Term 3 & Closing Recitation

We just completed our third term of the school year.  Can you believe it?  I hardly can.  It seems like just yesterday I was conducting in-service with the teachers before re-opening for the second semester.

Helium Stick Challenge for team building

It was a term mixed with sorrow and joy.  We experienced the sudden death of the district pastor who was also the parent of two of our precious young students and the chairperson of our school board.  He was one of our long time partners, instrumental in identifying children who would benefit from the care and education that we have to offer.  He was a great godly leader and loved by the community.  We also experienced the passing of dear Mama Juli, who had served the Lord at our village for 15 years.  She said that she wanted to work here until she died, and that's exactly what she got to do.  She was ready to go home to the God she loved and served, so we are happy for her, but we miss her smile and sweet presence here. 

As I said, there was also great joy throughout the term.  We started academic clubs with our upper primary students.  They have been a hit!  The Science Club has made their own soap and dissected mice.  The Journalism Club is bringing us a live news broadcast every Friday morning.  The Art Club constructed an impressive volcano, tying art and science together.  Beautiful voices singing in rounds can be heard coming from the Music Club.  Of course my personal favorite is the Math Club where we solve puzzles and sharpen the skills of our aspiring mathematicians.  I only wish we had gotten them started earlier, but now we're ready for next year!  We also celebrated our girls' soccer team getting to compete in the East African international competition, where they achieved second place.

We concluded the term with a recitation performance for parents.  It's always impressive what even the youngest students can memorize and present.  I recorded some of the performances to share with you.

This was the first time for our PP1 students (3-year old class) to perform.  They were adorable.  Just think, they came into school 8 months ago with hardly any English.  Now they're reciting Psalms in front of an audience.

I'll admit the song could definitely use some sharpening up, but anything a group of 3-year old kids performs is cute, right?!

This little girl has confidence.  Only 4 years old and not scared at all to get on the stage and recite her poem - At the Zoo.

Standard 4 reciting Out in the Fields with God by Elizabeth Barrett

Standard 4 reciting The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Standard 5 reciting Psalm 23

Standard 6 reciting I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

The music teacher worked with Standard 2 to prepare three songs to sing.  I didn't realize that they were planning to sing these songs at recitation until the week before.  The last week of school is always busy, so I never made it to their class to hear them practice.  My first time to hear their songs was at the rehearsal the day before the actual recitation performance.  I learned my lesson quickly.  Always preview the performances at least a few weeks in advance!  At rehearsal I noticed that there was an issue with one of the words in the lyrics, an English as a second language issue.  But I knew it was too late to try and change a lyric and an action right before showtime with such young ones, so I let it go.  They still sing a true statement, it's just not quite what it was meant to be. Don't get me wrong, it was still cute and I appreciate their hard work to learn the songs; it's just that next time I need to make sure I see practices early on and catch things like this sooner.  See if you catch our little blooper...

It has given me a good laugh every time I think about it.  The God of the good times, is also the God in the bed times.  I'm definitely livin' and learnin' :)

And with that, term 3 was a wrap!

Laurie on Safari

During the third week of the school break, I got to go on what I would call one of those "trips of a lifetime".  One of our volunteers, who is here for two months, calls herself a safari junkie and wanted to go on a week-long camping safari during her time here.  As a generous woman and former missionary with our organization who understands how hard yet important it is to get away every once in a while, she made it possible for me to join her.  What a blessing!  So in the morning of the 24th of June, we loaded our things into a safari vehicle and set off for an adventure to the "endless plains".

Jane and me beginning the safari

 It's a long drive, but I didn't mind at all because there are things to see all along the way.

First giraffe sighting and we're not even to the park yet

Spectacular views over the Maasai land

 Then we entered the park and began our drive down the roads that they jokingly say give you an "African massage".

We made it to our first camp site just before sunset.  There are public camp sites within the park where people who have camping permits are able to set up their tents on a first come first serve basis.  The sites have toilets, showers (cold water of course), a covered cooking area, and a covered dining area.

