We made it!

Saturday, June 30th

We arrived at in Maua just as the sun had set last night around 7. They don't observe day light savings time over here so they only see around 12 hours of daylight each day.

We made the best of our van ride! Seats had limited cushioning  so we so found ourselves moving around a lot trying to stay comfortable as we drove over pot holes. My eyes stayed glued outside the van window as we drove mile after mile.

It's hard to accurately describe what all we did see mile after mile.

We stopped for lunch half way. Here I am with two fellow KCS employees, Scott and Meredith.

We drove from city to city with miles of farming land in between. Cities were very dirty by American standards, crowded and over ran by poverty. There are no speed limits and no formal traffic patterns or signs- people just "get in and go"! Added to the fact that the driver's seat is on the right side of the car and the flow of traffic is backwards compared to our American way of driving! Made for an exciting ride!

Between each city, the rural areas were overwhelmingly poverty stricken. It was common to see person after person trying to sell produce, stacked into areas like sardines. Bananas were in plentiful harvest. Animals, mainly goats, cows and chickens were freely roaming or tethered close to the rode side.

Corn was grown in the ditches also close to the ride side.

People were also harvesting rice by the road. They would spread it across long pieces of material to dry and then rake it up.

These gnarled groves of trees are the mirah tree. Mirah tree is a narcotic Kenyans pull off and chew. It is a little stronger than cigarets and a little weaker than marijuana.

One of the things that most stood out to me was the contradiction between the attire of many of the people we saw street side. They wore seemingly nice clothes, suits for the men and dressed for the women, but yet their daily rituals selling street side told a much different story.

The country side was absolutely breathtaking. The rain season has caused their greenery and crops to be plentiful.

It was not uncommon to see child after child roaming free of supervision either alone or in groups.

Women could be seen carrying back breaking loads while men walked empty handed a few paces ahead or behind.

Our first meal in Kenya...

We are staying at the Maua Basin Hotel. To say the attendants are hospitable would be an understatement. 

View from the hotel doorstep- straight ahead...it's hard to see but there was a landslide here

View from the hotel front looking to the right....

The litter is unfortunately a common site in Maua, and all of Kenya for that matter. Once they learned of plastic bags litter became a problem. They have no concept of recycling.

Our first night we were given rooms much different from our rooms at the Methodist House. 

The bathroom area is separated from the sleeping area by a shower curtain.

The shower head contraption hangs above a bowl. If you use the shower you plan ahead and turn the hear switch in 5 minutes earlier. You have to be very careful taking a shower not to reach over head and and touch the heating contraption above the water flow- or else you may be electrocuted. We are switching room situations this evening and did not take showers.

Netting over our beds.

This morning's breakfast:

Southwestern omelet. Eggs are white because the yolks are white... Chickens in Kenya re not fed well and therefor do not produce much protein...

We are all wearing jackets. It's a brisk 60 degrees, very windy and overcast.

We met with Misheck to discuss our trip's itinerary

Today we are going to tour the area and become familiar with our surroundings. First stop... The bank to exchange money... Then to the Tendo Valley Teacher College where we will work and the ARI school to greet the children...

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