Children, children and more children!

Last week I had a very special opportunity to travel to a small town called Boito to visit the Dow Family Children's Home. I travelled there with a friend from Nairobi and we set out via bus on Monday morning. Overall it wasn't a bad bus ride minus the last hour and a half of bad, dusty roads. On top of the rough road the urge to go to the bathroom was fairly strong for myself. No one likes travelling and having to use the bathroom, but travelling on bumpy roads and having to use the bathroom at the same time is just plain cruel. Thankfully we made it to the bus stop in Kericho before anything embarrassing took place. Greg, who along with his wife Mary Rose run the home, picked us up at the bus stop and we made the 45 minute drive to the home. Upon arriving we were greeted by all 40 some children that they take care of there. Some of the children were shy and some ran to us immediately and wanted to be held. We spent the evening getting to know the place, children, and experiencing what life is like there.

We ended up spending the week there and returning to Nairobi on Friday. The week was spent playing with the kids, chatting with Greg and Mary Rose, and enjoying the beauty of the area. That area truly is one of the prettiest areas in all of Kenya. There are many rolling hills dotted with farms and mud huts. It is also an area where a lot of tea is grown. There were miles and miles of lush, green tea fields stretched out across the countryside.

I was extremely blessed by our time there. I have met very few people who would do what Greg and Mary Rose are doing. They believed that God was calling them to Kenya to start a children's home so they sold everything and made the move. That was four years ago and God has sustained them and provided for them each step of the way. They are doing such a good job of raising the children and teaching them about God and how to work, play, and how to live a responsible life.

The children were so much fun! They were so cute and I may have had some favorites. To hear the stories of where the children came from and their living conditions prior to coming to the children's home were gut wrenching. They've experienced more hardship in just a few years than I probably will in my entire life. Despite the difficulties they've all experienced, the children had such a joy and happiness about them. They had such beautiful smiles and seemed to be truly thankful for what they had. Spending time with them reminded me of the value of family and how many children don't get to experience what it means to have solid family. Through Greg and Mary Rose those children though are having the opportunity to experience what it means to have parents who love them and want what is best for them. If you get a chance check out there website www.dowfamilychildrenshome.org. They have pictures of the children and explain more about what they do. I've also posted some pictures below for your enjoyment.

March already?

Clearly the month of February was a busy month and as a result the blog has suffered. I can't believe how fast the month went by and quite a bit happened during the past month. I will give a brief recap of what happened in Eastleigh, at Rosslyn, my travels, and whatever else I can remember that seems pertinent.

Sports: Clearly what has happened in the sports world over the last month is extremely pertinent so I'll start with that. Last blog post I predicted that the Giants would win the Super Bowl and of course I was right. How could I be wrong? I was wearing my lucky shirt. I'm super excited to see baseball's Spring Training get underway and I can't wait to see how the 2012 Phillies fair this year. It was very disappointing to see Bucknell fall short in the Patriot League Championship. It is very rare to see them lose a big game like that, especially at home. Last night as I was watching some of the Big East Tournament at a friend's house it hit me that I won't be able to watch March Madness this year and I'm not going to lie, I got a little sad. That is probably really lame, but oh well.

Eastleigh: Things in Eastleigh haven't changed much over the last month. My work with the basketball program there has been limited, but I'm hopeful that it will pick up. I'm still really enjoying the relationships that I have been building with my students. I don't know what will come of my work at the Center or what God will do with the seeds that I've been trying to plant, but I trust in His perfect plan.

Rosslyn: Yesterday my team wrapped up their season. If I was going strictly off of wins and losses I would say that it wasn't an extremely successful season, but I'm not looking at it that way. We finished our season with a record of 2-5 and a combined tournament record of 4-4-2. The improvement that I saw however, from the beginning of the season until the end was very exciting and encouraging. We became a very competitive team and I saw the confidence of the boys grow each and every game. I'm going to miss the boys and the way they make me laugh and joke around with each other.

