My last day.

I was hoping to share some profound and reflective lessons, but I'm gonna hold off on that for now.

You know that one night I was in Nairobi before heading to Mombasa? Well, it was too late when I realized the hostel didn't have mosquito nets and there was no way I could set up my own. i hoped for the best but got the worst. I was eaten up alive. I have a splendid array of mosquito bites all on my forehead. They look like bad pimples. And my feet and ankles have acquired a new topographic surface. In the voice of Napoleon Dynamite, "Gosh!! Stupid!"

Mombasa was awesome. It was good to have a traveling companion. I'll share some pictures some day about my time there. The Indian Ocean is very beautiful. White sands, warm water. Walking on Nyali beach, some random Kenyan greeted me, about whom I was initially suspicious, but it all ended up in a good conversation. The guy is a Masaai from Northern Kenya doing volunteer conservation work out on the coast. He wanted to know so much about the US -- about our politics, education, weather, way of life, wildlife. It's a difficult thing trying to describe your country succinctly, especially one as huge as the US, to someone who has never been out of Kenya! It really does make you more conscious of your own country and how other countries perceive you.

Oh yeah, Carnivore was pretty good but I wasn't able to fat-guy it all the way. Ostrich meat wasn't as good as I'd heard, though the ostrich meat balls were good. Crocodile just tasted like too-fishy fish, and the garlic sauce didn't cover the smell well enough. Antelope ribs were pretty good...tasted like basic pork ribs. Camel meat wasn't so bad, except I kept picturing a poor camel in my mind and couldn't eat more than two bites. They didn't have zebra that day, which is unfortunate because after seeing so many fat ones at the national park, I was kind of curious. All in all, exotic meats might be fun, but the basic stuff is good enough for me! Korean BBQ is all one needs, anyway. LA food is beckoning me...

Goodbye Africa and Friends!

Winding up...

The bus ride from Kisumu to Nairobi was so much better this time because I sat near the front window seat. the scenery was amazing. the sky was clear but a few puffy clouds, and I've never seen green like that before--the green back home would be the equivalent of brown compared to the green here. I actually saw some wild zebras and bamboons on the way. neat to see animals like that roaming around uncaged.

I'm heading to Mombasa on a overnight bus today because all the buses were booked. Since I had an extra full day in Nairobi, I called up some friends here and decided to go to Nairobi National Park. I heard Kenya, Madagascar, and Congo have the greatest diversity of animals in Africa (maybe the world?), so I decided I would need to go on at least one trip to one of Kenya's many animal parks (I mean, how often is it that I'll be in Africa?) So we got one of those safari trucks and went through the savannah for two hours (this is exactly how i imagined africa to look), saw some wild zebras, giraffes, crocodiles, various forms of antelope -- unfortunately we didn't catch any lions or leopards this time around. but wow, it was beautiful...

Today's my last day in Ugunja. One of the workers was sweet enough to come all the way to Kisumu just to say goodbye. I feel so special. It's going to be sad leaving the lush greenery of western Kenya. Lake Victoria too.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Nairobi. I just have to remember on the street never to expose any part of my phone or wallet or myself. And maybe I'll wear a mask so I can breathe properly. My favorite city in the whole world.

Starting on Friday, for 3 days, I'll be on the coast in Mombasa and staying at Nyali Beach for two days. woohoo!

Mon and Tues, I'll be returning to my favorite city and getting a taste of Carnivore, their famous all-you-can-eat meat restaurant. Impala, crocodile, giraffe, antelope, ostrich, you-name-it.

Then going going back back to cali cali. Time flies, for real.

August 19th didn't start off great, but it got better. I saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life! just breathtaking. The clouds opened up a portion of the sky to expose what looked like a bright fire, with orange rays extending upwards. I also saw the most spectacular moon rise just moments after. A huge full moon just floating right above the horizon that looked close enough to touch. Things just look different here on the equator!

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I just finished reading John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, a book I would definitely put up as one of my favorite novels. a hefty 500 pages, but such a good read that you're sad when it ends. A description of a cowardly character in this book had me take an honest and provoking look at my own faith in God and love for others, especially when juxtaposed to that of a heroic little Owen Meany's:

I suppose that his "love" of my mother was as intellectually detached from feeling and action as his "belief" was also subject to his immense capacity for remote and unrealistic intepretation... But as incapable as he was of a heartfelt response to a real situation, the Rev. Mr. Merrill was tirelessly capable of thinking; he pondered and brooded and surmised and second-guessed my mother to death... And when he was privileged to witness the miracle of Owen Meany, my birth father could manage no better response than to whine to me about his lost faith -- his ridiculously subjective and fragile belief, which he had so easily allowed to be routed by his meanspirited and self-imposed doubt. What a wimp he was, Pastor Merrill..."

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My time in western Kenya is coming to an end, as I'll be travelling to another part of the country next week. In hindsight, experiencing life first-hand was for the better; through it, God's developed some necessary tools to prepare me for service.  And now, only with a couple days left in Ugunja, God's finally giving me an opportunity to work with my hands. I'm finally getting the chance to develop a program that will promote women's reproductive health in the Siaya District, which I'll be continuing when I return to the states. We're starting from scratch -- there are so many issues to tackle and so many problems to overcome, yet it is the day before I leave UCRC that I hold the first meeting. 

God has his own timing, that's for sure.

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During a moment of great frustration, I felt compelled to open up a chapter in the middle of this book I brought. It was at one of my lowest points, a time when I was becoming so irritated with everything and finding it so difficult to love the people around me. Albeit a very personal word of rebuke, the following words were exactly what I needed and proved to be refreshing:

(In response to Isaiah 58:9)

"Oh, how easy it is to become fed up with the arrogant poor! The fast God prescribes for us is to renounce such an attitude and go without it. This is not easy. I used to think that living among the poor would sensitize us to the need and break our hearts. It is not that simple. It can have exactly the opposite effect. It can mak you hard and caustic and jaundiced. The pleasures of "eating" such cynicism are tragically sweet. From this we must fast."

- Hunger for God, by John Piper

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Is this not the fast which I choose
To loosen the bonds of wickedness
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free,
And break every yoke?
Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry,
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.