Stacy's Travels

Ghana in Review

2011-07-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

Siblings Godswill and Quachabia at Haven of Hope Orphanage

When I said I was going to update this blog while traveling, I thought I would be able to post things a little more regularly. Sorry for the lack of updates, but Internet access has definitely not been the greatest. Now that we're in Germany, it's easier to be online.

We left Ghana on Friday night, sad to say goodbye to the kids at the orphanage and the new friends we'd made. We were, however, looking forward to having a wider selection of food than the practically all carb diet we had been eating for three weeks. I'm not sure bread with peanut butter will sound good for awhile after having a daily dose of it for so long. We've also been enjoying warm showers and roads with drivers who seem calm, collected, and willing to follow normal traffic rules.

So to sum up what we did and how the Ghana portion of our trip went, first let me give you an idea of what our schedule looked like. Tuesday through Friday we lived in a hotel in Accra, the capital city. We taught Bible lessons in schools in the morning, which was very successful in that we were able to teach well in teams and that kids really did retain a lot of what was taught. We were also well-received by the teachers and school headmasters, which will hopefully lead to a continued ministry in those schools by our Ghanaian partners.

Most afternoons we visited families living in a slum area about a 30 minute walk from where our hotel was. Our goal with that was to get to know the people we met and to share the gospel with them. I don't have many pictures from that portion of our trip because it was dangerous to have a camera out, but I'll post one we were able to take if I can get the computer to cooperate soon... right now it looks like I'll have to wait.

This was the most challenging part of the day for our team, but it was also very encouraging to be able to talk openly with people about our faith. Everyone we met was willing to listen and asked questions, and our Ghanaian partners who all live in this slum will be continuing to go back and follow up with them. We also had a lot of discussions as a team about what evangelism should like for us back at home and how important it is, so I'm excited to keep in touch with the girls and see how everyone will grow from this experience.

Another goal from our time of family visitation was as I shared with some of you at home to look out for and learn about child trafficking. We did see one very clear example of this - a young girl we met of maybe eight years old was selling pure water while other children were in school. She lives with her "Auntie" - a woman who is most likely not a relative at all and has five or six children living with her, only a few of whom are her own. This woman forces the girl to sell water all day in order to find a place to sleep at night and hopefully get a little something to eat.

I learned that child trafficking doesn't always mean sex trafficking, although a lot of that goes on too in the area we were in (you just have to be there a long time and show up at night to undestand and see it, which we weren't able to do). I also learned that it takes a lot of work to be able to do something about child trafficking and to get children who are forced to work the whole day out of the situation they are in.

There are very few people who want to help these children or who know best how to help. It can be very dangerous to try to intervene, especially for the kids, and it would take a person who knows and has earned the trust of the surrounding community to really do something about it. Thankfully the organization we went with does have a few such people in place. Pray for their success in working to fight against child trafficking in all of its forms.

Signs and Spirits and White Skin

2011-06-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do while riding in the car in Ghana is to look for the names of shops we pass by. Some seem normal; others make me laugh out loud or don't make any sense to me at all. Many have Christian words and phrases in the name, from what I hear to ward off bad luck and bad spirits. Here are a just a few examples of the ones I've seen so far:

Almighty Electrical
Taste and See Fast Food
With God All Things Are Possible Cosmetics
In God's Time Power Tools

Another thing I love looking at in our many car rides around the city is all of the people carrying things on their heads. I've seen countless women carrying up to maybe 100 pounds of things on their heads plus a baby strapped to their back, sound asleep. When hiked up Medie Mountain with some of the girls at the home here (on a super narrow, rocky, steep, and overgrown path), we all had to jump aside into the bush as a man carrying a really large bundle of wood on his head passed down the mountain.

I wish I were that skilled, but I've learned that the shape our "Obrunni" (white people) heads and our slippery hair makes it difficult to carry things on our heads. Also most people here use a cloth wrapped up on top of their heads to help balance the load. Maybe the kids can give me lessons at Haven of Hope.

Last cultural note before wrapping this short post up: Everywhere we go, people yell "Obrunni! Obrunni!" if they're speaking Twi and "Yevu!" if they're speaking Ewe. Adam is often adressed as "Mr. White Man". Sometimes I really wish I had brown skin so that I would blend in in a crowd, but instead my super pale skin and light hair stands out like a sore thumb in a crowd. The advantage to having lighter skin, though, is that we're able to do ministry in public schools and to capture the attention of more people simply because we're white. It seems silly, but it's reality here.

More to come about the last week in Accra soon... off to lunch right now.

GHANA MISSION TRIP 2011

2011-06-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hello from Medie, Ghana! It’s been awhile since I’ve written anything on this blog... and has also been awhile since I’ve traveled, so I figured it might be about time to resurrect it and post a little bit about our current globetrotting adventure. I will upload pictures as soon as I can figure out how to do it on the computer I’m using. For now, I hope a few stories will do.

I’m writing from Haven of Hope (HoH), which is a school and children’s home run by Every Child Ministries. It’s pretty quiet here at the moment, which is a rare occurance. The 50 kids who live here are all taking their daily “siesta,” the many goats, puppies, dogs, and birds aren’t making noise (okay I take it back - one puppy just started crying), and really all I can hear is the ceiling fan above me quietly whirling and cooling us off. And yes, you read that correctly - Ghana has come a long way since I was here four years ago, and the children’s home now has electricity and running water almost all of the time, which is shocking. I feel so spoiled!

Adam and I arrived here with our team of four other Americans (all college girls) late Monday night after 32 hours of travel. This has been our home base and training center over the past week, but we’ll be leaving HoH tomorrow for ministry in the capital city of Accra. The schedule so far has been pretty intense for the Adam and me as trip leaders, even more so than expected because the details of our trip weren’t quite in order when we got here like we had hoped. Thankfully we have gotten a schedule worked out, have completed the team training for our American and Ghanaian team, and are finally feeling prepared for teaching Bible lessons and doing street ministry next week. Our team has also been super flexible and understanding, which has helped us out a lot.

Here’s what our schedule for the next two weeks will look like: teaching two mornings per week (five teams of one American and one Ghanaian each), street ministry and family visitation in slums in Accra four times per week, and weekends off to spend at HoH. Adam will be supervising the teaching, and I will be in classrooms with my Ghanaian partner Emmanuel.

Here are some noteworthy highlights of the trip so far:

-Almost all of the kids here remember me from when I was here four years ago. It’s been great to reconnect with them and to see how much they have all grown up. I love it when kids call for “Miss Stacy” to come out and play. There are at least a dozen kids who I would love to take home with me.

