Often when I visit a new place, I try to describe it to you here on my blog. I try to give you a piece of it so that you can understand what it was like. Lately, as I reflect on our time in Africa, it seems impossible. How can I describe Africa and our time there? I love to write, but I’m no literary artist, and I’m afraid it will take one to convey it to you. How can I describe the delightful thrill of wonder when walking shoulder to shoulder through bustling markets where you can’t understand a word of language and people shout over your head and stare unashamedly at you for the color of your skin? How can I tell you that even the air was different with its rich exotic smells being blown on the heavy thick wind that smelled of rain and dust? How can I explain to you the underlying quality of the people and the wholesomeness of being detached from western culture for a time being? How to tell you of the comfortable routine of hearing the beautiful prayers chanted from the mosques 5 times a day by those who wore marks of faith on their foreheads? How to tell you of a culture where absolutely nothing is wasted and being hardworking is the most valuable trait to have? Where everyone is present, everyone is skilled at what they do because of the effort they put into it, everyone is sincere, everyone is hospitable, and everyone generally is happier than those back home? Where the rushed busy American pace is set aside in favor of the calm pole pole "African time"? How to describe to you places that are yet unaffected by the gross dissolution of morals in western society? Where they shudder at the idea of men dating men, frown bitterly at the idea of any type of abortion, laugh at the idea of changing your gender, are speechless at the mere idea of something ridiculous like furries, and still consider the rainbow as obviously referring to God’s promise? How can I tell you of the fun it is to ride on a piki-piki (motor bike) sandwiched between 2 others through crowds of people on your way to pick up spices and meat for dinner? Of the fun it is to try to learn the bright and lyrical native language and absolutely fail at pronouncing “n’gombe” (cow)? Of the fun it is to flip pancakes for 4 hours while you’re totally surrounded by Africans dancing to their favorite rap music in that really unique way that they dance? Of the overwhelming heat that seems like a giant blanket always covering you no matter where you go and only occasionally being punctuated by torrential jungle rain? Most of all, how can I ever make you understand the difference between making friends (like we normally do when we go places) and making family (which is what we did in Africa)? How can I make you understand? All I can do is encourage you to go yourself someday. Then and only then will you really be able to grasp why we fell in love the way that we did.
In the meantime, I will try to give you a brief overview. I will share pictures of my time in Africa. We went to Egypt and the Pyramids, then to Kenya. In Kenya, we went on a safari, we stayed in Nairobi, and we lived for 2 1/2 weeks at Child of Mercy Children’s Home.
It is crazy to think about how much we were able to love people we just met. Truly, they became family and I love them with my whole heart. I will be quick to say that I have 29 new siblings and plenty of Aunties and Uncles too.
God has continued to bless us every year that we have traveled. I am so grateful that He gave us the opportunity to experience this together as a family this year. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures and videos below. Remember our Comech family in your prayers. I hope, as I do every time I write a post, that our stories will encourage you to go and make incredible memories of your own. We are all called to love, love, love with all of our hearts. When we do, good things always follow.
Cairo, EGYPT
There's nothing I love more than a good adventure, and Egypt was certainly that! We took a red-eye and landed in Cairo in the morning after zero sleep. That night, we had another red-eye scheduled to take us to Nairobi. Yet, we just couldn't justify being so close to the Great Pyramids and a whole new culture without seeing any of it! That's what led us to take only a 2 hour nap before getting a ride over to the Pyramids! We explored this country that was so unfamiliar to us in only a few short, but highly memorable hours. Our first taste of the fun African culture, we will surely never forget it! People drove in the streets with 15 to a car, sitting on each other's laps. The preferred method of communication was aggressive shouting. The Arabic language rendered everything exciting and unfamiliar. And, for our first time, we stood out dramatically for our hair and skin and attracted much attention simply walking around.
Nairobi, KENYA
Landing in Nairobi was so exciting. We were exhausted from all of the travel, but so eager for what was ahead. There was definitely a strong factor of fear and apprehension as we traveled to Africa for the first time, but everywhere we went it was instantly dissuaded by the wonderful people we met. We stayed at the Nairobi Hyatt which eventually came to feel like a second home after all of the time we spent coming and going from there. We also had the unique opportunity to meet up with some friends of the family for the first time. My mom's best friend's family had sponsored a Kenyan girl, Lydia, growing up for years. Lydia named her son after their father in honor of them. They traveled to Nairobi for the day where we got to spend some wonderful time with them! After a few days, we jumped on a train and headed to Mombasa!
Likoni, KENYA
Just a limited few pictures to capture so many memories made here at Child of Mercy Children's Home. I spent the whole time with a heart overflowing with love and laughter. We had so much fun and loved all of our time from the beach, to the kitchen, to taekwondo classes, to every moment in between! It was an honor and a blessing to get to meet each and every person at Comech; they really have become our family. How can I ever sum it all up here? All I can say is that I'll be back.
When we left, we all had a chance to say something to everyone. I think my Dad said it best: we will leave a piece of our hearts here forever and we will always carry a piece of this place in our hearts. And this isn’t the end, but somewhere in the beginning.
Amboseli, KENYA
We originally had planned to go to Masai Mara, but the same floods that caused school to get cancelled for 2 whole weeks also swept through the park, making it unreachable! We were more than happy to switch to Amboseli park instead. There we had a wonderful time getting a front row view to God's wild creation!
Heading HOME
We left Africa and had FIVE flights in 4 days that we took to get home. Once we finally arrived in America, we drove 13 hours in order to get to this year's teen rally in time. It was a wild travel experience!
It's with extremely heavy hearts that we return back. We were so grateful for the experience but truly devastated to leave, especially to leave Comech. We had missed some of the comforts of home, but really we had loved every second of our time in Africa. The international travel has become my absolute favorite. This time especially I have been home for less than a week and am already eager to head back!
Our travels have knitted us together as a core family more and more over the years, but this time more than ever. We all highly recommend exploring Africa if you get the chance and will remember it as our new favorite continent! :)
So amazing Grace! Love all the sweet pictures of your new friends!! Great post ❤️
What a wonderful trip. God has put so much love in your hearts and you all so joyfully shared that love with everyone that you met and they in turn shared their love with you. God bless you all
Though you thought you couldn’t describe it, you did so impeccably.
Your very far travels this trip seem incredible, not only that the experience touched you but marked you. ✝️
Its so inspiring to hear about the love you share with your new found family in Kenya 🩷