I figured I can start with just the details of our trip...what we did and when. That doesn't take too much thought, haha. From there I will share with you things I learned, things that God did, and especially what has changed in me...but like I said, I'm still processing through a lot of that. For now, here are the details!Oh, and I will post pictures soon as well. I'm using my parents' computer right now, and all the pictures are on my computer, so they will have to come when I get back to Philly. The bad news is, I don't have any digital pictures of the first 2 weeks of the trip. I had taken over 400 pictures, but one day somehow accidentally reformatted the disk in the camera, which erased all the pictures. It was a VERY sad moment, but actually one that I think God ordained and used to teach us a lesson. I will share about that later. Travis does have his pictures from the first 2 weeks, but they are all film pictures, so they have to be developed. In the meantime, you'll have to live with my descriptions and pictures of the last half of the trip. Sorry about that!
We left Newark, NJ on Friday morning, December 29th. It was about an 8 hour flight to London's Heathrow airport where we had an overnight layover (and 2 free hotel rooms to stay in!). We arrived at the airport and spent about an hour trying to figure out the cheapest way to get to our hotel (London is VERY expensive). We ended up taking their subway, and after about an hour we arrived at our hotel. The hotel was VERY nice, but you could tell they did not roll out all the stops for free rooms. Travis and I had rooms next to each other that, when combined, would barely be the size of a regular room. I'm not complaining though, it was free! We had originally planned on touring the city a bit, but it was cold, rainy and windy outside, and we were very tired and hungry and not impressed with London at all. So, instead we went and got dinner, watched a little TV and then just went to bed. We had to get up early to make it back to the airport anyway. (Incidentally, we woke up the next morning to the news that Saddam Hussein had been hanged...and glad to no be flying from the states that day!)
The next morning we boarded out flight to Nairobi and I will still filled with some apprehension, but more and more excitement was coming. The flight was about 10 hours long, so we watched a lot of movies. We finally arrived in Nairobi at 10 p.m. (their time...which is 8 hours ahead of the east coast). As soon as we stepped off the plane Jackson, our host for the trip, was at the gate waiting for us. He has a friend that works for the airport that was able to get him at the gate, which is really good because I don't know how we would have found each other otherwise. It took a LONG time to get our bags, but we finally did and headed to Jackson's friend's house for the night.
The next morning Jackson headed back to the airport to see if the 3 of us could get a flight to Lodwar, the city where he lives. Its literally across the country from Nairobi, and a flight would only take about 2 hours. Unfortunately, because it was New Years Eve, we couldn't get a flight and had to take buses. We were actually excited about that, we got to see the entire countryside! We were on buses all day on the 31st and stayed at another friend's house that night. (Everyone is SO welcoming!). We slept through the new year in Kenya, but we awake when it turned midnight in Philly (that would be 8 a.m. in Kenya). We headed to the bus station early in the morning on the first and got a bus, but it didn't leave until after 1:00. So, we hung out at the marked in the hot sun for 5 hours! We got SO burnt! We did get to meet a lot of amazing people that day, though, so it was totally worth it. We finally arrived in Lodwar around 8 p.m. Jackson immediately took us to a guest house where we would stay while in Lodwar. It was pretty nice, Travis and I each had our own room with a toilet! It didn't flush, but its still so much better than a hole in the ground!
The next day was day 5 of our trip and it was our first day with no traveling! We took the day to rest, which was really nice. We got to meet a few people, but spent most of the day reading, writing, resting...doing whatever we wanted really. It felt good!
