The weekend

We spent Saturday at the Rondo Retreat Center in the Kakamega Rainforest. It’s supposedly a 2-hour drive from where we are staying in Eldoret, but on a road with probably the most potholes in the entire world, it took a good 4 hours to get there. Let me tell you, we were so excited to get out of that bus, especially those who were car sick (or should I say bus sick).

Once we got there, we divided into two groups and headed into the rainforest with our guides. We hiked through beautiful trees and plants (our guide said there are 280 different types of plants in that rainforest), spotting monkeys along the way. After about an hour, the hike started going up the side of the mountain, and we climbed up to the entrance of a bat cave. In the pitch dark, we crept our way through the cave, holding onto each other for support, ducking when the ceiling got low, and we came to a small opening at the end. Our guide showed us a few bats with his flashlight, but it was still pretty dark, so we decided to take pictures and use our flash as a source of light. We had a blast squishing together in that little opening, blinding each other with our cameras, and spotting bats hanging on the walls or flying over our heads.

After the bat cave, the groups continued up the side of the mountain to reach the top, an elevation of about 7000 feet. There were 360 degree views of the rainforest – it was breathtaking, and the pictures don’t do it justice. After our hike, we returned to the Retreat Center for lunch, then headed back on the bus for another long, bumpy drive. It was an adventurous and relaxing day for the group, especially after working so hard on the property.

We spent Sunday at the Open Arms Village with the families who live there, sharing a church service with them, partaking in a traditional Kenyan goat roast, and exploring the beautiful property. Jonathan shared a message at the church service and the children (affectionately called the Open Arms Choir) sang songs for us. We then visited the nearby school and we played soccer (football in Kenya) and volleyball with the Open Arms childen and the school children. All of the children got a candy cane after the games as a trophy. Then we returned to the Village and shared a traditional goat roast with the families at the Village and the local tribal leaders. After, we had some free time to wander the property and see the gorgeous views around the valley. It was a wonderfully relaxing day with great time to build relationship with the families at the Village.

Unfortunately, this morning, about half of our team woke up with some sort of stomach bug. Please pray for the health of our team, for quick healing and strength to be able to work today.

-Camille