Mt. Kenya!

I can honestly say that God works in some amazing ways. My trip to Mt. Kenya could not have been so amazing without his power.

We were supposed to leave on Thursday, we woke up and boarded the 5:30 a.m. bus to the Nairobi campus and got there before 6:30. We weren’t going to actually leave there until 10 o’clock so we had some breakfast and went to Chapel. Time kept ticking by and we found out that a signature was missing for the money we needed to buy food and that Y-G (Mr. Waiganjo, our leader for the trip) had to go back to Athi River to get it. By the time all was said and done the banks were closed and there was no way to actually get the money. We were told to head back to Athi River and board the 5:30 am bus again on Friday. We spent nearly 12 hours on that campus, doing nothing, having missed class in Athi River only to find it was pointless. I was upset, I called Jan, (a friend in Nairobi) and asked to stay with her. She said that would be fine so I stayed the night there and didn’t have to wake up so early the next day! She served me tacos, muffins, bacon and eggs. I was so thankful I didn’t have to ride that bus again!

Friday morning we were supposed to leave about 9 or 10, we didn’t leave until sometime after noon. This time our van was late. We went to Tuskys (Super Target) and bought all of our food for the trip. Then we drove to Mt. Kenya, we were all HUNGRY. We stopped at a Chicken Inn hours away and got some fries and sausage to fill our stomachs.

After it had become dark we arrived into the Mt. Kenya National Park gate and soon realized that our van was not going to be able to take us to our base camp. It had rained and there was one hill too steep and muddy for the van to get up. This is what happened; we stopped the van and quickly unloaded everything. It was dark, and beginning to rain. We strapped everything to our bags and were carrying some others and got prepared to walk 5 km this way. Thankfully a truck that was headed to our base camp came by just minutes later and took all of our things for us. This still meant hiking for us, but after our things had been unloaded it came back and picked us up. We rode standing holding onto freezing metal bars with our bare hands through the cold wind and rain. This was just the beginning of our amazing adventure.

At the base camp we were given a room with bunk beds and didn’t have to set up our tents, which we were very thankful for. We began to prepare our supper, ugali and beef stew, but soon the porters took over. I had to eat a lot for dinner, it was not very easy to do but I understand the importance of eating a lot when you will be doing a lot of hiking.

Here are the quick details of who went. I was asked to bring one friend, so I brought my roommate, Gladwell. Another of my roommates, Janet, decided she wanted to come with, so she did. Y-G, was asked to take us because he is very familiar with the mountain and he asked two boys, Rudy and Kefa, from the group he heads here to come with. We hired 3 porters to carry our food, utensils, gas, tents, and sleeping bags. They also pitched and took down our tents and cooked all of our food for us. We each carried a pack with our clothes and personal items. I also carried a couple sleeping mats, and we carried our food for lunch.

On Saturday we hiked about 12 km from the base camp to Solo. On Sunday we hiked about 19 km from Solo to Majors. On Monday we hiked roughly 20 km to Lenana, towards the peak, and back. On Tuesday we hiked a whopping 31 km from Majors to base camp.

There are so many things I could say about the trip, but mainly it was just amazing. The scenery was beautiful. At first I was like wow, the forest looks a lot like home…just a bunch of trees, but once you get far enough on the trail there are things you have never seen before. Plants that look like they come from a Dr. Seuss book and things that are not possible to see at home. The views were amazing.

The people I went with made the journey amazing as well. Janet kept making us laugh with her shoes falling apart, and her whining noises because her feet kept hurting. The guys were all funny in their own way and Gladwell just had this excited attitude and was laughing (according to Y-G because of Mt. sickness) the whole time. Even though sometimes they forgot to talk in English I had an amazing time with all of them and am happy to say that I have a much better relationship with my roommates now.

The weather was….COLD. At times we walked through freezing rain in the cold wind. Other times we walked through clouds which is nothing like I’d imagined as a child. I knew it wasn’t going to be that fluffy or marshmallow experience but it was truly far from it. It is basically like walking through a dense fog with a constant mist, not what you’d hope for. Sometimes the sun would shine and we were still cold because of the air. At night and in the mornings when we weren’t walking it was truly freezing. Sleeping made us forget the cold but it would rain through the night. When we would arrive at camp we would quickly get in the tents and put dry clothes on, then we would stay in there until supper. It was hard to stay awake and warm until then and no one wanted to get out of the tent to go get the food. I’ll leave the going to the bathroom in this weather up to your imagination.

