wow.

i'm not even sure where to start. i don't have much time and this connection is SUPER slow - so i'll start at the beginning. and i'll add more detail when i get home...pics too - i'm not sure this will work here, but i'll try.

landed late sunday night and went straight to the hotel in nairobi. it was daniel's birthday so we had birthday cake - super fun. the following morning we started our 6 hour bus ride to the town we'd be building in - kisii. kisii is actually the third largest city in kenya - but the outskirts are very poor and that's where we were headed.
on our bus ride we were lucky enough to stop at a very cool lookout point over the rift valley - the cradle of civilization - it's amazing. i have great pictures that won't do it justice. while driving we also saw a small group of giraffe and zebra - thanks to our van driver james...our van drivers are the bomb.
but the best part of our trip to our build was a stop at an IDP camp - (internally displaced persons) this is the worst of the worst. these people were displaced by a very bloody civil war in 2007 and have been there living there in tents ever since. homes like the ones we are building are being constructed, but it takes time and money. again, the pictures are almost too much to take. as we are looking at a home under contruction the kids start arriving to see who these visitors are... and soon we are surrounded. smiling, giggling kids all wanting to shake hands, touch your hair and your face. one team mate - MC - had a friend instantly - who stuck by her side the entire time we were there. i'm not sure what the swahilli word for 'uppie' is, but a little one marched over to me smiling and said 'baumba' and put her hands up in the pose i've learned over the years means uppie. i held her for a long time - she wanted to see my eyes and kept touching my hair. she even put her head on my shoulder. it was impossible not to cry. every kid there needed shoes. every kid needed new clothes, a bath, a meal. every kid. but they were all smiling and laughing and running around and playing. leaving was the worst... we want to stop back by on our way home, but are not sure we will be able to. i felt horrible that i couldn't say goodbye in swahilli - kwa heri. now i know - and it's a good thing, cause there were so many more kids coming.... that's just day one. i haven't even arrived in our city yet.