A trip to Eldoret

Today was my first experience driving a long distance on Kenyan roads. Sr. Judi told me before we went on vacation that she would need help taking children to a clinic in Eldoret today b/c they would not all fit in one car. Since I'm the only one of the volunteers that has a lot of experience driving a manual transmission, I started taking lessons at the beginning of this week. I wanted to get a feel for driving on the left side of the road before I drove all the way to Eldoret. Anyways, after a next practices with the driving instructor and one time out in the pick up with Sr. Katherine, I felt ready.
I collected some of the parents and children in Malava bright and early this morning and waiting for Sr. Judi to get back with the kids who needed to be picked up out of town. Eldoret is about as far away as Kisumu is, but I've been told it does not take as long to get there b/c the road is much better. I'll say this, it was faster and the road is better is most places, but there was still plenty of bumping along as we made our way there.
The traveling clinic only comes to Eldoret once every two months and they see children who are dealing with orthopedic problems as well as children who have neurological conditions. The children we took were mostly kids with Hydrocephalis and spina bifida as well as kids who were having ortho problems fixed the bracing. The clinic was held at a community based rehabilitation center run by the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Something that continues to amaze me is how much people thank me. Today I met any members of the ACK community based rehab team and they all said how wonderful is was of me to come to Kenya and how wonderful the work I'm doing is. I wanted to say "Hey, thanks for letting me come to your country. And I just drove here...you guys are the ones fixing our kids". But i know this is rude so I say thank you and thank them for their work as well. Like Sr. Beatrice tells me...visitors are a blessing.
Anyways, we were at the clinic for hours b/c we had so many kids with us and I didn't get home until after 6 this evening. Driving on the left side of the road isn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. It's more then inside of the car thats weird. The seat belt is on the other side and I have to shirt gears with the left hand instead of my right. But, all in all, I'm pretty proud of myself for making it all the way there and back.
Not much else has been going on since my birthday, which is actually really nice. I'm getting back into the swing of things here and enjoying the quiet life. The have been some interesting things going on in Kenya. There are a bunch of article's on Tom's blog that I suggest you read if you're interested!