Nyani Camp Site - our home for 3 nights

First of many colorful sunsets

When you go on a camping safari, you have a guide and a chef.  Our guide was Gilbert and our chef was Mudy.  They were both fantastic!  We were like one happy little family out there - we had Mama Jane and I was dada (sister) and they were kakas (brothers).

Our safari family - Mudy left and Gilbert right

Mudy made it clear that he is a trained chef, not just a cook.  I'd say he proved himself by feeding us like queens all week. He obviously did not want us to go hungry.

Breakfast - Day 1

After our hearty breakfast, Gilbert took us out for the first game drive.  It's funny to look back at my first day of pictures.  I was clearly a newbie taking pictures of everything.  I had no idea what was in store.  There is no way I could include all my pictures, so I'll do my best at narrowing it down to some of the highlights.

Marabou Stork

Love Bird and Skink

Tree full of baboons in really funny positions

We spent a good two hours that morning watching these three lions.  We were so sure that we were going to get to see them take down a zebra.  There was the most unimaginably long line of zebras passing by and these three lionesses crouching in the grass watching.  We just knew they were going to make their attack at any moment!

Looking so ready to take down some prey

Just a few of the countless zebras nearby

But no, they decided to do what lions do best...go take a nap in the shade.

Got too hot and needed a stretch and rest

Oh well, we enjoyed the watch nonetheless.  We moved on to another set of lions and watched their funny dynamics.  I realized very quickly that it's not so much about seeing tons animals, but about watching them interact and seeing them in action.

I think she was ignoring him

 And you capture humorous moments like this...

What are you looking at?

 I was very excited that we got to see elephants on the very first morning!

We happened to be right at their path for crossing the road, so we got to see them walk right in front of our vehicle.

Do you think I was a little bit excited?!

We spent the rest of the day driving all around and seeing many many amazing sights.

Big cats like to be in trees too

First leopard spotting

We watched her move up to the top of the tallest rock

Lilac-breasted Roller

Another leopard doing what cats do best

The hippo pool

Not exactly the most pleasant smelling place, but still cool to see

That was just day 1!  We were out for a good 10 hours and then came back to a hot dinner all ready for us.  Now that's the way to camp! :)

Every dinner started with a hot soup

Followed by a delicious main course that I'm not sure how
he managed to make with just a portable camp stove.  Impressive!

Day 2!  Began with another hearty breakfast at our zebra table.

For the second game drive, we requested to get further out, away from a lot of the other safari vehicles.  We saw a lot of animals and great sights the first day, but there's something amazing about getting out in the vast expanse and feeling like you're the only ones around.

Cheetah sighting first thing in the morning

Hoopoe

 This picture might help you understand why we wanted to get away from the crowds...

Being surrounded by 20 other safari vehicles somehow takes away from the experience.  What's even crazier is that all of these vehicles were just waiting and HOPING to see the leopard, not that she was actually out and visible.  Good thing we saw her the day before!  Off to see other things...

Secretary Bird

Out in the wide open spaces!

Our lunch location - peace in the middle of vast expanse

Typical safari boxed lunch

While getting out away from the crowds has its perks, it also has its risks.  Such as...

...getting super stuck in the mud :)

We were so thankful that there actually were two other safari vehicles in the area.  They heard our call for help on the radio and were kind enough to come help us get out.  It took quite a few attempts at various ideas, but they were eventually successful.  All the while, Jane and I were standing outside scanning for any potential dangers and the other two safari groups just had to wait in their vehicle and enjoy the entertainment of trying to get us unstuck.  Boy were we sure relieved to get out of that mess!
The whole reason we were heading out that way is because Gilbert had heard that there was a lion out there who had just taken down a fresh kill.  After all that work, he was even more determined to go find that lion.  And we eventually did!  (You might want to breeze past the next six pictures if you're a little squeamish about fresh kills.)

Nice and full after a good feasting

All that remains after everyone gets their part

Probably missing a friend :(

Right after that, we actually found another set of lions that had just enjoyed a tasty zebra feast.

All they can do with such full bellies

Hyenas were all around waiting for their scavenging opportunity

Can you spot anything in this tree?

