Retro Post - Sept 16 - Day One - First Post

I'm not sure how well all of us slept that night.  We were all jet lagged, excited, nervous full of anticipation and ready to go.  Amy had a travel alarm clock - so we all got up on time.  Funny story about Amy and sleeping pills I'd love to share with you in person sometime.  I had spent part of the evening getting ahold of the boys.   The hotel had a little computer room with two working computers so I jumped down there to say hello.

We were all kind of hit and miss for breakfast that morning.  Not sure of how things were going to run, we all just made it down there when we could.  Here is the dining area:

And this was breakfast everyday.  

An omelet, a roll, sausage (I don't think I ever got it again), a few potatoes of some sort of a potato and a tomato (served warm with cheese).  It was buffet style except for the omelet.  They fixed it for us while we waited.  Everyone at Grace House was wonderful and really wanted to make sure we were comfortable.

We met outside at 8 to meet up with our driver to head to Missions of Hope.  Remember, time in Kenya runs at it's own pace.  So anytime I refer to time, just add an (ish) to it.

We drove through Nairobi to get to Missions of Hope:

 The roads around Nairobi were mostly paved, but not much elsewhere.  Coke signs were everywhere.  LOTS of people walking.  I think I remember seeing only 2 stop lights the whole time we were there.  In Kenya, when you are driving and upset at someone, you yell at the driver.  Horns are used to get someones attention to let them in or pass.  It was certainly an adventure getting anywhere.

Then we took the road that is between the city and the slums...

The shock between the two took my breath away.  People within walking distance of each other....a world apart.  

When we got to Missions of Hope, we were taken up to the boardroom to meet Mary and Wallace (Directors of MoH) and Keith Hamm (our sponsor) to get orientation and a tour. While we were waiting (remember, Kenya time) I took some pictures:

MoH van.  

The view from inside the school.  Most kids are at school well before
school and stay as long as they can afterwards.  

The higher up you live, the "better off" you are.  There are social classes even in the most extreme poverty

Two kids in school!

In this slum there are 10 "villages"  -  the first one that MoH set up a school was Pangani.  This is where we had orientation and our tour. 

Julius our driver for today.

In Kenya, at the beginning of each day you have chai and a sweet biscuit.  This was an honor for them to share this with us:

Washing our hands before chai (Mary and Keith)

Chai and biscuit

Half the team

Other side

Posted in the board room

Justine

Steve like Chai and buscuits

A view out the board room

Being in the architecture business, I noticed the construction that was going on...I see a few OSHA rules being broken...

Orientation included the history of MoH, a visit by Keith Hamm, a tour the school and Pangani.

My next post will include the tour including visiting the kids, the school, some of the valley and sorting the meds.