On Friday we were up extremely early, 3am, to get ready to leave for the airport!  Our driver came and picked us up (with a second vehicle for all the luggage) at 4 and off to the Nairobi Airport.  We waited in numerous lines; to get into the airport, to check our luggage, to get through customs and then we were able to sit and relax a bit with coffee!  Our flight to Kigali, Rwanda was short and very smooth!

We came out of the airport and were met by Pst Dr. Felicien and our old friend and driver, Ezekias, what a treat!!  After a stop for tea and to exchange some money, we were off on the drive to Kigeme!  The drive was about 3.5 hours - the distance is not that huge, but the highway can be hilly and we got stuck behind a number of trucks who would have to slow right down on the hills!  Our driver was fantastic and we arrived safely!

We have been given a house to stay in for the time we are here - it is actually the place Carolyn stayed in her very first time visiting the area back in 2005!  When we arrived there was no water or power, apparently lines were cut due to the road construction.  But there was some scrambling, and by the time we went to bed we had both!  We certainly are well looked after here!  We also had lunch served for us and the team from here so we could do some catching up.

Sorry for the gap in blogs, we experienced some technical difficulties trying to get this entry out, and then because of traveling, we had limited internet access!  Now we are up and running again!  Stay tuned for more updates.
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On Thursday we spent the day once again at Tumaini.  We were able to spend some time in the morning gathering a bit more information!  We interviewed one of our students so we could give everyone an idea about the students being supported at Tumaini.

Joyline has both parents at home!  Her Mother supports the family by working in a factory packaging French beans for export.  Her father is an alcoholic and does not support the family at all.  They live in a single room apartment – they all sleep and eat and cook in the same room.
      Joyline walks 30 minutes to get to school.  She likes reading and following her subject teachers.  She likes Math, English and Swahilli the best. She feels she is doing well in school, and wants to do well and get a ‘nice grade’ so she can go to university.  She would like to study journalism.  She plays football and likes it very much.
      Being sponsored has helped her go to school as her parents would not have been able to pay school fees.  She is a very hardworking girl who is ready to learn.
      She would like to say to her sponsor:   “Thank you for the support, and may God bless you and God continue to give you a prosperous life!”

We then had a meeting with the Tumaini Primary School board and received a report from the Head Teacher.  The school seems to be doing very well.  We discussed needs, the 2 main ones being support for the feeding program and getting more technology for the students.  The school is working hard to implement a new curriculum, and as part of this curriculum there is a need for more on line access.  For example - all grade 3's need to write an online exam this year, Tumaini is not the only primary school without the computers to manage this!  Presently they have 10 tablets.

In the afternoon we had a group of students who had just finished their secondary schooling this past November come to see us!  We had our whole group of sponsored students from that year - it was great to see them and hear what they are up to now.  Most of them have spent the time between then and now taking short courses, lots on computer skills etc to get them prepared to enter university.  All but one have a plan to start university in September, 3 actually started their programs already!  One of the boys, Brian, is already playing field hockey for his university.
Also seated with them on the left is Dennis, our friend who is now going to be entering his 3rd year of engineering university, specifically focusing now on mining and mineral processing.  

​We ended the day at Tumaini by causing absolute chaos in classes handing out candy!  It is so much fun, and the students love their sweets.

Today we drove to what felt like the other side of Nairobi to the Kazuri Bead factory.  A few more 'jams' and we got there!

When we arrived, they had rolled out the red carpet for us!  Okay, it really was for the First Ladies of Kenya and Botswana, but it could have been for us!
We were given a tour of the factory starting from the beginning, the clay, and how it is processed, to the shaping of the beads and pottery, to the painting and firing!  Then we went shopping (with the first ladies)!

After that we enjoyed some drinks and a bite to eat before making our way back to the guest house. 
Tomorrow we are back at Tumaini School for a meeting with the school board as well as spending more time with the children!!

This morning was our morning to go shopping at the Masai market here in Nairobi! It was within Nairobi City itself so the adventure started with watching our excellent driver, Ken, negotiate through some of Nairobi's finest traffic jams! 
We had a great time as usual. We are becoming good at this bartering business, trying to pay less than the typical muzungu prices. Below are some of the fine artists at the market displaying their talents. 
We were fortunate to haver Esther and Ken help us with our selections and the pricing. 