-Yesterday the kids used machetes to cut open big coconuts for us. I actually think the coconut milk in the middle is disgusting, but Kelsey (a team member) challenged me to a coconut milk chugging contest, and for some reason I agreed... it’s all on video should you want to see us fail miserably :)

-Today we snuck up on and chased a herd of goats out of the compost pit... pretty funny until they all charged right at me!

-Playing with the seven puppies of HoH’s guard dogs that are here has been fun. They’re all some huge South African breed, and while the adults look very intimidating, the puppies are cute. Last night, though, two puppies were really sick and were howling and crying for hours. Several of us stayed up with them well into the night and thought for sure they would die, but somehow they hung on until this morning when the vet saw them. As it turns out, both were stung by scorpions. After three shots of antivenom each, they should be okay.

That’s about it for now. We’ll be heading to Medie Mountain soon to hike with some of the older girls, so I need to get ready to go. Thanks for reading and I’ll try to update again a few times while we’re here depending on Internet access. Miss you all back home - thanks so much for the prayers and support! If you think of it, I would love to ask you to specifically pray for safety and effective teaching next week as we begin ministry in Accra.

Wild West

2010-08-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

Adam and I are on a 12-day road trip through Lincoln NE, Estes Park CO, Denver CO, and Columbia and St. Louis MO. Here are a few pictures we've taken along the way!

Emerald Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park at the top of our hike

Nymph Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park

Dinner with Laura and Jesse in their newly-rented apartment. We set the dinner table for them while they cooked us a delicious dinner ;)

Snapshots of Africa

2009-03-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

Hello from... Columbus, Ohio?? Hmm, interesting change of pace from the last seven weeks of updates, but it feels good to be home after ten stamps and two new visas in my Passport and thousands and thousands of miles of traveling.

As promised, here are a few more photos from my trip as well as a link to viewing the album I put up on Facebook. If you don't have an account there and would still like to see the pictures, send me an e-mail at hoenig.5@osu.edu and I would love to e-mail you the website for non-Facebook users.

In addition, here's a link to a video I took of the church choir in Bohalahala: click here.

There he is!!!

Waving to us...?

Antelope

Buffalo

Four camels on a boat... too bad I couldn't find any on the beach to ride (yay for tourist traps!)

Just in case you need some meat, here's a butcher I might (not?) recommend in Geita. Click on the picture to enlarge and check out that excellent selection of meat.

This was "my" beach in Diani Beach, Kenya. I always entered here by the dead coral and walked along the shore til I got to all white sand. Beautiful!

Kids in Mgussu... very disappointed when they realized my camera was film and that they couldn't see their picture after I took it!

And last but not least, here I am with Frank, Bettina, and Nadine during our wonderful weekend hanging out in Bremen : )

Well, I guess I'll wrap up and say that I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had to go on this journey, for the people I met, and for the things I was able to see and do - it was definitely an adventure I'll never forget! And just for you, Mr. Bernhard, one of the things I learned is that no matter how far you go or how alone you think you are, God always provides, and there is always something to be thankful for. Always.

To everyone who read these updates, I hope you enjoyed hearing about my adventures as much as I did writing it all : ) Thanks for coming along for the ride and following along with me as I traveled!

Almost Home

2009-03-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hey all, just a quick update to let you know that after a wonderful weekend in Bremen and a two last days spent in Cologne and Bonn, I am packing my bags once more and am heading home after seven weeks of traveling. After a "mere" 34 hours after taking off from Germany (due to cheaper flights having bad connections), I'll land in Columbus, Ohio and get back to speaking English... and start writing my thesis!

I'm planning to update one more time after I get my film developed so that I can post a few pictures... especially the ones from my unofficial safari in Kenya, so stay tuned and check back in a week or so if you're interested in seeing the elephant that I thought was going to trample our car ; )

Til then, thanks for reading!!! I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in the near future and hope you enjoyed the stories, pictures, and little pieces of Africa that have appeared over the past seven weeks!

Double-Exchange

2009-03-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

After spending four days in Bonn and having fun surprising teachers, friends, and former co-workers from my internship with my unannounced visit, I hopped on a train yesterday and headed north on a four-hour ride to Bremen. I'm currently updating this from the living room of my exchange student sister (hi Laura!) and am really enjoying getting to know her family... and relatives... and friends ; )

Last night when I arrived we had a "small" dinner party of fifteen people eating Raclette, which consists of putting vegetables and meats, pineapple, and eggs with special cheese on top into a little pan which you toast in a mini oven that's on the table. It's really good and fun to make... sortof like a fondue concept because you cook at the table.

I'm looking forward to us hopefully being able to chat with my family later on today via Skype with the daughters swapped. It's funny to think that Laura sleeps in my bedroom at my parents' house and that I'm now sleeping in hers (thanks!) : )

In addition to meeting lots of new people, I got to see a familiar face as well, because my friend Nadine, who was an exchange student at my high school five years ago, also came down from Hamburg for the weekend. It's such a blessing to be able to visit so many people in such a short amount of time, even if that does mean traveling here and there the entire time I'm in Germany.

Tomorrow I will head back South to Cologne and Bonn and fly out on Tuesday. Still don't know where I will be staying in London on Tuesday night, but if nothing else works out, there are always benches in the airport. We'll see I guess!

Well, I'm heading out to bike over to a bakery and pick up some freshly-baked Brötchen (like rolls - only way better) for breakfast... my very favorite thing to eat in Germany. Better enjoy them while I can! Mmmmmmmm : )

Not that I'm complaining, but...

2009-03-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

... did I really have to leave the warmth behind when I boarded my plane headed for Europe? At least it's still well above freezing here, although I don't think I am coming home to Ohio until someone fixes the arctic weather you all are having over there!

I'm grateful for the sunshine here at the moment, though, and am in general extremely, totally, really, really, excited to be here in Germany : ) I'm currently living in Bonn with a wonderful family that I spent a lot of time with while I was here studying last year, and it is wonderful to be able to visit with them again.

In just a few minutes I'm going to head out to go walk along the Rhine and then meet a friend for lunch in the city center. Yay for being back!

Somehow it's a little strange to not be in Africa anymore though. I mean... I stared at a faucet for a good minute or so debating whether or not it was possible that safe drinking water could come out of it in the airport in London. I stared at the dinner table last night at a complete loss because I had no idea which of the three meats, three cheeses, two butters, and six of seven spreads I should put on my bread. Such a huge selection of choices just doesn't exist in Africa, and I literally didn't know what to do with it all. And then the clothes that people wore in the airport and on the street - so bland! Where are all the bright mismatched patterns I've grown so accustomed to? And how come I can't use any of my Swahili phrases that I picked up?

