Last 2 Week Travel Diary

November 12, 2007


After many tearful goodbyes to all the missionaries, tutors, workers, & Zambian friends we had made, we left around 9:30 am, on our big yellow school bus headed for Livingston. There we caught a 2:15 flight for Johannesburg. It took about an hour & a half for the flight. During this flight we were fed a delicious hot meal & drink. It’s just unbelievable that we take a 1.5 hr. flight here & get a full meal & we flew all the way from Dallas to Honolulu (9 hours) & were only served 2 drinks!! The American airline companies could learn a little about hospitality from the airlines in Europe & Africa! We had an 8 hour layover in Johannesburg which was a long wait for our 12:40 A.M. flight. It was a 4 hour flight in which we tried to sleep – but needless to say it was a very short flight. We arrived at 5:30 on Tues. morning & were met by Monte, Joel, David Underwood from Harding, & Steve Smith,a Tulsa businessman with 1 of the 2 buses that were to take us on our way. After 3 more hours of waiting, finally the second bus showed up & we were able to leave. After all THIS IS AFRICA!

We drove about 7 hours to get to Arusha. On the way we had to cross the border between Kenya & Tanzania which took almost 2 hours to get through. We had sent a travel agent ahead of us with all our passports to help clear the way, but obviously, it did little good. We got about 20 minutes outside of Arusha & our bus ran out of gas!! They had left them idling the whole time we were waiting at the border & had miscalculated how much luggage we were carrying. While we were stopped by the side of the road, we were immediately surrounded by a pack of Maasai children & adults. They were shaking hands, talking, & of course, asking for money & gifts. The Maasai are interesting people that tend to be tall & thin & many of them still wear the traditional dress which include skirts & shawls (shuckas) which are plaid fabric in blues, reds, & greens. They tend to wear a lot of beaded jewelry & are usually herdsmen, so they carry a staff with them everywhere.

The other bus went on ahead to a gas station (about 5 miles) & got jerry cans of fuel for us. Once on the road, it was just about 20 minutes to the Impala Hotel where we spent the night. That night, we dined on a choice of fish, chicken, or steak with rice, fries, carrots, & tomato/cucumber salad. Yum!
We got up early the next morning for 8:00 leaving to head toward the Ngorogoro Crater. We were to be picked up that morning to travel in 5 vans. It took about 30 minutes to finally get all of our luggage in as we had more than they usually have to deal with.

We drove on some pretty bumpy roads to make it there by 1:00 pm at the Crater Lodge where we stayed for the night. We ate a quick lunch & headed out in our vans to go down into the crater. It was a wild ride down there as the roads are just awful! Once there, we saw several kinds of gazelle, a few elephants, a couple of lion (from way off), & a bunch of hippo. We were really disappointed as there just didn’t seem to be very many animals around. I don’t know where they all were, but not where we were driving.

We headed back up to the lodge around 5:30, but our van began overheating & we had to stop & add water to the radiator. It overheated the whole way back & we had to stop 2 more times – Once was in a narrow crook of road with trees all around that looked like a perfect place for lion or leopards to hang out. We had a great story we were going to tell about how brave we were in the face of the lions surrounding our disabled vehicle. Ok – we were embellishing slightly.
That night, we had a 7:30 dinner followed by a traditional dancing program, which was not nearly as good as we had experienced in Zambia, so we just went to bed! All that bumping along on bad roads makes you quite tired!!
The next morning, we ate breakfast & took a group picture on the veranda of the hotel with the crater in the background. Once again, we were ready to leave, but waiting on the drivers to get luggage loaded & get the vans prepared to go. Ours had been switched out in the night for another, so hopefully, the overheating will not be an issue. We headed out of the crater & into the Serengeti. It is extremely dry here & the roads are very dusty, so it makes it difficult to see a lot right along the road & we are constantly opening & closing the windows to balance between getting air & keeping the dust out!

