Greetings from Kenya!

Our time in Tanzania ended in a whirlwind of events, lots of smiles, a few tears and an Iraqw farewell prayer. The last 7 weeks have gone by in a wonderful flash and I have gained lifelong friends and memories at the Moyo Hill Center of Tanzania. And even though I left Tanzania, I was able to travel with 29 of the most amazing people to Kenya and begin a whole new journey.

The Kilimanjaro Base Camp in Kenya is much different than Moyo Hill for all the right reasons. This camp is much bigger and in a more rural area. This means there is more wildlife around including snakes (yes, the poisonous ones), scorpions, lizards and baboons. The baboons think they own the place and can be seen walking around the camp any part of the day and like to hang out on the front porch of my banda (cabin). The bandas don’t have bathrooms here so there is a short walk to the toilets and showers. The best part of the showers is that on clear days there is a beautiful view of Mt. Kilimanjaro (pictures to come). The Kenyan staff is equally friendly and welcoming as the Tanzanian staff. They also help us practice our Swahili.

One of the first few days in Kenya was Halloween! Even though it isn’t celebrated in Africa, we made a celebration of our own. The afternoon started with costumes and I went with a ghost costume made with a white sheet and two eye holes. It was fun to see what costumes we made with the little clothes and supplies we brought to Africa. We carved pumpkins, trick-or-treated to each other’s bandas and had a costume contest. Even though the local staff thought we were weird, it was a fun holiday.

From the first week in Kenya, i can tell I am going to like it very much here!