The quick run down

So I have been here for a few weeks now but have only just started to manage my time to get cracking on this blog. Here is a quick a run of what has been happening and then I will post more about specific events. So after 2 flights, around 24 hours in the air and numerous more sitting in airports we arrive in Kenya. First impressions…HOT! Walk onto the steaming black tarmac and the temperature increases 3 fold. Soldiers in full uniform holding AK-47’s greet us as a group of young African children stare through a wire fence. Visa applications were painful. Unfortunately I went first and got grilled by a man wearing a blue tie. He presumed I was a business man. I am not sure why as I looked like I had been camping for 4 days straight. My hair was a mess. Eventually we got our visas and proceeded to wait at the carousel for our bags. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Jemma’s bag arrives, Cara’s bag arrives, excellent. Ben and Josh’s bag, whoops still in Qatar. Awesome. As we were about to board a flight to Kisumu this was less than ideal. First time in Africa, no bags. Luckily we weren’t the only ones and in around an hour we had come to an agreement that the bags would be flown to Kisumu the following day and we would pick them up. On the bright side, no customs. We finally boarded our flight to Kisumu and we are kicking ourselves that we are in Africa. Wow. Africa! We arrive in Kisumu with no hiccups. It pours giant red buckets of rain as we get picked up by the in-country coordinator and the father of the family that we will be living with, Fred Mito. Off to our hotel and sleep. What a great sleep it was too. The New Victoria Hotel in Kisumu. A bed, mosquito net, cold shower and a toilet that occasionally flushes. What more does a man need. The next two days are our orientation. Money issues, safety talks, shopping, phones, street awareness etc. We also went to the Impala Sanctuary which was nice. It is refuge for animals that are orphaned or a plight on the community. They are shipped here where they are taken care of. I pulled a lioness’s tail through the cage and it almost bite my hand off. That was a very scary moment. Had a little boat ride on Lake Victoria in search for Hippos, but not success. We went to pick up our bags which we thought was an easy process. It wasn't. 3 hours just to pick up bags. I even had all the documentation. African time they tell me, get used to it. At the end of the orientation we were shuttled to our new home in Yala with the Mito family.