Headed Home

36 straight hours of travel to get home.

thanks to Mark and my new Kenya-bootcamp-thighs i don't miss my connection in London and make the flight...gosh, that airport is huge....i run like the gazelle i spotted yesterday. :)

my luggage? - not so much. it's ok. it smells bad anyway....

i'm sad to leave the kids and people i've met on my journey. i'm so happy i was able to see what i've seen, learn what i've learned (anyone need a new brick bbq?), and give a little, too. i can't wait to do it again - i'm starting a new savings account this week.

if anyone wants to join me next time - i think we are headed to Haiti in 2012.

thank you to all who donated - money, supplies, well wishes... i couldn't have done any of it without you. very much appreciated.

oh - and i found out that the cost to build one of the houses we built is about $2,000 US. - crazy, right? micro finance works. i was there.

we were able to help build 2 of them. we also saved enough of our trip money as a team to donate enough to build 4 more homes at the IDP camp we visited on our first day. i call that success. :) thanks again everyone. :) xxoo cricket

Thursday - Safari Day

oh boy - we embark on 2 safari drives this day and are greatly rewarded... more of everything we got to see yesterday - plus baby elephant (ahh), a migrating herd of wildebeast with a few zebra in the mix, a CHEETAH right by the road and to top it off 2 male LION and a LIONESS - we were so close - we saw 4 of the BIG 5 - we are very happy. that picture of me pointing - i'm pointing at 2 lion feet - he's sleeping upside down on that rock... cool.

more food. more tusker beers. it's our last day together. :(

Wednesday - the bus leaves at 7am. Be on it!

holy cow - we are leaving. sad goodbyes to our wonderful hosts at the Bluu Nile hotel - they loved us, and our 'i don't know how much to tip' tipping. :)

driving to our safari game lodge was beautiful - all 10 hours of it - no really, it was really pretty. a lot of the landscape looked like napa valley - very green and lush. we spot many safari animals on our travels - we are in for a real treat!
we see zebra, giraffe, hippo, crocodile, meercat, elephant, buffalo, water buck, impala, dik-dik, crown crane, wart hog - and oh - a LEOPARD! all before we even get there...crazy. i can't believe i'm even here.

we arrive at our hotel - maybe it's my new perception of things - but is this the MOST FABULOUS HOTEL EVER IN THE HISTORY OF HOTELS??!! we walk across a covered, dark wooden bridge to reception, and i can't contain the slightly-under-my-breath statement
'now THIS is what i'm talking about...'
turns out this hotel is a 'game camp'. i like game camps. :)

we are shown to our tented rooms - so cool. i have a pillow! a toliet that flushes, every time! a hot shower! is that? wait - is that a HOT WATER BOTTLE WARMING MY SHEETS?! yes. yes it is. i am in love with this place and will not leave. ever.
we are extremely happy. we roll on our beds and giggle.

the dinner buffet is ridiculous. we found out later that the owners of this place were in for a visit and we were treated to a little bit more food and delightful treats due to this fact - we call ourselves lucky. :) i eat 4 desserts. small portions, but still. 4.

after dinner we take over the pool area and all of the chaise lounges for a shooting star show - the stars are amazing out here - it was dreamy good. it's an early morning for safari - i'm going to my water-bottle heated bed - good night. :)

Tuesday - our last day with the guys

our last day on site - short and sweet - the houses are really almost done and the roof is going up on the 2nd house. very cool to see. we are really gonna miss this place.

work is followed by a closing ceremony and little party - more pictures and some really cool dancing by our crew and hosts. the guys brought in a guitar player and treated us to a little Kenyan culture - we really enjoyed it...

back to the hotel to pack and get ready to leave - our safari awaits!

Monday - last full day on the build sites

it's our last full day on the job and both houses are really close to completion! today i got to work on brick laying way up high - on the scaffolding i helped erect - and i was a little nervous of my handiwork! all went well - no accidents.

i got to pet a baby cow today - don't tell immigration. it was also bathtime for the littlest baby in the village - this baby was terrified of us and wanted nothing to do with us... cried every time we got near - cute picture tho! :)

and Mark and Anika pulled a funny prank today with a rubber snake - apparently i was the only one not in on it - Anika was a snake stomping and flinging goddess in my mind...she saved all the kids from certain death! :) good fun - this is a great group of people - nice job, Mark - on putting together a terrific team.

tomorrow will be our last day working with the guys and we are starting to get a little sad - we will miss this crew.

