It is so hard to believe that our trip is ending. We are packed and waiting for our driver to take us to Nairobi. This has been a wonderful journey and we hope to one day return.
Happy July 4!
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Time is winding down
We are packing for our trip home tomorrow and reflecting on our time here. I was talking with one of the long-term staff this afternoon. He and the other long-term surgeon have each been here for 15 years. This is their home and they are so invested in the people and God's plan for this place. Two weeks was much too short of a time to serve, but I am sure we will back to Tenwek in the future. I was challenged daily, not always medically, but at times emotionally. Today, I sat with a young father who lost both his 16 year old son and father to esophageal cancer (unheard of in the western world). I just tried to console him and help him find peace. He was a strong young man and as usually, I got as much from our interaction as did he. Almost every day, Shelley, I and the girls went for a walk at lunch time. Sometimes we walked to the waterfall, other times we just wandered around the compound. We thought you might enjoy some of the "signs of Tenwek".
Monday, July 2, 2012
The tent...
A dear friend wrote to say how impressed she was that we went camping for our safari. I have to admit that if what we did was considered camping, I want to go again this weekend, and next weekend and the next! It was anything but the type of camping that I did in Brownies and Girl Scouts when I was young, nor what I did when I went to youth camp when I was in jr. high and high school. I feel quite guilty letting anyone think that we were roughing it.
The accommodations were fantastic! The only problem was that we were so eager to go out and see animals that we did not spend much time in our tent relaxing. We had two queen size beds with mosquito netting, comfy chairs to sit in while we read, a nice shower with warm water as well as a sink and toilet. It gets quite cold in the mara in the evenings and our beds had nice fluffy pillows and quilts. To top them off, we had hot water bottles in the beds warming them up for us when we got in them at night.
On our second evening there was a wedding (what a simply amazing and fantastic place for a wedding!!!). We were fearful that we would be kept up all night long and would not get the sleep that we wanted so that we could be ready to head out on safari at 6:15 AM. We could not have had nicer, more considerate neighbors. We only woke up when we heard monkeys and hippos making noises and even then were able to go back to sleep.
The safari was simply amazing! As we were leaving Tenwek to go to the mara, someone said that they would pray that we got a safe tour guide. Hmmm...that concerned me. I did say a quick prayer for safety and for the girls to really enjoy and remember all that they were going to see. Our guide, Big Joe, was careful and knowledgable about animal habits. We were in awe of the way that he found a cheetah snuggled up in a ball in the middle of a field of tall grass. Any time we were getting ready to hit bumps in the road...and I am talking big rocks and huge muddy areas that would have caused me to just turn around and go home, Big Joe would yell out, "Hallo" as a warning to hold on tight. He also sang to us and entertained us with his singing. We could not have asked for a better guide.
What a wonderful weekend we had...and no we were not roughing it at all! As we were leaving to head back to Tenwek, Mia said that she was looking forward to getting back to our house "in real Kenya." We had fun, but it is also good to be in our "real Kenya" home.
The accommodations were fantastic! The only problem was that we were so eager to go out and see animals that we did not spend much time in our tent relaxing. We had two queen size beds with mosquito netting, comfy chairs to sit in while we read, a nice shower with warm water as well as a sink and toilet. It gets quite cold in the mara in the evenings and our beds had nice fluffy pillows and quilts. To top them off, we had hot water bottles in the beds warming them up for us when we got in them at night.
On our second evening there was a wedding (what a simply amazing and fantastic place for a wedding!!!). We were fearful that we would be kept up all night long and would not get the sleep that we wanted so that we could be ready to head out on safari at 6:15 AM. We could not have had nicer, more considerate neighbors. We only woke up when we heard monkeys and hippos making noises and even then were able to go back to sleep.
The safari was simply amazing! As we were leaving Tenwek to go to the mara, someone said that they would pray that we got a safe tour guide. Hmmm...that concerned me. I did say a quick prayer for safety and for the girls to really enjoy and remember all that they were going to see. Our guide, Big Joe, was careful and knowledgable about animal habits. We were in awe of the way that he found a cheetah snuggled up in a ball in the middle of a field of tall grass. Any time we were getting ready to hit bumps in the road...and I am talking big rocks and huge muddy areas that would have caused me to just turn around and go home, Big Joe would yell out, "Hallo" as a warning to hold on tight. He also sang to us and entertained us with his singing. We could not have asked for a better guide.
What a wonderful weekend we had...and no we were not roughing it at all! As we were leaving to head back to Tenwek, Mia said that she was looking forward to getting back to our house "in real Kenya." We had fun, but it is also good to be in our "real Kenya" home.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Thoughts on Maasai Mara
1. I cannot explain how incredible it was to see the animals in their environment. The number of species and number of each was unbelievable.
2. Anyone who comes to Africa for mission work or anything else should try to go. It is somewhat expensive for Africa, but fairly priced and a once in a lifetime experience.
3. The Maasi people are very interesting. They are in many ways living traditional lives, but are almost all Christian and some are becoming educated. Our guide was a great example of someone living on the cusp between traditional and modern (see earlier post).
4. Many Maasi know Tenwek and stories of patients being treated there are often shared.
5. At times I worried about how the tourist industry is affecting the bush, but overall, I think the money generated for the people and conservation outweighs any damage. Spaces are really vast and we would go hours without seeing another jeep.
6. The people working at the lodge have "made it" in any ways. They are well fed and relatively well paid. Their life is not easy. Most are away from home, work 4 weeks in a row, then have a week to go home. Our server and the person who cared for our room seemed to work >12 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the busy season, they can choose to stay for even longer. Our guide's family lives back near Tenwek (about 90 min away).
