Kijabe Town Primary School Field Trip

You may remember us talking about the Kijabe Town Primary School. This is a school located about 20 minutes from us in a remote village. The children in the school were not getting fed at the beginning of the school year and we soon got involved in helping feed them. Thank you to all of you who have helped us in that endeavor. Philip has been taking the Moffat Bible students to Kijabe Town since October. We have gotten to know the Standard 6 (6th grade) teacher and his family. Right before we flew back to Texas in the end of March, Joseph, the Standard 6 teacher, told us that the students wanted to go with us to the airport to see us off because they have never been to the airport or to Nairobi at all. Many had not even left Kijabe Town. We decided that we should take these kids on a field trip to Nairobi. The date was set for July 31st and the planning began. We were to visit the airport, animal orphange, KICC building (tallest building in Nairobi) and a museum. So last Friday we woke up very early (it's school break for our kids so their enthusiasm was lacking) and headed to Kijabe Town. We rushed as usual only to get there and wait about 30 minutes for the other bus to arrive from Mai Maihu. This is what happens just about everytime we go somewhere. We rush and rush and arrive on time only to wait! I'm sure that if we were to decide to get somewhere when we got there and not worry about being on time, we would miss something or someone would have to wait on us. We just can't get over our Western mentality of being time oriented. It just isn't like that here. So when the second bus arrived, we all gathered around and said a prayer asking God for safety on the roads and thanking Him for the opportunity that He had granted us. Kenyans cannot believe that we can't pray in our schools because it is very much a part of their lives everywhere not just where it is deemed appropriate. I think they have that part right!

Waiting on the bus


We made it down the bumpy dirt road to Mai Maihu where we stopped and picked up sodas and loaves of bread. These items were for the kids lunches. They got a room temparature soda, a loaf of bread, a banana and a sausage. The saddest part to me was watching some of the students put their loaf of bread in their bag or purse to take home to their family. It made me realize what I take for granted everyday.

Lunch!

The students had a wonderful time in Nairobi and thanked us many times for the field trip. I'm still sure that we got more out of our time with them than they did on the field trip.

Petting a cheetah. What you don't see is the four other cheetahs being distracted by about 5 employees of the Animal Orphanage. About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, one of the employees threw a ball and this cheetah sped away so fast we didn't know what had happened. We quickly went right out the gate. Quite an experience!

Kijabe Town Primary School Standard 6 Class !

Christmas Pagent in Stonetown

Since there was no Christmas Pagaent for us to go to on Christmas Eve and no Church service either, we decided that we could do our own production in our hotel room on Christmas Eve. Here are the results below. It really was a precious pagent!

The Angel of the Lord! She is bold that's for sure!


Elizabeth AND Mary

Zechariah

The angel of the Lord appears before Zechariah

A speechless Zechariah and someone who wants to know what Zechariah is trying to say.

Zechariah and Elizabeth

The angel Gabriel appears before Mary

Joseph and Mary riding a donkey to Bethlehem

Wise man visiting Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus

The cast and crew of the production!

Around Stonetown

Here are a few pictures from around Stonetown on the island of Zanzibar.

This is the church we went to on the 23rd of December for Christmas Caroling.

This is a chamber where many slaves were kept during the slave trading days of Zanzibar. It was very small and hot.


This is a huge stingray. It took us awhile before we could even figure out what it was. I've never seen something like this!


Another view of the stingray

The entrance to the fish market. You learn really quickly how to breathe through your mouth!

If you want a loaf of fresh bread this is where you get it!

Zanzibar is also called the Spice Island. There were spices everywhere for purchase. The spices from Zanzibar are so flavorful that a smaller amount is needed in recipes. We learned this the hard way when I made chili and used the amount of chili powder called for in the recipe. It was so hot we could hardly eat it.

Colorful kikoys/kangas (wraps) and scarfs were plentiful!

These are the streets in Stonetown. It was easy to get turned around and go down the same street several times before you found where you were going.

This was our favorite place to eat. It was an Italian Ice Cream parlor that served good lunches and suppers as well. I think we ate there about 6 times.

Zanzibar is famous for it's doors. The doors used to be a symbol of the wealth of the owner of the house. We were amazed at the size and detail of the doors.

