Editor’s note: Our Saturday was a full driving day to our tented camp beside the Maasai Mara national park. Here is the blog for Sunday!

Heya – welcome back! It’s your girl Claire Mac joined by your boy Nikky. We woke up in our warm double beds after a long day of driving, arriving to the Maasai Mara. I woke up to freezing cold air and didn’t want to leave bed at 6:45 am which was when breakfast started. Meanwhile Nik woke up “toasty warm” fully dressed, ready to take on the day. We ate a breakfast, surprisingly including maple syrup! We proceeded to our two different safari vans where the roofs popped up which allowed us to stand up and get a better view of the animals. We entered the giant national park and commenced on our 8 hour journey. We arrived during the wildebeest migration and they are scary on their own, but altogether they are even more terrifying! We were able to see monkeys, zebras, cheetahs, elephants, warthogs, LIONS, gazelles, antelopes, rhinos, crocodiles and soooo many birds, too many dead animals. My personal favourite is the hippo and Nik’s favourite is the water buffalo. My van sang so many songs and made friends all over the savannah. And in Nik’s words, his van “shared their different views on the world and had a heart to heart”. We stopped for lunch, making sure that the elephants didn’t find us and luckily it consisted of NO POTATOS! We stopped at the fanciest hotel in the Maasai Mara for a washroom break and headed back to our tented rooms. We ate dinner and now we are writing this in the main building with bats and hot chocolate – going to crawl into bed shortly. So friends – our day!

Have a good one – signing out! Claire and Nik

Hey fans, it’s your Kenyan celebrities Bobby T😎 and Tomahawk😘 coming at’cha live from Migori. It’s been a crazy and wild day of sitting down and popping Gravol. Since we hit the bus at 6am we’ve been living our best lives in a sweaty and hot bumpy swagon wagon.  During our adventures of traveling we experienced a boat ride that felt like a living sauna which had beautiful Kenyan music yelling at us for 45 minutes!😆

After the boat ride we hopped back into the Swagon Wagon and relied on Big P to bring us safely to the mining facility in Migori. The mining excursion felt like a school field trip where everyone was a little dead inside from the long bus ride before. We observed the dangerous methods the workers used in which to procure pure gold such as blending mercury and gold with bare hands and descending 40ft underground without any protection😉. Cutting early since we arrived a little late we made our way back to the hotel and most of us had a chill time by the swimming pool deadlifting Alex while others were sleeping 😴 . 

At 8pm we scurried down for dinner and chopped on some nourishing pumpkin stew 😏 and some nice CHICKEN. Afterwards we made our way back to our dorms and replenished our energy by having a great sleep that lasted til 6am the next morning.

That’s all for now folks,

Catch us tomorrow heading off to da Maasai Mara

Peace out twigas!! Home count 5 days

Hey baddies! It’s your gorls R²(Robyn and Rosie) coming at you from the foreign land of Bondo. We know you have been waiting for our iconic blog post, so here it is!

We woke up at 7:30 for some tea, eggs and wieners, which is a very classic breakfast in Africa. Then we left on the swaggin’ wagon (aka bus) for a hype bus ride. We skirted into the school at 10-ish and then got to work. Most of us were just slopping wet sand on bricks but Nik and Kathryn were the only ones doing work and lifting bricks. After the brutal labour, the school held a closing ceremony for us, and we gave our favourite children’s books to the future library we helped to build, along with some Kenyan books. Then we visited Lake Victoria and saw some naked men swimming. After that, we drove back to our hotel. On the way back, we belted classic songs like “Country Roads” and “Riptide”. The sunset was so so pretty that night and after we arrived, we scurried to the pool and had a blast.

Next we headed to dinner where pineapple was a must, the chili fries were poppin’ and so were our cankers.  We finished off the day with a squad meeting where many laughs were shared. We reflected on the impact that the young children had made on us and man, will we remember this specific experience forever. 

Anyway, we gotta go to dinner now. We are a little late for this blog deadline, Whoops – sorry, David, but we have just been having so much fun.

Peace out, twiga!

Xoxoxo the coolest duo ever at Cla(i)res
PS twiga means giraffe in Swahili

Editor’s note – due to spotty wifi and busy days we are falling behind on posting. Know that all are well!

Jambo, y’all! Cla(i)re squared coming at you from the lovely BONDO! We know y’all have been anticipating for the iconic duo’s blog post, so sit back and relax while we enthuse you with what’s crack-a-lacking. 

So here’s the deal-io. Wake up call was at 7:30 am. Yes. That’s early for us, but considering yesterday, this was a slice of heaven. After our full carbed out breaky, we were off to Usenge. We were greeted by many smiles and high-fives. After a tour of the school and signing of the guest book, the opening ceremony began. Students from Class 1 through 8 (Grades 1-8) performed an assortment of songs, poems, dances and even clapping games. Not gonna lie, we were treated like celebrities. Wacko, right? We were so touched by their performances that we decided to return the favour by attempting to sing our butchered version of “Jambo Bwana”. Kinda super-duper embarrassing. 

