The Adventures of Syd

This story began when I arrived back from Kenya in February. While I was gone, the interns had decided that we needed to get more exercise. So, when we heard that the local Irish pub -Jack Quinn’s - sponsored a 5k every Tuesday night, we thought that would be a fun way to get involved with the community and to stay in shape. Then, what sealed the deal… we found out that if we ran 10 of the races, we would become part of the Jack Quinn’s running club and get a free t-shirt! Done. 

So, every Tuesday after work, we walked down to Jack Quinn’s, signed in, and ran a 5k. In the beginning I was invigorated by the challenge…then, it got cold. I have now run in below freezing weather and while it was snowing. It was times like these I would do a lot of soul searching and ask myself questions like, “Why the heck am I doing this? Do I really need another t-shirt? Is a t-shirt really all it takes to get me to run? Are my fingers going to fall off if I run without gloves in 20 degree weather?”… etc etc.

I think what I have concluded is that I am motivated by tasks. Give me a list and I will work to mark everything off it. The run wasn’t so much about the t-shirt as it was about completing the challenge…and 6 of the 9 interns did complete the task on May 10, 2011. I am happy to introduce you to the newest members of the Jack Quinn’s running club.

I’m Sydney Flowers and I ran 31 miles for a free t-shirt.

Melissa driving the tractor.

I haven’t missed an Easter with my family in 22 years.

Because I am in CO Springs, Easter 2011 was going to be my first one apart from my family, so I was getting pretty upset and homesick as the week approached. It’s times like these that I know I worship and serve a relational God. Relationships are important to him, and when I was hurting over not getting to see my relatives and friends, he provided for me. Here’s the story of God’s personal provision over the Easter holiday…

Provision #1: During the week prior to Easter, Kerry, Christy and the Flowers boys got to come out to Colorado. They were going skiing in Breckenridge – only a 2 hour drive from the Springs. Family was so close! Matt let me take off a couple of days of work, and I got to spend some time with them. It was great to be with family and with some fellow southerners.

Side note: People in CO - but especially Breckenridge - are not interested in having conversations with strangers. We would converse with our waiter or someone who looked interesting on the street, and it was very apparent that they were simply being polite and that we were inconveniencing them with our friendliness. One huge thing I am missing about the south: it’s okay to talk to anyone and everyone.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my time with the Flowers family. It was fun to be around people that were just as impressed by the snow as I was…

 

**Special thanks to Mollie for the awesome snow toys!

Provision #2: Justin, my fellow intern, is from Kansas which – turns out – is only 6 hours away from Colorado Springs. He knew I was upset about not getting to spend time with my family on Easter, so he offered to share his family with all the interns. I was super excited! Not only were we going on a road trip, but I had an adopted family to spend Easter with!

We started our drive on Saturday. I took the bug and Melissa and Clare. Justin’s cousin Matthew drove the boy car carrying Justin, Alex, and Phil. Along the way, Justin and cousin Matthew had planned various stops highlighting some of Kansas’s most exciting spots. First stop: Mt. Sunflower. This “mount” is the highest spot in Kansas. Not only is the name funny so was the location. We drove 12 miles down a dirt road and straight up to the peak of the “mountain.”

 

No Molly Webb that’s not a peace sign…that’s my sign for wheat.

Clare and I planted our home flags with notes that said “We made it to the top!”

Our next stop was actually in Justin’s hometown. After taking an audio tour given by Justin and cousin Matthew around Bushton, KS over speaker phone, we ended up at Justin’s house. We were greeted with hugs and smiling faces by Patti and Scott – Justin’s parents – and then, we dropped off our stuff and headed to the farm house. Monte – Justin’s brother – is a farmer full time, so he gave us a tour around all the farming equipment. This stuff is huge! I’ve never seen anything like it. The picture below is of the small tractor and the three girls fit comfortably in the wheel well.

 

After seeing all the equipment and meeting Justin’s grandparents, we were asked if we wanted to drive the tractor. I was a little hesitant because these things were huge. But, Monte took us out on the smallest one and we all got a shot at driving. It was so fun! I was a little jumpy at first though. Everyone would drive straight towards us, and I would take off running to get out of the way forgetting that the thing only moved at about 2 mph.

So, I was the last one to drive the tractor. I took it for a loop around the farm, and when I was heading back, I lined the tractor up to head straight for the interns that were waiting on the ground. Jokingly, I said to Monte that I was going to see how close I could get to them before they bailed out. He said, “Okay, let’s do it!” So, he controlled the clutch while I steered straight for the group of awaiting interns. Justin – thinking that I was in control of stopping the thing – decided that he would play chicken with me, so they all just stood there with this massive tractor heading straight toward them. As I saw them disappear under the hood of the tractor, I was like, “Oh no! I’ve killed the interns!” Soon after though, Monte hit the brakes stopping only a couple of inches away from the nearest intern. Whew! Farm kids…

 

Monte educating us on wheat.

