Our first meeting with World Hope!

Chris and I had our meeting last night with World Hope and are really excited! I took a bunch of notes, and thought you might be interested in seeing where we'll be, what we'll be doing, etc. I have included a tentative schedule below, along with website references so you can see what we're doing! Love you all! Thanks for praying. We will be staying at Karen Holiday Homes http://www.karenholidayhomes.com/ which is off the beaten path and about 20 minutes from the Hope Center. It is very safe, clean and does have a pool, if interested. A washing machine is available in the house. Wireless internet capabilities are available at the house as well as at various restaurants so for at least the first week, we can update you here. Tentatively, the schedule while we are with World Hope is as follows: Sunday we will go to church (1-½ -2 hours) and sort medications to prepare for our upcoming clinics. Monday we will go into the slums and make “house calls.” We will call on these people later in the week to check in on them, as well. Tuesday - Thursday we will be having clinic with occasional breaks for such things as watching the children perform music at their schools, watching the national “football“ team sponsored by World Hope, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Hope, the giraffe park http://www.africanmeccasafaris.com/kenya/nairobi/excursions/giraffecenter.asp, etc. If you have not seen the movie “Out of Africa” watch it. Evidentally it was filmed here. Chris will be doing "doctor" stuff here, and I will be working alongside him, as well as volunteering in the local orphanage (which if you know me, you know my dream has always been to serve in an orphanage in Africa - I couldn't be more excited!). Friday morning we will go to the Safari National Park http://www.africanmeccasafaris.com/kenya/safaris/parks/nairobipark.asp, Our mini-safari is just a few hours and should be over by noon. We will then leave for a small village where we'll be spending the remaining two weeks. Chris and the other two doctors will be doing clinics. While I'll be helping out in the clinics some, I will also be helping out with daily life - milking cows, hauling water, washing clothes by hand, cooking, entertaining the local children, etc. We're really excited to be staying in someone's personal home and living traditional village life first hand! Many of the homes there are traditional mud huts with dirt floors, etc. The family that we are staying with does live in such a home. They have, however, built a cinderblock home on their property where they host any mission families that come. This is where we will be staying. There is no running water from what I understand, and may or may not be electricity. They cook all of their food in a "smoke house" next to their house and I hear we'll be eating a lot of goat...hmm... We will be walking 1-2 miles each day through the mud (we have to get special "gum boots" that go up to our knees to do this) to get to the clinic on top of a plateau where this village is located with all dirt/mud roads. Between the hiking and goat-eating, I think I'll be losing some weight! Ha! It will be so interesting and I can't wait to share our stories with you. I'm sure our lives will never be the same. Thanks for continuing to pray with us! We'll keep you updated!