We arrived in Nairobi safe and sound a week ago Sunday with 12 Calvin students, who are studying communities and development. Things are going very well. Our host, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee in Kenya, planned a rich program for us, and our students are amazingly open to experiencing and trying to understand Kenya. We have had full days, visiting CRWRC sites for most of the week. The first photo shows the warm welcome we received from a group of caretakers of orphaned children who have banded together for mutual support and receive some assistance with income generating projects such as raising rabbits.
We've also had the opportunity to visit a couple of Kenya's fabulous national parks. At Aberdares, we spent the day in a 4 wheel drive vehicle, looking for game and spent the night at the Ark, a lodge overlooking a watering hole, which was surrounded by elephants when we arrived. At 3 am a buzzer sounded in our room to alert us that rhino was sighted and we hurried out to see a mother and baby black rhino--amazing! At Hell's Gate, the students were greeted by Maasai giraffe, zebra, and eland, took a strenuous hike and were the victims of theft of some of their lunch by baboons.
We've been in Nairobi for the first 3 days of this week and will be spending the next 3 days in the small village of Ulungu in the Kitui district, one third of the way from Nairobi to Mombasa. David's class at Daystar University is on Tuesdays. The first class met yesterday as a joint class with our Calvin students. 22 Daystar students showed up for the first class but he has been told it is likely to grow to 60 as students move back onto campus.
We're getting moved into our house on the Daystar campus slowly because we are so busy with the interim. We have great neighbors who are helping in many ways. The weather here is fabulous and we are enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables as well as all the sights of Kenya.