Well anyway, those are just a few of the things going through my mind since I've landed.

And now before I head into the city, here are a few pictures from my last days in Africa : )

Three African ladies: me with 25 braids (told you it looked scary!), Hanna with three, and Marina with five

The family I stayed with in Nairobi... post-braids : )

Goodbye bush life; Hello city!

2009-03-01T04:57:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that I am incredibly thankful to be writing this post on the other end of my bus trip? I left Geita on Friday on a bus, this time well-prepared for the cold nighttime mountain air with a fleece shirt, coat, scarf, and hat. You all at home are probably laughing at me needing that in Africa… but I was definitely glad to have had that all along!

I saw zebras as we passed the Serengeti and stared up at the most beautiful and bright display of stars I have ever seen while we drove through the night. Other events during the fifteen-hour trip included discovering during a rain storm that my window had a rather large leak in it, after which a small container of aloe vera I had with me broke and spilled on my jeans. Yay for being wet and stick and stuck in a bus!

The woman I sat next to also added to the fun when she brought a whole fried Lake Victoria tilapia wrapped in newspaper back onto the bus for a mid-afternoon snack. I cringed at the thought of her eating a smelly fish on the already hot and smelly, cramped bus… but when I heard the words, “Karibu! Karibu sana!” I realized that I was wrong; WE, not she, would be eating the salty, oily fish with our hands directly after a bathroom break (I had hand sanitizer at least). Mmm! Although I do have to say that the fish actually turned out to taste good. Ah, the fun of meeting people and eating local food ; )

Hmm, in other news I decided that it might be fun to get my hair braided before I left Tanzania, so three hours later I had twenty-five mini braids in the front half of my hair. It was a sortof painful experience that I don’t plan on needing to repeat anytime soon, but I figured it would be an adventure to try it at least once. I will post a picture when I get to Germany and have faster Internet, but suffice it to say that I scared myself every time I looked in the mirror afterwards… especially when I took all the braids out and had a giant fro!

Here in Nairobi I have been loving spending a few days with the same family I stayed with on my way out to Tanzania two weeks ago. It cracks me up the way they all converse with each other – half English and half German, sometimes to the extent that both languages are used in one sentence. It doesn’t really matter since we are all fluent in both, but sometimes I don’t know which language to begin talking in!

Even at church today there was a funny language mix-up… the church is made up of people from countries from all over the world, and as the pastor got up to speak and greeted everyone in Kiswahili and then German, he forgot to switch to English and so began his sermon in the wrong language until someone said, “Falsche Sprache!” (wrong language) and he corrected himself and started again : )

Anyway, it’s about time for me to start thinking about how to best jam everything into my suitcase and prepare to go. I have just a few hours left in Africa before I leave the continent and head to Europe again for a week, and although I have mixed emotions about going, I’m really, really excited to be heading to Germany next.

Kwa heri, Tschüss, and Goodbye til my next update from Germany!

Last days in Geita

2009-02-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

It's dark outside, the African jungle-sounding nighttime noises are creating a chorus outside our windows, and from some house a ways away I can just barely make out Celine Dion on the radio (people here like to play their music loudly)... but other than that it's peaceful and quiet, so I figured it'd be the perfect time for an update. I promise this one will be more encouraging than the last!

First, this was a beautiful sight yesterday:

I never thought I would be so thankful for rain, but after living here for nearly two weeks and sparing water and Daniel having to take a huge tank (seen in the background of the picture) into town to fill up from another water source there, we were all smiling when the skies opened up and we could collect a couple thousand liters off the roof in barrels, buckets, and tanks. Drinking water (don't worry, it's filtered first), shower water, washing dishes and clothes water... we have enough for awhile!

Also going on at the house lately has been Marina's "Salooni" (salon in Swahili) which she's opened up. To all the relatives I did this to when I was little... it was payback time ; )

Other than that, I have been doing interviews for my research and am finding people's opinions about who missionaries are and what they are here to do really interesting. Some people say they come because they want to live in a new place. Others think that missionaries want to earn money. To help people. To teach about God. To spy. Quite the colorful quilt these people are painting for me! I've talked to people from all different walks of life, from the diocese bishop to housekeepers, and one thing I am loving about the interviews is how much people like to talk and share thier opinions. It's fun!

I will be in Geita until Friday when I board another night bus back to Nairobi (oh joy). I'll stay with the same family I did on my way through last time and am really looking forward to that, and then on Sunday night I'll leave the Southern Hemisphere and the warm weather and head to Germany for a quick visit.

Speaking of the Southern Hemisphere... here are my two quick observations about it:

1. The constellations look different. Of course I knew this would happen, but let me tell you, the big dipper does not look like it could hold any water at this angle.

2. I really wanted to see a toilet flush with water swirling in the opposite direction. No such luck. All the toilets here are either not the kind that swirl in circles or are just plain holes in the ground. Bummer.

Mgussu

2009-02-20T22:12:00.000-08:00

I don't exactly want to write about everything that happened yesterday, because the things I saw weren't pretty and aren't going to be nice to read about... but I think that it's important to know what goes on in the world beyond our realms of comfort and familiarity, so here we go.

Yesterday morning we left Geita and headed to a village called Mgussu on the other side of the mountains where the gold mines are. On the drive out, we passed by a crowd of one hundred people or so on the side of the road and slowed down to see why they were all collected there. As we got closer, we saw a man lying on the side of the road, nearly dead. He'd just been stoned by that crowd of people for stealing 1 kg of beans, and the police officer who stood nearby was apparently only there for crowd control.

I looked away as quickly as I could, but even that quick glance was enough to burn the image in my mind for forever. Sitting there smashed in the back seat of a car between three other people, I couldn't stop the tears from coming. It was a pretty awful scene. I can understand to an extent why vigilante justice exists here. The entire justice system is corrupt, so when theives and murderers are let out of prison after just a few days when the right people are paid, this ensures that they won't come back and no one person in the community can be prosecuted for murder. It's just still a hard thing to comprehend and even harder to see.

Anyway, after that we arrived in Mgussu, a village right by the gold mines where money flows just about as fast as the alcohol or as quickly as the water flows through the streets like rivers when it rains. Daniel told me that according to a study group that came through the area recently, 98.7% of the prostitutes there are HIV positive, the highest rate out of all 6,000 other areas this group surveyed.

Here's a girl that I met in the village taking care of a baby who is probably her sister. They were both really cute.

