. I decided, well my body decided to sit the game out. I spent a good deal of time using Jamie’s, a team member, Frisbee as a pillow. I awoke to many things happening. One was a kicking game in which two individuals kick each others’ feet in a pattern while sort of hopping. The pattern is right, left, right again, then outside of right and then behind the right leg with left and back to outside of right and repeat. The goal, I believe, was to go as fast as you can with out loosing your balance. Another activity was mid-air arm wrestling. All of the boys wanted to test mine and David’s strength. It was fun. We instructed them how to try and win by a twisting your wrist right at the start.

Kids jumping on me, holding my hand, playing with my hair, hugging me, it was a good day... after the nap.

The next day we started our Bible studies. But before we started on Monday we had a chance to say our good byes to the older boys who were leaving for school. It was bittersweet because we had just met them but we knew they were off to prepare for great things.

Throughout the week we Mzungus were in charge of instructing Bible studies of individuals in the Bible who showed extraordinary faith. The studies were about Noah, Abraham and Sarah, David, Gideon, Daniel for the younger groups and Rahab for the older groups. Each day began with a skit presented by our skit team describing the story we were presenting that day. It was awesome because the kids really responded and we were able to sit in the audience immersed in the crowd of them. They would stare at us during the skits sometimes and when you would notice they would begin smiling and get embarrassed. Then we would tickle the younger ones and kinda friendly nudge the older ones playfully to get them back focused on the skit. All day was an opportunity to joke around with the kids and be serious simultaneously. The best thing was that they didn’t need us. They knew there Bible very well and they knew what faith was. We had an impact but they impacted us more.

After the skit each day we described the story and began asking questions of how the individuals showed faith. They were quite timid at first so we had Nicholas translate for us and then I would say unaleawa which means do you understand. We went around the circle and they described times when they had faith and times they were scared and times when they were hungry and times when they really saw God come through. It was very enlightening to see their strength when I can’t even miss a meal with out complaining.

After our Q and A we had to come up with a skit and a song and we would have to say our memory verse for the week which was Hebrews 11:6- without faith it is impossible to please God because those who come to Him must belief that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. We struggled in our skits because us Mzungus were exhausted by this time and really were not creative. But the kids knew what they were doing with the songs especially Violet and Claire and Nicholas was really good at organizing everyone to come up with something for a skit.

When it became time to perform I didn’t black out anymore and really tried to get involved. A lot of our songs were in Swahili so I just moved my mouth and made noises while attempting to do the dance moves; Alisha and Hannah did the same.

After our performances we were judged by Maina and received some candy. Every group was really creative and energetic and very good and attempting to bribe Maina. We learned much about having nothing but doing a lot with it.

We had lunch after our performances and had time to hang out with the kids. We enjoyed talking to them, chasing them, joking with them, playing hand slap games with them, etc. They were very interested in us and we them.

One day during the middle of the week we had the awesome opportunity to spend two hours presenting each child with letters from their sponsors from the Hope 127 ministry from our church. I should explain that the only way a child can be able to fully participate at the center is to at least have one sponsor. All 80 something kids had three sponsors, which is amazing. I had the opportunity to work with John, who was in my group, and little boy named Moses. It was very inspiring because Moses couldn’t read or write English or Swahili so instead of being greedy to rush and write his own letters John spent most or the two hours helping Moses understand his sponsors’ letters and writing his own. These kids were selfless they helped each other through the all their trials; they even shared clothes. Every day you see the same article of clothing on a different kid. While John was writing Moses’ letters Moses took the pictures his sponsors sent him and spread them out like a fan in from of him, scanned them for a bit, and then looked up at me smiling bigger than the sky. It was awesome. Also these kids were focused when it was time to write their letters they took no breaks until they were done. No wonder some of them were first in their class in the nation. That was an awesome two hours. After the letter writing it was a normal day.

The day that I taught was the Gideon day. I felt that we were really slacking in the skits so I decided to take it upon myself to become a playwright writing a drama about Gideon using two acts and four scenes. It was awesome because God allowed me to be really flexible in my accepting input. It went really well and the kids really enjoyed it. We didn’t get first but we got close.

