Krauses in Kenya

SAFARI

2005-12-31T21:49:00.000-08:00

This is on our 4 day safari. This photo was taken in our first 30 mins in the park. The driver got a call that there was a kill and we went straight there and watched for 2.5 hours. It was great. They really eat ALL of the zebra and rip it apart in the process. In total there were 4 females and 5 cubs feasting on this tasty zebra. The cubs like to just play with their mother's tails more but they still seemed to get blood all around their mouths and look scary. We also saw beautiful giraffes, tons of elephants (my fav), a cheetah, male lions, hippos, crocs and many wild birds as well. It was so much fun to camp out in the "wild" haha.

Gorgeous Lions

2005-12-31T21:47:00.000-08:00

Just glad that I was in a van the whole time. Sometimes we got so close to them you felt like they were going to jump through the van windows. But the whole experience was fascinating.

After braids

2005-12-31T21:45:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of Courtney looking like someone related to Bob Marley. The part that is missing from this picture is the tears (well almost tears because it hurt like the dickens to get this things in my hair). It took 5 long and painful hours for 7 Kenyans to do this to my hair. Was it worth it? NO! But it's cool nonetheless and now I have a story to tell right?! They are currently still in but I will be taking them out soon (another long job).

Before braids

2005-12-31T21:44:00.000-08:00

Jon's birthday

2005-12-31T21:43:00.000-08:00

This is the cake that Simon and Beatrice bought for Jon so that we could celebrate his birthday together in Kenya. It wasn't a "normal" birthday but he had a great day :)

"Christmas" with a children's home

2005-12-31T21:41:00.000-08:00

This a photo of Jon and I with one of the children's homes that we were able to have a "christmas" for. We bought them each a new shirt, underwear, scarf (made), toothbrush, toothpaste and soap. We also bought them a lot of food for the month. It was such a blessing to be able to show God's love in that way.
They are a beautiful family and were very thankful.

Simon, Beatrice, Sophie and us

2005-12-31T21:36:00.000-08:00

This is the family that we lived with in Kitale. We travelled to Mombasa and Turkana with them as well. They were wonderful people to live with. We had loads of fun

Traditional Turkana villagers

2005-11-29T00:07:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of a man and woman eating goat liver (Jon and I's favorite :)). They little village had just slaughtered a goat and I was so grossed out that I couldn't watch but Jon was fascinated and loved watching. He even took some photos when they were draining the blood - YUCK!. This woman in the photo is negotiating a bride price for her daughter. This is a much older man that is trying to marry the young girl but it is for his son for when he dies. Different than the way we do it, yes, but the son doesn't have any goats to pay the bride price so the old man will pay it, marry her and then pass her off when he dies. The beads around the womans neck represent how many goats a man would have to pay to marry her.

Leia and her beautiful 7 day old daughter

2005-11-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

This is the family that we were able to buy the bodaboda bike for the husband Mark who had to drop out of school to support his family. The deal we made with him when buying his bike was that he would finish school. Simon and Beatrice are also in the photo with me. Note: that is one of the village huts in the right hand corner. They use cardboard and clothes to cover the straw so that wind and rain can not destroy their hut.

Giving out sandals in Katilu

2005-11-28T23:53:00.000-08:00

There was a generous donation to us that we used to buy much food and sandals for the children in Turkana that we visited. This school is in Katilu that we gave out the sandals and the children were extremely excited. They danced for us and sang many songs, very loudly. This one room, open building school was in a very dry and spaced out village. The baby class of this school is under a nearby tree where they hang a blackboard and teach the class in the scorching heat. It was almost unbearable for me. We bought 60 pairs of sandals in all sizes for the children. Some will have to grow into them haha, because we didn't have exact sizes before going to the village.

Survival

2005-11-22T00:48:00.000-08:00

This is on our drive to Lodwar. This little boy was standing on the side of the road with an empty water bottle and waiting for a car to pull over to give him some water. There were many children doing that on the way up. We only had so much water. If I would've known this would happen, I would've bought many more litres of water.

Crazy bodabodas

2005-11-22T00:42:00.000-08:00

These are those silly means of transportation that I was telling you about. Where you sit on that cushion on the back and hold on for dear life. But it's what everyone here in Kitale (and in Bungoma) uses.