Our next stop was the church before finally heading back for supper – not dinner…apparently these are very different in Kansas. Phil was doing some special music for Sunday morning church, so we went to make sure everything was in place for that. Monte let us in the church with his key, and I asked him who all had a key to the church. Evidently every member has one. Ha! Got to love small towns! Phil practiced his music while the rest of us read through the hymnals and sang some together.

This note was taped to the pulpit, and we thought it was awesome. It says, “Woe to you if you preach not the gospel!”

Supper time was amazing. Patti is an awesome chef! And afterward, she let us invade her kitchen to dye Easter eggs. It took some coaxing but eventually, the boys all joined in and we had a beautiful and eclectic mix of Easter eggs.

 

The sleep in Kansas was amazing. There is no traffic because the nearest house is miles away, and my bed was super comfy. So, we woke up refreshed for church on Sunday. The girls put on their Easter dresses – this is probably the first Easter I have had to wear tights with my dress – and we headed to First Baptist Lorraine with Justin’s parents. The deacons were serving breakfast for the small congregation before church, so we went and ate with them before going to listen to the sermon and Phil’s special music.

Then, we headed home for Easter dinner with our new Kansas family. The meal and the company were brilliant. I really felt like I was at home relaxing with my own family.

 

God took this opportunity to teach me about adoption…whether it is adopting a child into a family or just welcoming in some hungry interns for the weekend, adoption is an awesome reminder of what Christ did for us. He died so that we may be counted sons and daughters of the king. My prayer is that we would all know and display the joy of this adoption. Justin’s parents welcomed us in as their own children, and I felt very deeply the love they showed us. What a great example it was for me. I’m truly thankful for this Easter.

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”  Romans 8:15-16

I feel like many things in Colorado point to the majesty of God, which is a trait of His that I don’t dwell or reflect on often. Yesterday, we went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, and again, I was struck with just how big of a creator I have and how small I am. Apparently, these dunes were formed over many years by the wind currents. The wind sweeps around the mountains picking up sand and deposits it here. The dunes pictured above were the smallest mounds at the park. Amazing.

So, we heard about the dunes from some of the Colorado locals. Vicky - the assistant intern coordinator - always lets us in on free deals around town, so she let us know that this weekend it was free to get into the park. It is 3 hours away from the Springs so we decided to make a day of it. So, Justin, Alex, Phil, Clare, me and Sahara (Lisa’s dog) piled into Justin’s truck. First, we stopped in at chic-fil-a to take advantage of another deal…free breakfast! Fully energized from our chicken, egg and cheese bagels, we set off for the dunes.

When we arrived the dunes looked kind of unimpressive because the Rocky Mountains were right behind them. But, as we got closer we realized just how much sand there was…it was like part of the Sahara desert had been randomly dumped in the middle of Colorado. So cool! I’ve never seen anything like it before. This spot is one that I would consider a “must see” of Colorado.

We put Sahara on her leash and started our walk to the dunes. Justin gave me an extra jacket because apparently my four layers were not enough for the mountain winds. And, I grabbed some plastic bags in case Sahara pooped…but, I shot up a quick prayer that I wouldn’t have to deal with that. God wanted to teach me something though because about 50 feet into our walk, Sahara decided she needed to go to the bathroom. So, I had my first pooper scooper experience that Clare so sweetly documented for me.

 

Once that was dealt with, we carried on. We climbed up the first dune and quickly discovered how hard sand was to walk in much less climb in. Alex, Clare, and I decided to try it barefoot, so we lost our shoes. The sand was warm and I felt like I was at the beach. Now, I really can’t wait for summer time!

We reached the top of the first dune, and being a true guy, Alex decided it would be fun to run and jump off the edge of the steep sand dunes. The following pictures are of the guys jumping…and falling.

 

Well, the jumping looked pretty fun, so eventually, Clare and I joined in too. While the jumping was fun, we struggled in climbing up the steep bits of mountain side to get to the ledges.

But, Alex was right…jumping off them and sliding down the dunes was really fun.

 

After a bit of playing, we decided to carry on up to the taller mountains of sand. There were people everywhere. Some people were sledding, others were trying to ski and still other people were just doing forward rolls down the mountain. It was hilarious to watch …and join in. It took quite a while for us to wonder up to the top, but many blistered toes later, we made it to the top. The sand was so coarse that it just ate up our feet, so the shoes went back on.

