Monday, December 31, 2012

Update 2


Written by Robert Scrivner

I am in awe. This place is absolutely incredible. The last 3 days feel like they have just been an incredible dream. Words cannot possibly describe what we are experiencing, nor could any photo or video. This update will be one of the longest, I’m sure…because the last 24 hours have been unreal for us.

Yesterday, after David wrote his update while we were still in Nairobi, we hit the road in a small van that they call a “mutatu” and headed north to Kapsabet. Kapsabet is a small area just south of Eldoret, which is about a 7 hour drive from Nairobi. The things we saw on the road were amazing. On both sides of the van, you could look out the window and see herds of sheep and cows, being led by shepherds. Whenever we would hit heavy traffic, vendors would be wading through the traffic trying to sell you their goods through the car window.
            We drove near a beautiful lookout, where we could see the entire rift valley, and we got out of the mutatu to take pictures and see the beautiful view. Almost as soon as we were out of the van, vendors trying to sell us souvenirs bombarded us. Each of us was confronted by a different man or woman, with samples of their handmade products. A man approached me with beautiful hand carved animals. I told him I was interested, so he walked me over to his small shop and showed me all of his merchandise.  I only wanted one thing, but he was ruthless and wouldn’t take no for an answer! We bartered prices on about 5 different things, and he just kept trying to sell me more and more. When I was finally able to get out, ANOTHER man pulled me into his shop and again, convinced me to buy more cool items. When I finally left there, a woman desperately tried to pull me into her shop, but after much insisting, I was able to make a run for the van and escape. These men and woman make their living selling these beautiful creations, so they are desperate to sell more and more.
            Back on the road, we could see hyenas, zebras, and antelope running in the beautiful valley. We drove past a huge lake, which has many flamingos around it. I was hesitant to get in a car after 30 hours of straight flying, but the chance to see the countryside was worth every extra minute of travel.  
            We had our first experience with Kenyan food at a small restaurant on the way to Eldoret. When we walked in, there was a butcher chopping the beef right in front of us. I ordered something that was written in Swahili, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got was a large helping of beef, cabbage, a spicy-pico-de-gallo sort of sauce, and Ugali. Runners refer to ugali as “Rocket Fuel,” and say that if they go two days without it, it is like they are a completely different person with no energy. Apparently home-made ugali is much different than the stuff we got at this restaurant. I certainly hope so, Ha! It is a biscuit shaped ball of mush, with no flavor. The food was totally different- and it was so cool to know that these people had raised the cow themselves, and I could watch the butcher prepare it before us.
            After a rough drive, on a very rough road, we finally arrived in Kapsabet. None of could have imagined what we would experience after that. We pulled in on a picturesque red clay road, and arrived here at Grace of God Childrens Project at about 5 pm, and the Children’s faces lit up when the saw us. As we got out of the van, each child came to shake hands with every one of us. There are 17 children who live here and they are wonderful, beautiful children. We unpacked our gear, and went for a quick “shake-it-out” run, accompanied by 5 very young boys. It got dark while we were gone, and when we came back dinner had been prepared already.
            Most of us were expecting electricity, or at least running water. I’ll quote David Marino who said, “Uh…was anyone else under the impression that there would be wifi here?” to some up how shocked we were. There is no electricity. No running water. Water is collected by the rain, or drawn from the well. It is heated over a fire, and the children pour it from a pitcher over your hands before meals. There is a restroom outside, which was also a shocker. When you open the door, there is a deep hole in the ground, and a roll of toilet paper on the wall. We also got to experience a wonderful, luxurious “bath.” A basin of warm water is brought in, and you splash it up on yourself, soap up, and splash more to rinse. IT IS AWESOME.
            This morning, we went running at 7am, following our incredible guide, David. David is 19 years old and lives in a training camp, chasing his dream of attending a University in the U.S. He led us out onto the clay roads, and down to the tarmac road that leads to Eldoret.
As we were running out, the pet dog Maggie followed us. When we reached the tarmac road, Maggie started chasing after cars and scared us because of how close she got. Eventually, as we were afraid, she was hit by a motorcyclist, who just drove off without stopping. We rushed to help her, and ended up leaving her with David while we all ran back to get someone with a truck to go pick her up. It was about 20 minutes back, and when we got there we sent help. She is shaken up, but recovering.
We decided to finish our run on a new road, away from the tarmac and ran passed many shacks. As we ran by a shack, we would hear children from 400 meters away screaming “MUZUNGA! MUZUNGA!” (White man, white man!). Then they would come charging towards the road, faces plastered with enormous smiles. Some would run alongside us, most barefoot and very young-maybe 7 years or younger. It was absolutely wild!
This afternoon, we gave the children all of the gifts we brought for them. It was also so amazing. They were so delighted, and thankful. I cannot describe how grateful they were to receive new clothes, toys, and candy. They are all outside now playing with the new soccer balls after having a big dance party in the hallway.

My heart is so full. Being here puts things into such a new and wonderful perspective. It is such a blessing to stay here with these amazing children, and brilliant people. This afternoon we are heading to town, where I will post this on the blog. For now, I am off to play soccer- no, excuse me: FOOTBALL.

Harambee,
Robert Scrivner

 After we gave our gifts to the kids
 One of the Vendors Shops
 MMmmmm...Ugali
 The group crossing the equator!!
 Victor hanging out on the tire swing!
The children are creative!

Sunday, December 30, 2012

After around 26 hours of flight time, airport navigating and toting 50 pound bags for the orphanage, we arrived at the Scripture Mission Conference Center in Nairobi around midnight. On our morning run, some of the locals were happy to jog along side us. From here, we now travel by van to Kapsabet where we will be staying at the Grace of God Children's Center for the duration of the trip http://www.graceofgodchildren.org/  Even though we're exhausted and slowly adjusting to the 10 hour leap forward in time from Colorado, we couldn't be more excited to be in this beautiful area. Rumors on the plane stated that the air in Kapsabet was clean and the area was very different from even the Nairobi area. At breakfast this morning, we were greeted hearty cuts of bacon, fresh eggs, a few cereals with some bread and cheese. What I put on my plate today would have been roughly a quarter of my regular breakfast after logging morning miles, yet it was enough. I have a feeling that even though we might not be presented with copious amounts of food like in the States, our bodies will learn to be more efficient with the nutrients.
For now, its onward and upward to Kapsabet!

Your blogger, David. 

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Okay, update #1. This is short as we are about to board the flight to Nairobi. We are currently in Amsterdam and have now met up with the Kern brothers from Michigan so our group is six men (Mark Misch, Luke Dakin, Robert Scrivner, David Marino, Adam Kern and Nick Kern). So far so good, we got all of our bags on including the extra 50 lb. bags for the orphanage and David and we got confirmation that Coach Harmer shipped over the two boxes from UCCS. More later, but gotta jet for now. Onward to Kenya!