Thursday, February 20, 2014

More Visitors

A few weeks ago life here got a little more interesting for a while, not that it has been boring. One Saturday afternoon 2 vans pulled up to Tenwek filled with 10 Canadians. Now living among Kenyans and Americans is good but I do enjoy interacting with fellow Canadians. There weren't just any Canadian but special ones. Mom and Dad, 3 couples from my church in Taber and an aunt and uncle from Ontario. This was special.
The whole group was here from Saturday to Wednesday morning. They slept at a rustic guesthouse down the hill but meals and life in general happened at my place. We were able to squeeze 11 of us around the table and had many hands to do the dishes. Games of cards were played, discussions were had by candlelight – there was no power and Tenwek was explored.
I enjoyed showing my guests a slice of my life here from a hospital tour, to walks around the area and meeting many of the wonderful people that make life here at Tenwek what it is.

Ladies in skirts heading up to the hospital

The walk to visit a friend for Sunday afternoon tea

They all took off for a day to see a pineapple farm

Lunch in the hospital cafeteria

All 11 of us


Wednesday morning 8 of the visitors left for a safari in the Maasai Mara which gave me a few quieter days with Mom and Dad. I took Mom to work with me and sent Dad to the neighbours to fix a door knob. The 3 of us enjoyed the time to ourselves but it was still busy as I was working during the day and ended up hosting bible study in the evening, but Mom and Dad enjoyed bible study as well. Friday afternoon the 8 came back with stories of lions, cheetahs, and zebras after a wonderful safari. We had one last night at Tenwek before arising early the next morning to go climb Mount Longonot. I had climbed Longonot a year ago and remembered it being alright but could not remember how long it took. The day before left I was getting a nervous wondering if we would have enough time to climb it. I was happy to arrive and see the sign 3km to the summit – OK 6 hours round trip this we can do.  A few were not up for a 6km hike so they stayed back and enjoyed the sun but the rest of us enjoyed the view from the top – looking across to lake Naivasha, down into the crater and across the escarpment. From there it was back to Nairobi. After church on Sunday Aunt J. and I returned to Tenwek and the others took off on their next adventure. Aunt J and I have had a nice quiet week here at Tenwek her helping out here and there and finishing her book and me tying up some loose ends before the next adventure starts. Which is right around the corner

Aunt J. and I are joining the visitors in Zanzibar  for a few days of holiday. After this I say a final good-bye to Mom, Dad and guests and they fly home. The next da, rather than head back to Tenwek, I  will hop on a plane to Cameroon. I am going to Mbingo hospital which is a Christian hospital that Samaritans Purse also works with. They invited me to come out to do some education as they are moving toward opening an ICU. I am looking forward to the time there, but will miss the community and familiarity of Tenwek.
Mom and I at the top of Longonot