It's good to be back...

JULY 29, 2011

Friday started bright and early at 4am. Despite the disco music, I slept well. We woke up and had a nice breakfast at the hotel before heading back to the airport. We arrived there prepared for a fight. We had special tickets on British Airways that allowed us to check three bags each. As a partner, Kenya Airways should also honor that special allowance. But in Kenya, rules are never set in stone. Last year, we were only allowed one bag and the rest of our bags made a 6 hour roadtrip to Kisumu.
But Friday morning, we had zero problems! They took our 19 bags – roughly 900 pounds of stuff – without batting an eye. We made it quickly to the gate and boarded less than 30 minutes later.
It is a short 35 minute flight to Kisumu. By 7am, we had landed and were walking across the open runway to the people waiting at the “terminal”. Allison was there to greet us, as well as our drivers for the week – Joshua, Sammy, and Steve. They got everything loaded and we were off!
It felt strange to be back. Surreal as I disembarked the plane and knew where to go, where things were, how things were done here. How different than last year!
We got to St Anna’s and enjoyed another breakfast and then got checked into our rooms to settle for an hour or two.
By 10:30, we had regrouped and were ready to trek to Obunga, the part of town where we work. It was so wonderful to be back!! As I walked the roads to the church, it was amazing to note so many new structures that have been built since last year. And the kids have all gotten so big! Fun to see familiar faces and catch up with old friends.
The kids were all so shy at first. My girls from last year had to be coaxed to come see me. They just wore silly smiles and covered their faces with their hands, but when asked they knew my name. It was not quite the response I was expecting, but it was cute.
As the mzungus in the neighborhood, we got invited to some big ribbon cutting ceremony. We made an appearance, watched the local elementary school perform a dance and then headed off for lunch.
By then, it was 4pm and we had already been up 12 hours. So we came back to the hotel to rest and relax. We met briefly for dinner and then back to our rooms for an early night.
It’s good to be back.