Snuck off to Kenya Saturday night to surprise my daughter for her birthday. Jen had arrived two nights before to surprise her and I surprised them both.
I rode for twelve hours on a bus packed full of Sudanese families, their chickens, farm implements and what seemed like all their belongings. There were people two to a seat and wedged in every imaginable space including sprawled out in the aisles. Oh, and the Rastafari-Kenyan driver cranked reggae the whole night on the BANGING sound system and rolled and smoked a joint twenty minutes into the trip. At a police check, he pulled out his log book and sprayed a cloud of cherry air freshener right in front of the cop, while the joint burned away on the bus floor.
I arrived in one piece with a bad case of the munchies.
The surprise was appreciated and it was mission accomplished but thirty hours later I was back on another night bus back to Jinja and now I’m .. tired.
I had such a great time seeing Jen and the kids but if course it was way too short.
I got to spend a few moments with a man I have a ton if respect for, Steve Peifer, the Director of College Guidance at RVA and author of “A Dream So Big“, which is a book that has already encouraged me so much within the first forty pages. Steve walked away from a successful career in the tech industry to move with his family to Kenya to work with kids like ours at RVA. His heart was drawn to the Kenyan kids and he began computer training courses and feeding programs to help kids in need.
In the process he’s improved thousands both inside and outside the school walls. I really can’t wait to finish his book. It reminds me of why I came here in the first place.
I met a kindred spirit in Steve and I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds. It’s also gotten me thinking about my own story (not my idea) because my biggest complaint is that I’ve failed too many times and my story has no “happy ending”. Steve has shown me that neither if these things matter, that it is the journey that matters, and what we do with the time we’ve got. Do check out his book if you get the chance.
Going to get some sleep. It’s been a long weekend.
