Our first morning in Africa

Hello to everyone who is checking up on us. We just completed our first morning in Africa. We were up bright and early for breakfast and to get the show on the road. We went to Mercy Care Center to take some bags with supplies and to get familiar with the school. It was really an eye opening experience. Before we ever arrived at the school, you could just see how bad the living conditions are here in Nairobi. People line the streets from left to right. In the Mathare Valley, you have street vendors lined up, one next to the other. There trades range from just about anything you can think of. The streets are littered with trash. In some areas you could see them burning the trash on the side of the street. This is because they have no other means for getting rid of it.

 Once we arrived at the school, we were greeted by some children. They came running up to the vans with the biggest smiles on their faces. Immediately, the children started holding your hands. They were all so sweet. They just wanted a little love and attention. Now, most of the kids that were following us around and holding our hands do not even belong to the school. But they were all great. I thought it showed just how great the school is to this community. They wanted to be around the school instead of running around the streets. The school had hot tea for us to drink upon arrival. So we took things out of bags and sorted things. Than it was tea time. It is really funny, because they love their tea, like we love our starbucks. After tea, the school put on a little show for us. They sung, danced, and did a little skit they performed for a national performance. We even had two guys perform a rap song for us that they came up with. It was really great. I just wish we knew what they were saying. Lucky for me I sat next to Wayne. For all of you who know Wayne. He loves to talk. So he was translating things for me as the performance was going on. The thing is thou. You did not have to know their language to know how talented these kids are. 

Lunch time! Carol made us peanut butter sandwhiches and a banana. We were nearly finished with that when a few wonderful ladies carried in a full meal for us. White rice, cooked cabbage, potatoes, and beef with a tasty broth. It was really good. Someone even went out and bought us a crate full of sodas. It was really more than we ever expected. They did not have to do that for us, yet they were so generous to provide for us. 

We took a tour of the school. I was blown away by the size of some of the rooms. There was a class in the primary school that had 34 kids in a tiny room. They were almost sitting one on top of the other. You could even notice, that to close the door, you would have to move desks around. I am not to accurate with the dimensions, but to give you a picture. I would say it was like a 15x15 room. But they sure make due. It is just such a testament to these wonderful people that they make due with what they have. No complaints about it! The children were all just as happy as can be. Makes you wonder what we do wrong with our lives back home in the United States. We are all so quick to complain about our situations. 

We than sat off to go to a giraffe farm. We were in the car for more than an hour fighting traffic. Traffic is so bad here in Nairobi. There are no street lights. Just thousands of cars, trucks, buses, and small amount of motor bikes. The craziest part to the whole thing is the roundabouts. I guess Nairobi can think the British for that. There are roundabouts all over the city. It just causes mass chaos. But the people manage. Back home in the States, that would not fly. There would be accidents left and right. Man, we don't even have to many roundabouts. But we sure do have alot of stop lights. Somehow we still manage to get in accidents there. I guess there are more than a few things we can learn from the Kenyans. I Know I already wrote a book on just our morning and early afternoon. So I will leave those of you up this morning to this. There were certainly be some more entries from the group later in the day. So feel free to check back periodically.