Nairobi to Kijabe

We arrived in Nairobi Monday night around 8:00. The kids were excited to be in Africa, but not so excited about the Visa line (it was long, and it really wasn't a line, more like a mass). We eventually made it through (retinal scan and all) and were very thankful to find that all of our bags had arrived. We weren't sure what to expect at customs and had tried to mentally prepare for the worst. The customs man took one look at our form and said, "Oh, you're going to Kijabe Hospital? Go ahead." No questions, no bag check. Our friendly Samaritan's Purse driver, Gerald, greeted us with a smile despite our baggage ;)


We stayed overnight at the Mennonite Guest house and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast there Tuesday morning. The kids loved the beautiful grounds. They took pictures of the plants and flowers they'd never seen and made friends with 2 MKs from Tanzania. David and I overheard John enthusiasticly declare, "I love Africa." Another SP driver picked us up and took us to the grocery store (which, by the way, was located in a 5-story mega mall). Not exactly representative of 99% of the people living here, but it had whatever you might want to buy. After 3 hours of trying to read unfamiliar labels, mentally converting shillings to dollar for each item, and continually assuring the kids they really weren't being tortured, we emerged with 3 cartloads of groceries :/ including 5 chickens, 4 lbs of roast, 4lbs of ground beef, 10 boxes of milk, and more!

The drive to Kijabe was about an hour and there was so much to look at along the way. It was definitely hard seeing the conditions so many people live in and we merely caught a glimpse. We arrived at our apartment in the sitaplex and began unloading and unpacking. The apartment is very nice. Flowers, bread and a note had been left to welcome us and let us know that we were invited to have dinner at Rhett and Megan's that night and another family's home the next (Wed).

We enjoyed meeting my cousin, Rhett, and his family. They provided us a great dinner and many helpful tips. We unpacked almost all of our suitcases yesterday (Tues) and have most of our things settled in. I am getting reaquainted with the gas stove (that is, I went through 15 matches while cooking our pork chops for lunch!)

David spent several hours today receiving hospital orientation information. The kids were thrilled when Megan and 2 of her children arrived to take us for a walking tour. We saw the local grocery store, Super Duka; it is tiny, but has most staples available in case we run out of anything (hard to imagine). The next stop was the Kijabe Market where local women sell produce and some handicrafts. After our banana purchase, we walked to the Rift Valley Academy, a private school for about 500 children, mostly missionary kids from around Africa. The kids loved the playground.

Tonight we had dinner with a couple who has served at Kijabe Hospital for 4 1/2 years. Dr. Jaster is a family practice doc who stays busy here; he has been overseeing the pediatrics units since the last pediatrician left. David will officially start in the hospital tomorrow. Please continue to pray for him. He says there are many aspects of the "job description" that he has not had very much experience with (like ventilator management).

This is a long post and it doesn't cover everything, but I am tired and need to try to get aligned with my current time zone.
I hope to be able to load some pics soon. Those will be much more entertaining than my many words!
Thank you again for your prayers. BTW, this is my 1st connection with the outside world. If you've emailed or facebooked, I'll try to catch up soon, but I haven't had a chance to look at them yet.