Arrival and First Week

It is Friday evening in Nairobi.

Our first week has gone by in a flash!  Upon our arrival late Tuesday evening we were introduced to our apartment where the local staff had done a great job of setting up a home away from home for us, complete with fresh flowers and food for breakfast.  Although somewhat exhausted after our lengthy flight, our excitement and anticipation for what lay ahead kept us energized.

The past three days have been spent being oriented to a variety of things that will make our assignment in Kenya more effective.  What a wonderful group of people we have met and learned from!  It was exciting to learn about the various areas and initiatives that World Renew (CRWRC) is involved in, both from a disaster response and development perspective (shorter-term and long-term efforts). The project that we are responsible for was reviewed in considerable detail – including such things as the project budget, reporting and tracking requirements, coordinating meetings, logistical arrangements for both delivery and distribution of the food, etc., etc.

Preparation of the base line survey was a new and interesting experience for us. Since we will be working closely with a local partner, we were given valuable insights into World Renew’s close relationship with them.  We had opportunity to ask tons of questions and received lots of answers and much support.  This will be invaluable to us over the coming months.

So… are we ready to move on?  Well, ready or not – here we go!  On Monday morning at 6 a.m. we will be heading to Mombasa (a full day’s drive) with a trusted driver and Chris Shiundu, the National Disaster Response Manager for Kenya.   We expect to be in that area for the next two weeks.  During the first week we will meet the supplier, have discussions and planning sessions with three area coordinators, train enumerators for the surveys and visit several of the targeted communities.  If all this planning falls into place, we will experience the first food distributions the following week.

We are thankful to report that God is providing all our needs, especially for calmness, the ability to take in so much new information and for energy and good health!