Shake, Rattle & Roll

I had hoped to post daily about my time here in Kenya, but the Internet connection has been spotty to say the least. I think it's been repaired now, but if I were you I would be prepared to wait between them. I 'm going to continue on from where I last left off, leaving Amsterdam for Nairobi. We took off from Amsterdam at 2100 local time. I had been awake for most of the time since Saturday morning, and I was pretty tired. I never sleep on planes, but I actually managed to sleep most of the way from Amsterdam to Nairobi. I woke up about two hours before we landed. It was dark outside, and I could see the lights of a city below us. From the map shown on the TV screen, it looked as if we were flying over Khartoum, Sudan.

There weren't too many more lights before we got to Nairobi and landed at 6:15. Going through customs and picking up our bags went relatively painlessly. We were met by a driver and a couple of assistants, who loaded our bags onto the van for the five hour drive to Nyahururu, which is a small town to the northwest of the capital. The nearest big city is Nakuru. What with the two flights to get to Kenya and the drive to our final destination on top, I was not only getting pretty tired, but pretty tired of sitting in cramped places. But needs must...
It was interesting to see the sights of the city and countryside as it passed. We saw giraffes in the distance just as we were leaving the airport, and we saw baboons, gazelles, and zebras on the way. If that is a foretaste of the safari to come, it's going to be great.

The roads were not in the best condition, and sometimes they were almost non-existant. The van had seen some hard use, and rattled and shook as we attempted to slalom around the enourmous potholes. We saw donkeys tethered at various places along the way. I think they were there to carry tourists down to the bottom of the potholes, just like they do in the Grand Canyon.
: )
There was a stop at a vantage point overlooking the Rift Valley, and the view would have been spectacular if it hadn't been so hazy.
We got to the school where we are going to teach about 12:30, and got oursleves settled in. There was an orientation meeting at 3:00, and I am embarrassed to say I fell asleep, not once, but twice before it was over. I had a nap before dinner, and then a proper night's sleep last night, so I should be good to go.
It gets quite cool at night, and I was glad to have lots of warm blankets on my bed. We are fairly high up, about 7700 feet, and there aren't too many bugs to worry about. The sun rises about 5:30 AM and sets about 6:30 PM. No daylight savings here on the equator.
There's a sign near the school that marks the equator, and I got my picture taken next to it.

Tuesday was spent touring the school. It runs from kindergarten to grade 12. There are 340 students in all, with about 180 of them boarding at the school. It's a different situation here than our original destination, the Mully Children's Family. Where MCF was all about rescuing street kids and giving them an education, this place is more of a regular school, albeit with an emphasis on Christian values.
The students wear uniforms, and most of them come from the surrounding area. The school was started by a man named Wachiru and his American wife Glenda. It is a non-profit school, depending on a lot of donations and sponsors for the children. Wachiru has a Pan-African vision, so there are more and more students coming from neighbouring countries such as the Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, and so on.
Wednesday and Thursday have been times when we take more of an active role, and we have slowly been integrating ourselves into the life of the school. More about that next time.