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Published: December 5th 2022
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Stopping over in Amsterdam on the way to Tanzania We’re off again! On another epic trip to Africa.
Now that I am resurrecting this travel blog, I believe you all deserve an update on the whole big picture of me and my family in 2022.
I married Chelly Yes, the girl in the blogs from Thailand, India, and Kenya. The two of us were married in January, 2008, to the lamentations of many sad girls in the USA and disappointed boys in Kenya, I am sure.
We moved to Kenya In the fall of 2009, we decided to relocate to Kenya. The Almighty had other plans. Things did not work out quite so well for us there, and we returned to Seattle in 2010.
We had a son Our first son, Javan Ndaiya Nakis, was born in Seattle, WA on March 2
nd, 2011. It was almost-to-the-day exactly 1 year after the passing of his namesake, our beloved Javan Ali Ndaiya. So, we see him as a type of re-birth. This boy certainly has big shoes to fill and a great name to live up to!
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One of my favorite views: out the airplane window owned a business
During this time, I developed my own little production company, making mostly infomercials and corporate videos, some music videos, and one feature-length documentary (True Born African).
I also had a really cool office above the Neptune theater on 45
th in the U-district for a while. We’d have these great rooftop parties and sometimes I’d put a chair on top of the marquee to sit and watch the traffic flow by.
We moved to Thailand In 2013, I took a job as an English teacher at Chaibadan Wittaya in Thailand. I loved all my co-workers and had a blast in that little town, but the job was terrible and the students were (mostly) a nightmare. Huge respect to all those teachers out there who give their finest every day to thankless rooms full of unworthy teenagers.
Departing Chaibadan, we relocated our little family to Phuket where I worked for 8 months running the “crosstraining” program at Tiger Muay Thai & MMA. That was an awesome experience! We made so many great friends from around the world, reached our maximum of beach days, and learned a ton.
On the other hand, with the USA’s rules for green card holders, Chelly had to return every 6 months. We also realized the importance of GRANDPARENTS in helping raise small children. After 1 year in Thailand, we moved home.
We moved home When I say home, I mean my home: Sedro-Woolley, WA. We’d basically outgrown Seattle by the time we left for Thailand. Rents were raising rapidly (they’d doubled ours from $800/month to $1600!). The income gap was growing and transforming the city as homeless people flooded the streets and block after block was developed into condos for incoming tech-bros.
This time we opted to move close to my parents, to the same town I’d grown up with, so that our little boy could grow up with multiple generations of his family in close proximity (something I never had growing up). It was a great decision.
We bought a house I stuck with the career change as a Fitness Coach, working for a while at this place called Crossover Fitness before moving to Riverside Health Club for close to 5 years (!).
During this time, we bought a little house on Fruitdale Road in Sedro-Woolley, the same road I’d grown up on, but a few miles away on the other side of town. I have since built this into my own little fitness paradise, with a perfect garage gym and a bunch of pull-up bars and other toys in the yard.
We had another son Nathan Msafari Nakis was born on March 10
th, 2017. He is named after my brother Nathan and he is a very caring, intelligent little boy, as my brother was. His grandmother Elizabeth moved over from Kenya to live with us, so he gets the privilege of living with BOTH his grandmothers in the neighborhood.
I went solo (again) In early 2019, I went out on my own as an independent business owner again. I started “Smart, Fit, and Clean”, my fitness coaching business, working with both local and remote clients (anywhere in the world).
At the same time, I returned to some professional film & video work in the Seattle market. I’ve since had the chance to work on many fascinating projects, from big network TV shows to commercials for major brands, and a major production for Amazon’s fitness brand.
I also released a second feature documentary, Reach For The Rings.
We traveled frequently Sorry for not updating this blog more often, but we have been able to live the backpacker’s dream and travel frequently (with and without our children) during our adult lives. We’ve been in Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, and around North America and the Caribbean. Still many corners of the world left to see, though!
Now we’re off again Our travels to Africa now include the two boys, who are experienced hands at this world travel thing and don’t even whine or complain during the massive, 30+ hour door-to-door trips.
This time we are headed to Tanzania for 2 weeks to enjoy the wedding of our niece, Grace, better known as Sai Kenya. She’s a pop singer in Kenya and well worthy of her stardom. Her new husband Hussein is a welcome addition to the family and we love them both immensely.
After the wedding, Chelly and the boys will go home and I will go to Mombasa for another week and a half to work at the Rastafari Community Development Office and connect with friends and family.
I hope to post a few blogs here along the way. Thank you for reading!
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Krystal Loverin
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Nathan's Namesake
So beautiful to see that Nathan's name will live on through your son. He truly was a beautiful soul and his memory lives on in the hearts and minds of everyone who served with him. I would say that he also has big shoes to fill, I hope he ends up being every bit as funny and uplifting as his uncle was.