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AUA, NAIROBI

Monday, July 06, 2009

THE ELEPHANT ORPHANAGE….and a RHINO ALERT!

The DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST rescues orphaned elephants and rhinos, and also runs a veterinary service for Kenya’s national parks. It’s the brainchild of David Sheldrick’s widow, founded the year after his untimely death in 1976. Since that time, Daphne Sheldrick has been working out the methods used by the Trust to rescue and rehabilitate almost 100 orphaned elephants that would surely have died without their intervention - more than 40 elephants are now part of wild herds in TSAVO (EAST) NATIONAL PARK, perhaps the last place in Eastern Africa large enough to allow for the natural ecological cycle of elephants and the land and vegetation that sustains them. Please go to the Sheldrick Trust site - they are worthy of your support, and a little bit will go a long way for the elephants, and offer you a wonderful experience with your own adopted orphan, or in giving a gift to someone else. CHECK IT OUT

OK…the commercial is over (mostly)....and here comes the story of our visit:

Posted by Earl on 07/06 at 02:52 AM
2009 SUMMER TRIP - Kenya, England, Paris • AUA, NAIROBI •

A TRIP BACK TO THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ‘60s…...THE GLASS FACTORY

Anyone of a certain age, who lived in or near Mendocino County - or even someone who still does - is going to recognize a lot of what we saw at the glass factory. It’s quite near Nairobi, at the end of five kilometers or so of horrendous road (or more easily across a very scary swinging bridge). Here’s what greets you as you exit your car and start into the grounds…..
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. Somehow, that makes me think of all the Benny Bufano sculpture and paintings that used to be seen in San Francisco….I guess he’s out of fashion, now, but here in one tiny part of Nairobi, they appear to be remembering him. Let’s go on in, now—here’s the entrance court….
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Posted by Earl on 07/06 at 01:56 AM
2009 SUMMER TRIP - Kenya, England, Paris • AUA, NAIROBI •

Thursday, July 02, 2009

REPORT FROM NAIROBI…..

I know that I’ve been remiss in updating our trip here….I have good excuses, of course. A new class is taking the usual amount of time - I’m going to bed near midnight each day, and have to be up by 6:45 in order to be in class at quarter to eight. Further, the Internet feed in our guest house has quit, so it’s only down the hill at the Academy computer lab that I have access at this point, and there are a number of things to do after class before lunch is served, so…...you get the idea.

Last weekend, we spent the entire day on the Nairobi National Park with our former youth pastor (now chaplain at Maxwell Adventist Academy), Kent Crutcher and his family. We had a GREAT day! It didn’t rain, but most of the time the clouds prevented the sun from cooking us….plus, we saw lots and lots of animals, because the grass is still green and there’s lots of food and water. Here’s a few photos from the small camera - mostly we have videos from it, and some are just terrific. I’m happier and happier with that machine. The major share of pictures I took with my Nikon SLR, but I simply don’t have the time to deal with them right now.

More photos, and other excursions are below…...

Posted by Earl on 07/02 at 02:56 AM
2009 SUMMER TRIP - Kenya, England, Paris • AUA, NAIROBI •

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

THE REAL DANGER ISN’T ALWAYS WHERE YOU EXPECT IT…..

Mom warned me about snakes all my life, and particularly whenever we headed for tropical climes. This trip to Kenya was no different - I got to hear about the cobras in Penang once again…and then I find that there ARE cobras here, and that a friend has seen them, and a friend of HIS actually has the skin of a 7-footer. Enough to make you think twice about walking around at night!!

But, a far more immediate threat of mayhem awaits us whenever we head over to the cafeteria—here is the path:
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We follow neither set of concrete stones, but head into the herbiage to the right of that light pole, right past those pretty little trees and between the giant shipping containers in the background. And those “pretty little trees” look like THIS, up close:
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After seeing this close up on the first day, and realizing that we would be walking that way in the dark at times, I (very carefully) bent back some of the long branches and hooked them on twigs farther back toward the trunk, so that our actual path is now pretty clear. Remember, this is where the giraffe and black rhino get their leaves—from BETWEEN these nasty thorns!

