Having spent a couple of weeks in the States after four months in Kenya, I've realized a few little things that we have to be thankful for here in the good ole US of A. Granted, there are the big things like education systems and a not-so-corrupt government, but hopefully these few minor items will give you a little something to think about or thank God for...
1. Hot water sinks - I am blessed to have a hot shower in my house in Kenya, courtesy of an electric heater on the shower head, but I was amazed to get back home and have hot water in the sink to wash my face at night, or even to wash dishes with!
2. Rain without mud - When it rains in Kenya, EVERYTHING gets covered in mud! Here in America, though, its possible to go all over the city on a rainy day walking on a succession of carpet, wood, concrete, asphalt, stone, tile, and plastic - none of which turn into mud when wet.
3. Ovens - Almost all Kenyan food is cooked over a stove, so I've been in heaven at home with a constant succession of cookies, cakes, casseroles, and all kinds of other BAKED goods!
4. HDTV - This one is pretty shallow and self-explanatory, but I had totally forgotten how good a football game looks on a big screen in HD...wow...
5. HVAC - Another acronym (there are many more of those in the US), being able to control the temperature of a room or a car with heat and air condition is amazing!
6. Seasons - There's something in me that feels like Christmas should be cold, and four seasons simply add so much more variety to the year. Living at 1 degree latitude in Kenya leads to a pretty constant climate, with the exception of rainy or dry periods, and I'm learning how cool it is to experience the changes between summer, fall, winter, and spring that I've always taken for granted.
Those are just a few of the many things that we have to be thankful for in America, but they are some of the ones that have stuck out to me in the past few weeks. I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a happy New Year!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Party in the USA!
After our action-packed retreat in Nakuru, I spent a couple of hectic days running around Limuru and then left Kenya last Tuesday for about a month in the States to celebrate Christmas and spend time with family and friends at home. I was surprised at how difficult it was to leave Kenya - I hadn't realized how much I'd grown to love life there, especially the people that I am blessed to share it with. It was so encouraging to have all of my fellow CARE for AIDS workers calling me or stopping by the office on Tuesday to say Merry Christmas and give me a hug, and it was so sad to leave Duncan at the airport for a whole month!
During the journey home I had the strange realization that, for the first time in my life, I was coming to America for a vacation...for some reason it felt really different to make an overseas journey to the States and not feel like I was coming BACK from somewhere, but really to feel like I was just LEAVING for a trip. I guess that's hard to explain, but I've come to feel like life in Kenya is the norm and this crazy whirlwind of a month in the US is very out-of-the-ordinary.
I really will be bouncing all over the States over the next few weeks, though, and I would love your prayers during this time of reconnecting with people, relaxing with family, and enjoying things like cheeseburgers and great showers! Please join me in praying that God would work in all of these relationships and that I can learn from all of the people I am around before heading back to Kenya. Pray that I would be prepared for another four month stretch in Africa and that I can get enough home cookin' and McDonald's to take me through! At the same time, please continue to pray for all that is continuing to happen in Kenya. There are some exciting things taking place over the next month, with Cornel moving to Kisumu and several partnerships moving forward, and I would love your prayers for all of our staff to have wisdom and guidance in those situations.
I would also like to take this chance to thank all of you for the encouragement and the prayer that you've provided this fall! It seems like the last four months went by in a flash, but I am so thankful for what God has done both in CFA and in my own life during this time. He really has been unbelievably faithful, and I have so much to praise Him for. I hope that you can share in my joy and thankfulness, especially now as we think about the ultimate display of God's faithfulness at Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
During the journey home I had the strange realization that, for the first time in my life, I was coming to America for a vacation...for some reason it felt really different to make an overseas journey to the States and not feel like I was coming BACK from somewhere, but really to feel like I was just LEAVING for a trip. I guess that's hard to explain, but I've come to feel like life in Kenya is the norm and this crazy whirlwind of a month in the US is very out-of-the-ordinary.