Our last day of Bible study we didn’t have to create and perform a skit because it was rewards day as well for the kids. So I knew we could really step it up with the choreography and vocal cords of Claire and Violet. For our presentation we did a little conga line dance to get on stage, did a cool circle clapping song about Daniel, then we did a song which calls Satan a loser and exit the stage all saying Hebrews 11:6. We took first. Kwanza, we finally got kwanza at the end of the week. Kwanza by the way means first. All of us were surprised and blown away. It was awesome.

After the performances it was reward time. Pastor Jackson and his wife Mama Hellen were there and gave speeches about their children (all of the orphans were legally theirs.) It was great because this was when we got to see that many of the kids were top in first, second, and third in their class in the nation. The winners all received brand new outfits that they didn’t have to share. The individuals that I knew who had won were Violet, John, Joseph, and Stephen.

It was a fun but sad afternoon on our last day of Bible studies until we found out that the older boys were heading back to the center and would be arriving in moments. We also found out that all of the children were coming with us the next day to Nairobi to visit the Serpentarium and the Animal orphanage, which is pretty much a zoo. So we had another day to say good bye.

When the older boys’ van pulled up it was chaos. All 80 something kids began to run toward it to embrace their brothers. It was pretty amazing to see their love for one another. Another cool thing was that the boys were extremely eager to see us as well after only knowing us for two days. We exchanged greetings and good byes simultaneously and eventually left after staying way later than we had scheduled to. But we were off and took a lot of pictures.

On the way back into town we stopped to do a little gift shopping. I was only buying a few things and the owners of the store started my purchase off at 15,500 shilling which is around 200 U.S. dollars. I was shocked. So I had to use my knowledge of haggling and got it down to 3,000 shilling which is around 38 bucks. I quickly found out that they were over pricing everyone to see what they could get out of us.

After we shopped we headed for our last dinner in Nakuru to meet Pastor Jackson and his wife and three daughters. We felt really bad because we were late from the shopping and they had already had their soups. But they didn’t seem to mind. After good conversation and good food it was off to bed to wake up at three so we could have breakfast, do devotions, pack up and meet the kids at the orphanage by six.

The roosters apparently knew our plan and woke me up a little before three. I was glad to not deal with them anymore. We had breakfast and did our last devotion, packed up and headed out. We met at the center and all 80 something kids were dressed in uniforms and packed into a huge green and yellow charter bus own by the center. They all looked very professional. After some trips to the bathroom we were off to Nairobi. But this is where things start to go down hill for me. On the way to Nairobi my body starts to really get achy and become very sensitive to the cold. My head starts to throb a bit and I feel really weak. I began to get very sick and have a fever. We make it to the Serpentarium and I’m feel like I’ve been hit by a bus. The kids are all having fun and I’m thinking about how much longer before bed time. I felt so bad, I really couldn’t enjoy it. After the Serpentarium we head to the animal orphanage and I sit in the back seat with a friend of mine, Kayla. She’s feeling sick too and as it turns out I drank from her water bottle and then her and Hannah drank from it as well. Hannah got sick a little later but something was going wrong, we just didn’t know what.

Kayla and I finally get the strength to go and sit with the team and the kids. We apparently, along with Hannah, looked like zombies. I get up the nerve to eat and have some Sprite and that helped. One of leaders, Scott, came over and begin to investigate. The consensus was that I had either gotten a stomach bug or had gotten Malaria. We never really figured it out and I’m still a little under the weather as I’m writing this letter a week later. But we figured that if it was Malaria we had better start to treat it, no waiting around. Scott had some anti-Malaria medicine with him, so I began a regiment.

While we were walking with the group to the entrance of the animal orphanage I began to feel better also with the accompaniment of Esther, one of Pastor Jackson’s older daughters whom I had befriended, I began to feel better. It was pretty cool having an attractive African woman by your side to talk to when your sick. She was quite smart but really shy. We talked for most of the time that we were at the animal orphanage. She told me things about Kenya. About how they aren’t allowed to watch much if any T.V., how they really aren’t allowed to eat American food, and how they do have movie theaters and gyms and clubs in Nakuru. Life in Kenya seemed to be kind of what we would consider normal but yet simple.

