Hi Bobcats!
Sorry it’s been so long since I have posted. So many things have been happening over here in Kenya. I can’t even begin to cover everything, so here’s a copy of my closing trip blog:
One day until:
I get back to:
-my family, friends, and school
-American food
-my car, phone, and all of my American “luxuries”
-“life”?
One day until:
I leave behind:
-this beautiful nation and people
-the stunning Great Rift Valley
-late nights with sick teammates
-smiling faces of hospital patients when I play my ukulele and sing songs to them
-a place where my appearance is much less important than my presence
-four-hour church services in different languages
-the most vibrant colors I have ever seen
-a place where an encouraging email from family or friends can change my week
-a place where wifi is a luxury
-the most joyful, beautiful, and broken people I have ever seen
-twenty kilometer hut-to-hut days
-my Chaco’s tan line
-late-night movies in my tent with a stuffed red bull named Snort
-trips to the duka
-this beautiful team family
-thirty-shilling sodas in glass bottles
-people who constantly think my name is Holy, Hoddy, or Harri.
-helping Mama Margaret in the kitchen
-people who have nothing but God, ask for nothing but prayer, and graciously give whatever they have
-children who chase after me in joy and children who run away from me in fear of the “mzungu”
-Snowrinnah, Tiffany, Sospeter, Hannah, Mary, and many other beautiful people I have come to know as friends
-patients like Nalima, Whitney, and Nadia
-hilarious, strange music videos on matatu rides
-African foods, good and bad
-a time when the greatest luxury shillings could afford is chocolate
-a place where life stops twice a day for tea/chai
-small chocolate, coffee, and caramel-colored hands playing with my hair and touching my arms to see my skin
-the most repetitive, annoying, yet joyful keyboard playing I’ve ever heard
-skirts, t-shirts, living off of my Nalgene, and sharing everything with 15, 14, 12, and 11 people
-getting my eyebrows done by my best friend because she “cares” 
-bucket baths and scalding water-heater showers
-sunscreen and doxy burns
-a million PB&J sandwiches
-16-hour youth camp days
-people walking by while I’m blogging and asking if I need any tortillas
I leave behind a welcoming, hospitable culture to go back to a self-focused culture.
I leave behind dirty feet, exhaustion, and collapsing on my sleeping pad, completely filthy but full of joy from a long day in the sun with my team and beautiful people we have met.
I sleep under my down comforter while 12 children share one bed.
I eat until I am full, while children here are still hungry.
I go back to a place that people here dream of.
1 day until I leave Africa.
