I wish I could write a more detailed report but alas time is of the essence and `I am taking off pretty soon.  `I guess the stories of Egypt will just have to wait until another time.  Here is however a fever brief synopsis of the week in Egypt and the logging off of Kenya.

Josh, Nicole and I all had a wonderful and very hot time in Egypt.  It was an amazing trip and one I will never forget.  On our way we had a ten hour layover in Addis Ababa Ethiopia so we took some time to see the city and from there Cairo.  It was go go go from landing.  We got to go to the Egyptian Museum, the pyramids and sphinx in Giza, we traveled to Aswan, Abu Simbel, and did the East and West Bank of Luxor.  We really packed a lot into this one week and tried to see as much as Egypt as we could.

We saw lots pyramids, tombs, and temples and even got to go inside all of these.  We even had some traveling buddies that we met on a train and traveled with for the next 3 days.  It was a family from Argentina that decided to sell all they owned and travel for a year and a Spanish teacher from Portland.  We now have a place to stay if ever we should grace the presence of these two places.  We all got incredibly close and even had sad goodbyes.  From Egypt we headed back to Kenya to start saying final goodbyes of see ya laters rather.

I have really struggled these past few days with the fact that it has actually come time to peace out of this place.  As much as I am ready to get home and see family and friends, I am just as sad to say bye to a home, family, and friends that I have made here.  I know that our paths will cross again someday. 

I am now just a few hours from taking off and the stress is really weighing on me with these dang bags.  I am just going to have to suck it up and pay the overweight fees.  All of my Kenyan peoples, I love you all and will miss you but only for a short while.

This has been Whitney in the Motherland for the last time saying take care and God bless.

Time is really winding down and it is definitely bittersweet.
Last Saturday we had our closing lunch in which our host parents, people from work, and other special guests attended.  It was at this all you can eat meat Brazilian restaurant. Their motto, eat until you surrender.  Everyone was given a little round thing that was green on one side and red on the other and they just kept coming around with different types of meat.  As long as the green side was up, you would keep getting  meat.  We all came with our eating pants on and not ready to give up so easily.  We had to put the meat on pause but we did a pretty good job.  We had pork and beef sausage, fish, chicken, beef and lamb steak, pork and beef ribs, and crocodile.  I think I got all of them that we had.  I tried every last one of them.  I had to be a vegetarian for a little while after that!  After we had all gotten to a slowing down point, we started our program.  We had speeches of thanks and gift giving to our host parents, Phyllis gave us all gifts and then we gave her a gift to end the festivities.  It was kind of sad knowing that this means this wonderful experience is coming closer to the end. 
This past week was also my last week of work.  The kids at the academy, especially the nursery and kindergartens were really feeling the sting of my leaving.  Yes I leave a sting!  You guys at home know what I'm talking about. ;^)  I took lots of pictures of and with them at my doing and at their requests.  I hope that the other classes were not jealous because I took a ton more of the little people classes.  On Friday the staff threw a tea party for me.  I think it was cute that it was called a tea party.  There were a few speeches given about me which made me a combo of happy, touched, sad and a little uncomfortable because I do not really like being the center of attention.  It was a very nice tea party and the church gave me a beautiful bag and plaque.
On Saturday there was a thanksgiving service for my boss who last weekend was ordained to be an Anglican minister in Kenya.  He is now Rev. Miller Mariga.  Congratulations Miller.  The service was to celebrate this great event and for those who were not able to make it to the ordination service which was in Kakamega, about 4 or 5 hours away. 
Sunday was my last official day of work, the last time I will have to be at three services from 7:30 until every Sunday.  I had to get up in front of all three of the services.  Even though I am going to be around for a little bit longer, people started with the goodbyes which I am not really good at but I guess starting the process a bit early will help with that.  I have had such a great run here and I know that the relationships I have formed here will not just end here.  After church I went on a final mission with the young adults of the church to Kikuyu to Alliance Girls' High School.  The missions are really fun because it is just a good time of singing and dancing with a little bit of talking which is how I like it.  These next couple of weeks will be enjoying Kenya and Egypt until I return home.

The week back to work after so many safari adventures last week was a bit slow but busy at the same time.  Everyone at the church was getting ready for the big 50th Anniversary Celebration.  There were lots of renovations being done at the church because the guest of honor was none other than Moi Kibaki, president of Kenya.  There was lots of painting and building things, putting up curtains, putting down carpet, etc.  There was also lots of rehearsals going on because of course the presentations for that day needed to be spot on.  I learned the poem that the academy kids did.  I will perform it before I leave I think.  Just kidding.

