Mombasa

Mombasa, Kenya is a coastal city, with swaying palms, and beautiful white, sandy beaches.  I was there recently with friends, Gloria and Moses.  Pictured below is a ferry that takes you across a channel from Mombasa town to the South Coast.  They load all the vehicles, then people load up all the empty spaces to make the short crossing.

This is me and Gloria enjoying the balmy breeze.  We were quite fortunate to snag two seats.  Most riders have to stand.  Thankfully, it is a very short journey.

 

When we landed on the other side, we had to ride in one of these little motorized tricycles, called a Tuk-tuk.  I truly hate motorcycles (another common way to get around), but I enjoyed these little vehicles.  I guess there is something to be said about being in an enclosed area.

In the late afternoon, we went walking on the beach while the tide was out.  The white you see is coral.  The entire coast of Kenya is a coral reef.

Thousands of shipping containers pass through the Port of Mombasa.  This is one of the container ships as it is making its way to the channel we crossed earlier.

Many ocean creatures get caught in the tide pools on the coral.  This is a sea slug.  It was larger than my foot.

These spiky little things are sea urchins.  I had solid shoes on while walking on the coral, but Gloria shared that once she wasn't so protected and actually stepped on one of these creatures.  All the spiny parts had to be pulled out of her foot, one at a time.

We had walked quite a distance from shore when a young man came running by shouting "the water, it is coming!"  What he meant was the tide was coming in -- and quickly.  We made our way quickly to the shore.  When we turned around and looked at the ocean, we could no longer see any of the coral we were walking on.  Its pretty amazing how quickly that water moves.  

Some local ladies carrying their precious cargo the way they have done all of their lives.

One day we decided to go south toward Tanzania.  We were headed to Wasini Island and a town called Shimoni.  Here we are descending the stairs to step onto a small boat to cross over to the island.

Moses and our guide had us in stitches.  I can't remember what was so funny, but we had such a great time.

Here is Moses and our guide, Mohammad.

We passed a number of interesting boats along the way.  Most of them were fishing boats.

Mohammad grew up on the Island, so we knew we were in for a treat of historical information.

Here is a more rustic dug-out fishing vessel.

The structures on the island ranged from very nice, to very basic.  The island is five kilometers long, and one kilometer across.  There are no vehicles and no roads on the island.

Another fishing boat.

I assume these were fish traps of some sort. 

There was no dock on the island side.  You just beach the boat and start walking through the sand and water.  This was a type of Starfish that Mohammad picked up for me.  He said they use them as bait.

This old structure dates back to the 1600's.  It is overgrown and no longer in use, but it was fascinating to realize just how old it was. 

Mohammad was very proud to show us "his" island.  I asked him if everyone on the island were Muslim's.  He said it is the only religion there.

Through the years, the coast line has shifted and changed.  What remains is the really interesting "coral garden" that is now landlocked.  They have built a raised boardwalk throughout the garden.

The green stuff is sea grass.  Later, I will show you a dish we ate in a local restaurant where they served the sea grass.

The ground was very spongy and moist, and filled with crabs. 

Among the coral is a Mandrake forest.  This is one type of Mandrake seed.  This seed pod hangs from the tree in this position.  As the "cap" lets go, the seed falls into the mud below and germinates and another tree is born.  There were several variations of these seeds.

These are new Mandrake trees.

We ate at a local restaurant overlooking the beach.  The table was beautifully decorated with Bougainvillea blossoms.

 

You don't order off the menu, you just sit down and for one price, they just start serving you all kinds of wonderful food.  Here Gloria was being given lessons on cracking crabs.

This dish is creamed sea grass.  It was actually quite tasty. 

These adorable children were below us.  I'm not sure what kind of creatures they were finding in the tide pools, but they were totally absorbed with their activity.

These two ladies alighted from a small boat.  They had apparently been on the mainland doing some shopping.

The females start early with carrying things on their heads.  This little girl never bobbled that can even once as she picked her way across the tide pools.

Another type of fishing boat.

