Nairobi Trip

While in Nairobi we were able to do some tourist stuff. We visited the Elephant Orphanage. The workers there talked about each elephant (18 of them) and how it became an orphan. Most were due to poachers killing the mother for the ivory. The baby can not survive without the mothers milk. Often the baby is found standing next to the dead mother. One baby had scars where there were spears. They weren’t so sure he would live but he did. Probably the second cause of orphaned elephants is that they fall into abandon wells and can’t get out. The mother stays by the well for a while but eventually gives up and leaves the baby abandoned. Often times they can find the mother and reunite the mother and baby, but if not the baby comes to the orphanage. There is teaching going on to encourage the nomads to cover wells when they leave an area to prevent this from happening. The average stay is about 5 years then they are reintroduced back into the wild. They also had two white rhinos one because he had poor eye site and wouldn’t be able to survive on it’s own. The other rhino was out in the fenced in area learning how to live in the jungle again. I believe his mother died of natural causes. White rhinos are endangered as well.

The giraffe Center was next on the list and it started because one species of giraffe, Rothschild, was near extinction. We were able to feed and touch the giraffes. It was pretty cool! Did you know the giraffe saliva is antiseptic? Did you know that a giraffe can have a stroke if bending it’s head down. The giraffe has very high blood pressure and putting it’s head down causes a lot of pressure in the brain and the can have stokes. The other thing I learned is that the sleep standing up 5-30 minutes is all they sleep. And I think I’m tired after 8 hours of sleep

There were warthogs there too:-)

Lastly we visited the crocodiles. I would not want to come face to face with one of those. Even the little ones scare me! The crocks were split into age groups. When they loose a tooth another grows in its place. So don’t expect an old crock to gum you to death.

Masai (Nomad people) greeted us as we went into see the crock

Along with the crocs were turtles

On another day we visited the Nairobi National Museum. The best part for me was an art exhibit with the artist there to talk with and buy the art their work (if you had a lot of money). The artist we liked best was deaf but we gave him thumbs up on his paintings, they were very whimsical pictures of the African animals.

We got back from Nairobi Saturday, Nov. 6 in the evening around 6:00. Our bus was late because of an accident. There is a cement barrier between the lanes of traffic about 3-4 ft. high and a semi jack knifed and was on top of the cement barrier blocking both lanes of traffic on both sides of the highway. Our bus had to drive off the road and around the semi. It was more like a parking lot than a highway. While we were in Nairobi there was an election of the president and other officials in Tanzania. I guess some people got a little rowdy during the announcements of winners and losers. It’s announced by speaker near the town center. At one point tear gas had to be shot into the crowd. Glad we missed that. This did not happen in our part of town. Think VISHA on one side of Ames and living near the mall.

Also while we were gone, in preparation for the circumcisions the witch doctor at Gamasara said no one could work on Saturday or they would die. So none of our workers came to work on the school Saturday. No one died, even the people who worked in the garden or those who fetched water.

Sunday afternoon, the choir from Angel House did a performance for the people of Gamasara and Tarime. They had made a CD about a month ago and were releasing it Sunday. It is custom here to hand deliver invitations to the concert. We invited around 200 people. They also invite a person called “The Honorable” who is usually an important person that sits at a table with other important people. During one part of the program The Honorable and others sitting at the front table make speeches and they gave money to the orphanage. So that was pretty great. I hear we collected over $1000 American. We charged to get in and also sold the CDs. One song was so moving that some people were crying and so were the kids doing the performance. The song was about why does there have to be orphans and stress and disrespect in the world. I Wish everyone could have seen the kids, they were great! I was a proud Bibi. This was all made possible because at some time in the past someone that visited Angle House went back to the states and raised money to help the choir. What a great gift that turned into! I sent a copy of the CD to our church and one to my family.

Below is a picture of the Honorable District Commissioner.