Heading to Kenya Now!

I am headed to Kenya to work in and with a girl’s school, three hours outside Nairobi. It is the first of several trips to this school.

I am sure I will learn plenty, just by watching and listening, key aspects of this trip. Of course, I am bringing some gifts and items for the students. But this trip is designed for me to experience the setting and culture and timber of this school, before I offer suggestions. I think that matters: one can’t just parachute into a place and offer stock suggestions, regardless of one’s pre-existing expertise.

Hopes

I have four modest hopes for this trip, hopes that I will comment upon when I return in early March. Let’s see how it goes. Let’s see if the hopes materialize.

1. I hope I can absorb some Maasai culture, finding ways to understand their rich history and present challenges;

2. I hope I learn some Swahili so I can express thanks and gratitude with ease and perhaps engage a wee bit with students in their native tongue;

3. I hope I get some distance from my home nation and garner some new tools to help me process the debacles occurring with unfortunate speed in America; and

4. I hope I can imbibe the natural beauty of a place and breathe in its harmony.

There it is. Four hopes. Onward.