Kwaheri Kenya

Nakuru

Too crazy!!

Literally 5 feet away.

Much less scary.



Hell's Gate

We woke up early and drove to Hell's Gate yesterday. At the entrance to the park, there are bikes for rent for 500 shillings... we tested out a few, and started out through the gate and along the road. We wanted to see as many animals as we could, and luckily we were there early enough to see tons! Zebra, giraffe, warthogs, gazelle, ostrich, crazy birds... dozens to hundreds of all of them.

After biking down the road a few km, we came to this huge canyon... we walked around the top of it, rather than climbing down through it.

These are some of the zebra and a giraffe that we rode by on our way. After this, we encountered a herd of buffalo! That turned our day into more of an adventure than I had expected. We quickly retreated, regrouped, then darted past... the buffalo didn't seem to care at all, so we were just fine.

Some Pix

We went to the elephant orphanage in Nairobi earlier this week. There were about a dozen elephants under the age of 3 there. One of the keepers gave a thorough presentation, informing us of how they care for the babies and their methods for re-incorporating them into the wild. Elephants are especially fragile animals, they are so emotionally sensitive that if a baby loses his mother, he will often die of sadness within a few days... like a little heart attack.

We also visited the giraffe center to get an up-close look at this lady. Her name is Laura and she is very pretty. We walked up some stairs to this balcony, where we bribed her to come near to us by holding out little pellets of food. I loved getting to touch her tongue, feel her hair, and see her coat so close up.

A couple of days ago, my mom, Morgan and I went down into Kijabe Town with John. John is an awesome guy. He's coordinating all kinds of projects in and around Kijabe, working with the local people and trying to help out in any way he can. He's a Kenyan, lives up in Maingi (a town just up the road from where we live), and he's got a lot of energy for helping people. One of the many things he does is deliver bags of food (produce, flour, sugar) to widows in Kijabe town and in the IDP camps each month. We just went along for the ride and met some of the ladies. It is very encouraging and inspiring to see a Kenyan helping Kenyans.

This is our friend Abraham. He comes over each morning to have some chai and a muffin. He has the greatest laugh I've ever heard... and is the dirtiest man I've ever touched. It occurred to me yesterday while I was having my morning chat with him that I hadn't taken a picture of him yet. So I got the camera out and told him he was a just like a model. He responded with a strong, hearty, toothless outburst of laughter. Great man. Seriously, one of the things I'll miss most about Africa: Abraham.

Morgy's Here

Morgan flew in Saturday night for a two week visit. It's nice and sort of strange for me to see one of my friends. I'm realizing how little time I have left here, and am starting to think more about going home and what that will be like. I haven't seen my friends in months... going on almost a year for some of them. I haven't driven a car since, been to school, worn a coat, or done loads of other things since December or January. I miss Americans and I miss Seattle.

But there is plenty here in Kenya that I will miss too. The weather, the sky, the slower pace of life, the chapati and chai, the acacia trees, the pikis, the exotic animals, the sky, cheap things... lots! Africa is so different than home, which makes it both lonely and exciting. With the time ticking so steadily, there's a whole list of things I want to be sure and do before I fly out.

John has a few volleyball games left. It's been fun for him to have the opportunity to play, and I've really enjoyed watching. He and I have had some great times together here, lots of sibling bonding in our small little apartment in Kijabe. I'm glad he's coming home so soon after I do.

My dad's been out of the country for almost a week now, lecturing at a medical school and working in a clinic. When he returns, we have plans to go on safari in Nakuru and hopefully visit Kembu Farm (this really neat knitting project in Nakuru). Tomorrow, my mom and I are taking Morgan to the Masai Market to try out some of her bargaining skills.

Ali and Myles are still on their big trip, which is so strange to think! It feels like forever ago that they were here with us. They have checked in a couple of times to let us know they are fine. After a couple of days in Paris, they'll be flying back home. I think we're all excited to be back together again in Seattle.

That's the short little summary of what's happening around here...

Masai Mara

I was pretty excited about this safari. We spent a few days in the Masai Mara a few weeks ago and got to see all kinds of animals. It was great. Normally this type of trip would be really expensive, but we did it for cheap which made it even better. We camped in a missionary family's backyard, less than a mile from one of the park entrances. They were super nice and had a great spot to pitch a tent, a fire pit, a toilet, a shower- all for free! Our driver Benson and our Masai guide Jon were expert animal spotters. We saw four of the BIG 5 (all but the elusive leopard). Benson's van was way more legit than we were anticipating.. off-roading, driving through deep mud, up and down steep, narrow crevices... and only got stuck one time. I was repeatedly shocked and amazed with her performance. It was a fun weekend for us kids, out on our own without the parents. And I feel much better about my time in Africa now that I've spent a few days just staring at crazy animals and taking pictures of them.



