Leaving Houston on Saturday, Sept 15. It's hard to say goodbye to my boys. I took two trunks of donated items.
Going through 8 time zones can mean eating at odd hours, such as dinner in the middle of the night
8 hour layover in London
Arriving in Kenya Monday morning
Waiting in line to get a visa
Mama Margaret laughs as Frank tries to load the trunk into the taxi
We found a place for the trunk
Nairobi traffic reminds me of Houston
From left to right: Frank, Edwin, Daniel, and Margaret see me off from Wilson airport
The plane I took to Eldoret
Inside the plane to Eldoret
Kianda area of Kibera from the plane
The beautiful Kenya Rift Valley area
Touchdown in Eldoret
Nick Kemboi Kipkorir was my host. He is the founder and director of Silas Christian Foundation. He has dedicated his life to helping the poor and sick in the slums.
Lucy's father David (left) and Nick escort me through Eldoret, a city of about 200,000 people.
Riding the matatu (a large van) to Munyaka. All poor and even middle-class people in Kenya depend on public transportations. Owning a car is unheard of.
Munyaka main street. The picture doesn't do justice to how rough this road is. Munyaka is a slum about 15 minutes from Eldoret.
Lucy doing much better as she recovers from the skin graft, with her new stuffed animal. Lucy was in the hospital about 6 weeks and we feared she might not make it.
Left to right: Dr. Oronje, Lucy, and Lucy's father David. Lucy cannot control the muscles in her legs because of a surgery in infancy to separate her from her conjoined twin.
Sven Hoffman from Germany shares a wonderful meal at Lucy's house. Sven is studying social work and is visiting Kenya for 5 months as part of his training.
Left to right: Shiro, Anne, Nick's son Dan, and Nick's daughter Kimberly
Margaret's not sure what to think of having her picture taken as Kitonga makes lunch. Kitonga is a wonderful father to his six children. His wife fooled around on him, contracted and died of AIDS, and now Kitonga is HIV positive.
Kitonga's house. He has a small garden out front that he is using to grow vegetables for his family and the community.
Some of the kids sleep in this room. A mattress was purchased and more improvements are planned. Kitonga lives on about $2 per day.
Little Margaret plays peek-a-boo
Regina Wanja. Her first husband died in the 90's. Regina is HIV positive now because she married her second husband, who had the virus. He didn't tell her that he had it and now he has passed away, leaving her with 6 children to care for.
Dr. Oronje and Nick at Regina Wanja's house. Dr. Oronje and Nick visit many needy families in the slums every week, and counsel on good health practices, faith, hard work, and responsibility.
Regina's house. Two of her children are sponsored, so she receives food supplies, educational expenses, and rent assistance. Regina is a hard worker and has started a small business that is doing well.
Wangare and Evilyn. Wangare is a single mother living with HIV. She received assistance to buy iron sheet to patch her roof, which has been leaking terribly.