I really will be bouncing all over the States over the next few weeks, though, and I would love your prayers during this time of reconnecting with people, relaxing with family, and enjoying things like cheeseburgers and great showers! Please join me in praying that God would work in all of these relationships and that I can learn from all of the people I am around before heading back to Kenya. Pray that I would be prepared for another four month stretch in Africa and that I can get enough home cookin' and McDonald's to take me through! At the same time, please continue to pray for all that is continuing to happen in Kenya. There are some exciting things taking place over the next month, with Cornel moving to Kisumu and several partnerships moving forward, and I would love your prayers for all of our staff to have wisdom and guidance in those situations.
I would also like to take this chance to thank all of you for the encouragement and the prayer that you've provided this fall! It seems like the last four months went by in a flash, but I am so thankful for what God has done both in CFA and in my own life during this time. He really has been unbelievably faithful, and I have so much to praise Him for. I hope that you can share in my joy and thankfulness, especially now as we think about the ultimate display of God's faithfulness at Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Staff Retreat CFA-Style!
This past weekend CARE for AIDS Kenya held its second-annual Staff Retreat, which provided a great final weekend for me before heading home to the States for Christmas.
On Friday morning all 13 of us (12 Kenyans and me!) loaded up
into the CFA Prado and a rented Safari van and drove about two hours North from Limuru to the city of Nakuru. We spent Friday afternoon exploring the town and then met up at our hotel for some "ice-breakers." I found out quickly that Kenyans in big groups love playing games, and Cornel and Duncan had all kinds of silly games and activities planned. Our goal for the weekend was for everyone to relax, de-stress, and not focus on work, and we got off to the right foot by running around, asking each other crazy questions, and dancing to the massive sound system that Kevin brought with him. I also learned that the highlight of a retreat like this for some of the staff was the food, and I was quite impressed with how they all attacked the hotel buffet that night!
Saturday morning we woke up early and drove to Nakuru National Park for a game drive. For most of the CFA center workers, this was their first experience in a National Park. It amazes me that these people have grown up in a country with so much natural beauty and amazing animals, where tourists come from all over the world to visit, but they have never had the opportunity to see it for themselves. We spent the whole morning checking out massive white rhinos, cape buffaloes, zebras, antelopes, and the beautiful Lake Nakuru full of pink flamingos. It was so fun to experience this beautiful place with all of our staff - they really had a blast and their joy was incredibly contagious! We had a great picnic lunch under some trees outside the park, and then everyone broke into spontaneous soccer, frisbee, and volleyball games - Kenyans definitely don't require a lot of planned entertainment to have fun, a quality that Americans could use some more of.
In the afternoon we drove up to a big hill above the town to look out over the Menengai crater - a 5 mile-wide crater that leads to stunning views. We found a rickety wooden tower and the brave ones of us climbed up for a better look, while the ones who are scared of heights stayed well away from the edge. We had a great time running around taking pictures and enjoying the view, and at the end of the day I was so thankful for the chance to simply hang out and spend time with all of the people who I generally see as my coworkers, but who have really become my friends.
Sunday morning we held out own church service in a meeting room at the hotel, complete with Kevin on the guitar and a sermon from Cornell about the journey of CARE for AIDS and what God is calling all of us to in it. Afterward we had a chance for everyone to share about what they are thankful for and what God is doing in their lives, which turned out to be the best part of the weekend for me. Sometimes it seems that every time the whole CFA team is together we are talking about business - things we could do better, things the centers need from the administration, concerns about clients - and it was a great blessing to hear each of the center workers speak from their hearts about how thankful they are to CFA and to God for the opportunity to minister to people living with HIV/AIDS. The heart that each of our workers have for this ministry is really amazing and humbling, and I was greatly encouraged to hear how they feel about the big picture.
As I prepare to head back to the States, I would love your continued prayers for all of our staff here in Kenya. There is a lot going on in the next month - our newest center in Kamirithu is continuing recruitment, our oldest center is "graduating" its current clients, Cornel and his family are moving to Kisumu - and your prayers for all of those things would be much appreciated. Additionally, most of our staff members will be spending time with their extended families over Christmas, and for many of them this means traveling to distant parts of the country. Please pray for safety for each one of them and a blessed Christmas season!
