Hellos and Good-byes

Well, we are here in Kenya. As you have probably noticed, it has taken us awhile to post our first blog. Let us recount our first days here and we'll tell you why.

Leaving home was bitter sweet. We were so glad to have our family to see us off, but it was hard to tell them good-bye. It is great, though, to have all of their prayers and support. It was especially good to have them help us with all of our baggage at the airport. We had 20 bags to check. I will not say how much it cost to send them, but thankfully the cost was about 25% less than we expected. We also arrived with only about one other person in line, which was a blessing. The ride to the airport was more stressful with a caravan of 6 cars traveling together through heavy Atlanta traffic!

Once we said our good-byes, we traveled through security without a hitch (which is rare as we normally get stopped). We credit part of this to the fact that one of the workers there was not feeling well and Ashley made small talk with him making sure he was okay as we nonchalantly grabbed our bags and headed on through.

The first flight was a full 8 hour trip to Amsterdam, which went okay. Maggie did well, just wanting to get out and explore. We carried Maggie's babyjogger on the plane, so we were the last to get off as we had to let everyone clear out to get it (but we were some of the first on!) It was the middle of the night US time when we arrived, so we walked around in a daze for about one our. Security in Amsterdam went smooth and we boarded our next 8 hour flight to Nairobi. This flight harder as we all wanted to sleep and it was hard forlittle Maggie to get comfortable. We also got to meet a few other missionaries on the flight.

We were happy when we finally deplaned in Nairobi. We found our way to immigration and when through getting our visas and stamps. When we told the agent what we were doing, she said "Thank you for coming to help us". We have never had that experience and it made us smile.

The luggage carousel was a madhouse, but Ashley squeezed in and would gather a bag or two at a time. Sarah stood by and guarded the 10 trolleys we had gathered to place our belongs on. Whenever she turned her head, someone would walk off with an empty one, which made us laugh. Some folks in line recognized our bags and would help set them off for us as well. Miraculously, all 20 bags arrived safely and without a scratch. Some of the airport works helped gather all our bags (stacked on 5 carts instead of 10). When we told the customs agent what we were doing, he said okay and let us walk through without checking a bag. The luggage caravan then proceeded outside. This was an answered prayer as we had no idea how we would get all these bags moved on our own.

We then met the lady who came to pick us up. She had the driver pull around right to where we were standing and load our bags. One van was for us and our overnight belongings. The next van held all our other items. Everything fit! We quickly became friends with the folks who came to get us (We'll omit names for now until we clear it with them that it is okay to use them.

We quickly became introduced to a little culture as a security officer came up to our driver and said we could not park where we were. He informed him that there was no other place to park and no signs saying we could not park there. It was obvious that the officer wanted a bribe to brush this off. Fortunately, the folks we work with do not believe in giving bribes. The driver politely stated his case and said he would even stay in jail overnight if he needed to. The officer finally let us go. A battle won!

Sleepy and hungry, we meander through the dark streets around Nairobi looking for a place to eat. We ended up at the Nairobi Java House, which is owned by Americans. The food was great, like most American menus! We took our food and went up to the Samaritan's Purse guest house. It was relatively new, but had no telephone access yet. We met two young guys from the states who were working in Sudan rebuilding churches. They were nice and quickly took up to Maggie. We ate our meal and a euphoric daze went to bed.

The next AM we grabbed some toast in the kitchen and shortly headed out to the NakuMatt to do our shopping. Our friend who met us had already done some shopping the day before, but needed us to help to the rest. First, she and Ashley grabbed some excellent coffee and we set out. This store was very nice and like a Walmart Super Center on steroids, it had everything! We shopped for about 3 hours. Ashley's job was to entertain Maggie. We then went to another JavaHouse for lunch and picked up our meat at the butcher (they know folks from the hospital and were very nice and helpful). While Ashley got the meat loaded in coolers, Sarah purchased fresh produce at another store. We bought ALOT- mainly to get started up, plus because most folks buy things for 6 weeks at a time, which is a little hard to do the first time.

Exhausted, we finally loaded up in the van to go to Tenwek. What a beautiful drive! It was about 4 hours over rough roads that passed through a few small towns (literally). We were disappointed that we did not get to go to an amusement park before we came, but most of the roads made up for it! Maggie laughed and thought it was great. We passed by the Rift Valley. It had several lookouts that reminded me of the Blue Ridge parkway, except there were also tourist traps along the way (which we did not stop at as we were in a hurry to get to Tenwek. Along the way we say baboons. They were trying to take corn away from vendors who were selling it on a stick. We were told they are very aggressive. We did not get our cameras out in time to get a picture of this. We did slow down when we saw giraffes. They were incredible! The folks who have lived here for years tell us that seeing them never gets old. We also saw gazelles and zebras in the distance as well. We got out at a gas station and stretched our legs 3 hours into the trip. We we got back on the
road, the sun began to set. It was gorgeous, so much so that the driver even wanted us to get out and take pictures!

Driving in the night is dangerous, as there are very few lights and people and animals in the road. Praise God we arrive just as it turned dark. As we pulled into the property and headed to our home, it was too dark to tell much, except we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore. There was a sign from our neighbor welcoming us to our new apartment. We were also greeted by our bags stacked inside (they had arrived earlier). Thankful one of the workers had already put Maggie's crib together for us. We were told to eat and go to sleep and do nothing else. A few folks came a greeted us. It was about 7:30 PM local time when we arrived (we are 7 hrs ahead of EST). Needless to say we were a bit overwhelmed. Maggie thought it was great sleeping under a mosquito net, though.