We had been walking for a long time when we found this nice Indian restaurant. It was so nice to find a somewhat cool place to sit down. The girl in the blue shirt is Julie a friend of ours from ABO, her mother is in the maroon shirt and Ryan Dahlman is in the corner by Tracy.

You can buy frest octopus and squid at the fish market. Again, mouth breathing is in order here.

This is a place called Forodoni. It is an outside eating area. There are lots of tables in this alley way and you just walk around, find something good to eat and dig in. It was really good and much cheaper than eating at a restaurant.

Forodoni again

Forodoni - Emily holding a huge banana! They made amazing banana/chocolate pizza.

Another look at the food at Forodoni

Forodoni

A fish waiting to be processed at the fish market

Boat building - They actually make the boats right here. This is the type of boat that we took to the island.

Another fish on the way to the market

The market from across the street

This is where we got a great cup of coffee one morning. The blue bucket on the left is where they wash to cups between customers. They just dip it in and fill it up for the next customer!

Another look at the streets of Zanzibar

One Night on an Island

What a romantic title Philip came up with! I'm not sure the experience qualifies as romantic but we had a great time. We were given an opportunity to go to an island that is uninhabited and spend the night. Of course, we could think of nothing better to do (except maybe sleep in an air conditioned hotel room!) so off we went. The house we were in had no air conditioning and the girls and I (Linda) were sharing one twin size bed because it had a mosquito net and we didn't want anyone else to get bitten 120 + times. It is already hot in Zanzibar and when you have so many bodies in one bed, it is almost unbearable. So the idea of a night in a tent on an island with no water or electricity actually sounded great! We had a great time and would do it again. Here are some pictures from our time there.





These are sea cucumbers. Some fishermen were bringing in their catch when we were getting ready to board the boat to the island. These things are really gross. They throw up their insides when they are threatened. I don't think the picture gives you the true picture of their grossness. Apparently, they are used to make medicine.

Some other fisherman had lobsters that they had caught. They were hugh and were beautiful colors. Much better looking than the cucumbers above.

On the way to the island. The boat we were in was a wooden handmade boat like most of them around the island. It had sails but we motored out to the island because it was getting late and the sea was a bit rough.

These were taken right before we started out to the island!

The island in front of the boat.

Another beautiful sunset. We loved getting those Dhows in the picture!

The kids under the rock formation. The sun was already gone by the time we got everyone to cooperate!

Playing on the beach the next morning.

This is where we had pitched our tents. We forgot to take a picture until after we had taken the tents down. In the evening before we went to bed, the kids were playing and caught many hugh hermit crabs. There were hundreds of them on them on the island. The kids dug a hole near the tent to keep the crabs in. In the middle of the night, we realized that it was maybe not such a wise idea. The crabs got out and probably joined by the other crabs on the island begin to scratch on the tents. There was much lost sleep. To top it off, it started to rain and we hadn't put the rain fly on because it didn't look like it was going to rain. Luckily the rain only lasted a few minutes and wasn't that heavy. It was funny in the morning but nothing is really funny in the middle of the night.

We walked to the other side of the island and found beautiful cliffs. The drop to the ocean is about 20 feet and the water is so clear so you can see quite a bit. It was such a contrast compared to the other side of the island where we camped.

This is the forest that we walked through to get to the other side of the island. Yes, I asked about snakes and was assured that none existed on the island. I wasn't convinced that it was true but we went anyways.

Playing in the water on the beach side of the island.

This is a cove that we went into on the island. It reminded us of something from Pirates of the Carribean. The tide was out so we just stayed for a few minutes so we wouldn't get stranded.

This is a sand bar in the middle of the Indian Ocean. We stopped on our way back to Zanzibar. It was truly awesome to stand in the middle of the ocean.

There were many jellyfish on the island. I think they would get stuck on the sand when the tide went out. We didn't step on any thankfully! I thought the footprints were cool because ours were the only ones on the sandbar. It was really incredible.

Another view of the sand bar.

Our family photo on the sand bar.

Ariving in Dar es Salaam and on to Zanzibar

Our trip to Dar Es Salaam was worth it. They have a Subway there!!!! We arrived late on Saturday night so nothing was open but after church on Sunday we were the first customers at Subway. It has never tasted so good!

On a beach in Dar.

Playing in the Indian Ocean in Dar. Baxter, Luke and our professor's sons.

