Day 1: Saturday, June 18

We began our first day in Kenya with a wonderful breakfast! The fruit here is incredible! We then had the privilege to hear from a woman doing wonderful work with orphans in the city of Nairobi. Robyn Moore works with an organization called The Least of These, based on the verse Matthew 25:49. She is a nurse who serves over 1000 orphans in Nairobi, working to provide medical care and food as well as reaching out to them spiritually. She shared with us some of her amazing and sometimes heartbreaking stories. She discussed the improvements in treatment for children who are HIV positive since the US initiated aid that helps provide treatment. Currently, in a single one of the children's homes where she works, there are twenty children who are HIV positive. There are over two million orphans in Kenya alone. Her passion for working with children and showing them God's love is absolutely amazing. Please keep Robyn and her organization in your prayers as they continue their mission to reach out to these children who are all too often forgotten.
We left the hotel and headed toward Nakuru. It was a very eye opening experience to see our first glimpses of true poverty. The slums of Nairobi included shacks made from whatever people had to build with. At one point they were on both sides of the road and were all we could see. We also passed their markets which involved livestock on the side of the road, in the median, or wherever they could tie them.
As we exited the city area, we began to come upon more rural villages in which people excitedly waved to see white people. We saw our first zebras, Tommy gazelles, and baboons which was VERY exciting!


We drove for what seemed like ages and stopped in the Rift Valley, which was breathtaking! It was incredible how far you could see! I also made my first purchase, which was a sheep skin hat, which the man was making right there where I purchased it. Very fun!
We continued on pretty smooth roads as we headed toward the AGC Baby Center, which was an amazing experience!


After we left the baby center to head toward the market, a huge storm came up, which was unfortunate since our luggage was on the top of the bus uncovered. We got to the market and only a few of us braved the storm and the vendors at the market. We are certain that they saw dollar signs as we drove up. It was a stressful experience to be pulled one way and another by hands that we did not know. I did make some excellent purchases, but Bryan informed me that I need to work on my haggling. We ran across the street to a hotel to wait for the bus to return. In a hilarious series of events, a member of our group that we did not realize had gotten off the bus was reunited with us by the vendors. Apparently one of the merchants was trying to sell him a bracelet and he said he would need his wife for that. They said "Oh your wife is across the street, we saw her!" (which she was not) and they brought him to us. We all got a great laugh out of that. We then bought Sprites in the hotel restaurant, which tasted amazing! Jane failed to inform us to return the bottles and we were chased down by hotel security when we tried to leave with them.
We finally made it to our TINY hotel room and slept very well after a long and exhausting day!


Morgan