Home Sweet Cottage

Were you you picturing something like this? =)

Welcome to my home-sweet-home in Kenya!

Here it is from the front! This one is a little misleading because I have more plants on the porch than usual. A lot of those got relocated, but I'm thinking about getting some back!

 One of my pet "ducks". =)

My awesome kitchen, complete with refrigerator, microwave, and gas stove! Love, love, love!!

 This is the bedroom/dining room/kitchen area! The white things hanging over the beds are mosquito nets.

Here's the bathroom. The floor is tiled straight across to the shower area, which makes cleaning pretty easy! Except the drain is not the lowest part of the floor. Oh well, can't have it all!

The view out my kitchen window - pine trees! I love this - it reminds me of my home in Spokane!

The view out the side window - the cottage community clothesline.

Part of our running water system. 

 I have running water, electricity, and internet! Except when I don't... Ha.

 There's a spare bed in my cottage that is vacant right now - come and visit!!

Lake Baringo

 Lake Baringo! Two matatus and a taxi ride later, Mety and I arrived in Baringo.
Our accommodations changed at the last minute, so after our taxi dropped us off about
3 kilometers down a "road" (ha. hahaha. hahahahahaha - NOT a road.) We changed our minds
again and called for a motorbike to take us back to a different hotel.

Cooking catfish

After checking in, we had our new motorbike friend take us into town to buy fish for dinner.
It's quite the experience!

Pick out your fish!

There's a fish market on the side of the road where they sell
smoked or fried fish - Catfish or Tilapia.


We picked a piece of fried Catfish since neither
of us had never tried it. You take your cooked fish to a nearby hotel and they warm it
for you while you wait. We ordered some chapati and about 30 minutes later, dinner was served.
yum! The fish was too much for us to finish, and it only cost 100ksh ($1.20). The hotel charged 90ksh to warm it up with chapati. Now that's vacationing on a budget!

 Good morning Lake Baringo! We woke up to three ostriches strolling around the grounds having breakfast.

I've never gotten this close to a Crown Crane! These birds are all over Kenya, and there are lots of them by the village, so beautiful.

The hotel as two blue tailed monkeys in a cage. Right after I said "sad! that cage is too small!" one of them gave us this look! I think he agrees. Let him out.









This little guy seemed pretty happy swinging around in his cage. But I think he really wanted my camera!

Lake Baringo is a bit flooded right now from the rainy season, so the water is a lot closer to the hotel than it usually is. 

For those of you who are only reading this to find out what we bought the knife for - that was just for cutting up our fresh watermelon! Our first hotel was supposed to have a kitchen, but now we're stuck with two glasses and a bottle of water, which doesn't do much to a watermelon. Made for a great Facebook post though! =)

A Very Great Friend

Earlier this year I was blessed to become friends with Emily Keese. I met her last year when she came on one of the short term teams, but this year she came for a whole three months - she was here for all three medical clinics and we had an absolute blast working together in the pharmacy. We have a very similar sense of humor!

While she was here, Emily gave me one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. As you know, we lost baby Ian and baby Obadiah earlier  this year, shortly before I came back to the US. Before I left I planted flowers at the grave sites, but it was the dry season and when I came back everything had died and the cemetery was overgrown with waist high grass and weeds.  I made plans to go work on it but weeks went by and I just absorbed myself in working with the teams.

Emily heard me mention the cemetery and she went looking for it one Saturday between teams. It's tucked away in an untraveled corner of the village property, overlooking the river. She spent the next week getting up early in the morning slashing grass and digging weeds. The plot was fenced with barbed wire, and she salvaged scrap wood from the dairy and built a gate, then piled a  rock wall all the way around the inside perimeter. Just before she left, the headstones that were ordered in April finally came, and she moved them down also.

I can't really convey how much it meant to me that she put in all the time and effort she did. Once she was finished, the ground was ready for plants and flowers, and the place looks worlds better than it did. I bought more plants in town and then the rainy season continued more than a month past it's usual time - so everything was thoroughly watered and is growing well! 