Mt. Kilimanjaro (not a long walk)

We had a great adventure last week. The five Fisher's and Myles ascended Mt. Kilimanjaro... along with a team of support. Literally 19 Tanzanians went up the mountain with us, a compilation of guides, porters, and cooks. There are multiple routes up the mountain- ours was the Nalemuru route. It took five days round trip. We walked very slowly the entire way to the top, which seemed silly at first.. but as we reached higher and higher altitudes it began to make more sense. Living at above 7,000 feet in Kijabe for the past few months definitely helped with handling the thin air at 19,000+ feet. Alison and Myles had a little more trouble with the elevation... some sickness, dizziness... but we all made it to the top!

Day 1

Heavy fog, torrential downpours the entire day of hiking. Once we reached our campsite the sun came out and the mountain appeared for the first time. It was a huge relief.

Day 2

Much less rainy. We had a really pretty campsite called "Third Caves". It was sunny and clear by the time we reached camp... and the mountain was right above us!

Day 3

We made our way to School Hut, which was the last campsite before the summit. We slept for a few hours at 15,000 feet, then woke up at 11:30 pm to start the long, hard climb up the steep switchbacks to the top of the crater.

Day 4

I didn't even know that Kili was a crater until I got to the top and saw the "real summit" on the other side of the massive thing. Two hours after reaching Gilman's point, which is the first summit, we reached Uhuru point... at around 8:15am. We were so relieved to finally be done with the UP and to start going DOWN.

Day 5

Our last day on the mountain... I was the only one who woke up sore from the day before, which was strange. This is our team of helpers. It was really cool walking down the mountain, we passed through all kinds of different "environments" as we got lower and lower. All of that downhill was hard on the knees.

We got to stay at a really nice, comfortable hotel in Moshi the night we finished the hike. We had a few rounds of Tusker, Kilimanjaro, and Safari beers before collapsing into bed.





We are all thankful that the weather held up and that everyone made it to the top. I speak for all of us when I say that we were caught a bit off guard by the difficulty of that last day up to the summit. It was HARD. If anyone ever tells you that Kili is just a "long walk" they are lying. My mom claims she was debating whether she would rather give birth or continue climbing up the switchbacks... she decided she'd rather give birth.

But it was fun! And we're happy to be back in Kijabe, preparing ourselves for a nice long week at the beach in Mombasa in just a couple of days...

Ethiopia

My mom and I flew to Ethiopia last week. We spent a few days in Addis with a group of our friends from UPC, who were in Ethiopia and Kenya to visit different NGO organizations doing HIV/AIDS work. We had a nice time with our friends, and very worthwhile and interesting visits with the different Ethiopian organizations.

Our first dinner in Addis was at this Ethiopian restaurant. It was a colorful and lively place... dancing, music and traditional clothing. There was a huge buffet of all sorts of different Ethipoian dishes. Very heavy, rich food.



 This is one of the HIV testing centers. "Save Lives International" was one of the indigenous NGO's that we visited. One of the projects that they run is sending medical volunteers to schools to test kids. The six little white squares on the table are individual blood tests.

OSSA is another indigenous NGO in Addis, with a lot of great projects going. One of the things they do is IGA (Income Generating Activities). This is what they call an Orphan Head of Household. They are a family of 7 kids, who lost their parents to AIDS several years ago. The oldest son went through a year long training program through OSSA to learn to sew. He has trained his brothers and some friends to sew as well, and now they have 5 machines and are doing contract work for different clothing companies. They were very busy, hard-working, and happy.

On our last day in Addis, my mom and I toured the city a little bit. This is an Orthodox church in Addis. There was stained glass, chandeliers, and frescoes on the walls and ceilings. Really beautiful, and not a type of church I've seen in Africa so far.

There is a lot of hype about the Sheraton in Addis, so we figured we should check it out. This is the nicest, most extravagant thing my mom or I have seen in Africa. It is just like a Sheraton in the US- SUPER fancy and very expensive. There were all sorts of treasures here! It costs 500 dollars/night to stay here, so these are rich people. We had dinner at one of the restaurants in the lobby- where there were big couches, candlelit tables, and a live piano player! Ridiculous.