Elim nursery school

2005-11-22T00:28:00.000-08:00

This is the building where the nursery school is held. The children were singing and dancing for us.

Crayons

2005-11-22T00:18:00.000-08:00

This is us at the ELIM nursery school handing out crayons. They are really cute children and loved their crayon.

Feeling like celebrities

2005-11-22T00:11:00.000-08:00

This is the Standard 8 class that we brought pencils for their exams. This is when they came to take a million photos with us haha. We felt like celebrities because they each wanted an "alone" picture with us.

Happy Painters

2005-11-19T23:07:00.000-08:00

This is Jon and I with the new rollers that we bought. Notice the sketchy ladders. Everytime I went up on the big ladder it would shake so much because the bottom was closer together than t he top. Jon would say "please don't fall and die" and I would say "thanks for the encouragement dear". It was not the safest thing in the world, but it did the job. We finished all the 4 walls with 3 coats of paint and the money that we left for Simon (for the project) is going to buy a new front door. He is happy that we had such a big part in his community center.

Giraffes at the park

2005-11-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

The giraffes were so close to the van that when I stuck my head out the sunroof I felt like I was on Jurassic Park. Haha, they were so tall and so fasinating.

Flamingos anyone?

2005-11-19T22:51:00.000-08:00

These are the incredible 1.8 million flamingos at the Nakuru National Park that we went to with Simon and Beatrice. They were bathing in this lake and it sounded so cool because they were all flapping their wings to get water on themselves to wash.

Wart hogs at the zoo

2005-11-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

I just thought these things were the funniest looking animals in the world. So I thought I would pass on the photo so you could have a good laugh over them.

The famous tusks

2005-11-19T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of the famous tusks. They are on many labels and signs here in Kenya. The most common is on the Tusker beer. They too are in Mombasa.

Mombasa

2005-11-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

This is the view from our room at the hotel that Simon and Beatrice treated us to. It was amazing. That is the Indian Ocean in the background.

Jon swarmed with children

2005-11-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

This is what we both experience when going to a school. The children love to touch our arms (because we have hair on them and Kenyans don't). The little ones always touch Jon's legs because that's all they can reach and they are hairy too :).

Here Jon has pulled out the video camera and all the kids LOVE it. The love any camera too.

Progressive Primary School

2005-11-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

This is the ECD class at Progressive. This is the school that is run by a husband and wife alone, with no other funding. They have done an incredible job.

This is the school that Jon taught Math and I P.E. and English.

We had a lot of fun with this children.

Permanent Home

2005-11-13T00:56:00.000-08:00

This is the Siabuta's permanent home. It is unfinished except for one room and a bathroom that we used. They hope to have it finished by next year. They just need to do it slowly due to finances.

C & J with the Siabuta family

2005-11-13T00:51:00.000-08:00

This is Jon and I with Patrick, Mary, Pheobe and Faith in front of their temporary home. These temporary structures last about 4 to 5 years because they are only made of mud, cow dung and sticks and begin to erode after that many years of rain.

Courtney's "old lady" hobby

2005-11-13T00:47:00.000-08:00

These are the scarves that I made for the Siabuta family. They all loved their scarves very much and couldn't belief that I spent so much time on each one.

"soon-to-be" clinic

2005-11-13T00:35:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, this photo is dark too. Sorry. Patrick had to go at 5 pm to take this photo on our last day in Bungoma. Well, I'll tell you about it anyway...

This is the clinic in Bungoma that I was telling you about in my email. It's the one that I refered to in the movie Patch Adams. God has put this clinic on my heart to help support when we get home because there is no medical facility for miles and many of the children in the village get sick. An example is Elizabeth that I told you about that caught malaria and we went to town to buy her drugs but many can't afford transporation to town and therefore can't get the medications they need to treat their disease. Patrick knows 3 retired nurses and a doctor that have offered to donate their services to his clinic. There are 7 bedrooms in this house and they will be used as a waiting room, doctor's room, 2 overnight treatment rooms, an HIV counselling room, a chemist (pharmacy) and an injection room. It is such a wonderful vision. Patrick and I stayed up until 11:30 pm one night just talking about the finances that will be needed to start this facility and it got me really excited because it's not one of those visions that is unrealistic. It can be done! The National Treatment Society comes to clinics in Kenya to evaluate and when they see they are fit to be a clinic they provide all of the equipment (ie. microscopes and other medical tools). So that is a wonderful burden lifted so that facilities have hope around the huge expense of equipment. Patrick wants it to specialize in malaria because it is a "children killer". He is hoping to have enough funds to make services free for children under 10 years of age and only a small charge for others. Hopefully, next time I come to Kenya I can visit this medical clinic :)

