USVI-On-Line

The final portion of our trip was to reflect on all that we saw and heard and to see a bit more of the country.

In the previous days, we met with local educators and a doctor - all telling of the struggles with life in Machakos and Kenya. We saw children with no shoes and tattered uniforms who sang for us at the local schools. Many of these children are orphans who are incredibly poor and lack the basic things like food and water.

We learned about the health concerns in the area with the top three issues being Malaria, respiratory illnesses (mainly due to the cooking procedures used in non-ventilated houses)and HIV/AIDS. We were told that the government estimates that 1 in 15 people suffer from HIV/AIDS, but the real numbers are closer to 1 in 5.

As a group trying to help, we were all overwhelmed and needed some time to process the things we heard and witnessed. Each night we would have a debriefing meeting to discuss the day’s events and come up with plans as we move forward in our mission to help Hope Kenya.

Upon leaving Machakos, we traveled southeast towards Tsavo East National Park. We were very fortunate to do an evening drive and a morning drive into the park to see the wildlife. We also drove to Mombasa, which is along the along the coast of Kenya and spent a few hours at the Indian Ocean. The tide was out when we arrived and within an hour was back to "normal".

On the return from Mombasa, we stopped to see a tribe of Maasai people and were able to enter their homestead - this was incredibly interesting to witness. They men chanted and sang while jumping off the ground and we were shown how they make fire with wood and elephant dung. Western technology has even hit the tribe as I saw a cell phone hidden under one of the men’s clothes.

Here is the link to my last set of pictures - I have not had a chance to place captions on all of these yet, but I am working on it!

http://picasaweb.google.com/gofishtlp/K ... directlink

Thank you for "working on it" so completely... I'm working on it too - much to absorb.

was the man in uniform with the gun a park ranger?

I like how the Maasai women wear their babies.

Yes, PA Girl - that was a park ranger. We had a few run ins with the police though and were strongly advised by our driver that we should not take any photos of them.

At one point we were stopped by the police on the way to Mombasa and our driver refused to get out of the vehicle. The police office indicated that our rear tire was bad, when in fact it was completely fine. We were allowed to leave.

The next day, upon our return on the same road, we were stopped by a police vehicle with four officers in it - they pulled their vehicle in front of our van. Our driver did get out this time and was led to the front of the police car. While he was there, two of the police officers lifted the trunk on the police vehicle to limit our view of what was taking place.

At one point, it looked as though they were physically harassing our driver. We were terrified. He ended up paying them 200 shillings (less than $3) as a bribe to let him go. As it turns out, one of the officers was the same one who had stopped us the day before and he told our driver that since he had a van full of foreigners, he needed to share some of what he was earning with them.

It was an interesting experience to say the least!

What an awful way to live. And we (Americans in general) have fits over TSA screening and other stuff that is designed for our safety and they live in fear of the people who should be protectin them, very sad.....

Tracy,

Thank you so much for sharing your report and your pics. I can tell you had an amazing experience. I'm sure it was physically and emotionally draining, but also uplifting. I'm glad you had these few days toward the end of the trip to process and regroup. So important! I have to ask, what were you looking forward to doing when you got home and what was the first thing you wanted (food/beverage) when you landed in London or the states? Following every amazing trip and especially a mission trip, there are things you relish so much when you get home!! Thanks again!

Yes, thanks for sharing your amazing experience. You must really appreciate home.

Nic in KC wrote:Tracy,

Thank you so much for sharing your report and your pics. I can tell you had an amazing experience. I'm sure it was physically and emotionally draining, but also uplifting. I'm glad you had these few days toward the end of the trip to process and regroup. So important! I have to ask, what were you looking forward to doing when you got home and what was the first thing you wanted (food/beverage) when you landed in London or the states? Following every amazing trip and especially a mission trip, there are things you relish so much when you get home!! Thanks again!

First thing I wanted was to brush my teeth with my electric toothbrush and not have to use bottled water! I also really enjoyed not having to use purell after washing my hands with the water! Our group could have bought stock in that stuff - and several people still became ill.

As far as food goes, I lost two pounds in the week I was gone and I really craved a cheeseburger and a cold diet coke! They had coke light, but it was not easy to come by and not cold. It's the simple things!

It is the simple things Tracy! It's so funny that your answer was a cheeseburger and diet coke. That's what I always crave after being on a trip outside the US. I remember one trip when we had a group of 8 traveling and when it came towards the end of the trip all that 6 of us wanted was cheeseburgers!

Another wonderful set of pictures. I especially enjoyed the Masai photos. Even though you show still photos I can totally hear them singing out as they're jumping up.

re: the police road check. Incidences like that really put into perspective what's important in life, don't they?

Tracy, thank you again for sharing your African travel experience and for all the work with the photos. I took time looking at each trying to imagine how your days went. Such an adventure.... I had many thoughts.

The children pictured at the school looked healthy and comfortable with you visitors.
Were the books in English and did the children understand English? They had beautiful smiles and their teeth looked excellent (we are dental peeps).

The park and animals seemed as I would expect... so neat to see and a great treat at the end of the journey, especially after the scary times.

I know a young man who spent a year after college graduation traveling the world looking at how people use cows. His first stop was spending several weeks with the Maasai - I think the time there was his favorite of all. From his and your photos I see life so different from mine... I can not imagine. (a link to his blog - if you should be interested in his insight: http://bovinebonanza.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ng_28.html )

Did you enjoy most of the foods? There was one, githeri, that I had to look up. Did you like it?

The Indian Ocean is quite beautiful where you saw it; I was surprised by the large beach of white sand. Is that typically a "tourist" area? These photos certainly presented me with new images to ponder.

This is a wonderful "report". Blessings!