Wednesday, January 3rd, we woke up early, rented a car and drove with Jackson and his family to Lake Turkana for the day. Jackson is married to Agnes and they have 3 kids...Gregory (7), Keith (5), and Racheal (1). Samson (16) is Jackson's nephew and he also lives with them because both of his parents died. So, the 8 of us loaded into a truck and headed to the lake (the family had never been to the lake before!). It was about a 5 or 6 hour drive to the lake, but the kids we so excited they didn't care. We spent the day swimming (the lake never gets deeper than about 3 feet, haha), playing in the sand and again meeting people. Around lunch time we headed to another friend's house for lunch, and then drove back toward Lodwar. Instead of going all the way back, though, we went outside the city to a village in the bush. There we spent the night in tents and hung out with the village. The killed and cooked a goat for us and then took us to their nightly outdoor church service. It was really amazing to worship God with these people under only moonlight! The night was pretty hot and uncomfortable though, so we were okay with leaving on the morning. :)
In the morning we headed back to Lodwar, ran a few errands, and then drove around and toured some other villages outside of Lodwar. We ended up doing that all day, driving around for over 8 hours before heading back to Lodwar for the night. We were so happy to be sleeping in a bed! (And under mosquito nets, which we didn't have in the bush).
The next day, Friday January 5th, was another day of rest where we spent most of the day doing whatever we wanted. I spent most of our rest days reading and writing (my journal is filled from the trip!) as well as walking around and meeting people. Plenty of people know English, but even the ones that don't were always wanting to come up and at least shake my hand (and most liked to touch my hair as well). Neither me nor Travis had a watch, and there were no clocks around, so we rarely knew what time it was...we got up when the sun came up and went to sleep a little after the sun went down. Not knowing what time it was got kind of frustrating during the day, but I also kind of enjoyed it. In the afternoon we did head out to tour some of the ministries in Lodwar. We visited a home for street kids (which has over 250 kids), and home for deaf children and met a lot of really incredible people and kids. Then we went to the local community center where Travis got to play basketball with some people. He played really well and I think I accidentally told people that he was an international player (the language barrier is confusing, haha).
On Saturday morning Jackson came by with his family to take us to a funeral. A man had passed away in the village and everyone was at the funeral. We had actually heard the funeral for several days (it lasts a week) but this was the day of the burial. So, we all went and spent most of the day there. We didn't really talk to many people, but we surrounded by kids a lot and I constantly felt them touching my hair and then heard them giggle. The funeral was not a sad occasion, they really celebrated the man's life.
Sunday morning we went to our first church service, and had no idea what was going on. It was interesting, and long, and we were very well welcomed. Sunday is definitely taken as a sabbath, so after church everyone went home to rest, which we did as well. I know it sounds like we rested a lot, but I'm telling you we had to! Between the travel, the walking and the incredibly hot sun, you get really tired! Our schedule for the trip tended to be to go hardcore for a few days, and then rest for a few days. It worked well for us, and seems to be the norm for a lot of people.
Monday, January 8th, was the day we headed into Southern Sudan. We only spent a day there, but I will have to write a whole post just on that trip, it was incredible! We left early in the morning to get there, so we could get through all the border stuff. Once in Sudan we drove to a village out in the middle of nowhere where we spent the night in tents. The people of the village were incredible, and SO happy to see us! I was quite the attraction there. Between my digital camera, my really long (and light colored) hair and the fact that I was a woman with a shirt on (seriously), they couldn't get enough of me. (Haha, that sounds conceited...they were just intrigued by something different). There is so much to tell about this trip that I can't do now, but I will say it was my favorite day!
We left the village the next morning, January 9th (Travis' 20th birthday!) to head back to Lodwar. We had planned on staying in Sudan longer, but realized that morning that the insurance on our car was going to run out that day, so we had to get back to Kenya or pay huge fines. On our way out we stopped by a different village to try and find John, a man we met the day before traveling into Sudan. John was one of Sudan's "Lost Boys" (I will tell you more about them later), but he now lives in the US. He was heading back to Kenya that day as well, to Kakuma. Kakuma is a HUGE refugee camp in Kenya where most of the refugees from Southern Sudan fled to during the civil war. We were hoping to drop him off there. January 9th is also the anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement between northern and southern Sudan in 2005, so its kind of like Southern Sudan's Independence Day. So, when we got to the village to get John, we found a huge celebration going on, that included a lot of UN soldiers and officials. We decided to check it out for a few minutes, but became instant celebrities. Once they saw Americans (they LOVE America in Southern Sudan...we had a lot to do with the relocation of the refugees. We did not intervene in their civil war, however, the army of Northern Sudan is hugely funded and supported by Al Queda and other Islamic groups, so the fact that we are at war with them is encouraging to the Southern Sudanese), they immediately ushered us to the front of the celebration and gave us seats right by the speakers, with all the UN people! It was crazy! (We joked that it was all really a celebration for Travis' birthday).
