Leaving Kenya after 6 weeks. To Karachi,Pakistan

I leave Nairobi tonight for Karachi, Pakistan where Sarwat promises to meet me at the airport tomorrow about 10am. My flight takes me to Dubai first where I have a 5 hour stopover.

Esther, a room mate at the Nairobi Youth Hostel,worked in Dubai for the last 2 years and shared a great deal about what Dubai is like. It is one of the fastest growing and riches places in the world.
The residence are extremely rich because no one can gain citizenship and anyone doing business there have to give a huge percentage of their profits to the citizens. Dubai is owned by Arabs. She is planning to join her husband who found a job in Qatar. She is Kenyan and he is Nigerian.
In Africa being of different African country or tribe in Kenyan has great significants; much more than the U.S. South,North,East, or West.

I also got lots of history about Rwanda from Peter who is a Rwandan. About the Ttutsi and Hutus and what has happened since the genicide.

I will probably see very little of Dubai.

Including the mainland U.S. Kenya is the ninth country of my round the world trip. I 've enjoyed every country visited and feel that God has given me some very unique experiences.

Lillian's aunty Josephine who we visited last weekend was very instrumental in creating a place for children who lost both parents and had no place to go. Many left abandoned. She helped obtain 23 acreas. It is walking distance from her home so we walked over to see the place called Jubilee. I was amazed that in 5 years they have accommodations for 123 children ages 3 -13 years and also a school for their education. Recently they had a group of doctors from the U.S. come to give the children medical and dental check ups. We saw workmen working on a medical clinic,a secondary school and eventually they plan to build a college on the grounds. A visitor center is half way built so volunteer groups can stay on the property while helping with the projects. Much of the grounds are planted with food crops like corn, potatoes,greens,tomatoes,etc.

Being a Sunday the children were not in school,but they were assembled to sing for us and inturn I taught them a short version of the hula "Hukilau" It was enjoyable visiting and hearing stories of individual children and how they came to be at this place.

Aunty Josephine has three teenage girls who lost their parents living at her home. One of the girls came to her seeking a job. When she saw how little she was asked her if she would like to be in school and put her in school and gave her a home.

One morning when we were in the kitchen with dirt floor and open fire with a huge pot of milk used to make tea at Lillian's folks place in the country and talking story with her moms and aunties....aunties on her father's side are called "moms"whoes role is to teach and instruct and aunties on the mom's side are called "aunties" whoes roles are to just be gentle and helpful so when you get into trouble you ran to them and they will help you make things right with your parents. Anyway going back to the kitchen,the "mom" Lillian is named after said to me in Kikuyu,which ofcourse had be translated to me, that I should plan to stay for a week so she can teach me many things like how they make tea as well as how they are able to lift pots off the fire with their bare hands. They cover their hands with soot. And by the end of the week I will be black just like them. We laughed and laughed. Later I joinned a whole bunch of ladies peeling potatoes and carrots. When work was done ten year David,Mary's son,and I danced the "Hukilau" and when I asked the ladies to sing and dance for me. They did several "rock & roll" native African numbers and I joinned them in dancing. We had a "rocking,swaying,fun"time.

Earlier I had attended a Sunday service with Mary near her home and they really can sing. No just standing still when you sing. They really move!!!

Something I would never want to do here is drive. And I can't go out without one of Mary's boys.
They have no rules here. The drivers or the pedestrians just do what they want. It is a mystery that more people don't get killed. Most of the cars and matatus and buses have dents on them.

In 6 weeks I have been able to see many sections of Kenya and have seen and heard much of the political scene. As much as I've enjoyed,seen,and learned about Kenya what keeps coming back to me is how lucky I am to live in Kauai and the United States of America. My appreciation of being an American citizen has increased tremendously. We are indeed greatly blessed to be American citizens.

Aloha, Joanne