The Countdown Begins....

It’s been quite a few days since I last posted. The root cause of this silence was an internet outage for 30+ hours starting Sunday evening. My motivation to write a blog post left with the internet, and I lapsed into my normal habit of doing a poor job of keeping people up-to-speed on my life. I will try to remember the highlights of the week, but I’m likely to forget some things (not that you’ll ever know…).

I have been going to the lab every day this week, with today being my last day in the lab. Ruth and Ezekiel have been telling me all week how much they are going to miss me being around. On Wednesday Ruth had us over to her place and cooked us lunch. Her accommodations were in what is the closest thing to an apartment complex though it looked a little more like a hotel where all the room’s outside doors face into a common courtyard. The room itself was approximately 12’x14’ with a very small entryway and two side rooms/closets (think walk-in closet size). One of these rooms what utilized as a closet and one was a kitchen. She served us githeri which consists of maize, beans, and potatoes. She has a 2 year old daughter who was very well behaved, but didn’t know what to think about my white skin. She didn’t cry, but she wasn’t very enthusiastic about being held by me. She did, however, like my pen.

On Tuesday evening, I believe, we lost power for 1-2 hours. It was pitch-dark. I kept myself entertained by reading by a very small flashlight.

I’m really struggling to think of other things that have happened. Basically, I’ve been really busy with making final preparations with the project before I return to the US.

Today, while walking home I met a young college student. He struck up a conversation and insisted on walking me home since I was his friend. He is an orphan and has been paying his own way through school. As a result, he asked me to talk to my friends in the US to see if they would sponsor him by paying his school fees or give him a job in the US. We traded contact information, but he was much more excited about the conversation than I was. I told him I couldn’t promise anything, but that I would certainly be praying for him, which he appreciated. I suspect he’ll contact me at some point, but who knows.

Tomorrow, I will be going with Isaac for a meeting with some of our filter entrepreneurs. This weekend we are traveling to his home in Nakuru and will visit various places in that area (Nakuru National Park, Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogaria). I am very much looking forward to the trip. Monday-Wednesday with consist of meetings with the health promoters and the students that are sampling before departing. I’ll try to post on the blog sometime after the weekend, but it will not be very high on my list of priorities.

-Steven