Hakuna Matata (which they don't actually say...)

 

Habari!

We have safely and happily made it to our home for the next two weeks, the mission house in Amagoro.

Our flights went smoothly and all of us caught up on our inflight movies and cat-napped our way across the world.

Naturally, both the flight to London and the flight to Nairobi had delays, as always. The most memorable was on the ground right after we landed in Nairobi late on Saturday night. Less than 100 yards from our docking gate, the plane had to stop since another plane was parked there. Our frank British captain, Phil, kept apologizing for the Kenya Airways Jet that was blocking our path to freedom for about an hour. We all thought he would be the perfect man to narrate our travels. But after much groaning and complaining, and getting into trouble with the flight attendants (Gideon...), we finally arrived in Kenya around 10 pm!

We met up with Zach outside baggage claim, after haggling with the tax agents over the price our EHS t- shirts and their supposed tax value. Driving about 20 minutes from the airport, we dropped our bags at the Parkside Hotel (aka "the Darkside") for the night and ran across the street to grab a late night dinner of pizza and take in the city.

Everyone settled in for a short night of sleep and a warm(ish) shower before hitting up the bus again at a bright and early 6 am today. We drove back to the airport with the sunrising over the city and ( of course ) we had to take the opportunity to jam to Toto's Africa and sing a little bit of the Lion King soundtrack.Once at the airport, we all divided up the donated laptops amongs ourselves so that they would be in our possession during the flight. The quick flight to Kisumu in North West Kenya was fun and we all began deciding on what African animal would be. So far our current new species are:

Edward: meerkat / prairie dog / timon from the Lion King

Stuart: Giraffe

Mary Robert: Gazelle

Somer: Leopard

Leo: Lion (duh!) / Pumba from the Lion King

Caroline: Flamingo

Tyler: Zebra

Ryoan: Cheetah

Gideon: Scar/ Raffiki (lion king monkey... so wise)

DAD: Simba!

Mom: Nala

After entertaining ourselves on our short flight with our new identities, we loaded up the bus and the jeep and headed out to Amagoro (finally) in the last leg of our journey. For two hours, we watched the Kenyan countryside and villages fly by. Some caught up on much needed and sporadic sleep while others snapped photos of the new scenery.

When we finally arrived at the Mission House, we made our introductions and settled into our rooms. They are quite dreamy with their mosquito netting canopies! After a delicious lunch from Mama Beatrice, we all relaxed and got to know the surroundings. Edward, Caroline, and Ryoan played soccer and got to konw the local kids, while Stuart Somer and Tyler started friendship bracelet-ing, and Mom, Dad, Mary Robert, and Caroline went out for walks around town. There were also many naps, games of Boggle, jounaling, and much reading ( Mary Robert finished and Stuart started The Hunger Games) during free time too.

Around 4, We all set out to see the village of Amagoro together with Will, Zach's "intern" persay, as our guide. We practiced our new vocabulary of Habari (Hello), and Mambo (What's up) with everyone we passed. The town is quite small, and many piki- piki s (motorcycle taxis) zoomed past us during our walk. We bought soda at the connivence store and headed back home, just in time to run inside before a down pour.

Right now, we are all relaxing, reading, napping, and getting ready for dinner at the Bishop's house

If you were looking for a call from us in London or Kenya, they will be on their way soon. We ran into some technical difficulties with our phones working. The Emergency phone is up and running and Gideon will send out the number in an email shortly.


Love,

Tyler