40. Kenya Adventure Starts with German Accent!

July 9 - 17, 2016

Below are entries from our "Tagebuch" - daily journal - at the start of our 1 week Kenya vacation from 9. - 16. July. We've split the adventure into two posts -- the first half of the week was at the white sand beach resort at Diani Beach. We stayed at the Diani Sea Lodge which is owned by a German family. The second half of the week was a mix of safari in two parks and visiting friends and places in Meru to show them to Naomi and Isaac. (John and Ruth Ann have both been there with mission teams in 2015 and 2011, respectively.)

9. July, Samstag – departure from Kigali at 6:30pm

9:10pm – arrival at Mombasa airport – customs, passport check, ATM to get shillings doesn’t work. Found our taxi driver (eventually).

10:30pm arrival at Diana Sea Lodge. They allowed us to sit in the dining room and have a warm dinner. Rooms are 2 nice rooms in little “rowhouses”. J&RA’s faces the ocean. N&I’s has a double bed and a single bed in a small separate bedroom. Everything is salt water. The drinking water is in a thermos in the bathroom for brushing teeth. We are delighted with the fact that most of the guests are German and all of the staff speak German! Announcements, signs and menus are all given in English and German! Many German-esque touches pervaded the experience at Diana Sea Lodge making it an absolute joy for all four of us!

Sonntag – (10. Juli) Beautiful sunshine on the white sandy beach. Kenyan ‘friends” always join you when you go walking (like Isaac did) or running (like Ruth Ann and Naomi did). One Kenyan befriended Isaac during his beach walk and Isaac bought a carved coconut bird-feeder from him. Pool aerobics. Beach volleyball. Beach soccer. Pool swimming (especially Naomi). Walk to Diani Sea Resort on the beach – bought SIM cards – got free drink. Water polo. Kaffee u. Kuchen.(coffee and cake) Lesen u. schlafen.(reading and sleeping) Abendessen(dinner) at 7:30, and at 9:00 there was a quiz game on the terrace. Had to end punctually at 10 so that soccer fans could watch the Euro championship game – France vs. Portugal. Portugal won (upset) 1 – 0 in extra time.

Montag – (11. Juli) Running on the beach (with Kenyan friends, including a man in Masaai clothing. Maybe authentic?) Ruth Ann - water aerobics II. Then Swahili class. Family darts game.  2 – 4pm we went on an excursion in the

glass bottom boat. This was a fun way to enjoy the ocean. We walked with “captain JJ” a few hundred meters down the beach where the boat picked us up – bus-stop style. We were the last of a group of about 20 on the boat,. We all sat on the benches, one long bench on either side of the “3 screen TV” windows on the boat’s bottom. It works quite well for observing the ocean floor comfortably. I have to say, it seemed a little drab. Even when we were seeing choral, it seemed rather sandy and brown – not the bright colors one sees in some photos of choral reefs. This makes me worried that Kenya’s choral reefs are dying. One guide jumped out of the boat and swam underneath (while we were stopped) to attract bright colored fish with bits of bread. Then he brought up live starfish with their bright red beaded ridges, sea urchins of the soft prickly kind and the ones with 5 – 8’ long spikes that sting. Then we motored out to the sandbar where other tourists were already disembarking from their tourist boats. We enjoyed a windy, sunny walk on the sand bar, then donned our snorkeling equipment and had a great time snorkeling together – finding starfish, choral and other sea life “on our own”!

In the evening, after dinner, there was Maasai dancing (and selling – Isaac bought a shield). Three of us got to dance on stage with them, while John took photos. Much jumping and hooting, and we admired their sandals made of recycled tires! Isaac had a nice time talking with a young couple from Germany (in German) about travels in Africa – national parks, bungee jumping, etc. Evening, Naomi and John shopped for a souvenir at the shop on the beach. Lessons in negotiations.

Dienstag (12. Juli) Running on the beach – not so many Kenyan friends. Just one other Kenyan runner. John got a massage. A little too cool for water aerobics. Did some reading poolside instead. Took naps. Naomi was Ruth Ann’s swim coach for a short bit (improved my butterfly dramatically) then Ruth Ann took a nice swim in the ocean. Isaac played bocce ball. Family bocce ball game on the beach later in the afternoon. 3pm Naomi and Isaac both played water polo for about an hour. Naomi picked up her custom-made souvenir of a “hakuna mata” sign. Then she played ping-pong with Mom. Mom, John & Naomi played mini golf, then John went running. There was an evening cocktail party before dinner where the management described their interactions with the “beach boys” (they said they are allowed to talk to us as tourists as long as they are polite) and they described their community support projects (in English and German) – a training school for secretaries and support for desks for a primary school. After dinner, Isaac played pool.