Ethiopia was very different.. the language much harder to imagine ever comprehending or speaking. Amharic doesn't even use the latin alphabet, so the signs and names of places and people are impossible to even begin to sound out. We liked Addis, but it is definitely poorer and dirtier. There are less cars on the roads, beggars in the street who come up to your car window, unfinished construction everywhere, dogs all over the place... but somehow it felt more familiar. There is something about the look of the people, their fashion and body type, that seems more western. And the coffee is fantastic! Instead of chai, they have macchiato. So we had macchiatos every day and brought back three bags of coffee beans.

Returning to Kenya felt very nice. It seems so modern and developed after being in Addis. I can't imagine how it will feel to go back to Seattle in a couple of months!

Trophies

1-0 victory yesterday in the JV girls soccer league championship. We had an undefeated season, with only one goal scored against us. The girls were ecstatic.. they are just the cutest. We played in the semis on Wednesday in what was a very close game- it went all the way to the 6th PK! My girls were strangely composed, every PK was on frame.. !? I was very impressed with them. We also won the sportsmanship award, which was a surprise ;) So we came home with lots of hardware. Coaching turned out to be much more fun and "awarding" than I had anticipated. I will miss my little girlies.

JV boys basketball also won their league... John sauntered up to receive the awards in a very John-like fashion. A little wave of "FISH" chants followed.

Suswa

John and I went to Suswa this weekend. Suswa is a shield volcano with a double crater and lava tube caves! It takes about 3 hours to drive there in a car.. and probably about 1.5 hours on a piki. We took a car. You have to drive down from Kijabe all the way into the middle of the valley. Once you reach the outer crater you have to drive for another hour or so before getting to the inner crater. The road inside the crater is full of rocks and pot holes, but also beautiful views. As we drove up towards the inner crater we could look back and see a huge expanse of the valley with Longonot in the distance... very nice. There is a lot of vegetation along the outer crater, along with plenty of wildlife. Apparently Suswa used to be full of wild animals, even lions! Not anymore though- now there are mainly just gazelles, birds, snakes, and apparently some hyenas and leopards (but we didn't see any of those). It's very much Masai land out there.. we passed tons of them on our way in. Our Masai friend Samuel lives in a village inside the Suswa conservancy.

We camped on the edge of the inner crater, on a cliff overlooking the lush, green center. It was fantastic. The sunset was amazing, as was the night sky.. we saw some crazy lightning beyond the rise of opposite side of the crater. It looked like the world was ending! All sorts of bright flashing colors of light. The stars were bright and the sky was clear- all of the southern hemisphere constellations were there for the finding. I could make out the Southern Cross, Orion, and Cassiopeia.  We woke up just after sunrise, but the morning was also really pretty... Pink, purple, bluish light. The African sky is so alive.

In the morning, we cooked some breakfast over the campfire, packed up our campsite, then drove down to the famous Suswa caves. Without our friends leading the way, I never could have found them. There are hardly any signs and the roads are hard to follow. There are several collapses acting as different entrance points into the network of caves. We parked next to the biggest collapse and climbed down into it. One of the Masai guided us through several of the most interesting caves. The highlight for sure was the bat chamber, a huge dome full of dead air, feces, insects, and tens of thousands of sleeping bats. We had to walk pretty deep into the cave in order to reach this particular "room"... so it was pitch black and smelled purely of feces- no air flow contaminating that specimen. And the tiny bugs jumping up into my nostrils were a nice touch as well. John was ready to get out of there real quick ;)

We loved Suswa. We've decided that next time we'll be traveling by piki... and climbing up to the peak of the inner crater rather than down into the caves.

So much for the routine:

TIA, and there are bandits here. Our good friends Rod and Melanie encountered bandits on the road down to their home just a couple of weeks ago. Rod told my mom about what happened, and how he handled it. Through this story, we learned that typically the guns that the bandits threaten with are either fake or not loaded.. so the best way to handle being "held up" is just to duck your heads and gun it. Stopping the car is a no-no and far more risky than hoping that they won't shoot as you floor it passed them. If you ever find yourself driving in Kenya, remember this!! In the off chance that you encounter bandits, just duck and GO! DRIVE! AS FAST AS YOU CAN! I am very thankful for this lesson, it came in handy this morning.