Travels: I had the opportunity to visit a Mennonite school (pictures above) in a part of Mathare, which if you remember, is one of the largest slums in Africa. I went with a group from Canada who were staying at the Guest House. They came to the Center and then on to the school. I love seeing the kids and seeing the smiles on their faces. This past weekend I travelled to Western Kenya near the Ugandan border to visit a new church plant. I went with another EMM couple, Rod and Lucy, and the pastor of the church who was in Nairobi for a conference. It was about a 9 hour drive through beautiful rolling hills and farmland. At one point we were approaching 10,000 feet in elevation and I once again got to cross over the Equator. Crossing over it the second time really wasn't that exciting, I guess it is one of those things that once you do it one time it kind of loses its luster. After stopping for lunch in Eldoret we stopped in a local village to visit the ailing aunt of the pastor. When you visit villages in rural Kenya it is just like you are stepping back in time and you almost have to pinch yourself to make sure what you are seeing is actually real. From the mud huts, to the barefooted children, to the very simplistic style of life, all of this adds up to a truly unique experience. After visiting the aunt we travelled on to the town of Webuye where we spent two nights with an MCC couple. On Sunday morning we attended the church which was located at the base of Mt. Elgon. The last couple of kilometers of "road" would not have been possible to get through if it wouldn't have been for 4-wheel drive. I personally enjoyed being able to do some 4-wheeling. We went as far as we could and ended up having to walk the last 10 minutes to the church. The congregation was extremely excited to have us there and we were the first white people to ever visit. I had an opportunity to share a brief testimony and greeting as did Lucy before Rod brought the message. After the service we ate lunch in the home of one of the members of the church and then we were taken on a hike to a waterfall. The experience of visiting that church and being in such a rural, pristine setting is one that I will never forget. Monday morning we took off for Kisumu which is on Lake Victoria. We visited with some more churches and leaders throughout the day on Monday. I had to get back to Nairobi, so I took the overnight bus back on Monday night and arrived home around five o'clock on Tuesday morning.

So that is a brief recap of what has been happening here. I can't believe that I'm only eight weeks away from going home and the way my schedule looks for the last couple of months I know that the time will fly by. Thanks again for reading and for all of your prayers and support. God bless!

Super Bowl Sunday!

Happy February everyone! This month, as it has ever since 1988, kicked off with my birthday. I had a very nice day and I felt love come from people back home and here as well. One of my friends made me a peach pie, per my request. Feeling somewhat guilty about eating an entire pie by myself, I chose to take it along to my small group meeting on Wednesday night and share it with the group. Many people here don't know how old I am and most when they guess go on the high side, maybe it has something to do with the balding nature of my head. I turned 24 and can't really say it has a different feel than 23, but it's nice I guess. 

My basketball team at Rosslyn had their first games this past week. I must say that coaching, even at the middle school level, is more nerve racking than being able to be out on the court yourself. Unfortunately we lost both games and the losses have stuck with me, especially Thursday's game, more than I thought they would. I've never considered myself an overly competitive person, but coaching has brought out whatever bad feelings I have towards losing in a whole new way. I'm happy with the boys' effort in the first two games and I'm confident that we will get in the win column soon.

Yesterday to celebrate a birthday of a friend, I had the opportunity to go along with a group of people to climb Mt. Longonot. Mt. Longonot is a dormant volcano that boasts a massive crater. The elevation is somewhere over 9000 ft. and the hike to the rim of the crater is fairly challenging. After you reach the rim it is another 11 km. to walk all the way around, which gives you an idea of just how big it is. I imagine we hiked somewhere around 10 miles, so needless to say I was kind of tired by the end. The views were amazing (see pictures below) and once again was a reminder of how creative and wonderful our God is.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty normal. Life here has fallen into a fairly normal routine and there isn't much to report on. I keep trying to focus on each day as it comes and not look forward to what is to come. Having said that I am quite excited about the Super Bowl tonight. I haven't watched an NFL game since I've been here, so to be able to watch tonight's game is going to be quite the treat. Making it even better, obviously, is the fact that my Giants are playing and of course will win. How do I know they will win you may ask? Well, the last time the Giants played in the Super Bowl (2008 against the Pats) I wore one of my Liberty t-shirts. I just so happen to still have that t-shirt and when Chad came to visit me he brought it with him. I actually asked him to bring another shirt, but he brought the wrong one and until the other day I didn't think anything of it. Now I know why it is he brought it, so that I can wear it again for tonight's game. Of course I'm not superstitious at all, but it can't hurt that I'll be wearing the same shirt.

A view of Mt. Longonot from the road.

My hiking companions.

A view from the peak.

Lake Naivasha in the distance.

A view of the crater wall from the peak.

The crater.

No Snow in Kenya

I know I mention this often, but the weather here really is perfect. Don't get me wrong I like the seasons and am a little bit jealous that I missed the snow at home yesterday, but for it to be 80 degrees and always sunny in January is pretty nice.

