Sunday June 21-- Brenda

Hello Family and Friends!

We have safely arrived in Eldoret, which is the 2nd real leg of our journey. We had a wonderful experience in both Sweetwaters and Lake Baringo! We feel fortunate in our first few days to have seen so much of such a beautiful country along with the sightings of zebras,elephants, warthogs, gazelles, giraffe, hippo and crocodile to name a few.

Yesterday in Lake Baringo we were fortunate enough to visit a true village of the Njep tribe of Kenya. They are the 2nd smallest of the 42 tribes in Kenya. It was truly an experience of a lifetime. They danced with us and made us feel very welcome. They were especially enamored by Joanie and Maya (dancer and cheerleader, go figure). The young children thought Connor was especially comical as he tried to emulate the dance. They spent a great deal of time with us dancing and explaining the tribe and it's customs etc. Definitely something we will never forget.

Today we drove through Rift Valley. It is the Kenyan version of the Grand Canyon but green. No picture will ever do it justice. As we wound our way through the mountains and back down, the sights were breathtaking. The country is amazing.

Although we have spent much of this time being nomads it is easy to forget that you are in a car for 5 or 7 hours just because there is so much to see and take in. The vegetation here is very tropical yet right now it is very dry. It is not uncommon to see cactus along side the most beautiful flowering tree.

In all, it seems very surreal. During our reflection last evening the students continue to amaze us adults. They are a great group and are really immersing themselves in the culture. They see things that we don't expect them to and they are looking and thinking of ways that someday they might be able to make a difference. The complexity of their thoughts was admirable. I hope they continue to grow as young people as we tackle this next part of our journey.

Thank you for being a part of uor blog and our journey. I feel like I could sit for hours because we have seen and done so much in such a short time yet there is so much more to come.

Until next time,
Brenda