Friday and Saturday, Mar. 9 and 10
Well, I made it to Nairobi, touching down on Friday, Mar. 9, about 2:30 am Kenya time. I’d been traveling since about 8 pm EST Wednesday, Mar. 7. My route was Pittsburgh to London to Istanbul to Nairobi. And all of the connections were tight, especially since I had to go through security at each flight change! I ran or speed walked through every airport - and none of the arrival and departure gates were at all close to each other! Kate’s driver Sam met me at the airport - I have seldom been so happy to see anyone! After an hour drive from the airport (one advantage of arriving in the wee hours of the morning is no traffic) Sam dropped me at Hekima Place by 4:30 am where I was met by a very groggy Kate and her puppies, Zwadi and Rafiki.
I arrived, however my luggage did not. So for Friday and Saturday all I had here was two outfits and limited toiletries. Fortunately, they delivered my luggage to Hekima Place Saturday afternoon. I was relieved to find that all my packed belongings seem to have made it. Haven't done an inventory of the suitcase full of things for the girls, but it looked ok on cursory examination.

I slept for a few hours after I arrived and then got up about 9:30 AM. After I had readied myself for the day, Kate showed up and took me around to meet the Mums. Then we took off to run some errands and go to the lunch meeting with the Kenyan Board of Trustees. The meeting was excellent with the Board strongly expressing their support for Kate and their eagerness to step in help with any current and future personnel issues. I am really glad I was able to start off my stay here by meeting with the Kenyan Board - they are truly a capable group of people.
Rick emailed me Saturday night to ask me to call him. His 86 year old mom had a bad fall in a parking lot - no broken bones, but many stitches in her hands, bruises, a hematoma bump on her head and black eyes. So he was headed down to Texas on Sunday to try to get things squared away for her. I hope she'll let him hire someone to come in to cook and clean for a while.
On Saturday, Mar. 10, Kate, Lorraine (a volunteer who is the only other person sharing Karibu guest house with me) and I took one of the girls to the dentist for a severely infected tooth, then back to her boarding school in Nairobi. Along the way we managed to do some shopping for provisions (mainly breakfast) here at Hekima Place. This was a lot more of an expedition than it sounds from the brief telling just because navigating the roads of Kenya is an adventure in itself. Tanks could disappear in the many potholes. At dinner I sat next to a girl named Esther and enjoyed telling her the entire Biblical story of Esther (that I know so well from our Koinonia study!). I didn't realize it but the whole table ended up listening to the story.
Saturday dinner entailed a birthday party for one of the girls, Anne. She sat at the head table with her biological sister (all of the girls here are considered ‘sisters’) and two friends. Lots of speeches were made by the girls and Mums extolling Anne’s virtues, some of the girls sang, and then there were gifts. A candle lit cake was brought in with the lights out and everyone sang a Swahili birthday song. However, the cake with ice cream was a treat just for Anne’s house. There are 4 residential houses for the girls here in the compound. Each house operates like a family unit with a Mum ‘round the clock, and all ages of girls in each house.