Kenya again

I really can’t believe I am back.

4 months in Canada flew by. I had such great times reconnecting with all of my family and friends, and the holidays were a blast. Leaving, as always, gave me a strange feeling of sadness combined with excitement for what was to come. I had a tearful experience at the security gate at the airport, and during my first flight it felt as though my head and heart were still in Canada.

Waiting for my connecting flight in Amsterdam, I began to remember all of the things I really loved from my previous stint in Kenya. I thought about the students I would see, taller and more mature than the year before. I remembered the mamas that make the villages thrive even in tough times. I thought of the once dry fields that have recently been pelted with rain… and I began to get excited. From the moment stepping onto my second flight, the mood changed. I realized I would always miss my family, my friends… but this is where I am meant to be.

Stepping off the plane, I felt the warmth of the Kenyan air… different from the 30 below that was at pearson airport. I felt at home.

I left the next day to head out to the Mara… for the first time by plane J The drive is usually anywhere from 4-8 hours, so you can imagine how great it was to get there in 45 minutes… and to see the sights from high above. Very cool.

I wrote last season about the drought that has been taking its toll on the people in the rural communities where we work. It has been a number of years where there have not been adequate rains to sustain even one full harvest, leaving most people in very challenging times. Starting a few weeks ago, the rains began. Although it is not typically a planting season, the locals have taken full advantage and most people can be found rotating from field to field hoping to reap the benefits.

Driving in this time, the usual yellow, dry fields… were green. Plants were flowering where I have never seen them before, and the children seemed a bit thicker… what life the rain can bring.

Anyway… I am back. It feels great.