When it rains, it pours

2005-11-13T00:30:00.000-08:00

When I spoke to my brother a couple of weeks ago, he asked if it rained. This photo proves just how hard it rains. Jon and I couldn't help but laugh because when we were in Thailand and Costa Rica it was the rainy season and now we come to Africa and it is the rainy season to. It's not as bad at Costa Rica. There it rained everyday in the afternoon for the rest of the day. Here it is only every couple of days but it hails for about 20-40 mins leaving the village dirt roads really muddy. But it's still a beautiful country and that's why it's green.

Ndengelwa

2005-11-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken with some village children as well as two school girls who walked home with me. They just met me on the road home and we walked all the way home holding hands. We didn't talk because as we all know, I don't know Swahili and they don't know English well enough. Even though we didn't communicate they still just enjoyed walking together and holding hands and it made my heart sing because I love this country and especially the children. They are so precious to me.

Dinner by lanterns

2005-11-13T00:10:00.000-08:00

This is Patrick and Mary's home. We ate all of our meals here and at dinner when it was dark we ate by the light of laterns. It really helps you appreciate all that we have in North America because this is how they live all day everyday whereas, we only do this for a leisure activity of camping and we only do it for a couple of days before returning to our homes with electicity.

Miliki Children's Home

2005-11-13T00:02:00.000-08:00

This is a children's home that we visited. It is run by one women named Violet. It is one of the poorest children's homes and the city wants to close it down. But then where would the children go? It's better to have somewhere other than the street. But Violet struggles because mothers (and others) just drop children off at her doorstep and she really has no choice but to take them. Some of the children were very skinny from malnutrition and many had fat tummies from parasites in their tummies. One little girl had signs of ringworm on her head. This is one place that I had to leave for a minute because I was going to fall apart. They sang to us when we arrived and you could feel the love. They enjoyed our company very much. They are beautiful children and deserve a chance. They have so much potential and that's what is difficult for me. I want to give them the clothes off of my back because I know that they have nothing. Sometimes, I just stand and pray because I don't know what else to do.

Doing the Hokey Pokey

2005-11-11T04:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry so dark again.

This is at Grace Community church with New Life Academy. I taught them the Hokey Pokey and they wanted to sing it at least 4 times everyday. That's me in the back (against the wall), that dark spot.

Courtney and Daniel

2005-11-10T22:34:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite little buddy from New Life. His name is Daniel and he is an orphan. You can't really see his super cute face in this photo but in the one where we are playing football, he is the one with his arms out. He loved being picked up. This was my one pick up for the day haha.

Courtney attempting to play football with a very flat ball

2005-11-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

At New Life it was so much fun just to play with the children. They loved for Jon and I to play football (soccer) with them, but that ball was so flat that I tripped over it many times. We got it pumped up while we were there so that was better.

Jon playing with New Life children

2005-11-10T22:23:00.000-08:00

This is my beautiful husband playing with the wonderful children. He is so great with the children.
They always love Jon because he is strong and can pick them up, swing them around and things like that. When they come to me I am spent within one lift and then I say "go see Jon, he would love to pick you up".

Just incase you forgot what we looked like

2005-11-10T22:19:00.000-08:00

Haha. Need some humour sometimes. We were at Patrick and Mary's home.

Courtney and Steven

2005-11-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry this photo is kind of dark but the story to this photo is that one day I was teaching at New Life Academy in Bungoma and this university student came by and explained his story to me. He was in a car accident in 2003 that killed his mother, father and sister and left his left side of his body paralyzed. He had one more year of his business degree but had to quit school for a little while because he was in the hospital. The ministry of education donated 28,000 ksh for his last year but he was 4000 short. I walked back to our place and got some money and was able to help him out. I felt very happy because he was so thankful and couldn't stop saying, "May God bless you". To us it's not very much money but to them it makes a world of difference and can change a person's life. Praise the Lord for the provision of money.

