I arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at around 830 Saturday night local time. After making my way through the passport and visa line, I proceeded to baggage claim, but it was a quick stop because I didn't need to check bags. It appears that in all of my travels over the last few years I've learned how to pack light.
I proceeded out of baggage claim and came into a large area where there were dozens of people holding signs and looking for people who were arriving. And then I saw a Nuru International sign being held by a young Kenyan man named Julius Nyamohanga. Julius works for Nuru Kenya and has an amazing story (which I will probably share in a future post. We hung out together for about an hour while we waited for the rest the team from the US to arrive.
They got in around 1015pm and together we drove to a nearby apartment for a late meal and attempted to sleep. I think I finally fell asleep around 2am, but woke up at 415am to travel to a bus staging area in efforts to get a seat on the bus heading to Kuria. The bus we traveled on said Kenyan Airways on the outside (this one was obviously re-commisioned from an airport bus to be our source of travel but it was an incredibly appropriate name. We FLEW to Kuria. A trip that usually takes 6-8 hours only took us about five. And we hit a few bumps along the way that sent us airborne. Every time we hit a bump and the bus (and we) went into the air, Julius and I would look at each other, laugh, and say Kenyan Airways.
As I mentioned, we did make it to Kuria in pretty amazing time, but the whole experience has been pretty surreal. I hope to share more stories tomorrow-the work that is happening here is utterly amazing. I believed in what Nuru was doing before, but I have to tell you that everything I have seen and heard has utterly exceeded my already high expectations.
Thanks for reading, and I hope to share more soon!
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