It's now Wednesday in Kenya. It's been a crazy few days. I apologize in advance that this is going to be so long but I have a lot to catch up on. Pictures will be forthcoming since my camera cord is in my luggage :) No, my luggage still hasn't come. Don't ask for specific details, I won't admit to half of what I am doing to get by. Louis & Chriss Pope have been amazing. I stayed with them from Thursday until Tuesday night. They were extremely generous with clothes, shampoo and laundry detergent, not to mention their home. I'm already really good at washing clothes in the sink.
Saturday we went to a party planned by the branch for Andi & Aaron. The women were all hard at work making dinner in the primary room. They brought us heaping plates full of mashed potatoes with corn mixed in, rice, beef and chipati (a thick tortilla). I ate as much as I could but there was just so much food. I got to see some of the children and Relief Society women that I met when I came down over Thanksgiving. Still crazy cute! The kids all sang songs for Andi & Aaron and they had so many great things to say about them and what they've done for the branch while they've been here. They leave on the 1st and they are all so sad to see them go. Me too!
Sunday we went to church. The Pope's neighbor, Saphia, came with us. She is moving to Germany with her husband and is staying with the Pope's until she can settle a jet ski business they owned. She's one of the happiest and most energetic people I've ever met. She's reading the Book of Mormon and has been talking to Sam quite a bit about "Mormonism." Andi's parents are in town so they came down for Sunday dinner. Louis and Chriss are both amazing cooks and we had quite the feast of spaghetti, a nice taste of home.
The plan was for me to start work Monday but no one was around to help me find my way to the office. I know where to catch a matatu (taxi) but would have no idea where to get off which could prove to be a problem. I stayed at the Pope's home along with Andi & Aaron and the Harbertsons (Andi's parents). Saphia arranged to have us go jet ski Monday morning before she sold the business. It was amazing! Andi & Aaron were on one and Andi's parents rode on another. Saphia rode with the guide and I rode with Louis. It didn't occur to me to be scared until he threw us both off before we even left the beach. But we made it down the coast and the guide took us into the Mangrove trees and up the river a little ways. It was beautiful, really beyond description. You could see some of the reef above the water and the trees growing on the reef and sometimes right out of the water. Louis let me drive back out. Once we were in open water Andi and I may have raced once or twice. It was an easy win...for me. However, I got a little carried away at one point and Louis went flying off the back, oops!
The highlight was seeing the dolphins. We got to drive right along next to them and at one point we were surrounded by them. We saw a couple of baby dolphins and the whole thing was pretty amazing. We could have chased them all day but finally ran out of fuel and had to head back. Two lessons I learned from Louis on the excursion. First lesson came when he was driving down the coast. The sky was awesome, the coast was beautiful and Saphia kept smiling at us from the other ski. Louis slowed down and said, "Sometimes when I'm at a restaurant enjoying a really good meal or when I'm out doing something like this and having a great time I have the thought that I want to help them even more!" Then he hit the gas and we took off. The second lesson was when I was struggling through the mangrove trees, it took me a minute to feel comfortable driving. I almost his a tree and he told me, "Don't look at what you're trying to miss, just keep your eye on where you want to go." A good life lesson, I thought.
Monday night we had an amazing seafood dinner. Louis went to a fish market and brought back three huge lobsters and a huge stash of jumbo shrimp. I was left in charge of their boiling. I have now cooked lobster! Not so difficult, come to find out. The key is the color.
Tuesday I went with Andi, Aaron, Vicki & Rob (Andi's parents) to some center meetings. We met up with Rachel, a credit worker with Yehu. She hopped in our car and Rob navigated through some small dirt roads out in rural Kenya. I loved it! We went to three meetings with Rachel and met some incredible women. The first meeting had about 15-20 women. If they came late they had to pay the group 20 shillings to pay for supplies for the group. They told us about their businesses and families. They make food, clothes, purses and farm. Some of them make thatched roofing from the palm trees. They are mostly, if not all, Muslim and each meeting started with prayer. They keep their homes so clean and all the women are clean and take a lot of pride in themselves and the way they present themselves.
Later that day we went to Coast Coconut Farms where they press the coconut to produce oil. All of it is done by hand. It's a really long process for just a little bit of oil. I have to say, though, it was the best smelling production I've ever experienced. Made my hungry.
Today I went into the office for the first time. I met Rose who manages the office, Omar who manages operations and Adet, the CEO. Everyone kept saying "welcome, welcome" and wanted me to feel at home and comfortable. I will be working with Omar most of the time and so I talked with him for a while today. He has a lot of ideas and plenty to keep me busy for the next four months. I made my own way home using public transportation, a term I used loosely. Unfortunately I hit rush hour and all the matatu's were full. I ran into Hanna, an intern with Kiva. Hanna was sitting in a Tuk Tuk (a three-wheeled vehicle) and spotted me waiting. I rode with her over the bridge and started walking again, hoping to catch a matatu. I finally gave up and took a motorbike to the Mamba roundabout and walked the rest of the way. I just made it as it was getting dark. As I was walking home I kept thinking how lucky I am to be here and to live here for a short 4 months. It's starting to feel like home in some ways.
There are 5 of us in the apartment right now. Andi, Aaron and I are working for Yehu. Hanna is working with Kiva and Brenton is working with Choice Humanitarian. We joked that we're all living and eating like freshmen again. Andi was eating cookies, Brenton was pouring a bowl of cereal, I was boiling water for ramen and Aaron was drinking Krest (bitter lemon soda). We eat pretty classy around here but none of us would trade it for anything.
