We have about 3 hours left before we leave for the Bangkok airport and begin our final journey home. We will fly to Taipei where we will change planes. We leave around 11:30 p.m. and arrive in San Francisco the same day, five hours earlier than we left! It's going to be a very long day!!! The final flight is 11 hours long.

So anyway, back to Nairobi...

We were met at the airport by Kim, a wonderful man who works at the house where we had been living in Nakuru. He brought our other luggage, which we had left behind on our trip to the coast. It was great to see a familiar face! We said our fond farewells and entered the airport for check-in, only to find out that Air India had no reservation for us. We later came to find out that the rest of our entire itinerary had been cancelled due to a computer or agent error!! Thankfully, we were able to get on the flight and over the next week we were able to get everything else re-booked at no extra cost. We were a little worried that we would end up staying longer than we had anticipated.

We arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) and proceeded to our next flight. We were initially told that there was no space (our reservation had been cancelled). An agent there helped us and somehow he was able to push ahead of some other people and confirm a reservation for us. We have found angels in many places on this trip.

Next stop -- Goa.

Bosco's relatives: Aunty Dionizia, Maura and husband, Xavier, Edvin, and Shyane (Zelma's son) were there to greet us as we exited the baggage area! We were met with hugs and bouquets of flowers - just the beginning of an amazing weeklong visit with family Bosco had not seen for over 30 years and some who weren't even born at that time!

They took us and all of our baggage to the timeshare where we would be staying for the week. It was a very nice resort on a beach in South Goa called Varca Beach. It was very close to where some of the relatives lived, although Maura and family live in North Goa, about 1 1/2 hours away.

The week in Goa was filled with visits to relatives and invitations to wonderful Goan meals. We were treated to all the Goan specialties such as, fish curry, sorpitel. bebinca, prawns, and many others. One evening, Maura and family treated us to a dinner at the resort where she works. It was a fabulous Chinese buffet, outdoors, under the stars with entertainment by an exotic dancer. The food was prepared by students of the culinary academy. One day we had lunch by the River Sal, at a restaurant of the same name. We also visited the outdoor market at Anjuna. There were hundreds of booths with merchants from all over India selling their wares - clothing, textiles, arts and crafts, spices, jewelry, etc. It was a feast for the eyes! We also visited Old Goa and the famous church of Bom Jesus, where the remains of St. Francis Xavier are entombed. Another day we visited a spice farm. Zelma and her family treated us to this really fun experience. We were welcomed with a shower of flower petals and treated to some herb tea and then were taken on a tour of the farm, where they grow cinnamon, cloves, betel nut, pepper, vanilla, tumeric, chile peppers, cashews, among other things. At the end of the tour everyone was doused with cold water down the back to cool off -- shocking, but it really did feel good! After the tour we had a wonderful meal of Goan specialties, including one dish made with wild boar meat.

One of the things we wanted to do while in Goa was visit the house that Bosco's parents had had built with the intention of moving back to Goa one day. The house was never entirely completed, although the majority of it is. No one has ever lived in the house and it is still in the name of Bosco's granny, who has long passed on, so there are some legal issues that need to be resolved before anything can be done. So, guess what? We get to go to Goa again!! The house is situated on a nice big lot, surrounded by other houses. It is in need of roof and stucco repair, septic tank and electricity. But it probably wouldn't take too much to make it livable.

The many relatives we visited (besides those mentioned already) include Aunt Idinha, her daughter, Maxcy, and her daughter Andrea; cousins Olvy and her family and brother, Agnello; and the families of cousins, Maura, Edvin and Molfrey. We also visited Aunty Mathilda's brother, Leo.

We are so grateful to cousin, Edvin, who served as our "chauffer" while we were in Goa. He's a great driver, too! Driving in Goa is very different than driving in the US. You must share the narrow roads with a multitude of scooters, motorcycles, cows, dogs, and Edvin tells us , even crocodiles cross the bridge at night sometimes! Passing another vehicle happens constantly, and use of the horn while passing is a must. So, as one driver we had in New Delhi put it - you must have good brakes, a good horn and good luck to drive on the roads in India!

We also are so grateful to Maura, who coordinated everything for us, showered us with gifts, and took a week off of work while we were there.

It was a wonderful week. One we will never forget. Now we need to get Bosco's sisters to go for a visit too!!

It is hard to believe that nearly a month has passed since our last post! Our last 2 weeks in Nakuru were very busy -- trying to finish up our work at Pistis Academy and makng final visits to our many new friends in Nakuru. Then, of course there was packing to do and final arrangements for the rest of our journey.

We left Nakuru on the night of Jan. 10 on a bus headed for the coast (Mombasa). If we had known then what a horrendous trip it was, we would have definitely opted for the train. First of all, the bus was over 2 hours late in leaving. Secondly, the road between Nairobi and Mombasa was so bad and the bus so uncomfortable that at several points I became airborne and landed hard on my tailbone - so hard it made me cry!! Of course everyone else thought it was funny. We were in the very back of the bus with 6 across the back seat. We are talking about a 10 hour bus ride!!