We arrived at the gate of the Serengeti & took a bathroom break. As we were entering the park, there was some disagreement with the agents there if we had paid enough entrance fees. Monte had told them we had 2 children with us & the children are only $10 entrance while the adult fee is $50. The sign read “ Above 16 - $50, Between 5 – 16 $10”. Shelby was 16, but they wanted to charge her as an adult. After much arguing it out, they pulled out a pamphlet which stated “16 & above $50” so, once again, they won & got the extra money. They have certainly learned how to capitalize on their tourism. $50 is more than most people here would earn in a month.


We arrived at the Serengeti Lodge at 1:00 pm for a delicious buffet lunch before resting for a couple of hours & then doing an afternoon game drive. Thankfully, there are a lot more animals here than the crater & we were able to see many cape buffalo, gazelle, elephants, lions, hippos, monkeys, a leopard, zebra, tobi, hartebeest, water buck, reebok, impala & dik-dik. At one spot, we found 3 female lions lying by the side of the road & were able to get our vehicle about 10 feet from them. They looked rather bored with us, but we were glad they were willing to stick around.

We found a small leopard sitting in a tree & watched it for a while. It was getting toward dusk & we commented how we would love to see a kill. Just moments after that, we saw a large male baboon running toward the tree & the leopard got up ready to run down the tree. Just as we thought the leopard would pounce on it, the leopard took off running with the baboon chasing it!!!! It wasn’t running all that fast, as the baboon couldn’t really run that fast, but I guess the baboon was running it out of the area to protect the rest of his family. We tried to chase the leopard, but were unable to get out car turned around fast enough & lost track of it.
We also got in on the tail of seeing 4 elephants chasing off a lion. We had seen her sitting in the field & the elephants walking toward her & wondered what would become of those poor elephants when all of a sudden, the elephants started running toward her & trumpeting. The lioness took off! I’m sure the fact that there were a lot of elephants helped them out.

We saw a gorgeous sunset as we were returning to the lodge & enjoyed a great buffet dinner. Tomorrow it’s off for Mwanza.

We had to get an early start this morning as we had to be out of the Serengeti by 11 am or they would charge us for another day. Our drivers were flying on this gravel road & we fly right by a huge giraffe standing right next to the road. Most of the students didn’t even see it. On the way out, one of the drivers spotted a lion & lioness off in the distance sitting next to one another. We watched for a while & just as we were getting ready to leave, they decided to start mating. That was certainly a National Geographic moment.

We arrived in Mwanza around 5:00 that evening & were assigned missionary families to stay with. There are 5 families here, but 1 of them was on furlough, so our family& 3 students stayed in their house while they were gone. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of ground nut stew. It is rice & you pile as many things as you want on top of it including chicken, beef, ground nuts (peanuts), banana, pineapple, raisins, tomatoes, cocoanut. It doesn’t sound all that appealing with all those piled together, but was really quite tasty. The pineapple here is wonderful!!

The next morning started out early with the groups meeting together & then re-arranging to go to various places. One large group went to visit the local hospital while the rest of us went to a meeting with some village church leaders. We were there for Monte to explain why Zambia was chosen over this place for the location of the HIZ program & for them to make their plea for these students to come back here some day to be missionaries. It was quite interesting to see the interactions of the people. At the end of the meeting, they fed us huge plates of rice with small bowls of goat & chicken meat. Here, the rice is sticky & you eat entirely with your right hand. No utensils. You take a large clump of rice & mash it in your hand until it sticks together. Then you can just eat it or dip it in the broth of the meat first. It is quite tasty! They eat a tremendous amount of rice here, but don’t seem to eat a lot of fruits or vegetables. It is easy to see why they have a lot of health problems in this part of the world with such limited diets.

After the meeting, Monte, Vann, Janice, & Calvin (one of the missionaries) took off for Geita which is a town about 2 hours drive away to look over that area as a possibility for new missions as there is a group wanting Downtown church to sponsor them to go there. Another group of students went on an overnight trip to a village, & the rest of us headed back to Mwanza. That night we had a pasta dinner with all kinds of wonderful pastas & salads. These missionary wives sure know how to cook & are treating us so well.
We enjoyed a short devotional before heading home to bed. Since Vann was gone from our house, we had a girls night & watched the movie “The Wedding Date” .