After holding a seminar in the church in Mgussu, we drove to the big gold mines and looked at how open pit mining is done. Entire mountains are moved and literally set down piece by piece, upside down, in a new spot. The chemicals the mines use for processing the gold are stored in a giant man-made lake that a security guard told us killed nineteen cows within minutes who drank from it a few weeks ago. The money all leaves the country and goes to foreign countries, and the workers are treated badly. It was fascinating to see the rock layers as they defaced entire mountains just to get some sparkly powder. Here is a small portion of a mine.

Anyway, that was my day. It made me sad, angry, and thankful all at once... the latter mostly because it reminded me not to take my home for granted.

Water

2009-02-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

It’s Friday morning and I have a few spare minutes that I thought I would use to write a quick update. At 10:00 we’re going to drive to a village in the area to hold a seminar about safe drinking water and hygiene. There are two Americans here visiting who have been leading the seminars all week long in tandem with the Kroppachs. I have learned more about wells, bore holes, pumps, biosand filters, and finding where to drill or dig for water in the past week than I had planned on knowing... but it’s really interesting. If anyone needs a well or bore hole put in when I get back... nah, just kidding – I probably still can’t help you ; )

What I’ve basically been up to this whole week is doing whatever the family does, learning about what their missionary work looks like, and starting to do interviews with a few people here. The interesting thing that I found yesterday as I asked several people about their opinions on missionaries is that in this particular village, there were only a handful of people who’d ever met a missionary before! Made me have to rethink how I wanted to ask my questions, that’s for sure, but it was fun to get to talk with some people from the village through a translator.

The seminar yesterday was in Bohalahala where we visited for church on Sunday. I saw their lone source of water, a muddy stream that is used in the following order from upstream to downstream: cattle watering, then laundry washing and bathing, and then drinking water. No wonder that when we ate there on Sunday, the rice that was washed with water was a little bit on the brown side...

Anyway, during the course of the seminar we were given food several times. First someone comes around with a basin and a pitcher of really hot water (this is done by the local tribe to ensure that there are no bad spirits in the water) that they poured while you washed your hands with soap. Then we were given chapati (flatbread browned in oil) with tea for breakfast, which we had to take more of than we wanted in order to be polite, but it was hard knowing we were eating a second breakfast that we didn’t really want in front of everyone else in the church, many of whom probably hadn’t eaten since the day before. But again, I was really thankful for the hospitality.

My time here in Geita has challenged me to learn a lot already... and I have only been here for a week now. There are many things that are hard for me to grasp and others that make me really mad. I hate hearing about the gold mines run by foreign companies here that are destroying the environment, polluting the area with mercury, lowering the water table so that many shallow wells are in danger of being dry within a few years, and isn’t paying taxes to the government. It’s not fun to listen to stories about taking people to the local hospital and seeing more dead bodies come out than people on the mend. And I have also heard a lot about NGO’s who come into a village, give out wells and mosquito nets and shoes, and then leave... and the things either aren’t used or are sold for profit and basically are a short-term fix that is often more abused than used by the people to help improve their situation.

All of this it’s a little bit difficult to write about in a blog post, but that’s just a little summary of some thoughts floating around in my head. At the same, I do see other good and encouraging things happening in Africa right now as well, the people are usually very friendly and welcoming, and I am incredibly thankful to be here and to have the privilege of learning so many things, many of which fall well beyond the bounds of my thesis project.

Pictures

2009-02-17T23:57:00.000-08:00

Not sure why, but the pictures that didn't want to load the other day are posting fine now, so... here you go - the images that go with my last update!

The church we went to on Sunday

The church choir singing and dancing (and if it looks like we are behind them... well, we are. As guests we sat at the very front of the church facing the rest of the congregation)

The Evangelist (like a pastor) and his wife and family in front of their house where we ate lunch after church

Hannah and Marina in their princess dresses

Karibu/Wilkommen/Welcome in Geita!

2009-02-15T06:25:00.000-08:00

After a very long and cold and bumpy bus ride, I finally made it to Mwanza, Tanzania and later arrived in Geita (pronounced “gay-tah”) on Thursday afternoon. The whole experience wasn’t quite as awful as I had thought it might be, mostly because the seat next to me was empty and I could sortof stretch out and catch at least an hour or so of sleep. The highlight for me was seeing the Serengeti on my left and Lake Victoria on my right after we crossed the border. I also thought that the mountains that popped up out of the plains were really cool - they were covered with big, smooth, gray rocks that looked like they were all stacked and arranged by hand. I can only compare it to Stonehenge... but on a mountain.

For the next two weeks I will be living with Daniel, Steffi, and their three girls Marina (5), Hannah (2), and Nele (7 months). They live on the outskirts of Geita in a newly-built house where I have overtaken Nele’s room for the two weeks I will be here. I share the room with a little lizard who is sadly missing half of his tail. The house is lovely, but the problem at the moment is that their well isn’t working, and the barrels that catch rainwater as it falls off the roof that we have been using to shower and to filter for drinking water and such are nearly empty. Apparently they are going to be able to get water from somewhere else and bring it back to the house, although that sounds like a lot of work. Guess we are about to start some serious water conservation efforts!

The Kroppachs have been really nice and welcoming since my arrival, and although I haven’t gotten to actually see much of their work with the youth here yet, it sounds really interesting what all they’re doing with the youth. This new phase of research is going to be a lot different than the first. Speaking of which, with this move to Tanzania, I have also entered the German-speaking phase of the trip, as that is what we speak here at home and because most people in Tanzania speak only Kiswahili and their tribal language... so much for English being helpful!

On Friday night and all day yesterday there was a meeting for all (four) of the other German missionaries who work with Allianz Mission in Eastern Tanzania, the organization that sent Daniel and Steffi, so all of a sudden the house was full and I found myself in the middle of what was like a small group. We sang songs and had a few devotionals and it was really fun to be a part of that all! I didn’t expect there to be any sort of community like that out here, but I just happened to come on a weekend where people had driven several hours to come for the meeting, so it worked out nicely.

All day yesterday I was on kid duty with another girl about my age so that the parents could talk, which was fun... and exhausting! We made crafts, played games, read books... I have been playing with the girls a lot since I’ve gotten here since they usually don’t have much company around, which I think they are loving. And which is tiring me out a little bit since I'm not used to being around younger kids ; )

We went to church today in a nearby village, and I was very thankful that it wasn’t quite as long as the last service I went to in Diani. Daniel and Steffi translated into German for me so I wasn’t completely lost. Afterwards we were invited by the pastor to eat at his house. It was so gracious of them to ask us to come, but I felt bad at the same time eating their food as they clearly were not well-off in the first place. I was also excited because I thought I was going to eat the freshest meat I’ve ever had (i.e. chances were high that they would catch and slaughter a chicken and then cook it for us), but sadly we just had beef... of questionable sanitation. But I was thankful for the food!