This was a big day for Lavington United Church.  Anyone who was involved in any way with the service was asked to be at St. Austin’s Academy which is like 2 or 3 blocks away from the church at 7 am.  I was one of those lovely people of course.  It hurt waking up so early after having been at a birthday party for my host dad’s cousin the night before until like 12.  Any who…My original job was to be a food server at the end of the service and although I am such a servant (cough cough I am so humble lol), but really I do like to serve it is why I came here, I just could not do it this day.  I had to get the job switched to what would have better fit my gifts and I had been asked before to do this other job.  I just needed to correct it.  I may have found another calling this day.  I mean I have known my calling of being a counselor since the age of 8 but I may have discovered another.  This gift now only allows me to do something that I really like and may even love but also helps with my FMS (Fear of Missing Something).

For this event I was one of the official event media people.  I even had a badge that said so.  Without this lovely little badge I would not have been able to go to the places I went or be able to take pictures of what I did.  I would have been looking at the back of me like everyone else.  I am so glad I was able to correct the job for the day situation.

The day started off with everyone heading from the St. Austin’s to the church because all of the members were processing from the church to St. Austin’s.  It was held there so that we would have enough space for this grand occasion.  We were lead by a police band dec-ed out in their uniforms.  We marched along the main road which also meant that we had police blocking off the street and holding up traffic.  I was sprinting back and forth the whole time because I had to get pictures from every angle at every point in the march.  Once they finally made it to the field like 20, 30 minutes later, all the festivities really began.  There were lots of presentations of singing and dancing.  At around 1 0:15 the president was to arrive at the church so the media crew and I went sprinting to the church.  No one was allowed on the compound with the strict security but I was a part of the official media so I got to not only take pictures of the president touring the church compound but also be like 5 feet away from him doing it the whole time.  He started off with unveiling a plague monument erected just this week for the president to uncover on that day.  After unveiling the plague, he planted a tree, took a picture with the church leadership, got a walk through of the church then out onto the academy field to walk through exhibitions of all the programs, activities, everything done at the church from the school to the social services to every single group in the church.  After going through a tour of what is Lavington United Church, he and his brigade headed to St. Austin’s.  This meant that we had to sprint back there so we could be there when he arrived to get pictures and video.  I was a Kenyan runner and really got a work out this day!

While we were at the church capturing the president’s tour, everyone else was back on the field enjoying the presentations for a second time.  Once the president got there the service began.  There was praise and worship, all the presentations were done for a third time, a few hymns and scripture thrown in, a sermon, and then came the speeches.  There was a launching of the new sanctuary, unveiling of the new church logo, the church leaders made speeches, and all the church heads of the three sponsored denominations of the church spoke (Anglican archbishop, Presbyterian, and Methodist archbishop).  The speeches concluded with one from the president.  Once again I got to be all up in that taking pictures while others just got to look at the back of the media. 

After the president’s speech was the cutting of the 50th Anniversary cake which was 50 kg’s (110 lbs).  He cut the cake and served it to all the church leaders.  Whenever there is an African or at least Kenyan celebration, when the cake is served, the event has come to an end.  After the cake was cut, there was a vote of thanks then the benediction and lunch.  It was 4:00 by the time lunch was served and about 7:45 when I was finally making it home.  It was a fun but long day indeed.

I was asked by one of the other media guys that was taking video if I was a photographer by profession and I said no I just enjoy doing it and I was seen with my camera twice pretty early in my stay here so I automatically became one of the church photographers for events.  This was like the third time in 3 weeks that I have been asked this question.  It maybe something I could consider on the side.  He said that I should think about getting into media because it is fun, you get to be a part of everything, and you get to travel.  I must say it was fun and I was glad I could see and be a part of everything where I would have missed out.  I definitely would not have been able to go to the church when the president came or be able to take pictures once he was on the grounds and for that matter be as close as I was.  There were a few people that got their feeling hurt by secret service when they were trying to get photos without an official event media badge like I had.  I was to discuss my prices for my pictures but since I am a volunteer for this year it is a part of what I am to do as a volunteer for the church and cannot be paid.  I said to one guy that they will not see these pictures, I just got the badge so that I could be a part of everything and get pictures because I hate missing out on any moment.  I was just kidding of course.  The pictures were given to the church and you will be able to find a lot of them along with other events that I have taken on the church’s website soon and very soon.  Being a paparazzi, I men photographer, was fun and I really enjoyed it.

This week has been a bit of a recovery week from the hangover that was the anniversary celebration for everyone.  The choir didn’t even have songs for me on Tuesday so that I could have their song sheet and program ready for their practice.  They just got to the church on Tuesday night having no songs to practice and just had tea and talked about the anniversary.  It is Thursday and people are starting to get back right.  Things have gone somewhat back to normal for me preparing for this coming Sunday.  

This has been Whitney in the Motherland saying take care and God bless.

This past week has been the most amazing experience ever!  First off before last week, I was invited along with other young adults of the church to go and be a part of a tv show in which we were do discuss a topic and it will air tonight.  When we are discussing I am referred to as Makena (meaning happy person) which is the name I was baptized with soon after arriving in Kenya and now all of Kenya, or those who watch the tv show will know me as such.

