Kijabe

Quick breakfast at Mayfield sitting next to a guy who built a hospital in Sudan last year and then a driver came to take us to Kijabe. After about an hour of driving past parts of the city entirely made of metal sheets and through the surrounding countryside, we came upon this view of Kenya's Rift Valley, with the crater-like Mt. Longonot in the distance on the left.


After winding down a pothole-filled road, we finally arrived in Kijabe. The place is beautiful. It's like where the Dharma Initiative live in Lost (at least the areas where most of the missionaries live). Isaac and I are staying on the first floor of a duplex-style house with Amy, a medical student from Wake Forest. Other than the cockroach-infested kitchen, not bad at all. One of our hosts, Mrs. Trotter, swung by to take us to the local super-duka to get some mangoes and pineapples. I have a feeling Isaac and I will be spending most of our meals in the hospital cafeteria.


After lunch with the Trotter's, we walked up the hillside a ways to Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school for missionary kids. Kind of weird -- a completely Western-style high school in the middle of rural Kenya. Apparently the hospital staff plays the varsity basketball team on Sunday afternoons and both the gym and weight room are available for our use. Who would have thought that the basketball courts in Kenya would be way better than the ones back in Chicago?


Isaac walking back to our house.


For dinner, we were invited to Dr. Barnes' 77th birthday party, which is apparently a huge deal here in Kijabe. The party ends with Mrs. Barnes, dressed in traditional African clothing and playing the accordion, leading a parade of children banging pots and pans around their house. Everyone here has been incredibly welcoming.


Sunset over the Rift Valley from the backyard of the Barnes' home.


Dr. Trotter offered to take us on a hike up and around the rim of Mt. Longonot tomorrow morning, so it's about time to get to bed. Have to enjoy the weekend cause our q5 overnight call schedule doesn't look pretty. And it has been confirmed -- when we are on call at night, we are the only ones at the hospital and we cover the entire place...