We’ve been eating three great meals each day - at least two starches each time, and they might be rice and potatoes, or rice and noodles, tonight it was rice and sweet potatoes (which were delicious). Then there are either lentils or beans, plus some protein like (wonderful homemade) gluten or tofu in a savory sauce, and a vegetable, finishing with a plate containing salad and fruit. The salads have included various permutations of cole slaw, plus mixed greens, cucumber and carrots, etc. We’ve had green mango (hmmmm), lovely ripe ones, watermelon, and tonight papaya. Lots of bananas at breakfast. The food is very good, and the students eat prodigious quantities. We’re keeping it in check, lest we come home looking like blimps!

We’ve also walked pretty much all over the 100+ acres on which sit Maxwell Adventist Academy, the East and Central African Division (that may not be the official name), and the very new Adventist University in Africa, which will become the seminary and graduate school for this continent - at least, that’s the current plan. The main office building plus three homes and one guesthouse is all that’s completed, but work on more faculty homes proceeds apace, and we saw the plans for a really major installation over the next few years.

Tomorrow morning I have my first class, and we’re going to town with friends to buy train tickets. I’ll have another report, later - Gail wants my computer.

Posted by Earl on 06/24 at 01:14 PM
2009 SUMMER TRIP - Kenya, England, Paris • AUA, NAIROBI •

Monday, June 22, 2009

FROM KENYA WITH PHOTOS…...

Here’s the first AUA guesthouse in place - others are being built, and next door the Division has several. This is where we’re staying - upper floor on the side away from the camera:

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There is a kitchenette with microwave, toaster, stove/oven and refrigerator/freezer. At the dining table, we have a glass fiber for internet access, which is slow, and intermittent at times. There are two bedrooms - one double and one twin, with a bathroom in between. The furniture is local manufacture, serviceable rather than nicely made, but we have everything necessary for comfort. More - there’s also a TV that probably has satellite feed of some kind - they show CNN in the cafeteria at supper.

Here’s the view out the french doors onto our balcony:
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After lunch, we lay down to sleep a bit - the AUA provost called me after about 3 hours (woke me up, but hey!) and came over to talk a bit. While we stood on the balcony, I saw a bird down below - it’s some kind of ibis that sorts through the grass and leaves looking for its meal…..
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. Bunch of black and white crows around, plus something that looks and acts like a mockingbird, a swallow with a real swallow-tail, something with a rusty tail, and lots of other stuff.

Having fun so far. More later.

Posted by Earl on 06/22 at 11:12 AM
2009 SUMMER TRIP - Kenya, England, Paris • AUA, NAIROBI •

WE’RE SAFELY IN NAIROBI…...

....well, actually at ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY of AFRICA

We left the U.S. on Sat. nite, and arrived here in Nairobi about 6:30 a.m. Monday. In that time, we figure we slept about 8 hours, but “sleep” is not exactly what it was. Sitting up in airline seats dozing, really - unless you count the half hour or so sitting on a bench in Kensington Park, dozing in London.

About to go eat lunch, come back for showers and crash for an hour or two. Then walk around the campus - it’s a large place, and includes AUA, the conference headquarters, and MAXWELL ADVENTIST ACADEMY. The Academy site has great photos of what it looks like here.

Looking out our window, we saw a black and white crow - seems incongruous, given what we’re used to. Also working along picking up bits of breakfast out of the grass were a pair of brownish ibis. There’s a swallow’s nest on the eaves of the cafeteria - lovely babies in a mud cup, almost ready to fledge.. Lots of messy bird droppings below, too - some things just don’t change.

I’ll have photos and more commentary up later….at least, I’ll have photos *if* the server improves its speed. I’m falling asleep now….back soon.

Posted by Earl on 06/22 at 04:49 AM
2009 SUMMER TRIP - Kenya, England, Paris • AUA, NAIROBI •

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