Life in Kenya

Pictures from top: Kisumu airport, baggage claim, local arts and crafts, our all terrain Land Rover, Melody's birthday cake, my Soldier Fish room key, orphans at feeding center.

The Kisumu airport is really just a landing strip and a few buildings. There is no lighting so flights stop after dark. Occasionally, your plane does a fly by to scare off any of the local wildlife that wanders onto the airstrip. Notice that baggage claim is a sign indicating where your bags are left on the pavement.

I have been to the local arts and crafts markets and took of few pictures of what is being sold. Most of the items are handcrafted and one of a kind. Merchants are experts in bargaining and expect you to negotiate so prices start off high. I really enjoy the carnival atmosphere and bargain hunting that goes on.

The all purpose Land Rover isn't pretty but it is rugged and reliable which is the most important qualities given the roads we travel. Our vehicles are completely filled with people and supplies every time we go out. If Americans could ride share as much as Africans we could probably solve our chronic traffic jams.

There is some personal time on the weekends and last weekend happened to be Melody's birthday. I was responsible for producing a cake so I managed to get a box of cake mix and frosting. I took it to the kitchen and asked the chef to help me bake it. Nothing is simple in Africa and I quickly discovered that the kitchen had no measuring cups or spoons. We improvised with a coffee mug and I used my pharmacy skills to guess the liquid measurements for oil and water. After some discussions about oven temperature in centigrade and how to use the industrial size mixer we produced an acceptable batter. The cake was delicious and Melody was quite happy with our efforts.

Our rooms each have names of fish and I have been occupying the Soldier Fish room. The keys chains are hand carved out of wood and are kind of cool.

For the past few weeks I have been working on the orphan feeding center chicken project and we are close to opening our coop. The baby chicks are on order but not yet delivered. The picture of the orphans is a reminder of the work ahead.