Kenya Wednesday - Saturday 7/7-10/10

Wednesday was a day of travel on the bus from Mombasa to Nairobi. For some reason this trip was longer than the trip to Mombasa and we hit Nairobi at the rush hour “jam” which added another two hours to the 7 hour trip. We finally got home and went to bed.

Thursday was planned as our packing day for our return home but as usual it filled up quickly. We had been unable to visit Sister Margaret’s sister, Cecilia, whom we had met in CA during Margaret’s graduation. We did not want to miss seeing her and so a lunch visit was arranged. We traveled across Nairobi to her house, dropping off a Sister at the bus station an efficient use of the car and driver. Cecilia was overjoyed to see us and, as usual with these types of visits, other family members were invited to drop in to greet the visitors. Because of this practice we were able to finally meet Margaret’s brother, Peter, and his wife and children. The original plan was for use to stay at Peter’s home in Nairobi but plans changed. So it was great to finally be able to meet he and his family. Peter is a former Member of Parliament and the Minister of Education for 15 years. He is now working as a consultant for the UN to other African nations of the matter of parliamentary democracy. He is a man of vision and the afternoon’s conversation was lively and spirited. After lunch and afternoon tea we headed back to Assisi house for the farewell party with the Sisters.

There was a lovely dinner laid out and the dinner progressed with much storytelling, laughing and talking. Afterwards it was time for gifts and speeches. Yvonne and I had a certificate that we awarded Pauline as an Apprentice Plumber with a small channel lock pliers as the reward. We also gave Pauline a kitanga in gratitude for her unwavering care of us during this trip. (We tricked her by telling her it was for Meghann.) We awarded Sister Anne Felistas the large channel lock pliers to designate her as the foreman of the plumbing project in my absence. We had honey for Margaret and then once more Yvonne spoke for us. She was eloquent and neither of us cried too much.

Then it was the Sister’s turn. It started in the same way as this trip began, with singing and dancing. This time they even got Stan to dance, Yvonne was easy as she always wants to dance. (We have video to prove it and Stan is still a stick compared to the others.) They presented us with a set of traditional African clothing made from the fabric that we had chosen during our trip to the garment district (they tricked us again). They gave each one of us a safari hat, Yvonne a purse and Stanley a belt and then much love to take us home. We had put together a few pictures as a slide show that we presented after all of the festivities. It was fun to hear them say, “Oh there I am” or “Look at ….” Then it was back to Savelberg for the night. Margaret then left the party to go home and pack. She had a midnight flight to the US on a fund raising trip. We will get to see her in a week on her way through SF.

As our flight was not until 4:00 and we did not need to leave until noon to get to the airport, we visited Assisi House one last time on Friday morning. I took the last set of pictures of the plumbing project (The Sisters doing dishes in the sink with water from the tap) and the chickens, which were delivered at the beginning of our visit, that are now ready for slaughter. Then the last, last, last good-byes, into the car and off to the airport.

I think that saying good-bye to Sister Pauline was probably the hardest good-bye. She has become our mentor to the culture, friend when we were confused, language teacher, and her sisterly teasing of Stanley was evidence of how close our relationship became. (She was the one that named him Punda, donkey, because he carried the luggage.) Because of security, they would not allow her into the airport terminal so quick goodbyes were said on the street. This was acceptable for all of us because we were dreading that moment and Pauline had threatened to find something else to do so she could not take us to the airport. (Kongoi missing Pauline)

The rest of the day was the normal harassment created by airports, luggage, passports, security and airplanes. We arrived in Dubai at midnight and were taken to our hotel. We got to bed by 1:00 am and were up at 5:00 to go back to the airport and more harassment.

Saturday started a very long day all of which was spent on a plane. We were at the Dubai airport by 6:00 and on the plane by 8:30 then sat on the runway for an extra hour before we took off. We arrived in SF at midnight Dubai time (16 hours in the air) where Brian and Baylee met us. He drove us back home as Stanley was afraid to drive (sleep deprivation and six weeks of no driving in a country that drives on the other side of the road where traffic lights are just a suggestion).

We arrived home and were greeted by our children and gave them greetings from all of you in Kenya. We told a few stories, but when Yvonne fell asleep midsentence, we knew it was time for us to go to bed (Dubai time was 8:00am on Sunday and we had been up for 30 hours).

It will take many weeks to figure out what we really learned from this trip but it was one that will not be forgotten for a lifetime. Nor will we forget the amazing people we met in Kenya who are working for the betterment of all of Kenya: educating the people, caring for their physical well being, and holding them in God’s hands.

For those of you in Kenya “Asante sana” for your care and teaching of us and for those of you in the US “Thank you” for letting us take this amazing journey.