Day 4 Pastor's Retreat

7/28/07 Saturday We got up around 6am and had to take freezing cold showers, then had breakfast of a roll, pineapple, and mini bananas. Then, we went to the pastors’ retreat for devotions. The music was amazing. Afterwards, we took tons of photos with the children.

Day 3 Up Country

We decided after arrival that we would like to go up country to the pastor’s retreat for the weekend where we would stay at another Catholic Monastery. The drive up took about 2 hours but went so quickly. We drove through the mountains—it was beautiful. We arrived around 7 pm. We were served a pretty good meal and then at 9pm we went to the church where 300 or so pastors were awaiting our arrival. We were all introduced and Pastor Mark spoke. The power went on and off throughout the evening, luckily we had brought our flashlights. Around 12am we went back to the monastery and went to bed.

Day 3 Flight to Burundi

7/27/07 Friday
Today we flew to Bujumbura, Burundi. We had to get up bright and early leaving the guest house at 7:30am. For breakfast we had avocado and bread. On the way to the airport, our second van with the luggage and Mark was stopped by authorities who took the keys to the van and were hassling the driver trying to get a bribe. About 10 minutes later we were back on our way.
We were met by the Bishop in Bujumbura. It was difficult to get through the airport but thankfully we had the Bishop with us to get us through a little faster. It was considerably hotter and much more humid here than Nairobi.
We were driven to Hope Africa University (HAU) where we would spend the next 2 weeks. The dorms were almost finished and in the center of the campus they were constructing another building.

Day 2 Carnivore

For dinner we went to the Carnivore, an up scale place, all you can eat meat. Unfortunately, the only very interesting meat they had that night was ostrich meatballs which were good. I also tried chicken liver which was horrible! They also had various cuts of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken.

Day 2 Nairobi National Game Park 2

Day 2 Nairobi National Game Park

Afterwards, we went back for a lunch of rabbit, pasta, and vegetables. Then on to our next adventure, the Nairobi National Game Park. We rode in the big vans with open tops so that we could stand up and see the giraffes, lions, impolla, hippos, zebras, and various birds.

Day 2 Kibera Slums FM church

We walked to an inner section where the Free Methodist church has a fenced in area of open space were they worship and 3 classrooms where sponsored children have the opportunity to attend school and are provided with food and uniforms.

Day 2 Kibera Slums

Our next stop this morning was the Kibera Slums which is the largest slum in Nairobi, with somewhere around 1,000,000 inhabitants. The roads or pathways were littered with animal waste, garbage and human waste.

Day 2 Driving through the city

Day 2 Karen End Guest House

Our next stop was an FM Church and the Karen End Guest House (bed & breakfast / hostel). This was our first encounter with the children who were so excited about having their pictures taken.