Written by Juanita Fox
The Garden Spot Village Travel with Purpose Team arrived home safely at lunchtime on Wednesday, March 9. They were greeted by a crowd of neighbors, family members and friends holding banners and welcoming them home. Here are more highlights from their second week in Kenya.
“Today we visited the Kariobangi Centre where they do post high school skills training. While most of us took the tour of the training center, some began painting a mural with the pupils on a portable canvas (scheduled to be finished on Tuesday). On the tour we saw several different departments, beginning with the making of school uniforms. We saw both knitting and crocheting machines, manual and automatic. There were also plumbing, electrical, and cosmetology classrooms. Business principles are also taught. I felt the center was very well run and it was a profitable day.” – Judy Rettew, Garden Spot Village resident since January 2016
Over the weekend the team took time to experience and enjoy the beauty of Kenya with a photo safari in Maasai Mara.
“What a wonderful day we had… It reminds me of a verse in Psalms 65:8 ‘The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.’ We headed to see God’s creations in the beautiful Maasai Mara. We had quality time traveling 5-6 hours to the Fig Tree Camp in two Land Rovers. On our way we stopped at the Great Rift Valley and could see for miles across the landscape. After lunch we headed out for our first evening safari drive. We saw many of God’s incredible African creatures: elephants, zebras, Thomson’s gazelles, cape buffalo, wildebeest, warthogs, leopards, cheetahs, hippos, crocs, ostrich, and several others. We ended the day by surprising Evie with singing Maasai and birthday cake.” – Robin Heinrich, Covid Testing Coordinator
“On Sunday morning we woke up early and we heard a noise and a splash, in the river, right outside out tent. We went out on our porch and saw 5 hippos, several swimming and splashing and one up on the rocks. While on the safari, we saw two lions, ostriches, two crowned cranes, 15 elephants (some were so small we could barely see them in the grass); we also saw several giraffes eating from the tops of the trees. We saw a cheetah keeping his eyes on a Thomson’s gazelle. At the afternoon drive we saw many more animals much like the day before.” – Edna Jean Homsher, Garden Spot Village resident since June 2019.
To read more about the Travel with Purpose Trip to Nairobi, Kenya, visit the March 4 update or visit the Garden Spot Village Facebook or Instagram pages.