Hello Africa!

After a great 3 days in Germany, we were all getting anxious to arrive in Kenya, but there were definitely some cultural changes we encountered along the way. On our first flight out of Germany, our food choices changed from meat and potatoes to rice and beans. Definitely not in good ol’ SoDak anymore! We had to make a pit stop in Sudan and were able to see and take pictures of the Nile River from the plane. This airport consisted of only one runway, but was still heavily guarded. From Sudan we continued to Ethiopia and then straight to Mombasa, Kenya.

Once arriving in Mombasa, we expected customs to be very time consuming and difficult to get through. Oh how contraire! I was the first to go through, showed the guard my passport, and the other 15 group members were able to enter the country under just my passport. Quite different from the US customs, that’s for sure..

We were greeted by our program coordinator, Isaac, and two other drivers that took us straight to the compound. It was about a 15 minute drive – but we passed through some very underprivileged areas of Mombasa. We saw abandoned houses one right after the next and many people sleeping in the streets. These views made me a little apprehensive of the compound we were about to be staying in for a month, but it is actually very nice and surrounded by a cement wall with 24/7 security.

Once at the compound, we were welcomed by two dogs and some of the previous students that have been here anywhere from 3-5 weeks. Although the compound is quite large, we are still the biggest group to ever stay here and some extra rooms needed to be converted into bedrooms. Laura and I are coincidentally staying in one of these rooms together – and pretty sure we were a little crazy the first night due to the strong smell of fresh paint! 

On Saturday we were given a city tour and I got my first view of the Indian Ocean! That night the veterans took us out for some drinks at a local “high end” café and we came back for a swim at the compound.

All day Sunday was spent at the beach. It seems that the children love to impress the foreigners so they posted up in front of us and started doing pushups and racing to show who was the fastest. Eventually they got bold enough and asked me to race against them…and I figured, when in Kenya, why not! So there I was, lined up against 3 other boys, and they took off. I was immediately put to shame when they turned around jogging while I was still running full speed and couldn’t catch up. Not exactly a confidence booster, but I did feel a little better knowing they made me run against the fastest boys on the beach because I “looked athletic.”

Ohhh Africa, what else do you have in store for me?!