Feeling confused ...

~MIRIAM

Friday, no, Thursday, no, FRIDAY! January 28th - wow, so confused on my days!

Last night, hot shower and bed .... ahhh - it felt so good to lay down after our long flights. After a good night of sleep, I work up this morning feeling refreshed and so excited. I am really here, in Kenya - AFRICA! A breakfast was waiting with fresh cut fruit - mango, papaya, pineapple, bananas; freshly squeezed mango and passionfruit juice which is delicious.
While Sarah took a morning nap, a small group of us went for a morning walk. Beautiful warm sunny weather. Right now, as I sit here, I'm listening to incredible African music. We are awaiting the bus to take us to Mully Children's Family in Ndalani. Charles Mulli has just arrived and was an honor to meet him. After reading his book "Father to the Fatherless" - I am so amazed with his passion for God and for helping kids and his country.

EVENING

On the way out of Nairobi, we stopped at a supermarket to pick up a few more items we anticipated needing for the clinic. Then, we started our drive to Ndalani. We were told it usually takes 2-4 hours. It took us about 4 1/2 hours. There was a lot of construction in Nairobi area. Amazing to see building scaffolding with big sticks. And, so many people walking or biking along the roads; people selling everything you can think of everywhere ... sugarcane, water, all kids of clothing, seriously, everything you can think of I'm sure was in the "market" area - this being an area anywhere on the side of the road. Driving is crazy. Drivers are on the "wrong" side of the road and the drivers seat is on the right side. Totally backwards to what I know. And, if there are outlined lanes of traffic, they might be merely suggestions. Everyone seems to weave every which way; no signals; some horn honking; so many times I thought there would be an accident and there was maybe 1/2 an inch to spare!

Another LONG day of travelling. My body immediately started to ache with the recent memory of sitting for so long the previous day(s!) What beautiful countryside we saw as we drove. Fields of pineapple, french green beans, coffee trees ... lots of cows, goats, donkeys, a few camel ... all walking beside the road, in the fields, crossing the roads ... the shepherds were of all ages - some elderly, some didn't look much older than 5-6 years old.

I learned that it takes 3 years for a pineapple to grow. I never knew that about the delicious fruit I enjoy so much!

We arrived at MCF (Mully Children's Family) late afternoon. We were shown our rooms and had a chance to unpack our bags before an intro meeting and then dinner. For dinner, we had rice, lentils, and fresh green beans in a tomato sauce - the vegetables and lentils were fresh from the farm. A yummy dinner! The mosquitos and bugs started coming out as evening set in. We got out the bug spray, closed our windows and set up the mosquito netting over our beds. I'm already feeling how warm our room is and I hope this won't put a big damper on the sleep for the week! There are no screens on the windows and we tried to tape the nets to the windows, but they just weren't holding well ... I wasn't going to take the chance of them falling down when I was sleeping.