**Warning!  This is a bit long and full of awesomeness.  If you have a heart condition or extreme case of jealousy, you may want to have someone else read it so that they are able to break it down for you.

Now on to this past week!  We (the YAVs) had our final retreat and started out very early last Monday morning and made our way to Masai Mara.  {The Masai Mara National Reserve (also spelled Maasai Mara, and known by the locals as 'the Mara') is a large game reserve in south-western Kenya, which is effectively the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park game reserve in Tanzania. Named after the Maasai people (the traditional inhabitants of the area) and their description of the area when looked at from a viewpoint - "Mara", which is Maa (Maasai language) for spotted: an apt description for the circles of trees, scrub, savannah and cloud shadows that mark the area. It is famous for its exceptional population of Big Cats, game, and the annual migration of zebra, Thomson's gazelle and wildebeest from the Serengeti every year from July to October, a migration so immense it is called the Great Migration.} ~Wikipedia

Day 1: Our first big activity was a game drive (safari) and it was a good first outing.  We saw lots of giraffes, wildebeest, zebras, male lions, female lions, lion cubs, ostriches, Thomson’s gazelles, toupee, buffalo, elephants, lots of other cool birds and so much more.  In the area where we spotted the male lions, there was a safari van that got stuck in some mud and we were like 20 feet from the two males lions so there was no just getting out and pushing because HELLO THERE WERE LIONS VERY CLOSE THAT COULD HAVE EATEN THEM!  The driver tried and tried to gun it to get out but it was not happening, so what happened was, about four safari vans made a block in front of the two male lions while another came in front of the stuck van and the two drivers of those vans with ease just got out and hooked up the two vans with a towing cable.  I would have been flipping out!  There is no way I could have been moving so slowing and chill with two male lions just on the other side of the safari van!  They did it like we were just stuck somewhere in the city, not like there were wild animals in the midst!  The one was able to pull the stuck one out and no one used that route again!  It was a very successful first drive in the Mara.  That first night we were there, the Masai men did their traditional dances when at our lodge.  This included the singing and also jumping.  It was crazy how high these guys could jump!  The dances are typically done for different celebrations like weddings, circumcision, and after hunting.  Supposedly the higher the men jumped, the more girlfriends and wives they will have.  Some of them were jumping high enough to have about 10 wives I’m not even kidding! After the dance we got to go out for the hyena feeding.  There were lots of them and they really do laugh like in The Lion King!  The feeding was cool to watch with their glowing eyes.  The guy who came out to feed this huge pack of hyenas only had a bow and one arrow.  He is a very bold man. 

Day 2: We started this day off with an early game drive and it was yet another successful venture out into the wild.  We saw all the same animals as the day before with the addition of a cheetah which was amazing.  Those things have a swagger like no other.  We had to go off the path to see it which was illegal and we could have been fined big time.  We were able to lure it back out onto the path so that we could enjoy its beauty without being illegal.  We were fortunate enough to be in the Mara when the wildebeest were migrating back to Kenya.  When we first got here in early September they were migrating back to Tanzania.  They literally migrate because the grass is greener on the other side.  The migration was a site to see.  It was a scene straight out of The Lion King!  One of the guys was like “Look down in the gorge!  Simba’s down there!”  It was so cool.  There were even some wannabeest (zebras) along for the run for a little bit.  The zebras and wildebeest like to hang out.  After watching the migration for a while we headed back to the lodge and the route that we took was like elephant land!  There were elephants everywhere!  We went back for lunch and to rest again and then went out for another even drive.  The weather was not very good for us so we were not out long before having to come back.  We were just out long enough to see a leopard which made 4 of the Big 5 (Cape Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Elephant, and Black Rhino) and then go back.  We could have made it to 5 and searched for the black rhino but it started raining really hard.  That night after the game drive we had a nice dinner, took pictures, saw the hyena feeding again and watched some world cup.

Day 3: On Wednesday we packed up and said good bye to the Mara and hello to the village.  We left in the morning and went to Kisumu (the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the capital of Nyanza Province) for lunch and materials for our time in the village, then headed to Wambasa district.  We stayed at the home of Prof. Ogutu’s (the head of the Luo tribe) mom.  We were not able to do anything on this first day because we got there a lot later than we intended so we were just oriented to the compound.  We stayed men in one hut when in another, had latrines (hole in the ground toilets) and a bathing hut.  The simple life.  Phyllis was bestowed the honor of moving into her new home which was the hut that the prof’s mother lived in and was buried outside of.  After this ka ceremony we had dinner, learned a phrase in Jaluo “tim mana kinda” which means “you persevere” and called it a night.

