Judy and I landed in Nairobi at 08:30pm local time 24 hours after departing Newark, NJ. Two flight changes and two lost bags later we arrived at our hotel. The two pieces of lost luggage contained the reason for our being in Kenya – our Portable Water Filtration Systems. Thankfully, they arrived at our hotel the next morning. It turns out they never made the change at Paris DeGaulle Airport. Apparently, they enjoyed Paris more than we did.
After spending our first full day gathering the medical supplies for the two clinics we support, arranging transportation with our contact Barnabas Mutua and visiting the Havilla Childrens Center where Barnabas serves as Director and his wife Millar teaches, we took dinner at the hotel and later turned in.
The next morning, very early, we met our driver and along with our ‘go to guy’ Action Jackson, he, Barnabas, Judy and I loaded up our supplies and piled into the beat up old matatu (mini-bus) and took off for the Rift Valley. Little did we know the beating we and that rickety old bus would take on what many Kenyans consider a ‘road.’
After 50 plus kilometers and 4 hours later we arrived at the Ewaso Clinic. It was so good to see Dr. Mereu and his wife Verity again and introduce him to Judy. After a relaxing lunch of Ugali (a paste made from corn flour garnished with chopped kale and spices) and goat meat at the clinic we again piled into the bus and headed deeper into the Rift Valley delivering and setting up our Portable Water Filtration Systems in a number of Maasai villages – 16 in all. This was to become our “Test Area” for the next 6 months.
After a long day of work and documentation and meeting so many wonderful Maasai we ended back at the Ewaso Clinic to rest a bit and wash up and enjoy some more Ugali and Chapati (a thin flat pita-type bread folded and filled with goat meat – basically a goat meat sandwich). It was about 06:00pm as we left the clinic and started the long rough road trip back to Nairobi. By the time we arrived back at the hotel, showered the grime off our bodies and turned in for the night almost another 24 hours had slipped by. The next day we spent at the Havilla Childrens Center, delivered our medical supplies to the ZamZam Center and visited our friends Dr. Yusuf and wife Rehema and children in Ngong Town west of Nairobi and visited the Giraffe Rehabilitation Center where we enjoyed kissing a few giraffes.
The next day we said our goodbyes to good friends, boarded our plane and two flights and 24 hours later, luggage intact, landed safe and sound in Newark, NJ, hopped into our little Hyundai and headed for home just west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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