Wed., 13 July – had to be up early – breakfast at 6:45, a quick “good-bye” walk and photos on the beach. Then we were in the red Toyota taxi with Mbaluka being whisked through the streets of Diani, Upunto, the ferry town (name) and then through the rough-and-tumble streets of Mombasa and a major construction zone on the way to the MOI Airport. Ruth Ann paid special attention to the many trucks loaded with containers, Unifreight shipyards, etc. This is the territory coffee must get through – somehow – on its way to destination ports.

39. Nyungwe Rain Forest Adventure

June 11 - 13, 2016
This weekend we had a beautiful 3 day, 2 night trip to Rwanda's Nyungwe National Forest and Wildlife Reserve. It was magical! We left Kigali early Saturday morning, arriving in Huye at the perfect time for a perfect macchiato at Cafe ConneXion.

We continued our travel into the Nyungwe Forest. Naomi's reaction was what I had hoped for. As we drove into the forest she could sense the change in the altitude, the "deepness" of the green, green forest, the steepness of the mountains, the wetness in the air. You can tell you have driven into an awesome rain forest and Naomi was very excited!

We arrived at the visitors center and were welcomed by Rebecca Hiemstra and her companion, (Alphonse)? They helped get our car parked safely and then we were hiking down the mountain, a 45 min - 1 hour hike, to the village of Banda. We saw monkeys in the tall cedar trees. We were awed by the pine forest. We were careful on the slippery, steep parts of the path! It got hotter and hotter as we descended into the valley.

The evening was an enjoyable mix of making dinner in an outdoor kitchen with a charcoal stove. Rebecca is an expert and had pre-arranged everything. But a "quick trip" to the market to buy a few vegetables provided an incredible glimpse into village life. Naomi, we soon found, was an instant celebrity with a papparazi group (minus cameras and asking questions) of at least 20 - 30 children at all times!

The next morning we were going to the Anglican church. We had to arrive early because Rebecca was the guest preacher (in Kinyarwandan)! After we arrived, we were told we would also be sitting up front, behind the altar, with Rebecca and the pastor! The large church was packed. There were probably 300 people there. 6 'districts' were represented, and each district seemed to sit together in certain rows. There were also 6 choirs! Rebecca's sermon was great (I could tell, even though I could not understand the words) and the choirs and other events of the service kept everything lively. Of course, it finished with frenzied dancing and singing with joy in
the aisles. Banda people love to give praise to God!

At this point we had to start our journey up the mountain so that we would reach our car by 4pm. Isaac and I took the 2 hour hiking mode. (Isaac could have done it in 1 without his slow mom.) And we enjoyed getting to know our guide, a long-time friend of Rebecca's. John and Naomi got to come up the mountain (with our luggage) on two motorcycles! Naomi's first time on a moto!

After arriving at our car, we drove to the Eastern edge of the forest to Kitabe, where there is a university center that offers lodging and a restaurant for tourists. Much to Isaac's delight, they even had a flat screen TV for watching the Germany vs. Ukraine soccer game in the European championship series!

The next morning we drove back into the forest to start our "canopy walk adventure" at the beautiful Umwinka Visitors Center. It is an impressively constructed and organized center. Truly worth a visit. And the canopy walk with two other visitors from the US and France. Our guide was a wonderfully knowledgeable man, as all our guides in national parks here have been. They are true professionals.

After the the park visit, we started our journey home. We stopped in Huye for a late lunch with Eran, our new-found friend. We even zipped off to Cafe ConneXion for a proper espresso after ordering our meal and made it back to the restaurant (where Isaac was waiting) before the food came. We've got the system down!

38. John Returns from the US

May 30, 2016
Happy Memorial Day! John got back from his 2 week trip to the US today. The trip was timed to allow him to attend some meetings that were important for his clients, so that makes it a "business trip." But a major objective was also to spend time with Noah. We have been feeling pretty guilty as parents for being so far away as Noah graduated from UofM (on Dec. 22nd) and then transitioned to his new job with Ford in Memphis, TN. These are pretty momentous milestones!