Day 4: Day for was a working day.  Our project for this trip was mainly to paint a classroom.  We were to go there at around 7 to get started then have breakfast and go back to do more work.  Instead the morning turned out like this.  We got up, started breakfast, then Josh’s parents who were here visiting and along for the journey were presented with the gift of a sheep.  Soon after receiving said sheep, we all went to a grass altar, a short speech was made by Ogutu, then the sheep was slaughtered!  It all happened so fast.  We didn’t even have time to prepare or freak out.  We were expecting to do the traditional ritual of rights of passage that night but we were just hit with it early in the morning bam!  At least we did not have to do it ourselves like we thought, but there were some guys there to handle that.  This was my second time experiencing this but thank God unlike the goat, the lamb did not cry the entire time even after its neck was cut until it died.  The lamb just breathed really hard for like 5 minutes until all the blood was drained and it died.  After this lovely little scene we went back to eating breakfast.  Once this was over we went to the nearby village primary school and were introduced to all of the classes, grades 1 to 8.  They all did a short song for us and we learned the population of each class.  Once we finished all of this, we took a group photo with the class one or first graders (88 of them) because it was their class that we were painting.  After some pictures we got to work on painting the first and kind of second coat of the classroom, then went to the local church to meet some of the community church people, then had lunch and went back to work on part two of the classroom project.  We did a mural on the back wall, designed by Mara and myself.  We also painted a little boy, numbers, and the alphabet on the side walls.  The teachers and students were very excited and blessed the class the “American classroom.”  Before this day was over we had a gathering of all the students in the entire school, the teachers, and parents.  The children did a few songs, a poem, and dramatization and then we were once again introduced to all the teachers and staff of the Wambasa Primary School.  Once all the presentations were through, we made a few of our own.  We gave out some books, soccer balls, and we had also prepared 100 plastic bags with 2 pairs of underwear and 2 packages of sanitary pads for some of the older girls.  In the village when a girl gets her menstrual cycle, she has to stop attending school because of not have the proper hygienic materials.  She misses for that time that she has it and gets behind and is sometimes not able to return to school.  While we know that this was not a long lasting thing that we contributed, we wanted to start the awareness of the importance of proper hygiene for this time of the month.  After giving these few gifts we wrapped up the painting for the day and went back to the compound and had the lamb that was slaughtered in the morning.

Day 5: Some of us got up early and went to the school at 7 to finish up the mural and painting that should have taken a week to do but we did in essentially a day.  After that we packed up our huts, went to the school for the final viewing and goodbye and then went on to Kogelo, the village of Obamba’s grandmother.  When we arrived in Kogelo we saw that many things were named after Obama.  There was a secondary school called Senator Obama Secondary School.  We arrived at the compound of Sarah Obama and there was also another van of people there too but we were given the honor of driving on to the compound which does not happen.  If you come, you drive up to the gate and then walk in.  We got to drive in which was honor number one.  Obama’s father and grandfather were buried on the compound so we first took some pictures of the grave and then there was an introduction of Grandmama Obama, there was a spoke cloud, fireworks, and her name in lights then she just appeared from the sky!  Just kidding!  She came out and we all sat under a tree, did introductions and then got to have some time to have question and answer with her!  She only spoke Jaluo so there was a translator there to help us out.  We learned some about her relationship with her grandson and about how he is like his father.  We also learned that in the World Cup she is for the team who scores the most goals and wins.  We were all a little star struck and smiling so hard our we thought our faces would break.  We didn’t even think, some of us, to tell her that we had heard her grandson speak and even shook his hand (me)!  We got to talk to her for a good while and then afterwards we were bestowed with another honor which was being invited to not one but two sodas!  The other group behind us didn’t get to drive onto the compound, then they only got to talk to her for like 10 minutes, then when they finished they left.  We got to have sodas from Sarah Obama and just chill under a tree!  Take that other groups!  This ended our final retreat.  We had lunch in Kisumu and then headed back to Nairobi.

My fun did not stop with the retreat, oh no!  On Saturday I did some shopping and got to go to the giraffe center and feed giraffes!  It was so cool being that close to them.  They were in their natural habitat but there was a hut where they could come to be fed by people.  I went with Jacob, Josh and his family who have become my family.  The others were able to work up the nerve to be kissed by the giraffe but I just could not make myself allow that black slimy tongue to touch my lips.  This was done by feeding the giraffe with your mouth.  I don’t know if I can reach that place!  Just feeding it by hand is enough for me.  We got to do this for free which was even better because we got there around 5 when then close at 5:30 and the guy at the window was like the giraffes are fed up (meaning they have been fed enough by people) so he could not take our money because they were not there.  He told us that we could just go back to have a look around and as soon as we got there, Daisy came back over.  We stayed until they were closing and the guy still didn’t make us pay even though we fed the giraffes.  It was a good day. 