At the very top, I tried to make a sand castle with the snow mold Mollie sent me as a going away to Colorado gift. Since we haven’t had huge amounts of snow, I decided to try my luck with sand. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the right water to sand ratio for my bricks, so I just ended up running around with my snow mold in tow all day. Sahara brought her own toy - her tennis ball - to play with, so we decided to take her off the leash and let her run for a while. Well, Alex threw the ball intending for it to stop at the bottom of the mound we were on. Unfortunately, it took a bad bounce and rolled down about 3 more dunes which probably ended up being a hundred or more feet of elevation change. Sahara fearlessly ran straight down the mountain side only focused on the ball. But once she retrieved it, she didn’t have the energy to make it back up. So, logically, we all went running down after her. I don’t think I have every moved that fast, and my arms were flailing every which way. It was so exhilarating, we decided to do it again down the next dune on the way to the creek.

 

Sahara was so tired from running that she would run 20 feet in front of us, lie down, and wait for us to walk up next to her. Then, she would get up and run for another 20 feet and repeat the whole process. We were all pretty tired, and since we couldn’t all do the run-then-lie-down walk, we decided to head back home to the Springs. But, before the day was over, Clare got her turn at pooper scooper.

All in all, this was one of my favorite days in Colorado. The sites were amazing as was the company. I think everyone should grab some friends and see what kind of shenanigans they can get into at the Great Sand Dunes.

 

 

I have written a lot about Kenya, and I’m feeling a little guilty about not giving Colorado Springs any love. So, hopefully, this post will give you some insight into my life in my temporary home here in the Springs.

 First and foremost, it is still cold here, and apparently it snows until May. I celebrate 50 degree weather. Thankfully, everyone is really active and outdoorsy. I am grateful for the cool weather when we go hiking up a mountainside, which is actually a fairly frequent occurrence. There are tons of hiking trails here in Colorado Springs and thus far, we have hiked in Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon, and the Air Force Academy Falcon Trail. Although, Clare – my British roommate – says that we call everything hikes in America when in reality they are just walks. Ha! I would agree with her except that I find myself extremely tired after these “walks” and severely out of breath during them…so a hike just sounds more impressive. Anyway, that is what we do on the weekends.

During the week, we spend most of our time at work which is actually really fun. I’m not sure when the work gets done but somewhere between Nerf gun wars and Thai/Tie Tuesdays, my fellow interns and I get the AutoCAD drawings accomplished. So, I’ll give you a brief run down of a typical eMi work week:

Monday: We start everyday at 8:30 am with 30 minutes of prayer. Someone leads us in a short devotional and then asks for prayer requests. We pray for personal things, but we mostly focus on eMi’s work and our offices around the world. I love this part of the day, and I will probably miss this activity the most when I work in a secular office. Starting the day in this manner sets the entire mood for the office. It is easy to work with people that you normally wouldn’t get along with because you all are working towards a common goal. All differences melt away in view of Christ.

After prayer, we go around the circle and share what everyone is working on for the week and when/if anyone will be out of the office. The group is really tight knit. Then, we head to work. I sit next to Melissa upstairs and outside of Matt’s office. If you remember from my Kenya blog, Matt is our project leader, so he gives us work to do each day. Melissa and I work together until about 5:30 pm and then, Clare and I head home. Monday is one of our rare nights off, so we usually take time to catch up on emails, blogs, or just make dinner and sleep. However, my mentoring just got changed to Monday nights, so I’ll be hanging out with Alisha at Starbucks now.

Side note about mentoring real quick: I love having this time throughout the week. We just get together and talk about life. I can totally see why God paired me with Alisha too. We are very similar, and with all the wedding stuff going on, it is nice to have a third party that will just sit and listen to me. She’s great! I think we should put more emphasis on mentoring. It’s been really helpful to show me things that I look over as a youngster.

Tuesday: Tuesday is the busiest day of the week. While I was in Kenya, the guy interns instated Tie/Thai Tuesday in the office. Everyone wears a tie, and we go out for Thai food after work. Apparently, everything else happens on Tuesdays in Colorado Springs too though. So, we also run a 5k every Tuesday after work. The local Irish Pub – Jack Quin’s - sponsors the run, and if you participate in 10, you get a free t-shirt. For some reason that free t-shirt has been really motivational, so we run. I am on number 9 of 10 next week! Totally worth it. Additionally, the dollar theatre in town has 75 cent movies on Tuesdays. We usually leave work early for the run, run the 5k, go eat Thai food, and then watch a movie. Busy day but a fun one. Usually after Tuesday the week flies by.