Also... I took pictures of lots of things to be able to show you all and for some reason can't get them to load on this computer : ( Hopefully I'll get it worked out soon!

In Nairobi

2009-02-10T23:02:00.000-08:00

I arrived safely last night... suitcase, sanity, and all : ) Between being stressed about traveling alone and getting things to fit into my suitcase, I wasn't quite sure I'd survive, but everything worked out just fine. My suitcase was exactly 20.0 kg, which was the maximum weight allowance, and I was picked up directly from the airport by a car full of five very friendly and welcoming missionaries from Kenya, Germany, and America.

I am staying in the midst of a cluster of missionary houses with a German/Sudanese family. Brigitte is the only one home at the moment as her kids are all on a class trip and her husband is away teaching at a university, so last night the two of us stayed up til nearly 1 A.M. chatting away in German (which made me discover just how rusty my German has become!). She told me stories of living alone in the bush in northern Kenya for a few years as a nurse and getting attacked and shot at by bands of raiders and showed me pictures of her time there, which I could never, ever imagine being brave enough to do! This morning she is going to take me around downtown Nairobi to see the city, and then later I get to babysit their six year old daughter while the parents go into town for a meeting. I'm kindof excited about it : )

And just as a fun sidenote... when I got off the plane last night, I literally gasped as I felt the temperature of the air outside (while eyeing my coat I'd carried and wondering if I should put it on) - it couldn't have been more than 70 degrees and wasn't humid at all. Nairobi is at a much higher elevation than Mombasa, which is why it's so much colder, but I definitely have jeans on and slept under a comforter for the first time in three weeks. It feels a little bit strange to be chilly and to not be sweaty all the time! Am I still in Africa?

Off Again

2009-02-10T05:33:00.000-08:00

It’s about that time – the day of my departure from Diani Beach has arrived, and tonight I’ll be hopping on a flight from Mombasa to Nairobi and will stay overnight with a missionary family in the city. Tomorrow I’ll get on a bus at 9 P.M. that will take me from Nairobi to Mwanza, Tanzania (in theory I’ll arrive at 11 A.M. the next morning, although who knows how timely African buses are)… it’ll probably be a hot, cramped, and uncomfortable fourteen hours! I can’t wait for the minute that I actually arrive in Tanzania and finally meet the German family that I’ll be living with until March 5th!

My suitcase is just about the right weight I think, my carry-on is stuffed, and I am going to be carrying my winter jacket on the plane with me (on a ridiculously hot day) and wearing tennis shoes with my skirt since they’re too big and heavy to put them in my suitcase. Boo on luggage regulations!!!!

One quick story before I sign off and finish packing – my research took an interesting twist this morning when I met up with an older English gentleman named Johnno and his wife who live on the coast. I wanted to learn a little bit more about traditional medicine and witch doctors that many people in Africa use (what they do, which types are seen by the local population as good and which are bad, etc.) because many people who visited the eye clinic first tried traditional medicine for healing them and I’m pretty ignorant on the topic.

I figured I might as well learn some more about it while I had the chance, so after a lovely brunch, Johnno took me around his beautiful beachfront estate with one of his house staff and I was given a botany lesson on lots of plants that are used to cure various illnesses. I guess I’m just used to picking up all of my medicines off of a drugstore shelf, so it was mind-boggling to think that so many plants had uses that, according to the people I was with, really work.

This whole time, by the way, I was wearing a hat that Johnno’s wife offered me since it was sunny – it was straw with big white and red feathers and came from a lovely English woman, so how could I refuse? : )

Well, that’s all for now. The taxi will be here any minute to take me to Mombasa and I’d better start lugging my suitcase to the door and making sure I have everything. More to come from Tanzania!

Safari!

2009-02-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

It’s been an exciting and adventurous few days in Kenya… and here’s the recap:

I went to Mombasa on Friday and spent the afternoon with a Kenyan Indian family, which was so much fun! We took a “tuktuk” around the city for a bit with a very crazy driver, and I was sure we were going to crash into people, cars, and carts multiple times. A tuktuk, by the way, is like a taxi that has one wheel in front, two wheels in the back, has no windows, and usually seats three passengers. Also while I was visiting with them, two of the girls in the family gave me a fun henna tattoo!

Yesterday Sebastian, Jael, and I drove a ways inland for a picnic in a really remote area overlooking a huge valley that elephants usually roam through.

It was so hot, however, that they were all hiding in the nearby forests, but that didn’t stop us from seeing some later on in the day in a national park. We went on our own mini-safari and had a really fun time driving around in Sebastian’s little red car and looking for animals. The three of us took turns driving and standing outside of the car and “spotting” in order to get a better view while we drove.

For the first hour or so, the animals were nice - sable antelope, buffalo, warthogs, and gazelles – but I was really, really, really hoping to see an elephant. Sure enough, we were in luck and spotted two in one area and a lone young bull elephant in another. I was SO excited to see them and of course had to take lots of pictures, especially of the latter. I unfortunately can’t post the pictures, though, as they’re still undeveloped (I know, I live in the dark ages and still use film – sorry!).

Apparently these young male elephants are the most dangerous and aggressive since they’re not yet part of a herd, yet we rather stupidly stood outside the car, watched it cross the road just 100 feet behind us or so and were snapping pictures when he started looking angry. He was flapping his ears, raising his trunk, and took a few steps towards us, and we all of a sudden realized that he could at any minute charge and mangle our car... so we jumped in the car, started the engine, and drove away in record time. Slightly scary – but we all lived, so no worries (right Mom and Dad?) : )

Seeing animals in their native habitats makes them somehow far more impressive than when there is glass or bars between you and them. It’s also slightly more thrilling and scary to think that there’s nothing to stop the animal from deciding it wants to pay you a personal visit… thankfully we escaped having to experience that!

Today I learned to cook a few costal Kenyan dishes with Jael and her sisters who are here to visit, and they tasted great and weren’t too difficult to prepare… so I am definitely going to have to try them out once I get home.

When I left afterwards, I had to say goodbye to Sebastian as he’s leaving tomorrow for a week-long trip and I’m leaving for Nairobi and then Tanzania on Tuesday. I didn’t expect to make such good friends here, and it’s sad having to say goodbyes already to people I have spent so much time with and who have been so wonderful to me. Sigh… guess that’s life. But I am incredibly thankful to have had both Jael and Sebastian here – they’ve made this leg of the journey so great because I’ve had friends to share it with.

Eye Surgery Is Not for the Faint of Heart.

