"Take care!" or "How I Spent my Midterm Break"

Well, if you were guessing what how I spent my Sunday, and you guessed that I spent 12 hours riding precariously perched atop of the African equivalent of an 18-wheeler with 65 other people, you guessed correctly.

Every midterm break we take our students on a retreat of sorts. In Kenya, "retreat" means "get out of Korr for a day, make a ridiculous amount of food, and play lots of games." Last term we went to Ngurunit, which is a tiny town in the mountains about an hour southwest of Korr. This time, we decided to go to South Horr instead (google it! IT'S ON THE MAP!).

Now, don't get me wrong - South Horr was SO fun (and GORGEOUS), but it's about a 5-6 hour drive away from Korr. This wouldn't be so bad...if this were America. But this is Africa, and here in Korr we are about 4 hours in the opposite direction away from "paved roads." (I use that term VERY loosely...these paved roads are historically known as some of the worst in Africa. And that's saying something.) So 12 hours in a car, bumping along as our driver follows two tire tracks in the sand, driving over rocks, through dried river beds, and around hairpin curves in the mountains does not make for a relaxing drive.

We rented a lorry for our trip. We needed to get 64 students, 12 teachers, and 2 cooks to South Horr/Kurungu - and although Africans can squeeze into cars better than clowns in a circus car, taking two pickups like we did last term was NOT an option.

So we took this instead:

[Don't worry Mom...I'm alive, just a little more bruised than usual. I didn't tell you about this part until now because I figured you would worry :) ]

Typically on one of these things, the back is used for storing and transporting animals, while anybody who hops on for a ride sits perched up where I'm sitting in the picture. You sit across one bar and hold on tight with one or both hands to the bars around you - because once the lorry starts driving, it gets pretty bumpy up there!

We left Korr at 4 AM on Sunday. Alicia and I sat down in the back while Ruth rode in the cab and Claire rode up top. The students brought mattresses and laid them down in the back to sit and sleep on, but as the sun rose they all wanted to sit up top on the bars instead.

By the time we arrived in South Horr just after 9 AM nearly all of our 64 students were riding up top (gives the term "top-heavy" a WHOLE new meaning). Alicia and I had hopped up there a few hours before because we wanted to feel the breeze and see the GORGEOUS view as we drove through the Ndoto mountains. We had a LOT of carsick students along the trip - I'd go as far to say that half of them threw up at some point on the journey. Poor guys...they almost never ride in cars, and this bumpy lorry ride was almost too much for their stomachs to handle. But OH how much they loved hanging (literally) out on top of the lorry!

The only bad thing about riding on top? Having to duck to avoid low-hanging thorn bushes and trees. There were two or three times that the thorns were so bad that EVERYBODY on top of the lorry had to get off and walk while the lorry drove through. John, one of the teachers at school with us, had a giant hole ripped in his shirt and his back pretty badly mangled by these nasty thorns. Even with everyone shouting "take care!" (that's Kenyan for "watch out!") to warn everyone else that an acacia tree branch was quickly approaching, we all got decently scratched up and cut. Oh well...this IS Africa!

Hangin' out on top of the lorry...and talking on our cells. Just another day in north Kenya!

As we pulled into South Horr, any teacher or student who owned a cell phone immediately whipped it out and began talking on it. South Horr has a cell phone tower...glorious! I was back on the grid for 7 hours and managed to text my parents and Kendall...all of the numbers I really had in my phone.

I could get used to waking up to views like this every day...

All of the green everywhere against a backdrop of beautiful mountains was a sight for our tired desert eyes. Did I mention it was in the mid-70's here? During the DAY!? After sweating it out in Korr this was a much welcomed break!

We spent the morning attending church at AIC Kurungu. We were in Samburu country, so the service was conducted in Samburu. Our students REALLY enjoyed it - most speak Samburu and not Rendille, so they're about as keyed in at church here in Korr (where the service is conducted in Rendille) as I am. They even sang a few songs for the congregation in Samburu! I may be a little biased, but I think TSS's choir is just about one of the best around :)

After church, we headed back to the AIM missionary's compound in Kurungu and drank a lot of chai, cooked a delicious lunch of rice, camel stew, and chipattis, and played quite a few games. Claire found a tree with these beautiful flowers on it, and gave one to each of the girls with us. The girls LOVED them!

Ann was creative in how she wore her flower.

You WOULD have two flowers.

Alicia and I taught our students again how to play "This is so much fun." (which they loooooove...thank you, Impact) and "Down by the Banks," which is a hand-clapping game we played back in elementary school.

There was also a rope swing on the compound - created literally hours of fun for everybody. Whoever was on the swing was surrounded by students trying to push you as high as you could possibly go...which is pretty darn high.

After cleaning up and a quick group picture, we hopped back on the lorry and drove back to Korr. I spent most of the ride back perched on top of the spare tire that was lashed to the top of the lorry.

It was a LONG day, but SO fun. Our students really enjoyed getting to see a new place - no one had been to South Horr/Kurungu before. I would definitely go back to South Horr, but hopefully won't need to ride a lorry anywhere again any time in the near future :)