We couldn't stay long and felt very awkward leaving in the middle of the ceremony, but we had to get back to Kenya. We did find John, but he wanted to stay longer, so we just got his contact information and said we would talk to him when we were all back in the states. From there we headed to the border to get back to Kenya. What we didn't know (and because there really is no communication system in Southern Sudan, no one knew) was that they closed all the borders because of the holiday. So, when we got to the border we were told we wouldn't be able to cross until the next day! We weren't too upset about it, we LOVED Southern Sudan, but we also weren't too excited about sleeping in a tent at the border...with the hundreds of other people that were trying to cross as well. So, we prayed and just waited to see what God would do.
In the meantime, we started to talk to and meet a lot of the people waiting with us and met another "Lost Boy" named David, and his cousin Matthew. David lives in Mississippi and was back visiting family for the first time since he left for the US 6 years ago,
and Matthew lives in Kakuma, the refugee camp. We had an awesome time talking to them and agreed to give them a ride back to the refugee camp whenever we crossed the border (I deleted the pictures on this day, so I don't have any pictures up until this point, but I have all my pictures from this day forward).Around 5 p.m. they finally opened the border and we headed home. David invited us to spend the night with him and his family in the refugee camp, which sounded great to us, so we planned on doing that. However, halfway there the owner of the car called and said he wanted it back asap. So, we dropped David and Matthew off and then headed back to Lodwar. We decided to take a bus back to Kakuma the next day though, so we could visit David, meet his family, and he could take us on a tour of the refugee camp (which includes a school built by Angelina Jolie). It turned out to be a really nice drive home too, with the completely clear African sky filled with stars for Travis' birthday.
On Wednesday, January 10th, we got up early and got in a taxi to take us to Kakuma Refugee Camp. We were riding along nicely when suddenly, about an hour into the trip, the car broke down. In the US this isn't a big deal, but it is in Kenya. We were literally in the middle of the dessert stranded on the side of the...well, technically it was a road, but not really. There wasn't anyone we could call or anything we could do but hope that another car or bus would drive by and have room to pick us up and take us to Kakuma. It was around noon at this point, so it was also the hottest part of the day. We weren't too worried, but definitely prayed. This part of the road is well known for bandits, who come and take all your money and are known to strip you of all of your clothes as well. So, we just prayed for God to take care of us! About an hour or so after the car broke down, a truck of Kenyan soldiers drove by and offered us a ride. We weren't so worried about the bandits anymore! :)
The soldiers drove us all the way to Kakuma, where we finally met up with David and Matthew. We spent the day touring the camp, meeting their family, and having an awesome time. After a little while they found out that Travis played basketball, so we headed to the court to see if he could play. He didn't have sneakers, so he played barefoot (which was not smart). It took a little while before they let him play, but once they did he immediately scored 2 baskets and caused a commotion. Everyone was so excited to watch him play, we drew quite a crowd. He played for a while barefoot before someone gave him shoes. It was at that point that he noticed that some serious blisters were forming on his foot and it really started to hurt. He didn't last too much longer, which was okay because it was getting dark anyway. We headed back to David's house for the night, only to discover that an entire layer of skin was literally coming off of Travis' foot. So, we had to cut it off and clean it up, which caused another commotion and drew another crowd. It was an interesting night.
