Vocational Trip first blog post

I’ll begin by apologizing for the lateness of the first blog post.  I usually do it after the first day, but I drove all day yesterday and was totally wiped out.  I remember clearly during the last medical mission trip, I was sitting in Midland complaining about the lack of reports from the medical team in Kenya.  I formally apologize for that as well.

This trip is a different kind of mission trip than we have done before.  Most of our other trips have been medical missions, which we have done many times by now.  On this trip we are taking a team of Americans to the Vocational Training Center to teach, love on, and encourage the students here who are learning a trade and preparing to leave our system at the end of this  year.

On this team in addition to myself, we have KWO board member Becca Yocham, Nursing Instructor Marshall Rogers and his wife Lisa, who is a master seamstress. Also with us are Clay Wooten, all around handy man, and his wife Barbie who is a professional mother and a great cook,  are joined by Lacey Haney, a nutritionist from Marble Falls, Megan Casselman, an RN, and her multi-talented husband Ross.  CJ Wilson, our new resident Nurse Practitioner rounds out the team.

What a great trip we have had so far!  Our flights were perfect, everything was on time, no delays, and we arrived with no lost baggage.  Miracle number one!

In the Nairobi airport, one of our team went to the restroom and lost their passport.  They didn’t know it was gone until one of the Kenyan cleaning girls came up to us asking if we had lost a passport.  Had we tried to go through customs without it, it would have been a real mess. She got a nice tip and – Miracle number two!

We spent the night at the new arrival center in Kamulu.  It is really nice and helps to keep the team together.  We were so efficient that we got started on our long drive to the training center on time and arrived, without any encounters with the police, before dark!  Miracle number three!

We got unloaded, had a nice dinner with our Kenyan hosts, and had a quick organizational meeting.  We slept well in the recently improved guest house at the VTC and this morning we were ready for our fist day of the mission.

Each of us split up and explored the operation of the training center in different areas.   Marshall, Megan, and CJ are conducting a training session with the nurses from our orphanages for these three days, so they got started on that.  Barbie and Lacey went to the kitchen to discover Kenya cooking and explore ways to improve the diet of our kids while maintaining food costs.  Lisa went to the tailoring program and spent time with them.  Becca spent time with the cosmetology students and Clay and I worked on a plan to finish the large dining hall / church building.  Ross was all set to help in the computer class, but unfortunately has been sidelined by a stomach bug.

This afternoon, we all got together to discuss our findings.  It was so encouraging to me to see how everyone jumped in to their assignments with real passion.  They asked some great questions and we made a plan for tomorrow to discover the answers and make improvements.  Becca will be teaching her English program tomorrow morning, and the others all have plans to continue their work in their respective areas.  The highlight of the day for me was watching GCR elder Clay Wooten get a manicure from our of the cosmetology students.  His hands have never been this soft!

This is such a great team, and so far everyone is doing great.  Please keep us in your prayers, especially Ross because I know he is eager to get back in the game!