So, we made it to Mombasa without any glitches. Even though we had to get our bags between two of our flights and then re-check them, we didn’t miss any of our connections, which we were very thankful for. We arrived to a taxi driver waiting for us with a small car. Then he opened the trunk to try to fit one or two of our four suitcases inside, and it was full of baskets. So we sat ourselves in the car, and then stuffed suitcases and baskets all around us for the drive to the hotel. It was very humorous, and we might have giggled the whole way if it wasn’t for the extreme poverty we watched out our window on the drive.

After we checked in and wandered around the hotel for awhile, Bobby and Lisa Bechtel came from church with their two boys and we went out to lunch to get to know them a little. We ate at a restaurant on the beach, and there were actually camels sitting on the beach which you could apparently get a ride on.

We were all very weary, and went back to the hotel for a nap, which turned into the night for most of us! Then we got up this morning for our first day at the Tumaini Children’s Home.
We started out with three of us “tiling”. This was really cleaning the tile in the bathrooms and the hallways. Sue, Kelly and Katie Sue got to do this. Betsy was sent to the laundry “room” to fold clothes. This is an open air laundry room, so you get to enjoy fresh air and a breeze while you work. While we were working, all the kids except for the three babies went across the street to school. After cleaning/folding for an hour and a half, we were brought to the day room to see the babies. Sue and Kelly went across to the preschool to help out because one of the little girls was not feeling well. After taking her to the doctor a couple hours later, it turned out she has both malaria and pneumonia. Katie Sue and Betsy played with Salma; a very fiesty 15 month old. We got to play with the preschoolers before lunch, eat lunch with all the kids, and then play with them all for an hour or so before they went back to school. The babies took turns waking up and getting held and fed. Lillian is 8 months, and Michelle is 2 months. We’re trying to figure out how to fit some of these kiddos into our suitcases on the way home already! We topped off our day at the orphanage with a visit with the founder, Miss Joan. She is a sweet lady who is doing what she can (in her retirement years) to make a difference in the lives of these children. It was neat to hear her story and hear her passion for truly “the least of these” here in Kenya.

We are all looking forward to seeing them all again tomorrow.