Life on RVA Campus

the playground at Titchie Swot (elementary school)

our home and gardens

(Andrew is holding an umbrella b/c it rained for about 10 minutes today - first rains in over a month)

Our first impressions of the RVA campus and community are that it is an incredible place to live and work. Everyone we have met has been incredibly friendly and welcoming. We have enjoyed wonderful dinners with different families each night. The children here have an independence that is truly different from anything we've ever experienced. If I imagined the US about 60 years ago, I imagined it like this: everyone knows everyone else; children can go out to play and come back at dinner time; children run freely around campus and to/from their friends' houses. Children are climbing trees! When was the last time you saw a child climb to the top of a tree?

The campus is set on a mountainside overlooking the Rift Valley. It is absolutely breathtaking! We walk up and down hills on rocky dirt roads. There are beautiful flowers and trees as well as many variety of animals whom we have yet to meet. I did see my first baboon cross the street today. We are told that there are also two varieties of monkeys (Colobus and Sykes') and mongooses, that live on campus. We've also spotted some beautiful birds (we are told that there are over 100 species of birds that live on the campus alone).

We live in the NE corner of campus in a simple home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, LR, DR, kitchen. I think that we have more closet space here than back home on Wilson Street and a LOT less stuff. The tennis racquets that we picked up at a yard sale our second day here sit on their own shelf in the hallway closet. We have a master bedroom, a kids bedroom for Abby and Andrew to share, and a guest room, so let us know when you want to come visit! It is indeed cold here, as we were warned. The house temp varies between 63 and 65 degress F. We have yet to light our woodstove, mainly b/c we have been out most evenings. The outside temp has varied between 50 at night and 75 during the day, but even in a day you can be wearing a fleece one minute and a t-shirt the next depending on the sun/clouds/wind. This must be why they drink a lot of chai (breaks are at 10:30am and 3pm) -- to keep warm!

The entire campus is fenced in complete with a gate, guards and guard dogs, and strict procedures for entering/exiting, so it is a very safe place.

The community is comprised of families who are working at RVA as well as over 100 Kenyan nationals who live in Kijabe and work at the school. There are also Station families who live off campus in Kijabe who work at the Kijabe Hospital or the Moffat Bible college and may also send their children to school at RVA. We have yet to meet the 450 boarding students in grades 3-12, but they will arrive on 8/28 and we are excited to meet them and to experience the campus in its fullness.