Village boy playing with buckets

2005-11-07T01:49:00.000-08:00

Original title, I know but I couldn't think of anything.

This is one of the boys playing with buckets. He was entertained by these forever. That's another example of Kenyans using what they have to play a game and entertain themselves.

Ndengelwa village

2005-11-07T01:36:00.000-08:00

This is Pastor Patrick, who we lived with while in Bungoma, with some of the neighbour village children. They were all so darling. Many of the young ones ran around with no pants on :). They were the ones that taught me how to say "how are you?" and "I'm fine" in their mother tongue. That was all that we could say to eachother but that was enough. We enjoyed that. I gave them all stickers and candies everyday when they would come to the fence and say "mzungo, mzungo".

In the background is the house that had a finished room that we stayed in. They hope to have the brick (permanent structured) house done by next year.

Jon and Pheobe

2005-11-07T01:24:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of Jon with one of Patrick and Mary's adopted daughters Pheobe. She is the older of the two (and they have a 3rd sister that is at boarding school), she is 9 and she is the quieter one. Faith was 8 and she was a talker haha, just like me. She loved to play with a nylon made ball with Jon. They would just try to hit eachother with the ball haha, fun game hey?! The girls played some savage games with the neighbours where you try to pick up cups before the other person wails the ball at you and hits you. Jon and I just stood in amazment. They have to use simple things to make up games.

Supplies bought by Seb, Luke and Trevor

2005-11-07T01:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry I forgot that they go sideways teehee.

These are the notebooks, pencils and erasers that they bought and we have had the opportunity to bless so many students with these supplies and they are soooooooo excited when they get them.

Porridge

2005-11-07T00:56:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I don't know enough about this silly Blogger thing to put all the photos together but they don't seem to go nicely when you put more than one on so I will just have to break it up. The important part is that the pics are online so you can all see them and experience a little bit of what we are doing.

So...this is still at BFM (bible fellowship ministries) nursery school. This is the snack that they get at 10 am, a cup of porridge. Everytime we observe a feeding program it breaks my heart because at home we just know that there will always be food (I will never take that for granted again) but here there are many who never get anything to eat and are starving. Others that come to school and they only get what they are served at school because at home there is nothing.

The looks of Northern Kenya

2005-11-06T23:50:00.000-08:00

This photo is taken from the car haha, notice the streaks from the windshield wipers. But I just wanted you to have an idea of what the scenery is like up in Kitale (northern Kenya). It is very beautiful, many maize (corn) farms, and much greener than Nairobi.
I also tried to take a photo with many people walking because you would never believe how many people walk on the streets. There are people walking even in the pitch black.

BFM Kabula school

2005-11-04T00:34:00.000-08:00

This is the nursery school in Bungoma that we visited. They were lovely children. We could've communicate very well together because they were quite young but they enjoyed listening to me talk (and giggling over how I sounded) and we played Patter Changer, well kind of, I just did patterns and they copied me. They thought it was great and that's all that mattered. I was taught the children how to do the crab walk. It was quite a show. Most of them just shifted themselves on their bums haha. But they enjoyed themselves nonetheless and I had a blast with them.

MOM YOUR CANADA STICKERS!

2005-11-04T00:19:00.000-08:00

These are the children at New Life Academy where we gave each of them Canada stickers that my mom bought. They were so excited about them and the teachers were going to help them put them all over their exercise books.

Thanks again Mom, they are great!

Vision Academy class

2005-10-28T00:03:00.000-07:00

This is the class, but remember not all of them are there because it was a holiday but there they are! Aren't they beautiful?

Kiminini school - Vision Academy

2005-10-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of one of the schools that we went to. It's the one that we went to on their holiday but the children still came to see us "white visitors". This school has ECD (kindergarten to us) to standard 7 (grade 7). This whole school is made out of temporary structures, the ones that are made from mud, sticks and cow dung. They hope to put in permanent structures soon, but of course they are expensive so they are waiting on the Lord for provision.