Leopard

This mama lioness and her four cubs were really fun to watch.  The clubs were playful and curious.

Can I help mom? I want some gazelle!

We're coming too!

 After watching the cubs play for a while and then nurse from mama lioness, we called it a day and headed back to camp for another delicious dinner.

Day 3 started with a very early morning game drive so that we could be out for sunrise.  We again had a rare sighting very first thing in the morning...

Can you spot her?

A pregnant cheetah!

 Early morning also meant that we got to see the hot air balloon safaris on their sunrise journeys.

Zebras and Wildebeest are often found together 

 Since we did an early morning game drive, we headed back to camp for a mid-morning brunch.

Then we packed up camp and headed north to a new camp so that we could see a different region.

They don't seem to like sharing

Cape buffalo grazed right beside our campsite

Our bedtime noise machines

Lobo Camp

 

We both were astounded by our tent view

We were able to still squeeze in another game drive in the afternoon.  We were so glad that we did because we got to enjoy watching a leopard all by ourselves.

They are so stealthy that once this one left the tree and went into the grass, we weren't able to find it again.  So we headed back to camp for sunset and another hearty dinner.

The meat cooler was accidentally left at the first camp, so we
became vegetarians for the rest of the trip :)

Since I knew our tent was facing east, I woke up to see the sunrise because, in my opinion, it is by far one of the best ways to start a morning.  God gave me quite a colorful and radiant display.

Then Mudy served us another gigantic breakfast.  Seriously, he seemed to think it should be a feast at every meal.

The plan for day 4 was to drive north to the river.  We were a little early for the wildebeest river crossing as part of their circulatory migration (2 million wildebeest), the river is still a beautiful sight to see and we got to see thousands upon thousands of the wildebeest on their way.

Also on the way, we saw upwards of 20 lions.  It was a lion day!

A little newlywed spat

Clearly, lions just lay around all day

 I joke that the drive to the river is also when I was "converted" to a safari junkie.  It had nothing to do with sighting animals.  It was simply that there was something overwhelming about cruising through the endless beauty of God's creation with the wind in my face as I popped my head out of the top of the safari car and breathed in the crisp fresh air that completely won me over.  It's indescribable.
We made it to the river and enjoyed watching birds, crocodiles and hippos lounging in the water, and elephants grazing on the other shore, which is Kenya.

Eland

On the way back we saw lots of wildebeest and happened to see these giraffes running alongside.

 Then back to camp for the close of day 5.

Don't you eat mashed potatoes with your spaghetti to?! Haha!

That night we were the only ones at our camp.  Talk about a treat!  We fell asleep to the sound of wildebeest honking outside our tent.  I walked by a cape buffalo on my way to the toilet.  We both were awake about 2 o'clock in the morning, so we decided to step out of the tent and take a look at the stars.  WOW!!!!!  Psalm 19 comes to life: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Day 6 began with another early morning game drive.  I was so excited because that morning was the first time that I was the one to spot a leopard!

 After the morning game drive, we came back to camp for brunch.  He made us a more local breakfast - chips mayai.  Probably my favorite breakfast of all!

Chips mayai - basically potato wedges are fried and then eggs
are poured over for a chips omelette 

Then it was time to head back to the central region and stay at our first camp for one more night.  That way our drive home the next day wouldn't be quite so long.  We were able to take one more evening game drive in the central region.  We had no idea what a spectacular treat we would get to enjoy on our last night.

Leopard at a distance

You wouldn't believe how many zebras there are out there

Now this is where the real treat began.  We came upon about 15 lions of various ages and sizes lounging in and under this tree.  We watched them for a while as they rolled around, yawned, climbed down from the tree.  It was really fun to watch, but all the while we were with quite a few other safari vehicles.

 

Many of the other cars started to leave because they had seen enough and had other places to be.  We were in no rush, so we hung around.  We ended up watching one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen behind the lion tree and then got to watch them as they began to hunt zebras.  Truly amazing!

Can you even imagine a better way to end an already unforgettable week?  What a gift!