2009-02-05T04:35:00.000-08:00

What a day… I thought it would just be another ordinary eight hours at the clinic spent wrapping up my research here before I leave for Tanzania on Tuesday, but as it turns out, today was a little more exciting than I’d bargained for.

I decided that I wanted to watch an eye surgery while I had the opportunity, so this afternoon I suited up in green scrubs and a hairnet and entered the operating theatre to watch Dr. Sebastian masterfully remove a cataract from an elderly patient and insert a new lens in the eye. I got to look through a microscope while he worked, and it was really fascinating… except I have discovered (without much surprise) that I don’t have the stomach for that kind of thing.

A few minutes into surgery I found myself feeling incredibly hot, nauseous, and unstable on my feet as all the sounds around me and the beeping of the machines faded and seemed to be coming from very far away. I had to sit down and compose myself three times during the fifteen-minute surgery for fear I’d faint and land right on top of the patient (who was, by the way, fully conscious during the entire operation). He handled the whole thing much better than I did, which is slightly embarrassing. Ah well… there’s a reason I’m not going into medicine!

In other news, I’ve been in Kenya for two weeks as of today, and I think I’m really starting to get used to life here. For one thing, it feels very normal now to drive on the left-hand side of the road and to have the passenger’s seat be on the left side of the car. By the way, Sebastian promised to let me try to drive his car someday soon - driver’s seat is on the right and I’ll have to shift with my left hand… should be interesting! Maybe I can talk him into letting me try it out today??

Another thing I see everywhere here that I don’t at home is all the brightly-colored clothing. Because the costal area is 90% Muslim, many of the women also wear the beautiful material to cover their heads. It doesn’t even seem strange anymore to see women wearing full black covering with only their eyes showing (or even having the face completely covered), although I still have no clue how they survive the heat and humidity under all that! My favorite is when women wearing black cloth over their faces put glasses on top of it like I saw in the clinic today : )

I’m also growing accustomed to eating oogali (think white corn meal formed into a sticky ball) with vegetable stew with the fingers of my right hand (no silverware needed!), and I like all the food here I’ve tried so far. Today for lunch I had chipati (like a deep-fried tortilla) with stew - yum! Although this one I had to cheat and use a spoon with… couldn’t quite figure out how to sop up the stew with the chipati without one.

I am almost used to being the only American around and lately have been getting teased about my accent and the way the American “a” is pronounced in a very nasal way – especially having grown up in northwest Ohio - instead of the more British “ah” (as in “mahn-go” instead of “mango” and “Fahn-ta” instead of “Fanta”… or “Stah-cy” instead of “Stacy”). Yes well… can’t help it!

Happy Thursday, more to come when I get back to a computer or internet cafe!

Around the House

2009-02-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd get some of these up before Simone's computer has to go in for repairs for a whole week and I'm back to limited Internet access... enjoy : )

My desk in my bedroom

Close-up of my flowers that Simone had put out for me when I arrived

My bed (and the annoying mosquito net tied up in a knot above it during the day)

The veranda where Simone and I sit and read or chat during the evening

Levi and Pluto, the two nicest "guard dogs" I've ever met in my life : )

Weekends are Wonderful

2009-02-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

Hello again from the rainy south coast of Mombasa! They’ve had quite a drought here, so the thunderstorms that rolled in last night and this morning have brought some welcome relief to the dryness and heat. Hopefully the rain will be good for the crops, because hunger is really starting to be a problem in Kenya (the Minister of Agriculture released an estimate last week that up to 10 million Kenyans, or nearly 1/3 of the population, will be affected by hunger in the near future). Thankfully as of yet this region has not been affected much yet.

I’ve had quite the adventurous weekend… Saturday Jael and I went into Mombasa to do some shopping in what I have decided to (somewhat sarcastically) call the “Mombasa Mall” – you’ll understand the sarcasm when you look at the picture below. All the clothes come second-hand from America, which was really interesting to see because I’ve been wondering where on earth people are getting their Michigan Wolverines shirts and USA flag shirts from. I have yet to see any OSU clothing… sad story : (

The entire day yesterday was spent taking a trip out a marine park about an hour away and doing diving and snorkeling in the Indian Ocean, which was a really great experience. The water was so clear and blue and gorgeous, and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life! I did what is called a “fun dive” – i.e. you dive and have someone else beside you controlling all your gear. The other diver literally held my hand through the first half of the time, and later he let me swim on my own and just stuck by my side as I swam.

The reef was so beautiful, and the coral and big schools of brightly-colored fish were impressive… but my favorite parts were watching a sea turtle and swimming after him for awhile, as well as swimming about 5 or 6 meters away from dolphins. It was amazing to hear them “talking” under the water, and… WOW. That’s really all I can say!

Unfortunately for me, I didn’t think about the fact that all the salt water was going to wash off my SPF 50 sunscreen in no time, and I am burned to a crisp at the moment. Thankfully I was convinced to bring my aloe vera while I was packing for this trip, which I’ve been using like crazy! The blisters on my back and shoulders don't feel so good, but... I'll get over it. Learned my lesson for next time, that's for sure!

One week down, six to go!

2009-01-30T00:30:00.000-08:00

I woke up to an obnoxious beeping noise today only to realize that it was my new Kenyan cell phone’s alarm clock… ugh. Morning already? Somehow the night and my sleep never seem long enough. I got up to turn the alarm off and found my mosquito net shoved to the side, which I vaguely remembered being annoyed with last night and throwing off. I can probably thank that for the numerous new bites on my legs!

After I got up, I ate a mango for breakfast, took my malaria pill, and got ready for the day. Waited by the main road for my ride and watched joggers go by in their bare feet and monkeys climbing across (and laughing as they sometimes fell off of) the power lines. Said “Jambo!” to the passers-by. Routine already, and this is only my 9th day in Kenya. I’m thankful for it, though, because it makes life feel normal even though I’m so far from home.

I’m currently at the Kwale District Eye Center (founded by a British woman but sponsored by a German missions organization... hence my being here) drinking hot tea with lots of milk and sugar (hot tea on a hot day? Guess I’m just following suit and doing like everyone else does) and am spending the day thinking about where this project is headed and how I can make it better. It's a bit of a relief to be able to take a break from surveys and interviews and to just work on some planning instead.

Research has been complicated and challenging, and it’s hard for me to even see where this whole project is going at times. Somehow it’ll all get straightened out – at least I hope so! I’m thankful for getting to know the staff while I’m here, though, and they’re all having fun teaching me Swahili words like “eye clinic” and “cup” and “how much does it cost?” and are very curious about my research, which I like telling them about.