John also took the opportunity to visit as many family and friends as he could. We hope people still remember us and we have friends when we get home in August! He also visited Naomi's school. It was such a joy to see the photos of the many wonderful Rwandan things Naomi's classmates made to show what they had learned about Rwanda and to display at the school's big end-of-year-party which is "Multi-cultural Night".

Welcome home, honey!

John with kids and "bag of goodies from the US."

5th-6th Graders at Ann Arbor display the Rwandan symbol (note it includes a coffee branch).

The students did a great job making Imigongo art!

37. Violin recital, International Marathon and More!

Sunday, May 22                                        
John has been in Michigan for a week now. It was a week ago that we took him to the airport and he boarded a plane with a bunch of people from the World Economic Forum that had just completed its 3 day conference in Kigali. He was with Noah this weekend. He will continue "week 2" of business meetings around the state this week and fly back to us on May 29-30.

It has been a joy this weekend to have Rebecca Hiemstra and her friend from Banda, Francine, here with us in Kigali. Rebecca actually came from Goma (DR Congo) on Tuesday night and stayed here with Naomi and Isaac while I went out to a washing station for three days. That place is about 3 hours from Kigali. The work at the washing station went well. When I got back on Saturday we went to Naomi's favorite cafe-for-foreigners, "J. Lynn's." We treated Rebecca and Francine to bagels & cream cheese and freshly squeezed lemonade.  That evening we played a wild game of hide-n-seek around our house -- Isaac, Naomi, Rebecca, Francine, Simiyon (our guard) and me! Then

this morning was Kigali's International "Peace Across Borders" marathon. Rebecca and Francine ran the half marathon.  It was fun to be on the sidelines and enjoy some of the excitement. I especially enjoyed seeing the front-runners (mostly Kenyans) when they were near the finish. Reminded me of when I saw the Kenyans run the Honolulu marathon.

This afternoon (Sunday) was Naomi's violin recital. It was at the lovely home of the American woman who started and runs J. Lynn's cafe. Turns out her daughter takes lessons from the same private music teacher who teaches Naomi. Naomi did a wonderful job being confident (something she's found to be a challenge at past recitals) and her 3 pieces sounded beautiful (at least to her mother!) The student with whom Naomi played a duet was named Caitlin (like Naomi's

cousin) and there was another student named Naomi there and a mom named "Ruth" from Germany with a daughter named Noemi! Very surprising! Rebecca and Francine came along, too, which was really nice, because John couldn't be there and Isaac didn't want to go.

[author: Ruth Ann]

Enjoying a bagel and cookies at J. Lynn's cafe.

Rebecca negotiating at the tailoring booth at Kimironko market.

36. Six month mark

April 24, 2016

It’s hard to believe that nearly 6 months have passed since we left Ann Arbor! Since saying farewell to friends and family last Fall, we have managed to get settled into our lives and routines here in Rwanda.

Life in equatorial Africa has a different rhythm than the Midwest of the USA. Seasons are now defined by the amount of rain we receive, rather than by temperatures, falling leaves, budding flowers, and blowing snow! Temperatures here range from the upper 60s at night to around 90 during the day, with most days in the 72-86 degree range. Sunshine abounds, and the trees and grass are always green.

Rwanda is known as the “Land of a 1000 Hills,” and we can confirm that this country has virtually no flat ground, except along some river basins in the valleys. Agriculture is the primary economic activity here, and the hills are absolutely covered with crops, including maize, banana, beans, potatoes, cassava, sugarcane, rice, coffee and tea.

We live in the capital city of Kigali. Even with a population of over 1 million, and development happening at impressive speeds, there are still plots of land used by residents to grow their essentials. Ruth Ann and our guard, Simeon, have managed to cultivate and plant a fairly successful garden in a portion of our property that is essentially an unused driveway. The soil quality on our property is very poor, but things are still growing.

Isaac and Naomi have just 5 weeks of school left. For Isaac, this third term of the school year, which started at the end of February, is all about preparing for and taking the Cambridge IGCSE exams. There is virtually no new material taught in the 3^rd term. Rather, teachers spend class time “revising” previously taught material, so students can be ready for the nearly month-long exam period. Isaac made the honor roll for the 2^nd term (his first term here), and he seems to be ready to do well on the exams in May.

Naomi also made the honor roll last term, even after being promoted from 5^th to 6^th grade after the Christmas holiday. She is doing well in the new class, and aims to be one of the top performers in her class this term. Outside of school, Naomi is taking violin lessons, spending time with friends and passing time reading books. She has taken a bit of an interest in running, which in this part of the world is more demanding than in Michigan (altitude and hills are the biggest challenges!).