The next morning, Sunday, we went out in 2 groups to different churches. One small group went to a new plant with just a few members & the other group (including me) went to a place where 9 local churches were meeting together as they do once a month. Eric Guil was taking us in 2 vans & his Land Cruiser. We drove for an hour & a half before turning off the main, paved road. We thought we were surely almost there, but then ended up driving almost 2 hours on a pothole ridden road which eventually turned into a cowpath. Along the way, we had picked up one of the preachers & his family & it’s a good thing as we would never have made it to the place without them there to guide us. I don’t know how those vans managed to make it through the gullies, ditches, & along the cowpath. The church we were going to was even beyond the cowpath & we had to walk the last 200 yards or so. We didn’t arrive there until noon & they had already been going for a while. We spent 3 1/2 hours total there – most of it listening to choirs from each of the churches & then doing the contribution & communion service. The contribution was given with taped music playing on their keyboard (which was powered with a car battery) & each church came forward when they were called. Each member danced his way to the front & gave their contribution – many of them needing to make change first. That took about an hour itself. Then the church choirs sang while each church was called to come forward & take communion. There were only about 12 little cups, so they rinsed each one in water before refilling it for the next person. Thankfully, we were the first to do communion!! After the service, we were once again fed huge platters of rice with chicken pieces & given sweet lemon tea to drink. It was really good! Just as we were preparing to leave, the skies opened up & absolutely poured on us! So – of course, we were wet for the entire trip home. We were supposed to be back home around 6:00 for dinner, but since we started back around 4:00, there was no way – but we absolutely flew on those awful roads & made it back in about 2.75 hours. Not too bad, but I could hardly move the next day from all the bumping around. I sure will be happy to get back on smooth roads at home!

That evening, we ended with a devotional & singing. As we were loading up the car to leave the Miller’s house, it started sprinkling again & by the time we pulled up to our gate, it was pouring once again. The power was out, so we found our flashlight with a tiny bit of power left in it & located a box of candles. Within minutes of Shelby getting all the candles lit, the power came back on! Of course! We were happy, though, as we were needing light to work on re-packing for an early 7:30 am. departure the next morning.

7:00 a.m. on Monday, our driver is at the gate honking the horn to be let in. Of course, none of us are ready, but Vann is dressed, so he goes to unlock the gate. Our driver was anxious to get on the road as they were dropping us off at the border & then driving back to Arusha & he wanted to get there as early as possible.
Our driver says we are supposed to be packed & at the meeting place by 7:30, so we must hurry. We cram down breakfast & run out to the van to load up & are at the meeting spot by 7:20, but of course, no one else is. It is 8:30 before everyone else is there & we are able to leave. Thus is the joy of traveling in large groups!!

Our crossing at the Tanzania/Kenya border is uneventful & much quicker than it was going the other direction at a different crossing. We even have time to run into town to buy a quick take out lunch. We find chipates (like a fried tortilla) & Samosas which are a fried meat pie. Greasy, but yummy!

We arrived at the Siriat Bible School in Sotik around 5:30 & were settled in to the dorms there. There is one large room for girls with about 20 bunk beds & a large room for men just the same. Vann & I were invited to stay with David & Eunice in their home. David is the director of the school & has a western style house. Their 7 year old son showed us to our room, which had a chicken occupying it at the time. He had to chase it out & clean up the mess which he promptly did!! We shared a 3/4 size bed (slightly smaller than a double) with a foam mattress. We slept pretty well considering, but awoke to a rooster outside our window around 4:00 a.m. & found we were each in a giant hole where the mattresses had settled. Hopefully, it will recover again before the next night.