As we walked from exhibit to exhibit we saw warthogs, lions, cheetahs, different types of monkeys, an ostrich, and even some regular house cats that had been rescued. It was fun seeing the kids’ reaction to all the animals, although I was really nauseated. At the monkey exhibit the monkeys had apparently found a whole in their cage and were climbing in and out coming three feet close to our faces as they were running around. I was glad they didn’t touch me I didn’t want to feel any sicker.

When it was time to head back to the vans I began to feel extremely sick again. We all said by to the kids and I rushed to say by to Esther and take my seat in the van when what I didn’t want to happen but knew needed to happen... happened. I vomited with my head sticking out the window of the van. It was not pleasant especially since when I was done I looked up and kids that were already in the bus were watching in shock. One of the kids, Jeremy, just stared with a blank expression and waved. That was an interesting experience.

For the next few hours I laid in the back seat shivering feeling hot and cold simultaneously. My team prayed over me and I began to pray as well. I remember finally getting to our hotel in Nairobi and walking drunkenly to the front entrance and flopping down on the couch writhing in pain. I should mention that Hannah and Kayla did not get a sick as I did but still did not feel well.

After check in I somehow made it up to our room and attempt to hurry for a hot shower while shivering uncontrollably. The shower was the best thing I had felt all day. After that I was doing much better but not well enough to do anything more than sit up in bed. I felt very well taken care of. Debbie, one of the leaders, Scott, Dora, and my roommate/buddy David came and asked how I was and brought me dinner and breakfast that next morning. But that night was one of the longest nights I had had in awhile. I’ll just say I did more sitting than sleeping.

The next day was Sunday. I didn’t make it to our church service but I did make it down for some lunch although I was still very zombified. After lunch I went and fell asleep again, woke up, had dinner, and then went back to sleep. I did not see much of Nairobi in those two days.

On Monday, our last day in Kenya, we spent most of the day at a tourist attraction called the Verandah. It was a large house like building with many little shops in every room. It was very neat. The best part for me though was lunch. They had American food. Oh it was so good. I ordered a huge cheese burger with purple onions, tomatoes, a pickle and avocado slices, ketchup, and fries on the side. This was the first real solid meal I had had in two days. I was so excited and it was amazing. I was very satisfied for the rest of the day until we had to begin boarding at the airport.

It was time to head back to America. I was not looking forward to these flights. We were taking to the same flight path so I knew it was gonna be long. The good thing was that I felt almost to full capacity before we began so it could have been a lot worse. God really provided healing. The flight from Nairobi to Ethiopia was terrible because it was the first and I had forgotten what flying was like so my heart almost pounded out of my chest again. In Ethiopia we had a three hour or so lay over and so we wandered around the airport which we were unable to do the first time. They some shops that were very Americanized and they even had prayer rooms for muslims, one for women and one for men. I didn’t go in though because I was afraid to offend someone. We eventually all gathered at our terminal and tried to sleep which didn’t really happen.

The flight was typical from Ethiopia to Rome and the same from Rome to Washington except for some reason it felt like a year went by. I don’t know what happened but it felt like time had stopped. It was unbelievably long. But we finally made it to Washington. We were in America and it felt good.

It was a short lay over then we began to board our final plane. This was not good for me because this plane was tiny. I was not comfortable with this tiny contraption. But somehow it got the job done and during the flight my the whole team was cheering me on so that really helped.

We landed in Raleigh on Tuesday August the 17th around one o’clock our time and eight o’clock Kenyan time. The trip was over and it was back to reality but not before a two hour drive back to Wilmington which I didn’t get much sleep on, but I was glad to be back and ready for bed around three o’clock.

We made bonds that will never break and we have memories that will never fade. Kenya was different, definitely an experience I would like to venture that way again someday but who knows what God has in store for me.

As an added bonus here are some of the phrases I learned in Swahili and their meanings.Unaleawa- you understand, nalaewa- I understand, sielewi- I don’t understand, habari- how are you, mzuri- good, mzuri sana- very good, asante- thank you, unasema Kiingereza- do you speak English, sina pesa pole- I don’t have any money sorry, karibu- you’re welcome. And a phrase from the Kikuyu tribal language is wem-wega which means how are you.