On Friday morning all 13 of us (12 Kenyans and me!) loaded up
into the CFA Prado and a rented Safari van and drove about two hours North from Limuru to the city of Nakuru. We spent Friday afternoon exploring the town and then met up at our hotel for some "ice-breakers." I found out quickly that Kenyans in big groups love playing games, and Cornel and Duncan had all kinds of silly games and activities planned. Our goal for the weekend was for everyone to relax, de-stress, and not focus on work, and we got off to the right foot by running around, asking each other crazy questions, and dancing to the massive sound system that Kevin brought with him. I also learned that the highlight of a retreat like this for some of the staff was the food, and I was quite impressed with how they all attacked the hotel buffet that night!Saturday morning we woke up early and drove to Nakuru National Park for a game drive. For most of the CFA center workers, this was their first experience in a National Park. It amazes me that these people have grown up in a country with so much natural beauty and amazing animals, where tourists come from all over the world to visit, but they have never had the opportunity to see it for themselves. We spent the whole morning checking out massive white rhinos, cape buffaloes, zebras, antelopes, and the beautiful Lake Nakuru full of pink flamingos. It was so fun to experience this beautiful place with all of our staff - they really had a blast and their joy was incredibly contagious! We had a great picnic lunch under some trees outside the park, and then everyone broke into spontaneous soccer, frisbee, and volleyball games - Kenyans definitely don't require a lot of planned entertainment to have fun, a quality that Americans could use some more of.
In the afternoon we drove up to a big hill above the town to look out over the Menengai crater - a 5 mile-wide crater that leads to stunning views. We found a rickety wooden tower and the brave ones of us climbed up for a better look, while the ones who are scared of heights stayed well away from the edge. We had a great time running around taking pictures and enjoying the view, and at the end of the day I was so thankful for the chance to simply hang out and spend time with all of the people who I generally see as my coworkers, but who have really become my friends.Sunday morning we held out own church service in a meeting room at the hotel, complete with Kevin on the guitar and a sermon from Cornell about the journey of CARE for AIDS and what God is calling all of us to in it. Afterward we had a chance for everyone to share about what they are thankful for and what God is doing in their lives, which turned out to be the best part of the weekend for me. Sometimes it seems that every time the whole CFA team is together we are talking about business - things we could do better, things the centers need from the administration, concerns about clients - and it was a great blessing to hear each of the center workers speak from their hearts about how thankful they are to CFA and to God for the opportunity to minister to people living with HIV/AIDS. The heart that each of our workers have for this ministry is really amazing and humbling, and I was greatly encouraged to hear how they feel about the big picture.
As I prepare to head back to the States, I would love your continued prayers for all of our staff here in Kenya. There is a lot going on in the next month - our newest center in Kamirithu is continuing recruitment, our oldest center is "graduating" its current clients, Cornel and his family are moving to Kisumu - and your prayers for all of those things would be much appreciated. Additionally, most of our staff members will be spending time with their extended families over Christmas, and for many of them this means traveling to distant parts of the country. Please pray for safety for each one of them and a blessed Christmas season!
Monday, December 7, 2009
East African Adventures with Preston pt. 3: Masai Mara
The final installment of this 3-part series on my action-packed week with Preston focuses on our trip to the Masai Mara - the most popular national park in Kenya and (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I'd been to the Mara twice before this trip, but this time was very different because we were driving our own car instead of going in a van along with an organized tour.
We woke up early on Thursday, November 26
(Thanksgiving!) and made the drive out to the Mara in about 3 hours. I managed to talk my way into getting student and resident rates for the park fees (saving about $150 - boom!) and then we drove through the park to the Sekenani Camp, a beautiful, small, tented camp nestled in a little valley just outside the park. My friend Adrian, who works for a tour company, had arranged for us to get a great rate on two nights lodging in luxury tents with full board in the wonderful dining room, so we were "camping" in style! We met up with a Masai man named Isaac, who we hired to be our guide and driver for the next two days, which turned out to be a great decision - Isaac had an unbelievable ability to spot animals and knew the park like the back of his hand, and he led us to places we would have never found on our own!
