Karibu Kenya

How does one begin to describe Africa, to describe Kenya?  It is a country filled with breath-taking beauty at every turn, with exotic animals, endless savannahs, cleansing rains, and a sky so vast it fills you with awestruck wonder.  And yet, at the same time, it is a country that is very familiar with poverty, with pain, with the realities of life that we don't experience in the United States.  It is so hard to put into words the experience of Kenya.  To describe the little things like driving where there are no stop signs or lights, where most of the roads are so full of potholes that people drive on the shoulder instead so their teeth don't rattle out of their heads, and how speed bumps sneak up on you out of nowhere.  There are always people on the road, walking to and fro, driving in organized chaos that I couldn't seem to figure out.

Even after only 8 days in Kenya, it has a special place in my heart.  The kids at Dagoretti Feed the Children with their soul-melting smiles, sparkling smiles, and laughter.  I have never been more aware of the color of my skin than when walking in the market or driving down the street.  At church with Tiffany, the congregation recognized first time visitors and made them stand up...naturally, I didn't really want to do that, but really it's kind of hard to blend in when you're white as a ghost...in fact, it's pretty much impossible.  Haha, but I never felt more welcome somewhere, especially when I was invited up to tea after the service with the rest of the visitors.  

I found out that I'm horrible at bargaining in the markets because it's a long process and because I couldn't for the life of me remember the conversion rate between dollars and shillings.  Makes it rather hard to be a shrewd bargainer when you can't remember something as simple as that.  However, the vendors are friendly and more often than not, by the end of a purchase I knew his or her name and we'd had a nice chat as businness mixed with conversation.  

The week went by so fast that I couldn't believe my time was up Sunday night when I walked into Nairobi airport.  I wanted to stay another couple weeks at least because it was great to see and hang out with Tiffany and because I wasn't ready to leave Kenya.  I wanted to spend some more time there chatting with Kenyans, drinking chai, and going barefoot all day.  

For more pix of Kenya here's a link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051921&id=11400089&l=aeee217ddf