2:45AM IN NAIROBI - NO DRIVER AND LOST LUGGAGE: THINGS DON'T ALWAYS GO SMOOTHLY

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - Thursday, June 14, 2012

Got up ran only 2 miles did my morning readings and it was a day like any other.   Worked a full day said some hard long term goodbyes to a few day care kids and we were off.  Loved checking Face book  for farewell wishes, it was a low key day. Got to spend some time with Brooklyn who has fallen in love with a new day care baby and will not put her down so she's downstairs all the time with her.  I will miss the family this trip, because everyone but Brooklyn has been already gone since Sunday on their summer vacations, and this is an extra long trip for me, 2.6 weeks rather than 2. I was very ready to go and felt very prepared after my last week.  I was ready to get away and get perspective and see what God has in-store for us next.

Ken Kernen arrived at 5p.m. at the house to load the truck to head out.  The trip to airport was uneventful.  We stopped at Panda Express, my favorite for dinner.  We didn't hit any traffic heading down.  We got all the luggage together, another $220 for extra baggage fees but we were ready for that this time.  The plane took off from Chicago at 10:20 p.m. The took off and landed on time.

The first flight I could not even keep my eyes open through the safety presentation.  I was asleep before we left the gate.   We just arrived at the Istanbul airport in Turkey.  We have 2 hours 45 minute layover, but we are at the way back of the plane, second last seats, so we will be out in perfect time to just about walk onto the next flight.  I have to say I love Turkish Airlines, the seats seem more comfortable than other seats, very easy to sleep, and the first flight is the longest, 10.5 hours and the seats on the sides only have 2 people so you don't have to get up very much and it is more comfortable.  

Friday, June 14, 2012 2:45am - Nairobi

Got through the second flight though could not sleep at all after the middle seat needed to get up 10 minutes into my nap.   I worked on writing.  I'm working on writing a book about all the wonderful people and work that I have been able to meet and be a part of over the last several years.  So I spent quite a few hours working on that.  Then watched a movie and listened to an audio book, hoping to fall asleep but that did not happen.   

We got into Nairobi and we found our most important bags for the beginning of the trip, but we were without one bag.   Trying to report a bag missing, with 50 other people at 2:45 am was not a fun task.   We had rented a hotel room for to sleep for a few hours and I had a meeting with a children's law and constitutional law lawyer at 11 am so every minute at the airport meant less sleep and money wasted on the hotel.   Then the biggest project was to find the person picking us up from the airport.  Unfortunately I didn't have his phone number.   We never did find him but we got a ride from a random taxi driver, luckily traveling with a guy this time.   Once back at the hotel, I didn't have my Kenyan phone yet so using FB I tried to figure out our driver.  Still haven't figured that out and it's Saturday now.

By the time we got in and somewhat organized for the next day it was very close to 6am.  It was getting light soon.  We had breakfast at 9 a.m. and had other mission groups near us that were up early doing their daily meeting right outside the door so it was quite a morning.   I figured out a taxi for the day and we were off to meet Bobby the children's law lawyer.  But not before our taxi ran out of gas a few blocks before our location.   The driver dealt with that while we walked to our meeting.  

Had a great meeting with Bobby.  He was able to tell us about various studies going on right now sponsored by UNICEF and the government on adoption and kids, in Kenya and how they are doing to then take a look at changing adoption laws. I asked him if he thought they might change the in-country stay with the child for at least three months (which in reality is nine months at the least and  more likely a eighteen month stay). We talked about the reasoning behind the waiting period for international adoption to access the bonding of parents to children and for the social workers to be able to do their work.    He indicated now it's been ten years and the government would probably be willing to address the issue again and look at other options.    They fear the cost of returning a child if the adoption does not work. I have to look into how other countries go about handling this issue.

He is right now writing and speaking about Children's Rights under the new Kenyan Constitution and looking for test case to set base lines for children's rights.  He rightly feels education, water, and food rights for kids are imperative to getting a step ahead for Kenya and it's children.  He is studying South Africa as a role model.  It is really interesting work and comes alongside the adoption and school work we are doing for the kids in Kenya as well. Very excited to stay in touch with him.

Then in order to not be  two hours late like the last visit, we headed right to the Lutheran missionaries house of Shauen and Krista Trump.  We got there one hour early so we just walked around their compound and enjoyed nature and the beautiful.   It is a quiet area a little outside of Nairobi in a city called Karen.   It is very peaceful.  It was so nice to get to know them a little bit more.  First we got a chance to see Shauen's office and how he keeps track of all his Lutheran  groups that come for various trips to various areas.   Very nice.   Then we headed back to the house for dessert and tea with his wife Krista and it was great to get to know more about how their kids were doing they are six months and 2 1\2 years old.   We got a chance to have Shauen educate us on the Kenyan culture and schooling.   Some of which I already knew but its always good to hear it again and gain further understanding.  