Over the next two days we went on four game drives, during which we saw some of the most amazing things I've ever seen in the Mara. God blessed us with some amazing lion sightings, including a pride of 13 clustered around a big "Pride Rock" and a mother with four tiny, two-week old cubs that we watched with a beautiful sunset in the background. We also had a couple incredible leopard experiences. Leopards are one of the rarest animals in the Mara, but one afternoon we found two leopards in a tree with a freshly-killed reedbuck draped over a branch - awesome! Then, the next day, we found a big male leopard walking around on the ground. We followed as he ran into a clump of bushes, then heard a big commotion as two lions ran out the other side of the bushes! The leopard was just as surprised as we were, and we watched as he ran out of the bushes, up a tree, then down and up another tree. Leopards are gorgeous animals, and the combination of their beautiful spotted fur with the powerful way in which they climb trees and bare their teeth makes for an unbelievable animal! Apart from these sightings, we found several cheetahs, baby hippo's, and the normal assortment of zebras, antelopes, wildebeests, elephants, and giraffes.
On Friday morning we had another cool new experience - a picnic breakfast in the park. The kitchen staff at Sekanani packed us a big cooler of food and comfortable folding chairs, and we found a nice big acacia tree to set up under. We enjoyed a breakfast of fruit, sausage, muffins, and tea looking out over the endless expanse of the African savannah - beautiful!
We woke up early on Thursday, November 26
(Thanksgiving!) and made the drive out to the Mara in about 3 hours. I managed to talk my way into getting student and resident rates for the park fees (saving about $150 - boom!) and then we drove through the park to the Sekenani Camp, a beautiful, small, tented camp nestled in a little valley just outside the park. My friend Adrian, who works for a tour company, had arranged for us to get a great rate on two nights lodging in luxury tents with full board in the wonderful dining room, so we were "camping" in style! We met up with a Masai man named Isaac, who we hired to be our guide and driver for the next two days, which turned out to be a great decision - Isaac had an unbelievable ability to spot animals and knew the park like the back of his hand, and he led us to places we would have never found on our own!Over the next two days we went on four game drives, during which we saw some of the most amazing things I've ever seen in the Mara. God blessed us with some amazing lion sightings, including a pride of 13 clustered around a big "Pride Rock" and a mother with four tiny, two-week old cubs that we watched with a beautiful sunset in the background. We also had a couple incredible leopard experiences. Leopards are one of the rarest animals in the Mara, but one afternoon we found two leopards in a tree with a freshly-killed reedbuck draped over a branch - awesome! Then, the next day, we found a big male leopard walking around on the ground. We followed as he ran into a clump of bushes, then heard a big commotion as two lions ran out the other side of the bushes! The leopard was just as surprised as we were, and we watched as he ran out of the bushes, up a tree, then down and up another tree. Leopards are gorgeous animals, and the combination of their beautiful spotted fur with the powerful way in which they climb trees and bare their teeth makes for an unbelievable animal! Apart from these sightings, we found several cheetahs, baby hippo's, and the normal assortment of zebras, antelopes, wildebeests, elephants, and giraffes.
On Friday morning we had another cool new experience - a picnic breakfast in the park. The kitchen staff at Sekanani packed us a big cooler of food and comfortable folding chairs, and we found a nice big acacia tree to set up under. We enjoyed a breakfast of fruit, sausage, muffins, and tea looking out over the endless expanse of the African savannah - beautiful!All in all it was a wonderful week with Preston. We finished it off on Saturday with dinner at Carnivore (probably my favorite restaurant in the world and a must for any meat-lover!) and then Preston hung out at the airport for a while before his 4:30am flight to Madrid. I am so thankful for this chance to spend time with him in a place that is becoming so near to my heart, and I praise God for a brother that I can have have such awesome adventures with!