It is hard to believe that my time here in Kenya is already half-way finished. At times it feels like I just got here and other times it feels like I've been here for a long time. It still feels that at times I am still struggling with some of the same things that I was when I first got here and that can be frustrating. One example would be in my work at the Center. My role there is essentially focusing on building relationships and there were a couple of people that I felt like I was beginning to do just that, but both are working now and no longer come to class, so now I'm back to square one. It can make you wonder if you are being effective at all when you only get to work with someone for a couple of months and then they are gone. I'm grateful for the ones who are still there that I'm still getting the opportunity to know better and for the new students that are coming. I really enjoyed the English classes this past week and had some good conversations about topics that are a little more important than when to use "was" or "were" correctly in a sentence.

It looks like I'm going to have more opportunities to travel around Kenya these last several months. That is one thing that I wanted to do when I got here, to be able to see a lot of the country and see what God is doing. One of the trips will be to an orphanage to play with the kids and do whatever else I can, others will be to visit Mennonite churches and communities. Another trip will be to the coast for an ultimate frisbee tournament over Easter weekend. Most of the trips will take place after I finish up coaching at Rossyln in mid-March. Speaking of Rosslyn, I've been working hard with the boys the last couple of weeks to get them ready for the upcoming season. We now practice three times a week and on the 31st we play our first game. I wasn't sure exactly how much I would like coaching an actual team as opposed to coaching kids for a week with UW, but I actually like it a lot. It is fun to see the boys improve and catch on to what you are trying to get across to them.

Random thoughts for the week:
- I really really wish I could watch the Giants game against San Fran tonight, but I don't have TV and it comes on at 2:30 in the morning here. This playoff run feels a lot like there run in the 2007-2008 playoffs when they went on to knock off the Pats in the Super Bowl, lets hope I'm right.
- I miss going to Bucknell basketball games, especially since they have another very good team this year.
- February is soon here which means that baseball spring training starts real soon!!
- I started working on filling out applications to return to Liberty this coming fall for grad school. I'm pretty excited about going back and working as a GA in the Athletics Communications Department, plus my little sister will be joining me as a freshman.
- On Friday I saw a thief try to steal a woman's necklace or bracelet and subsequently get grabbed by a couple of other guys and get his butt kicked. They started punching him and threw him to the ground and kicked him until he was able to get up and run away. This all happened right in the middle of downtown with hundreds of other people around.
- I realize that most of my random thoughts are about sports....I wonder why?

God Bless and if it worked two weeks ago I've got to say it again GO BIG BLUE!!

A Safari Trip with my Brother.

My brother Chad arrived last Monday and it has been a joy to have him around. He is doing an around the world trip and his first stop was here to see me. It has been fun just hanging out, chatting, throwing frisbee around, and doing some travelling around together. Last week we went to the Masai Mara National Park for a few days to camp and of course see the wildlife. During migration season the park boasts a wildebeest heard of over a million plus thousands of other animals that flock to the park in search of more food. This isn't migration season, so we didn't see nearly as many animals, but it was still very cool. The Mara is much different than Meru National Park which is where I was a couple of weeks ago. It is much more open with miles upon miles of open grasslands dotted here and there with Acacia trees.

The road leading to the park is bad to put it mildly. After leaving the last main town, Naruk, the road gradually gets worse, from black top to black top with potholes to potholes with a little black top and finally a rough dirt road. It took us a little over 5 hours to reach the park from Nairobi. Once we got into the park and had only travelled a few kilometers our car broke down. We had some local mechanics come and take a look at it and they told us that it would be best to tow the vehicle back to their "garage" and work on it there. Thankfully they were indeed able to fix the vehicle (for the time being) and after charging us the "tourist rate" for their services we were back on the road and into the park.

I've posted a video below that Chad put together of all the animals that we saw, so I won't got into detail about that. Once again it was so amazing to witness all of the animals in their natural habitats instead of behind bars at a zoo. There is something to be said about being within only a few yards of lions, cheetahs, water buffalo, and hyenas. The only animal that we didn't see that we were really hoping to was rhino despite the best efforts of our guide.

We left the park late morning on Thursday and after making it only a few kilometers outside of the gate our vehicle began to experience the same problems and shut off again. Thankfully this time around we were able to figure out what the issue was and were able to fix it and make it back to Nairobi without having to use the services of the mechanics again.

Chad brought with him a suitcase full of "tastes of home". Namely he brought 11 boxes of quality American cereal, including: Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fruit Loops, and others (picture below). I really look forward to breakfast now and allowing my taste buds to once again experience the goodness of quality cereal. The suitcase also contained Nature Valley granola bars, Swedish fish, Jack Links beef sticks, Combos, and fruit snacks. So if anyone out there ever feels the need to send me some cereal or other quality American junk food I will not be upset.