Wednesday: We have work as usual, but there is a staff meeting in the mornings instead of or in addition to prayer time. And, Wednesdays at lunch we have intern bible study. We are going through Acts – which if any of you Leviticus girls are reading this blog, you should totally look in to studying Acts next. Anyway, a different intern leads every week, and because eMi is non-denominational and we all come from different backgrounds, we have some great discussions and perspectives. Also, this bible study is the first co-ed bible study I have been a part of, and it is really interesting to see just how differently men and women think about things. Marriage is going to be fun …and funny.

After work, we have started going to church at… Calvary of all places! Calvary has been the place we settled at for Sunday morning church, but they do a study throughout a book of the bible on Wednesdays. When we heard that Pastor Al was going through Isaiah, we decided to check it out. So, far so good!

Thursday: Thursday’s are pretty laid back. I did have mentoring on Thursdays, so Clare and I would go from work straight to Starbucks. But, now it is another free night which I am really learning to value.

Friday: These days are special for the interns. We start the day as an office with an hour of worship – thanking God for the week and praising Him for the weekend. Then, the interns split into groups of three and we walk to the Marion House. The Marion House is a local soup kitchen that serves hot lunches every day of the week. We work there making and serving lunch to anyone who comes through. There are a lot of homeless people in Colorado Springs…apparently, it is one of the best cities to be homeless in because there are so many ministries based out of the city. But, they are not the only people that eat at the Marion house. There are all sorts of people that come for the free meal like poor families, tourists that are trying to travel cheaply (don’t get any ideas dad),  addicts of all types, paroled prisoners, or even the local firefighters. The mix of people is really interesting, and I love getting to eat with the people after we serve. Last week, I sat next to a black man with the last name Flowers. I was like, “No way! That’s my last name, too!” And, he said, “Alright, you’re a sista!” I laughed and said, “Of course, I am.”

After we finish lunch, we head back to work for the afternoon, and attempt work. Although, I would venture to say that Fridays are the interns least productive days. We usually spend the afternoon making plans for our weekend hiking trips. 

So, that’s what my typical week at eMi looks like…maybe on my next blog I’ll write a bit about my project. Write to you again soon – promise.

LOVE.

Syd

January 30

 The team consisted of Matt, Gary, Melissa, and me and then, we added Adam (civil engineer) and Shelly (nutritionist), Bob (civil engineer), Stuart (surveyor), Patrick (architect), and Jesse (electrical engineer). There was also an eye doctor and his wife – Jack and Nancy – that joined us for the ride out to Migori which is where Kenya Relief is located. We got a bit of a late start because Jesse and Patrick missed their connecting flight in Amsterdam due to the snow in Washington DC. So, we hung out at the Gracia House a bit and then headed out to Migori around 9 a.m. The picture below is the outside café in at the Gracia House. It was so beautiful and warm! Really no motivation to go back to the -20 °F weather Colorado Springs was experiencing that week.

Once the team was assembled, we headed west to Migori. Some things you just have to experience, and driving through the Kenyan countryside is one of them. We started in the desert, travelled through the rift valley, and then ended up in the mountains. Kenya really is a beautiful land. The picture below is me overlooking the rift valley. The mountain over my right shoulder is actually a dormant volcano!

 

 The drive from Nairobi to Migori was about 8 hours long…made longer by the poor road construction. But, we got to see a part of the country that most people miss out on. We travelled through a bunch of small towns, and this is where I learned the word “Mzungu” (Mah-zune-goo).  Every time we entered a city the children would run next to the van or run away crying yelling this word at us. Apparently, it means “the white person.” Most of the children had never seen white people, so we were fascinating to them. It made passing through the cities even more interesting since everyone wanted to wave at us. One thing I found really amusing was that we would see Masai people out herding their cattle dressed in the traditional loin cloth like bottoms and beaded necklaces carrying their huge spears and talking on their cell phones.  Ha! It was strange to think that a culture so tied to tradition would have the latest technology. The Masai people continue to interest me. Kenya is made up of different tribes. So, we travelled through Masai territory into Luo country.

Pit stop for lunch on the side of the road.

When we arrived in Migori, we were greeted by the Kenya Relief Staff with hot towels and fresh passion fruit juice. They told us before we ate dinner that the orphans had a special presentation for us. So, we went around to the “theatre” and sat down. After introductions of Steve James – the founder of Kenya Relief – and his staff members, the children started their presentation. First up were the girls. They spanned in age from 2 – 13 years old, and they marched in dressed in table clothes and singing at the top of their lungs. It was precious. The youngest and the oldest sang the solos, and then, the entire group sang the choruses. They didn’t care how well they were singing or dancing; they simply worshiped. Then, the boys came in and did some traditional Masai and Luo dances for us.  I wish I could move like they do! It was so good.