We arrived in Mombasa tired and hungry and relieved to finally be off the bus and still alive. We found our way to a decent hotel and had a nice buffet breakfast, then went to see the famous "tusks" of Mombasa that criss-cross over a main street. We made our way to the matatu that goes to Watamu Beach - about 2 hours away.

We were very surprised and delighted to find Watamu to be such a wonderful and beautiful place. The Italians seem to be the only other people who have discovered it. There are so many Italians there that even the local people speak Italian!! It' s a very small community, and not overrun by tourists at all. Watamu has 3 beautiful bays within walking distance of each other. They each have outcroppings of coral islands and the one nearest our hotel had turquoise water like I have seen in photos of the South Pacific islands. When the tide goes out, you can walk about 1/2 mile out to the Indian Ocean, where the gentle breakers hit the shore. The water is wonderfully warm, too. We had originally planned to stay only 2 nights there, but we loved it so much that we stayed for 4. We had a great hotel for under $20.00/night!

We made a day trip to Malindi, where Bosco and his family used to vacation when he was a kid. A great guide approached us and was able to show us around to all the places that Bosco remembered, including the guest house where they used to stay and the shop where they used to get halwa (an Arab sweet with the consistency of thick gooey jelly). We had some fresh out of the pan and some packed to take with us.

We also visited the ancient Arab ruins at Gede. Beautiful and fascinating!

Our next stop was Lamu Island. Lamu is an old Arab settlement and is unique in that there are still no cars there. All transportation is by foot, boat or by donkey. (Of course, we had to try riding a donkey - bareback, no less!) There are over 4000 donkeys on the island. A new culture developed in Lamu and the coast of Kenya when the Arabs came to settle there, creating the Swahili people and culture and the Kiswahili language. The town of Lamu is like a maze of narrow streets, most only wide enough for a donkey. The main street is a whopping 10 feet across, at best! We stayed in a former old Swahili home (now a guest house) with lots of staircases and a beautiful garden courtyard. There was also a rooftop restaurant. One night we had dinner with a local character known as "Ali Hippie". He has been hosting tourists in his home for over 30 years. He prepares a nice meal and his family entertains with song and dance.
We took a beautiful sunset sail on one of the many dhows (Arab sailboat) that ply the waterways. Besides Lamu there are many other islands in the archipelago that keep the waters calm. There are also many mangrove trees that seem like other islands when the tide is high. The boat ride was a definite highlight of our stay in Lamu.

We stayed for 3 nights, which felt like enough. We flew back to Nairobi to begin our onward journey to India on Jan. 19.

Will close for now and update more tomorrow. We are now in Bangkok and we begin our journey home on Friday the 3rd of Feb.

Hugging a Giraffe at the Giraffe Center in Karen, suburb of Nairobi. So cute!!!

We have returned to Nakuru after a week's break. We visited friends, Chris and his mother, Illa. Illa was a former neighbor of Bosco's when he was living with his aunt and uncle in Nairobi as a teen. Bosco had not seen Chris since that time, so it was a really nice reunion. We had visited Illa when we first arrived.

The following day we went to Karen, which is south of Nairobi and is the area in which Karen Blixen of "Out of Africa" fame had lived. There was much to see and do in the area and it is a very pretty and green area of Kenya with a nice cool climate. While there we visited Karen Blixen's former home and had a couple of meals at another former residence from colonial times. We had the best meal there that we've had since coming to Kenya! A real treat!

We also visited Nyumbani Children's Home, which is an orphanage that we had considered volunteering at before we came here. It is a home for children with HIV/AIDS. It is a wonderful place and is very well funded. A model for other homes to strive towards.

We visited the Giraffe Center, where they are working to bring the Rothschild giraffe back from near extinction and are having much success. While there we were thrilled to feed the giraffes by hand - they lick the pellets out of your hand! We also got to hug them! It was so amazing!!

Bomas of Kenya is a place where they have representations of different tribal villages set up so you can see how they used to live, and in some remote areas they still do. The only thing is, that they all looked pretty much the same! So it wasn't as interesting as we had hoped. They did have a nice dance and music show that we enjoyed.

Bosco's parents are buried in Langata Cemetary, which is near Karen. We went to the cemetary with hopes of finding the gravesites. Upon our arrival, we went to the cemetary office where they keep all the records and they brought out a huge book for the year they were buried. Incredibly, we were able to decifer all the hand written entries and find their names. One of the workers lead us to the site, which had been completely overgrown with weeds and grass and soil. We used our hands, bottled water and a bandana we had in the backpack and cleared away the debris to reveal the gravestones. It was probably the first time in over 30 years anyone had been there. Bosco placed flowers on the graves and we took a few pictures.

We returned to Nakuru for a night and then left again to return to Njaaga Children's Home in Kirengero (www.njaagachildhope.or.ke). We had been there about 1 1/2 months ago and enjoyed ourselves so much that we wanted to go and spend more time there. We were there for New Years Eve and Day. We brought balloons of all sizes. The kids went wild for them! We also brought nail polish for the girls and they all had fun doing each other's nails - and mine! They sang and danced for us and just before midnight, we joined them at a church service that was being held in a temporary tent. The service was mostly singing, drumming, and dancing and seemed more like a tribal festival than a church service. It was entirely in the Kikuyu language with a translator translating intio Kiswahili. The tent was open on one side and the wind was blowing fiercely and the air was cold. After about an hour of festivities, we called it quits and were escorted back to the home by the resident Maasai watchman.
Happy New Year!!

