Today was a different experience. I began the day with a distant view of Mt Kilomanjaro and hearing birds singing as I walked to the classroom. For my part of the devotional I read from Psalm 96 and 98 - underscoring God's glory in his creation.

BUT - later in the day I went with one of the staff at KBTC and his wife on an errand into Limuru - a relatively large town near Brackenhurst. What an eye opener! It was like stepping into one of those news programs showing the disappointing conditions found in the developing world! Riding on the roads was hair razing for me - wrong side of the road in a car that would not leave my driveway if I had a choice. The town was mostly narrow streets with people everywhere. Motorcycles carried extra passengers, and sometimes bundles of hay as well. Soon I found out why our car had no shocks and had a drive train rubbing on the chasis - the backstreets were horrendous!

The pictures show the childrens school we were going to see. It is a building with no water or electricity. 60 children ranging from about 3 yrs to about 7 years old - all from nearby households where one or both parents are HIV positive (and some of the kids also) - were napping or running around, or in class, or doing whatever they wanted. There were two or three adults supervising them. Many of them came up to me to hold my hand and greet me. Needless to say, it was heartwrenching. I spoke with the women in charge - she said before the school was started last January, many of these children would be unattended at home and might go 2 days without food. Whatever I consider a problem in my life will now pale in comparison to what I saw.

As we left the school, along with two extra passengers and a couple more kids, all talking swahili, we stopped many times to visit with people walking on the streets. I have learned that the Kenyans value personal relationships more than anything. There is no sense of urgency when the opportunity to stop and visit presents itself.

One thing that was striking was the number of people doing very menial labor - hauling sticks or water jugs on their heads, or carrying piles of grass pulled up from the roadside on carts pulled by donkeys. This would be to feed their other livestock. Sheep or cows would be tied up anywhere there was grass.

Obviously, we survived the excursion and made it back to Brackenhurst. I feel humbled and privileged to have seen the real lives of Kenyans - instead of the white-washed Brackenhurst version.

Pictures of tea plantations surrounding Brackenhurst and a local market are also included below. This is developing into a life-changing experience - one I will never forget.

More later - perhaps after our field trip to Nairobi National Park on Friday.

Safari Salame! - HDG

These are some views along my quarter-mile commute to the classroom. The pictures start out at the Kenya Baptist Theological College library and offices (round buildings); proceeds along their garden plots to the classroom building; and shows the student dorm and dining hall downslope from the classroom. See if you can find the giant pointsettia.

Herb's Kenya Trek

After about 2 years of planning, I am now in Kenya. I am staying at Brackenhurst International Conference center near Limuru, Kenya. We are about 25 miles outside of Nairobi where the air is cool and damp this time of year. Daytime highs are about 75 and lows are in the low 50's. No heat in our cottages - so it gets pretty cool.

I will be here for 5 weeks - 4 of those weeks I will be teaching Life Science to students at Kenya Baptist Theological College - the last week will be spent on safari and in meetings. My class has 25 students from across Kenya. They are poor financially, but rich in spirit - I am very impressed with how hard they work and how they help one-another study and learn. I wish my students in Plainview could see how seriously these students take their education. I can only imagine the sacrifices and tragedies they have experienced - one of my students lost a brother in the violence following the last elections in Kenya, and another had his entire family displaced because of raiders from Somalia. I understand that some of the other students have stories much more tragic than that.

Our class day starts with a devotional and a song. Their singing is incredible. I have recorded it and will post an audio file after I figure out how to download the file from my BlackBerry.

One of the surprises has been the number of Americans staying at Brackenhurst doing various mission work. At least one group is doing medical missions, and another is working with a local orphanage. There are several pastors here teaching religion courses. There is even a group from Korea.

The lodging facilities date to the period of British rule over Kenya - I would say that most of the buildings are a hundred years old, with newer buildings scattered among the older. The KPTC classroom facilities are somewhat modern and there are some reasonable amenities for the students - a library and computer lab - but they are financially constrained. The classrooms are very simplistic - bare rooms with blackboards that again are probably from the British era. Even so - I am using a powerpoint projector in the classroom.

Living conditions for the students is a very different story. The dorms for students are solid structures, but have no electricity. The dining hall has the ambiance of a camp pavillion - no electricity - they cook with wood! But the students take all of this in stride and are happy to have an opportunity to better themselves through education.

This Friday I will be taking the entire class of 33 students to Nairobi National Park. I don't think any of them have ever been there, even though it is only an hour or so away. I have a couple of trips planned for myself - but I will post on them separately.

Getting here was a bit arduous - about 30 hours door to door, with about 18 of those hours in the air and the rest waiting in airports or getting to-from airports. Needless to say I had my doubts about whether this would be worth the effort. But my doubts have evaporated as I get to know my students and see how much they appreciate what we are doing for them.

I will continue to add to this story as it develops. HDG

Views of Brackenhurst Conference Center