Shinkou

June 27, 2011
Nairobi, Kenya
I  had to say goodbye to Richard. He is the head gardener at HEART. We took several tours of the gardens together. I learned about the huge fig tree in the front area and why their kale grows tall and skinny (unlike our kale which grows like lettuce or cabbage). Sukumo wiki: a tall kale variety that grows tall with a skinny main stem. Chickens, who love kale, cannot jump high enough to reach the kale leaves, which start growing about 3' above the ground! Ingenious!
Our team is looking forward to our trip up to Kisii. Kisii is about 5 hours northwest of Nairobi near Lake Victoria. It is known as the pineapple capital of Kenya and its main cash crops are tea and pineapple. Coffee is grown here as well, but is more prevalent in the higher plateau areas. Our team has several tasks to complete in Kisii. First, Tammy Francabandera, HEART's children ministry director, will be teaching classes on Shaken Baby Syndrome to the community leaders. She also will be distributing dresses made through the Dress a Girl program. Our team will be joining forces with the local churches there to help build a home for 12 year old orphaned boy who is part of a KFS (kids for school) program. "Kids" keeps orphaned kids in school by providing them a kid goat to sell its milk for school uniforms and food. We will be staying at the summer home of Dr. Meshack Ong'uti. He is a local boy who nows runs the Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi. He is a cleft-palate specialist who also serves as a principal surgeon on a non-profit medical team.
We will be in the district of Manga, city of Kisii and province of Nyanza.

Kisii, Kenya It rained off and on throughout our trip to Kisii. The elevation is noticeably higher as our ears are popping. The landscape is lush green, filled with tea and coffee plants. Unfortunately there are too many idle young men hanging around in the towns. We passed areas where children were on the side of the road digging. They were digging up sand and packaging it up for sale (to be used to make brick). There were kids sitting atop stacks of bricks for sale. Women were out in the fields working.
We arrived at a school/community center. The rain had let up but the trek down a muddy path to the school was a bit treacherous - slippery! The center's officials served us some of the best chai tea! We all sat in a large dark room (lit only by the fading daylight through the windows and doors) sipping this savory beverage and nibbling on bread. Tammy taught her lesson on shaken baby syndrome and everyone was disturbed seeing how much damage can be done to a developing brain using such little force. After the lesson, we got back into our bus to go to Dr. Meshack's place for a late dinner. We had to be back here very early in the morning to begin working on James' house.
The rain began to resume its fury. Yes the rain was a blessing, but it made our bus ride uphill in mud very dangerous. We kept sliding. Fortunately we had a hill on one side of us and a drop off on the other side - and we were on the hill side! Unfortunately our bus hit a particularly slippery deep muddy area and we slammed into the hillside. We were stuck. The men tried to push the bus but to no avail. Suddenly men appeared out of the forest. They all attempted to help push but we were so stuck. The women grabbed what we could carry and we began to walk carefully in the mud up to the house - which was perhaps a half mile away. We arrived at the large compound, kicked off our muddy shoes and sat down in the living room. This house is run on a generator and it was not on yet. We were a bit uneasy sitting in a darkening room with the guys still down at the bus, working in the dark. Scott finally came up and said the guys wanted to spend the night in the bus to ensure the bus would be there in its entirety in the morning.
I think that was one of my low points of the trip. I was sitting in a dark room in muddy socks and a muddy skirt worried about our guys down at the bus in the dark. A rodent ran over my feet. We were all hungry and our snacks were down in the bus. I had gone into the "kitchen" there to speak with the two men who were beginning to cook dinner for us but it would be hours. It was about 8pm and I was beginning to be uncomfortable and unhappy. I was not alone. Some of us turned our cell phones on to get some light but also to open our bible app. While reading some scripture, the generator finally turned on and there was one fluorescent light that began to glow. Next, we received a call that Dr. Meshack was sending some guards to spend the night in the bus to protect it. Our guys were able to carry what they could of our supplies and return to the compound. And then - we had the best dinner!! Typically Kenyans eat a late dinner so we were famished by 9:30. But the food was amazing! Truly a gourmet meal!!!  Cilantro chipati, a wonderful cucumber/tomato/avocado/red onion/jalapeno saald, chicken stew, fresh fruit, rice. Thank you God! With the lights on we could wash up in the sink, we could dine with our team and new friends and just enjoy the wonderful food. Everyone was together under the same roof!