Here is where God comes in. If we had left on Thursday, like we were supposed to, we would have had rain walking up towards the peak meaning – it wouldn’t have been so easy to see and we would have been much colder and wet, making it harder to climb. On Tuesday night, had it rained, we would have had to walk 11 km to meet the van because it would not have been able to drive through the mud. Tuesday night it did not rain at all. Everything really worked out and it could only be because of him.

We didn’t make it to the peak. We were at a resting point and Y-G was asking everyone how they felt. Janet’s feet were paining, Gladwell had a bad headache, I had a slight headache and stomachache, Rudy was ok, and Kefa had stayed back. He told me that he thought that point should be our peak. I was truly upset, I wanted so badly to make it to the top. My body however was relieved, I was getting so tired, and breathing was getting difficult. I had gotten a cold since I’d been there which wasn’t helping. We made it about 15,000 ft high and were on Lenana. I am hoping one day to come back and finish the rest of the distance. I am going to abstain from calling the trip a failure, because so much good came out of it. There is so much natural beauty to be seen, and even looking at the best of my pictures cannot prove to you how beautiful it was.

Mt. Kenya has been my favorite experience so far. It was definitely a challenge at times I felt like I would get frost bite and that another step would be my last. But I made it through and had the time of my life. I cannot wait to go back, but next time I will be prepared.

The much awaited post...simply because it has been so long!

Wow, I feel like my life here just didn't have time to stop and settle down. I have had things going almost constantly! Right now I have decided to take the night off from work and catch up on a few things, laundry, Bethel things, photos, and now my blog!

To save all of my lovely readers’ time I will do my best to keep this short!

Two weekends ago I had plans to visit Kibera (the biggest Kenya, possibly African slum), have game night at the Matthews, ladies night, swim, and see some animals somewhere in Nairobi. Plans changed as they always do. I wasn't able to go to Kibera because the person who was going to accompany us had something going on with the kids from the slum. Game night, ladies night, and swimming happened, but on Sunday things changed.

Quick explanation, ladies night was a "talk show" about rejection, and then a movie, Night at the Museum 2. It was supposed to be a big slumber party with all of the ladies on campus, especially those involved in Dalafe (Daystar Ladies Fellowship). After the talk about rejection and everyone realized there weren't any refreshments, most people left! I stayed for almost the whole movie, but I kept falling asleep and the mosquitoes were bad so I ended up leaving too.

On Sunday I went into town with Alyssa, Nelson, and Godlove. (Nelson is from Ohio, but was born in Rwanda, Godlove is from Cameroon, they are both first year male students here). We did just a little walking around town and made our way to Kahawa West, where I was the weekend before. We went back to the disabled children's school to play with the kids again. This time we stayed longer. At first, the girl who clung to me the previous week clung to Alyssa because she walked in first. Once she noticed me, she struggled her way over and didn't let me go the whole time I was there. I was so happy she remembered me, but at the same time I feel awful that I may never see her again, knowing her memory is pretty good. The time spent there was good; I tried teaching some of the kids songs like "Baby Shark" and "Head, shoulders knees and toes." They loved trying to mimic the actions and make noises with me! Even though I had fun, it is sad to see the lives some children have to live, the conditions there are not great but I know they are worse at home.

After the home we went for food at Pizza/Creamy/Chicken Inn. They are all separate fast food places right next to each other, basically a food court! I had some breadsticks that were AMAZING, and an ice cream sundae! We got on the bus and headed back to campus.

The week went by pretty fast, I did the usual classes, school work, aerobics, and sleeping! When it came time for the weekend I was hoping to make major plans, but found out I needed to buy a few things for my Mt. Kenya trip. I stayed in school Friday and worked on my paper (that was due today, but I was 1 of 3 who turned it in and everyone else was given an extension of 2 weeks!). On Saturday I went into Nairobi with my roommate, Gladwell. She took me to her Aunt's home for a little while and then we headed to the City Centre to do some shopping. The funniest thing about the day was trying to buy warm sweatpants. We found a man on the street selling them, asked the price, and went on. She assumed that someone further down would have the same items at a cheaper price. This was a line of people selling off the street or from small hole-in-the wall shops. We didn’t find any and on our way back, the man was gone. Almost everyone selling off the street had disappeared, in a matter of twenty minutes! The police had come, and you could tell!