After the presentation, we were dismissed to dinner. Grace – one of the older orphans – walked straight up to me and said, “I want to be your friend.” Ha! How simple is the love of a child? So, I said, “Well ok! Let’s be friends.” And, we were for the entire week. Needless to say, I was a bit of a basket case during dinner…I was so moved by the children – their joy despite their situations. I later found out that many of the children had HIV/AIDS on top of not having a family. They were a huge encouragement throughout my time in Kenya – an awesome display of joy in the Lord.

January 31

Today was an awesome day. We started working on the project #2…a hospital for Kenya Relief and the community of Migori. We started the day with breakfast at 6:30 am with breakfast that was pretty basic except for the chocolate birthday cake they served us…apparently they heard Americans liked sweet food. Logically, cake was a good breakfast option. So, on our sugar highs, we went on a tour of the Kenya Relief compound with Steve. There is an existing girl’s and boy’s dormitory, library, missionary house, and a small medical clinic with hopes of building a hospital and a school. Eventually, they would also like to be fully sustainable meaning they would have all their food on campus. They already had chickens that were producing eggs, cows for milk, and various produce on their farm land. We were gradually catching Steve’s vision for Kenya Relief.

Later that morning, we went to visit Victor’s grandmother. Victor is one of the children that Kenya Relief sponsors. His grandmother – Granny – couldn’t support the both of them because she herself was a widow and Victor’s parents had passed away. We followed Steve down a small dirt pathway that opened up into a small community of mud houses. We walked into one of the 10 x 10 ft one room houses. Granny greeted us repeating, “erokamano, erokamano” over and over again. In Luo, this means “thank you.” She was so grateful just to have visitors in her house. She loved meeting everyone, and she greeted me with a hug and a prayer. It was very touching. She just wanted to talk with us and love on us a bit.

When we walked outside of Granny’s house, the community had come out to see all the Mzungus. The little boy below was closely following me, so I decided that I would take a picture of him and show him on my digital camera. Well, I snapped the picture and then bent down to show him his picture. He started screaming crying and literally ran away from me. I was shocked. What have I just done?! Thankfully, his dad was right there with us, and explained that he was scared of me because he had never seen a white person. He thought I was a corpse. Note to self: get a tan before the wedding.

We headed back to the Brittney house for lunch, and then, had a sit down meeting with the team. We each got to share our testimonies, and how we found eMi. I found it really encouraging to be surrounded by people from every background and every age that were willing to give up their time and use their skills to serve God and his kingdom. Plus, I’m exciting about the opportunity to use my engineering for more than a pay check. It gives me more motivation to learn and do well knowing that I can help other people.

I was feeling pretty tired after our meeting, and Matt suggested I go play with the orphans. I wasn’t quite sure how to go about doing this since many of them didn’t speak English well and I only knew about 5 words in Swahili. But, I decided that would be more fun than taking a nap, so I headed outside. As soon as I walked out, two little boys – about 2 years old – came and grabbed my hands. We went and sat down by the playground. I was trying to talk to them, and they had no clue what I was saying. So, I decided to try and play a game with them. It started with a high five. Apparently, this is a universal action, but when I would yank my hand away right before they hit it, they went nuts. The boys thought it was the most entertaining game ever. Before I knew it, I was running around with six little children chasing me trying to slap my hands. Eventually, I ended up chasing all six up into a jungle gym of sorts and would tickle them from underneath the slide as they slid down. They loved it, but they kept calling me something I couldn’t quite make out. It sounded like “Mah-zune-goo Oh-grie.” Later, my friend Grace that I had met the night before told me that they were calling me a white person children eater. Hahah!

The men on the team decided to challenge the boys to a soccer game, so the little ones left me, and Grace and the older girls came and got me. They had been eyeing my hair and desperately wanted to braid it. So, we sat and watched the guys play soccer while about five girls braided different pieces of my hair.

An unexpected rain shower sent everyone running for cover, and I ended up in a room with Grace and Vivian - the two oldest girls - and three of the youngest children – including Faith who is pictured below.

Grace and Vivian decided to tell me some of the folk stories that they grew up on about the mischievous hyena and the clever villagers. So, Faith and another younger boy, Emmanuel, crawled up in my lap, and we listened to the stories for an hour or so. By the end of it, I had two little ones asleep in my arms and six children curled up at my feet as Grace and Vivian just chatted away. My heart was so full. They just wanted to be loved on, listened to, and held. I was humbled by this opportunity to be that comfort for them for just a little while.

