I made it to Sudan!!  it took me 5 months it seems, but I finally got here!  I know I have only been traveling since Monday, but in some way, the last 4 months on the road have been awesome, totally, but also a way to kill time until I got to come here to see my family.

I left Friday at noon and headed to Loki in Kenya for an overnight stay. The lady that runs the guest house there, forgot to get me, so after an hour of being a little nervous and waiting at the airport, I asked someone for a public phone to call, but my number didn’t work. Luckily, grace from God completely, he recognized the woman’s husband’s name and called him over (he worked at the airport). So he gave me a ride (phew!)

Turkana woman (not my image)

While driving to the compound I observed the indigenous people of the area, the Turkana tribe.  Very interesting people – the women are super buff and do all of the work. They care for the children, do all the heavy lifting and money making and prepare all food, yet they are always last to eat. They wear thick brightly beaded necklaces, and beautiful long scarfs.  The men wear short skirts, from the same looking scarf and just hang around town.  I bet these women would be killer climbers, really athletic, thin and tall.  I saw some potentially great cliff there, maybe one day I will get to check it out. (pictures to follow)

I had a wonderful visit, played some volleyball with the family from the guest house, ate a beautiful hotel that used to be full vacancy all of the time, but when all the NGO’s moved back to Sudan when it was allowed and safe again, it left places like this hotel empty almost over night. After a super buffet dinner, we headed back to the guest house for some sleep to prepare for the next day.

My first experience with mosquito net: a good one, I’d say. No bites!  Woke early and by 6:15 headed out to the Loki airport to fly to Juba, connected there on a different flight to Rumbeck, and then on to Malakal and finally arrived about 1:00.  It was SO good to see my brother, super fit and really happy. We grabbed some sandwiches and I shared my observation of how super tall and long limbed the Sudanese people were, and he kind of emphatically (not really sure what that word means, but seems appropriate there) told me, “just like you.”  What? Really? I am tall, and thin-ish, but they seriously have the longest bones ever. Someone should google it and let me know.

Moving on, we grabbed some sandwiches and finally headed back to the SIM compound. We we arrived, much to my surprise, Avery and Allison were waiting on the step and Avery didn’t stop saying my name for 5 minutes!  I have been storing up so much love for her over the last year, that it just poured out! It was so great to see her in real life. She looks just like my sister and is the happiest baby! I can’t wait to continue getting to know her. She warmed up in about 5 minutes and the rest of the say she was keen to play with me anytime. After playing at the house, Taylor, Allison, Avery and I headed to town for dinner food. The market was a sight. So much going on – so much business. Donkey carts, chickens, produce, everywhere!

Fabulous dinner made by Taylor and another guy at the compound, Andrew.  A Darfur guy joined us for dinner, Mohammed, and I wished so badly I knew more Arabic than just “peace be with you” and “how are you.” Oh well, a gal can only do so much.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow. I am so thankful that I going to be able to spend so much time with my family over the next month.

Cheers, y’all – may God be with you today.

The first days in Kenya have been interesting. It has been a more intimidating experience than I expected. While in the Amsterdam airport, I had to go through security again and packed into a line of an entire group of people I had never been around or seen before. For the first time I think I felt like a minority and very vulnerable.  Even when I have traveling to Mexico or China, when I was the only tall white girl for a long time, I didn’t feel out of place somehow. Maybe it was my confidence that allowed me not to notice how of place I looked to everyone else.  Well, that was missing in Nairobi my first couple days.  I don’t know how to explain it, but I didn’t like it.

I met a cool dude on my flight to Nairobi that has a non-profit out of Louisvill, KY where he travels to train people across the planet on disaster relief training and outdoor wilderness training. He raises money and then invites people for free to come for the 8 or 9 day training course.  Amazing work. Wish I had his site for you, but can’t find it right now.