After our gracious welcome, the building commenced This is when things go south in a sense. So basically…we all sucked and it was noticeable. Who thought building a class would be hard, right? There were many roles including mixing cement, getting water and last but definitely not least, laying the bricks (mortaring). We were standing with our little shovels in hand, surrounded by experienced men – the pressure was on. Most of the guys stuck to moving bricks and all that manly stuff, while the gals were being hawkeyed by the instructors.

Next came lunch/bathroom break(hole in the ground) and recess. During recess we got a chance to play with all of the kiddos. Duck Duck Goose, tag, jump rope, soccer, “Dance Class”, and hair patting were crowd favourites. They were ADORABLE, such an unforgettable experience! It was genuine playtime, unlike what we see nowadays back home with kids glued to their iPads.

After the recess we continued building for the rest of the afternoon, slightly more successful this time. We were worn out and looked it, too, so it was time to head back to the hotel. As soon as we arrived back in Bondo, we hit the showers and slipped on our full pieced bathing suits. A swim was much needed! Besides the fact it was a bit frosty and we were being recorded by employees, guests and locals, it was a blast. And that’s pretty much our day, folks. Claire and I are writing this in our double bed with a Bollywood soap on, so we are thriving!

Love y’all, peace out.

Day 7 of Kenya Survival Trip, Charlotte and Kathryn reporting live after a very long long long (but fun) day. First, we reluctantly woke up at 5 am, had a quick breakfast and hopped on the bus. Little did we know only 15 minutes away we would see a whole array of majestic animals. We went on a drive through the rugged wilderness for 5 hours and saw water buffalo, gazelles, giant deer, zebras and foxes. Then we hopped out of the bus to see multitudes of flamingos prancing and fluttering around the beautiful lake. Then we continued our journey on our wonderful bus with the real MVP, Patrick, our beloved bus driver. We saw some rhinos, and took a trip to the luxurious toilet hole, where we were luckily equipped with plenty of hand sanitizer. At the safari camp we stopped at, we heard whispers of lion sitings. Thanks to Patrick, we were able to successfully see the lions… cuddling! After half the bus fell asleep, we were awoken from our slumber by Allison’s cries of excitement. There in front of us were not 1…not 2….not 3…. but 11 giraffes! The giraffes were so close, yet so indifferent to our presence. After Ally finally let us move on from the giraffes, we preceded to the hotel to eat lunch, and retrieve our belongings for our treacherous journey to come. Very quickly we all fell into a deep, Gravol-induced coma. We woke up hours later in the middle of nowhere to Patrick, our hero, fixing our overheated bus. A family beside us kindly let us use their facilities to relieve ourselves. Again, we hopped back onto the bus through the beautiful scenery filled with greenery until we saw our favorite scene…. TUSKYS. We got some chocolate bars and chips to help us survive the last portion of our journey. By the time the sun had set and we all had fallen asleep again, we arrived to a fancy hotel with showers that didn’t set on fire…! We ate dinner and passed out early after our extremely physically demanding day. Goodnight, I hope you sleep like you just popped 4 Gravol 🙂

July 22, 2019 – Day 5 in Kenya, Day 7 of our trip.

After waking up at 7:00 and leaving by 8:00, our group left the hustle and bustle of Nairobi for the rural Rift Valley. On the bright side, this will mean more sun and warmth than we’ve had so far on the trip, but many of us have gotten more bugbites today than we did over the past 5 days, so we’ll see how that works out. On the way down, Patrick drove through the clouds, and we got to take pictures from a lookout point along the highway. This would prove to be the last relaxing moment for the rest of the morning.

An hour later, we arrived at Mount Longonot, which sticks out of the Rift Valley as prominently as a ball in a disappointed neighbor’s lawn. Our physical activity for the day was to be provided by hiking the 3.1 km from the gate of the park to the top of the mountain through plains, volcanic ash, and a few clouds. After the first 20 minutes of hiking, packs started to emerge, with Edwin, and the boys leading, followed by the girls, the Zumari group, and our vigilant supervisors, taking anywhere from 1-2 hours, but the view was worth it!

When the first goup arrived at the summit, we couldn’t see more than 15 metres ahead of us, but about an hour later, the clouds cleared, and we got a view of just how truly massive the volcano was. It was a 7 km walk around the rim, so most groups stayed close to the way we came while we waited for stragglers to arrive and see the volcano for themselves before beginning the descent, which was far less physically demanding than the climb, but still demanded a fair amount of dexterity to avoid slipping in the now sun-baked volcanic sand which kicked up plumes of dust behind our group and left our shoes a few shades whiter than when we left. We even got to see giraffes and zebras on the way down, something which is apparently a first for any of the previous trips, and had Alison doing tippy-tappy dances in excitement.

