Goodbye Uganda, Hello Kenya!

I (Anissa) had an extremely rough ending to our time in Uganda. I've been sicker this 3rd trip, than I've ever been from both prior trips combined.  I basically had diarrhea for 5 weeks straight that turned into stabbing stomach pains, nausea, dizziness, fatigue and then finally got a fever for 2 days with violent shakes.  I think I waited too long to start the Cipro (Rx for traveller's diarrhea that we always bring along with us) because when I finally started taking it, it definitely did the trick!  The 5 hr bumpy, dusty trip from Musana Camp to the airport in Entebbe almost did me in.  I was absolutely miserable! I was still having trouble at the airport and even after they called our flight, had to make one last run to the bathroom. It was sad to part ways with our team from church--good friends from WI--but we were eager to see our next batch of sponsored kids in Kenya. We made it safely to Nairobi (only a 45 min flight).   Joey got held up a bit for questioning in customs, but the kids and I had already made it past with all our bags (the kids think it's fun to push the carts), so nothing was searched. [Unfortunately, my cousin who was part of the team that joined us later, was not so lucky...they charged her $50 for 1 of her rubbermaid tubs full of donations.]

The big buzz in Nairobi was that President Obama was coming for a visit on Friday--his first visit in 9 yrs, and his first visit as President (last time he was just a Senator).  We arrived on the Sunday before, but the airport was already a mess because his entourage of armed vehicles, bulletproof limo, 250 trained secret service men, his Whitehouse cooks, FBI, the Marines, etc, etc were all being shipped over in advance to prepare Security before he arrived on Airforce One on Friday.  **All to the tune of $60 million, I might add!!!**  So here we were, part of a long line of vehicles being rerouted because the main airport exit was closed, but there were no traffic controllers or guards or any signs directing traffic so we all just kept driving in circles, turning around at dead-ends, trying to find our way out.  The drivers were all very frustrated, but it was actually quite comical.  They all had their windows down and as we were making U-turns and the blind leading the blind, they would lean out their windows to talk to each other very rapidly in Swahili.  The only word we understood, that they kept repeating over & over was "Obama"! ;}

We finally found our way out, but by the time we got to the First Love Children's Home (our flight was 1 hr late, Joey got held up in customs, being lost at the airport, etc) the kids were all asleep (it was a school night) so we had to wait all the way until Mon after school to see them!  I have to say it was soooo nice arriving a week early before our team, so we could just have some down time, sleep in, no scheduled meal times or agenda to follow, get extra time with our kiddos in the evenings after school, etc. My goal was to use those 5 days to get caught up on the blog, but in "real time" we've actually been in Kenya for almost 2 weeks, but I'm just now getting us there on this blog! ;}  Even though we had plenty of time to catch up on sleep, laundry, emails, and I did work a lot on the blog, we still ended up being quite busy.  The youngest children arrive home from school at 3:30 (then the older ones get home around 5:00) so we were free up until 3:3ish then would spend the whole evenings with the kids.  But one day we had to do grocery shopping as we were on our own for food until the team arrived (we are staying in a small apt in the dorms so we have our own kitchen, laundry, bath & 3 bedrooms!), another day we spent in Kibera Slum with our 4 older sponsored sons, one day we surprised the kids by delivering their lunches and visiting them at school, another day our older sons came here to visit us at the children's home and we cooked lunch for them.  So the days did fill up rather quickly.  Still we enjoyed the freedom & flexibility, and just being able to sleep in was a luxury. Not to mention HOT SHOWERS and FREE WIFI all in the same building!!!  Plus we bought fresh veggies, and had broccoli (our fam favorite), red & yellow peppers, fresh greens for a salad, even cereal & milk! All things we hadn't eaten for 6 weeks! I have to say that this trip out of all 3, was the hardest for me food wise.  I never really realized how tied to food our emotions are.  We ate rice for 17 days straight in Uganda.  And rice was the "good" meal of the day.  Posha (in Uganda or Ugali in Kenya) & beans is the staple along with cassava (a root vegetable similar to sweet potatoes) and matooke (cooked bananas) with g-nut (ground nuts/peanut) sauce.  We don't mind the traditional African food necessarily, but it was becoming exhausting & depressing eating the same thing day after day for 6 weeks straight.  But it was valuable to "walk a mile" in someone else's shoes. The kids and even the American staff at the camp, eat the same thing week after week all year long and they seriously don't mind and even enjoy it.  Our whole team was living off granola bars, but then we started getting sick of those too!  We truly are spoiled as Americans.  But from a nutritional stand-point your body can only handle so many carbs; I truly felt like my body was screaming for vegetables!  Needless to say, arriving in Kenya was a much-needed breath of fresh air and the reprieve we were needing. Getting here a week early also gave my body time to rest and heal (and let the antibiotics kick in) so I could be 100% when the team arrived.

God truly protected our teammates' as part of them arrived on Friday night (the same time Obama was arriving) and the other part was arriving on Sunday night (as Obama was leaving). They shut down the whole airspace when Airforce one came in, but the airways resumed almost immediately and both flights carrying our team made it right on time!  Truly a miracle!
It was soo funny, because all week long, anytime a plane flew overhead all the kids would point up and start hollering "Obama! Obama!"  He truly created quite a stir in his native "homeland".  Unfortunately only a very small percentage of people actually got to see him. He was speaking at an Euntreprenuer Convention.  Thousands of dollars were spent on beautifying the city, but the economy suffered because while he was here, everyone was told to stay in their homes and stay off the streets for safety purposes.  So the matatus & boda bodas (taxies) lost 2 days of business.  Many people just stayed home and watched the visit on TV.  Religious leaders had warned Obama not to bring up his gay-rights agenda, saying that he could turn his own country into Sodom & Gomorrah but not theirs! We all held our breath to see what he would do, but thankfully he only skirted around the issue by mentioning "inequality and oppression of minority groups, whether woman, handicapped or people with other sexual preferences".  The newspaper said that several babies born that weekend here in Nairobi were named Barrak, Obama, and even 3 "Airforce One"s!!!

A special part of our team is one of my Miller cousins (from UP Michigan) and her teenage daughter who sponsor the youngest girl here at the children's home.  It's been so fun to serve together and laugh, share, and hang out!  We are loving the time with, not just our sponsored kids, but all the kids here at First Love Kenya.  There are 97 of them now!  We still don't have all the new kids' names memorized yet! It has been amazing to watch the property develop and the number of kids grow through the years we've been coming here.  Jonas sobbed & begged to stay at New Hope Uganda, but we told him he would miss all his brothers & friends at First Love Kenya.  Before when we've gone to Kenya first, he's cried & begged to stay in Kenya.  We are all 4 truly attached to the kids at both children's home.  They are each so precious & unique, fun personalities.  If God ever does call us into full time missions in Africa, it would be the hardest decision in the world to choose between Uganda or Kenya.  Our hearts are equally divided among the 2 countries!

To find out more about First Love, where we are serving, goto:  www.firstloveinternational.com

Most of my posts are all pictures with very little words. This time you got the words without the pictures! ;) But don't worry...many more pics are to come!