On Sunday I went back into Nairobi for church and to visit a different children's home. It didn't really end up being worth it. The church was Nairobi Pentecostal Church, Valley Road. Like the one I went to earlier, but a different location. I just cannot get myself used to that type of service! The children's home was a bit of a failure too, we arrived at lunch time so the children were eating. Afterwards they did the dishes, and then had to do laundry. By the time they would be done with laundry they had choir practice. I only got to play with a couple kids for a matter of minutes. It was nice to see the facilities and the way it was set up but I really just wanted to hang out with the children! The home has about 170 kids and 9 houses. Each house looks like a regular home with a kitchen, sitting room, and bedrooms. Each one also has a house mother who looks after the children. It was really neat that they organized that many kids that way, rather than a big dining hall and bunk houses. The children were all pretty well-behaved as well!

Sorry it has been so long since the last update! I have been doing really well for the most part and am starting to feel very comfortable here. Going to my dorm room is like going home for me and I feel like I have a few good friends who will look out for me! I have begun to plan out the rest of my time here, hoping I can go everywhere I want to before I must leave. It doesn't look like I have enough time to do so though! Time has flown and I will be flying home sooner than I know!

On Thursday morning I am leaving for Mt. Kenya. I will be there until Tuesday or Wednesday. We are hoping to Peak Pt. Lenana. This is the 3rd highest peak in the National Park, and the highest that doesn't involve rock climbing. I am still worried that we may not make it due to little training. I have another roommate coming with who hasn't done anything, and says she won't. I don't know how to talk to her so she will realize how important it is. I know that if she is the reason we don't make it she will feel bad herself, I am thinking I would rather not be able to make it and know I tried to get in shape than not be able to because I didn't put in the effort. Gladwell has been running with me as much as possible but her schedule is very busy! I am very happy that she is making the effort though! I look forward to telling you about the trip after I get back. I cannot wait to go and hope that even with all of the physical strains I will have a good time! At least I know I will be seeing something beautiful!

Anyways, as they say here in Kenya, nice time!

Tid Bits About the Week

Not much has happened since the weekend. I have gone to class and worked on some assignments…THANKFULLY! I find it hard to get myself to do class work because I would much rather talk with people from home or organize all of my photos or hang out with friends!

I spent one night, I believe it was Sunday watching a movie with my girl friends which was fun, another night I hung out with some of my guy friends and watched a new episode of family guy which was also fun and made me feel at home! Apart from that and talking with people from home I have been actually reading, gathering information, writing papers, or sitting in class.

I had received an e-mail saying that I should begin jogging and exercising before I climb Mt. Kenya…which is coming up in two weeks! I have been doing this but my roommate who is going to climb with me hasn’t. I had been thinking about asking her if she would start exercising because it would be difficult and then the e-mail came which thankfully made it much less awkward for me to ask! When I told her what she said she said she would begin and we went jogging together this morning! Hopefully we maintain the exercise, I am leaving early tomorrow morning so won’t be going but I am hoping she gets the motivation to do something! Gladwell, my roommate, told me that she hasn’t exercised since primary school! That is up to grade 8 here but still was very shocking because it doesn’t look like she hasn’t! I am hoping all goes well climbing the mountain with only two weeks of preparation; it should be fun even if we don’t make the top though!

One of the greatest things this week was receiving a birthday card from home. My dad’s side of the family (almost) all signed it and my aunt Nancy sent it over. It was great to know that they were thinking of me and to see it! I showed my roommate and asked her if they make cards like that here because it was a hand stamped and put together card. She said not really but she loved it and thought it was so cute!

Well, I am going to be getting back to my homework now. I hope life is going great for everyone!

Just wait and it will be provided!

Sometimes God knows exactly what you should do when you have no idea. It took me a while to realize this but I believe that is what happened this weekend, all though I am still not 100% sure he wanted me to do everything I did this weekend…

Here is the story; I was invited to go with some friends to Naivasha, a city about 3 hours away and visit Hells Gate, a national park. I really wanted to go but they were going to go clubbing at night. I didn’t feel completely comfortable doing this and I also felt like the people going were pretty good friends and I would be an odd one out. The problem was I had nothing to do for the weekend and I really wanted to get off campus! Friday morning God blessed me with Grace. I was eating breakfast and a girl I had never met before invited me to come with her for a sleepover weekend for a group called Jahazzi. They are a group that devotes time to helping children in the community that organized themselves.