Most of the afternoon was spent on the bus, driving to Nakuru and settling into our beds for the night, where I am currently writing this blog post.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Today was an amazing and emotional roller coaster… for me, at least!

It started with quite possibly the worst quality video chat ever, right before breakfast. Two of my very good friends from back home got married on the night of July 20^th– AKA the very early morning of the 21^stfor us. Though I wouldn’t change this trip for the world, I was upset to miss it, but I was luckily able to skype in for 2 minutes to say hi to the wedding party at the reception. Cue the first set of tears of my day!

Following a fairly quiet breakfast, everyone headed to their rooms to get changed for church. We were headed to Caro’s Quaker church in Huruma for their service! We brought our Sunday best so we could make a good impression on our new Kenyan friends. And as Kenya is more traditional in terms of wardrobe than back home, our Sunday best meant long skirts, no crop tops, and button-ups for the boys.

The kids came out all dressed up, looking adorable – and by that I mean very professional and grown-up – although some of the girls weren’t too happy with their outfit choices. Both Robyn and Claire (Macdonald, or MacDaddy as we’re now calling her) complained that they looked like pilgrims, in their cropped cardigan & trendy floral skirt. “What pilgrim wears a cropped cardigan though?” I wondered aloud. I’m fairly certain none of these teens know what a pilgrim actually looks like.

The drive began like all other morning drives, with the exception of practicing the song we were going to sing at church (“Open the Eyes of my Heart”), and I took a couple of embarrassing mom shots of the boys dressed up and the girls’ makeup session. But then, after a bump in the road, my work phone (which I have been using for photos bracket) slipped casually off my lap and onto the bus floor. No worries, this has happened before. So I looked down to find it, but instead saw the road below me. I didn’t understand for a few seconds and then it dawned on me. I was seated over the wheel well, and a wheel well hatch in the floor was open, essentially creating a hole in the bus just big enough for a phone to fall through. My phone was nowhere to be found. Oh no….

“Uhhh guys…” my voice trembled. “Guys, hold on… I think my phone just fell out the bus. I think my phone fell out of the bus floor… and onto the road.”

Our bus driver Patrick stopped the bus immediately, after people understood what I meant. David, Andrew Obara and I got out to search the highway. This phone has all my photos on it, plus it’s technically owned by my work. My life flashed before my eyes. I might’ve had a heart attack while walking back to where we thought it fell, if it weren’t for Adam yelling for us 150 metres away. Cayley, sweet angel sent from heaven, found it tucked into the wheel well! God was smiling down on us!!!

The rest of the trip was blissfully uneventful, and we arrived at Caro’s church around 10:20am. The congregation was huge, and the service was running from 9:30 to 12:30pm. We listened to a few prayers and songs, including one from the church’s absolutely incredible choir, and then it was our turn to sing. I think we were all a bit nervous, but we did a great job! The minister thanked us individually and blessed us in front of the congregation. We were then whisked into the Youth Group, where we mingled, made new friends, and had an interesting discussion on all things from sex education at home vs. in Kenya, gospel music, anxiety and depression, and our talents – Caro’s son told us his talent was “everything”, which made us all laugh. Strong and sweet mixed tea and muffins were served, and then the choir joined us in the youth service to sing us three more songs. The songs were unbelievably beautiful. I was so emotionally moved by their talent and joy. Cue tears #3! David also joined in on the tears.

After the service and meet-and-greet, the choir sang us goodbye, pulling each of us up and dancing with us individually. I felt so loved, so accepted with no reservations, that I burst into tears. Why were they being so lovely?! And how were we this lucky, to be so warmly welcomed into this family so far from home? Once I promised that my ugly-crying tears were in fact happy tears, my dance partner Cecilia smiled and hugged me. “It’s ok,” she said, “we love you!”

After exchanging emails, phone numbers, and Instagram handles with our new friends, we headed back on the bus for stop #2: GIRAFFES.

Objectively speaking, we all know that giraffes are the best and most amazing creature on this planet. Consequently, my excitement was tangible. I had no tears left to cry, so instead I shook the whole time.

We fed them. We pet them. We pointed out their weird body parts. We tried to get them to kiss us. They didn’t. It was amazing nonetheless. We closed the place down. It was surreal and incredible.