On Sunday I left early with Josh and his family and we headed to Naivasha and Nakuru.  We stopped in at Lake Naivasha and on the way into the lake we saw giraffes.  At the lake we went on a water safari in which we saw tons of hippos and got pretty close.  We also saw lots of birds, including a Fisher Eagle I believe it is called and we got to see it swoop down and get fish from the lake.  This place was amazingly beautiful.  The landscape was awesome.  After our water safari, we headed to Menegai to hike a little bit in the giant crater which is also a site to see.  After that we went to Lake Nakuru National Park on another Safari in which we saw hundreds, maybe in the thousands, of flamingo!  The landscape along with all this pink and white in the water was breathtakingly gorgeous.  There was a look out point in the park where you could see all of the game park and the lake.  The mob of pink in the water from that high up was so cool astounding.  This place was great just like the others.  Here we also saw lots of zebras, gazelles, buffalo, lions, some jackels, baboons, hyraks, and we even saw a rhino!  It was not the black rhino but the white rhino so I still have one more of the big five to see in the wild before I leave. 

On Monday we spent most of the day in Nakuru.  Josh’s family got to meet this child that they have been sponsoring for like 4 years which was very cool.  Had it not been for Josh coming to Kenya through YAV, they may not have been able to do this.  It was great and the boy was so excited and very smiley and what a beautiful smile it was. 

Now I am back in the office.  It was hard wanting to go back to work today after such an amazing week of safaris, animals, village life, and Sarah Obama!  Now it is time to get ready for the big 50th Anniversary of the church celebration that is coming this Sunday.

This has been Whitney in the Motherland saying take care and God bless.

Our VP was in the country last week, shutting down establishments, causing traffic jams, making speeches and enjoying Kenya.  He was stopping in before making his way to South Africa to the World Cup.  I had an opportunity to go and hear one of these speeches but there was too much work to be done so I was not able to make it.  He was here to talk about the Proposed Constitution that is causing such a divide in the country right now.  People here will be glad when the final vote happens and they can all move on.  Anyway Joe is gone and now all the jokes from people at work about “my VP” disturbing the area, needing so many special things like special cars and an entire hotel, and being the center of all the radio and other news, has subsided.  

The spirit of the World Cup is all over.  You can’t go anywhere where there is a television and not see a game on, restaurants, hair salons (I watched a game or two while gettin’ my hair did), churches, etc etc.  You also can’t go anywhere without hearing those horns blowing.  If you have watched at least one minute of one game you know what I am talking about.  It is that wuuuuurrrrr sound.  It is not just on the tv but people in their houses and other places watching the game.  Walking to work, walking home, going to town, go here, going there, that is all you hear and the noise of the crowds on tv!  I love it!   I must say that it is also nice to be on the same continent as the cup because that means I can watch all the games and not be up at ridiculous hours to do it. I just love this beautiful game and watching all day long and listening to the commentators.  Futbol is one of the best sports to watch just for the commentators.  It is an added bonus to the game.  The commentators have really cool accents or ones you don’t understand and they can just be talking calmly about the teams and individual players on those teams and then all of a sudden it is like WE SEE THE HEAD! PUSH!  They go from calm talking to OH MY GOD in mere seconds.  Just walking along, OH I FELT A CONTRACTION, oh false alarm it was just gas, to OH MY IT’S TIME, to well almost that time, to BAM HERE IT IS! This all translates to North Korea hasn’t been here since 1872 and they are trying to prove, AND THERE IS A BEAUTIFUL CROSS FROM KAKA, and there is no one, we have seen some good stuff from this people’s republic, WHAT A GOAL FROM MAICON! HE WAS GOING FOR THE CROSS AND THE GOALKEEPER WAS NOT PREPARED FOR WHAT HAPPENED! to now we are seeing a different North Korean team… You get the point.  I love the game and I love the game here.  We had an opening party at good ole Phyllis’ and my church is showing pretty much all of the games.  No matter where you go like, I said before, it’s futbol futbol futbol!  You have to try your hardest not to see any games at all.  

This post is basically me just saying what is in my head right now because other than World Cup, there is not too much excitement going on a part from work.  There are exciting and good things to come very soon and I cannot wait to experience them and then share them with you lovely readers at home.

This has been Whitney in the Motherland saying take care and God bless and great job last night Brazil!

People it is actually cold in Kenya!  Or maybe it is that I have gotten so used to the hot that when it is not feeling like a screen door between here and hell it feels cold.  When I first arrived here and the weather was about like this and people were in jackets, I was thinking to myself this weather feels good.  Whey are people in these huge jackets?  Now that I have gotten used to the hot weather, now I am one of those people thinking man I need a jacket. Lol.  My how quickly you can get used to something.  It is only in the low 60’s maybe but it is so cold to me.  

