Day 16

As I went for a run today I found myself wondering, “What is more unbelievable? That I have ran through 3 herds of cows in the past 15 minutes, that I have passed multiple kids carrying machetes under the age of ten, that the person running next to me is the 6th person who has voluntarily joined in on my run, or that everywhere I look, I find it hard to believe that the landscape I am surrounded by is real.” Call me crazy, but after some thought, I find the environment to be the most incredible. Every time I look at my “new backyard” I find it looking vastly different than it did 20 minutes before. I have taken the same picture of Elephant Mountain over and over again because the clouds have a way of drastically changing its appearance.


On Wednesday, one of our drivers, Uncle Charles, informed us that a dead elephant had been found not far from our site. After about a 10-minute drive, we crossed over the electrical fence into the “wild”. We got out at the base of the mountain and hiked 20 minutes to the animal. However, way before we could even see the elephant, we could smell it. The smell was so potent it made it hard to breath. It ended up being a 20-year-old, male elephant that died from natural causes. By the time we had gotten there it had been dead for about a week and the Foresters had already removed it’s ivory, leaving the trunk detached and the head fairly caved in. If the smell wasn’t enough, the millions of maggots that had gotten to it before us, could make one sick. In fact, if you were quiet enough you could even hear the maggots eating away at its flesh. Stench aside, it was a very cool experience and one I will never forget.


Yesterday, another volunteer and I had planned to go into town to do some errands. Just as we were about to leave and start walking, Uncle Charles came up the hill and asked if we wanted to catch a ride with him and Uncle Oliver. We anxiously accepted his offer knowing that driving would save us about 20 minutes. We hopped into the newly fixed Flying Kites vehicle, a Land Rover that is older than the car I drive at home, in other words, fairly ancient. Little did we know, Uncle Charles had to make a phone call before we left. After waiting patiently for about 25 minutes for Uncle Charles to get off his phone, Uncle Oliver asked if I knew how to drive stick. “Yea!” I replied, even though I have only driven stick a handful of times and have, on every occasion, stalled out. I hopped into the driver seat (which is on the right, because people drive on the left side of the road in Kenya) and turned the key. After stalling out once, which I blame strictly on the fact that I was wearing rain boots, that we were on a hill, and that the road is made of mud, I got the car to start. I was nervous about how Uncle Charles would respond, so after about 10 feet, I stopped to wait for his expression. He surprised me. What I didn’t expect was for him to climb into the passenger seat and wave me on, that’s exactly what he did. So, I drove down the very steep and muddy road into town.
Being white and walking down the streets of Njabini is enough to start a scene on its own. Now, add being female and driving a car to the equation and that’s enough reason for some of the locals to faint. I was worried for their health, so as we got to the main road I pulled over and let Uncle Charles do the rest of the driving.


I am having an amazing time and seeing incredible thing with great people. But, as I have said time and time again, I miss everyone from home very much and hope that all is well with each and every one of you! Love and Kisses - "Auntie Stephanie"