Sarah's personal best time for the 100m sprint

On our last day in Uganda we were able to see Gerald, the child we sponsor through Compassion. We had tried to organise this before leaving the UK but did not leave enough time to arrange it. However, amazingly on our flight from London to Uganda we met Bronwyn, who works for Compassion, she also goes to Rob & Issy's church. It was greatt to meet her and a team of people who were visiting Compassion projects in Uganda for a week. Bronwyn helped put us in touch with the office in Uganda who were able to arrange our visit to see Gerald. When we arrived lots of children ran over to our vehicle to greet us, they were so excited to have visitors. We were introduced to Gerald who was really shy - he was really overwhelmed and when Tom asked him, he said he was surprised that we were white as we had only ever written letters to each other. We had a great time looking round the project and we had lunch at Geralds family home. We hadn't really thought about it before but were shocked when we saw that he lived in a mud hut. (We'll add photos later but have not been able to today). We were really excited to be able to meet Gerald and spend time with him and his family. It's one of those things you never think you will actually be able to do. We would encourange anyone to check out compassion.co.uk as they do great work and we saw the positive effect of our sponsorship on Gerald. It's not just about the money but he really appreciates receiving our letters and cards.

Gerald's classroom

Now about this entry's title.....

Gerald's homestead

We had booked a coach from Iganga, Uganda (near where we had met Gerald) to take us to Nairobi, Kenya. It was travelling from Kampala and when we had booked the tickets we were told the coach made a 'scheduled stop' outside the hotel we stayed at for the night. So, we were standing outside as we had been instructed to do waiting for it to pick us up. Tom (who as you know is very good at being right!) suggested I stand near the road to make sure it stopped. As you may guess, the coach approached but did not slow down, it carried on straight past. So I stood on the spot jumping up and down arms waving madly then started sprinting after it. I caught up and banged loudly on the side of the bus until the driver noticed me and pulled over about 100 meters down the road. Tom meanwhile had summoned the help of a passer by and was cathcing up carrying our four bags. Tracey always tells us we are here for her entertainment - well we were also entertainment for several local people that day!

Meeting Gerald

12 hours later we arrived in Nairobi and were met by  Rev Patrick, a friend of Gichuru's who hosted us for three days. He lived just outside Nairobi in a town called Ngong, an area of hills and fields - very picturesque. His two daughters Patience & Kezziah who are both at university were still on their holidays and showed us around Nairobi. On the Saturday we took a bus into town. As we arrived a group of about 500 people blocked the route we were supposed to take. The bus driver turned onto a different road and we noticed that the people were following. There was a lot of commotion - these people were carrying large sticks, spades and other items. Apparently they were political protestors heading to a rally in town to do with the forth coming general elections. There was some violence outside the bus and lots of people were running away. We were not sure what to do and felt quite worried. Patience advised us to stay on the bus where there were lots of people as she felt if we got off the bus, even just to try to get to a nearby building, we would be targets and could easily be robbed. We prayed for God's protection and the bus led us away from the protestors to a safe area. The rest of our day was very calm compared! We are so grateful to God as we have really felt his protection surround us on several occasions so far on this trip.

Mount Kenya in the clouds

On Monday we took another coach to the 'heart' of Kenya to a region called Meru which is in the foothills of Mount Kenya. We were told it would be colder in this area but in the town we are in it is about the same climate - sunny & hot. However, yesterday we visited another town closer to Mount Kenya which was a lot colder. Unfortuantely it was really cloudy so we didn't get any pictures of the summit.

We're staying in Meru with Rev Robert and his family. He is in the leadership of the East African Pentecostal church. We are staying in an old missionaries house which is nice because we have our own space but are eating and spending the evenings with the family.

Shalom Hills in Ngong, near Nairobi

We are now one month into the trip and are really enjoying it and looking forward to whats to come.