David's mom cooked us an amazing dinner and we stayed up for a while looking at the stars and talking before we all went to sleep. (Our time in Kakuma was also another one of my favorite things, so you will hear more about it soon!). The next morning we visited more parts of the camp, including some of the UN run agencies that help take care of the refugees. Jackson has a friend that works in one, which also happened to be a medical tent, so we were able to get some stuff for Travis' foot. Plus, instead of having to walk 2-3 miles back to where we catch the bus to go home (vehicles aren't allowed in the camp), we were able to get a ride in one of the UN cars, which was really great because Travis was having a really hard time walking at this point. We got on a bus that took us back to Lodwar and hung out with Jackson's family the rest of the day.
Friday, January 12th, was supposed to be the day we headed to Uganda, but we were way too exhausted, so we decided to rest. I'll get to it later, but this day was an awesome day with me and the Lord, so I am very glad that we rested.
We had decided to leave to head to Uganda on Sunday night, taking Saturday to spend with Jackson's family. We woke up at 8 on Saturday, expecting Jackson to come around 10. Around 6 p.m., we still hadn't heard from Jackson, but weren't worried (that's how things go in Africa, haha). Agnes finally showed up around 6:30 to take us to her house for dinner, where we found out that Jackson had to go to a funeral and take care of a bunch of other things that took a lot longer than he thought. We enjoyed eating and spending the evening with his family though.
Sunday, January 14th, left us with only 3 days left in Africa. We went to church in the morning (a different one, where we were again welcomed amazingly), and then headed to Jackson's brother-in-law's house for lunch. We were there until about 5:00, which gave us enough time to get back to our house, pack up and get ready to go. We were taking a bus with Jackson's wife and kids overnight to Eldoret, a town where we could get Agnes a passport to get to Uganda. From there we were going to head to the border and spend the rest of Monday and Tuesday in Uganda. Then we were going to take another bus overnight from Uganda to Nairobi, to arrive at the airport in time for our 10 a.m. flight. That was the plan...
We got on the bus around 6:30 p.m. Sunday night and arrived in Eldoret at 7:20 Monday morning. We went straight to the immigration office where we were given the run around for over 5 hours trying to get Agnes a passport. Finally around noon, things were taken care of. However, we were very tired, had spent a lot of money and were questioning our trip into Uganda. Travis, Jackson and I talked about it and we decided it would be better to head straight to Nairobi, spend all day Tuesday in Nairobi (his kids have never been there, and there is a game park there with animals they have never seen) and then just go to the airport from there on Wednesday. (It was going to cost me and Travis at least $100 to get into Uganda...which we didn't really want to spend anyway. I really wanted to go to Uganda, but I would rather go when I can spend more time there anyway).
Once we decided to go ahead to Nairobi we bought bus tickets to get there, but the bus wasn't leaving until 10 p.m. There wasn't a lot to do in Eldoret, and we were exhausted from traveling, so we decided to get hotel rooms and take a nap during the day. It is impossible to sleep on the bus anyway, with all the bumps and stops, so another all night ride wasn't looking too good to us. We ended up sleeping for about 8 hours before getting on the bus, so we were ready for the ride!
We arrived in Nairobi around 5 a.m. on Tuesday and immediately tried to get in touch with Jackson's friend that had helped us at the airport our first day. It took us a while to find him, but eventually we
went to his house to drop off our stuff before heading out to the game park. It took us about 2 hours to see all the animals (it wasn't that impressive, but the kids loved it) and then we walked to a playground for the kids to play on for a while. (They had never been to a playground either!). The sun was hot and I was tired from all the traveling, so I wasn't feeling great. I still really enjoyed the time with Jackson and his family though. We went back to his friend's house that night, at another huge dinner and then went to sleep.Wednesday January 17th was the day we were supposed to get back to the states. We got up around 7 and tried to catch a bus to the airport. After about an hour of trying we decided to go ahead and get a taxi (they are more expensive) and got to the airport around 8:30...to discover that our flight had been cancelled. At this point I was feeling really sick and the idea of staying in the airport all day was not appealing to me. We waited in line for about an hour to talk to the airline and find out what was going on. They told us that our flight, which was supposed to leave at 10 a.m., was rescheduled for midnight. On the bright side, they had gotten all of us hotel rooms as well as transportation to and from the hotel, and all meals paid for at the hotel. It took another hour or so for everyone to get loaded on the buses to the hotel, but thats much better than waiting at the airport for 14 hours!
