Jambo, Kwaheri

The last three weeks are a blur, but I’m determined to try to recap as clearly and succinctly as possible.  The trip was incredible and everything I hoped it would be.  I’ll give an overview of the itinerary, then write about some of the highlights. 

July 11th – 14th: London, Walking tour of the city, British Museum, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, etc.  Lecture by Desmond Tutu on international aid at St. Paul’s.

July 14th: 7 hours, London to Nairobi

July 15th – 16th: Met a Compassion representative and drove 6 hours West to Shankoe to meet our Compassion sponsor child, Gideon.  

July 17th: Toured Nairobi, the National Museum and the Kenyatta Conference Center.  Met for an introductory meeting with our safari group.  

July 17th – 25th: On safari from Kenya to Tanzania with a great group, including women from San Francisco, New York, Chicago, New Mexico, and Merced, a couple from Australia, a guy from Switzerland, and a college kid from Ontario.  Our guide, Filberth (pronounced Filbert), was phenomenal and made the trip even more amazing.  (He also was incredibly patient with the not-so-easy-to-travel-with members of our group.) We drove from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru, then to the Masai Mara in the south of Kenya, into Tanzania, to the shores of Lake Victoria, into the Serengeti, to Oldavai Gorge anthropological site, and eventually to Ngorongoro Crater.  We camped every night in tents, sometimes inside the national parks, with lions, buffalo, hyenas and elephants wandering through our camp. After our final game drive in Ngorongoro we drove to Arusha (near Kilamanjaro), where we said our goodbyes over a fantastic meal of local Tanzanian food. 

July 26th – 30th: Flew from Arusha to the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania.  Zanzibar is technically part of Tanzania, but there is some political tension and a definite difference in cultural identity on the island.  Stayed in Stonetown on the 26th, then drove the next morning to Pongwe, a secluded beach on the East side of the island for two days.  On the way we stopped at an old Persian bath, and took a tour of a traditional spice farm.  On the 29th, (our final night of vacation) we drove back to Stonetown and splurged on a hotel room overlooking the rooftops of Zanzibar.  Even after three weeks I just kept wishing we could stay longer, especially when I thought about the 31 hours of flying back to Seattle!

Thinking over the trip, we really had four vacations in one: London, visiting Gideon, our Safari, and Zanzibar.  Each part of the trip has its highlights.  I’ll try to be concise.

LONDON

Our main purpose in visiting London was an easy layover where we could adjust to our jet lag before touring Nairobi.  I’d been to London once (for three days with Jessie, Sarah Beth and Stacia my junior year of college), but it was Aaron’s first visit.  London is nice and has charm, but it was probably the least interesting part of our trip.  The two big highlights were Westminster Abbey and seeing Desmond Tutu speak.  With such a short trip we tried to cram a lot into each day, but once we started touring Westminster Abbey we stopped and listened to the audio tour for almost every single entry.  Aaron especially loved the history, poet’s corner, and all the dead mathematicians.  The building itself is so strange, with so many tombs and memorials crammed into one area.  It’s a lot to take in. 

The second highlight (and my favorite part of London) was hearing Desmond Tutu speak at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  When I was planning our trip I noticed that there was a private event at St. Paul’s the night we were in town, and after finding out it was Desmond Tutu speaking, I emailed the organization sponsoring the event and asked if we could get tickets.  To my surprise someone responded and mailed the tickets to our hotel in London, and they were waiting for us when we arrived.  St. Paul’s is an amazing venue, and Desmond Tutu gave an inspiring and simple lecture about humanity and aid.  For being such an old man he had incredible wit and charm with a lot of fight still in him, especially as he was recalling his history in South Africa.  One of the major themes he discussed was that how humans treat each other is what defines us as humans.  We learn what it means to be human by how other humans treat us; so if we treat others as if  they are less than us, we attack their humanity. It seems so oversimplified as I write it now, but it was wonderful to hear.  At the end of the lecture I went up to the front and got a great picture of him as he left.  I’m so grateful we got to hear him speak.  (And I’m pretty excited about this picture too.)

 

VISITING GIDEON

Without a doubt, visiting Gideon was the top highlight of the trip for both me and Aaron.  After a six hour drive from Nairobi we arrived in Shankoe, a small farming area in the western part of Kenya where Gideon lives.  We took some really rough dirt roads into the project, and as we got close to the gate, we could hear kids singing.  Suddenly they started pouring out of the gate, which they opened to let us drive in, and surrounded the car singing and dancing with their hands in the air.  Both Aaron and I were completely surprised, and I had trouble taking it in because I started crying.  We got out of the car and two of the kids approached us, bowed, and held up beads to put around our heads.  Then they continued singing, grabbed our hands, and led us into the chapel where they performed songs for us for the next hour.  Then the leader of the project gave a speech thanking us for visiting, and requested that we give a speech as well.  The entire experience was overwhelming and is still difficult to process.  As the children sang one of the project leaders translated the words for us.  Nearly a hundred kids (including kids from neighboring villages) crammed into the church, and as the service ended they followed us outside and watched every move we made.  After the music and speeches, the project leader led us to the corner of the property for a tree planting ceremony.  Then we played an unorganized game of soccer with the kids, ate a lunch they prepared for us, and took a tour of the project (a school room, church and office).  Aaron and I did our best to interact with all of the kids, but after a few hours at the project it was time to say goodbye and go to meet Gideon’s family.

