Lakeland College

Kenya - take one
Posted on 11/5/2008 2:43:56 PM

I recently returned from a trip to Kenya.  For those of you who read my blogs and enjoy variety, I"m going to stay with this theme for awhile.  I'm afraid it will take me several blogs to adequately describe the trip.  And even then, I'm going to fall short.

We stayed in Nairobi, Kenya - a place that about 3,000,000 people call home.  About a third of those people live in the Kibera slums - and it is every bit as overwhelming as it sounds.  To a small-town woman who has never much been concerned with infrastructure, Nairobi was a unique combination of adjectives.  It was scary... we didn't go anywhere without a Kenyan (and I suspect this was less about actual reasons to be fearful and more about our ignorance about the culture).  It was fast - many, many cars, very narrow roads and very little road maintenance.  It was friendly - Kenyans are warm, interested, and engaged people who were politely curious about us (and about our political leanings... we were in Obama territory!).  It was dirty - infrastructure... little or none.  And it was an entirely new world beyond anything I could have imagined.

So, the picture I've attached - one of 600 pictures of the various interesting things around Nairobi and throughout Kenya.  These giraffes were grazing as we happened upon them near the end of a morning hike.  Like Kenyans, they were politely interested in us.  They may have wondered about our political leanings, but they were just too polite to ask.  As long as we maintained appropriate distance, they just stood - or sat - by and watched us.  Frankly, I had to remind myself that we weren't walking through Jurasic Park - seeing these animals and walking among them was surreal.

More will follow - I promise!  For now, I'll share my giraffes and a few observations.  I'd love to hear from any of you who have visited Kenya!