This is a dhow, an Arab boat that is low in the front, high in the back, and that usually has one or two sails that are shaped like triangles.

We traveled away from Wasini and landed back in Shimoni, a town known for its "slave caves".  Although its not a very pleasant part of history, these sites exist on both coasts of Africa.  As we descended down into the cave, the guide was telling us its history.

This was a well of sorts that provided water for the slaves that had been captured and were waiting for transport across the ocean.  This nasty pool was all they had.  As the tide came in the cave was flooded.  Many people drowned.  A very sad part of history.

In some areas you can still see chains embedded into the wall of the cave, where they shackled belligerent prisoners.  I've been in numerous caves in the US, but nothing touched me to my core like this one did.  Just seeing those chains and knowing what they represented just hurt my heart.

The picture is not very clear, but these are bats.

When we came up out of that hole in the ground, we saw this stunning site, a weaver bird busily building his nest.  It was a great way to end our trip.  

Christmas Party

I love Christmas!  The Annual General Meeting for Starfish Charities falls in December each year.  It seemed like a good time to have a party (after the meeting of course).  So I asked all my board members to include their families and plan to spend the day.  Also included were a few families from Nairobi who have been close to Starfish Charities.  The new training center was a perfect place to make it all happen.  The room was decorated and I was ready to start receiving guests.

Teresa was in the kitchen organizing the food and many baked goods we had cooked all week.

After the board meeting, we joined the families and began a time of sharing.  There were 38 of us in all!  We sat around and shared favorite stories from Christmas' past.  It was so enjoyable hearing tales of childhood memories.

The couple in the center, James and Grace Bukachi, along with their three teen girls, arrived after we had finished the sharing.  But if they had been there earlier, I know James would share the miracle God performed on his behalf.  James was diagnosed with cancer several years ago.  After all the Nairobi doctors did all they could, they advised the family to put James on hospice and wait for the end.  I don't have all the details or enough space or time to give you the whole story, but God provided the funds for James to go to India to seek treatment last year.  Upon arrival they re-ran all the tests and confirmed the cancer diagosis and scheduled surgery.  Later that week prior to the surgery, they did one more test to confirm and clarify the surgical site.  The baffled doctor came back into the room to tell James to go back  home to Kenya.  They could find no sign of cancer anywhere in James' body!  Wow!  God is a miracle working God and James has been faithful to share his testimony anywhere and everywhere he goes.

Franklin was sharing his testimony.  His memory was of his university days in China some years ago and how faithful God was during that lonely time away from his family.

This is part of Pastor John's family waiting their turn to share.

John's oldest daughter Alice, with her child, Rhonda Maria!

After a time of sharing time was over, we took our food outside.  The fellowship continued as we ate with one another and, for some, made new friends.  It was a beautiful day with mild temperatures (70's) and soft breezes.

The teen girls gravitated to one another.

The ladies did what ladies do!

But the men also found each other and enjoyed a time of fellowship. It looked like some serious discussing going on.

The members of this group declared this table was the Executive table.  Basically old friends who had not seen one another in some time.  They had a lot of catching up to do.

Rhonda Maria enjoying the attention of all the adults.

Arriving a little later were the newly-weds (only three weeks) Teddy and Jeddi.  He is the oldest son of Franklin, pictured above.  Teddy has been such a blessing and inspiration in my life.  Together with his beautiful wife, Jeddi, they serve God with enthusiasm and joy.  I love these kids!

After lunch, we went back inside and sang songs.  We didn't limit our singing to Christmas songs.  We just allowed the songs to flow.  Here, we invited Pastor John and his family to share a Maasai song with us.

Teddy arrived with his guitar, which Franklin promptly took and began playing.  He did his best to keep up with the many and varied songs we sang.

All in all, I have to say, I had a very blessed Christmas, surrounded by close friends.  My biological family is in the U.S., but God has definitely multiplied my "family" with His family.  He is so good and faithful to bring people into our lives, and to walk along side us in this journey, as we walk together with Him..

Merry Christmas!