We piled into the car with some of the project workers and Gideon (who was very excited to ride in the car) and drove about 15 minutes to Gideon’s house.  The car couldn’t make it all the way up the road so we stopped and walked through a cow field until we crested a hill and saw Gideon’s house on the other side.  As soon as we came over the hill a group of women ran towards me, making shrill singing noises and clapping their hands as a welcome.  They ran up to me, encircled me and sang as they escorted me down the hill towards the village. The “village” was really only three small homes, a field and a group of goats, but for only a few families there were a lot of kids, and everyone was interested in seeing the Muzungus.  We met Gideon’s dad and stepmother (his mom died a few years ago) and all of his brothers and sisters.  We sat inside Gideon’s house as Gideon’s father introduced all of the relatives (they came in and out as space allowed), and then the family presented us with gifts, including bottles of coke, a beaded bracelet with “Obama” written on it, and a child’s rattle made from a small gourd.  Then we presented gifts, including some food and post cards from Seattle, and a soccer ball for Gideon.  Gideon sat very still the whole time, but when we brought out the soccer ball he jumped from the ground, grabbed the ball, yelled, and ran out of the house to show all of the other kids.  We also got Gideon’s dad a t-shirt with Obama’s picture on it and the word “Victory!” which all of the adults were really excited about.  After exchanging gifts we sat and talked (with an interpreter) and asked questions about each other’s lives.  As we got up to leave we took pictures with everyone and promised to send copies.  Almost no one had ever seen a picture of themselves, so everyone wanted to be in a picture.

It’s hard to put into words how meaningful and emotional it was to meet Gideon, see his school and his home, and meet his family.  We’ve written letters back and forth for four years now, and it makes it so much easier now to really imagine what his day-to-day life is like.  More than anything we were shocked at how welcoming and hospitable everyone was, and how much time and energy they put into planning for our arrival.  Their blessings towards us were far greater than anything our sponsorship provides. 

SAFARI

The biggest chunk of our trip was the 10 day safari from Kenya to Tanzania, and as you’d expect, the highlight was seeing animals.  We saw the “Big Five” (Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and Lion), along with wildebeests, cheetahs, hyenas, gazelles, baboons, monkeys, zebra, storks, ostriches, geckos, hyraxes, and the list goes on….

The definite highlight of the safari was seeing a lion kill.  One morning we snuck up on a field where we could see two lions crouching in the grass near a group of Thompson’s gazelles.  Suddenly three other lions came from the other side of the field, chasing the gazelles into the two near us.  Two of the lions grabbed adult gazelles, while a third grabbed a baby right near our truck.  The lion near us held the gazelle in her mouth, then dropped it on the ground and taunted it until it tried to run.  The gazelle played dead, so the lion swatted at it and made it run, then chased it again.  We watched this for fifteen minutes as the other two lions ate their gazelles with blood all over their face.  While it was a bit sad to see the kill it was also incredibly exciting, especially to watch how the lions worked together to attack the herd.

Other highlights were seeing a cheetah chase a group of gazelles (they got away), lions mating, lots of elephants (including babies), three different leopards,  hippos, and giraffes strolling through the grass in Masai Mara.  In addition to seeing the animals we visited a fishing village on Lake Victoria and a small Masai village near the Mara.  Ten days and four different parks was a perfect combination, and camping in the Serengeti made the animals feel VERY close.  One night Aaron and I laid in our tent motionless as a Buffalo ate about two feet from our heads, a lion roared in the distance, and hyenas laughed as they knocked over the trash bin in our campsite.  Another night an elephant came into our campsite and tried to drink out of the water bin for our kitchen.  In addition to the animals we had a lot of fun with the people on the trip, especially Filberth. 

 

ZANZIBAR

Zanzibar is the picture of paradise and a perfect place to relax after 10 days of camping.  The major highlights were exploring Stonetown, visiting a spice farm and relaxing on the beach in Pongwe.  Stonetown has been settled by the Portugese, the Omanis, various African tribes, and the British, so it has a really unique cultural vibe.  The island is primarily muslim and historically was an important source of spices and slaves for the islands off of the Eastern coast of Africa.  In Stonetown we visited an outdoor food market and ate octopus and baracuda, toured the sites, and got lost in the maze of old unmarked streets that wind in and out and abruptly stop.  On the way to the coast we stopped at a spice farm and got a tour of all of the plants and how they are used.  A man at the spice farm also insisted on climbing up a tree to get us a coconut (while singing and gyrating ).  We gave him a tip and thanked God that he made it down alive.

Once we got to the beach we were in the middle of nowhere, so we just slept, read, ate and swam.  I read A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER, by Ishmael Beah in one day, and Aaron finished up one of his spy novels.  After two days at the beach we came back to Stonetown and celebrated four years of marriage in an amazing room overlooking the roofs of Stonetown.

I have a tendency to exaggerate things (no!?), but this really was an amazing trip.  Besides the lack of hot water, some minor arguments, a night of throwing up for Aaron, and the $16,000 in fradulent charges on our credit card from some guy in London, everything was perfect.  (Wow, I really meant that last sentence, even though the bad things sound pretty bad when I put them all in one sentence.)  I definitely want to explore more of Africa, someday.

As usual we took a ton of pictures and videos.  You can see some of the good ones here.

Also, here’s some swahili we picked up along the way.  You probably know more than you think you do:

Jambo (hello)

Muzungu (white person)

Rafiki (friend)

Simba (lion)

Pumba (warthog)

Habari? (how are you?)

Asante sana (thank you very much)

Hakuna Matata (no problem)

Kwaheri (goodbye)