Arrival in Africa

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9/13/18
We arrived in Mombasa via Kenya Airlines early Wednesday morning where Grace our hostess and Ben our driver met us to sweep us off to the remote village called Rabai.
Our home for the next few days is located far from the city. Villagers live in small structures made from a variety of material including wood and what appears to be thatched clay. Our abode has a large room for eating and sitting, several bedrooms where the men and women separately sleep in bunk beds accompanied by mosquito nets and an indoor toilet and primitive cold shower.
All of our expedition party has not arrived, so the Gingles and I, rest, have lunch which consists of small bits of fried chicken and roasted potatoes, and gradually unpack. Eventually we will accompany Grace and D, another host, on a 2 mile walk through the village to the nearest water well site. All the locals, come to this well to retrieve their water in jugs once or several times a day. Running, piped in water is not or seldom a luxury.

It is around five in the evening, some school age children or just returning from class and others have spied our group and walk beside us to exchange greetings. What started as five adults walking through the village ends with us returning to our home base accompanied by twenty to thirty village children. They are captivated by their images reflected in the digital pictures I have taken, love being entertained by a plastic container of soap bubbles Grace is sharing and wait in line to sit on David’s lap for a few rowdy laughs. and it is with this, the fond universal sounds of children’s laughter, that our first magical day on African soil comes to an end.

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Comments

[Nena Sledge]

Amazing
Thank you for your detailed descriptions of the day. I am loving every word!

[Kenda]

Sounds like a wonderful first day! I cannot imagine walking 2 miles multiple times daily for water, which is so easily and readily available where we are from. Looking forward to your future posts!