Travel

For the most part travel went well. There was only one slight baggage issue when leaving from London, but it wasn’t significant and in the end it all worked out.

I’ve now been in Nairobi for 6 days and things have been good.

I arrived last Thursday night and began my adventures soon after that. The executive director of Christian Mission Fellowship was visiting Keith (the guy that I’m living with) and on Friday they had planned to start the day early because they had a full day of visits to many parts of the city.

Since the previous Monday I had been averaging 3 hours of sleep per night so I figured another night without much sleep wouldn’t make that much difference. Because of all the time changes and jet lag I didn’t fall asleep until 2:30 a.m. and then I became wide awake at 4:30 a.m. And so with 2 hours of sleep…

Friday was a good day to get a good overview of some of the work that I will be involved with while I’m here in Nairobi. We visited four different slums and met with groups of people who had been trained in CHE Community Health Evangelism. These groups explained how they had assessed the needs in their community, made plans for meetings these needs, and explained how the progress was going thus far.

Saturday and Sunday were much needed days of rest, yet I still am very tired, and I am still getting my sleep schedule figured out.

On Monday I got my first matatu experience. Matatus are the most common form of transportation in Nairobi. They range in size from Toyota or VW van to mini-bus to full sized bus. Some are rather plain looking, others are gaudily painted; some are quiet, others blast very loud music; some have no indoor lighting, others brandish blacklights or even spinning lights; some continue moving, others break down on the road for 45 minutes and then continue on, only capable of making it up the hills by driving in first gear with the engine rapped (like my trip home on Tuesday).

In the future I will be updating my blog more often; however, right now internet access isn’t easily available so updates are less common.