This won’t be the last post covering the sights we took in while on safari before leaving Kenya simply because we saw so many incredible creatures!
Category Archives: Africa
Twiga Means Giraffe
Our home in Kenya was only two hours away from the incredibly gorgeous Maasai Mara National Reserve. We had the opportunity to make the (incredibly bumpy) trek there a few times in our first year. It’s a really fun place to take friends when they visit, and the kids never grow tired of seeing the animals. I’d describe it like stepping into The Lion King. We may not have ever spotted Pride Rock, but we did see plenty Simba’s friends! I have so many photos from our last two visits in May and June that I’ve split them into different groups for posting. Today, I present to you the twiga, Swahili for giraffe.
An Unexpected Turn
Friends, this is a hard post to write. As we’ve shared stories and photos and videos through the last year, I think it’s been clear that we love being in Kenya. We’ve worked to make this place home, and it truly is. We love our friends, colleagues, and neighbors here and can see ourselves living in East Africa long into the future. However, as we’ve learned many times in our lives, Pete and I understand we have to stay open what God is doing and the next step He has for us. An excerpt from the message we sent out to our Kenya email group earlier today explains where we currently find ourselves…
Kakuma Refugee Camp, Part 3
Today we’re sharing the third post from our trip to Kakuma Refugee Camp at the end of February. (Click over to see the first and second posts.)
Our first stop on our last full day was to meet with a small church just outside Kakuma before driving further north. As I mentioned in one of the earlier posts, it’s common in Kenya to offer guests a meal when they visit. The small church didn’t have a building and the people had very little, but they graciously gave us a goat in place of a meal. We were so moved by their act of generosity. The only place to put her was in the back of the ambulance that part of our group was using as transportation that day, so she rode along. We later gave her to a family who prepared meals for us during our stay. Meat is truly a gift in Turkana County. Many were blessed by the gift of this goat.
Kakuma Refugee Camp, Part 2
The first post from our trip north to the Kakuma Refugee Camp shared a bit about why we went, who we traveled with, and where we stayed. Today, you’ll get a small glimpse of what the camps looked like during our visit.
The Kakuma Camp has grown, by some reports, to over 300,000 people. Much of it is separated by nationality, housing those from Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Somalia, and other countries. Kalobeyei is the newest camp not far from Kakuma where various people groups live side-by-side. We drove into the new camp our second morning for an outdoor service with a young Africa Gospel Church (AGC) congregation. They do not yet have a building but were given this small space to meet for services. They simply place a piece of canvas on the ground, which becomes their church floor. They hope to acquire a piece of land within the camp along with materials to build a roof and, eventually, walls, as well. The young women below sang and danced during the service. (The youngest was an absolute doll. She sang a little but also looked at bugs on the ground and squeezed in between the older girls to dance.) Many children from the school across the road and the surrounding area came to see us and hear the music. (It’s likely lots of these kids had never seen a mzungu – a white person -before!)