My mom and I had planned to drive down to meet our friend Melanie in Maai Maihu. Maai Maihu is a trucker town along the tarmac, teeming with drugs, prostitution.. HIV. There is an organization in Maai Maihu called Comfort the Children which we have been wanting to visit and think about getting more connected to. Anyhow, there are several roads to Maai Maihu some of which are more passable than others. Our van has a pathetic engine and no four wheel drive, so we have to take the better (but also more isolated) road. We've driven this road many times, as it is also part of the route that we use to get to our friends' house at Mayer's Ranch. When my parents came here in August, there were a few stories and warnings about there being bandits on this road but there have been no incidents that we've known of since moving here- so we've gone ahead and used it regularly anyways. Living in Africa has its risks, and deciding which warnings to heed or not to heed seems somewhat arbitrary most of the time.

This morning we left the house at around 9:20, and had been driving for about 25 minutes or so. It is a rocky, winding road, with plenty of ups and downs. We were making our way up one of the steeper hills, going quite slow, when a man jumped out of the bushes and into the middle of the road. He was pointing a gun at us, motioning for us to get out of the car. At the same time as we were taking this in, two other men jumped out of the same bushes holding a machete and a club. They were all coming from the right side of the road, which is the driver's side... so they were running up to my mom's window waving their weapons like they were going to start smashing the windows in. My mom, having heard Rod's story, proceeded to drive as fast as our van could take us, through the little mob of bandits. We ducked as we passed them, hoping they wouldn't shoot our tires (or our heads!!) as we drove away. Luckily no shots we fired!! But the man with the machete managed to get a good whack at the rear end of our van. We continued driving at full speed until we reached the main road.. which was luckily only about 1 km away from where the bandits tried to attack us.

It's interesting.. moments like those (not sure what "like those" means exactly.. near death? shock inducing? panic moments?) are out of body experiences. You become sort of unaware of yourself and what you're saying and doing. I can clearly remember my mom shouting, "NO, NO, NOOooo, NO, NO" and she heard me yelling, "OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH", but neither of us have any memory of what we ourselves were saying. After we reached the safety of the busy main road, I could feel my senses numbing.. I got light-headed, my ears plugged, I started shaking. Then I had a little bout of hysterical laughter with my mom- and off we went down the tarmac towards Maai Maihu.

Both of us continued our day as planned, in a state of shock... sort of unfazed. Melanie was bewildered as to how we were so calm about it. I don't really get it, shock is weird. I just feel exhausted now and for whatever reason I burst into laughter when I talk about it..? John walked in the door from school and I told him that I had a story to tell him. I start off with hysterical laughter, which set him up for a different sort of story. He was all smiles, expecting to hear about some new found treasure or something... then as I begin explaining everything his face quickly turns into a frown and he says, "That's not funny, Erika. That's really scary."

So that was today. Definitely out of the ordinary. I suppose I should be more careful what I ask for.. a nice, safe routine beats many other possible outcomes for a given day. Thank you GOD that we are safe, unharmed, and still in possession of our money, passports and van! (We had our passports with us in the car!! Yikes). I am thinking that we won't be driving on that road much anymore. Especially if my dad has anything to say about it ;)

And the drought continues...

Still no water.


I saw our maintanence guy walking around the "compound" today. I think he was nervous to see me, because he's been avoiding us at all costs... not answering phone, not coming around. I'm pretty sure that he fears my mother. I asked him where my water was. "What water?" The water that should be in my house. "Oh, they haven't called me back yet."
An important piece of information: In Kenya "they" translates directly to "nonexistent person"


It's sort of funny.

Updates from Kanjabee

I have developed a routine here the last few weeks. I do more or less the same thing each day...

1. Wake up and drink my coffee
2. Go down to the hospital for a few hours
3. Eat lunch and go for a run
4. Soccer practice
5. Dinner
6. Watch Rome with John (this only happens like 10-15% of the time)
7. Go to bed

John and I finished the Wire weeks ago unfortunately. We are big fans of the Wire, so that was a sad day. Rome is also HBO, so we assumed it would be a quality show- but it's sort of letting us down (no offense Michael, it's far better than nothing). It's just over the top erotic at times, and not the best story line. But we are persevering. After all there is no Hulu in Africa.