Jumping waves. I didn't know Emily could jump so high!!

Tracy and Dinah (professor's daughter) buried in the sand.

On the 2 and 1/2 hour ferry ride to Zanzibar!

Our first glimpse of Stone Town in Zanzibar.

More Stone Town.

More Stone Town.

We made it to the house we would be staying in. At first we thought it was the tent but then we were told it was the house in the back. A big house by Zanzibar standards but not finished yet on the inside. It gave us shelter and we had a nice time there. I'm not sure Ryan thought the first night was fun as he was eaten alive by fleas. The second night, Emily was eaten alive by mosquitos. She had over 120 bites and we wondered about malaria. She doesn't seem to have been affected. This is a wonderful blessing and we are very grateful.

More views of the house and the area (below) that the house was in.

Beautiful Zanzibar sunset complete with a Dhow. This was our treat the first night we were there. God is good!!

Journey to Zanzibar

The kids got out of school on November 26th for their vacation between terms. The new term began January 6th. We were invited to go to Zanzibar with our Professor from Moffatt Bible College. Zanzibar is an island off of the coast of Tanzania. Tanzania is south of Kenya. We all decided that driving would be a fun adventure so on December 12th we started our trip. The total distance one way was about 700 kilometers (420 miles). We always measure a trip in hours in Kenya because the time is totally dependent on the condition of the roads not the distance. We weren't sure what the roads were like in Tanzania and much to our surprise they were great. They even had a center line which is something you don't see much of in Kenya!





This is a picture out of the car window as we headed out of Nairobi and toward to border of Tanzania. The majority of the road was dirt or full of pot holes until we got to Arusha, Tanzania, a distance of about 285 km. or 6 hours.

As we were traveling through one small town, we had to pull over because a parade of people were passing. We never did quite figure out what the parade was for.

We passed a herd of camels before we got to Tanzania. Apparently they are common closer to the coast of Kenya but we had never seen them until now so we thought it was interesting.

This is another sampling of the roads. At this point we were wondering how long this trip was going to take. You can't travel fast on roads like this!

Even when the roads smooth out, there are other things to watch out for like a whole herd of cattle. The Maasai move their cattle wherever there is water and grass.

Crossing the border into Tanzania. Everything went so smoothly at the border and we were very thankful.

This is Tanzania! Beautiful countryside.

More views of Tanzania.

Mount Kilimanjaro is in the background. It is a bit hard to see.

Finally we arrived at the Lutheran Guesthouse in Moshi, Tanzania. Notice the Lorena shirts!!The kids were glad to get out of the HOT car. It is definitely an adjustment getting used to a car without air conditioning. It's not too bad until you are in the city and have to leave your windows rolled up so that you are safe.

We found an ATM machine so that we could get Tanzanian shillings and then could get something to eat. We ate the the Salsburg Restaurant and the power went out in the whole city about 5 minutes before we got to the restaurant. It took about one hour to get our food because they had to cook everything in small batches over jikos or open fires. The food was very good! The power didn't come on until we were heading back to the guesthouse.

Leaving Moshi the next morning on our way to Dar Es Salaam. We stopped and got a picture of Mt. Kilamanjaro on the way out.

The whole group we were traveling with (except Philip taking the picture). The family on the left is our professor from Moffat's family. Ryan is the guy on the right. He was in our candidate week and came out with us in June. He is also Tracy's school teacher. He is part of our family in Africa now!

More scenes from Tanzania.

A restaurant we stopped at on our way down to Dar. It was nice food and we all enjoyed the break from driving.

Ryan the navigator!

A village in Tanzania.

We were going over a bridge and notice this guy in a canoe down below. He appears to be fishing.