The problem with going with Grace was that I would have to leave in about three hours. I had a paper to finish and print, I needed to shower, and I would have to pack. I made the decision quickly that if this was offered to me and I was searching for plans so it was what I needed to do.

I am going to try to type the rest of this quickly because there are so many things I need to be doing…like writing papers…

I hopped on the bus with Grace and we went to her home in Kahawa West, about 20-30 minutes from Nairobi. Friday evening we went to her church for a “concert.” It seemed as though it were performed by members of the youth group and the audience was the other members. I was amazed by how many youth were there and we participating and having fun. It reminded me of church at home only maximized! I wish that many people would attend the youth things at my home church. One unique thing about youth groups here is that they are most commonly for high school and college age people; the youth goes up much higher than it does at home!

Saturday morning we got ready and went to a school for the mentally disabled, we were shown around and only spent a few minutes with the kids. We met with the manager of the place and he explained all the details about the school. It is a spectacular story but really very sad. Most of the children are from the slums and their parents don’t want them because of their disabilities. The school charges tuition and the student’s board on a three months on one month off system. While the students progress in school, going home just takes them so far back is almost not even worth it. The school would like to be year round but just cannot afford it.

It smelt so bad there at times it was hard to breathe in through my nose, a lot of them cannot use the bathroom or are not able to understand they need to. It was amazing playing for a few minutes with the kids though some of them were so lively even with their disabilities. A few of the girls you could just tell they wanted attention! One girl was dancing with me and we were clapping. I told her I had to leave and walked away, we didn’t leave right away and she made her way over to me which was very difficult for her. One of her physical disabilities was that her feet were curved inward (or outward I don’t remember) I think I must have been brought to her because I was born with feet like that. I was amazed she made it all the way to me and she wanted to dance some more. She sat on a couch and told me to sit next to her and she laid her head on me. When I really had to leave she began to scream and cry. She didn’t want to leave me.

After the home we went to Village Market, which is basically a mall, one of the nicest in Nairobi. I tried sushi. It was nasty. I think it’s the whole rice thing…I couldn’t try the fish one because I don’t like fish to begin with and since everyone else does I didn’t want to waste it you know…but anyways that’s checked off of my list of things to do before I die.

And now here comes the “I am still not 100% sure he wanted me to do everything I did this weekend…” part. One of the girls with us (two more were hanging out so there were a total of 5) had just lost her grandma. So in order for her to have fun, Grace decided we should go out. One of her guy friends and his friend were driving us around so they took us to a club. I was frankly a little upset, the whole reason I didn’t go to Hell’s Gate was because I didn’t want to end up at a club and now I did. Anyways it wasn’t really bad at all, most of us drank soda or other nonalcoholic drinks and we did a little bit of dancing. It was good going as a group of girls though because I didn’t have to worry so much about dancing with people I didn’t know! Plus the music here was half American “club music” and half Kenyan semi-“club music” I don’t really know how to describe it. The feel of the club was very mellow.

I think that even though I didn’t want to go it ended up ok because I handled myself well and didn’t do anything I would regret. There was one very funny part of the evening though. On the dance floor a large portion of the people formed a circle and people took those dancing in the middle. Now I am not one to go in the middle and dance in front of everybody, ask anyone who has seen me at a high school dance, but I ended up there. An older guy grabbed both of my hands and tried to pull me into dance, I said no and tried to let go but he got me in the middle. We did a stupid little put your hands up and dance side to side standing two feet away from each other dance and I got out! It was so embarrassing!!

The next day we unfortunately missed church because we were out too late. It did stink because I really wanted to go to Grace’s church, it’s a Baptist church and Friday night had been fun. We made pancakes for breakfast…pancakes here are a little bit more like crepes at home. They cook them with…who guessed it? Lots of oil! They were very good though. Grace also made homemade syrup which was quite delicious!

The day was spent relaxing watching Tom and Jerry and then we hopped some matatus grabbed fries to go and got on the bus and back to school!

The weekend was overall enjoyable and I am hoping to begin spending my weekends doing a little more touristy stuff. It is nice to just sit back and hang out with the people but there are also things I’d love to see while I am here. Hopefully I can make that happen soon!