On Wednesday I went out in the field for an eye screening in a very remote village in Kinango about an hour and a half drive inland from the coast. We had to drive up into the highlands over pretty rough roads and through a national park to get there, and along the way we saw some warthogs and baboons with their babies following behind. (The adult versions of both animals aren’t so cute, but the young ones definitely are!). It was like a mini-safari, which was really fun. We were hoping to see some elephants, too… but all we saw were elephant droppings. Boo! Slightly disappointing, but at least I can say I was in a park where elephants live : )

An "Mganga" - traditional healer - who came to our screening.

Other than research, I’ve been spending time with Jael and Sebastian and appreciating their rides to and from work that save me from the Matatus (although I think I could handle them better now that I’ve had some experience). The restaurant they took me to last night was wonderful – we ate dinner with only a palm roof over our heads by the light of candles and paper lanterns and watched the waves wash ashore just 50 meters away. I definitely needed the break from thinking and worrying about my research, so a relaxing late dinner fit the bill perfectly.

Okay, off to do some work. Thanks for reading and hope everyone in Columbus has dug their way out of the snow I hear you all got mid-week ; )

While in Africa... don't count on the Internet to work!

2009-01-29T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hey all, sorry I haven't updated in awhile, but Simone's computer has been broken and the Internet cafe's internet was also broken... and so it's been a bit of an ordeal trying to be in touch with people back home! The computer here at the internet cafe (with a newly-repaired connection) is strange and it took me forever to even figure out how to log in, so my time's about up and I need to head out for dinner. Sebastian and Jae are picking me up and taking me out for pizza - mmm : ) Anyway, I've gotta run but promise I will post something more exciting soon!

I used to think "research" sounded boring...

2009-01-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

I started my research today at the Kwale District Eye Centre – it was a very good, long, fun, and exhausting day all rolled up into one and I’m currently trying to finish preparing for my day in the field tomorrow before crashing into bed.

My morning began with a rather adventurous ride on Matatus (privately owned mini-buses) to the clinic an hour away. Thankfully John, who I met yesterday, happened to be going on the same route as me and was able to help me through the whole crazy process. He saved me from being charged higher “Mzungu” fares, which was nice. Better, though, was when he saved me from being completely overwhelmed when we had to change Matatus - I was nearly mobbed by people trying to push and pull the Mzungu woman into their cars so they could make a little extra money off of my inexperience. John grabbed my hand, pulled me through the crowd to the right Matatu, and put me in it after telling the driver where to let me off. Thank goodness!

At the clinic I spent the day meeting staff and still trying to figure out exactly how I’m going to go about this process of researching. A chat with a German doctor who works there (and coincidentally studied at the University of Bonn and worked in the same office I did while I was there!) really helped me figure some things out. He’s taken an interest in my project and I think he’ll continue to help guide me while I’m here. An hour into my time there I also found myself learning to give and chart the reading part of eye exams, putting in eye drops, and taking blood pressure… but don’t worry, they weren’t calling me Dr. Stacy just yet ; )

To end the day, I went with Dr. Roberts, the founder of the clinic, and one of the nurses named Jael to a resort in Diani Beach where we did an aerobics class and followed it up with fifteen minutes in a sauna. If you can imagine an hour of aerobics in mid-90 degree temperatures with high humidity and far too many people in a tiny room followed by an even hotter and sweatier trip to the sauna… well, that was my evening! But it was so nice to get to hang out with some people from the clinic and know that when I go back tomorrow, there will be people I am looking forward to seeing.

Churches and Beaches

2009-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

I’ve been in Kenya for four days now and it already feels like an eternity since I last saw home. I’m still not quite feeling adjusted to the time and culture and place, but it’s getting better. Today was actually really great and has helped me to feel more at home because I finally made some friends besides Simone (the wonderful woman I’m living with).

This morning I went to the beach at 9 to go to church with Faith, a woman I met on the beach my second day here. She didn’t show up for awhile, so I wound up being invited to sit on a washed-up tree stump in the sand by a guy about my age, and it was really nice getting to chat with someone new for a little while. He tried to sell me fish (and even said he would fillet them for me since I don’t know what to do with a whole fish), so who knows if that’ll work out or not. Could be… yummy?

About ten minutes later a guy named John, probably a few years older than me, came along and told me Mama Faith sent him to get me and bring me to her house, so I followed him back into the nearby village and waited in their courtyard on a little wooden stool around a smoldering fire as Faith showered and got ready. They live in poverty and filth… but for some reason it didn’t phase me like when I was in Ghana. I was honestly just honored to have been invited to their home!

On our way out I made a child cry, by the way, when John tried to bring her to me. I know, I know – I still look like a pasty-white ghost, but there’s not much I can do about it! Sorry : (

We walked to the little church made of boards and tin and sat down in plastic chairs with broken backs along with the rest of the small congregation dressed in their Sunday best. The service lasted for four hours, consisted of multiple sermons, and was about what I’d expected I guess… very high-energy worship (in Swahili) and super hot and super long. I was very thankful that nearly everything was translated, and what wasn’t Faith and John were able to explain.

One of the most interesting parts (besides one of the preachers calling me up constantly to read my Bible in English and then asking me after the sermon to come forward and give my remarks to the congregation – and my opinions on Obama) was seeing the contrast between their two pastors. One was a small, stoic European (Swiss or German?) and the other was a tall, sturdy-looking Kenyan who preached (screamed?) with such animation, jumping and arms flailing, that I have NO clue how the two pastor a church together! They must make it work somehow… and I hope I can talk to them both maybe next week?? Could be interesting for my thesis – or just interesting in general for me.

After church I went to the beach for a swim and walked by a family of monkeys that look like little baboons. Then farther up the path I passed by several Colubus monkeys (I think that’s what they’re called at least – the black and white ones that most zoos have) that were big and so beautiful! It’s strange to see animals like that up close with no glass between us.

While I was out I met more of the beach people and feel like I have a few more friends here. One girl told me which beach boys to avoid and how to get them to stop pestering me, another told me how to take the Matatu (mini-bus) to the clinic tomorrow, and yet another named Osmond (who practiced his German with me) saved me from getting stung by a pretty little blue jellyfish that was far too close. Phew!

Guess that’s it for now. Sorry these updates are so long… kudos to you if you made it all the way to the end, and I’ll try to work on shortening my posts for next time.

Jambo! ("hello")

2009-01-23T11:59:00.002-08:00

After having two days to get settled in here in Diani Beach, I’m starting to feel like I’m adjusting to the time difference and the heat and humidity a bit. It’s been about 90 degrees I think, but the sun is so much stronger than in Ohio – even in summer there - and the humidity constantly high that I am constantly very warm… but I’m not complaining ; ) I’ll take skirts and sandals over boots and gloves any day!