ps - if you want more animal pictures, there are many more on facebook!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
East African Adventures with Preston pt. 2: Limuru
After returning from Uganda, Preston and I spent the next two days in Limuru. Our goal was to give him a better understanding of what my life here is like and what CARE for AIDS is doing. On Tuesday, we visited the CFA centers at Banana Baptist Church and Koinonia Baptist Church, where Preston got a chance to meet the workers and some of the church pastors and see what a "CFA center" actually entails. Then, later in the afternoon, we accompanied Duncan and Steve to the Trends Fitness Center in Limuru for a true Kenyan experience - aerobics class! I don't think I've said much about aerobics here before, but it's become an amazing part of life in Limuru. About a month ago Duncan decided that he was still too fat from his visit to America, so he joined a gym (monthly rate = $13) in town. I was thinking that he would be going to the gym to work out, maybe spend some time on a cardio machine, but it turns out that this gym is all about aerobics classes, and the Kenyans love it! A few weeks ago I went with Duncan to a class - there were about 8 Kenyan men and women, along with me, in a basement room with big mirrors, doing aerobic steps and ab workouts to the tune of Aqua's "Barbie Girl" for about 45 minutes. It was actually a lot of fun, and I was surprised at the workout it gave! Since then I've gone back with a big group of "wazungu," and I knew it would be right up Preston's alley.
After aerobics, we went to Kevin's house for a real Kenyan dinner. Earlier in the day I'd talked to Kevin about what to cook and when we would be there, and he assured me that he would start cooking early and have the food ready at about 7:00 when we arrived. In true Kenyan fashion, though, he didn't end up getting back to his house until 7, so dinner wasn't ready until about 9:30. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), Kevin had a copy of "George of the Jungle" on DVD, which we watched while he and some friends made dinner. When it finally arrived, though, dinner was great! Kevin is a really good cook, and we enjoyed a big dinner of chicken stew, chapati, and vegetables.
The next morning, Preston and I drove to Banana and met up with Margaret and Joseph, the workers from the Banana center, to go with them on their home visits for the day. We walked about 30 minutes to an area called Muchaitha, where we visited four clients' houses. Preston described a lot of what this experience was like in his recent post on this blog, and it was really cool for me to see him understanding the reality of what CARE for AIDS is trying to do at its most basic level. It's always exciting to see the encouragement and love that a visit can provide to people who have been so stigmatized and cast out by their community, and the welcome that we always receive continues to humble me.
After catching a matatu back to the car, we spent some time during the afternoon at the first CFA center, in Imani Baptist Church. Preston got to meet our original center workers, Rosemary and Humphrey, and sit it on some of the counseling sessions with clients. These clients have almost finished their 9 months in the center, so it's great to see how well they are doing and how excited they are for the future! To end the day, Preston and I went with Duncan to Shark's Palace, a "nyama choma" restaurant in a town called Kiambu. It's a typical Kikuyu (the tribe from this area) restaurant, and nyama choma is a favorite meal of the Kikuyu's. It literally means "roasted meat," and you start the meal by picking out the raw meat you would like from a butcher, which is then roasted over a fire and brought to the table with your selection of roasted potatoes, ugali, mokimo (mashed potato/corn mixture) or chips (french fries) about 45 minutes later. We selected two goat thighs (about 1.5kg of meat) and relaxed with a soda on the outdoor patio while we waited for our delicious dinner!
It wasn't a long time in Limuru, but I think Preston got a good feel for the area and the work I'm doing before heading out on our next adventure Thursday morning...
After aerobics, we went to Kevin's house for a real Kenyan dinner. Earlier in the day I'd talked to Kevin about what to cook and when we would be there, and he assured me that he would start cooking early and have the food ready at about 7:00 when we arrived. In true Kenyan fashion, though, he didn't end up getting back to his house until 7, so dinner wasn't ready until about 9:30. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), Kevin had a copy of "George of the Jungle" on DVD, which we watched while he and some friends made dinner. When it finally arrived, though, dinner was great! Kevin is a really good cook, and we enjoyed a big dinner of chicken stew, chapati, and vegetables.
The next morning, Preston and I drove to Banana and met up with Margaret and Joseph, the workers from the Banana center, to go with them on their home visits for the day. We walked about 30 minutes to an area called Muchaitha, where we visited four clients' houses. Preston described a lot of what this experience was like in his recent post on this blog, and it was really cool for me to see him understanding the reality of what CARE for AIDS is trying to do at its most basic level. It's always exciting to see the encouragement and love that a visit can provide to people who have been so stigmatized and cast out by their community, and the welcome that we always receive continues to humble me.