Emily has an incredible testimony, which she shared at our medical clinics and again when she returned home after Kenya. Watch the video here - http://vimeo.com/49615777

Emily - thank you, thank you, thank you for everything!! You are an amazing person and very great friend! Hurry back to Kenya soon. =)

Asha Turns One!

For Asha's first birthday, we celebrated by taking her out to town for the day!

 All tucked into her car seat and ready to go!

At the Noble hotel, catching some sun by the new swimming pool.

 Hanging out with Uncle Elliot by the pool, ready for her first swimming lesson!

 Eish.

This is the "mom, you better FIX this birthday" look.

 Floating in the baby pool...much better. =)

 

After swim, drinking juice and drying off in the sun.

After this, my camera died, so these photos are Elliot's!     Lunch: Birthday mashed potatoes. 

And...cake!

After party beauty sleep. Happy Birthday Asha!  You are very loved!

Coats for Kambi Teso

I borrowed this photo from a friend's Facebook page: Sarah Patty came and volunteered at Open Arms this year and took some really amazing photos. This is a little boy in our feeding program. The last day of the Kambi Teso medical clinic, it was cold and raining when we were packing up to leave. This boy had no coat and was freezing cold, and we gave him a garbage bag to cover him. Little did he know that in just a few days, he would be given a real coat to wear - thanks to some generous donors from the US and the UK who bought brand new coats for all 150 children in our Kambi Teso feeding program! This is the coldest, rainiest time of the year in Kenya, so the timing was perfect! The kids are so happy!





Wearing a new raincoat - I love his smile!

 I can't describe the feeling of standing in a tin roofed shelter, seeing tiny, dirty children get fitted in shining new coats. This was such a great day!!

 

The sun was shining when the kids got their coats, so many of them were sweating in them, 

but they wouldn't take them off!

 

THANK YOU to everyone who donated toward this cause! You made a lot of kids smile!

Mandazis for Kambi Teso

It's hard to eat Mandazis without your front teeth!

If you come to Kenya, (or one of my fundraisers), you will probably be served mandazis - traditional African donuts. Seems like every country has discovered the greatness of fried bread. I learned how to make these and really love making them for guests, teams, staff meetings, or just anytime! If you go to a special function or ceremony in Kenya you might be served chai and mandazis. Or if someone invites you to breakfast or for a meet-and-greet or hosts you as their guest - chai and mandazis! They are also served for special occasions and holidays. Last month, I made mandazis for our staff and then was thinking of the kids in Kambi Teso, and wondered how often they get a mandazi. I thought it would be fun to make some for all our kids in the feeding program. Mety and Elliot came over and helped - we fried mandazis for about 3 hours! I lined a laundry basket with a double layer of blue plastic garbage bags lined with paper towels, and we filled the whole bag! (I didn't consider that throwing them in straight from hot oil would melt some of the bag. Don't eat the blue mandazis!) We surprised Kambi Teso with them the next day. We've had a surplus of eggs at the village lately, so it just happened that the same day the kids were also getting boiled eggs with their lunch. It was like Christmas in June!

There were more than enough for the kids to have two mandazis each!

Waiting in line - "say mandazis!"

A lot of the kids saved their mandazis and eggs for last - not this one! =)

 Yum!

For some reason this day reminded me of a long time ago when I was little and a friend from our church took my sisters and I for a day out. We had a lot of fun that day but the thing I remember best was going to the mall and eating huge ice cream cones for breakfast. It was such a surprising treat - I still remember that day! So many times, I feel like there’s never enough I can do for these kids. I forget that even small things can have a huge impact! It’s easy to see the big picture and feel like I don’t have enough resources to change it. It’s easy to use that as an excuse to do nothing - but God says we should give whatever we have. When you get the chance to do something small for someone, just do it! 

“Do your little bit of good. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

 - Desmond Tutu

"One person can make a difference and everyone should try." 

- John F. Kennedy