We spent the day, once again, driving over hill & dale to a village church. This one was about a 2 hour drive – mostly on dirt roads which means lots of potholes. We enjoyed a visit with members from 5 different churches who had gathered to meet & greet us. They were a very welcoming group & we enjoyed the visit despite using a translator to speak. Each person there stood up & introduced themselves & greeted us with kind words or a scripture & a song. Then we did the same – singing 2 songs for them. After the service, we were fed a wonderful meal of rice, beef stew, & potatoes with chai to drink. Chai is a very sweet tea with milk added. It is the typical drink of Kenya. On the way home, we stopped at a church which also doubles as a school & many of the local children followed us into the building. I would guess that most of them had never seen a white person as they seemed afraid to touch us. They would just stare & smile, & laugh! While we were stopped at the school, we realized one of the van’s tires was going flat (it’s no wonder on these roads!) so they changed it out while we were there. Then on the way back, their bumper started to fall off. These vans sure take a beating with us!! The whole way home we waved to everyone along the road & Steve Smith ( a Tulsa Christian businessman who is with us) yelled Chomge (hello) to everyone he saw. I’m sure they think these white people are lunatics – friendly, but lunatics nonetheless!!!

Thurs. Nov. 22

Today we’re heading to the Mari-An Primary School to see their facilities. This school was named for Monte Cox’s younger sister as she had corresponded through World Bible School with one of the men who later became a board member of this school. Monte lived close to this area, so knows many of the people in this area & all of those associated with this school. We arrived around 3:00 p..m. to a line of children standing at the gate & singing “We are so happy you are here” to us. Many of the older children (just completed 8th grade) have already left as they had testing this week & are now awaiting their results to see if they will be eligible to go on to high school. Only about 50% of them will be eligible to go on & of those only about 50% will be able to afford it. Primary school is free in Kenya, but high school must be paid for.
We were shown to our rooms for the night. The facilities here are very rustic – no electricity, outdoor toilets, no running water. The facilities that the kids stay in are 2 bunkhouses with bunk beds (many barely standing). You can tell that the children here have very little with them as the houses are very bare. People send their children here to board starting in 1st grade. These kids are remarkably independent & self sufficient.

Since we had air mattresses with us,. Vann & I were placed in an empty office are a with absolutely nothing in it other than a little bat hanging from the rafters. The guys all slept in tents that had been left there previously & the girls slept in a small house & another empty room in their sleeping bags. We had become accustomed to Zambia’s 100 degree weather, but it is much cooler here – probably 80’s during the day & down into the 50’s or so at night. With no heat in our room & only a sleeping bag, I FROZE the first night. Thankfully, it was warmer the last 2 nights & I slept in my sweats & jacket & socks!! We spent the day hiking around the area which is beautiful & visiting with the people here at the school. They are working on putting floors into 4 new school rooms that they have constructed, so we spent a good deal of time busting rocks, moving rocks, & hauling dirt. It was a lot of hard work, but by the time we left, they were much further along & will hopefully be able to use them when school starts again in January.

This school is commendable as it is run with little support from the U.S. & yet have great hopes & plans. At the present, they are hauling water up on donkeys from a spring & using a generator for power at night only. They are working on getting water pumped to them & power lines run as soon as they can raise the money. They have also purchased another lot & are hoping to start a secondary school sometime soon.

On Saturday, we went for a hike up to a forest that has monkeys in it. We walked up & down hills, through the forest brush for 4 hours & only saw a few monkeys & they were way up in the tops of the trees. It was good exercise & a beautiful day, so I guess it was worth it.

On Sunday, November 25, 2007, we had a brief worship period with the folks from around the school before saying our goodbyes AGAIN & heading off for Nairobi. I am actually typing this now as we are on a terrible bumpy road, so I’m sure I have many typos! I’m trying to get it ready to publish tomorrow when we will hopefully have internet access in Nairobi! The road is absolutely horrendous for a major road, but we’re all so excited to be heading in the homeward direction, that we’ll put up with whatever we have to. It has been an adventurous 3 months, but that’s a long time to be away from home. We are supposed to have all day Monday to shop & go to an internet café before heading to the airport around 8. Our flight leaves around 11 p.m. & we will fly to Amsterdam & then on Detroit & then Little Rock. We are scheduled to arrive around 4 p.m. in Little Rock on Tues.