I got to the airport, sailed though getting my visa, and ALL of my bags arrived (yahoo!!) and then had an easy pass through customs.  Beverly, the wife of the SIM Sudan director and also the missionary relations and general health lady, met me at the airport, super nice of her!  We loaded up and headed out and saw 4 wild zebras on the side of the road, crazy, eh??

Got in and settled in the house I am borrowing while some missionaries are on home assignment, started watching something on my ipod and at 11:10 pm, all power went out! And with a clouding night and no street lights, the house turned pitch black!  Ok, admittedly, I started to get scared. Come on, first night. alone. no idea what just happened. eek. Luckily those ipods are quite bright, so I was able to find my headlamp and checked things out. Then I crawled back in bed and fell alseep pretty quickly, only to wake up at 3:30am and stayed out. Half jet lag, half excitement.

Went to some orientation of how to stay safe in Sudan and also some information about the culture. I love how important greetings are in Kenya and Sudan. Everyone gets greeted all the time, strangers on the road ot best of friends. And if someone leaves and comes back 10 min later, you greet all over again. Now this is a place I could call home – I love meeting strangers! I am always that girl that says hello in an awkwardly silent elevator and such.

I walked around a little by myself and have started to feel a bit more confident here. Nairobi is quite a dangerous place and every where is gated. No joke. All businesses, restaurants, store fronts, apartments either have really intense metal cages behind the windows and/or a 12 foot tall metal gate where a guard stands 24/7.  Freaky. So far so good. Glad about that!

Big negative: I busted my knee. For real. I’ve never had an athletic injury before, but after talking to a nurse practitioner and today getting checked out by a sports medicine lady, they have deemed my troubles to over use. Makes sense since I have been aggresively hiking almost everyday for about 4 months now!  I have a knee brace that has been helping a little bit, but mostly I am trying to chill as much as possible. Since rest in the best medicine and that’s an impossibility since my feet are my only transportation here in Africa, I will just push through. 

I leave tomorrow for Loki in Kenya, spending the night and then onto Malakal in Sudan. I CAN”T WAIT TO SEE MY NEICE!!! 

One surprise about Sudan, if I get bitten by a snake or scorpion, I have to wait it out. I thought they were joking. If anyone knows me, I have minimal pain tollerance, so let’s just pray that doesn’t happen. (I bought some codine over the counter just in case)

Salek Aleakum (Means peace be with you in Arabic.)

Soon, I’ll be in Sudan hanging with the family, can’t wait!

In Nairobi now and today I will have orientation on how to live safetly in Sudan and all things SIM that I need to know. Can’t wait!

More later.

I am logged in for a stingy 14 more minutes at an internet cafe while laying over in the Amsterdam airport.  Man, it had been forever since I have found myself wandering Europe, since 2006, I think, and oh! have I have missed it.  It just has a feel. An international feel no where else ever has for me.  It just feels, looks, sounds international.  Countless finely dressed European men, African kings, Indian princesses – I saw them all in a matter of 5 minutes. I love it.

The flight from DFW was nice and empty and full of awesome movies. I watched the Ugly Truth, Julie and Julia (which I didn’t know was a true story) and the beginning of G.I. Joe and croqueted a small bowl thing. Nice flight. Now onto Nairobi, baby!

Dannnng, I had a week. A week to get everything done for Africa and personal logistics around Dallas and I am still 8 minutes from leaving to go to the airport, with 6 things yet on my list. Arg.

It’s been 4 months, officially of my road trip and travels. I have thoughts, but they will have to be for another time.

I’ll be in Sudan until the middle of the month and then Kenya for a couple week, Cape Town with Desirae and then back to Nairobi for a bit. My return date is Dec 14th. I had to sign a will, give direction regarding how to deal with my remains if I die whilst in Africa…. cremated, I decided by the way.  Interesting things to think about.

I got to hang with some family, and a couple super friends while I was home. Here are some pictures of my fam, peace out for now until I get to type out some more.

Granny and Me

Lauren, my sister

Ma and Pa