I said good-bye as we headed our separate ways for dinner, and I had my first experience with mutton and ugali. African people absolutely love ugali. It is a cornmeal porridge thing…it’s white and kind of like squishy moldable corn bread but with a lot less flavor. You basically mold it into a little finger sized bowl and scoop up the mutton juices. It’s not good or bad…just different. But, it is really cheap to make and filling, so it’s extremely popular in Africa.

February 1

Breakfast at 6:30 am…so grateful for the awesome Kenyan coffee! I was put on the survey crew with my fellow intern Melissa and our fearless leader Stuart. We got an early start and by the end of it, we had surveyed nearly half of the 60 acre site.  

Our goal was to locate the existing clinic and get the elevation changes over the entire site in order to make an accurate topographic map.

During lunch, we came back to the Brittney House, and I asked the civil engineers if they needed any help before we headed back into the survey field. Adam took this opportunity to initiate me into the “Poo Crew.” For those of you that don’t know, one discipline within civil engineering is water and wastewater management and design. In developing countries, one huge issue is the lack of clean water and sanitation. So, Adam decided I needed to get a firsthand experience with the poor sanitation on the campus. First, he made me walk through the pit latrines as an initiation of sorts into the Poo Crew. Pit latrines are actually a pretty sanitary way of disposing of waste. They are literally what they sound like…a hole that drops the waste into a pit. So, it keeps the poo contained and away from clean water, people, etc. However, in these pit latrines, the builder forgot or just didn’t account for ventilation, and in the hot Kenyan sun, these things were rank. Walking through them was absolutely disgusting. I’m not sure how anyone used them, but this was the boys’ bathroom and shower room. We definitely wanted to improve these spaces. Another chore Adam gave me was to lift up the manhole covers and measure the depth of the pipes. Because sewer lines cannot bend they have splitter boxes where pipes feed into the box from one direction and leave in another. Needless to say, drainage was not great and some boxes had a few smelly surprises waiting on us. That measuring tape was retired after today.

Thankfully, I got to return to the field with Stuart and Melissa that afternoon, and we surveyed the land until dinner time. We went in and played with the orphans again, and I made permanent friends in Faith and Emmanuel. So, I went running around with one of them on each hip. More good sleep tonight.

 

 

February 2

The sun was out full force today while we were surveying, and I got burned crispy. The day was a productive one though. We finished surveying the biggest plot of land where the new hospital could potentially go. When we came in for lunch, Melissa and I also did some soil testing for the civil engineers. This basically means we played in mud for about an hour.

After we finished surveying, it was back to playing with the kids. They are so fun! But, they wear you out…especially after only six hours of sleep a night. Shelly and I played with the young kids as the older ones sang and danced for us. Faith decided she liked my Alabama hat…what a smart kid! We noticed that many of the children had the same last names, and so we assumed that they were related. But, one of the house moms told us that the names actually describe what was happening when they were born. So, Emmanuel’s last name, Cha Cha, means “sour.” This name signifies that the men were drinking alcohol when he was born. Opio (Oh-pee-oh) was another little boy at Kenya Relief and that means “twin.” Thus, Asa and Jude Skinner should really be Asa and Jude Opio…just a thought Jae and David ; ) After playing for a while, we had dinner (with fried mash potatoes!), worship, devotion, team meeting, and then bed. It really is only the strength of God that kept me going on this schedule.

February 3

Today was a little bit more relaxing than the others. I got recruited to help with the percolation tests. In this test, the civil engineer measures how much water the soil absorbs in a certain amount of time in order to determine the best method to dispose of wastewater. In reality, it is simply watching water drain out of a hole and measure the water depth every ten minutes. So, I watched water sink for 4 hours…except the water level only dropped about ½ a centimeter in that time. I took this time to experience some alone time and write in my journal. It was a welcome time of rejuvenation.

After lunch, Steve wanted to take us to the hospital that the locals use now to show us how they were doing things and where he wanted to improve in his own hospital. This was one of the hardest experiences of the trip. There is literally no privacy in the hospitals, so the doctors took us into the patient wards without thinking twice about it. There were 10-15 beds packed in a room with at least two people in each bed. It was terrible. I couldn’t bear to be in the wards for long. The people were so sick and right on top of each other, and here we are, just barging in on them as we observe the hospital. I felt like an intruder, and I felt helpless. I couldn’t do anything to ease their pain. I did start to catch Steve’s vision of a new hospital for Migori though.

