Family Visit

Family Visit – April 2018

Living and serving in another country is a privilege, a blessing, a stretch, and an education. The hard part is being far from family.  We are extremely thankful some of our family have been able to make the long trek to visit us.  On April 18, we drove to Kisumu airport to welcome Erica and Jeff and two very sleepy toddlers to our new home! We spent two and a half weeks relishing the joy of having Anna-Lynne and Oliver, and their parents, with us.  Capturing much of our time on camera (see pics below) we explored some of Kenya’s natural beauty and wonders including incredible wildlife and brilliant scenery like the distant view of Mount Kenya emerging above the clouds. Spectacular!  It was neat to have our family see for themselves the landscape and the culture we have tried to describe. Travelling around the places familiar for us, they now have their own visions of the uniqueness of this country and the innovative, resilient people who use available resources to build their lives every day, and often do it well. I believe this added much to their holiday.

While we planned some excursions especially to amaze our young grandchildren with marvels like the big five, there was no question the four adults in the group were equally delighted.  We spent two days at Ol Pejeeta Conversacy, about four hours drive from Nairobi, staying at the Serena Camp inside the game park.  The early morning sunrise game drives gave us many up close sites of zebras, impalas, buffalo, rhinos, elephants, jackals, gazelles, hyenas, and water jacks (part of the deer family). All truly remarkable creatures! We also stood on the imaginary equator line and for a just a few minutes, spanned two hemispheres. :) 

The Serena Camp was tenting at its finest. Not exactly roughing it!  Along with very comfortable, hotel like tents, it had a beautiful dining room where we could watch rhinos come to the watering hole just outside our tent and be entertained by a large stork that kept wandering up to the window by our table. 

The only little ‘slump’ in our safari visit was our matatu (van) getting stuck in the mud the day we left. Spending four hours watching the locals try to pull us out taught us patience (I think) and the reminder of being prepared for the unexpected. It was probably an exciting morning for the neighbors!

Along with getting to feed a special rhino who was blind named Baraka (he sure loved sugarcane), we also fed giraffes at a park in Nairobi. (The option to kiss the giraffe was available to us but we declined!) We had a good history lesson though and were intrigued to learn about preserving certain species of these very tall animals.

Later the next week, we enjoyed time at Rondo Retreat Centre in the heart of the Kakamega rainforest. We were thrilled with watching the jovial play of both the blue monkeys and colobus monkeys (they look like skunks with a white stripe down their back and tail).  Got some close up photos one day of them racing through the grass.  This area is also home to the splendour of gorgeous butterflies and amazing floral. Erica and Jeff did a two hour guided walk through the rainforest and climbed the mountain for the panoramic view of just how large the rainforest is. The grandparents had fun with the kiddies alone for a few hours. Love it!  

One day we drove about 30 km from our house for the kids to see some entertaining baboons.  It was fun watching them play together, wash each other, and eat their sugar cane.  Apparently many animals have a sweet tooth just like us.  It was a little unnerving when the baboons came close to the car but not alarming.  They are obviously quite comfortable living by or on the busy road. 

Another treat for us was celebrating Oliver’s first birthday. The little guy liked his new African drum. J We also had opportunity to worship with our family at two corps – Kakamega Citadel and Ikonyero corps where we soldier. The happy (and loud) singing, dancing, and drumming was a little different from most Canadian worship services – happy we got to share it together.  At one point, Anna-Lynne joined her Nana and Granda on the platform when we were called on to pray. We hope all these memories stay with her.

A few shots of this precious family holiday: