AIDS Testing

Kathryn and I interviewed the health division at FH and talked to Clara how is the head of the Hiv/AIDS testing. She is young and loves what she does. She has a passion for the people and it is amazing to see her out in the field working. We got the privilege to go out with her and another nurse to do some testing in the community. Clara is very respected and has a gentle way with the people!

This is the first community church we stopped at to do the testing. FH has been working in this community for a while educating and counseling the people about Hiv/AIDS. It is something that needs to be educated about and then there is a big stigma that goes with it if there is any positive results. A person is at risk of being mistreated by the tribe or shunned. It is also devastating news if someones results come back positive so FH also offers counseling to those who need it. FH also supports the family members in dealing with their loved ones who have Hiv/AIDS. They make sure if there is kids involved that they will have a home if they become orphaned, etc.

We then went to a youth camp were a group of young kids spent a week learning about peer pressure, drugs and abstinence, ect. We also did testing here and same with this group, FH will be standing be to make sure these kids have the support they need.

Me getting to help a little. Each person had a number so I am writing their number on the test strip. The nurse then pokes the person's finger and places the drop of blood in the test strip. We wait a couple of minutes and then show them the results. In a couple weeks- FH will come back and test and make sure the results are acurate.

Building a Dam

While we were on the look out for wild animals- we stopped to see this big construction project. This is at the bottom of a valley and currently has a tiny spring that runs in the bottom off it. This spring happens to be most of Marsabits drinking water. The dam is going in to increase the water supply by catching the water from the spring and from the twice a year rain.

You can see the cement mixer on the left

Here you can see how massive this project is for doing most of it by hand and a small cement mixer! This is coming off the hill next to the dam where the gravel is supplyed for the cement

These are for carrying gravel and other material

There is a small loader in the background along witht the cement mixer.

Marsabit Park Adventune!

We were looking forward to Sunday as Anthony promised to take us into the park and find elephants! We know they were around as we often went to sleep to the sound of the Marsabit

police shooting their guns in hopes of scaring the elephants back into the forest. It is so dry in Kenya right now- so they elephants are looking for water in town!

Kathryn and I got up early and had a bible study together. I was really missing home and my little Sunday morning meeting greatly. We visited the local church this same morning. We did a lot of sitting, standing, singing, sitting, standing, prayer out of a book....I really missed meeting!

We then headed back to our little guest house and ate lunch and toke a little nap.

Anthony came to picked us up and we were off to explore! It was awesome to drive through some of the forest- It was still amazingly green for not having rain in the last two years. Turns out that the only leaves left in the forest are poisonous to elephants- so that explains why they were the only leaves left! As we were driving we rounded a corner and their were two skinny elephants running down the road!

We took off again in the park to see what else we could find! We soon found zebras, water buffalo, baboons and more elephants! So crazy to see them in the wild and not in a zoo!

This is Kathryn, Anthony and I.

Marsbit cooking!

I think we went a little cray when we went to the market! We ate most of the food that we got though! This is a photo of what we picked up. If I did my calculations right- I think we spent around forty dollars.

Kathryn and I were so excited to have different food and to taste of the flavors then what we got the week before!

The Road to Marsabit

A worker from west Africa was at Casa Grande convention this past year and was asked to share a little about where she was from. I liked her response, "How can I tell about a world that is so different then your own!" I feel the same- It seems so hard to write and do it any justice.

It was a weird feeling the day that is was time for the rest of the team to take off and head back to Nairobi. Kathryn and I helped them load up and gave several hugs goodbye- and waved them off. Now Kathryn and I were the only two Americans for miles- and we didn't have any form of communication to the 'outside world'!

We quickly got over it and on our way. After a quick stop back at the Ramata Hotel to pick up our bags and a stop at the FH office in Sololo we headed out with Anthony. We made a couple stops for people who where needing a ride to Marsbit or to a place along the way. We picked up one lady who was dressed in her best clothing which was bright red and smelled freshly washed. With her was a chicken in a box who had the luxury if a hole cut out so it could see! We made another stop where there was a girl in the yard who couldn't have been more then 15 yrs old with a baby on her hip- I hit home to me that this was 'normal' here. A young lady jumped in with a two year old who never seemed to make a peep the whole four hour ride! Along with two other men ad the chief from Karbururi, and a few bags of rice we set out out on our journey.