7. Yesterday, we were waiting for our car and they were having a staff meeting at the hotel. It included prayer! Every person there has a great attitude, seems truly thankful for their job, and go out of their way to help you. For example, the chef heard we really liked one of the traditional dishes, so hand wrote the recipe and brought it to our table. She asked that we email her how it turns out!
Back to work this morning!
2. Anyone who comes to Africa for mission work or anything else should try to go. It is somewhat expensive for Africa, but fairly priced and a once in a lifetime experience.
3. The Maasi people are very interesting. They are in many ways living traditional lives, but are almost all Christian and some are becoming educated. Our guide was a great example of someone living on the cusp between traditional and modern (see earlier post).
4. Many Maasi know Tenwek and stories of patients being treated there are often shared.
5. At times I worried about how the tourist industry is affecting the bush, but overall, I think the money generated for the people and conservation outweighs any damage. Spaces are really vast and we would go hours without seeing another jeep.
6. The people working at the lodge have "made it" in any ways. They are well fed and relatively well paid. Their life is not easy. Most are away from home, work 4 weeks in a row, then have a week to go home. Our server and the person who cared for our room seemed to work >12 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the busy season, they can choose to stay for even longer. Our guide's family lives back near Tenwek (about 90 min away).
7. Yesterday, we were waiting for our car and they were having a staff meeting at the hotel. It included prayer! Every person there has a great attitude, seems truly thankful for their job, and go out of their way to help you. For example, the chef heard we really liked one of the traditional dishes, so hand wrote the recipe and brought it to our table. She asked that we email her how it turns out!
Back to work this morning!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Maasai village
We had coffee, tea (Mia) and hot chocolate (Ellie, but Ken took some too!!) this morning and headed out for a short safari. Beautiful sunrise, but not a lot of animal action. The water buffalo picture is from yesterday. He was the old man of the herd.
We returned, had a huge breakfast and went to the Maasai village. Our guide was a neat young man. He is the son of the chief who has 7 wives, 18 sons and 16 daughters. The guide is 17 and his dad is 82! He is a senior in high school (the only one of the 34 who has attended high school) and pays for his school by selling cows, doing carvings and doing the tours between sessions. I am glad we went, but it did overwhelm all of us due to the villagers circling Shelley and the girls and dancing and singing. For those of you who know Mia, situations like that stress her and she almost squeezed Shelley in half!
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Friday, June 29, 2012
Maasai Mara
We got up this morning and I went up to hospital for our Friday devotions (2 Peter 1:3-8). While there I rounded on a few patients admitted last night.
We left for our weekend at the game park at 9:30. The last 45 kilometers were over an incredibly bumpy, partly flooded road. Our driver did a great job, even getting out to see how deep the water was at one point. On the drive we saw implalas, wilderbeasts, and zebras. Before lunch, we visited the hippo pool. In 45 mins, we leave on a jeep safari. We are staying in a "tent". More pictures later!
We left for our weekend at the game park at 9:30. The last 45 kilometers were over an incredibly bumpy, partly flooded road. Our driver did a great job, even getting out to see how deep the water was at one point. On the drive we saw implalas, wilderbeasts, and zebras. Before lunch, we visited the hippo pool. In 45 mins, we leave on a jeep safari. We are staying in a "tent". More pictures later!
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Thursday, June 28, 2012
Thursday morning in Bomet
Yeah for sunshine in Florida! Several people have told us about the sign at San Jose Baptist Church that says, "If you have been praying for rain, you can stop now." We have been reading about all of the rain and have been worried. We have also been seeing pictures and reading about the fires in Colorado Springs...tragic. We are praying for Colorado and hope that they get needed rain.
I think that morning time in Kenya is my favorite. We have no heat or air conditioning in our house so we can hear what is going on outside. In the morning I hear the birds chirping and quacking. I hear the rooster going on and on. I hear the cows in the field in the front of our house and beside our house mooing. Occasionally I hear Nala, the german shepherd a few doors up the hill from us, barking at something. I catch myself staying snuggled in bed just so I can listen to the beautiful sounds.
I woke up quite early this morning. Until today Ken has gotten up and headed out to the hospital before I have wakened up...yeah! Ken and I sat and enjoyed a pot of coffee together. He headed to the hospital and I started working on washing the few white articles of clothing that we brought. I have to use rain water to wash the whites so I have been procrastinating. Ken got one pot of rain water for me before he went to work. I went back and forth and got two more. Finally I took everything downstairs and rinsed it out in the rain water. Now it is hanging on the line. I now have a ban on wearing whites! Socks get washed in the regular washing machine as they are always brown on the bottom anyway!
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The rains seem to start between 3 and 4 in the afternoon so everything sort of stops for us then. Yesterday Ken got stuck at the hospital because of a deluge. I think that he is really enjoying the people that he works with and the challenge of some of the things that he is having to do. He is going to be on call again tonight; his last call while we are here.
We leave to go on our safari on Friday morning at 9 AM. We are going to be at Masi Mara National Preserve. We had the option of staying in a hotel or staying in tents. We opted for the tents. A family from Pittsburgh who is here working will be going with us. The brought their 13 year old daughter. It will be nice to have another family with us. We had the option of taking a horseback safari. Somehow sitting or a horse around a bunch of lions or being in the midst of a bunch of zebras stampeding did not appeal to us. We would rather not be supper or trampled.
Dr. and Mrs. B, if you happen to be reading this, please call on us whenever you need a vacation! We are so thoroughly enjoying our time here. Thank you!
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