This past week I had the incredible opportunity to travel upcountry to western Kenya. My best friend here, Michelle, and her family took me on an amazing adventure to visit their families near the town of Kisumu, situated right on Lake Victoria. I had so many new & fun experiences with Michelle, her husband Joseph, and her 2 kids Shalom and Victor. Here are a few highlights of the trip:
Enjoying fellowship with Michelle and Joseph’s family & friends although most of the conversation was in Luo.
- Learning a ton about the Luo culture…all about their customs and ways.
- Herding the cows to graze every morning and evening. Chasing the chickens and goats out of the house.
- Staying in the middle of no-where, so far from civilization. The place we stayed was a 2 hour walk from the market up a winding dirt path.
- Hiking to a rock formation that we thought was 15 minutes away…2 hours later we arrived, ha.
- Taking a fun boat ride out into Lake Victoria. At one point 3 hippos popped up near our boat and we had to make a quick turn out of their territory.
- Riding through the night on an 8 hour bus ride on the Kenyan “highways.” The adventure of a blowout on the return trip, causing our 8 hour trip to turn into 12 hours. J
- My first ride in a “tuk-tuk”. At one time we fit 7 people in this 3 passenger device.
- Harvesting fresh vegetables from the garden each afternoon to prepare them for dinner.
- Traveling to a place that a white person had never been before. There were definitely some strange looks. Many of the small children were terrified of me and ran away screaming when they saw me…what a welcome, eh? J
- Eating new foods such as: matoke (kinda like plantains), cassava, fresh tilapia from the lake, brown ugali made from sorghum and millet flour, sweet potatoes
- Washing our laundry in the river…all the while tons of people were around us bathing.
- Fetching water from the river 3 times a day for washing, cooking and cleaning.
- Killing a chicken for dinner, and learning the proper Luo way to prepare it.
- Escaping the busyness of the city and breathing fresh cool mountain air.
- Enjoying the peace and quietness and standing in awe of God’s beautiful creation.
I was truly blessed to have all these experiences with my great friends. Thank all of you for your prayers for safety in our travels. Continue to pray for us here as we wind up another semester. We only have 3 weeks left of ministry here before we head to Mombasa for a time of debriefing before we return home. I will be flying out on May 19th and look forward to spending some time at home with family and friends for a bit. Please pray for God to help me bring necessary closure to this place and these friendships…until I return to Kenya.
I pray that all is well with you and your family. I miss all of you guys and look forward to seeing you while I’m home for a bit this summer. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Much love,
Kayla
