Our arrival in Kenya

There will probably be some errors in this posting as I will not have time to re-read it before placing it on the blog.  Please accept my apologies.  I am also having difficulty posting photos.  Hopefully, I will get that worked out before the next posting.

Also, there appears to be a link in the upper left corner of this blog that says, "Follow".  I believe that if  you click on this and apply that you will receive an email each time I do a posting.  If you try this and it works, let me know.  You can reply at the bottom of this posting or send me an email at wakenhut@casair.net. 

36 hours, three different planes, four different airports, and we are in this delightful Mennonite Guest House preparing to leave for Ndalani and the orphanage later this morning.  We arrived in Nairobi last night at about 7:00 PM.  All the luggage arrived including Anne’s harp. 

After picking up the luggage, we left the baggage area to be greeted by about 100 people, each holding up a paper for their respective charges.  I wondered how we would find greeters in the crowd.  There they were with smiling faces, a beautiful young woman named Lydia, and two young males, one by the name of Stevie and our Matatu (bus) driver (I never did catch his name).  Anne said she found herself deeply moved by the smiles of these special people as soon as she saw them. 

We started to take our bags and harp to the parking lot, and they were immediately taken away from us by these warm young folks.  It was very evident that we were their guests, and we were to do nothing more than be taken care of. 

The bus they used to transport us was about a 20 passenger older unit that was skillfully guided, sometimes quite fast for 45 minutes from the airport through Nairobi to the Guest House.  We witnessed the results of two accidents in the process and were somewhat concerned as we were navigated through some very tight situations in this rather cumbersome vehicle. 

As we talked to Lydia, Anne recognized her voice as one of those giving testimony to the Mully Children’s Foundation (MCF) on the website.  (I will send a link to this video in the next posting.  She had been 15 at the time and has since received her college degree and acts as a greeter for MCF.  I was amazed and surprised by the confidence of this young lady as she sat only a foot away from me on the bus sharing with me.  I must admit that I am having difficulty understanding the English.  They have a very melodic and rolling dialect that often ends with an uplift on the end of the sentence, similar to our questions.  Anne readily understands what is being said.  I suspect  my difficulties stem from a little hearing deficit. 

Around 9:00 PM, we arrived at the Guest House, a very quiet and beautifully gardened space.  We were greeted by an extremely quiet young man, and our MCF hosts unloaded our baggage, but they failed to take off Anne’s bag she was using as a purse (more about that later).   

We were to be met by Denis, the owner of a music company that I contacted via the Internet before we left to purchase guitars and a keyboard with the money provided to us by the Ada Bible Church (near Grand Rapids, MI).  Since he had not yet arrived with the instruments, we sent our hosts on their way.  They were to return today at 11:30 to pick us up and purchase a satellite modem for the laptop and a cell phone before taking us to the orphanage in Ndalani 80 K away.

Denis finally arrived at 10:30.  I tried to help him unload the instruments, but again was told he would do it.  Again, I was surprised by the presence and willingness to give and provide services of these people. 

After Denis left, Anne and I went to our room, a beautiful corner room with balconies on both sides overlooking the grounds below.  It was then that we discovered that Anne’s bag was missing, but we didn’t have Lidia’s cell phone number to let her know that it was still on the bus.  However, Lidia had contacted Denis for us earlier, and he had her phone number, but we didn’t have a phone to call him. 

There were three men in the small pavilion in the garden.  So Anne approached them to borrow a phone.  We finally contacted Lidia, and she found the purse, still on the bus.  So we were once again saved from a bad scene. 

In the meantime, I  began talking to one of the men.  He was from Croatia.  Another was from Bulgaria, and the third from Romania.  They were here to  help the government of Sudan set up their election.  As you probably know, Sudan is just to the north of Kenya and has been the scene of the Darfor genocides.  It felt strange to be in the presence of such important people.  I spent some time this morning talking with the head of this group, and was deeply moved by his presence, comfort, and his comfort about the difficult task they were undertaking.  Sudan should be pleased to have such a wonderful presence guiding them. 

When we went to bed last night, Anne discovered we had not taken our daily malaria pill.  Knowing she had difficulty with it back in the states when she had tried it, she grabbed a package of cheese and crackers before taking the pill, but it was apparently not enough as she returned after taking her shower complaining of extreme nausea.  She got into bed, and I, recognizing the emergency of the moment, attempted some healing Reiki.  After several minutes, I noticed considerable relaxation in her breathing.  Figuring she was asleep, I rolled over, and after 36 hours of sleeping on planes, in airports, etc., I also quickly fell asleep only to be awakened by Anne complaining of severe chills.  I got up and got her coat to add to the blankets. 

 At that point, I was wide awake and not about to go back to sleep.  I finally did get up and checked my watch, and it was 2:30 AM.  I tried every method of relaxation and sleep entry that I knew, but nothing was working.  It must have been well after 3:00 AM when I was once again given the message that I am not in charge of my life, and I was not the one to decide when and if I was going to go to sleep.  Such an awareness and acceptance and admission of God’s roll in my life and what goes on around me finally allowed me to turn the corner into sleep only to be awakened again by a rooster crowing in one of the neighboring houses. 

I forgot to mention that we lost my lap top in the Amsterdam airport.  We had a four hour layover in the early morning hours and Anne finally found some reclining chairs for an hour or two of sleep.  We stayed a little too long not knowing we would have to have our carryon bags searched again.  When we arrived at check in, there was a need to hurry.  The lap top needed to be removed from my back pack and placed in a separate bin which I did, but when I went to the other side of the X-Ray machine, I picked up my back pack, fanny pack, shoes, etc. and forgot the lap top.  We were on the plane ready to depart, and a stewardess came on board with my laptop.  Thank heavens I had placed my name label on it prior to leaving so that it could be identified. 

There are lots of other little pieces like this that have occurred since we left giving us the impression that we are truly here on a mission in a world that is totally new to us and where we will continue to make mistakes because of the strangeness of our new lives.  However, there are others involved including the Spirit that will graciously pick up our pieces as we discover our roll here.

We wish to also acknowledge the awareness of the presence of all of you who have told us of your prayers for us as we journey into this apparently wonderful unknown space.