After the market we took a break for some lunch at the local Java House. Esther had to say good bye to us after that!
We then headed out to the Living Kids Educational Centre. Some of you may remember this school. We have not visited it for several years but, Kids for Kids secured funding for several years in a row to help them build the school. There are now 8 grades plus the pre-school levels in the building and over 350 students attending the school.  Last year was the first year they graduated grade 8's, there were 4 of them who all did well on their national exam and earned a place in a good secondary school.   The children put on a wonderful show for us that we enjoyed very much. 

Today the day was spent at the school.  We spent the morning touring around to the different classrooms and greeting all the students and staff.  We had a lot of fun; the younger classes all sang for us, while the older classes had a lot of questions about Canada! Then we were treated to a nice lunch compliments of the school's kitchen.  After lunch we met with all our sponsored students and gave them their letters from their sponsor, they are always so happy to receive these.  We also took an updated photograph to give to sponsors.

After that we visited the bead ladies to put in our order for more beaded bowls. We returned back to the guest house tired, but happy with the day's events. 
Tomorrow we battle the Masai market with Esther! We need our rest for that!! 

.Hello All,
Well after 2 very long flights we made it to Nairobi!  We arrived at the airport Saturday evening and went through the long process of getting our VISA's and gathering our luggage etc.  We met our good friend, Ken, who will be our driver again this year. We made it to where we are staying about midnight.  We are staying at The BTL Christian International Conference Centre, it is part of the organization that our friend and contact, Johnstone Ndunde works for here in Kenya.

We finally got all settled into our rooms, after a nice dinner, at around 2 in the morning.  Then up for breakfast and church this morning!  We headed out to The Living Word Church in Muthare North - this is the church that started Tumaini School.

After church we came back to where we are staying with our friend Esther, Johnstone's wife.  We met Johnstone and the five of us had a really nice lunch.  We toured around the place, scoping out a route for running.  It is quite a nice area!

Tonight we will relax a bit. It is currently pouring rain outside and it is nice to hear and smell the rain. 
Tomorrow we are off to Tumaini school to spend as much time with the students and staff as we can!! Stay tuned!!

Hello All
We are heading off once more to Kenya and Rwanda - almost ready to board our plane for the first leg of our journey.  We are flying Vancouver to Paris, Paris to Nairobi.  We will be able to say we visited Paris??? 

We had a wonderful day today at Tumaini School. It was great to be back and to see all of the students! We saw a good number of our sponsored students and were able to distribute their letters from their sponsors as well as getting some good pictures. It is incredible how much they grow in one year! Carolyn and I state here and now that the students are getting older but we are staying the same!!! Along with getting bigger, these students are maturing so beautifully. We were able to get some video clips of the students giving their testimonies about how being sponsored has changed their lives. It was so good to hear how well they are doing. 

Pictured above:  Faith, Rachael and Polly - who coordinates all sponsored students!
As well - Johnstone - who popped in today to see how we were doing so we grabbed a 'student' photo of the chairman of the board!

Today was a lovely day! We got up and investigated the neighbourhood where we are staying with a run. 
After that we had a wonderful breakfast cooked by a chef where we are staying. He is very talented!

We arrived in Mathare North around 10:30am for the service at the Living Word Church where our good friend Pastor Oliver is the leader. This congregation knows how to worship!! We are always in awe with how they raise the roof with their singing and dancing. It does motivate one to get in the middle and start dancing away until we realize that we really do not have any rhythm compared to the Africans!!

Pastor Oliver introduced us and told the congregation that Rachael was the type of doctor that eats her patients!! He, of course, was referring to the Food animal side of veterinary medicine!  After a good chuckle, Carolyn gave a very inspiring sermon from the book of Ephesians. 
The service was lovely and it was our first time being in the new church.

After church, we went to one of the local malls to get a bite to eat. Their malls are starting to look very similar to our North American malls except the security is extremely tight- we had to enter through a detector just like at the airport!