Some fun times with cousins...

At the Meru National Park with family...














Having fun with cousins Dan and Kinoti...















With cousin Gitari (in red) and Makena (in purple) and their puppies.

visiting with Cousins, aunts, uncles & grandparents in Meru

Visiting with great grandma Kagure
who is mom's grandma (sitting),
grandma Dorothy (mom's mom)
and cousin Daniel (in black shirt).















With grandma Emily (dad's aunt) and our little cousin.















Visiting with grandma and grandpa Marangu
(dad's aunt and uncle).














Visiting with grandpa Mutwaruciu and
Grandma Nkirote (middle). These are our dad's
uncle and aunt. Other relatives are Auntie Nkatha
(standing behind us) and cousin Mutuma (in blue shirt).

Our Time in Meru

We have spent the last week and a half in Meru visiting family. We visited with Dan and Kinoti (our cousins) and many grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

At our grandma and grandpa Tirima's house we love to feed and visit the cows and calves. They have four calves whom we have named Spot, Fred, Betty and Jack. They also have five cows and we have milked two of them...that was a lot of fun!

We visited our cousins' (Dan & Kinoti) school --- Consolata Primay School, Meru for their Fun Day which involved all kinds of races. Our mom went to Consolata when she was young. The old monkey bars that she played on were still standing!!

Yesterday (June 22nd) we went to Meru town to get our nails done. We were very happy with the results. Our nails look fabulous!!!

Today (June 23rd) we visited some grandparents (our dad's aunt & uncle---M'Itwamwari) and played with cute little puppies. One of them had two broken legs that we tried to wrap up. The puppy seemed to like it and we think he felt much better. Later in the day, we went to visit with other grandparents (Marangus) and they had cows, goats, sheep and chickens. One of the chickens had cute little chicks but we could not pick them up and risk being attacked by the mother!

We will post some pictures soon...

Coexisting in the shop

Many may have seen how different facilities that sell soft drinks often keep Coke and Pepsi products apart in the US. Well here in Southern Sudan, as it is many other parts of Eastern Africa, there seems to be no problem of having both products in the same restaurant or even in the same refrigerator. Here is an image of my Coke soda served in a restaurant where they were also serving Pepsi that they kept in the same refrigerator.

Trip update...

From Grand Rapids to Chicago, June 10th 2009...

We saw lake Michigan from 16000 feet...isn't thisbeautiful. Check out the clouds from the plane!!

At O'Hare Chicago...

This us eating lunch and relaxing while waiting to board our plane to London.

Can't wait to board our plane to London.

In the aircraft...Headed for London.

The overnight flight from Chicago to London was 8 hours long. We watched movies for the most part of the night. The movies were Inkheart, Hotel for Dogs, and Disney Channel programs. The food was great. For dinner we had very good lasagna with a roll; cracker and cheese, a salad, and an oatmeal bar. Breakfast was served at 5am (London time) just before we landed....croissant, juice and yogurt. We were sleepy but we ate anyway.

June 11, 2009

When we got to London we had to look for our connecting flight. The security queues were horrendously long. It seems like went in a maze to get from Terminal 3 (our arrival terminal) to Terminal5( our departure terminal), taking a bus and several trains to get there. We finally got to our terminal and freshened up a little bit.

Some intersting things we observed about London Heathrow airport...the recyle bins were very sylish and toilets instead of restroom. Check these out below!

British Airways flight from London to Nairobi

This was a great flight...it was roomier and the food was just great. Check this out...pasta and chicken, chocolate moose cake, milk tube, roll and butter, and coffee (kidding!). We slept for a long time on this flight. They served us sandwiches for snack before we landed in Nairobi at 9pm (your time 2pm).

Departure

We just checked our bags in at Grand Rapids airport. We are relaxing at the AA lounge waiting for our flight to Chicago.

That's all for now. More when we get to Chicago.

The Eve of Departure

We are all packed and ready for departure. Mom and Asantwaa (a Calvin College student who will be staying at our home while we are away) have weighed all the bags and shifted things around to make sure they are 50lbs and below.

We depart tomorrow at 2pm from Grand Rapids, MI to catch our international flight at O'Hare (Chicago). We will leave Chicago at 5pm and get to London (UK) at 6.30am and then depart for Nairobi, Kenya at 10am and get there at 9pm on Thursday night (approximately 3am US time). The trip will take approximately 23 hours.

We have brought books to read and music to listen to and the Airlines offer many movies to choose from. So apart from sleeping a lot, we will be fully entertained.

We will tell you more about the journey tomorrow and in the days to come.

Southern Sudan

I am back to Southern Sudan for a few weeks and I am already getting used to the place even though it is a little hotter than Nairobi. I am currently based in Juba the capital city of Southern Sudan following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in Kenya in 2005 after more than twenty years of civil war. Before arriving in Juba I spent four days in a conference in Harare Zimbabwe with about twelve other scholars from different countries in Africa focusing on youth and identity in Africa under the sponsorship of Africa'spremier research institution, CODESRIA (www.codesria.org). From Sudan I will be going back to Nairobi to join my family in visiting family and friends and doing some sight seeing.
Mwenda