First Day in Kenya

Mayfield Guest House - Nairobi

Nakumatt Shopping

Rift Valley

We stepped off a giant KLM 747 about 8:45 last night after a really nice, but long flight. Wow what a giant of a plane! How in the world does it get up into the sky!  We proceeded to the visa line, which was long but moved quite quickly compared to past experiences.  They fingerprint both set of digits, hand write a receipt and then ask for 50 crisp American dollars apiece and let you into the country!  From there we went to the baggage claim and thankfully retrieved our 4 suitcases amidst the chaos.  Just a hint for world travelers, tie some Christmas ribbon on the handle, it sure helps in identification. With four cases stacked high on our trolley we went outside to look for our driver from Samaritan's Purse among the hundreds of drivers waving their signs.  What fun to see our names clearly printed and held high!  Jonathon loaded us up in his Toyota van and off we moved at a snails pace out of the completely disorganized parking lot!  Once you are out of the parking lot Nairobi traffic isn't bad at 11 PM and we arrived at the Mayfield Guest House quickly.  There is a lot of new construction, but many of the roads that were being built last year are still under construction today! 

We slept under malaria nets last night as the room was stuffy and we wanted to open the windows.(no screens)  Breakfast was served promptly at 7:30 and we ate with a couple from England, another from Michigan, and a young missionary from an island North of Madagascar!  Small world!  About 9:30 am another driver, Onessious, picked us up and we were off to the Nakumatt, Kenyan version of walmart, to shop for groceries for a month.  It is always fun to shop for food in another culture.   Finally we were on our way to Tenwek about 11AM.   The trip was 4 hours long and very dusty as this is the dry season. At times we could barely see the road for the squalls of dust that would blow.  We did manage to see a large family of baboons along the side of the road from grandma to small toddlers.  The landscape became cooler and greener as we climbed in altitude and approached Tenwek.   

We are now in our one room apartment and had dinner with a few of the other guests this evening.   I think bed in going to feel mighty good a few minutes from now!  Thank God for safe travel and for the blessing of serving in Kenya.

with love,
mom and dad