Soweto Slums

2005-10-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

This photo is also from back in Nairobi. But I wanted you to get an idea of what the slums look like and what the shelters are like. Maybe are just a room, made from either mud and dung or bricks and the all have iron sheets for a roof. The streets are not big enough for a car and are dirt. There is garbage everywhere because there is no garbage disposal here in Kenya. There is one big garbage dump which is called "Chombo" and that is where many mothers go to find remains and scraps for her children to eat.

Auntie making Chapati

2005-10-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

This is in Nairobi. Auntie (the housemaid) is making chapati on a jerico, which is their little coal stoves.

Just giving you an idea of how the most wonderful Kenyan food is made.

Jon working at Soweto

2005-10-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

This photo is of Jon, Wycliff and David levelling the ground at Soweto. When we left Nairobi they were hoping to pour cement the next week so that the children can have a playing area that is flat.

Another cute pic of Rachel and Courtney :)

2005-10-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

This is just another picture of Rachel and I, because I was feeling that there weren't enough photos of me haha. Just kidding. Sorry, I forgot that they go on the web the way that they were taken and that I can't rotate it.

Crazy Matatu

2005-10-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of the crazy matatus. They are supposed to only fit 14 passengers but really that means, 'how ever many are willing to get in'. I have sat on many people's laps :). They are the means of public transportation and because not many Kenyans own their own vehicles there are many of them everywhere in Kenya.

Handsome Soweto boys

2005-10-19T05:03:00.000-07:00

This is a photo back in Nairobi of the all of the boys in their new uniforms.

Sorry that I don't have any recent pics (of all of the things that I have been talking about) but I can't find a town that can burn my memory card onto cd so that I can upload them onto here. I will keep trying and hopefully in Kitale I can get you some new, more recent photos :)

Hope you still enjoy these photos though. It's all part of the experience right?!

Love and Mercy Ministry

2005-10-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to meet with the Love and Mercy group of Grace Community Church (Patrick and Mary's church) and it was wonderful. This is a ministry designed to meet the needs of the widows, orphans and needy in the church. We asked Pastor Patrick if there was someone in the church that we could bless by buying soap or a mosquito net or blankets and we have come up with a plan to bless two homes and bring them gifts that they need. I am very excited about that and will post after we experience that.
Church services here in Kenya are much longer than those at home. We have not yet been to a service that was under 3 hours. They sure do love to be at church!

Chipati

2005-10-15T03:28:00.000-07:00

This is a typical meal here in Kenya, featuring my new favorite on the bottom right had corner. It is a flour pie type thing that is cooked over their coal stove (similar to a camping stove). Right beside it (on the left) is deep fried eggs, which were surprisingly good. The food here is great because it's simple, just the way Courtney likes it :)

Back in Soweto

2005-10-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

This is back in Nairobi on the morning break. Skipping is a huge activity for the children because it does not require a lot of equipment.
Try to notice some of the boys new uniforms.

New Life Academy

2005-10-15T03:00:00.000-07:00

We are staying in a village in Bungoma right now with Pastor Patrick and his family. He and his wife Mary have adopted 5 orphans as their children. Faith and Pheobe (6 and 8 years old) are the two girls that live at home with them and their other 3 are at boarding school. They have a church within the village (about 1 km away from their home) and there is a nursery school there as well. I visited there yesterday and had a wonderful time with the children. I got to teach the "Hokey Pokey" for their music class. They pulled out some drums, shakers and other musical instruments they use and we danced together. I wrote the words up on the board and we all did the actions together. The children loved it and when I came back after lunch, they all said "shake, shake", which is how they asked me to sing for them.
After lunch the children drew pictures of their homes. The children shared pieces of pencils that had been broken and the teacher used a razor to sharpen them which is when I almost started to cry thinking about how much canadian children/students have to use. 45 children shared a package of 16 crayons to colour their pictures with. So I also told them that I was going to town tomorrow and would buy them more pencils and sharpeners and crayons.
Seb, Trevor and Luke (the 3 boys that I nannied for last year, in Abbotsford) donated their Tsunami money they raised for me to buy supplies with. We were able to buy 168 lined paper books, 400 erasers, and 288 pencils with their money. THANK YOU BOYS!!!! (I will post a photo as soon as I can). We gave some to all of the school we have visited and (as well as the Staples supplies that we brought from Canada) and the reactions from the children have made this trip worth it in themselves because they are so grateful and so excited to get the new supplies. A little goes a long way here in Kenya and I am so lucky to be here and be able to give things that they only dream of. The parents are suppose to pay a school fee to cover the expenses of supplies but many of them can't afford it and the school would rather have the child getting education than at home so the teachers try to buy the supplies but many of them don't get paid so you can imagine the vicious circle with no solution.

