Orphanage Time in Jinja!

Half of our East Africa team is located in Jinja, which is the root of the Nile. We had Oct 9. off for Uganda's Independence Day so we decided to head to Jinja for the weekend. The boys are staying at an amazing house with a great porch and grounds. Across the street is an HIV orphanage that they have gotten involved with. They are building them a tree fort and we had the privilege of coming over and helping for an afternoon.

Here are photos from the day!

A lot of these the kids took and I just love that.

my favorite photo of the day

Safari Part 2- Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

We were able to go on another safari trip at the end of September, this time one that last three days with the rest of the interns and then some. Our group totalled around 18 people and it definitely felt like we took over the base camp.

We took a four hour drive from Kampala up to our base camp in Murchison Falls National Park and arrived to climb near the top of the falls...

Mini intern reunion! All of the East Africa interns plus Amy & Brice from Colorado.

We got to go on a four hour game drive....

we finally saw lions!!!

and an elephant!

definitely made my day!

...and fighting animals...

....these two giraffes were actually swinging their necks together, but I couldn't quite capture it.

...multi-coloured gecko...

I had to take the picture of everyone else taking the picture of the baboon.

A three hour boat ride to the bottom of the falls....

...we saw elephants and hippos...

...some monkeys...

...it was a beautiful day...

...right down to the falls...

...enjoying with some friends...

...and then downpour all the way back! oh africa...

We spent the next morning with some rhinos...ya know...no big deal....

...yep that's right we walked up near the rhinos! It was pretty sweet till two of the male rhinos started chasing each other....right towards us! There is a pretty sweet video of this outcome of us running, ha but it's too big to post. Maybe I'll be able to show it sometime! Definitely an experience.

Our base camp...

My tent! (with Nick the pet warthog to the right)

The dining/hanging out area...

lovely views...

What a glorious time in Africa...

Highlights and Lowlights of Kenya

Final thoughts on Kenya:

Highlights:

Safari- which is obvious why from the photos : )

Presentation day with the Bjork- just being able to see them realize they are accomplishing their mission and realizing that we helped them achieve it is such an amazing blessing

Closing time- just being able to rehash the week and share insights on each other- it is always sweet to see how God brings different individuals together to make a team. I love hearing what people had to say about each other- always so awesome.

Lowlights:

Robbing- Yes, that is correct, we were robbed. Wednesday morning our team went down for breakfast and all of us had left our computers and valuables in the room during the 15-30 minute breakfast time. During that time, 3 laptops, 1 projector, 1 phone, 1 I-Pod, 1 wallet with multiple credit cards, and about $820 in cash. That was an incredibly sad day, but I know that the Lord is teaching us something through that, and even through this set-back we were still able to finish every thing.

Not being able to experience a lot of Nakuru or even Kenya. I would love to be able to travel back to Kenya and see the people and the culture there sometime. That was not our main focus of the trip obviously so we weren’t able to experience that much, but it would be interesting just to see it. Especially after living in Uganda, I love seeing how the countries that are so close vary so much.

Safari Part 1- Nakuru National Park

Welcome to Nakuru National Park, where baboons, zebras, giraffes, and flamingos abound! On our last day in Kenya our team went on a half-day safari, where we had an amazing time.

A montage of photos from the day

haha grandpa cape buffalo

me and a baboon

my typical position for the day

The African Prairie

Welcome to Our Site! These two pictures are snapshots of our site. Definitely not in Uganda anymore.

Coming to Nakuru was a fresh take on scenery. We

had been used to red roads and green, green everywhere in Uganda, and we got to Nakuru and we were suddenly in the...midwest? Some of the farmland reminded us of the rolling plains of the midwest! But it was definitely refreshing to be able to see another part of this wonderful continent! The house is a picture of this English manor that is going to Miracle House's neighbor. We were able to receive a tour of it for free, which is great since they are turning it into a museum and tourist attraction and will start charging $10 per person, which here is a ridiculously high price. This wonderful old man was our tour guide!