http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/One-Childs-Village/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from One Childs Village en-us Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:49:13 +0000 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:49:13 +0000 Hello EveryoneIt has taken me over a week to download all of the images. Thank you for your patience. This is an unedited version of the photos and there are close to 3500 of them. If it gets a little boring please feel free to skim through them a little quicker.lthttpshare.shutterfly.comactionwelcomesid0CYtHDJu1ZMW1Lgtlthttpshare.shutterfly.comactionwelcomesid0CYtHDJu1ZMW1a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Edmonton/blog-445066.html The Prodigal Son Returns...Well it was a bit of a round about trip but I finally made it home last night about 700pm 26 hours late and none too soon to start work Saturday morning.I will catch up on sleep for a few days and then will do most of my responses to emails etc after that I have over 500 emails to wade through....It has been a pleasure to travel with you all Todd http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/Edmonton/blog-441873.html Destination......Hounslow England...I am supposed to be home to Edmonton landing at around 520pm on Thursday. Instead I am sitting in an Internet cafe in Hounslow England. How did that happen you ask Well my flight on Kenya Airways was cancelled so they had to bus me back into Nairobi where they put me up at the Laico Regency Hotel. It was pretty swanky with all meals included and transpo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-441304.html Hi EveryoneThere was an error in a small part of our blog system and I was only now alerted to it. It seems that there were about 20 email addresses that were stuck int he sytem and those individuals did not get subscribed to our service and were not receiving the regular posts I have been making. My sincerest apologies for this. If you have been receiving posts then please disregard this. Ho http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-441057.html My Journey Comes to a CloseIt is my last day here. I am up early feeling rested but a little scratch in the back fo the throat still. However it seems to be getting better so I am not too cnocerned.A nice breakfast and I repack my bags for the trip home. I have a full backpack of empty space so I am going to do a little shopping today to bring back items for our future silent auctions. If I h http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/blog-440948.html One More Day of Hard WorkI slept in this morning. I needed it so I skipped breakfast and stayed in bed until 1030 am.More cmoputer work a little bt of a lunch and I am off for more meetings.I meet with Rahul first and we finish up our bills and accounts as well as discuss a few last minute final arrangement for our volunteer program.Next I am off to see Rajinger again along with Azim our l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440941.html The Saga ContinuesI am up again early today.I met with Rahul in the morning as well as his father Rajinder Kapila. Rahul is our Land Operator in Kenya and books all of our ground items like hotels vans etc. He is very savvy extremely knowledgeable and very concerned about making everything work well for us including security. Rajinder his father is a semiretired lawyer in Nairobi with a 50 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440933.html A Long day of Productive MeetingsThere is not much to talk about today other than that I had a some meetings of which I will spare you some of the details.I worked all morning finishing my microfinance proposal and printing out several copies. It is 10 pages long and is a good start.After lunch I have a meeting with John Amendi and his group. We have been associates of theirs for many years now a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440932.html This is a Day of Lasts for HeatherWe're up early again and head down to breakfast. This is a day of lasts for Heather. She flies out tonight so this is her last breakfast in Africa her last hotel room her last view of the Kenyan landscape and her last goodbyes. We realize that Jennifer is probably now in Amsterdam as she left last night from Nairobi.The ride back to Nairobi from Embu seemed http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440929.html We Finally Get to Meet Heather's Foster Child CarolineWe were up early at 600 am and ready for a 700 am breakfast. The food did not really seem that appealing and we dined on croissants black coffee and some eggs. Our driver Danison and the representative for Plan Canada Agnes arrived at 730am to brief us o our itinerary for the day. Agnes was an interesting person short round and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440218.html And The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth...We are up early again today and have an early breakfast again 730 am. Our driver arrives at about 800am and Charles arrives to meet us at 830am. We settle a few details and head off to the Kawangware slum today.The road is a little rough as we enter the slum but our driver Simon is very skilled. He manouvers through the people and animals that crowd th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440208.html Today We Meet MoraaWe are up REALLY early today and ready for the drive by 600 am. We are out on the Serengetti plains long before the sun rises and we see the balloons in the distant warming up for their sunrise launch. Noella is there and we wish her a successful game drive from afar. We watch them slowly rise into the crisp morning air as the first rays of sun strike against the colourfully pa http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440196.html A Day of Relative RestI am writing less today and trying to simply get some rest from work. It has been an exhausting but fulfilling trip so far but I am concerned that I will play out before it is done if I donrsquot take one day of rest. I still have a week of projects and business ahead of me.We are up early at 530 am and down to the front launching area by 600am. By 630am the sun is http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440188.html The Big 5It is Autumn Equinox today and a new leg of our journey has begun. We store most of our bags at the hotel and pack light. A quick breakfast and we are off to the airport to catch a flight for the Serengetti. Our driver arrives on time and we make it to the airport with much time to spare. It is the end of Ramadan today and a national holiday so the streets are almost bare and traffic http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-440183.html We Return to Nairobi After Nine Days of Intense Work in BumalaWe are up early and had breakfast at 600 am. We checked out and received a number of goodbyes from the friendly staff at the Western Ambience Hotel. It was like leaving family.We were out front of our hotel by 20 minutes to 700am and waited for Nicolas. I realized that we had way too many bags for him to carry 6 in total and some we http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-438704.html Mercy Children Centre Officially Becomes the Pride of BumalaToday is the BIG DAY It is hard to describe how important this day is but it has many ldquopoliticalrdquo implications in both the community and with the local government. It is critical that we make a good presentation and an insult in any form could sink our ship.Charles and I slipped into Bumala to rent a PA system for todayrs http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-438701.html A Lot of Work Accomplished TodayBreakfast was at 630am today. Charles met us at 815 am and we rented a taxi to Busia. We were going to take a Matatu for 100 Shillings each sitting four squished in across the seat in a van but the cabbie offered to take us for 80 Shillings each each way. The choice was obvious. He put in about 100 Shillings 1.50 worth of gas before we departed. In Busia w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-438698.html Today We Set Up The Health ClinicBreakfast was early at 630 am. There were no hitches and that allowed us to get on our way to the school early today. We made arrangements for a doctor to come today so it was the perfect motivator to set up the health clinic this morning before their arrival. It was a lot of work but we were able to assemble everything in a bout 23 hours. The single beds were http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-437698.html Another Day In Kisumu ShoppingToday was another tough day. We have been making miles of progress each day and our projects are so ambitious that it is everything we can do each day to accomplish them. Nevertheless we seem to continue to make massive strides every day and today is no exception. We are up for breakfast at 600 am today and at the school by 800 am. Heather sets up her first art http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-437694.html Fulton Finds a FriendI was up early this morning and ready to go. I slipped down for a quick breakfast and made my way to the school by 7am. Heather and Jennifer took some time to sleep in this morning partly as a hangover from the previous dayrsquos long trek in the hot equatorial sun and partly as a chance to just decompress a bit on their own. The experiences here are constant and impactful http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-437456.html