Kabula Widows

2005-10-15T02:53:00.000-07:00

HERE IS THE PHOTO - YAY!

We were blessed to get to meet with 3 widows while we were visiting a church in Kabula, a sub-district in Bungoma. They were very sweet and wonderful ladies. One of the widow's husband had only died 2 months ago. It really made things real, when you meet people who have experienced things that we only dream of in Canada. I mean disease isn't as much of a killer as it is here in Kenya. Jon and I were able to give them each a blanket and a package of sugar. God put it on our hearts to give some money as well. We gave them 1000 KSh (about $16.50 canadian dollars) and you would've thought that we gave them gold by the way they reacted. They all cheered so loud and later the pastor explained to us that no one has ever even given them 100 KSh and now you have given them so much. They will be able to feed their families for 3 weeks off of that, which is amazing. It was very humbling for us.

Ruth and her son Emmanuel

2005-10-06T06:35:00.000-07:00

HERE IT IS!!!! Ruth(the standard 1 teacher at Hope and a Bright Future) and her 11 month old son Emmanuel. She is a dear lady who has a heart of gold. She invited me to come and see her home in the Soweto slums. We walked for 45 minutes to get there and she had time to feed her son and then we talked for 10 minutes before walking back. Just to give you an idea of her situation...she gets paid 2500 Ksh per month and her rent is 1000 ksh per month. Her place is 6 feet by 9 feet. It is the smallest thing I've ever seen. There is a sheet to divide the "bedroom" from the area with the couch. Her 2 children can't even sleep in the same room, they sleep down the hall in her friends room/house. I had brought some bananas, a chocolate bar, teddy grahams and cashews for myself because I was just going to stay at the school for lunch and read my book or finish a scarf. As soon as I pulled out my lunch, I offered it to Ruth and she was so grateful. That was when I knew that she didn't ever get to eat lunch. She gave her son most of the food, so I just left it all for her. She saved some for her daughter as well.

Hope and Bright Future class

2005-09-30T07:27:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken the day that the boys got their new uniforms. There are 103 students in this school and I teach the 22 students in Standard 2 (equivalent to grade 2).

Jon helping dress the boys with their new uniforms

2005-09-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

This is at 'Hope and a Bright Future' school. The boys all got new uniforms. It was such a great experience to watch them get all new uniforms. I was very touched and almost brought to tears, once again.

Juma and Jon

2005-09-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

This is Juma. He is our friend who takes us to town all the time because the matatus would kill us if he wasn't with us to teach us the ropes. He is 25 and is part of the Wafula family.

Courtney and Rachel

2005-09-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is the Wafula's 2nd last child (of their 12 :)). She is 4 years old and I love her. Her name is Rachel. We play everyday and even though we can't communicate together cause she speaks Swahili, we still get along very well. She will ask me to say something in Swahili and then when I do, she laughs at how I pronounce it.

2005-09-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

This photo is of us with Victor, having roasted goat meat (that's what the waiter is cutting).

This weekend we spent the weekend with Victor's nephew who is quite weathly compared to what we have experienced. He took us around to all sorts of great places. He introduced us to roasted goat meat, which is amazing. We also saw the Massai people and their land which is very bare and dry. They are an interesting tribe. We went to a country club that was all outside and the scenery was wonderful. Just like the Africa you see in the Lion King :). In the evening I was so beat, because I go to bed here at about 9 but when we got back to Ronald's house, they informed us that they were taking me out dancing. So I experienced African dancing. It's pretty mellow but very cool. On Sunday we went to an alligator and ostrich farm. This was a great time. We are enjoying their food and many aspects of their culture.

Sorry that I can not post photos just yet. I have to wait to burn them onto a cd and then put them on here cause they won't go straight from my camera.

Please keep my ankle in your prayers. Thank you so much.

