Friday May 28

Crocodile!

 Yesterday, we took 40 of the kids on a field trip to Kitale, which is about three hours from Eldoret. We visited a museum and an “orphanage” for disabled animals.  

The museum had various African artifacts and instruments and displays of insects. They also had some live exhibits of snakes, crocodiles, turtles, and tortoises. The kids seemed to have a great time! We left for our trip at 8am and got back to the village around 9pm. 

The animal orphanage was really one of the strangest things I have ever seen. I can't do it justice trying to describe it! There were two three-legged dogs that greeted us when we arrived, along with an odd display of statue characters. Then there was an elaborate display of many of the mountains talked about in the Bible, with statues and placards to describe the Bible stories that took place on each of them. They were huge piles of rocks arranged to look like a mountain, with statue characters in animated poses.

Our nature walk at the Animal Orphanage.

Dwarf cow

 They had sheep that had 

extra hooves growing out 

of their stomachs,

 a tail-less donkey and

 a hermaphrodite donkey, 

three dwarf cows, a 

number of cows and 

sheep that had deformed legs,

 and an eight year old steer 

that has three eyes and a

 malformed mouth. 

The donkeys...

His mother thinks he's beautiful.

All three eyes blink and appear to see, and he is huge and fairly healthy looking, which is miraculous in light of his mouth which doesn't look like he should be able to eat at all.

This cow's abnormality is some sort of shrub growing around her ear. (Ha! just kidding. )

Every animal orphanage should have a pregnant policeman statue!

This little guy lives in the house I'm staying in - we are becoming good friends!

The kids piling into the back of the play truck in true Kenyan fashion - it's not full yet!

Hello Kenya!!

Well, I'm finally here! And Kenya is not holding back and letting me ease back into the lifestyle here. We have had a water shortage since before I arrived, and since Thursday there has been no running water at all, only what we carry in buckets from holding tanks. But at least we have water! And I was very grateful for my bucket shower this morning - it felt soooo good.
As you may have guessed by my lack of communication, the internet at the village has also been down. Right now I am sitting in the parking lot of a fabric store in town, using a satellite modem while some others shop for the village. I cannot upload pictures on this connection, so while I have a few other posts written and ready to upload to the blog, I am only going to share one story that has no photos.....more to come when the internet is back on!

Saturday, May 28

This morning I woke very refreshed after sleeping through the night finally! I got up, washed my face, got my toothbrush to brush my teeth and on the way back to the bathroom sink, saw a dark shape curl itself into a pile against the door jamb between me and the bathroom. Stay calm. I put on a sweatshirt and opened my door where, thankfully, Tom was standing close by. I quietly told him there was a snake in my room. He came over to me, “What?” I repeated, “There is a snake in my room.” He looked past me into my room, “A big snake?” “No,” I said, thinking of the python we saw at the museum yesterday. “Just a small one.” He came in and looked at it, then told me not to show the children or they would be scared. Oh yes, it's poisonous. He left to get something and I babysat my snake. He came back with a large four foot long stick, and had to whack it quite a few times before it was dead. He was sweeping it into a dustpan, where I could now see it was about 12 inches long, when Emmy came in. She just stared very quietly at the snake while Tom explained that the house would need to be thoroughly cleaned today and fumigated sometime this week. She looked so serious that she really surprised me when she turned to me and said smiling, “Well, didn't you offer some chai to your visitor?”

I told them I would be keeping my windows closed day and night now, but they assured me that it is good to open them during the day for fresh air. This is Africa! Unfortunately I did not take a picture of my guest this morning. And I'm REALLY hoping there won't be another chance for me to take a picture of a snake in my room.

**I wrote this on Saturday morning, but since we haven't had internet, I couldn't post it then. I have since worked up the courage to ask Tom what kind of snake it was. It was a Black Mamba. Emmy said she was impressed that I remained calm when I saw the snake. I have since explained to her the meaning of the phrase, “Ignorance is bliss.”

Do you need an Elephant?

Final plans for Kenya are coming together! I have only two shifts left at work, which really makes me feel like time has sped up all of the sudden. I will be leaving for Kenya in 17 days! My final meeting in Portland is not until May 16, and that is when I will hear the final details for my trip, what I need to pack, etc.

I recently read a book about a missionary who lived in Thailand. She told about a time that two lady missionaries were hiking through the jungle up a mountain trail to take food to a sick friend in another village. It was raining, and the mud and the incline of the trail was making it really difficult for them to carry themselves up the mountain. They heard a noise and turned around: an elephant was behind them! Elephants were not common in the jungle. This elephant and his rider were traveling the same trail, to another village where the elephant was to be hired to move some trees. The elephant rider took their packs for them, promising to deliver them the next morning when he was on his way down from the farther village. The women reached the village of their friend, and sure enough, the next morning the elephant brought them their packs. Turned out, that elephant never moved any trees. The only work he did was carry their packs up the mountain, and then he went back down. 

I loved this story so much. I can imagine if I were those ladies, struggling along under their burden, I would have been thinking that God just wanted to make life difficult for a while, give me some heavy labor to do. As my sister tells me all the time: "it's character building." But God cares for His children in all kinds of ways, and when He saw their need, He sent an elephant to help them! Whatever your needs are, God can take care of them. Even if you need an elephant. He'll find you one.