*There are pictures of most of these things on my facebook page, so feel free to friend me if you want to see them….it takes super long to upload a single photo on this blog!*
I have a really obnoxiously long, detailed, ever-growing, and largely unrealistic bucket list at home that I began about two years ago. Pardon the unoriginal idea, but if you have never made one, you definitely should. Take the pressure off of yourself to add items that you feel like “should” be on it….if you have never had a desire to see the Great Wall of China, go skydiving, eat escargot, or paint a picture, then don’t include them. My bucket list has everything from places I want to see, recipes I want to try/create, books I want to read, events I want to attend….and about 100 other random personal desires.
I had originally thought about making a bucket list for this trip, but given the unpredictability of the whole year, I feared it would become impossible to actually do anything on it.
So here is the next installment of my “Reverse Bucket List”: crazy, random things I experienced in any given country that I never could have known or predicted.
In Kenya, I will/have…
-cross the Uganda/Kenya border at 3am in the cold, wet mud, along with all of the women of E squad, all while trying to fend off African men trying to sell us things and convince us to come to their homes for some ugali. Also, almost got side-swiped by a bus, and used the most appalling bathroom on the race so far.
-saw a ton of African animals including zebras, gazelles, giraffes, and crazy birds on the van ride from Bungoma to Nairobi…free safari!
-saw my first IMAX movie at a theater in Nairobi…the Dark Knight Rises!
-experienced multiple “mutatu” rides…i.e., cramming into a crowded, smelly taxi-van with 15 African people, usually with Jesus stickers all over the walls and American hip-hop music blaring.
-our team gave multiple presentations at Muchakos Girls High School, which was a conference for the girls on character and God.
-sang “Oh Happy Day” on stage in front of 850 Kenyan teenage girls.
-went to a “walking safari” (aka, zoo) and animal orphanage and saw how ugly hyenas are in real life.
-visited one of the biggest slums in the world, Kibera, just a few minutes walk from where we lived in Nairobi. Felt the shocking reality of how blessed I am in contrast with so much of the world.
-In the slums, met a 19 year old girl named Sarah, who prayed to receive Christ and is keeping in touch with me via the pastors at the church as the Lord provides for her to go back to school.
-spent a week at Challenge Farm, an incredible orphanage for street children in Kitale, Kenya. Assisted the women of E squad in tutoring teenagers and teaching the arts.
-ate ugali (flavorless corn mush), greens, and beans for lunch at the Farm, and ate dinner in a grass-roof hut with my “dinner team” as we opted to cook for ourselves.
-saw shirts from my hometown YMCA and high school on tons of the kids at the orphanage, and finally figured out that teams from my hometown had visited the orphanage. (LVC represent!)
-played with about 15 beautiful children that lived along the road down the street from the farm, coloring with them and singing Jesus loves me. Jesus was totally there.
-showed love to and began the process of taking to the farm multiple young street boys addicted to glue and living in the alley ways of Kitale.
-took squad mates to Sister Freda’s medical clinic (and gave a friend an IM shot in the booty….sorry honey!)
-milked cows at the Challenge Farm for the first time ever! I totally want a dairy cow now!
-asked God in a scary, desperate moment to give Leah and I someone we could trust to help us get where we needed to be, and watched Him answer that prayer within 2 minutes!
-visited, prayed with, and encouraged many pediatric patients, including ones with malaria, burns, typhoid, anemia, and many others, in the tiny Bungoma hospital.
-got an awesome $2 pedicure at Mama and Pastor’s house by a friend of theirs, Marty.
-took an incredible hike up a beautiful mountain side with enormous rocks and beautiful, barefoot village children following us.
-ate half of an avocado that was so big I couldn’t eat them for days afterward.
-visited and spent time with the children at a local orphanage, and held a beautiful little girl, Shayla, while we all watched Finding Nemo.
-took an overnight bus ride and bounced, danced, and jostled our way 8 hours through Kenya. The driver would literally drive in the ditches to avoid the pavement because it was so bad.
-accompanied members of D squad to the hospital for a friend that had a vicious malaria…and am pretty sure the nurses were annoyed to death by me. Oh well.
-visited the local Maasai tribe market in Nairobi and experienced the most outrageous WPT (white person tax) and high-pressure sales known to man. No I will NOT pay $40 for a bead necklace!
-went to Fogo Gaucho, a Brazilian meat buffet, and ate 8 different types of animals…favorite was ram!
-became the team leader to an all-women’s team, Team Purely Radiant, and headed into Tanzania to begin month 9!
