Monday, June 28, 2010

Welcome to Kenya

Kenyans are probably the most welcoming people I have ever met. Everywhere we went, people were not only happy to see us but pulled out all the stops to make us feel welcome. They prepared all the food they could, gave us the best chairs or shady patches of grass, and said again and again, "You are most welcome, please feel completely at home."

On our very first day we drove up to Ntimigom school and were greeted at the road by 200 singing children. The teachers told us that since the kids couldn't really grasp time measurements well, they asked when we were coming every day before that.



After lots of singing and walking up the hill holding hands with every child that could get next to us, we sat down and listened to school teachers, board members, chiefs, ex-chiefs, and other politicians welcome us and thanks us for coming. They were so happy we had come all that way to meet and spend time with them.

They also brought out their young dance team that had just placed at a regional competition. Here's the video of them dancing for us.

At just about every school or place we went to, groups of Maasai dancers and singers performed for us to show us their culture and make us feel welcome. A school even showed up in our backyard one day to sing for us.

All of their warm welcomes, warm food, and performances made it clear they were happy to see us and it did in fact make me feel completely at home in their beautiful land.

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