THE LONG JOURNEY BACK TO RUIRU

Yesterday morning we said good-bye to Malindi as well as Mama Betty and her home cooked Kenyan meals. We headed back to Ruiru where we began. It's a long journey by car, and the roads are almost non-existent in some places. Although the trip was only about 550km, it took us over 10 hours to return. If you ask a Kenyan what are some of the most insane things their culture does, driving might rank highest on the list. When they pray for traveling safety, they mean it. I have never been in a place where the potholes are deep enough to bottom out on, the speed bumps are about 18 inches thick and not marked, and at times there can be four lanes of traffic on a two lane road. When no one is moving they just make the road wider. It's as simple as that. At one point in time we were three lanes thick going one direction with one opposing lane headed the other way. All this was in a dust storm where you couldn't see the condition of the road or more than three cars ahead of you. Thankfully everyone was going at the same pace and Charles is a very careful driver. Well, enough of that...we made it, and we are thankful.

Today will be a little slower in the morning. In the afternoon, I will be delivering supplies to an organization called FOCUS. It is a program set up by nationals to help under-privelleged kids with their school fees, supplies and food. They also take care of some of the basic medical needs of the kids. I found out that someone from the States that I used to work with about 10 years ago is overseeing the Backpack Program at Focus. What that means is that once a year he comes over with other people and brings suitcases full of backpacks which are full of school supplies that are then handed out to the children. Today I will be bringing the pads of paper, pens and band-aids that INTERACT provided. My new friend Allen said that these things will mean so much to the children and he wants me to be there to present them in person. I'll try to let you know how it goes.

I just got word back this morning that the manager from the coffee plantation called a pastor I am working with over here and asked him if there was any way their church could help start an educational clinic and church on site at the plantation. Apparently our time there had a tremendous impact and he wants more for his people. I was so encouraged to hear that as I believed we were well received and that the information was helpful, but it's really hard to tell what the impact truly is until later.

O.K., time to catch up on e-mails. I'll try to post more later. Thanks for your support!