The next day we were taken to visit the farm that is owned by the man who statred the home. He has a beautiful piece of property about 60 km from the home. It has a permanent lake and many springs, so he can farm year-round with irrigation, which he is just now completing. He currently is able to produce about 60% of the food needed by the children at the home. His goal is to supply everything, except maybe sugar and tea, from the farm, which has 14 acres. He has a safari business called Planet Safaris (www.planetkenyasafaris.com) that benefits the children's home. We are very impressed with this man and the love and care that he has for these kids. The area of Kirengero has been hit very hard by AIDS and he has nearly 250 mchildren on the waiting list for the home, which currently serves 74 orphans. He wants to find another home where he can provide care for more kids.

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year!

Merry Christmas and Thank You from the kids of Pistis Academy!

Happy Holiday Greetings to All!

The past couple of weeks have been so amazing and so full of hard work coupled with miracles. We come home each day absolutely exhausted, dusty, sweaty, hungry, and filled with so much love from the children and people we have met here. Yes, the needs are many, and yes, we feel overwhelmed at the task at hand and we know that with God, all things are possible. We have been doing a lot of work cleaning up the facility to get it ready for the new term,which begins Jan. 9. We have washed windows, swept floors, and washed walls. We also paid to have some renovation work done on the cement floors that had been damaged. The school building is now looking "very smart", as they say here.

The orphan children of Pistis Academy are having a Christmas like no other, thanks to the incredible outpouring of love and concern for these kids, most of whom were living on the streets until 3 years ago. Volunteers from far and wide have come to Pistis, bringing hope, new ideas, and generous donations. Community members are opening their hearts to the needs of these children.

The girls had their hair done by professional stylists, thanks to the generosity and heart of a new friend of ours here in Nakuru. Thanks to our friends at home, the children will all have new shoes, which we will be distributing tonight, Christmas Eve. Clothes and food have also been donated, along with other goods and services from the community. The parents of one of the volunteers have sent money for a special Christmas dinner, which will also take place tonight. Yesterday, a news crew from the local TV station came and filmed and interviewed. Bosco was among those who spoke. We had spent the morning making decorations for a Christmas tree and the chapel. The kids had fun making paper chains and other colorful decorations.

We are taking some time off next week. We will travel to Nairobi on Monday and then Thursday we will return to visit the Njagaa Children's Home, which we visited about a month ago. The kids there were so warm and welcoming -- we can't wait to see them again! We will be there for a couple of days.

The following week will be our last full week in Nakuru. It is already getting full with invitations for lunches and dinners with our new found friends here. It is hard to believe that our time here is nearing an end, especially when there is still so much to do. We will certainly be back and hopefully bring some of you with us next time!!

Bosco cleaning the classroom walls with helper, David.

With school now closed we have begun to tackle some of the bigger projects at the school. We have been working on getting the facility into shape for the new term, which begins in January.
So far we have created a path and steps from the playground to the first grade classroom, in an effort to help cut down on the dust and dirt getting tracked in by the kids. We have also cleared the drainage ditch that catches the rain run-off from the roof. It had filled over the years with mud and other debris. We are still trying to come up with a solution to keep the dirt from washing into it. In the course of removing the dirt we discovered a step that had been completely buried. It felt like an archeogical dig! The kids have been very helpful. There are always several who are willing to pitch in and give a hand. This week we have begun to clean the classroom walls and floors. It is difficult or impossible to clean some, as some of the walls are just plaster and have not been painted. Some of the classrooms have no glass in the windows, so dust is constantly blowing in there. We have talked with the contractor who has done most of the work on the building. We want him to repair some of the concrete work. Unfortunately, the school needed to be used before all of the cement was completely dry when it was first constructed, so there are big holes in the floors of the hallway and in a few classrooms and the step edges have broken off or chipped. So it looks like an old building, even though it has only been used for a few years. He will begin the work next Monday so there is plenty of time for it to dry this time! When we return home, we plan to help raise funds so they can complete the building. Right now the second floor is usable, but needs concrete finishing work and glass installed in the classroom windows. The third floor is not useable at all. It has walls and a roof and that's about it. The stairwell is also unfinished, but is used, nonetheless.
There has been no rain here now for many weeks. I would not be surprised if it doesn't rain again before we leave in January. The name of the town we are in is Nakuru, which means "dust" in the Maasai language. We are beginning to understand now why it was named that. Most of the streets here are unpaved and have also turned to dust measuring inches thick. Since we mostly walk to get around, we always dread seeing a car coming down the road. There are lots of mini dust tornados, too. We are grateful to have a nice hot shower to go home to at the end of the day and hot tea waiting for us, too!
Love and miss you all!

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has responded so generously to our appeal for donations to buy new school shoes for the kids at the orphanage. (see below, for more info) We are so grateful and we know the kids are going to be so excited and happy!