Sunday September 16th 2012.

To give you a quick update on orientation we have spent the mornings studying Swahili  with various afternoon activities mixed in to help us better understand the Kenyan culture. 

One of many highlights this past week involved our group traveling to a group home called Shelter Children's Home.  This is a community of children from the area who have been abandoned or have lost their family members.  As our van pulled up to the administration office many of the children were lining the steps singing in our honor.  We all introduced ourselves and walked into a circular room where children of various ages sang and danced welcoming us to their country and culture.  These beautiful children are all attending schools in the area. Some who grew up in the shelter are working towards their University degrees.  It is hard to describe how special this experience was and how moving and hopeful these children are.  They are inspirational and reminded me of how I am in the right place. I am so grateful for them welcoming us into their community and I hope to spend more time with these children this year.  I hope these pictures help give you more of an insight from this experience. 

A couple of Saturdays ago my roommate Nicole and I went with my lovely host sister Cafrine to a Neighbors Against AIDS event which she planned.  The event was filled with food, Zumba and cancer screening.  Nairobi Women's Hospital sponsored the afternoon for communities around the city.  It was quite an adventure to say the least.  After helping with registration we were encouraged to Zumba dance with about a one hundred other people. Needless to say my host sister said we we tried and she could tell we were off beat and had little rhythm.   We just looks ridiculous basically.  So as if that didn't make us stand out enough when it was time for food we were the honored guests and cut the entire line. So as I was walking back with my food out of no where a bird swoops down and takes the chicken right off my plate in front of everyone in line. So I guess you could say we served as entertainment for the whole event.  

The AIDs awareness event my roommate Nicole far left, my host sister Cafrine, me and two Nairobi women's hospital directors.

 The view of the valley after this weekend near mount Kenya. Our group of five spent the weekend in a Kuku village definitely living simply. We helped cook dinner by slaughtering a chicken followed by plucking it and learning how to cook it over a fire.  The chicken was good too :)  

The beautiful Mount Kenya on Saturday morning. We walked out of our house to this view! 

  

As we walked around the village we saw several places like this one where corn was being dried by the sun. 

A beautiful waterfall we walked to near our host families village. 

Pictures!!

I would like to thank my church family for all the support I have received over the past few weeks since I have been home from school.

Thank you for helping me through this process through your prayers and financial gifts. You are making Kenya possible for me.

I will be honest the whole trip is starting to weigh on my mind as summer closes. As August 20th gets closer and I become more nervous (as would be expected). It is unbelievable to me that this time next month I will have spent a week in Nairobi. I feel like I just turned 18 again and am about to head off to college. It feels almost like that adventure all over but a bit more extreme. I have so many questions as to what it will be like. Will I like my job there? Will I be good at it? I could go on but you don't wanna read all that...

Resurance comes from a random recent experience in Indianapolis, IN, I was visiting a friend from school and we took a taxi to their house one night and the taxi driver happened to be from Ghana. Granted that is not anywhere close to Kenya, but I told him about what I was doing and where I was going next year and he said that I would have a great time. Apparently African people like Southerners are quite hospitable so hopefully I find this to be true. We shall see and I will certainly let you know whatever I find out.

I also was talking to a friend who recently spent six weeks in Africa and knows the guy who was carrying the Olympic flag for Kenya (pretty cool right!) She said she would get me in touch with him and his family. So like typical Southerners do we get connections and I'm already preparing to take some of the south with me through connections to Kenya. :)

I just wanted to give you a little update since probably more of you from First Pres. have gotten my letter asking for help. Thanks so much to those who are responding in any way.

If you have any questions or would like to get further knowledge about me or my future travels feel free to contact me or just keep following this blog.

I hope you all have great weeks and I look forward to seeing you Sunday.

Jambo from Africa! It has officially been one full week of orientation here in Nairobi.  I am sure many of you have been anxiously awaiting my first official blog post from my new home.  I hope that you find this enlightening as you travel with me through Africa to make a small difference in the world.

Our first major introduction of course was on prevention of travel diseases in Africa (Don't worry mom I will be fine).  The doctor told us all about what not to do so of course we are doing those things.

I spent this past weekend with my wonderful host family.  It was basically a slumber weekend with my new sisters Waki and Shiro.  They lived in the city but my host mother took me to her village outside Nairobi. For all you Southerners out there the meaning of hospitality is taken to another level.  I was invited in for tea with the entire family and welcomed to come back any time.  I know this doesn't sound like anything too different from home but just trust me on this one.  The village was beautiful and as we drove back to town the hills of the Rift Valley surrounded us.

Yesterday (sept. 5th) our group had the privilege of being taken on a personal tour of the informal settlements by a preacher that serves the local community.   It was inspirational to hear from various members of the community who have come together to work toward the betterment of their own lives.  They were all from different backgrounds and had conflicting ideals. Being  a typical Westerner I saw the homes of my fellow brothers and sisters and found them to be inadequate and wanted to help. I found myself asking the question we are here now what can we do to help rather just being present. I realized this once a woman in the village came up to our group and invited us complete strangers into her home and asked us to pray with her. Never the less on the fifth day of this journey I was once again reminded of the presence of God.  Regardless of the living condition and the amount of food on her table, this woman still saw how she was blessed by God through what little she had. It is hard for someone like us to see beyond their poverty. Her faith is truly one to admire and this is her home which she is thankful for.

So today (Sept. 6th) we had our first Swahili lesson they have told us it is an easy language to pick up but I am not so sure about that.  I definitely have a long way to go before I actually understand what the words I am saying mean.  So needless to say I have lots of work to do!

Also in Kenya (I am not sure if you know this) they do not typically have washing machines so guess who got to hand wash for the first time today? This girl (see picture to come). It is a lot harder than you think! Plus after hang drying you have to iron your clothes to get all the bugs out. It's a long process. I definitely took for granted a washer and dryer.

So that is what the news for me. I hope y'all are doing well. I miss you very much and hope that this was fun and enlightening for you to read. Have a great day!

Love, catherine