The road was ruff- we didn't go more then 50-60 kilometers per hour (around 30-40MPH). There are huge rocks in the road as well as routs. Anthony said that he almost aways gets a puncture (flat tire) on this route- we were fortunate enough not to! It is absolutely amazing to see. There is nothing out there- Rocks and sand with the occasional tree! Looking out to the horizon you see the outline of some camels. Coming over a hill and there will be a village! Wonder how in the world do they survive! Gives a new meaning to life in the desert!
We made it to Marsbit before dark which was good. It isn't to safe to be traveling out after dark! It was interesting to have the real possibility that we could be stopped by bandits on the way and they could take everything you have depending on what kind of mood they where in! Kathryn and I made sure to split up our money and place it in different pockets. I had our passports strapped to my leg...As we got further out though I felt more at ease because we passed many buses and trucks. It was good to know that there were other people out there and that the possibility of bandits would be way less. We arrived safely and was excited to see the FH guest house that had running water!

We jumped up and down when we seen the toilet and the actual showers! Our room was amazing! It looked like a very nice hotel! We were pretty hungry but this house was cook your own dinner. Of course you need to go grocery shopping for that to happen so we called Anthony back so he could take us someplace to eat.

We got introduced to Jey Jey's truck stop and Hotel! The power was out so we eat in the dark-yummy beef stew and chapati! Kathryn and I ended up going back because we were tiered of our own poor cooking. This time the power was on and we could see how dirty the table was! They gave us menus this time and we both picked out what we wanted. The waiter came to take our order and as we placed our request the answer was we don't have that. So we chose again and the answer was sill we don't have that! Finally we asked what do you have...."beef stew' was the reply! Ok then-I guess will have beef stew! I think the menu is just for pretend! Makes them feel like a real restaurant! It was yummy none the less! Better then our own cooking!

Meet the People!

One morning two ladies met us outside the Ramata Hotel. One spoke English very well and asked if her friend could get a ride with us. She was needing to go to a place pasted Karbururi. One thing in Africa is that there is always room for one more! We squeezed in to the back of the Land Cruiser- 10 in the back and three up front! This lady that we were give a ride to didn't speak English and I was wishing that I could speak Berona! The road is very bumpy and there isn't much to hold on to to keep you from landing on the person across from you's lap! Our friend was sitting across from me and we braced ourselves on each others knees. She was looking at my white skin and soon reached out to feel it. She picked up my fingers and looked at my nail beds, rubbing her dark fingers over mine. The whole time I was watching her curious face! She looked up and our eyes met. A beautiful smile crossed her face! I couldn't help but smile back! She never let go of my hand! So we held hands the rest of the way to Karbururi! I guess it was a sign that we approved of each other! I asked her if I could take her photo and showed her the camera- she smiled and got shy so I took that as a no. I did take one of our hands! I'll never forget what that did to my heart! It is neat to discover ways to communicate without words and ways that are universal! (In the photo she is in the greed and red)

Another neat thing before we left we were waiting on a couple members of the team while they went to go get some food form the market for lunch. While we were waiting a saccor ball was brought out and Kathryn, Greg, Adan the manager of the Ramata, a couple kids from town, and the two ladies were tossing the ball around like a volleyball. It was awesome to see the ladies in there tossing it around as well. Not only did the want to play, they were allowed to play- and they were good! It's not so much excepted for women to play in sports so this was exciting to see! Maybe this will continue and they women and girls in Sololo and Karbururi will have more opportunity to play games like the boys!

I should spend time introducing you to some of the people that were with us while we were in Sololo/Karbururi area!
First I'll introduce Louis! She is in the mid twenty's and works for FH. Her job is to guide groups through their mission trip. Guiding to make sure that the group is safe, that the things that are being done are done in appropriate ways, and to help the group grow together and explore their experience's to the fullest. Louis is solid in faith and her quite voice can lead an army! She is so sweet and fun to hang out with! She lives in Nairobi and goes on about three weeks out of a month on mission trips in the summer. I'm looking forward to seeing her in the States in February when she gets to go on business here!
Meet Anthony! He is our driver and works as a driver for FH! He is very good at what he does- you have to know what your doing in Kenya for the poor roads and to be safe. He loved playing the game Uno that we taught him! Every night he always wanted to play Uno! He also took Kathryn out early in the mornings to go walk around some of the town of Sololo! It was fun seeing the town waking up and watch the farmers walking their cows, goats, and camels out to find pasture! Chickens roamed the street and by the time we were making our way back to the Hotel- we would have a little group of kids following us! Anthony liked to joke about the roads there being like the California Highways- especially when he good get up to the fast speed of 40 miles per hour! I Sololo- none of the 'streets' are named. So anthony liked naming them-' cow dung road', 'Goat Drive,' 'Camel Pass'... the list goes on!

