Jambo!

Hi Everyone!

I have to say, I am beside myself right now. I came into this journey with no expectations, and according to Irene, founder of VICDA, I did everything correctly - so far.

I arrived on Monday night (with Heather on the same Zurich-Nairobi flight, though we only were able to meet up when getting baggage!) to be greeted by Jenn at the Nairobi airport. We got to our host family, and within seconds I met some of the most incredible people in my life: George, his daughter Bridget and her six-week old baby named after her own father. Immediately they took us in and have treated Jenn, Heather and myself as their own. It's a nice feeling to receive halfway across the world.

The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. The morning to follow our arrival, I was woken by roosters at 5:00 a.m. I was able to fall back asleep (after all, my family did have a farm in Wisconsin for nearly 20 years), only to be stirred a half hour later by polka-inspired music being played by the barber shop next door. I decided it was a sign to get myself out of bed!

That morning we started day 1 of our orientation. Jenn, Heather and I went to the orientation site and were thrilled to see the other Chicago ladies, Lyndsay, Lauren and Clare. We also met other volunteers from the U.S., Brazil and Canada.

When we got back to George's yesterday evening, we dropped some stuff and began our trek to find internet. We didn't get too far, though, before we were all charmed by about eight children who live next door. While we all had trouble communicating, some things are just universal, like soccer, clapping, dancing and old-school hand games like "down by the banks" or "miss mary mack". It was hard to keep on our e-mail mission, but after about 45 minutes of recess, we carried on our way. After the short walk to the cyber cafe, we found that the internet was down. "Welcome to Kenyan life!" Jenn stated with a smile, and we headed back to our starting point.

"Whatever expectations you have now, you can leave them behind." These words, more or less, were what Irene spoke of during the first day of orientation. Whatever you try to plan will not happen. The last thing you think will occur in your daily routine somehow will. But it's the people of this country - the wealthy, the poor, the old, the newborn and everyone in between - who will stir the emotions that are truly difficult to communicate. I promise, though, I intend to do my best to try.