KENYAN SCHOOL PROCESS

Their school system runs more like a British system than American though there are probably lots of differences as well.   They have KG-1, KG-2, KG-3.  These are the kindergarden classes like our preschool through Kindergarden.   Then they have standard 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.   This is like our grades though the kids don't understand when we ask what grade are you in - they assume we are asking them about their "marks" (grades) like on report cards.  They only understand if you ask them what class they are in then they will tell you.   

When they reach 8th grade, they have to take a standardized test (like our ACT's, SAT).  If they don't pass the standardized test they cannot move on to any further schooling.  They do have the chance to take it again, but it is difficult if they don't understand it the first time to do much better without repeating at least class 8.  If you pass at a really low level you can go on to a local school.  They are not great schools, but at least it some education and hopefully they can improve to get better testing once they complete their four years of what we would call high school.  They call it Form 1, 2, 3, 4.   If they do pretty well on their Class 8 exam they can test into District level schools.  They are the second best schools in the country.  All of our Operation Give Hope school kids test into this level school or better.   Only a few kids in the country, the top so many students of every district, are able to test into a National school.  This is the top of the top schools.   The problem for many students is that even if they are able to pass into higher schools, they are not able to afford school fees at high school and are therefore not able to move on unless they get financial assistance.  At Operation Give Hope, we only focus on elementary up to class 8.  We are hoping at some point someone might want to step up and fund high school expenses for at least the highest performing kids in the schools.  The fees can be as minimal as $300 per year, which for a boarding school, which all  high schools are in Kenya, is not very much. 

SOUTH COAST SCHOOL  - ELEMENTARY (PK-8) OR SECONDARY (HIGH SCHOOL)?

Ken's church may be sponsoring a school here in Kenya.  He has a very, very small church but they seem like they are ready to jump on board and help the people of Kenya.   Originally we came with the idea that he would work with a Lutheran Missionary to support an Operation Give Hope school, Tumaini where we had the water issues previously.   So on coming here that was the direction we were heading. Though in discussions already with Shauen the thought came up that maybe a secondary school would be a better option.   It was just a passing thought and we moved on.

Then at about 4:30 p.m. the Lutheran Bishop of the area came to Shauen's place with his projects manager - to even be able to pull them away on a Sunday to discuss this was a miracle in and of itself. Thanks to Shauen for getting them there.  We discussed some of the works that Operation Give Hope has done and what we are hoping to do.  He asked if we were open to looking into a secondary school on South Coast.  We said actually other than being on South Coast, we really had no problem with it being a secondary or primary school.  We said actually the thought of a secondary school came up just an hour before in discussions with Shauen.   From there they got us in contact with the main person running their South Coast work,  Elias by phone and we set up a meeting for Sunday with Elias to view their primary school and their orphanage Faraja Children' Home which has ten or more acres around it and it is placed on the corner of the acreage which would most likely fit a high school and dormitories on it. 

It was just such a God thing that they already had the property so it now just a matter of a few buildings and getting some child sponsors for the kids and opening a high school.   All of this came about in a 30 minute meeting and Kenya time, no meetings are EVER 30 minutes long.  In Kenya the first 30 minutes are spent catching up - getting to know about the kids and family and life in general.  Then after 30 minutes you can start to talk about some business very, very slowly.  And we were able to get through all of this info in 30 minutes and then they left. 

Then we had dinner with the Trump's after waiting a little awhile for things to come together.   Then we were back to the hotel for the night.  

HELPING HIV POSITIVE PREGNANT WOMEN AND BABIES

SATURDAY, June 16, 2012 

Up and ready to leave hotel by 8am.   We were meeting Benta, you may remember her from the end of the last blog on our days in Nairobi.  She runs the HIV clinic where she educates moms, especially pregnant moms, about anti-viral medicines and other things that can help them and their babies.   Some babies born HIV can be positive at birth and turn to HIV negative if they receive the anti viral medicine consistently and promptly.   She is located in Kibera, the second largest slum in the world and the largest in Africa.  Check out my book From Lawyer to Missionary: A Journey to Kenya and Back Again for more details on that and my previous trips. 

