Tues., 27 Apr.
We have learned that a Mr. Bruce Foley will be arriving the week of the 2nd of April to take over as administrator when we leave. Mr. Foley is an Australian. The time between his srrival and our departure will give lots of time to do his orientation.

The 2 day power outage we had last week is a good excuse for not updating the journal/blog as we got way behind in some of the work we had to do. But it’s just an excuse. The day after the long outage it went off for 5 minutes and when it came back on, the UPS, (uninterupted power supply), began to smoke. We’re having it checked to see if it can be repaired.

Jotham and Dick erecting frame for stove shelter

Jothan and I started to put up the shelter for the fuel conserving stove I would like to introduce. I bought the steel roofing and poles for the frame. We got the frame up and Jothan will probably work on putting on the roofing while I’m away.

The wall across the front of the property is coming along well and they were plastering when we left. The welder was to arrive Sat. With the steel bars for the opening in the walls but he still wasn’t there when we left about 9:30 am Sunday.

We have been working on getting uniforms for the guards consisting of 2 monogramed shirts, boots and socks. Having a lot of trouble getting the shirts and one of the day guards fitted with boots, then I found out Sat. night that one of the night guard’s boots wern’t fitting. I’ll have to get that corrected when I get back.

Jan is returning to Austraila on Monday night so on Sunday, 25 Apr. we left for Nairobi. We have crossed the equator before on an aeroplane but this was the first time by land. On the way to Nairobi we stopped at Nukuru National Park. It’s a very large park with a lot of wildlife to see. I’ll leave you to look it up on the WEB. It was dark by the time we left the park, having gotten a lot of photos, and we decided to stay in Nukuru for the night. On Monday morning we drove 4 hours to Nairobi, had lunch, then went to the “Bomas of Kenya” for a cultural experience including traditional dances and replicas of homes and homesteads of the different tribes of Kenya. (www.bomasofkenya.co.ke)

Eva and I stayed in a downtown hotel while Henry, the car owner and another Kenyan (John) who was driving in Nairobi, (I don’t blame Henry for not wanting to drive in Nairobi), stayed at Henry’s sister’s house. Our room had a very comfortable queen size bed with about 16 inches to the wall at the end and 2 feet on one side. 0" on the other. The bathroom had a sink and toilet, and shower on the wall that sprayed water just in front of the toilet. Very ‘compact’.

This morning we left Nairobi and drove to Nanyuki near Mt. Kenya. Eva and I are staying at the fabulous Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club. (I understand Prince William proposed here last year.) We are in a 4 room suite with all the amenities, even a real fireplace. It was raining when we arrived but it is expected to clear tomorrow morning.

Mt. Kenya Safari Club is is right on the equator
The Safari Club had a demonstration of Kenyan folk dancing just before supper. The two dancers had the daughter of the manager, about 5yrs, join them in the first dance. For the second dance they invited us to join them. We then went into the dining room for a delecious steak dinner which neither of us could find room to finish.

Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club

Eva and Dick with Safari Club native dancers

Wed., 27 Apr.

We are here at the Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club and throuroughly enjoying the stay. This morning Henry and John picked us up at 9:30 am and after refueling the van, we headed to the Sweetwaters Game reserve, part of ‘Ol Pejeata Conservancy”, a 90,000 acre game preserve. Although expensive, ($65 each for each non-residenset), we saw a lot. Various types of antelopes, elephants, geraffs, wart hogs, and we even got to feed a black rino. One of the park rangers, Patrick, accompanied us and made the trip much more interesting. The 18 km drive into the entrance was over a very rough road and the roads in the park were marginally better. We were there from about 10am until 3pm when we returned to Nanyuki where we had a light lunch before returning to the ‘Safari Club”. Tomorrow we return to the orphanage at Bungoma. I’m sure we will miss the pampering and luxury here at the Safari Club.

Eva feeding a black rino

Fri., 15 April, 2011
My how the time flies. Some men started to dig a trench for a foundation for the wall that is being completed across the front of the property. We already had the brick and sand but had to order stone for the concrete foundation. The truck bringing the stone kept on breaking down so the men finally used some of the stone on the driveway. Just before 6pm it arrived, and quit about 50 feet from the gate. They got it going long enough to get inside the gate where it quit again. The men with the truck unloaded it off the tailgate, blocking it’s exit, and left it for a mechanic Sat.


Sat. morning we went into Eldoret with Jan Suffock with Henry driving. We droped Jan off at a lawyers then went to a large hardware store to try and get parts to hang the swings properly using the chain we recently found had been bought. I was able to find some parts but will have to keep looking. We have also been having trouble finding the boots for the guards uniforms. The store in town that had the ones we wanted only had 2 pair in the correct sizes. Don’t know when they will get more.

