Pictures galore!!!

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Hi Everyone,

Here are the images from our trip to Kenya, and my later journey to Turkey. There are approximately 3000 images so you may need some time to go through them all. The first 8 albums are from Africa while the last 5 are from Turkey, and I have labeled them all to keep them in order for you.

The images are raw and unedited, so please excuse the quality of some of them. I have just thrown everything in there for the moment and hope to make something more presentable down the road. You may wish to print off this email (below) and use it as a guide as you look through the images. The image numbers have been listed with a general explanation of what the pictures are about.

Just to orient you a little, remember that we are working with Mercy Children's Center in Kenya. They have two schools - one in the Kawangware slum of Nairobi and one in the far western town of Bumala in the district of Busia near the Ugandan border.

For best viewing, click on the link for each album below. The album will open up in a separate window in Shutterfly. Click to "view pictures" and be sure to set it to "slideshow" in the right hand column to get the best view.

Africa2007_OCV(1):


5647 to 5664 - First Arrival in Nairobi; Meeting Lili and Lew Fulton;
5666 to 5676 - House (we toured this orphanage)
5910 to 5938 - Blixen Ranch (where the movie “Out of Africa” was shot); Robert Redford and Meryl Streep stood on this porch together often in the movie.
5939 to 5968 - The famous Giraffe park; Cristelle fed the giraffe
5969 to 5971 - Quick shots of the Kibeira slum. About 1 million people live in that small collection of rusted tin sheds.
5972 to 5976 - A quick look at the home of the host Kenyan family who put us up for two days.
6013 to 6022 - Some shots around Nairobi plus our meeting with Moraa to go over our contracts; the local service station where you can get “lubrication” and “tyres”…the petrol prices, after conversion, work out to about $1.18 per litre for Regular Unleaded.
6023 to 6028 - A look inside the Kenyan host family’s house
6029 to 6078 - Another visit to the Mercy Children’s Center school in the Kawangware slum
6079 to 6127 - A walk through the slum with visits to some HIV/AIDS widows homes
6128 to 6142 - A visit to the apartment where MCC houses about 20 students; a look at the paperwork; the two house matrons who take care of the children.
6143 to 6165 - Return to the Mercy Children’s Center school in the Kawangware slum


Africa2007_OCV(2):


5677 to 5847 - The Kawangware School Mercy Children’s Center
5848 to 5909 - A random walk through the Kawangware slum


Africa2007_OCV(3):


6166 to 6185 - Flight to Kisumu and then to visit our main project of the Mercy Children’s Center school in Bumala.
6186 to 6223 - We immediately made a visit to see the new land purchased for the new school that we will be building. It is still a corn field at the moment.
6224 to 6272 - Returned to the school where a big celebration and welcome ceremony greeted us. The community was there with many local dignitaries as well. They also sacrificed a goat to celebrate the land purchase.
6280 to 6306 - We had a chance to visit with the teachers and have a frank conversation with them, as well as get some group shots of them all together.


Africa2007_OCV(4):


5977 to 5989 - We came upon this prayer march one Sunday morning (or rather, it came upon us) and as we filmed it the children took a great interest in Cristelle’s movie camera.
5990 to 6012 - The Snake Park near the Nairobi Museum; how many snakes can you count inside the green bushes.
6407 to 6485 - We went on a 20 kilometre hike through the Bumala rural district to visit the HIV/AIDS widows and grandmothers in the area. It was a long day with many difficult stories to hear of the challenges facing these brave women. We also had a chance to visit Charles’ home and have an afternoon snack. It was delicious!
6486 to 6498 - Arriving back at the school, we had a chance to demonstrate the new sun oven that we had brought for cooking. The children were enormously intrigued and kept standing over top of it to see how it worked. Of course, that blocked the sun and prevented it from really working well, but we did heat some water up to the boiling point.
6274 to 6323 - Walking through Bumala, plus a view “of” and “from” our hotel rooms overlooking Bumala.
6324 to 6404 - Back to school to inspect the school records and see the teachers and children in their classrooms.
6499 to 6524 - Charles, Pius, Cristelle and I headed out to the Kakamega Rainforest, but stopped at Charles’ mom’s home first to meet them and eat some raw sugarcane stalks. Incredible unrefined sugar burst!!!!!!!
6684 to 6691 - Close to the end of our trip we had a chance to see the “Crying Stone”. This stone is over 150 feet tall and water mysteriously comes out of the top and pours down the side. It is a sacred place to the tribes.
6692 to 6698 - Sunset from the Rondo Retreat in the Kakamega Rainforest.
6705 to 6717 - Some brick measurements at the edge of the road, plus some misty morning shots on the road trip back to Kisumu (7:00 am).


Africa2007_OCV(5):


6525 to 6594 - We stayed at the Rondo Retreat in the Kakamega Forest. This is true African rainforest.
6595 to 6683 - One of the highlights of our trip was to rent a bus to take the kids on a field trip into the education and conservation center in the Kakamega Forest. We had videos, tours, a picnic, and Cristelle got to ride in the bus with them and make trouble. :-)
7352 to 7356 - Our last meeting with Charles, Pius, Moraa, Lili and Lew.


Africa2007_OCV(6):


6718 to 7333 - We began the final leg of our journey in Africa through the Great Rift Valley on the way to the Masaii Mara (Serengetti). We stayed at the Intrepids Sianna Camp. We were privileged to have the Masaii warriors dance for us one evening, although it made it hard to take pictures in the poor light.
7336 to 7351 - This was the official signing of the contracts in the lawyer’s office


Africa2007_OCV(7):


6928 to 7169 - More images from the Serengetti. We saw a lot of animals!


Africa2007_OCV(8):


7170 to 7297 - More images from the Serengetti. Some great sunset shots as well, with a storm in the background.


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Istanbul2007_Todd(1):


7357 to 7488 - Conference proceedings from the first two days.
7516 to 7602 - Group tour to the Blue Mosque
7754 to 7764 - Group tour to the Basilica Cistern (underground cistern)


Istanbul2007_Todd(2):


7489 to 7793 - Touring Istanbul as a group; the Hagia Sophia; the Topkapi Palace; Tower restaurant for lunch; shopping break at the bazaar; Bosphorus Cruise
7795 to 7811 - Conference close, final day


Istanbul2007_Todd(3):


7812 to 8008 - Post conference trip to Cappadocia region; strange rock formations; sunset images; Underground city
8009 to 8046 - Flaming Lamb Stew lunch; Stone Cathedrals.
8047 to 8086 - Carpet-making factory; wine tasting.
8088 to 8103 - Celebrating Jim Kenney’s birthday.


Istanbul2007_Todd(4):


7898 to 7940 - Two guys crash a Turkish wedding.
8104 to 8158 - Drive through farmland to Konya; stop at gorge to view rock churches.
8159 to 8191 - Continue drive to Konya; lunch.
8192 to 8274 - Mevlana Museum (Rumi’s resting place)
8292 to 8298 - Konya scenes
8299 to 8306 - Evening bargain hunting
8307 to 8320 - The Last Supper!


Istanbul2007_Todd(5):


8275 to 8288 - “Sems I Tabrizi” (Rumi's teacher) final resting place
8321 to 8345 - Return from Konya to Istanbul; everyone says goodbye
8346 to 8381 - Hanging out alone on the streets, seeing the sights.
8382 to 8506 - Afternoon and evening tour back to the Blue Mosque; the Blue Mosque at night; stayed for sunset prayers
8507 to 8520 - Early morning flight back to Canada

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