A long way from civilization

I have so many half-finished blogs that I didn't think were "good enough."  It is time that I just send them.  Please forgive my misplaced perfectionism/self-criticism/something - here goes!


Over Easter weekend, we were able to travel to Lake Bogoria.  We have lived here for almost 2 years now and thought we were up for the challenge - it is about 4 and a half hours from Kijabe...away from the more urban areas.  We stayed the night on a farm about halfway there and drove up the next morning.  Since we recently had to invest in a major engine overhaul for our car (ouch!), we figured we were in as good of shape (from a mechanical standpoint) as we could be.

The farm we stayed was delightful - just about 30 minutes past Nakuru, which is the fourth largest urban center in Kenya.  The best part of the cottage was the fireplace - definitely the coolest fireplace I have ever seen!  You could put the fireplace at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville as a close second; I mean, 4 or 5 adults or all of the Duggar's children could fit into that one. ;)  I'll post a photo and let you decide; you'll have to go to Asheville, NC to experience the one at Grove Park!

Triangular fireplace

Saturday morning, we set out after breakfast. 

I'll have you know that not all upgrades for electronic contraptions (I chose that word to solidify in my children's minds that I am, in fact, over-the-hill...plus it just sounds fun!) are positive.  I upgraded the operating system on my iphone 4S in December and it deleted all useful maps of East Africa.  Last year, I could actually use the maps to drive through Nakuru National Park! (Although, it didn't tell me not to let my children ride on the roof of the car because of leopards!  I guess it is a good thing after all that we haven't seen a leopard yet in Kenya.)  Currently, this is how it depicts one of the roads just north of Nakuru.

We really were on a tarmac road!

You'll notice on this screenshot, that the road below us is an "A" road.  There are about 3600 km (2200mi) of A roads in Kenya, and about 77% of those are paved - they are Kenyan interstates.  We traveled for the first hour on a "B" road: there are about 2600 km of these, and 56% of them are paved.  Ours was paved, and it was a good road with not too many potholes on our stretch.  So, after about an hour, we turned onto a "D" road and things got more interesting.  There are about 10,700 km of D roads in Kenya, and only about 11% of them are paved.  Yeah. 

This was near the beginning of the "D" road - a fork that likely had to do with the nearby sisal farm.  You know that poem by Robert Frost?

   Two roads diverged {in a wood}, and I—

   I took the one less traveled by,

   And that has made all the difference.

 

Okay, so I thought of that here.  Do you also remember the preceding stanza?

 

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

 

Doubting if I should ever come back??  You know I like to be a little dramatic - these roads actually just came back together after a while.

Farther on, this is what the road looked like.  I noticed that the path on the right was functionally a bike lane - we passed maybe 10 piki pikis (motorcycles) during that hour or so, and only about 4 cars.  By the way, we were on the "wrong" side of the road here, but you just try to find the smoothest path.  There are a lot of roads here that give you a "full body massage," as the safari drivers like to say.  Did I mention that it was pretty hot and dusty, and somehow the air-conditioner had been disconnected during the recent repair work on the car? 

This was one of 2 road signs during the entire drive, and we were very thankful for it!  One of my friends that came recently remarked as we drove to the Masai Mara, "It feels like we are a long way from civilization."  To which I replied, "You are."  But, we were with a driver who knew the way, and on Saturday, we were alone.  Except for 2 roadsigns, it felt really, very remote.

At times, it was hard to tell if there was a road!

This is one of the dry creek beds that we drove through:

And, this one is the wettest:

Sorry for the angle - it was hard to keep the camera straight!  If you notice in most of these photos, there are no people....save for an occasional village:

Termite mound:

And tortoise:

When we finally reached the lake, it was beautiful.  There were about 10 other cars there - I have no idea how they got there, because they weren't on our road.  The other road in is an "E" road, so they must be even more adventuresome (or better informed) than we were!  The girls boiled eggs in socks in the hot springs that were around the edges of the lake - pretty cool!  We saw nary a park ranger of any kind while we were there, except at the gate...where they had no money of any kind and couldn't make change for us.  The attendant was going to go to someone's house for change, if we couldn't come up with it! 

Why am I telling you this story?  Well, there are so, so many parts of it that just scream Kenya - more than I can fully explain in this setting, but it gives you a flavor of life here at any rate.  The other reason is that, while we felt really alone, we were not alone.  That is how it is in the Christian walk - we may feel alone at times and we may not even be able to see the evidence of God at work, but God is there.  He knows where we are - he knows where the road is and isn't, where the riverbeds are, and what dangers do or don't exist along the way.  He knows whether we "should ever come back" that way or any other way.  God is providing for us whether we see it or not.  Sure, we will have difficult times and bad things happen, but that doesn't negate the power or the presence of God.  We don't know how God uses those struggles and difficulties for our good or for purposes beyond us - that is a really hard part of faith.  But, God has proven himself faithful time and again, so we know that he is present and able, and we cannot doubt his love for the people he created.
 
I also want to tell you how very thankful we are for all of you who have walked this journey with us for the last 2 years (and even longer, as God prepared our hearts to go).  I think of y'all so often and have been a poor communicator recently - please know that you are all such an important part of us being over here.  When I had some cell service on our adventure (the part closer to Nakuru), I got a few texts from some of you back home - what a joy that is for me to be able to communicate over almost 8000 miles, while we are driving around trying to find a big lake among the hot, dusty, rocky roads of rural East Africa!  So, thank you and may God bless you for continuing to uphold and support our work over here in countless ways!

With much love,
Sarah

Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.