The next day (Tuesday) was our first full day at Tenwek. We slept in a litte and when we got going a first task was to tell some of the local house helpers what they could do for us. House help is very common here. Everyone has at least one, if not two full time workers. They are very knowledgeable and make day to day living here more bearable. Our workers quickly came in and started helping to set up the kitchen for us as we began to unpack bags. Some of the missionaries came by and helped as well. The worker typically help M-F from about 9 to 4 or 5. As we said we currently have two (Janet and Regina) and are trying to decided if we need to keep two workers in the future.

Breakfast is held, but so far does not seem to be that important. Neither is dinner. Lunch is the big meal of the day. For our first few days we were scheduled to eat lunch in different homes. Our first day we ate a home of a surgeon and his family who have been here for about 10 years. The next day we at the hospital resturant. We met with other short term volunteers and ate some local food, which was very good. Lunch is from 1 to 2. Chai (tea with milk) time in an import daily event. Here most things stop around 10AM for this.

People here also get going early (awake around 5-6AM and go to bed around 9). With jet lag, this is taking some getting used to. We have not had a full tour of the compound yet, but everyone here is very friendly. Locals come to the door daily offering produce for sell, which our workers determine if we need to purchase or not. The local missionaries usually congregate outside and visit one anothers house, which is nice. Everyone here is helpful and friendly. We were also provided with a host family, who take care of us and are making sure we are getting oriented to things daily. The other volunteers and missionaries say it takes about 1 month to get adjusted, but in the meantime to take one day at a time, which is what we are doing.

There are also lot of young kids here at Tenwek. Most are home schooled and they try to follow the Kenyan system. We cannot remember all the months, but we know that they are off for April and August. They play together all the time and make is most inquisative.

Life here does have its hassles we have learned. For example, we have a washer, but it has a mind of its own when it wants to work. You also have to be cautious of using the correct outlet because the 110 and 220 volt sockets are side by side.

Ashley begins work next week. He doesn't know much of what he will be doing specificially yet. However we do know that he is going to be in charge of the family medicine residency program be coordinating the outpatient continuity clinic, and coordinating care in the
emergency room.

We also have another big change here. We learned right before we left that we are going to have another baby. Sarah has been pushing through this great and continuing to adapt to life here in Africa.

We will load some pictures soon, so stay posted!

August 10th-12th
On Friday we took our official tour of the Tenwek compound. It is fairly large, but we should learn our way around quickly. We still have not ventured out to the dukas (little shops) or buildings surrounding us, but that will come with time. Ashley then met with one of the intenal medicine doctors who offered to tour him around the hospital. It was an impressive, extensive tour that also provided opportunities to meet several people and learn the little nuances of how to get things done around here. It was good for Ashley and has him feeling more at ease about starting work.

Friday night we had dinner with a couple from Alabama, so it was good to meet up with some Southerners. The reason we say that is most of the missionaries we have met here thus far are from up north or the Midwest, which is okay. For dinner we had pizza, which was good but still tasted different from that back home.

Saturdays appear to be quiet days around here. Morning sickness got the best of Sarah, so she rested, as did Maggie as Ashley relaxed around the house. Everyone does meals on their own on the weekend with no househelp, unless you need them for a special reason. After lunch we went for a walk. We were going to get on line with the hospital but learned that our frustrations with the internet were due to problems with the main server in Nairobi, not with us. Ashley toured us through the main education building at the hospital. It is new and very nice. He claimed his new cubby/office space. We then walked Maggie down to the covered area that has a basketball goal and played “ball”. She enjoyed this, as well as bouncing on the trampoline. Tenwek was given a gift that had to be used for a racquetball court, so we got to see it, which was nice. The MK’s use it for PE when it is rainy.

After this we came home and Sarah was craving fried rice, so she fixed her first real meal in Africa, which was very good (even though we did not have paprika for the white sauce). After this we met with some friends near by who invited us over to meet the prayer team. This team is from Maryland, actually right near where Sarah used to live (small world). They were composed of different people from a church there. One of the ladies used to a nurse years ago here and shared some great stories. We then shared our hearts with one another had a great time of prayer. We all felt very encouraged after this. We prayed specifically for Sarah and her morning sickness. She left rejuvenated, as we all did. We then hung out with the young couple who had us over. They have been here for a year, but had many of the same questions and struggles here early on that we do now.

Sunday morning came and prayer was answered. Sarah felt well enough to make it to and through the entire service. (We made a special point of thanking the prayer team after service!) The service was good. It was held in a building here at the hospital and is very nice. It was half missionary/ half local and conducted in English. It was from 9 to 11. It was so good to be able to rest and worship and reflect on the goodness of the Lord. A local pastor spoke about standing in the gap and the importance of prayer. Most of the music was done by one of the main surgeons here.

We are looking forward to starting our second week here. We are wanting to start working with an orphanage as several are around and many do this on weekends. We will pray about this and try to get involved once we get a little more settled in. Ashley starts work with call and we began having our own meals, so the next week should be more indicative of what everyday life will be like around here.