Nairobi

24 hours ago we made our way to BHX in Birmingham. While we waited in the departure lounge, who should we see but Roy from thethirdplace catching a flight to Portugal! We hadn't seen him for several weeks, and it was a serendipitous visit. We also met Rob from the GlobalScope team (campus ministry at the University of Birmingham) who was on the same flight to Amsterdam.

Once in Amsterdam we met up with Jonathan who would be on the same flight to Nairobi. He's team leader for the team in the Ukraine. We flew a KLM plane run by Kenyan Airways, and while I was a bit nervous about the idea of a quality Kenyan airline (yes, I was prejudging), the service was great. Even though my armrest controls for the movies was on the blink, Tam and I managed to catch one movie by switching seats. The rest was less than that, with an overnight flight, as we backed up on a bulkhead and couldn't recline our seats. I did get to eat all of Tam's snacks though!

The four of us were met by Ezekiel, our driver to Brackenhurst, and waited for the team leader from the GlobalScope team in Salamanca, Spain. And then the driving adventure began! Ezekiel pointed out the terminal where VIPs are welcomed into the country, including Barak Obama back in 2006. He also showed us the road works going on from the airport into Nairobi, in anticipation of Obama's visit at some point in the future. We saw Obama posters on the back of cars and buses, some covered by the belching of thick diesel fumes like I've never seen! We almost disappeared down one pothole Ezekiel managed to miss after getting out of Nairobi, and then we followed that by playing 'chicken' with a immense lorry full of gravel that took evasive action to miss a pothole right into our path!

Made contact after arrival with Japeth, at a school in Nairobi. While Tam's in her meeting with other team leaders from across the world, I'm going into the slum area of Nairobi where I'm representing a church from England who supports the school. I have no idea what it's going to be like, but I hope to have some stories and photos tomorrow!