The Real Africa

We began our day by having our van get two flat tires. We were to leave the Guest house at 9:30, but the van did not show up until 11:00. We went to the school to get things organized for the clinic on Friday. I walked around and met some more teachers. They were very welcoming and the students were so excited to see me and welcome me into their classroom. The wood was delivered to build the desk. The students were so excited. We tried to use the electric saw, but had no luck. My dad had gone out to the airport to get the generator we had shipped before we left. He had no luck getting it. They gave him the run around which is so typical of Kenya. I tried to help with getting electricity to the saw. In the mean time, the older boys helped to saw by hand. It wore my brother and Kenny, the builder in our group. Once the supplies were in place for the clinic, we headed to the city market for some shopping. It is an experience to go to the city market. We were about 9 in our group at the time. I spoke a little Swahili, just enough to make the merchants willing to bargain with me. It was fun for the first few minutes and then I just started to help the others. I think over all we got some good deal. We saw a rat get kicked and killed while we were in the market. Charley, I think the meat market must have been at its worst the day we took you there. It was bad but not to the degree you saw it. The flowers were there some but not as many as before. The other members of our team seemed to enjoy the trip. We headed home to get ready for dinner. We were going out to Mom’s favorite Indianrestaurantt to celebrateCarll’s birthday. The meal was wonderful and we had such a good time. Kamau, our taxi driver, went with us to dinner. He still remembers when we climbed the mountain 6 years ago. He is married and has a 3 year old son.
In Africa, you go with the flow. Plans change and you have to make do. Today all of our plans changes and we were at the mercy of the locals. No need to hurry and no need to worry...it is out of our control. This is the real Africa and the reason my dad loves it here!
I talked to my family for the first time tonight. You forget how important it is to hear your loved ones voices. Megan said hello and Kyle said, “Come See me!”. It was good to hear all were doing well and helping out dad! Thank you Megan for all your help!
Tomorrow will be an intense day of seeing each child in the clinic.
Hugs and happiness!
Bethany