Visit Up Country

Here in Kenya when someone is going traveling elsewhere in the countryside it is referred to as 'up-country.' It does not matter if it is north or south or wherever... it is still 'up-country.' Mind you as a muzungu (loosely translated as white person) I do seem to get made fun of when referring to 'up-country' because I am not visiting my home land. Nevertheless, I will not stop using the phrase because I think it is a fun colloquialism and sometimes it is nice to be vague in where you are traveling to. Ian's recent pre-business trip was just the right occasion to pull out my new phrase and go up-country with him to see a couple friends from DC who are serving in Eldoret, Kenya.

We left Nairobi around 4am to make the bumpy (and sometimes a little scary) trip up to Eldoret. We arrived in town around 9 and stopped into a local coffee shop to get some breakfast. Sadly, the local breakfast joint was out of juice, bacon, eggs, cheese, and pretty much everything else that is on the breakfast menu, so as Ian zoomed off to a series of meetings in the greater area i sat around consuming as much tea as I could reasonably consume until our friend Dasha came to meet me.

Seeing a familiar face here is always wonderful, and this was no exception. Dasha has been spending her time in Kenya volunteering with a drop-in center for street youth who have just recently become under great attack from the government of the area. Dasha has spent a lot of her time tending to dog bites from when the police set their attack animals on these kids and then any other wounds that are a result from the brutal beatings they receive from the police regularly. Sadly I showed up on Dasha's day off, so I didn't get to meet many of her new friends, but she did show me around to some of her favorite places.
First was the Imani Workshop which is a craft workshop and vocational program for HIV/Aids patients from the local teaching hospital that has international partners.
It was great to see another vocational program where the arts are really adding to people's lives in multiple ways. I always encouraged to know that wherever our giftings lie, there is always room to use them for the good of others and especially those in vulnerable situations.

After catching lunch with Dasha's husband Nate, and Ian we explored the center of Eldoret until Ian's meetings were done. When his work day was over and we had successfully checked in at our roach filled hotel, we headed to Ian's tourist point of choice... the local creamery and cheese making factory.
I don't know how many people have heard this about Ian and me, but we have in the last 6 months or so been working to hone our cheese making abilities. After our time in South Asia left us yearning for cheese that wasn't paneer, we took some of our 'limbo' time to figure out how to make a basic mozzarella and ricotta. The rest is history, as we have been happily making some home made cheese every once and a while for fun, and this interest in cheese sparked Ian's hope to tour this independent creamery.
Our guide Nancy gave us the quick tour of the place since we had come at the end of the day when production was ending. She kindly posed for a picture with us and we told her she should show her teeth when she smiles, because her toothy grin was stunning although she wouldn't go for it on camera.
Right as we got to the part of the tour where we get to taste a number of the cheeses there was a cloud burst. Seasons are pretty predictable around Nairobi.... it is dry or wet. Period. However, up-country this is not as much the case and random downpours do occur regularly.

Rain or no rain, we were determined to sample some cheese and try some of the full-cream in house ice cream. After some sampling of delicious ice cream and probably the best blue cheese I have ever savored, the damage was done and Ian did a little 'grocery shopping.' Good reasonably priced cheese is really difficult to find here, so when opportunity in the form of the best cheese we've had in Kenya at a major discount comes your way you had better seize the day.
After the cheese-purchasing we spent some time with Nate and Dasha as they showed us around their up-country town.
It's always nice to be with people that can understand you on multiple levels. The Smiths were part of NCC in DC and are now working toward doing aid work full time. It's awesome to know you will run into great people in this line of work.

The next morning we were on the road bright and early again for more meetings for Ian. Sadly in the next town we were in there were no familiar faces to visit with, so I once again sat myself down in the local 'coffee shop' for as much tea and 'bitings' (snacks) as I could reasonably dilly-dally through without raising to much suspicion. Sadly this stretched into multiple hours and after a short exploration of the town I settled in another coffee shop for almost a play-for-play repeat of the earlier experience, except with greasy tea and stale ndazi (kind of like a doughnut). Luckily when i was drawing to the last bite of my chewy ndazi, Ian finished his meeting and we were off to lunch to eat... and let him talk on the phone for a conference call. Such is the working life it seems. He's been working hard to get things ready for an upcoming project and it has meant a lot of long phone calls and extra hours of work at home.
After lunch it was back to the road and on our way back to Nairobi. Unlike our trip there, the trip back was actually during day light and we got the chance to see some of the beautiful Rift Valley and spotted zebras and baboons along the road. Also, I could have sworn I saw a couple scenes from Lion King... seriously. Is it just me, or is that Pride Rock?!
Ian will have some long weeks ahead of him making more trips up-country to do research. He's a good sport about it and has been digging into his work and trying his best to do high quality work in sometimes very little comfort with little solid sleep. Please keep him in your prayers as he continues to travel up-country during the next month.
As always, thank you for sharing in this journey with us! We are blessed to be partners with you!
B