There is also this amazing tree here that I love to walk down to.. I sit there to listen to music and soak up the sun. It's very quiet and secluded- no one ever walks by. You can hear the soft sound of the cowbells from down below in the valley. It's peaceful. So that activity fits into #3b on my list above, replacing the run. A great replacement if you ask me.

Today is a special day, full of other activities.. because we are now on day 3 of no running water. So I get to add things to my list such as: fetch water for washing dishes, fetch water for flushing the toilet, fetch water for drinking, fetch water for cooking. It's just so much FUN! Honestly, I can't complain too much- our next door neighbors have running water, it could be wayyy worse. I still get to take showers every day, so the living's easy.

I skipped #2 on the list today, so I'm charging forth to #3b now...

The Road From Nairobi Back to Kanjabeee

Hike!

A few of us decided to climb Kijabe Hill today.
13 miles, 5 hours of walking.. it was hard, but we made it to the top. Behind us is Mt. Longonot.



I like taking pictures of the flowers wherever I go. These are a few of my favorites from today...

Dentist Appt

I learned a new phrase this weekend from my girls on the soccer team. "TIA" = This is Africa. It's very useful.
Today I had a cleaning, a filling, multiple x-rays, a wisdom teeth consultation, some other gum graft consultation thing... all for $60.
TIA. And there are some benefits.

The Best Tree

Crescent Island

This little giraffe was born on Christmas Day. So... naturally, they named him Jesus.

Da Nile: More than just a river in Africa

We drove across the border to Uganda this past weekend and rafted the Nile. In one day we went through four grade 5 rapids and three or four grade 4 rapids.. our raft flipped three times. It was too good.
We left Kijabe at around 7 on Friday morning, and arrived at the hostel a little over ten hours later. Hostels are funny places.. little islands of white Americans in the midst of a foreign land. Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Taio Cruz... they're there doing what they do. There is the classic group of 20-somethings drunk in the middle of the night, going out on "the town".. which in Jinja, Uganda could mean really anything. Hostels are just funny.

Saturday was our day on the river, and it was wild and crazy and FUN. There were five of us, so we needed one more person in the boat. We picked up this guy Johnathon from Texas... pretty weird guy. I didn't realize that a lot of people actually think that sticking your paddle in the water counts as rowing. I mean.. the boat is moving forward, so if you just set the paddle down in the water it will move back relative to the position of the boat. I was sitting behind him, sort of just trying to wait until he lifted his oar out of the water to make room for me to do a nice, deep push. It made me laugh. Struggle times for Johnathon.

 The point is, it was super fun and if any of you have the chance to raft the Nile- definitely jump on it. They are apparently putting a big dam in the part of the river that we rafted down so the rapids that we went through will be gone, sadly. But, in case you aren't aware- the Nile is a long river, and there are other rapids... and Africa needs electricity more than it needs a few rapids.

Kijabe, Kenya

I have now been in Africa for only three nights... but have managed to fit plenty of activity in already. Thursday night I glided nicely onto the tarmac in Nairobi, made it quickly through customs, and was finally able to relax when all three of my bags showed up on the baggage carousel. My parents, John, and Joe were all there to pick me up. It was a wonderful feeling to finally be reunited with my family (and Joe)! Our house at RVA is not too far from the airport, about an hour drive... nothing like the 8-10 flights that I was recovering from. The house is cute and cozy. It is strange in a very magical way to land in this completely foreign place, to find that my family is quite comfortable and at home here. Sort of bizarre, but also very convenient.
Yesterday John, Joe, and our friends Shannon and Caleb, all rode the motorbikes down into the valley to Mt. Longonot to climb up and around the crater there. It was a long, steep hike with great views throughout. Afterwards, we went to the ranch (where Shannon and Caleb's family live) which is this unreal, perfectly beautiful piece of property. They live in an "Out of Africa"-esque stone house with a long, pleasant porch looking out on green lushness. They have two great dogs running around and a water hole/little lake just a short walk from their house. The swim was greatly appreciated after the long, hot hike. I changed colors as the thick layer of dirt shed from my skin... unfortunately not only did that signify that I was clean, but also that I wasn't nearly as tan as I thought I was. Not to worry though, it doesn't take long to get a tan in Kenya. The sun is shining, warm and pleasant, every day. Not too hot, not too cold.. just the right warmth, with a nice breeze.
I still have a lot of things to get used to here, not the least being the time change. I have not visited the dreamland too much since I left Seattle. Africa has kept me more than sufficiently entertained.. so despite the lack of sleep, low energy has not been a problem.