After catching a matatu back to the car, we spent some time during the afternoon at the first CFA center, in Imani Baptist Church. Preston got to meet our original center workers, Rosemary and Humphrey, and sit it on some of the counseling sessions with clients. These clients have almost finished their 9 months in the center, so it's great to see how well they are doing and how excited they are for the future! To end the day, Preston and I went with Duncan to Shark's Palace, a "nyama choma" restaurant in a town called Kiambu. It's a typical Kikuyu (the tribe from this area) restaurant, and nyama choma is a favorite meal of the Kikuyu's. It literally means "roasted meat," and you start the meal by picking out the raw meat you would like from a butcher, which is then roasted over a fire and brought to the table with your selection of roasted potatoes, ugali, mokimo (mashed potato/corn mixture) or chips (french fries) about 45 minutes later. We selected two goat thighs (about 1.5kg of meat) and relaxed with a soda on the outdoor patio while we waited for our delicious dinner!
It wasn't a long time in Limuru, but I think Preston got a good feel for the area and the work I'm doing before heading out on our next adventure Thursday morning...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
East African Adventures with Preston pt. 1: The White Nile
My brother Preston decided to stop over in Kenya for nine days on his way home from a study abroad semester in Capetown, so naturally we put together a week full of crazy adventures that made for great stories! Too great, in fact, for a single blog post, which means I'll be telling about our exploits in a few installments...
The first part of the week, which had been in the works for months, was a trip to Uganda to go white water rafting on the White Nile with a group of 12 friends from around the Limuru area. We caught a bus in Nairobi early on a Saturday morning, and 14 hours later (including a two hour "break-down" stop at a gas station) got dropped off at a gas station in Jinja, Uganda. The rest of the group had taken an overnight bus the night before, so Preston and I found ourselves alone, in the dark, with no cell phone service to call them to pick us up. Luckily, we were able to get a gas-station security guard to flag down a motorcycle taxi, and we both hopped on for the 15-minute trip to the Adrift rafting base. We spent the rest of the evening eating pizza and hanging out with friends in an open-air restaurant/bar that sat literally on the edge of a cliff overlooking the moonlit Nile River near its source in Lake Victoria - beautiful!
After spending the night in a dorm room with all 12 of us in bunk beds stacked four-high, we woke up in the morning to a furious thunderstorm on the tin roof. Amazingly, as soon as we got up the storm gave way to the sun and we looked out on a gorgeous rainbow framing the mighty Nile River - what a way to start the day! After a hearty breakfast and the entertainment of watching people bungee-jump off of the nearby cliffs (only 44m, not worth it...), we got suited up with our life jackets, helmets, and paddles and made
our way down to the river, where we met our rafting guide, a Ugandan named "Big J." We asked Big J to give us the "wild" version of the rafting, and he definitely came through! For about three hours in the morning we went through a succession of class III, IV, and V rapids, highlighted by a crazy class V in which all three of the rafts in our group flipped. Luckily, the air was hot and the water felt great, so getting thrown out of the raft wasn't a bad deal! We stopped for a huge buffet lunch on an island in the river, and after stuffing ourselves with fresh fruit, guacamole, sandwiches, and hot tea we were ready to go for part 2.
The afternoon rafting consisted mostly of slower-moving river where we alternated between paddling and swimming alongside the raft, but the 4 rapids that broke up this peace and beauty provided enough excitement for the whole weekend! We went through one class V called "Big Brother," in which our raft flew head on into a wave that looked to crest about 10 feet over our heads as we approached it - I felt like Moses looking at the walls of the Red Sea! Then we reached the final rapid of the day - it is split between a class VI and a class V, so we got out and carried the boat around the top half, then put in to the river for the class V - still a stretch of rapids about 200m long. This was where Big J took our request for the "wild" ride seriously by steering us into a particular hole known as "The Bad Place." All of the other rafts avoided it (for good reason!), and as soon as we entered the rapid the boat started spinning like a top. 6 of the 9 people in the raft were sucked out of the boat, including Big J, and I was pulled by an irresistable force into the middle of the river. After a few seconds of struggling underwater, I popped up just in time to go flying over a giant wave and bounce down through the rest of the rapids, finally getting picked up by a rescue kayak about 200 feet from the boat and the rest of the group. It was definitely one of the biggest adrenalin rushes I've ever experienced - awesome!