Benta sells a lot various items (necklaces, purses, bracelets, banana prints, etc.)  that the women make to help support themselves and their medicine.   I am bringing home a lot of stuff from her and selling it to raise money for the pregnancy crises center and adoption work I am doing.  Please let me know if you are interested.  I will be making a flyer and can also do little presentations as well if anyone is interested.  It would be supporting two awesome causes and getting amazing one of a kind jewelry, pictures and purses at the same time.  

After some time with Benta, we were off to an orphanage.  I was hoping to be able to visit two  orphanages, but that would have been too rushed so we settled on one, which was very, very close to the Gracehouse Hotel.  New Life Home Trust is the name of it.

New Life Home Trust is one of the oldest and most well known orphanages in the area.  It was a great experience to see.  They have a great system and work hard on getting the children adopted out.  They have different rooms for different age kids, like a day care center.   And once the kids turn three they move to another New Life Home in a neighboring city to Nairobi. 

The kids were amazing.  We started in the one year old room where the kids were just learning to walk and talk and crawl and they were literally climbing the walls.   Then we went outside with the two year olds who were running the show outside. They had a ton of toys inside and outside. The driver, who we just picked up at the airport got involved playing and pushing the two-year-olds around outside.   Then we went in to help feed the four to nine month old babies and then help feed the two year olds (who made a huge mess). 

We so enjoyed getting to know one-year-old Sean, who I cannot believe has not been adopted yet, he is the cutest little boy with a little trouble maker personality but one that would you love.  Also Anthony one-year-old same cute face and very quiet and determined.  Also Julia who is two and so so little and so so cute.  And there Jerob who was two also and so adorable. I got to feed six month old Roy, who looked like he could not be a day over four months as he was so little but he did well in the Bumbo chair I put him in with a jungle gym to play with when we went to the the two-year-olds to feed. 

Ken and I had a great time here.   Though I would run an orphanage more like a family settling, various kids, at various ages living together and not moving them to a different home when they turn three, they are doing wonderful work taking in babies that are left in pit latrines or on the side of the road abandoned and nurturing them back to health and loving them lots in the process.  There were a lot of volunteers here to help the staff with all the children and a wonderful nurse in charge - Charlene. They also had an ICU area for little babies that we sick to care for them right on site.

Then we were off to the airport, but not before a literally "human jump start" as the taxi's car battery was dead from listening to the radio while waiting for us.   We were also still minus one bag unfortunately and we ran into problems with Kenya Airways wanting to charge us for extra bags, over $100 which we were not expecting as the last trip we did not have extra fees.   We were able to negotiate with them to at least bring it down to $41 instead of closer to $100.  Though I was frustrated, we did pay the fee and we were on our way, on time which was awesome.   It is only a 45 minute flight from Nairobi to Mombasa.  

So happy to see all our remaining bags and a familiar face, Rashid to pick us up at the airport.  (To see Rashid's full story, pick up your copy of From Lawyer to Missionary: A Journey to Kenya and Back Again - all the proceeds go to help the kids of Kenya, see amazon.com for your copy today.)  He picked us up and then we headed over to the missionary's home of Jim and Susie Horne to pick up bags I had left from the last trip for our activity we were to do with Tiwi in a few days.  Thank you, George. George was so helpful in getting all the stuff together so we were all ready to go. So with all nine suitcases and some extra bags of stuff, we arrived at the hotel.

I expected my phone to be waiting for me at the hotel so I could call my friends to have dinner and help organize, but no phone.  Just add it to the list of little mishaps so far this trip.   Thank God for Liz that works for Operation Give Hope on the Kenya side. She  update photos and website info and some many other things.  She works so hard and does such amazing work.   And God sent her to help be get everything at least somewhat organized and be able to talk some girl talk for a little while.   It was so great to see her.  She just showed up, paying for a cab ride to get there, hoping that I would be there and I was.   I was so very happy to see her smiling face and get her help.

We had the bags organized pretty quick.  We were only to be in this hotel room for this night so we had to unpack everything and get it into the right bag and then repack everything.  I had a lot of stuff for the orphanages - little toys and baby boy clothes- my clothes, Tiwi activity stuff, shoes and clothes to give away at Tiwi and so many other things, it would have been a mess without Liz to help.  She has been in Italy for almost a month and just got back a week or so ago so she was really, really busy too trying to catch up on her work and get things back in order after being gone so long.  So she stayed for awhile and then was on her way to get ready to go tomorrow to South Coast with us to do the events we have planned there.  

Ken and I grabbed dinner at the hotel and went off to bed.  It was about 8 or 9 pm.   Got a good night sleep!!