Soweto Slums in Nairobi

2005-09-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day in Nairobi and we visited the slums that Courtney will be teaching at. It is a great place in among all of the very sad slums. The children were so excited to see white people and when Jon and I walked in they all ran to us to shake our hands and touch us. It was all I could do to not cry and then to top off the emotional part of it for me they all sang 3 songs to us to welcome us. One had the lyrics, "Welcome, Welcome, we are happy to meet you". I had to hold in tears many times today. It is just so surreal and the worst conditions I have ever seen. I want to save the world but it gets kind of overwhelming at times. But God is doing great things through Bible Fellowship Ministries which is the ministry that the Wafula's started.
We live with a Kenyan family, Bishop Victoria, Mama Mary and their 12 wonderful children ranging in ages from 25 to 2 years of age. It's been a great experience so far and it's only been one day, so I can only imagine that it will be so much better.

Sorry I don't have a photo to post. I can't figure it out today and our driver is waiting for us.

Thank you to Staples

2005-09-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Today we were so blessed by Staples in Abbotsford. They donated supplies for us to take to the orphanages. Thanks to Staples we are able to bring: colouring books, crayons, felts, pens, paper and pencils.
Thank you for your help. Kenya appreciates it!

Wool and Books

2005-09-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today is the the big day, departure day! My one big suitcase is full to the brim with books and 13 huge rolls of wool so that I can make the children scarves. I know it's Africa but in the mountain villages it gets much cooler and they will be able to use them.

See you all in 3 months. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. We love you all very much.

Preparing for the next journey

2005-09-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

We are thrilled to inform you all that we will be leaving for Kenya on Monday September 19 (in 2 days!), after a couple of obstacles where conquered. Since I broke my silly ankle one week before leaving for Costa Rica our timeline changed a little bit. I had to wait the full 6-7 weeks before the cast could come off and then had to wait for one week after the cast was off before we could leave for Kenya. My doctor called the other day and said that my ankle isn't fully healed and therefore I have to be really careful in Kenya. If you could pray for the healing of my ankle, I would really appreciate it. God is bigger! So we are off. Just have to pack the suitcases haha. I know we are a bunch of procrastinaters, but that's what we do best. I will gladly write again as soon as we are in Nairobi and let you know what we are doing. Thank you for your interest in our journey.
Love Courtney and Jon Krause

Beaches on the Carribean coast

2005-09-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

This was the last beach that we visited. It was also on the Carribean side in a town called Puerto Viejo.

2005-09-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

This was the black sand beach in Cahuita, on the Carribean coast.

Volcano Arenal

2005-09-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

This was a photo of Volcano Arenal. It is the 3rd most active volcano in the world. It was often covered by a cloud so this was a great time to show off the volcano when the clouds had parted for a little while.

Zip Line Adventures

2005-09-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Jon on the cable, just about to be pushed off!

2005-09-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken on our zip line adventure. We are harnessed to a cable that is above the canopy of the forest. There are 11 cables in total and they range in length and height. The longest cable was 2500 feet long and the highest was 500 feet high. You just soar through the canopy of the forest and through the canopy tunnels as well. It was a blast.

Beaches on the Pacific Coast

2005-09-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

This was the 2nd beach that we went to on the Pacific coast. The name of the town was Samara. This photo was taken from our beach front bungalow. It was the coolest accomadation that we got to stay in.

2005-09-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

This beach was on the Pacific coast and the town was called Montezuma.

We're home!

2005-08-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. We arrived into Seattle tonight and safely back to Abbotsford. I am so excited that I remembered my password and username (because I could never read anything on this website because it was all in Spanish) and can now post some great pictures for you to enjoy. Thank you for reading about our adventures and your interest in our lives. We really appreciate it.

No Sleep

2005-08-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived in Costa Rica on July 31st at 10 pm so we decided to sleep in the airport rather than venturing into San Jose in the dark. Court managed to get a lot of sleep, surprise surprise and Jon did not. Then at 5:30 am we went to the bus station and caught a 6 am bus to Punteranus and then a 2 hour ferry and another 2 hour bus ride until we finally arrived in Montezuma. It is a beach town, very laid back and relaxed. In the past 24 hours we slept for 18 hours haha. We slept from 2-9pm and then had dinner and then from 10 pm until 9 am this morning we slept as well. Well it is off to the beach.