Anthony is 39 yrs old and has a wife and a few kids. He lives in Masabit. He drove over to Sololo to drive our team while we were there and then Kathryn and I road back with him to Marsbit. It was nice knowing who was going to drive us on the four hours across nowhere!

Adan is the Ramata Hotel manager. He is 25 years old and loved to play Uno with us in the evening. He is very smart and speaks excellent English. Adan in Muslim but he was often found with in ear shot of our Bible studies and debriefing time in the evening. When Kathryn and I left- He mentioned that he was going to miss listening to the Bible talks. Never know what little seed was planted there!

Emanuel in the field supervisor over the Sololo area for FH. He was excited to show Kathryn and I his office before we left to go to Marsabit. This is a photo of him at his desk with the biggest grin on his face!

Andrew is absolutely amazing! He is in his mid twenties as well. He is FH field staff working in the school and the child sponsorship program. Andrew is awesome with the kids at the school. He is the one who translated the letters that are written to the kids, keeps track of who is and needs to be sponsored, etc. Andrew has great faith in God and fills his place quite well there in the community. Andrew became a father a week before we got there to a little boy named David! He and his wife Easter are very proud of their new precious little bundle!

This is actually Andrew and Easters second baby. The first one died during child labor. There was an emergency C-section done in effort to try and save the baby put there wasn't enough time. Easter did great this second time- Andrew called for the ambulance to come but by the time they arrived, little David had already came into the world!

We got to visit Andrew and Easter on Sunday and see little David! they have a cute little family now and Easter seemed to be doing very well. They have a beautiful home as well. It is more a house then a hut. It has a tin roof and several rooms to it. The inside is colorfully decorated. I like especially the verse that hung on one wall that said, "As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord." On of us commented on it and Andrew expressed with great desire that this is what he wants for his house. He lives in a community west on Karbururi and there isn't much interest in serving God or in the Bible there. But it is important to him that this wouldn't be the case for his family. He also as a Bible study in his home on Sunday evenings for those who will come! It is neat to see his serve the best he knows how!



This in the head teracher or principal of the Karbururi school. His name is Alcono. ( To the left)

This is Agnis who is a volunteer teacher at the school in the pink. She will be going to go to Nairobi to get her teachers certificate soon. Sitting to the left of her is another teacher and in the photo below is the forth teacher.

Grading papers in the office.

Sunday afternoon, our team went to the women's center were there was a handful of women who came and we had made necklaces with them. It was a great way to reach out to the women and build a relationship with them as well. The people there love bears and loved creating their own necklaces out of the fancy beads that we brought for them! They had a great time- a lot of laughter and smiles!

Where we stayed in Sololo

We stayed at the very nice (one and only I think) Hotel in Sololo called the Ramata Guest House! This photos shows the front. It was a nice clean, safe place to stay! The picture below is in the court yard were all are rooms were and were we all hung out for bible study's and were we shared thoughts about our day. We spent a lot of evenings playing Uno with the hotel manager and out drive Anthony.





They fixed us breakfast and dinner every day. Every breakfast was pretty much the same...Chapti ( a totilla type thing) with a Mendzi-which is kind of like a sopapilla. We got excited when they would have hard boiled eggs for us and bananas! It all was very tasty and the Kenyan coffee was excellent!
For lunch and dinner we ate the same food. It is a very Kenyan meal. Brown rice, Spaghetti noodles, goat meat mixed in with goat live, cooked cabbage, kale, chapti, newgali (almost like cream of wheat that is thick and sliced) and potatoes that where mixed in to a red soup.
This next photo is of the 'shower.' Where we washed up from the little shallow bucket. We got warm water from the pot outside the door that had a fire under it. The next picture is of Kathryn dipping water out for her 'shower.' The water that lands on the slopped floor runs out under the door to the a place where it drains in the wall. There is usually always a puddle there and in the morning this is where you spit your tooth past. I don't have a problem spitting in a puddle but its the smell of the latrines right next to you that gets the gag reflex going! The Photo in the middle is the latrine.
(Very bottom photos is the where we would was our hands and the other is a bannana- they were so yummy! )