Day 4

Well, day 4 is just a continuation of day 3 since there was really no sleep!

We are finally in Nairobi, Kenya! 

 

This is the time that we arrived to the East African School of Theology.  The place we will be staying at for the next six days. Yep - it is 3:30 am!!!!

We had a short meeting before we were allowed to head to our rooms.  We were told that we need to be at breakfast at 6:30.  So that is not a lot of time to get some rest.  Heather and I were assigned a room with four other ladies.  We got to our room around 4:00 and I wanted to shower so I only made it to bed around 4:30.  I knew it would be hard to get any sleep so I ended up listening to music until it was time to get up.  Heather said that she didn't sleep at all either. 
This room is like a dorm room: four sets of bunk beds (bless Heather's heart for taking the top bunk), 1 shower (which didn't have a light, but it had hot water), 2 sinks and 2 toilets.  It sort of felt like summer camp - we were very lucky to have such nice ladies to 'camp' with.  We became really close to this group of ladies over the course of our time together.

Day 4 began with breakfast and some very tired travelers.  We were told that we were all going out into the slums in the morning.  This was to invite the locals to our medical clinic that we were offering.  I have to admit that when we met the night before and Pastor John informed us that some of us would be going out into the slums I was definitely not going to go.  Once we were told that we were all going out into the slums, I didn't have a choice.  I guess I didn't know what to expect and I was a bit nervous about my safety.  After being told I didn't have a choice, I was ok with it. 

This is where our true mission work would begin and I definitely wasn't ready for what I was about to witness.  I have seen pictures on tv or in magazines, but this was unlike anything I had ever expected.  I saw poverty, sadness, hopelessness, sickness and fear.  I will forever be changed by what I saw.  We were split into groups of 4-5 people with 2 Kenyan locals that were members of the ICC, the church where the clinic was held.  One of the locals actually lived in the slums so they were able to guide us through the area. 



This is one of the first sights we came upon as we entered the slum area.  It is littered with trash as there is no way of disposing of trash unless they choose to burn their own, which some of them do. 

 It is so sad to see how people are forced to live in their own trash.  As you can see there are many plastic bags which they use to carry their vegetables that they buy each day.

There are no paved roads between the homes, but just dirt roads that are so compacted with trash and waste.  They live in houses made of tin or partial shipping crates or whatever they can find.  Many of them actually share walls as well.  There are three slum areas in Nairobi and the one we visited houses about 300,000 people.  To put that into perspective, that is half of the population of our entire state of North Dakota. 

People end up in the slums for a number of reasons.  Loss of work, born into them, etc.  Only 5% of the people in the slums ever get out of them.  That is what is so sad to me.  There is such a small chance that they will ever leave such poor living conditions.



School children

It surprised me that there were schools in the slums.  Not all children were fortunate to be able to attend school though.  It still costs the families money to send their children to school and there are many families that just don't have the money so their children do not get an education.  I was told by one of the locals that each class has anywhere from 60 - 80 students per class.  So I should never complain about my 20 or more students that I have in my classroom.  I'm not even teaching my students to speak a new language either. 
They begin teaching them English right away. 
The children seem so happy and excited to see us.  They scream, giggle and shout "how are you?"  The locals told us those are the first words they are taught in school because then they can greet any westerners that travel through their area. 


One of the schools in the slums

The people in the slums still have to pay rent every month to the landowner.  It can run anywhere from 6 - 10 dollars a month.  It seems crazy that they should have to pay anything for what they live in.  There is no running water or sewer.  Many of them have a hole that is dug in their homes where they use the bathroom - it drains out into the trenches outside their homes.  There are some bathrooms located throughout the slums, but it costs to use them so that is why most people just dig a hole in their own home.  

Bathroom use for a cost - I'm not sure how much it would cost to use them - not exactly the kind of bathroom facilities that we are used to in America.

 This was a lot to take in and process.  I had no idea that life could be so hard - even when I thought life was difficult - it has been nothing like what these people deal with day in and day out.  I am so truly blessed and I hope that I never forget that!

to be continued.........

