Amboseli National Park

After a very wonderful, but intense week at Mercy Care Centre School, we piled in our three beloved vans with the world’s best drivers and headed for Amboseli National Park. We drove up to our safari camp, and oh my, we are in the lap of luxury! We grew fond of our monastery living at Amani Guest House last week, but the fabulous tents (tile bathrooms bigger than ours at home) and variety of food here made us a bit crazy! We are not only eating marvelous food, we have had two game drives so far that produced hundreds of elephants, scores of zebra, lions, giraffe, a hippo, many gazelle, hyena, warthogs and tons of birds. It is thrilling.

Back to the school…we feel like we had a very successful week at school. The children loved getting a picture of him or herself affixed to a little book we took for each of them with activities. It was a real feat, organizationally and technically to photograph 750 students and keep all the classes straight and then hand them out. The Form Three students (11th grade – 72 in one class!) wrote memoir stories and eight were turned into plays. The subject matter ranged from a fire that swept through the slum, killing and injuring many, to a near rape to a divorce in the family to being an orphan to a revenge murder in the neighborhood to fighting off intruders to having a dream of getting an education and coming to Nairobi to school. These kids live a rough life, but their spirits prevail in such an inspirational way. We have all been very moved. Students in Form Two read a book called Keisha’s House which is American and also deals with kids in rough circumstances. It is written in sonnets and sestinas, so the students did their own versions. They are amazingly smart and talented. (Could our 10th graders pull that off in two days???)

The clinic saw well over 500 children, including some from the neighborhood. Above all, relationships were formed and friends were made and Mercy Care now has an expanded cheerleading squad – be prepared to hear about many other excellent experiences.

So as we nap and read and swim and gaze on phenomenal wildlife – oh, and did I mention that this is all with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background? – we think of our families and friends back home and appreciate this opportunity more than you can know.
Submitted by Miriam Sauls

Today, instead of sitting in our rooms like troglodytes, we ventured out into the African wild and, on the evening game drive with “King David” we were able to experience the wonders of lions, hippos, and baboons, OH MY! We spotted a troop of around 47 baboons, ranging from little bitty babies to grandpas. The babies were carried on the mom’s back, too cute! Our wonderful driver, King David, taught us many lessons on African culture and the ways of the game park – including a welcoming Kenyan song in Swahili. We’re off to bed to get ready for our 4 hour game drive tomorrow. Goodnight world! – Sarah, Gina and Meg

Mada Hotels Kilima Lodge at Amboseli