Kijabe

On Friday we arrived in Kijabe. What a wonderful place. It’s about an hour and 15 min. drive from Nairobi by taxi. In Swahili it means “place of wind”, and that totally correct. It’s pretty high up (2200 m) and just the start of a valley. The wind blows through the village (of about 6000 people) almost constantly. Rocky streets with red sand, trees and a beautiful view would be a nice picture to describe Kijabe a bit further. We uploaded some pictures as well, so eat your heart out!

We’ll be living in the doctors’ duplex. This is a two story building with multiple rooms. One room is reserved for us (with a short double bed and quite some closet space). We have 4 girls living in the same house as us. Two German students (Rebecca and Renate), one American (Samantha) and one Singaporean from New Zealand (Charmaine) whom we met in Nairobi. We share the bathroom with Renate, so that’s okay.

On Friday evening we had dinner with Professor Poenaru and his family. Prof. Poenaru is Nynke’s supervisor during her research. He’s a paediatric surgeon. He’s originally from Romania. It was a nice evening with a lot of practical stuff and questions. When we walked back home the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was pretty chilly. We definitely needed a jacket (which we didn’t bring that night). Oh well… We also had a tour of the hospital in the afternoon. That was a lot of info, and I didn’t remember a lot of it. I think I can find the lab (though I’m not sure)…

Saturday was an interesting day. First of all, we went to the Kijabe market. This is a small concrete building where +/- 10 women (maybe more) are trying to sell groceries. Everyone has the same thing and sells them at the same price, so we bought different things at different places. Definitely an example of Shared Poverty. No competition, no arguing, just sitting there, waiting, till it’s their turn. The rest of the day Nick was still recovering from being sick and being in a different country. So he stayed at home. Nynke however had a great time at Mount Longonot. A few of the girls of the house went with an American pathologist (Ron) to Hell’s Gate National Park to climb (!) Mt. Longonot. It wasn’t just a nice hike up a hill, but up dirt and rocks, with sunscreen and dust stuck on your face (you should definitely see the pictures :))

Sunday we went to church (at 8.30) and had a nice and relaxing rest of the morning and afternoon. We had dinner at the Davis’, who’s parents we met in the Mayfield guest house. It was fun to get to know them and some of the other missionaries who are here. It’s almost like I’m back in the Hill Country in Texas! At the Upper Station there’s the American Missionary Kid School and with all the Christian workers buildings, brushes, dirt and dryness it’s just like His Hill :) But when you go to Lower Station you’re reminded of the fact that you are in Kenya by the hospital and all the Kenyans.

Today we started at the hospital, but we’ll tell you about that next time.