John has devoted a lot of time to working on consulting projects for his Michigan clients. His plan to work with the local water utility in Kigali fell apart after the utility decided they needed a full-time person working for 2 years on the project, rather than a part-time person for 9 months. He has had a few conversations with local non-profits, who might be interested in his experience in local government and water utility issues.

Peak season (for coffee) has started! The coffee cherries are coming in to the 250 washing stations that dot the mountainsides. So Ruth Ann has been crazy busy with related items for the MSU project that brought us here, as well as efforts to grow her coffee importing and coffee consulting business. Selling consulting services to local coffee companies is proving more challenging than first imagined, so Ruth Ann is doing some independent research and visiting coffee washing stations to develop a better understanding of where she could best apply her skills in the coffee value chain.

[Note: in May Ruth Ann realized part of the problem to selling services like "lean training." There is an ingrained culture in Rwanda and other African countries that the trainer must pay the trainees to spend time in the classroom. It's bad enough that there is an assumption that all training is free, but add to that the expectation that all trainees will receive a per diem, sometimes as much as $10/day, and you can see why very little training happens and when it happens (with per diems paid), it is only marginally appreciated therefore it's impact is greatly reduced.]

We enjoyed a visit from Noah in January. He was stressed while here, as he was waiting for final grades and final acceptance from Ford for a job in the sales division. All has worked out for him, and he is now living in Memphis, TN. He is responsible for sales to all Ford dealership service departments in the state of Arkansas. He’s only been there 2 weeks, so he is still not entirely familiar with the work and territory. If anyone has experience living in Memphis, please let us know. Noah has so far found it very difficult to adapt to living in that area. He doesn’t know anyone there, and the culture is vastly different than what he is familiar with. Any tips to help him adjust would be appreciated! He hopes to be there only one year, but his assignment may go 2 years.

Locally, we have managed to see some of the country, and we hope to see more after school is out. We spent a few days at a lake resort in Gisenyi, which is on Lake Kivu, right on the border with DRC. Noah, Isaac, Naomi and Ruth Ann spent a few days in Musanze, visiting Volcanoes National Park. Noah and Isaac hiked to the top of Mount Bisoke (exhausting and muddy). They were lucky enough to see some gorillas on their hike. Naomi and Ruth Ann visited Rosamond Carr’s homestead and took a hike to see the Golden Monkeys. John stayed home to work on projects those days. We all travelled together to visit Akagera National Park, where we saw lots of baboons, some elephants, hippopotamus, bird, velvet monkeys and other wildlife.

Two weeks ago we were in Uganda for a few days. Rwanda was essentially shut down for the annual Genocide Memorial week. Many expats take the time to leave the country to visit other places. We were amazed as we drove through Rwanda to the Uganda border and saw not a single business open. The road was practically all ours, as Rwandans were meeting in their local villages to discuss the genocide, and learn about preventing future genocides.

[Author: John]

35. Uganda Vacation - Isaac Bungee Jumps!

April 7 - 12, 2016
This week was Genocide Memorial Week (GMW) in Rwanda. The schools are closed and businesses are all closed for the first day or two, and then they are only allowed to open for a half day for the other days. No alcohol is served in the restaurants. It's a very solemn time. And one that we felt we would have difficult participating in -- so we took a family vacation. We drove north to Uganda.

John spent many days researching possibilities and coming up with an itinerary. We knew there would be a lot of hours of driving, and sure enough -- it was a loooooooot of driving. To make things worse, because of some crazy Google maps, GMW, and a torrential downpour, it took us an hour just to get out of Kigali. The first day ended up being about 12 hours of driving -- from Kigali to Entebbe, Uganda. The kids were great. Very patient and did not complain. Even at the very rustic road-side toilet stops!

In Entebbe, we stayed at the wierdly cavernous, but nice, "Sanctum Hotel". Sight-seeing here included the botanical garden and a fun zoo. We hired a guide at the garden, who did a nice job showing us the flora and fauna. At the zoo we passed on the guide, and were entertained by the many animals in "close to real" kind of settings for zoo captivity. For example, the chimpanzees and "big cats" were all in open spaces -- just with big fences. No windows and cement floors for them to live on like I'm used to seeing in U.S. zoos.

After two nights at Sanctum, we drove further north about 3 hours to Jinja. Again, the trip could have been 2 hours, but with Kampala traffic as jammed as it always is, it took 3 hours.