Lots of excitement has taken place since the last post.  I got to go back to the beautiful monastery in Limuru, the 50th year anniversary celebration dinner, and another celebration of life.  I am only going to trouble you with the anniversary dinner.  

50 years ago on June 4, 1960 Lavington United Church was born.  On that faithful Friday night of 2010, the church and other community fellows and friends came out in their formal best to celebrate the birthday of the church.  People were not dressed for success but for the grand ball.  The attire was to be African wear or formal smart.  There were mostly people in the fancy African Attire and prom-like dresses.  The gala was held on the church’s parking lot but you would not know it to see it.  There were about 3 or 4 huge tents set up with candlelit tables all around.  The colors were black and gold and it looked amazing.  There was ticket table in which you checked in followed by the drink table and then you were to mingle or be seated.  This event lasted from 6:30 to 11:00 and it was indeed a good time through all the way.  We had lots of good food, singing and dancing, entertainment (a comedian was hired to just do his thang while we ate), speeches, a guest speaker, a video of the church on the news for the tree planting and the grand finale was an extravagant cake.

We started out with the meal and fellowship.  While we were eating there was a comedian that walked around and entertained.  He was dressed like, do any of you (my black people at home reading this) remember the Sand Man from Showtime at the Apolo, well that’s what he was dressed like hat and all.  He was a little more classy than the Sand man.  He concluded by doing a prize giving of 1000 Kenya Shillings Safaricom phone credit.  He had a scratch card in which he called out a few numbers, sang a little, called out more number, and sang a little, so on and so forth, and the first person to key it in and send it off was the lucky winner of not only phone credit but also and anniversary polo.  

There were other people who said words and did quizzes on the church history and a guest speaker for the night.  He was a little man that was very good speaker and very funny.  After all the speeches there was a video clip shown of the church on K24 Environment news in which they showed some interviews of a few church leaders and us planting trees.  I had a few spotlight moments!  Had I known that I would have been watching that channel for the news that night :^) 

The finale of the event was the bringing out and cutting of the huge church birthday cake.  It was made to look like the church and on the roof were many sparkling candles.  Five of the church matrons blessed the cake by cutting it and we all enjoyed.  After eating and singing some more the celebration was brought to a close and people were free to go home or stick around and socialize some more.  

The young adults of the church really did a fantastic job with everything involving the dinner, planning, setting up, selling tickets, organizing, etc.  Please take your hats off whether it be real or imaginary to the youth of Lavington United Church.

This has been Whitney in the Motherland saying take care and God bless.

Not the book or the ridiculous dance but the actual soup.  There is nothing like chicken noodle soup and your mommy when you are sick.

Last Wednesday I woke up and it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest, cats had been scratching my throat all night, like I had been hit up side the head with a baseball bat, and to top it all off I had no energy.  I tried to walk to work, got about two houses down from where I live and almost passed out.  Needless to say I turned around and spent the rest of the day in bed.  With just that short walk you would have thought that I had run not one but two marathons back to back!  After lots of fruit, juice, and anti-biotics the size of my phone twice a day, I am now feeling better.  I still have a bit of a cough but other than that I’m ok.  I was able to go back to work on Friday, still with no energy and feeling a bit crappy but I was able to make it the rest of the week.

Saturday I visited the guys in Gatundu which is like an hour matatu ride outside the city if there is no traffic.  It was so beautiful there.  I experienced my first piki piki (motorcycle) ride ever in my life from Gatundu town to the secondary school where they work and live.  It was exciting and scary the whole time!  I was thinking please God don’t let us hit a pot hole or something and go flying or for some reason just fall over to the side.  On the way back down to town I was already a pro. ;^)  The town is about a 45 minute walk away from the school or about a 10 minute piki piki ride.  I got to see where they work, live, hang out, and meet students, teachers and friends.  Josh had a class which he introduced us to and asked if any of them had any questions.  One girl stood up and said “Whitney, are you a black…American…woman?”  I thought for a moment, debated and went over the check list in my head then smiled and said yes.  As far as I know I am indeed all three of those things and more.  We had a good laugh about this later.  She paused in between each one and we were like where is she going with this but that is all she wanted to know.

Some weeks back I woke up late for church and ended up having to sprint there.  Well this Sunday I woke up in plenty of time and was ready to go only to discover that the guard had locked the gate and had accidentally gone with the key.  I was just stuck on the compound.  I got a few suggestions from people at church waiting for me to just climb the fence or do a running head start and fly over it.  The second was not going to happen unless I went to the toxic river and got mutant power but sadly that was outside the gate.  The first option could not work because at the top of this gate are electrical wires and barbed wire.  I figured I didn’t want to die just yet and that maybe it would be a great time to have an “old fashion” worship service without projections.  That did not really fly so someone came by and got my flash drive with the shows so that the projections could go on.  The guard came back in time for me to get out and make it to the third service.