Dinner tonight was an authentic Kenyan dinner that the Kenya Relief staff prepared for us. I made the mistake of saying that I would try everything, and they held me to that statement. So, I had sardines, millet ugali, some kind of green slime, goat, fried tilapia (complete with eyeball), and a sugar cane coke in a glass bottle. All of it was edible and quite good except for the green slime vegetable. I could hardly get that one down. Thankful for the coke.

 

February 4

Today was pretty uneventful. I spent all day working on the Sketchup rendering of the hospital for our presentation to Kenya Relief on our design proposal that was scheduled for the following night. I did talk to the long term missionary, Michael, for a little bit today though, and he shared a funny story. He was wearing overalls and noticed that people were laughing at him all day when he was walking through town. He noticed that they kept saying “Oh-pee-ah nah-day” when he would pass. Finally, he asked someone what this phrase meant, and they laughed and said that’s what the people are calling your overalls. Literally translated it means, “How can I poop?” I died laughing.

After dinner that night, the ministry had “Wal-Mart” for us. The women had gone to market for us and brought back souvenirs that we could purchase. It was a fun time with the Kenya Relief staff and a lot less stressful than actually going to market in town.

Another late night and early morning…God is really driving home 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 this week. When I am weak, He is strong.

February 5

Presentation day! We spent most of the day getting our final thoughts for the hospital put together and into a PowerPoint presentation. I finished the Google Sketchup model, but unlike yesterday, today I decided to take a mid-morning break and visit with Grace, Vivian, Faith, Emmanuel, and some of the other orphans. I didn’t return to work for 3 hours. As soon as I walked outside, the girls were on me to braid my hair. So, I took my place next to Shelly and let the girls braid my hair. The other children sang and danced for us again. They love performing! By the end of my break, nearly half of my head was covered in what seemed like hundreds of tiny – and very tight – braids. My hair is just now untangling.

After dinner, we presented our master plan for Steve’s vision of Kenya Relief, and he was so moved. It is really encouraging to be part of bringing hope to these ministries. Our eMi slogan is really making sense – “designing a world of hope.” The work we do enables the ministries to do the work God has planned for them. It truly is a partnership in the gospel. Love it.

February 6

Another 5:00 a.m. breakfast…I have never seen this many sun rises in my life. Thankfully, God makes them gorgeous in Kenya, so there was some motivation to get up and watch the process.

This day started our debriefing time in which we would discuss the past week as a team and what God had taught us during this trip. We drove half of the way to Nairobi stopping in a Nakuru at the Flamingo Hill Camp. Normally, this drive would take about 4 hours, but in Kenya they have a saying, “poli poli.” It means “slowly, slowly” and that is exactly how they do everything including driving cross country. We stopped a few times to stretch, shop, and just enjoy the scenery.

One interesting place we stopped was Kericho. This city is famous for their tea plantations, so we stopped at one on the side of the road. We were told that the only leaves that were harvested were the very top two because they contain the most caffeine. Who knew? The plantations themselves were beautiful. Below is a picture of one, but it hardly does it justice.

 

We finally arrived at the camp mid afternoon, and we were greeted with some awesome passion fruit juice and a late lunch. Then, we were taken to our rooms, which were actually tents! When I initially heard this little fact, I was extremely interested to see what they were all about. We were told that you could hear the lions walking around the game camp…and the only thing separating us is a canvas tent? Okay…Turns out, this is not your average tent. It has electricity and running water. Below is a picture of my tent and bed…pretty swanky. I wouldn’t mind going back here.

 

In the afternoon, we went on safari. And, we actually ended up going the next morning too just so Gary could see some lions. The following pictures will probably tell you more about this experience than my words would, but we saw tons of cool animals – hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, flamingos, huge pelicans, baboons, zebras, impalas, and lions on the last day!

 

After safari, we went back to the camp for dinner. We had a few spare minutes before we ate, so I went and sat by the pool that looked out over the game camp. As I was sitting there, my friend Jeremiah – one of the waiters I met at lunch – came and joined me. Turns out he was in college, so we compared the differences in our universities and talked for a little while before dinner. When it was time to go, he said, “You are very beautiful and smile a lot. You need a Masai name.” I laughed and asked him what was wrong with my American name. But, he renamed me “Nashipai” (Nah-she-pay) anyway. It means “happiness.” So, I will now answer to Nashipai Flowers…or Nashipai-dog as Mollie so lovingly renamed me.

That night, we had our debriefing time, and the entire team had a great time encouraging one another and reminiscing as our time together came to a close. I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet people in all phases of life that are passionate about serving the Lord through their careers. It’s inspiring and humbling.