So far life here has been a fun adventure. I was sure we were going to hit dozens of people, carts, and vans (we didn’t) during the hour it took to make our way in a taxi from Mombasa to Diani Beach (on the wrong… er, left side of the road). I rode with two Germans who were there on holiday, one an opinionated construction worked with super long hair and the other with hot pink hair, so we had a long chat and I got to practice my German earlier than I’d expected.

As it turns out, there are quite a few Europeans, or Mzungus (white people) in this area, and many of them have moved here permanently because they love the slower pace of life, the simplicity, and the sun. I got to meet quite a few of them at a local restaurant/pub that they all go to, so that was fun. In that same place about 20 women watched Mamma Mia together last night and I went… made me forget I was in Africa at all for awhile!

There are other things, however, that you couldn’t mistake for something I’d see at home. There was a power cut last night, for example, and I have already used interesting toilets and have seen lizards in the house and sleep under a mosquito net. The pace of life is soooo much slower than at home, which is a nice change actually. It’s just very different!

I won’t get into a regular routine until Monday when I’ll start interviews at the eye clinic, so basically… I’m doing a whole lot of nothing. It’s probably very good though to have the time to adjust. For now I’m just hanging out with Simone, the Dutch woman I live with, and reading, catching up on sleep, and spending a little time on the beach.

Speaking of which… I’m going to close with a fun story from today. If you read a few posts down where I talk about Simone saying I’m not allowed to bring any beach boys home, let me just tell you that I had my first encounters with them today and I can see why she said what she did!

Okay, so I headed to the coast of the Indian Ocean today and was loving the clear, bright blue water and the sun and the white sand and just walking along, minding my own business, when I was approached by person after person wanting to sell me something or give me some service. Luckily I escaped with only two braids in my hair with little beads on the ends, but here’s what I COULD have had: two male bodyguards, personalized keychains, carved figurines, a massage, more braids, henna tattoos, a personal snorkelling lesson, a canoe ride to a distant sandbar, an escort to the local club tonight (it’s an Obama reggae – they all LOVE him here), and illegal substances. Um… NO!!!!

And all I wanted was to go for a swim! I have got to learn to fend them off better, and guess I’ll have two more weeks to practice, right?

Update from Mombasa

2009-01-22T10:41:00.000-08:00

Hey all, just a real quick update to let you know that I made it here safely and am very glad to finally be out of planes and airports. I'm pretty exhausted after about 38 hours of travel from start to finish, but I managed to stay up all day today save a short nap and am hoping to get some good sleep tonight and get my internal clock on the right time zone! The accomodations here and the woman I'm staying with are wonderful, but I'll write more on that and post some pictures after I've slept. Good night!

Tutaonana (that's Swahili for "goodbye")

2009-01-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

So it's finally here - today's the big day of departure, and I think I'm about ready to go. I started taking my anti-malaria medicine last night and miraculously managed to get everything I need for six weeks in Africa and a week in Europe into one suitcase (although it remains to be seen whether or not I'll go over the 50-lb weight limit... hopefully not!).

My flight out of Columbus leaves at 3:30, after which I'll be hanging out in airports in Chicago, Amsterdam (for eleven hours... blah!), and Nairobi before finally making my way to Mombasa, where I will land at about 1:30 A.M. on Thursday eastern time.

I'll let you all know when I'm in Kenya... until then, I can't wait to get on a plane and get these butterflies out of my stomach!

Final Preparations

2009-01-14T09:03:00.001-08:00

I felt a little bit silly trying on skirts and t-shirts today while watching the snow come down outside my bedroom window as I made a list of what I'm going to pack for the trip. However, during a week when windchills will dip well below zero, I am definitely looking forward to getting to trade my coat and boots for lightweight clothing and sandals! 90 degrees and humid, here I come : )

Before I go, I thought I'd post a map so you all have an idea of where I'm headed...

The line across Africa that I drew in is the approximate location of the equator, so it'll be summer and yes, very warm. The yellow dot on the right is Mombasa, Kenya (where I'm headed first), which is a popular tourist destination and is a port city on the coast of the Indian Ocean. The dot that's inland is Geita, Tanzania, my second stop on this journey, and it is best know for its gold mine. It's also very close to Lake Victoria, which is the source of the Nile River. The line connecting the two points will take me through Nairobi as I travel from one city to the other.

Hard to believe that in only two days of travel I'll be covering eight time zones and over eight thousand miles (from Columbus to Mombasa directly; more if you figure in the crazy indirect route I have to fly). Thirty-some hours spent in planes and airports seems like a long time, but thank goodness for the technology that makes this all so much easier and quicker than it used to be!

Falling into Place

2009-01-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog that I created to keep you all updated about my upcoming African adventure! On January 20th I will be headed for Mombasa, Kenya and later Geita, Tanzania to work on my senior thesis. It's a long way to travel, but I guess studying contemporary German missions work in East Africa is a little easier to do when actually in Africa than by reading books. Not to mention it'll be a lot more interesting and hopefully a lot of fun as well : )

Here's the itinerary of my trip:

Jan 20th - depart from Columbus
Jan 22nd - arrive in Mombasa
Feb 10th - fly to Nairobi, travel to Geita, Tanzania
March 5th - depart from Tanzania
March 6th - arrive in London; fly to Cologne, Germany
March 10th - depart from Germany, overnight layover in London
March 11th - arrive in Columbus

Things are slowly coming together for my trip, which is both exciting and encouraging. I just received my passport and my Kenyan and Tanzanian visas back from their respective embassies yesterday, and it looks like I'll also have a good place to stay while I'm in Mombasa. The woman I will be renting a room from wrote me the following yesterday to tell me about her house:

"The beach (Diani coast on the Indian Ocean) is just crossing the street, less than three minutes away... It is a spacious room, including own bathroom: toilet and shower. Own refrigerator (upstairs) there is a spacious kitchen, big livingroom and huge garden (sunny and shady) which Stacy has to share with the (1 female) owner of the house. The room containts a bed, with musquitonet, large table with chair to work at the table, chair to relax in and cubboard and book shelves. They place has been save for the last three years and before. Also i have two 'watch' dogs. although they prefer sleeping most of the time, but are very allert when they hear anything."

She also informed me that she does not allow her guests to bring beach boys back to the room, but if I have a steady boyfriend, then he's allowed to come back with me. I had to laugh about that one... at least she's very conscientious about safety! And she is offering to cook for me as well if I'd like, which sounds wonderful.

Guess that's about it for now - more to come as my departure date gets closer!