It’s hard to describe what I saw and did in Africa. After close to 20 hours in the air, I finally made it to Mombasa, Kenya. If I observed my time in Mombasa as someone taking a vacation, I took a great tour of Mombasa, witnessed Fort Jesus, saw some seriously huge fruit bats in the city, drinking sugar cane juice, checked out the local market, and much more.

The fruit bats in the middle of the city were HUGE:

 

 

The markets will be filled with colors and smells, and EVERYONE wants you to buy anything from them.

 

 

After getting to know the team of people that came to help do service and the in-country team from Choice Humanitarian, we finally set off 6 hours away to a village called Kanjaoaka. Now a 6-hour drive would probably be reduced quite a bit, but when you are on the roads of Kenya, things take a lot longer to get there.

 

 

When we finally made it to the village, we were greeted by children with signs held up with our names on them. We were also introduced to village leaders and their chief over the area. These were the opening ceremonies of us coming to the village, and between speeches, songs, and dances, the event lasted about 3 hours long. We had our lunch that day at about 5 PM and dinner scheduled at 7 PM. Because Kenya sits right about on the equator, you have almost 12 hours of daylight.

The songs, the kids, and the meeting were very memorable We all got into it.

 

 

 

Choice does a great job of taking care of you. We had tents all set up with bathrooms and showers. Food was catered for us, so it was prepared with high standards helping us to avoid getting sick while out there. I guess being in a foreign country will hit anyone about a week into it, though.

That night we explained what we were doing the next day, which included taking a machete and cutting down some gnarly bushes to build a fence. The fence would be used to keep animals out as it was heard that some hyenas had gotten to a child walking to the school (think you’ve got problems?).

 

 

I spent that entire day building the fence. Others helped build desks, and others helped frame. Each day the Choice Team would reflect on what was done and observed for the day. They’d also go over what was happening the next day. For me, that was gathering material for the school, including rocks and sand.

 

 

Mixed in between all of this, the Choice Team held classes. They held family classes on growing more nutritious crops and classes for men, women, and youth. Each was great to listen to. It’s interesting to hear that some of the same problems families and couples have there are the same problems we have here.

 

 

On one of the days, we saw in the distance a hurd of elephants. They had to scare them away as they could quickly drain someone’s water supply. Each night they would set up fires to scare them away, but I don’t think it worked. Kenya is in a drought, and they desperately need water.

We would play games with the youth as things wound down during the day. A ball is all they need to have fun with for hours, and they LOVED playing with us.

 

 

The kids also LOVED seeing pictures of themselves. Anytime we brought out a camera to take pictures, the kids would want to take photos with us so they could see themselves. They also loved putting on sunglasses and would liven up in front of the camera

 

 

The last few days of being in the village were probably the most eye-opening. As an engineer, I helped to mix concrete by hand and see how they built a building. I’ll just say they are HARD workers.

As a father, it was hard to watch as see kids sick, families with no food outside, little cornmeal, really dirty water that would probably kill me in a day, and other things.

One day, we got to shadow a family for the better of a day. I was paired up with three others and someone from the Choice Team. We visited a man with 21 children, 10 of whom had passed away. He was so happy we were there and encouraged pictures and videos of his home. He had his wife and children sweep the dirt to clean it up and showed us around the place. This included his children’s homes, the kitchen, where they store food (there wasn’t anything), where they sleep, etc.

I recall seeing a sick kid. It was sad to see the lack of medical care in the area. I was also taken aback by the lack of food they had. They only eat one meal a day, and it’s cornmeal with very little nutritional value.

 

 

I was also shown how they make charcoal for money. They chop trees down and slowly burn them in a burn of soil for six days. After it’s done, they bag it up and sell it for about $5 USD.

We also got to just sit around with the family and ask questions.

 

 

I learned a TON during the day of shadowing. It was eye-opening. At the end of the day, though, these are happy people. I may have seen poverty and real-life sustaining issue, but they were happy even in what seemed to me to be dire circumstances.

On the last day, we were there, Choice Humanitarian funded a meal to be fed to the entire village. That morning the children were so excited. They said we were throwing a PARTY! There were two goats that were slaughtered and skinned. Rice was made throughout the day, and that evening we fed hundreds of children a meal and then their parents. This was painful. I’ve never seen children as hungry as I saw. I wanted to do more, but you can’t.

Many went back to the tents that day and just cried because of what they saw, how hungry the children were, and wished we could do more.

Later that day, I decided to check out their water supply because I had not seen it up to that point. I followed the women with their plastic jugs out to the watering hole only to find water that looked like this.

 

 

It was also surrounded by elephant dung, bugs, and more. I swear I’d probably die in a day if I drank this. This was another eye-opener and another wish to do more.

The next morning we all decided to forfeit our breakfast and give it to the school. We resolved to spread the word and do what we could to future help the village.

The trip ended with another three-hour closing ceremony that included more speeches, songs, and poems. It was awesome.

After being here for five days, it was time to go. It was hard to leave the place, to be honest. We grew closer to the parents, the children, and the team. Kanjaoka is a place I’ll always remember. Choice Humanitarian is a fantastic organization. If you ever have it in you to do some good in the world and tack on an adventure to it, then I’d highly recommend them. You can also emply donate thru them to the places you’d like to. I know that Kanjaoaka is in need, so I’ll plan on helping them – maybe you should too.

 

 

P.S. I just recently found out those elephants have gotten to the water and even took out one of the water storage bins they had. They desperately need rain and water.