Africa Part 4

Each day here in Kenya has come with its own special moments and experiences and today was no different. Tom and I had the privilege of taking six of the staff from Furaha Community Foundation School with us to Nairobi National Park. The Nairobi National Park is an unique preserved area of savannah stretching along the urban capital Nairobi. Famous for being the only reserve in the world bordering a capital city, the park is one of Kenya's main attractions for tourists and locals; however, this was a first-time, and perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of these gracious twenty somethings. Although they could probably live outside of the slum, they have determined that their purpose in life is to improve the lives of the youngsters in the Hurmana slum. When they arrived in the matatu this morning, their smiles, joking and infectious laughter reminded me to never take for granted the pleasures and privileges we have in America.

I find it difficult to adequately describe the natural beauty of the open land of Africa. On our safari, we traveled many miles through the savannah and had close encounters with giraffes, hippos, wildebeests, gazelles, water buffalo, rhinos, impalas, and zebras. However, the highlight of my day was knowing that Tom was able to cross off one of the things on his bucket list…"to see a lion in the wild." We were able to get an up close and personal view of a group of three lions resting under the shade of acacia trees.

I also found myself feeling like I do on Christmas when Charity and I watch Abby and Ally receive their gifts. To watch the awe and wonder and excitement on the faces of our new Kenyan friends was priceless. At one point one said, "Driver, slow down, I don't want this day to end." Tom had stocked up on a lot of candy and he and I had great fun watching the staff enjoy a rare delicacy. I wish I would have been recording as they ate Twizzlers for the first time as well as chocolate covered almonds. None of them had ever eaten or seen nor tasted an almond.

After our five-hour safari, we dined at a popular restaurant in Nairobi, the Carnivore Restaurant. This is a "Brazilian" style restaurant with so many types of meat that I don't think I can remember all we had. We had a body part of a male ox (that I shouldn't have to spell out here), but it was quite tasty. We also had crocodile, and ox heart. Those were the "special" meats. We also had chicken, turkey, duck, lamb, beef, ostrich (my personal favorite), as well as a host of others. The staff rarely get to have meat, so again this was a very special treat for them. They are fortunate if they have meat once a month and it's usually some form of goat. They absolutely love chicken and it's uncommon for them to have it more than once or twice a year. They ate, laughed, ate, danced, ate, laughed more, ate, ate and ate, then ate some more. Oh, but our meal also came with ice cream for dessert. I could only take a few bites because I was so full, but they would stand up and dance because they said it shook the food down and allowed for more room for the ice cream. Why? They never get it. They have to choose whether they will buy vegetables or ice cream and they have to have the vegetables to survive. They felt bad that their families could not eat as they did, so a couple of the ladies wrapped up some meat in napkins and put it in their purses to share when they went home…no takeout boxes at a restaurant like this. I chuckled because it reminded me of what Mom use to do with leftovers at restaurants before take home boxes.

When we arrived back at the hotel our friends hugged us and thanked us for the experience of a life-time. They said they would be praying that we would return soon. One of the staff, Leyla, stood outside for an extended period of time, took several deep breaths and said, "I have to take in all this clean air just one more time." With few words Tom and adjourned to our comfortable room with thoughts of just how rich we truly are.