Because of the change and the chaos surrounding our flight cancellation, we had to say a quick good-bye to Jackson and his family before we got on the bus. I was really ready to go home at this point, but I am going to miss Jackson so much, he and his family are incredible.
The hotel we went to was amazing! It had 2 pools, one of which had a water fall going into it. Each room had a bathroom with a flushing toilet and hot showers! We also got huge buffet meals for lunch and dinner as well as TV in our rooms (although Kenyan TV isn't quite what I have at home), and nice bed to take a nap in! I was feeling so sick at this point that I was not able to enjoy the food, but I did enjoy a hot shower, a nap, and a toilet that flushed! We didn't really mind the delay too much at this point. Plus, the hotel had computers with internet, so we were able to email home and let people know that we were delayed (it costs $6 a minute to call, so we emailed, haha).
The bus came to pick us up and take us back to the airport at 9:30. We got there and ended up waiting until about 1:30 a.m. for our flight to actually take off. It was a 10 hour flight, and I think I slept for at least 6 hours of it. That is one good thing about being sick, its easy to sleep! We were supposed to arrive in London at 6:30 a.m., and several people had connecting flights to Newark leaving at 9. For some reason we were put on a connecting flight at 2:45 in the afternoon, but we were going to try and get on the earlier flight.
Unfortunately, because we left so late and we had to circle a bit in London, we didn't land until after 9, so everyone missed the early flight to Newark. Once we got off the plane we again had to stand in line for a long time to figure out what to do (we were not given boarding passes for our next flight, so we had to get those). When we got to the counter we asked if there was a flight to Philadelphia that we could get on instead. There was, but they told us that because we didn't technically miss our connection, since we were scheduled for the 2:45 flight, then we couldn't transfer our tickets to the Philly flight. So, instead of leaving London at 11 (London time...6 a.m. Philly time) and getting to Philly at 3, we would again have to wait. I was pretty upset about this, but there was nothing we could do. In fact, the people that had missed the 9:00 flight were rescheduled for our flight and were given meal vouchers. However, because we didn't miss our flight, we were not able to get meal vouchers. Again, I wasn't too happy (and still feeling sick) but there wasn't anything we could do, so we waited.
Finally, 2:45 rolled around and we started to board our plane. London was experiencing extremely high winds and we ended up sitting on the plane for about an hour and a half waiting for it to take off. We finally got to leave a little after 4, hoping to land in Newark by 8. Then we would have a 2 hour to drive to Philly, making it close to 44 hours of traveling from the time we arrived at the Nairobi airport for our first flight to the time we would get home to Philadelphia. It was definitely a crazy way to end our trip!
On the flight I had the opportunity to share with one of the stewardesses the whoas of our travel, and she was very upset that the airline had not allowed us on the flight to Philadelphia as well as not giving us a meal voucher. She asked me to fill out a comment card about it and said that she would get it to customer service and that someone would contact me about it. Who knows what will come of that, but it was so nice that she cared!
So, at 8 p.m. we finally stepped off the plane in the United States. J was at the airport to pick us up and we really enjoyed riding in a car on actual roads. We got back to Philly a little after 10, and were not tired at all (we slept a lot on the plane). Both Travis and I really wanted to see our families, so we decided to drive to VA. We got to my parents' house around 6 a.m. and I have been here ever since. I am actually leaving in a few hours to head back to Philly. After all the traveling we have done, the 6 hour drive to Philly on the interstate is nothing to us!
Whew, okay, so that is our trip...the details at least. I hope it made sense. I promise to write more soon about all the inside stuff, but I am way too tired from writing all of this to do that now. I will add pictures to this post when I get back to Philly, and you will be hearing from me again soon. It feels so good to be home, and I can't wait to go to church tomorrow and see everyone!!!!
1 comment:
So very glad that you are back and that you are safe. I was praying for you!
---Catherine
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