Day 3

I just spent over an hour uploading photos and typing and when I went to publish the blog post there was an error.  So this time around you might get the shortened version of day 3.

We got some much needed rest and headed down for breakfast -very interesting food selection - anything from olives, to meats, to plain Greek yoghurt (that is how they spell it), to loaves of french bread and yes some more french fries.  After breakfast, we met with Pastor John and he had no news to give us about a possible flight.  So he sent us off to tour the area of Istanbul around our hotel. 

Socorro, Ida, Heather and I outside our hotel

Istanbul is a very busy city.  Lots of action going on even in the morning.  We walked around and visited a few shops.  What Heather and I noticed right away was that most of the people on the streets and in the shops were smoking.  We are not used to that since in the US smoking is prohibited in most areas.  It seems that it is totally acceptable to smoke while you direct traffic, drive a bus, or even serve food. 

Since there were many flights that were cancelled, there were a couple of individuals that were traveling alone.  One was a young man from Germany and he was traveling to Uganda to work in a village with his brother for a couple of weeks.  The other was a young lady who was also traveling to Nairobi to work.  I can imagine how lonely it must have felt to be in such a foreign land and have nobody.  A few members from Calvary invited them to join us for dinner and it was my first moment of how kind all of these people are.  They are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  It is such a comfort to be surrounded by such a large group of Christian people who truly care for all of God's people.

Imagine that - fries with our lunch!!!!

Lunch ended at about 2:00 and Pastor John was just informed that there is a flight available at 6:00 and we needed to be ready in 2:15.  Heather and I only had our carry-on luggage with us so it was pretty easy to pack up our backpacks and be ready in 15 minutes.  As we traveled to the airport, we were able to see the wall the had been built in Istanbul (previously the city of Constantinople) many, many years ago.  It was built to protect the city from sea and land attacks and is now being restored as it is deteriorating in many places (I'm sure you didn't think I would provide you with a mini-lesson on Turkish history - did you?????)

We are scheduled to arrive in Nairobi at 1:30 am.  It could be a long night and an even longer day!

Day 2

The flight was much better than we had anticipated.  We both dozed off and on for most of the flight.  It was very bizarre getting on a plane at 10:20 and within a number of hours of flying it is daytime again.  We were flying into Istanbul where the time difference is 8 hours from Chicago.  Once we arrived in Istanbul, we were quickly greeted, lined up and counted to make sure we were all there and then marshaled through the airport since we were late getting to our connecting flight.  So there was no down time of walking around the airport getting the blood flowing again.  It was straight to the next flight.  We boarded the plane at around 5:30 pm and sat for about 1/2 hour before they told us all to get off the plane.  There was a volcano that erupted in Africa and the volcanic ash was in the path of our flight.  There were a number of flights that were cancelled so there were many people looking for lodging until we could fly out again.  We went from visas, to passport control, to waiting for a long time to determine where we were going to be staying for the evening. 



Istanbul Airport





Can't use the lights unless you put your
key in light switch.



 We ended up taking small buses with crazy drivers to the Grand Anka Hotel which is not as "grand" as the name would make you believe.  Personally, it reminded me of the "Psycho Hotel".  I was grossed out by it and I realized that I must still be a bit 'high maintence'.  I even took some pictures of the place because it creeped me out.



I had to take a pic of this because when I got brave enough to shower - I pulled back the curtain to reveal whiskers in the shower.  At this time Heather was so tired that she had fallen asleep and didn't have to see the grossness of this.  So being the nice sister that I am I cleaned it up and showered.  The entire time I was showering I could hear people talking which was another bizarre incident. 





This is why I heard voices.  There was an opening into the next room's bathroom.  You can see that there are pipes and a clear shot into the other guest's bathroom.  That is just weird to me, but if that wasn't enough to scare me I was convinced there was a trap door in our floor where people will come through in the middle of the night to rob us or take us.  I wasn't sure which one, but neither sounded very good to me - oh yeh - Heather is still sleeping this whole time while I am left to protect us both in this crazy place.


Trap door in our hotel room!