Cheptabo Wedding

Our family was invited to attend the wedding of a couple that we met during our home stay in Cheptebo. You may remember reading about our attending their engagement ceremony during our home stay. We got to know them and felt privileged that they asked Tracy and Emily to be flower girls in their wedding. The wedding was December 6th. We left Kijabe on December 5th and returned on December 7th. All in all it was a very rewarding experience. We did have quite an adventure again in the house we were staying in. It was the same house where we spent the last week of our home stay in August. The first night I came out of the bathroom and nearly stepped on a little mouse. We killed the mouse and put it outside hoping we wouldn't find anymore. The girls slept in one room, the boys slept in another and Philip and I slept in another. At around 12:30 a.m., Philip and I were woken up by something gnawing on wood. We sat up in bed and listened and determined that it was coming from the dresser. It sounded like it was huge! We contemplated opening the dresser to see what it was but I told Philip that I was sure I would scream when I saw it and wake everyone up. We sat there for a minute trying to decide what we should do. We finally opted for leaving the room and shutting the door behind us hoping to trap the creature inside the room. I slept with the girls and Philip went into the boys room. In the morning we didn't find anything in the dresser. The next night after Luke got in bed he shouted "a mouse" and then he got up and started chasing it. The mouse ran out of the boys room and down the hall past the bathroom. Luke shouted "a snake". We all came running and sure enough there was a small snake in the bathroom. Who knows what kind it was. We just killed it and threw it outside. I was pretty sure that there had to be other snakes but we never saw them. We ended up killing the mouse also. We started out sleeping with the kids and just kept that bedroom door shut where the huge gnawing animal lived. The next morning the girls and I were woken up by the boys killing the big rat that was gnawing the dresser. They heard it when they got up and decided to see what it was. They were able to kill it and we were all thankful. Despite all of our adventures during the night we had a good time and were thankful that we got to visit with the people in Cheptebo.
When we first arrived at the church on Friday evening, we blew up balloons for about an hour. The kids had a blast and our jaws hurt the rest of the evening!

Our car was part of the processional so it was decorated like the other cars. The bridesmaids were in our car. We drove to the church from the little house that all of the girls in the wedding dressed at. It was only about 3/4 of a mile. Someone was standing in the back of a pickup in the front of the processional line videoing the drive. As we got closer to the church, people who were going to attend the wedding were lined up on the side of the road cheering and dancing.

This is the little house that the girls got dressed in. I put Tracy and Emily's hair up and then sprayed it with glitter spray from Texas. They were all fascinated with the glitter spray and so we sprayed many of the other girls hair including the bride. They were so happy to have that special treatment!

This is the dress rehearsal for the wedding. It was right outside that little house they all got dressed in. It was also right before the wedding! After the rehearsal, the entire wedding party marched down the hill to the cars that had been decorated. They sang and celebrated the entire way.

This is the processional going to the church. We are driving along dirt roads up in the mountains. It is very pretty and very bumpy! Tracy and Emily are in the car that is just crossing the water.

Tracy and Emily walking down the aisle. They are throwing confetti instead of flowers. After the ceremony, the preacher who officiated the ceremony said he was surprised when two white girls walked down the aisle.

This is right before the wedding began. The wedding party is gathered in front of the Church getting ready to march in. The two ladies singing are close friends of the family. Purity, the one wearing the pink dress was raised by Sally and Joseph. She is currently attending college in Eldoret. She helped keep the girls in the right place and doing the right things throughout the day.

After the pictures with the bride and groom's families, we all drove to an overlook area and took even more pictures. This is our family with the groom, Pastor Walter and bride, Sally. It was so hot and when we got back to the car Emily said that she was just forcing her smiles because she really just wanted to cry. The dresses they were wearing were so thick because they are all bunched up on top. There were many yards of taffeta in each dress!

After pictures at the overlook area, the girls were seated at a table to eat the meal. Everyone except the wedding party and those who went with them to take pictures had already eaten. This is the table of honor because you got to sit down and were also given soft drinks. It is a big thing in Kenya to serve an honored guest soft drinks. They always come in bottles and most of the time they are hot. We have learned to ask for "soda baridi" which is kiswahili for cold soda.

Entire wedding party. The lady on the top row on the left is Sally who was the wife of the couple who hosted us during our home stay.

Philip is taking pictures and video during the gift giving portion of the wedding. This happened right after the meal was eaten.

Luke had taken his flute with him to Cheptebo so that he could practice while he was there. He ended up playing 3 or 4 songs in front of all of the people at the wedding. He didn't miss a note and didn't seem nervous at all. We were proud of him. I don't think I would have done this in front of so many people when I was 12 years old!

More dancing and celebrating after the wedding.

This is a picture of a portion of the crowd of people at the wedding festivities. I know that they didn't all fit into the church. The crowd seemed to grow and grow. I am amaze.d at the beauty of the people of Kenya