February 7…8…9

Over 40 hours of travel, and I finally make it back to Colorado Springs. I’m so thankful for a hot shower and a western style toilet. And now, I have to officially set up camp in Colorado for the next three months. I realized on the trip that I haven’t been in the same place for over seven days. So, I’m looking forward to jumping into a routine with Clare and the gang.

And that concludes my time in Kenya. Thanks for reading…sorry it was so long…and so long overdue.

Love.

Syd

Well, I’m back from Kenya!…and shocked at how accurate the Lion King seems to be. Everything from the scenery to the language is pretty spot on. Bravo Disney. Anyway, as I was trying to figure out how to share my experiences with you, I decided that the best way is just to take you through day by day and split the post into parts. We started every day between 5 and 6 in the morning and went until around midnight, so this will be a long entry. But, hopefully, a fun read!

January 26

I arrived in Kenya after 30 something hours of travel. The travel group included my project leader Matt, his co-leader Gary, the director of the East Africa office John, and my fellow intern Melissa. We left 4 days earlier than expected because eMi decided to squeeze in another project while we were in Kenya. So, our first project was to design a roof for a preexisting structure for the Kingsbury family. They are a missionary family that has lived in Nairobi for 30 years ministering to the students at Daystar University. This house will be the meeting place for their ministry and their new home.

So, we met the Kingsbury’s and got settled into the dorms we will be living in for the next three days. They were not kidding when they said there were a lot of bugs in Africa. I showered with 3 quarter sized spiders, and it took me a while to fall asleep because I kept getting twisted up in my mosquito net.

January 27

First day on site! We met Chip Kingsbury at the Ukarimu House (the preexisting structure I mentioned), and started to develop a plan of action. The Kenyan structural engineer came to visit us, and we talked with him about what had happened to get this project so off course…it has been sitting half way done for 10 years now.

The meeting was very productive and we started drawing up solutions. We ate every meal with the missionary family, and this is where I was first introduced to Chapati. It’s flat bread…basically a grilled tortilla. Very good.

Later that day, Chip came and got me and explained that there was water coming out from under the door of our dorm room. Apparently, Melissa and I had left the water heater turned on and it had flooded the apartment. So, when I went to unlock the dorm, we found about a ¼ inch of water on the floor. Oops. I really did feel terrible. While it didn’t hurt anything, we wasted a lot of water, and it is a high commodity in Kenya. We had to shower in buckets to catch the runoff so it could be used for cleaning the dishes and flushing the toilet. So, to have a good amount of “clean” water on the floor was really sad.

Sweeping the water up off the floor.

January 28

This day we spent the morning measure a collection of windows someone had donated to Chip for the Ukarimu House. They were custom windows, but because the house had not been built according to the original design, we had to see if the windows could still be used or not. That afternoon, I took our findings and matched them with the drawings we had developed.

That night, we went out to dinner with the Kingsbury’s and their neighbors at a nearby game camp. The camp was in the middle of nowhere, and they did not have electricity. We had walk from the parking lot to the restaurant by the light of a couple of cell phones. When we got inside – or rather under the roof since it was all open air – I felt something on my leg. Then, I felt a lot of somethings and some biting. About the same time, Matt started moving around funny too, so I shared my discomfort which was growing by the minute. Chari Kingsbury rushed me and Matt to the bathrooms. I tore off my pants to discover my leg was crawling with safari ants…the only difference in safari ants and Alabama ants is that they are bigger and bite harder. I finally got them all off of me and rejoined the rest of the group for dinner. At the game camp, unfortunately, the Kenyan government won’t allow the hunting of wild game, so we didn’t have anything super out of the ordinary. Although, I did have some pretty good beef kabobs and coke made with sugar cane in a glass bottle. Coke may never be the same again for me.

January 29

We had a leisurely day today as we finished up the drawings. At lunch, we presented our plan to the Kingsbury’s, and they were really excited. Chip even teared up as we shared. It was fun to be a part of restoring some hope to their project. The rest of the day was spent touring the University and spending time with the family. At one point, Chip left us his car, and Gary drove us around. The problem is they drive on the left side of the car and the road, so every time Gary tried to turn on the blinker, the windshield wipers came on. We were quite the spectacle as we drove through the campus that hadn’t seen rain for months with our wipers on. We left after dinner to spend the night in the city at the Gracia House and await the rest of our team for the second project…

Mom and me in Herbie fully loaded. Get it?

The Big Texan…there are no words.

Clare and I experiencing one of the many amazing views in Garden of the Gods during one of our team building hikes.