Today is the first day back in the office because yesterday was Independence Day.  I love when holidays here fall on Tuesday because that means I get Monday and Tuesday off.  What a beautiful thing that is.  I somewhat celebrated the holiday with my host family having dinner.  I say somewhat because it was a dinner for my host mom’s niece, her husband and their very cute little boy who were in town or in the country from Denmark.  Boy did we have an unbelievable feast!  There was lots of food and entertainment by the two year old.  It was the perfect way to end this extended weekend.  The others should really be jealous because I think, no believe, no I know that I have the best host family out of the group.  :^)  In all seriousness though, we are pretty tight.   

Coming up this Friday is the 50th Anniversary of the church celebration dinner and it should be a ball and lots of good food and fellowship.  Keep us in your prayers that all will go well and it will be a great time.

This has been Whitney in the Motherland saying take care and God bless.

The sun decided to come out for the rest of the week last week and has even been good this week so far.  It does look like water from the sky (I don’t want to say the r word) is trying to come today.  Not that that is such a bad thing, on the contraire it is very good but when it…you know…it really pours!  It’s nice when it just comes at night when we don’t have to walk in it, it is needed and necessary and most importantly it makes for great lullabies.  I believe that the sunshine was brought back with our lovely coordinator who has made her return to Kenya.  Thank you, thank you kindly.

Not too many exciting things happening this past week with my boss still on leave.  Praise the Lord he will be back in the office this week and I will not be so bored.  This weekend however was pretty exciting.  The church I am connected to is celebrating its 50th anniversary and with this celebrations are many activities throughout the year.  The event this past Saturday was tree planting in the Ngong Forest Sanctuary.  It was a lot of fun and I believe we planted 50 trees there.  I named the one that I planted Makena which is the name I was baptized with here very early (like the first week) in my time here.  Now I will be in Kenya forever or at least until they cut me down.  This was the first location of planting trees.  There will be one more place where hopefully a lot of trees will be planted.  I just love trees, I just have a thing for them and I’m not really sure why and recently I have been thinking I could really get hardcore into gardening.  Literally how green of this church! 

I also got to practice my bargaining skills in the Maasai market a few times this weekend.  I must say I have gotten pretty darn good at it.  I think back to when I first got here and how I was being taken advantage of as soon as my accent said “ding ding ding you are not from here!” now I have a pretty good feeling of what I should pay for certain things, some I am learning still.  I can even converse some in Kiswahili to say hey don’t mess with me! Lol.  Haggling is surprisingly a lot of fun.  I went a few times this weekend and the people there started recognizing me and saying that I am their friend.  I may have to lay low for a while.  I just love their art and could spend lots of time just walking around and if I had a truck load of money, buying everything I liked.  As my grandmother said I will just look and keep it in my heart and take pictures because that is always the cheaper option.  

This has been Whitney in the motherland saying take care and God bless.

 

Just like I hoped, prayed and knew it would be, all is well.  Thank you all again who had me in your thoughts and prayers.

The sun has decided to come out today for the first time in a while, well it tricked us and came out for a little bit yesterday.  I have gotten soaked everyday since getting back from Taita except for Sato.  These are some serious rains we are having here.  It is times like this when I really miss my car!  I have written and sang songs to Carol every time I am getting soaked even with an umbrella.  Carol is my car for those of you who were wondering.

Other than the rain there hasn’t been too much adventure.  On Friday I was hit a few hours before with an impromptu funeral.  It lasted about two hours.  There were hymns, people who talked about the deceased, and words of comfort (sermon).  It was like a typical African American funeral at home.  The body was not there which I found odd and I didn’t find out why that was.  Also on Friday we had another dinner party with friends.  Thank God it did not last until 4 in the morning like my birthday celebration.  I love you Loresho people if you are out there reading don’t get me wrong. Sleep before 4 is just nice sometimes.  Lol.  We always have such a great time when we get together. 

On Sunday we had a Young Adult Fellowship (YAF) lunch at my bosses house in Kahawa.  It was to have fellowship and meet the newest member of the Mariga family.  We had a great time eating lots of food, laughing, talking and enjoying one another.  It was quite the adventure getting there and getting back.  On the way we convinced a matatu to not just take us to town but all the way for a good price per person.  Once we reached town we realized that our mat had a flat.  We were ready to negotiate with the guy about getting some of our money back but another matatu stopped dropping people off in town and they had a spare and gave it to us.  I just love how the matatu business is so communal.  If it breaks down they will just switch out passengers and somehow they work it out so that you will not have to pay when you get into the other.  I’m not really sure what they work out but I don’t question it.  They also have like a special sign language they use and talk to each other while on the street.  They are good when not competing to get you to get on their matatu over another.  Anyway we got a flat and a nice matatu gave us a spare then we ran out of fuel.  This thing was on diesel which meant that once it ran out the engine would just shut off.  Luckily it ran out right at our stop.  On the way back, it started pouring like it has all week and will do so until July August, but we also managed to convince another to take us all the way to where we were going.  Like I mentioned last week, everyday is an adventure in this country.

