trips.schrull.us

Today was a day to explore Nairobi.  Peter, the driver I first met at the airport on Sunday, took me around the Nairobi area, including the city center and to two wild life refugees.    One is for orphaned baby elephants.   The other is for giraffes.   Although this was hardly a safari trip it was a pleasure to see these two creatures.    The baby elephants were cute in their own way.   They seemed to be in a low stress mode and liked being touched by the visitors.    The giraffes were simply elegant.    They are such a graceful creature.   

 

After visiting the two animal refugees we drove in the city center of Nairobi.    So what can I say.  A city is a city is a city.   It was busy, crowded and congested with traffic.   No surprise their.   Even so, it was good to see.   Kenya does seem to be a fairly progressive country in this part of the world.   They have a lot of paved roads and also highways around the city.   Even so, traffic is a big problem here.   Peter and I picked a time to travel around the city that would avoid the major commuter traffic hours so we would not get caught up in long lines of cars and grid lock traffic.

 

After driving through the city, Peter brought me to a popular restaurant for lunch.  It is called “Carnivore”.   As the title suggests, it all about meat.  Vegetarians need not come.  You won’t find anything on the menu you like.   In fact there is no menu.  You get soup, salad and meat; lots of meat!   The waiters come around to your table and carve pieces of meat for you.  Let’s see, there was beef, lamb, chicken, turkey and a few others that I can’t remember.   It was a big lunch for me, but I’m happy with that as I’ll probably not get much for dinner tonight.

 

 

I’m now back at the hotel at about 3:15 PM (7:15 AM East Coast US time).   I’ve got a late check out (7 PM) so I’m just taking it easy.   I’ll take a shower soon and take a nap to store up some energy for the long trip home.   I’m glad that this trip has gone along perfectly with no interruptions or drama.    I’m thankful to the Lord for giving me this opportunity to experience a little bit of Kenyan culture and to hopefully have an impact on the computer lab project at Bishop Okullu College.    

 

Bill

The time sure has gone by fast.   Of course I was only the Kisumu area for 4+ days.    I’m in Kisumu Int. Airport now, waiting for my flight to Nairobi.   It’s a short flight.  Only 50 minutes lift off to touch down.   When I get there, I’ll have a driver waiting for me to take me to the hotel.   One of the things I have found that is useful when traveling to East Africa is to befriend a good, reliable taxi driver.   They can end up being your best friend in times of travel stress and the like.    The driver’s name is Peter and he is friendly.  He made sure I got in and out of Nairobi on Sunday / Monday with no issues.     

 

Tomorrow I have a long day ahead of me.  My flight out of Nairobi is not until 10:45 PM to Dubai.    Fortunately, the hotel is giving me until 7 PM to check out with no extra charge.   Also, Peter is going to pick me up in the late morning (after the heavy traffic) to give me a tour around the Nairobi area.   I’ll pay him well for the experience.   It’s worth it.  These guys work awfully hard to eek out a living.   

 

Today was a very nice relaxing day.  I spent most of my time with David and his family at their home.   His children are wonderful.  They made me feel right at home.   We were able to talk about all kinds of things together and to share music.     David and I did spend a little while down town in Kisumu where we stopped buy their largest shopping center / mall and walked through the streets together.   

 

Overall I’m very please with how the trip has gone.   I’ve gotten a good idea of what their I.T. needs are at the college.  With some other specifications that David will send me soon, I should be able to put a recommendation together for them with some estimated costs of equipment and services they will need.   I praise God for the opportunity to serve our fellow christians here and hope that together will find the resources they need to complete their computer lab project.   Hey..  The Lord has done it before.   I’m sure He’ll do it again.

 

Bill

 

 

So finally I’m getting some time to write.  Actually, right now we are driving to Ramba to see a place where the British missionaries first setup their station in 1914. In the mean time, let me tell about some of what I’ve experienced in the last two days.   When I first arrived in Kisumu, I was met by Rev. David Kodia and this friend Ibrahim Odhiambo who is also a board member of the college.  Amongst other things we visited a small animal sanctuary in Kisumu along Lake Victoria.   I saw my first cheetah there.  Wow! They are a beautiful and elegant animal.   What was interesting was the view over the lake.  Rather than seeing water, it look like a lush green pasture of some type of green plant.  Apparently this plant is a weed that grows at an uncontrollable rate and actually flouts on the water.   As you can see in the picture, there is no open water in sight.   But interestingly enough, when the wind changes direction, it will all blow out and cover other areas on the lake.

 

Yesterday we visited Bishop Okullu College which is near the village of Kokise, about an hour away from Kisumu.  It is a rural area, so the local roads leading to the college are dirt roads.   The college is located on about 30 acres of land very close to the lake.   That’s helpful to be near the lake as it is very hot and dry there, but the breeze from the lake offers some welcome relief.  

 

At the college I met with two members of the board along with Prof. David and the school secretary.   We first toured around the  school and then looked at the current computer room and the old and failing equipment they have.  We next discussed the specifications of their computer and networking needs.   I gave them a description of two types of setups; traditional computer CPU stations (that is individual computers connected to a shared network with Internet access) and server / thin client networking.   We discussed the costs of both and in particular the cost and maintenance benefits of a server / thin client setup.   After meeting and speaking with the students, i next gave Prof. David and the Secretary a demostation of a thin client setup using my Macbook Air as the server (with a Windows 2016 Server VM running on it) and a Wyse thin client I brought with me.    Their needs definitely look like  they would be well satisfied with thin client technology with perhaps a few regular computer work stations for teaching about the computer technology itself.   We’ll have to see and decide on the best approach once I receive the full government sactioned computer technology course spec’s that they need to satisfy.

 

After visiting the adjoining high school we went to the Kodia’s residence which is in the nearby village of Bwaja.  We met up with his family who traveled their separately.   We had a relaxing evening together, sharing stories of our lives and our faith, along with listening to a selections of praise and worship songs I have on my iPhone.   

 

I have to say, I’ve been having a wonderful time here, enjoying the customary and overwelming East African hospitality.    

 

Jan 25th – Continued:

 

So today, we have been doing some more visiting of sites, people and places.   We started Ramba site that I mentioned about in the beginning of this post.   We then went to village of Kogelo where the grand mother of our now former president Obama lives. Her name is Mama Sara.   We briefly visited a pre-school that she has helped support.  Apparently she has been doing charitable work in the region for a very long time.  Long before her grandson became a US Senator.     We then went to her residence and visited with her for a short time.  

 

We are now traveling to Bondo to visit another school and a museum as well as having some lunch.   I’ll post more later to this page when we have completed our journey for today and have returned to Kisumu.

 

Until later, 

 

Bill