This past weekend, we took Sophia on her first trek into the bush. Several months ago (before our unscheduled trip to the US), we were invited to visit Losho, Joe's first "bush" location in Maasailand. The invitation was from Molonket, a young man Joe (and now we) has been assisting in school for quite some time. He is around 18 now (I think) and has just finished up his 8th grade year. Molonket is pictured here along with his father and Joe. They wanted to say thank you for the assistance we have given and give Joe a chance to come back to Losho and say hi to many old friends.
Molonket did a wonderful job setting up the day for us. First, we went to the CCC church at Losho where Joe preached a sermon on remembering who we are in Christ. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Joe at the pulpit. Here is a glimps inside the church with Olodikan (Joe's house worker at Losho) in the center and the pastor, Samson Kotikot, to the right.
From the church, we went to have lunch at the site where Joe used to live. It has been converted into a camp used mainly by a medical association that helps with the nearby clinic but also rented to tourists as the Masai Mara is just up the road about an hour. Joe's old house is now being used as the accommodations for tour guides that bring groups through.
Here is the dining hall where we took our lunch.
This is one of the cabins at the site for visitors.
Sophia & I standing outside Joe's old house. I think she was asleep at this point...
And during the rest of the afternoon, we visited with many other friends and loved ones. (Pic 1: Me, Sophia & Samson's daughter, Pic 2: Samson w/ Sophia, me, Molonket, Pic 3: Joe w/ Sophia & Olodikan).
I'm glad we had this chance to see a bit more of Joe's life in Kenya before his beautiful girls came along and that Joe was able to catch up with old friends. As a bonus, we had a giraffe cross right in front of us on our drive back home!! It's good to be back in Kenya...