After spending the whole day on the river, we were all tired but full of hilarious stories and crazy moments to look back on. We relaxed in the evening at a camp near where we finished rafting, enjoying a beautiful sunset and a delicious steak dinner before our bus ride back on Monday. The whole trip turned out to be amazing - definitely one of those memories that will stick with you for a long time!
The first part of the week, which had been in the works for months, was a trip to Uganda to go white water rafting on the White Nile with a group of 12 friends from around the Limuru area. We caught a bus in Nairobi early on a Saturday morning, and 14 hours later (including a two hour "break-down" stop at a gas station) got dropped off at a gas station in Jinja, Uganda. The rest of the group had taken an overnight bus the night before, so Preston and I found ourselves alone, in the dark, with no cell phone service to call them to pick us up. Luckily, we were able to get a gas-station security guard to flag down a motorcycle taxi, and we both hopped on for the 15-minute trip to the Adrift rafting base. We spent the rest of the evening eating pizza and hanging out with friends in an open-air restaurant/bar that sat literally on the edge of a cliff overlooking the moonlit Nile River near its source in Lake Victoria - beautiful!
After spending the night in a dorm room with all 12 of us in bunk beds stacked four-high, we woke up in the morning to a furious thunderstorm on the tin roof. Amazingly, as soon as we got up the storm gave way to the sun and we looked out on a gorgeous rainbow framing the mighty Nile River - what a way to start the day! After a hearty breakfast and the entertainment of watching people bungee-jump off of the nearby cliffs (only 44m, not worth it...), we got suited up with our life jackets, helmets, and paddles and made
our way down to the river, where we met our rafting guide, a Ugandan named "Big J." We asked Big J to give us the "wild" version of the rafting, and he definitely came through! For about three hours in the morning we went through a succession of class III, IV, and V rapids, highlighted by a crazy class V in which all three of the rafts in our group flipped. Luckily, the air was hot and the water felt great, so getting thrown out of the raft wasn't a bad deal! We stopped for a huge buffet lunch on an island in the river, and after stuffing ourselves with fresh fruit, guacamole, sandwiches, and hot tea we were ready to go for part 2.The afternoon rafting consisted mostly of slower-moving river where we alternated between paddling and swimming alongside the raft, but the 4 rapids that broke up this peace and beauty provided enough excitement for the whole weekend! We went through one class V called "Big Brother," in which our raft flew head on into a wave that looked to crest about 10 feet over our heads as we approached it - I felt like Moses looking at the walls of the Red Sea! Then we reached the final rapid of the day - it is split between a class VI and a class V, so we got out and carried the boat around the top half, then put in to the river for the class V - still a stretch of rapids about 200m long. This was where Big J took our request for the "wild" ride seriously by steering us into a particular hole known as "The Bad Place." All of the other rafts avoided it (for good reason!), and as soon as we entered the rapid the boat started spinning like a top. 6 of the 9 people in the raft were sucked out of the boat, including Big J, and I was pulled by an irresistable force into the middle of the river. After a few seconds of struggling underwater, I popped up just in time to go flying over a giant wave and bounce down through the rest of the rapids, finally getting picked up by a rescue kayak about 200 feet from the boat and the rest of the group. It was definitely one of the biggest adrenalin rushes I've ever experienced - awesome!
After spending the whole day on the river, we were all tired but full of hilarious stories and crazy moments to look back on. We relaxed in the evening at a camp near where we finished rafting, enjoying a beautiful sunset and a delicious steak dinner before our bus ride back on Monday. The whole trip turned out to be amazing - definitely one of those memories that will stick with you for a long time!
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