A Party for the Kids!

finally we are off to the orphanage for the party we've been planning. i know it wasn't the reason for this trip - but this was hands down my favorite part of this adventure.

we arrive at the gates and see many of the kids in the yard to welcome us - we open the vans and quickly have many helpers to unload our bounty... we get everything inside and clear the kids from the courtyard so we can decorate and set up - i think we are as excited as they are! balloons strung from the rooftops, chalk drawings, hopscotch, more jump ropes, hula hoops. soccer balls. inside we have a coloring extravaganza set up, 10 2 liter bottles of Coke and Fanta, chips, popcorn and some sort or puffed chip, a huge bowl of candy and tons of tootsie pops.

we let the kids in and hand them party hats and noise makers as they enter - oh my gosh, the noise! - it was a constant honking of horns and we were all cracking up! we quickly get them all their own cups and begin ruining their dinner with junk food - each kid has a full glass of Fanta and a fist full of candy & chips - it's awesome. a bunch of kids are circled around the coloring table - which is set up with markers, crayons and many pages of coloring books, but no one has touched a thing... i ask 'do you guys want to color?!' and they all nod - i said ' go ahead! it's all for you!' and they all get busy - they were waiting until someone told them they could touch it - incredible manners.... i was blown away.

mark grabbed me and asked me to go look at one of the rooms near the back of the orphanage. i had seen where these kids sleep and knew how bleak and dirty the rooms were - cold cement floors, metal bunk beds, dark rooms - looked more like a prison than anything else. what he wanted to show me was that the kids had hung all the coloring book pages they had colored on our last visit up on the walls of their rooms. i lost it. it took my breath away and i could not stop crying. first, it sucked that this was their childhood room - think about yours. i know mine had a rainbow mural and every plastic horse ever made. second, i was so sad that something so small as a page from a coloring book was so important to them that they kept them ALL and hung them up - it was very hard for me. i was happy that they liked them so much, but sad that they didn't have things like this in their lives every day. they are great kids and deserve better. it makes me mad. it's hard to do something from this far away but i plan on trying.

all in all i think they all had a great time and probably a pretty serious belly ache. one little boy asked Mark if we were coming back again the following week. Mark said no, we had to go back home... the response was 'well, i had a really good time today.' we all had a really good time that day. i will never forget it and i will never forget them. i have the address and contact for these kids if anyone ever wants to send them anything... i will pay for the shipping as it can go with the things i plan on sending them whenever i can.

Sunday is our day off!

wow - it's our day off and time for some R & R!
we start the day with church (wow!) and a visit to another part of the village - Winni is a big part of this group and she's invited us to see her home. she's got quite a bit of land, a beautiful, completed Habitat home, 4 cows and tons of crops. corn, coffee...the works. church was very energetic, lots of singing and dancing - very spirited and super cool to experience.

after church we went to the job site to take pictures of some of the guys and their families. rob had hooked up with a non-profit org called 'dog meets world' - they take portable printers into villages like ours and give pictures of the people away... visitors usually take lots of pictures of these kids and families, but then leave with the cameras and no one in the village ever gets a copy of the photo. the idea here is that we leave behind photos for them to keep - something most of them don't have. the printers are battery powered and really slick - and to see the laughter and smiles on the kids faces as they watched the photos print was priceless.

the workers showed up with their families and looked so nice - dressed up, shaved...some of them we didn't even recognize! we took hundreds of pictures and printed them up for them - my favorite was a picture of all the little kids in the village with the gramma of the village - when we gave her the photo to keep she held it over her head and danced around with it - the kids were laughing and we were delighted... a great moment. :)

after this great event we were back to hotel to regroup and off to the orphanage for a super fun Fanta Coke party - which deserves it's own post so i can post more pictures.... :)