We were now heading back to the hotel via the grocery store for a late lunch. On the drive, I got to know Tommy a bit better. He’s Leo who’s aspiring to be a pilot! We had a great hang. We picked up snacks on the way home, including some bags of milk that Daniel has become obsessed with for some reason. They’re small single serving sizes of milk in bags. They’re pretty weird, and Daniel gets pretty weird around them. Adam and Daniel (dubbed “The Milk Boys” by me and the “Calcium Crew” by Adam) bought a bag of milk and had a chugging contest. Ew. Daniel won, probaby because he’s more practiced than Adam at chugging milk bags.

Once we arrived back at the hotel, we had dinner and our nightly meeting where we debriefed on the day. Then, an early night. Tomorrow we had to Mount Longanot for a hike!

ROSEMARY’S BIRTHDAY – July 20th

Today was Rosie’s birthday! Since all the teens were hanging out already, we sang happy birthday to her right at midnight. She also got sung happy birthday at least five other times, including once in Swahili, and even got a little cake for dessert. 

Today was definitely the most chill day we’ve had so far. We got to “sleep in” until 9, then we met up with new and old friends from Nzumari Africa at the hotel. Today the younger performers from Nzumari came to show us some dances and music, which we got to learn as well. After some team building games outside, we came back into the courtyard and they showed us the dances and even a song, which everyone participated in, much to Nik’s embarrassment. However, everyone else had an awesome time.

Before heading to the market, everyone had lunch at the hotel together. The bus to the market was really fun because everyone got to sit next to a friend from Nzumari and got to connect with them. There was also a long sing-a-long to the song we learned earlier. Once we got to the market, we got some souvenirs – most people got some jewellery and blankets. After some energetic bargaining, Ali got some swag shoes and earrings, Charlotte got a mini drum, and some people even got cool knives… lol jk 😉

We got back to the hotel in time for dinner and a quick group meeting and choir practice before everyone went off for girls night and guys night. 

Sending love,

Annabelle and Rosemary

It’s Alex and Daniel coming to you from the other side of the world. We have persevered through the night and are now sending you this message of our previous day.

It was the third morning on the ground of our strenuous voyage. Sleep deprived and stumbling, we went to breakfast. The hour was 0600, the darkness was seeping around us and into our souls. We shoveled the required nutrition down our throats and returned to the magic school bus. The ride was long, but we finally made it back home to Canada (aka the Canadian High Commission). We saw the Queen and the prime minister staring at us from the wall. The High Commissioner talked to us and it was an educational hour. Madame High Commissioner answered our questions faster than we could ask them. As we ventured back out to Kenya, we had a sudden change of plans. We were now going to an orphanage. As we drove in, the views were quite nice. We met Watson and then split into 2 groups and one group went to see the homes of caregivers and the other group met with a large group of caregivers. Group 1 visited 3 homes that all had members affected by HIV/AIDS. These families had many responsibilities with their children and livestock. They were rewarded if they were on the right track and helped if they were not. Group 2 saw the caregivers that had an average of 5 adopted orphans, usually family members. They were widows, single moms, and grandmothers. They told us their challenges and made a request for things we could do for them. They were very nice to show around their small properties. We saw coffee beans, avocados, mangoes, potatoes, corn, and aloe (which they are trying sell to small and large companies to gain money). As the sun was falling through the sky, we returned to our base.    

Yo, it’s your boys Nik and Tommy. 

Day 4 Kenya Trip (see editor’s endnotes for further clarification)

It was dark and cold as the life-giving sun shone over the fertile Kenyan land. We felt the bitter cold from night before seep into our bones, which over time turned us into walking ice cubes. (1)

We set off for our journey towards the dining hall to feast on our sausages and eggs on crispy warm bacon.  

Our newly named group Delta Goon Squad (2) began our first mission of the day led us to the beasts of the Kenyan grasslands…BABY ELEPHANTS!!!

We got to play and chill with them for a lil bit and then transitioned our way to Phase 2 of the mission by learning about the culture through singing and dancing (3), as well as seeing traditional housing and village homes, which ultimately ended in a fiery fiasco fuelled by torches and acrobatics in the Bomas centre. (4)

With such a successful mission, we completed the day by celebrating by buying groceries at the supermarket to help us on our Kenyan survival trip 2019.

Endnotes:

1. It’s winter in Kenya, and while the city of Nairobi hits 22-25 degrees Celsius each day, the nights are cool. In the hills on the outskirts where we are staying, the nights are cold and damp, but we have hot water bottles to keep us warm at night!
2. Only Nik and Tommy are calling our group by this name
3. The show featured singers, drummers and dancers from some of the 42 tribes that live in Kenya. There was some audience participation, and our own Charlotte was brought onstage by Edwin (from our Nzumari Africa friends) to try her hand/feet at dancing!
4. The Bomas Centre is an amazing cultural centre that celebrates the various tribes and traditions of the many tribes.
5. Nik says his mom packed poorly. He’s suffering horribly
6. Editor reports that Nik is doing just fine and having a great time.