Kenya!

While I was in Kenya the one time I tried using the internet it worked too slow to really blog.  So I wanted to make a post while the trip is still fresh in my mind.  I woke up in my bed this morning still in culture shock at being back, I still haven't unpacked my bags, and I'm feeling slightly sick from malaria pills.  Seems like a good time to post.

Kenya was amazing!  I already know I want to go back.  It is a gorgeous country.  I love how green everything is!

I also love the people!  They are so amazing.  Kenya is a very social and welcoming country.  Everyone would wave and say hello.  The people were so generous and loving.  I especially fell in love with the kids.  I knew it would happen.  I think I'll just make a completely separate post of pictures of cute kids.  The school children I met were so polite and cute in their uniforms.  They loved us taking their picture and showing them.

I was afraid of being hungry there, but I totally wasn't.  I loved the food.  Chapati was delicious and reminded me of Cafe Rio tortillas.  Ugali is a staple there and is delicious.  I also really enjoyed the talapia from Lake Victoria.  

Sleeping with a mosquito net made me feel like I was hanging out in a fort.

I loved the volunteering I was able to do.  I got to go to the orphanage twice.  It's called Babies in Crisis.  This orphanage takes in abandoned babies.  Most of the babies are abandoned by young girls or families who are too poor to care for them.  I loved these kids.  When I held them their eyes lit up.  It broke my heart to leave the orphanage when this one little girl cried when I left and whenever I put her down.  The first baby I held was Darius.  He fell asleep in my arms.  So precious.  This picture of me is of feeding them breakfast.

We also went to a lot of schools.  I loved the school kids.  They would all flock to us.  We taught a lot about what the US is like and about hygiene.  The kids are so smart.  The first school we went to welcomed us to their school by singing to us.  I wish I had brought more supplies for the schools.  The kids would all recite things together like "welcome to our visitors."  They played hopscotch, jump rope, and would run around with these tires.  Their school uniforms were adorable.

We also did jigger treatments.  Jiggers are these little fleas that enter into the skin and start eating it away.  This was so heart breaking to see.  We taught about hygiene things to the kids, teachers, and some parents.  Most of the effected kids are orphaned living with other family members.  So many kids parents have died from AIDS.  So sad.

We planted trees for the reforestation of the rain forest.


I was transported there in buses, motorcycles (called piki pikis), tuk tuks.  I think the piki pikis were my favorite.  The buses would sometimes get super full.  One time I was even sitting next to a lady on the bus who was holding a live chicken.

I got to do some fun things there too.  I loved the rain forest.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  And it was my first time seeing monkeys in the wild.  I of course had to swing on one of the vines I saw there.  I went on sunset and sunrise hikes there.

I got to see lots of animals there.  Some of my favorites were going on a boat ride in Lake Victoria and seeing hippos.

I also got to go to an elephant orphanage.  They take in and take care of baby elephants left in the wild.  Most of the moms died from poachers.  Then they release them back into the wild.  These elephants were so cute.  And I got to touch them.