Getting there was half the battle...

In Kenya we stayed at a Catholic hospital in a quaint section with delightful nuns. We didn't have electricity all of the time, but they did have a good enough rainy season that we were able to have running water while we were there. We clearly did not have internet access, thus I will be bouncing back and forth between Kenya adventures of the past few weeks and current adventures I am having in Vietnam.

Getting to Kenya is quite the journey. Of all the places I’ve been, Kenya seems the most taxing… also the most worthwhile. From Salt Lake City we flew to Denver, from Denver to DC, from DC to Ethiopia (16 hours on the plane). We had an overnight in Ethiopia where I had to argue with the front desk over water for my team for about an hour. Then we flew from Ethiopia to Kenya the next morning. Not including the overnight we spend about 24 hours in the air, plus layovers so it takes close to two days to get to the capital of Kenya. From there we drive… and drive. In Kenyan standard time it takes about 3 ½ hours to get to a place to overnight at. In U.S. time that means a little over 7 hours. Most of the drive is on roads that people would be leery 4 wheeling on. We had a bit of car trouble along the way.

We were taking two buses, one car and one van to accommodate the entire team and the luggage. It was dark by the time we got to a small town to overnight in. Our bus made a wrong turn and was backing up, the suddenly WHAM! The entire bus tilted sideways. We didn’t turn over but I did have to have everyone on the bus hop out the driver’s door. The bus was completely stuck and at a vary precarious angle. Finally, using the other bus and about 20 Kenyan men, they managed to get the bus out of the ditch it had fallen into. However, when they pulled it out, it came out a bit harder than anticipated and smacked into the other bus. I asked where the other two vehicles were (people needed their bags) and the driver told me that they had both been in accidents as well but no one was hurt. It was definitely a crazy beginning to the adventure.

The traveling adventure was far from over. Ever heard of Kenya Nascar? Me either! But somehow, my vehicle got stuck in the middle of one. I had sent the two buses and car ahead of the van. I took the van with several students to go and pick up necessary items. We all had another 2 hour ride to the village. After our quick shopping trip the van was exploding with people, groceries, and various whatevers and we started heading down a road. We’re driving along and all of a sudden our driver, Peter, roars the van into a ditch and up a little hill. It took a minute for us to realize what had happened… We were driving down a race track- no lie- still a broken, crazy road, that was now a make shift race track and the cars that were cruising down were FLYING!! The race cars only came one at a time and were released every couple of minutes. Our driver started easing his way onto the road, back the way we had come so we could get out of there. He would then suddenly pull off, into a ditch and a speeding race car would leave us in a cloud of dust. Finally the driver and I decided it would be best if another mentor and I hopped out, ran ahead, checked for the all clear and waved him to safety. So two of us did and the second we were out of the car onto the road we could hear another car coming. So we dove into the nearest ditch. Then we began our jog up the road, being cheered on by a bunch of Nascar Kenyans… it was quite hilarious if I hadn’t been so freaked. This plan worked for a while until we looked at Peter and he was sweating bullets. He finally decided we’d have to pull off and wait for the race to be over. Then we got a call from a local who said there was exactly two minutes between racecars and we were so close that if we left after the next car, we could easily make the turnoff. So Peter thought about it (for about 1 ½ minutes of our 2 minutes!!!!) then something clicked and he decided to give it a woo. We made it. It was crazy. And at this moment in time, I was thankful none of the students had access to internet- I could just imagine the parent response from participating in Kenya car races!!!
At last, we are safe and sound at our destination and new moments await.