216/365

216/365, originally uploaded by britrosewhite.

Finally. The day we were to leave for Mombasa.

i woke up early (still can't seem to sleep more than 8 hours) and I decided I needed to wash my hair. The house that Amy, Faustin and I slept in was actually newer, so it didn't have a shower or a pit latrine built yet. Seems a little backwards, right? So our toilets were bushes and our showers were that spout up there. The first day we arrived I braided my hair to prepare it for the days ahead. The one time I showered I just put shampoo over my braids and rinsed it out. So by the last day...I was a little itchy. I was also tired of wearing the same dirty clothes for three days, but I figured, better not get nacked in the wide open.

So I washed my hair in the water that trickled out of this fountain. And I washed my face. I brushed my teeth with bottled water every morning, but missed the evenings. i washed my underarms with some moist toilettes. I can't believe I just typed moist toilettes. Sounds so gross.

Anyway, I was feeling pretty good. I even put on a long skirt to air my legs out a little. Faustin kept joking with me because I wanted to wear my running shorts so badly but I wasn't allowed to show my knees. He knew it killed me.

Then I took my chance while Faustin was still sleeping (he would never have let me go if he were awake), and I hiked to the other house by myself. The people staying there were only acquaintances, but I knew they'd have breakfast and it'd give me a chance to find out our plans for the day, plus talk with some other Cholas. They fed me bananas (yes!!), bread, and tea. It was so good. I love breakfast. They called me some local name since I'd hiked over by myself. I was starting to feel guilty, though, so I told them I'd go collect Amy (my "sister") and Faustin.

Of course by the time I got back the first thing Faustin said was, "I was worried about you!" He's such a good big brother. Don't worry mom and dad, he takes good care of us.

It took them about 45 minutes to get ready before we hiked back over. I had some more tea. I had a great conversations with one of the teenage daughters. We hiked out to a really pretty area and just talked and took pictures.

Then we waited some more. Pastor Chola had started another service at the other house! Turns out some people didn't get blessed the previous night. They started praying and didn't stop for another three hours. But finally they came to meet us.

Then we started praying again and one more person got blessed. The couple who lived in the house gave their thanks. They were so amazing and such a sweet couple. They were holding hands at the party and Miss Pauline told me that absolutely does not happen in Kenyan culture when you're that old.

They loved having their children there to visit. They said, "When you leave, the house is cold."

I talked with the lady of the house for awhile because she conducts the church choir. Before they retired to Taita, she and her husband lived and worked in Mombasa. She showed me pictures of her choirs and the awards they'd won. In Taita, there is a church just steps away from their house. You can hear the music. It was really beautiful. She conducts a ladies choir and a youth choir there.

She and her husband were so kind to us and so happy to have us there. We are some of the first white people to visit Taita. Pastor Chola is already talking about doing a youth camp there next year. Just a small two-day thing, maybe. I think it would be so amazing. Tough, but amazing. Youth would hike from very far away just to see the mzungos. We wouldn't even need a selling point. That's kind of crazy, right?

We ended up leaving around four. An hour down the mountain and we arrived and a bus stop where I drank a diet Coke, ate a Kit Kat, and enjoyed the feeling for flat land under my feet.

It was another 2 hours to Mombasa. We were down to one vehicle so there were 9 of us cramped together, but we made it work. It was dark when we got here and our rooms were over booked. So they offered us a free dinner and before we knew it, we were showering! And using toilets! Somehow I was not tired at all and stayed up enjoying the FREE WIFI (really unexpected) until around 1 AM. I only slept for five hours but I woke up sooo happy.

Do you know how awesome it is to be able to drink and eat all you want and not worry about the consequences later? Please, when you say your prayers today, thank God for modern plumbing.