After showering and waking Heather from a deep sleep we went down stairs for dinner at 10:00.  Our meal consisted of chicken, brussel sprouts, rice and french fries.  We all laughed about the french fries as we were not sure how they fit into the meal, but we assumed that they served us the french fries because we were American.  Don't all American's like french fries???

Day two was unexpected, but interesting to say the least!


Day 1

Departure

Here we are ready to depart for the airport!  We are excited and so unsure of what to expect other than a really long flight.  We both have some medication that will help us sleep - I sure hope it works!

I was glad to see our plane will be a big one with lots of space.

Medical Mission trip to Africa

     Jambo everyone (that's hello in swahili)!! Jen and I returned home Friday evening from our trip to Africa. It was an amazing life experience that has changed me forever. We got the oppoprtunity to reach out to the poor of Nairobi in a very real and tangible way. Our first day, we were sent out into the slums to tell people about our free clinic. I have never seen anything like it. The slums of Nairobi are basically little cities within the city of Nairobi. There are three main slums ranging in size from 300,000-1,000,000 people. The poorest of the poor live in the slums.They live in deplorable conditions. There is no sanitation and raw sewage runs through trenches in front of their makeshift homes. Clean water, which is so accessible to us in America, is difficult to come by. Disease runs rampant. I could go on and on about the conditions, but the Kenyan people have very sweet spirits. They are incredibly patient and polite. I found them to be very appreciative.
     There is a bible verse that came to my attention which I want to share with those of you who prayed for us and donated money to this cause.  If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD--and he will repay you (Proverbs 19:17). Essentially, when you give to the poor the Lord is your debtor. He will repay you for your good deed.  I have to confess that before I went on this trip I was concerned about how much difference we could really make in 5 days. Well,  I can tell you with 100% certainty that our team did make a difference to many people. I know this because I saw it with my own eyes. In fact, four people were so critical that they would have likely lost their lives without immediate medical intervention.
     Our team was able to meet some of the practical needs of the people through food, water, and medical care. However, more importantly we helped these people who seem to be forgotten and invisible,  feel cared for and loved by us and by God. Many of these people will never get out of the slums. The average life expectancy is around 45, so what they need most is hope. You all have helped get this message to these people and I want you to know it makes a difference.
     Please pray for the poor of Kenya. The Kenyan government is very corrupt and there are many complex social issues which keep these people in bondage (especially the women).  I am so grateful that my sister was able to accompany me on this trip. I don't think I could have gotten through it without her. It was challenging mentally and physically, but rewarding as well. Thank you again for your donations and prayers. God Bless!

ONE WEEK

Well, today marks the countdown to seven days and counting.  Next week, at this exact time, we will be getting ready to board our plane en route to Turkey (this is the longest of the two flights - 12 hours).  We have a short layover and then another six hours till Nairobi. 

We are both starting to pack our bags and Heather's trial run resulted in a 28 pound bag.  She reassured me that I will be able to pack lightly as well, but I'm not sure I can pack for two weeks and have it all weigh under 30 pounds.  We have up to 50 pounds so I am convinced I will be much closer to that weight. 

Heather attended the final informational/prayer meeting today.  There are 34 of us going on this mission and we are hopeful that we will help and assist many people while we are there.  Heather will be assisting as an RN and I will be working in the waiting room, registration desk, or watching children.  So I imagine that Heather and I will actually see very little of each other during the clinic days.  Each evening we will attend church services.  Bravely, Heather is singing solos for a couple of those services.  I definitely did not volunteer to sing for the group (I can sing in front of my kindergarten students; however, they have NO idea that I am unable to carry a tune). 

It is crazy to think that in less than one week we will be on our way - this has been about a four month process and it has gone so quickly.  I can only imagine how quickly the time will go while we are working.

I am looking forward to being able to share with you our experiences while we are on the other side of this world.  I won't have access to the internet while I am there so I will make posts when I return.  I hope to have great stories and many pictures. 

Thank you all for your financial support and prayer.  We couldn't be more excited, and a bit anxious, for this opportunity:)