I am beginning to suspect that there will be no one coming in to replace us when we leave on 10 May. We can’t stay longer even if we could get our visas extended. All of our medications including the anti-malarial drug will run out and changing our flights would be really difficult.

Sat. morning we set out with two of the children that have a parent to try and find them. The drive was long over very bad gravel roads. We finally arrived at the correct village and some of the people recognized the boy, (about 5 yrs). They were able to direct us to his mother’s home. It wasn’t until we got very near that the boy recognized it. The mother wasn’t home but someone phoned her and she hurried home. She was then able to provide the information we needed. We got the usual comment from a couple of people in the area, ‘my boy is disabled, do you think you could help him?’ The only thing we can do is explain that the government considers we currently have the maximum number of children for our current facility.

We then went on an even longer drive to find the girl’s mother. We found her and got the needed information, and also got a request that we take another of her daughters. So many children are not really wanted.

There was time before supper to pop into town and buy a wheelbarrow for use on the wall construction. (The contractor doesn’t provide such things.) We also made arrangements for a welder to come out tomorrow and assess the metal work required.

The mechanic came to repair the truck and wound up taking the engine away leaving the truck in the driveway. (To give you an idea of the layout of the property, you can see the back of the truck in the above photo of the wall.)


Sun. 17 April
Nothing special today. The truck is still in the driveway without an engine. The men returned to work on the wall, and a welder came by to look at what was needed to make grills for openings in the wall.

Sunday, 10 Apr., 2011
We returned yesterday afternoon from a 3 day safari to Lake Victoria and region. Thursday morning we left with Pastor Gideon driving, a local youth, Mohamed, Eva and Dick and drove first to Homa Bay where we met another local man, Nixon, at the hospital. He was there to pick up his father and take him to the much larger hospital in Kisumu for treatment, then to Bungoma. It was lunchtime so we had fried, whole, tilapia with chips at a local hotel. The bill for the 4 of us was just over $12.


Ruma National Park -

After lunch we drove to Ruma National Park. The park is considered remote, and after driving on the roads I know why. The Kenyan Govt. recognizes that non East Africans have more money so entrance fees were 100 shillings, (12 cents each), for them and US$20 for us. However there was a 7 km trail we drove and saw baboons, giraffes, wildebeests, and a huge water buffalo in the natural setting they have occupied for thousands of years. Very interesting!

Giraffe at Ruma National Park


Fishing on Lake Victoria

After the park we drove to Mbita where we spent the night. It wasn’t fancy at 1400 shillings for 4, ($18), but it was clean and the beds were comfortable. The next morning we drove to the car ferry located n the same town to take the ferry across Lake Victoria, then drove to the city of Kisumu. We checked into the ‘New East View Hotel’ which was somewhat higher quality than the night before.

While waiting for the ferry I met 2 Dutch medical students who were on their way to a large orphanage with the director to pick up a Dutch boy they had discovered there. Apparently his mother had died and authorities knew nothing about him or his family so placed him in the orphanage for care. The girls had contacted the Dutch and Kenyan governments about him and arranged for his release into their custody and transportation back to Holland. (I don’t know his age but believe he was quite young.)

In the afternoon we visited the National Museum of Kenya. They had both live and static displays and we saw crocodiles, a selection of snakes, and a replica of a Luo tribe family compound. We had a guide for this visit which, as usual, was well worth the cost.

Supper that night was again tilapia but done in a delicious sauce. (Sorry Bruce, I didn’t take a picture.)


The leopard at Impala Nat. Park likes to be scratched

Saturday morning we went to the Impala National Park in the city of Kisumu and on the shore of Lake Victoria. Again we were pleased to have a guide, Linda, who made the visit so much more interesting and informative. After our visit we headed back to Bungoma and Robin’s Nest Orphanage

I’d love to be able to describe everything we saw and experienced on this trip but there just isn’t room. The few photos included may give you a glimpse, but if you want more you’ll have to talk to us when we get back and suffer through the slide/video presentation I plan to make.

Jan Suffock was to arrive from Australia Sat. night for 2 weeks but they had car problems about ½ way here from. The car still wasn’t fixed Sun. night so another one was sent, which developed problems. She planned on taking a bus if it wasn’t fixed by 1pm Monday. The roads are not good so will be a slow trip. This is the same car and driver we are hiring for our safari starting April 24. We hope the car runs well for us.