We just returned from a trip to Kenya.  Dave had to work on some legal issues there and I got to go along for the ride—because we’re missionary companions, I guess.  It was an amazing learning experience.  We spent a lot of time in Nairobi with Elder Morgan and  Sister Ann Harris who are a humanitarian missionary couple serving there for the second time.  They served an 18 month mission in Kenya five years ago.  Actually, this is their third mission—they served two years in Serbia before that—what an amazing couple!  While Dave worked, they took me everywhere around Nairobi—the elephant orphanage, the giraffe house, the famous Kazuri Beads, the Karen Blixen home & museum(“Out of Africa”) and interesting downtown stores.  We spent some time at the LDS Service Center where at least 6 other missionary couples work and where the mission home is located for Kenya and Tanzania.  We met President Broadbent and his wife (mission president) and had dinner with all the other missionary couples.  We went to Church on Sunday with the Harris’ to a local ward and it was wonderful—sweet, dear people.  There is a lot of poverty in Nairobi—people walking everywhere and little stands selling everything imaginable along the roadsides.  The big problem is the traffic.  The roads are narrow, in poor repair and there are no traffic lights.  It’s just a game of “chicken” and a “free-for-all.”  Elder Harris drives just as crazy as everyone else, so we were OK. 

This is the LDS Service Center in Nairobi.  There is a chapel, a large area for Institute & seminary, the mission home, distribution center and many offices for missionaries and other employees.  It is very nice and, as always with the Church, beautifully landscaped and maintained.  We loved the Spirit that we felt there.

 This is the manager of Kazuri Beads.  It was started when an English woman saw a need for homeless single mothers to have a way to make a living.  She got them started making beads with the local clay, bought a kiln to fire them--and today it is a huge business.  They have 345 women working there.  All the beads are hand formed and hand painted and they are fired at least two times in the kilns.  They make really beautiful jewelry and all the tour buses stop here--so they do a great business.

This is the Karen Blixen home.  She left a huge impact in this part of Kenya and, because of her love for and help with caring for and educating the local tribal people, she is highly revered.  The movie "Out of Africa" (which is based on her biography) was filmed in her actual home and property.

This was a picture taken out the window of the car.  This is just a typical sight on the roads of Nairobi.

The elephant orphanage in Nairobi is where baby elephants all over Kenya are brought if their mother has been killed or for some reason can't care for them.  Sadly, may of their mothers are killed by poachers for their ivory and the babies are just left to starve to death.  They have about twenty young elephants they are raising--all ages--from a few weeks old to 4 years.  At 4 years they reintroduce them into the wild and make sure they are accepted into a family group.

 
Warthogs are the funniest creatures!  We saw them all over the Mara.  They eat by getting down on their knees--and apparently are just as comfortable on their knees and their feet.  They are very skittish and run away with their tails straight in the air.  I guess you could say they have a face only a mother could love!