Typical day in the life..

These are just a few shots from a typical day for  our team...

We always started the day out on the "upper terrace" as we called it, at our hotel and it was always early enough to catch the sunrise coming up in the African sky. (sigh).  This was a time for us as a team to get focused, share a bit, and then pray...because we needed a lot prayer!  After the "upper terrace" time, we'd head down to the restaurant area and have breakfast...usually eggs and incredibly stale toast.  Once we discovered they made omelettes, well! that was exciting and then the day usually started with that (:

Me "glowing" in the sunrise

After breakfast would be the familiar walk to the Urafiki Centre...down the road, along the meandering path between people's homes.  All along the way, we would hear the excited calls of the children, "Mzungo, mzungo!!"  There would be greetings exchanged: "Shikamoo" to an elder, "Jambo" or "Habari za asubuhi" anyone else.  The kids would tag along all the way to the Urafiki Centre and then we would be greeted by the Urafiki staff with big smiles!  At the Urafiki Centre, we would often see the Masai men who are employed as guards there.  Very generously, they agreed to some photos one day...little did they know how many cameras we had!

At the Urafiki Centre, we would pack up our meds and supplies for that day, meet with the Urafiki staff joining us, and wait for our transportation.  Once the van came, we would pack ourselves and everything  in (literally) and head out for our destination!  There are so many memories that I hold in my mind's eye of the journey from one place to another...so many images ingrained upon my brain that I will never forget.

You can make a lot of things out of a tire!

One of the women we saw every morning on our path to the Urafiki Centre...always a beautiful smile.

Valena...one of the Urafiki staff...always out cleaning in the morning!

Waiting at the Urafiki Centre: Me with my ever trusty Swahili-English dictionary/phrase book.  Dr. Mukulla instructing me on pronunciation...which was a good thing!!

By nightfall, we would return to Hill Front, our "home away from home" and eat some supper (which was usually sitting on the warmer for quite some time due to the fact that our days were so long! The staff at the hotel were very gracious and patient with us).  If there was water (which we were pretty fortunate to have), a shower might be the order of the night before bed.  It was sort of a situation where when there was water, you knew you should take advantage of it! because there was never a guarantee that there would be some in the morning (:

Nighttime would mean crawling into our beds, under our mosquito nets and welcoming the eventual sleep that we so needed.  (sigh) sleep...it is a beautiful thing!