welcome to Africa, all weekend the internet was down so I was unable to keep up this whole blogging thing. Secretly it was kind of nice not to have the internet to fret about. A weekend in Kenya is fabulous. There is a lot of down time, so we were able to do a lot.
Saturday, Cassie and I went on a run around Kijabe. A combination of the elevation and the sun, we felt like there was no more oxygen in Kijabe within minutes. We spent the rest of the day ENOing in front of the Rift Valley until it started pouring down rain.
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| Our view from the ENOs |
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| The view from our run |
Sunday started off with church. Which was surprisingly very Americanized. The area of Kijabe that we are in is very populated by missionaries. We were still some of the only white people in the service, but the service mimicked a typical American service. We left church, made lunch and then headed up to RVA. RVA is a school that houses missionary kids. Lauren plays volleyball there every Sunday with the staff and some of the local Kenyans. Neither me or Cassie are particularly gifted in volleyball, so we chose to run and workout around the soccer fields. We also explored the area around the school. I don't really know if we were suppose to but we went outside the gate and ventured around the mountain to find a huge valley, of course neither of us had our cameras.
Monday, waking up bright and early and FINALLY feeling like I'm on a good sleep schedule. Today has been spent in the Operating Room. Not only did I get to witness my first surgery, I got to witness my first 4 with more to come! 3 of the surgeries have been for club foot and the other surgery was to drain an infected skin graft on a burn patient. I didn't pass out, I didn't feel queasy and I was still able to eat lunch after I finished! I can't wait to experience even more crazy surgeries. Check out one of the kids they are currently treating, his name is
John and today he had his casts changed to continue his recovery! Tonight we're going to a bible study that Lauren is apart of and until then, I'm back in the O.R.!
We are FINALLY in Kijabe!! After 3 long days, we finally arrived. I have realized that I love going to new places, but I absolutely HATE
the travel. Flights are just not my friend. My first flight to New Jersey was
delayed an hour, I was awake for the entire 7 hour flight to Amsterdam and I
felt sick the entire flight to Nairobi. I have been so excited for this trip,
but the weight of being gone for 7 weeks definitely hit me on my way to
Amsterdam. I realized how much I was going to miss everyone on the way
there. Once arriving to Nairobi, I found Cassie and the man who was there to pick us up. He drove us to a little motel in Nairobi and told us there would be
a man there to pick us up in the morning. I managed to get a solid 5 hours of
sleep until my body told me it was done sleeping and I was wide-awake at 5 a.m.
Before making it to Kijabe, the one thing that was keeping me going was Isaiah
41. Fear not, the Lord is with you. He has chosen me as His servant and He will
guide me with His righteous right hand. Before Kijabe, I was feeling a little uneasy about the whole trip. It was hard arriving alone, not knowing where we were and not having any means of communication, but arriving in Kijabe gave me much more comfort
about the journey. The house we are staying in is precious. It’s a little
two-story house, Cassie and I both have our own rooms and we’re staying with a
girl named Lauren. She works for Cure and has been such a help to us in
adjusting. I can't wait to get to know both of these girls in the next 2 months. The view we have from the hospital is amazing. The hospital is located in the Rift Valley and with a five minute walk, you can see everything. 