This has been Whitney in the Motherland saying take care and God bless.

This past week has been a rather trying time for me but things are going to get better I am sure of it.  Thank all of you who were there in spirit and in prayer.  All will b well.

Not all of last week was a test, on the contra ire it turned out to be an exciting weekend.  I got to travel to my host mom's home village in Taita, Wundanyi to be very specific and oh my Jesus Christ of Nazareth was that place absolutely gorgeous!  It reminded me a lot of the Parkway in Asheville, NC but even more enhanced breathtakingly beautiful!  Not that the Parkway is amazing, but this place was just astounding.  It was also just nice being out of the city and enjoying the nice, clean, clear, crisp, and even cool air.  Taita is about 6, 6 and a half hours outside the city on the way to Mombasa (I hope I got that right).  I got to see where my host mom grew up, where she ended up in still now growing up, and some of her relatives’ places in the village.  In this little tour I learned something that I did not know before.  I knew that when someone died they were taken back to be buried in their home village but I did not know that it was actually at the home.  So I got to see where my host mom’s dad was buried.  He was just there in the yard of the where they ended up. The view from their place was just remarkable.  While there I also got to have tea with fresh milk straight from the cow’s utters and guava picked right out of the tree.  Man I felt like a real Kenyan traveling to shagz (upcountry to the home village).

Ok now for the reason we traveled to Taita.  We were going to a wedding.  The lady was someone that my host mom grew up with and the guy was a pretty big deal in Kenya and a friend to my dad.  The reason that the wedding was in the village and not in Nairobi was to keep it small and out of the media but there were still some there and it ended up a little in the news and in the paper.  He was a former journalist and politician who investigated some scandal a while back that made him both popular and unpopular.  Anyway that is beside the point.  Their wedding was very simple and they did not have any bridesmaids, groomsmen, ushers or flower girls.  With that being said, I was asked to be an usher and hand out programs and also sprinkle the rose petals down the aisle as the bride walked in by the bride’s sister who is a friend of mine from church.  That’s right, you read it correctly.  I was a 23 year old flower girl!  I still cannot believe it myself!  I was walking in front of the bride sprinkling orange rose petals as she walked down the aisle to her groom.  May I repeat, A 23 YEAR OLD FLOWER GIRL!  That will never not be funny to me.  I just received a birthday card from Momma that said happy 23rd birthday you are now old enough to get married because she got married at 23, but apparently in Kenya that means I am not too old to be a flower girl in a wedding. Lol. 

The wedding itself was pretty small, but the entire village managed to come to the reception.  There was lots of music, food, and speeches of course and just like in the wedding, when it was time to serve the cake I am my sisters knew that there was just no sitting back.  Oh no, we had to help serve cake as well.  Let me tell ya this was something I was not prepared for at all.  Instead of cutting the cake into slices and put on small plates and given to people, cake us cut into little pieces or big crumbs if you will and put into these nice baskets and taken around for people to just grab a piece.  Yani this next part is what I was not ready for.  I was told to carry it over my head to take to a certain location because there would be some people who would just grab so I did just that but once I made it back to where I was headed, I was attacked!  If I had not had a strong grip on this basket it would have just fallen.  As a matter of fact that happened a few times and the kids just started screaming and fighting and grabbing whatever they could.  Well that was happening but while I was still holding on to the basket.  It was a lot of the village children that were attacking like this and even a few adults.  The first time I went out and this happened, my host parents who were sitting very near started laughing so hard at me because they knew what was going to happen and saw that I had no idea.  After a few trips out like this I retired from my cake serving position.  It was for the best.  This wedding was quite the experience, one that I will always cherish.  

After the wedding we returned to my host mom’s house where she grew up because that is where we were staying for the weekend and we had chicken for dinner.  When I say we had chicken, I mean we had the entire thing.  There was no part left out.  It was the head, feet and all.  It was very tasty chicken I must say, tamu sana.  There were lots of good times and good food this past weekend in Taita.  We left very early on Friday morning for Taita and came back still early but not nearly as early on Sunday morning.  I slept most of the way there but on the way back I kept my eyes peeled to enjoy the sites and take pictures of course.  When we got home, one of my sisters and I saw in the paper that they said that there were no bridesmaids, flower girls, etc and we were both a little offended considering we handed out programs and sprinkled flowers down the aisle.  Oh well.  They will recognize us one day.  

Now it is back in the city and back in the office.  I’m not sure if there are any more exciting things coming up very soon but then again, any day lived here is an adventure.


This has been Whitney in the Motherland saying take care and God bless.