Nairobi to Kijabe

On Sunday morning, there were 12 of us leaving from Mayfield to go to RVA. Tim (superintendent) and Elwood (RVA teacher) picked us up in a bus and we drove to a nearby ATM to get our Kenyan shillings and to go to the market to pick up a few provisions. We were told that our host family would have already gotten us a few groceries for the week and that we'd have 5 dinner invitations, but that if we needed anything else, now was our chance. We enjoyed the fruit/veggie market and picked up bananas, mangoes, pineapple and a few other provisions. The bus ride was about an hour long, on a highway. Once we left the city of Nairobi, Andrew was fast asleep, but Abby was wide-eyed and asked for the camera. She was amazed by the donkeys, sheep, etc. alongside the road, and managed to snap about 50 photos along the way! Many of the donkeys were working, pulling loads. We observed great poverty as we traveled up and over the mountain. An hour later, as we drove into the gates of RVA, we were met by many friendly folks who helped shuttle our luggage to our houses. Our host family, Tim and Bonnie graciously invited us for lunch just as soon as we were settled in a bit. Tim and Bonnie know John and Dorothea through their church in Fort Myers. They were our original connection to RVA when the seed was planted back in May. After lunch, we played at the Titchie playground where we met our new friend Jonelle (age 5) who led us to eventually meeting her parents, Amanda and Steve and her two brothers as well. (Titchie is the K-6 school at RVA.) It was fun to find out that this family has a few robotic lego sets and we brainstormed about a few possible Lego robotic projects at the school and in the Kijabe community. We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and went back to the Cooks for dinner. We managed to all stay awake for the afternoon and crashed into bed for 13 hours of sleep that night!