Kenya through my mother's eyes

Describing my experiences in Kenya can sometimes leave me without words. The best feeling in the world is knowing that someone else has seen it and experienced it with me. I was so happy to welcome my parents to my life and my village and here are a few words from my mother:

 

When we returned from our very first international travel experience to Kenya, we could not put into words to summarize our experience.  Upon reflection, here are a few:

 

Amazeing.  It was amazing that we could find our way around the rural fields on a foot wide maze of dirt paths from the clinic to the secondary school 45 min away.  I couldn’t take my eyes off the path so as not to stumble on the ruts or rocks or loose gravel 

 

 Awesome.  Our safari was filled with awesome sights, from the never ending plains to the land of zebras surrounding us 360 degrees to the herd of giraffes making their way across the plains like sock puppets to the gentle mother and child elephants ripping grass up by curling it around their trunks to the wildebeest migration.

 

Unnerving.  When you are two tall white people standing alone amongst a sea of Kenyan faces waiting for your taxi driver to arrive, nothing you can do will help you blend in.

 

Uncomfortable.  When you meet a class of students and all they can do is smile and stare like you are a celebrity, all you can do is smile back and say hello. 

 

Confusing.  Although most people spoke English, the thick British accent was hard to cut through. 

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.   Not a real concept here.  We drove by a stately Christian church complex which included a school, and in the far corner of the property, a trash burning site.  

 

Genuine.   Everyone we came in contact with or met were kind and helpful and so willing to share their country with us Americans.  And they wanted to know if we were going to re-elect Obama.

We thought this would be our one and only international trip, but before the end of our stay in Kenya, we were already talking about our return.  So like the sign at the airport…