Have a blessed week everyone and GO BIG BLUE!

Meru National Park

On Wednesday morning I set off with my friends Dave and Caroline out of Nairobi northeast towards Meru National Park. I was really excited to get out of Nairobi for a few days and see some more of Kenya and some of the magnificent wildlife this country boasts. After finally getting through the urban sprawl of the city we began to travel through lush green country side dotted everywhere with small homes and corn fields. The terrain was hilly for the most part but there were patches of flatter land which was used for growing rice. We passed through many smaller towns which meant speed bumps galore. Being in other countries has made me appreciate the lack of speed bumps in the States. Between the park and my place (approx. 355 km.) there are 259 speed bumps give or take a few. The countryside was very beautiful as we continued to make our way towards Meru with the terrain becoming more mountainous. After a couple of stops we arrived at the park after about 6 hours of being on the road. Shortly after entering the park we stopped at the education center where the main attractions were a display case with a couple dozen samplings of poop from different animals and a collection of "naked mole rats". The poop samplings were actually quite fascinating and helpful later on when we were driving through the park. The naked mole rats were quite ugly to say the least but still pretty cool to look at and watch. After we were finished looking at rats and poop we made our way towards our campsite to get set up and on the way we saw water buck, antelope, zebra, giraffe, and elephants. It is one thing to see some of these animals in a zoo, but to see them in their natural habitat is amazing. After getting our tents and the rest of camp organized we went back out for an evening drive which didn't yield as much game as we hoped but we still saw hippos, dik-diks, and some more of what we had seen earlier. We weren't able to find any maps anywhere so traveling in the park got kind of confusing sometimes and on our way back to camp that night we got slightly turned around, but Dave got us home. When we got back to camp we had a delicious supper of hot dogs, potato salad, and salad and then retired for the night.

Camping in the middle of the African wilderness is just a little bit different than campin in Central PA. In PA you don't really have to wonder if maybe hippos will come out of the nearby stream during the night and trample your tent or any other number of wildlife strolling through and snooping around your camp. Our camp sight had an abundance of baboons and monkeys nearby and they certainly made their presence known during the night. There were multiple times where they seemed to be a little upset with each other and there was a chorus of screams and shouts which didn't exactly make for great sleeping.

We got an early start on Thursday, 5 am, with hopes of catching some lions and other night time critters before they disappeared for the day, but we were largely unsuccessful. Since we just came through the rainy season the vegetation was quite tall which made it very difficult to see very far or spot smaller animals. There could have been lions 10 yards from our vehicle and we had no chance of seeing them. We drove to the Tana River but got there a little to early to see crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks of the river. We returned to camp and had breakfast and then relaxed for the afternoon. We headed back out around 4 and made our way to the rhino sanctuary with high hopes of seeing rhino but ended up not seeing any. We continued to drive around and we still got to see a number of animals including water buffalo, wart hogs, and many more elephants, zebra, antelope, giraffe, and other animals but once again no lions. After polishing another wonderful supper we went to bed early again in order to be well rested for an early start. Thankfully it seemed as if the baboons and monkeys had resolved their dispute from the night before because it was a fairly quiet night. The campsite host said that he had heard lions roaring near the camp during the night, but I must have been sleeping too soundly to hear anything.

Friday morning was another early start and we ventured out for one last chance at seeing lions and once again they eluded us and we didn't see one. Thankfully there were still other animals including our first ostrich sighting. We arrived back at camp, ate breakfast and broke camp and made our way out of the park back towards Nairobi. It felt so good to get out of the city for a few days and see God's amazing creation, but as we got closer to Nairobi I actually got excited to be back in this crazy city. For the first time it felt like I was going "home" and it was nice to get back to the friendly confines of the guest house.

I'm off on another safari trip on Tuesday, this time with my brother Chad. He arrives on Monday morning and then we are off to Kenya's most famous park, the Masai Mara. I have great hopes of seeing many more animals including lions for sure.

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all have a safe and joyous start to 2012!

Of course you have to take a sign with the Equator sign when you pass by it.

Naked Mole Rat

Water Buck

What an amazing creature to see in the wild.

There were about 6 hippos here at this pool, but it was hard to get good pictures of them in the water.

Baobab tree

Dik-dik

The crocodile infested Tana River.

Leopard tortoise

Beautiful African sunset.

Our campsite.

My friends Dave and Caroline.

Our safari vehicle, Dave's Toyota Hillux.

On our way out of the park we ran into a family of Ostrich.