Vacation!!!

My brief vacation went fast, yet was very renewing!  Here are some photos of my 2 grandchildren... who were the hardest 'things' for me to leave last January.  Margaret, at only 8 months old then, was not crawling; now she's walking, running, climbing, and trying on the 'mud boots' I wore here at Mbita during 'mud season!  Liam, who was sorry I missed his 4th birthday, got lots of Grammie time, including a day at the beach together. (He'd been asking his pregnant mother to take him all summer, but her fatigue & Margaret's nap schedules got in the way.)    Note not only Liam buried in the sand, but also the "sweet home Chicago" skyline in the background!  Before I left Chicago, I was able to introduce Liam to some of the animals below...  as we watched Disney's "Lion King"!

Upon my return to Kenya, I was able to visit the 'historic' place that may have been the 'seed that was planted' that began my interest in Africa, culminating in my spending 2012 working in Kenya!  In 1963, when my father returned from his 6-week job in Africa, his only story that stayed in my memory all these years was of his stay at Treetops Hotel. Back then it was much smaller, and when the elephants leaned against the trees to scratch their backs, he and the other guests upstairs could feel the hotel sway. I believe fire damaged the original building; you can see me here in front of the new, larger one, no longer supported by trees, where every room has a view of the watering hole which invites the wild animals in the Aberdare National Park to come drink.

When I got to my room and looked out the window, this elephant greeted me!
The following photos were taken on a game drive through the Aberdare National Park 

Spotted hyena

Cape Buffalo

Leopard

These stately elephants look so calm and gentle, but the cool thing about Treetops and Aberdare Park is that they really do give the animals a lot of 'space', so the animals actually stay wild!  You don't want to mess with, or irritate a wild elephant.

As I returned to my home in Mbita, I enjoyed the many hours of driving through the different regions of Kenya.  Since most of my time since January 1 has been in Mbita, I especially enjoyed noting that there are many areas of Kenya that are not as dry, barren or poor as the area around Mbita. It's good to be back now, unpacked, organized, and ready to give my best to my students and the staff at CGA.

Computer Lab!!!

My travel plans for the August holiday between Term 2 & Term 3 changed; instead of going south to Victoria Falls and the Zambezi River, I made a quick trip to Chicago!! I went to pick up 4 laptops, and relished having some wonderful refreshment and renewal.

The final term of the school year started 2 days ago. Here are pictures of the new "Computer Lab" at Christ's Gift Academy.

Thanks to donations from the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (arranged by their librarian, my dear friend, Eileen Saner) and to my 'relatives', the Wartman family, I was able to bring 4 donated laptops back to Mbita, Kenya, and set up this Computer Lab! Above are some of the Grade 8 typing students taking a break to greet you!  It is so awesome to see how these motivated students are working so hard;  some have made very good progress in even these few days. Now that we have these new computers, by the time of their final exams, every 8th grader will have had at least 5 weeks of daily typing instruction: what a wonderful skill for them to take to high school, in addition to their academic record.

More will follow tomorrow...  the evening flying insects are bombarding me and my computer screen...