Jinja likes to call itself the "source of the Nile." (Rwandans disagree, and say Lake Kivu is the source of the Nile.) In any case, it was fun to stay at a guest house called the "Source of the Smile". (It was not a dentist office!) It had fun and interesting decor all made with things from nature and recycled things like wine bottles and all sorts of tiles and pieces of mirrors. Had a bit of a hippie-70's feel.

The first night we went to dinner at "The Keep", a restaurant in Jinja that Isaac selected from his research on-line. It was great! We all enjoyed it. They had great espresso drinks, a "15 minute" menu and nice wait staff.

The next day, (Sunday), in the morning we just hung out at the lovely guest house pool. John, unfortunately, was feeling pretty ill due to some bad food, so we took off for the afternoon, leaving him to convalesce in bed. That's when we took Isaac to the bunjee jumping place. Oh my! The staff there were obviously experienced in helping people, probably many mothers, be at peace with paying $125 to have their child thrown over a ledge!  Seriously, I was scared. But Isaac wasn't. So we paid, he got weighed, and then they took him out to this crane-like apparatus, 44 meters above the river. He jumped! It was pretty amazing! A small raft-boat was right there to pick him up and in a matter of about 10 minutes he was back -- all smiles and laughs. He wanted to go again!  (Mom said "no".)

From there we drove up the river a ways to a place that offered kayaking and stand-up paddling. Naomi and I got a 2 person kayak and Isaac tried out a stand-up paddle boat. It was beautiful, calm and had a kind of "secluded" feeling out on the river. Since they built a damn on the river, it is very wide and calm, almost like a lake, but there is definitely still a current. Naomi enjoyed it a lot, and Isaac did, too. Even though he actually found a way to nap for awhile on his stand-up boat.

That night the three of us went out to eat without John, who still did not feel well. The next day he felt much, better, though -- thank you God! We all went into town and spent way too much on souvenirs, including some snacks at the "The Source" cafe (started by an acquaintance of John's). That day, Monday, we drove from Jinja to Kampala. And on Tuesday, we woke up very early to beat the traffic jams, and got out of Kampala by 7am. We got home to Kigali around 5pm! Much better timing on the way back.

34. Multicultural Festival at Isaac's High School

April 2, 2016

West African face paint at Green Hills Multicultural Festival

Isaac prepared pancakes, syrup and home-baked tortilla chips as his contribution to the Multicultural Festival at Green Hills Academy. It was bigger than I expected with the large gymnasium housing about 10 different countries, including the large Rwanda "area", which included three grass huts and a line of about 10 djembe drums. Spilling out on the the grassy hillside outside the gymnasium were more countries - India, Australia/New Zealand, Kenya, West Africa, Uganda. It had a bit of an "ice cream social" feel, as you had to buy tokens which in turn are used for food.

Poster for the Multicultural Festival

There were such delicious options for food! The France group had everything: croissants, baguettes, many quiches and an entire creperie set-up by the Kimi Gourmand restaurant. The Germany group had authentic pastries and breads from the La Gallette bakery in town -- Americaner, Berliner, Apfelkuchen, Dunkelbrot and real whole-grain Broetchen! Not surprisingly, we were very attracted to this one and spent a fair amount of time as family there. Well -- minus Isaac. Isaac seemed to dissolve into the woodwork soon after Ruth Ann brought him at 10am. He dropped off the things he had made and started tossing the football with some friends inside the gym, and then he disappeared. The Polish booth was interesting, too. They had a fascinating story about a Polish man who biked the length of the African continent in the 1930's and even had photos of him meeting the last Rwandan king.

With Naomi's friend, Aisha, and Eric, a master's student from Ruth Ann's project.

But what was truly fun for us was the fact that the constellation of countries represented was so different than what one would see in the US. Burundi and Congo had substantial booths. Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia had a joint-booth with great food, authentic clothing, photos, crafts. Kenya, Uganda and India had very large and elaborate booths. It felt much more like I was learning something and seeing new things than I usually feel at these types of events.

The finale of the program was the Rwandan dancing. The large troupe of young people had obviously trained well. The enthusiasm and energy of the large audience of parents and siblings watching the dancing, singing and drumming was what really got the excitement level high. In terms of music, it was also treat to hear the Green Hills band play Michael Jackson's "Thriller"!  John and I were the only ones in our group who could really appreciate that one! Didn't get that one taped, unfortunately. The video below is a snippet of their rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In." One of the few American tunes that probably has been enjoyed more than "Thriller"!