Getting Ready for Another Adventure

Dear Friends and Family,
Once again, I am about to embark on an African adventure.  Once was not enough.  I am very excited and have a very full itinerary for the three weeks I will be there.

I am leaving October 28th and flying to Nairobi.  Loooonnnngggg flight!  I arrive in Nairobi the night of Friday the 29th.  East Africa is 11 hours ahead of us here in the States.  The first night there I will be staying with a Rotarian friend who has graciously asked to host me.  Late in the day on Saturday I will be taken to Nyumbani which is an AIDS orphanage in an area not far but Southwest of  Nairobi proper.  I will stay at the facility for 5 days, volunteering as a nurse.  When I visited this facility on my last trip, I told everyone how Nyumbani pulled at my heartstrings and that I knew I would be back.

From Nairobi, I will fly to Kampala, but I won't stay there yet.  Some local Rotarians will meet me and take me 3 hours to Mbarera.  There I will stay with a doctor and his family.  He has me scheduled to speak at his Rotary club and to speak to a group of nurses and physicians the following day.  I will see a couple of different clinics.

From there, I go back to Kampala until November 11th.  In Kampala, I will spend a couple of days at Mildmay, a facility for adult and children affected with AIDS.  Then my friends William and Beth Kaguma will host me for a few days of reminiscing.  I will see two projects I have been involved in in Kenya and Uganda.  I will visit the Mukuru School in the Nairobi slums.  We have provided them with money for bathroom facilities.  The project has been completed.  The children at Makuru now have running water.  I will also visit a water project that we brought to fruition which involves provided plastic tanks for water to a neighborhood who will be helped by the sustainability.

On to Mombasa.  This will be very special.  I will stay with my very dear friends Varinder and Chhani.  I will get to see a new school project, and most excitingly, I will be at Tumaini Children's Center for the ribbon cutting ceremony.  This center was helped by a matching grant that Varinder and I worked on together, and we were able to provide lab equipment to this facility.  The lab will not only be used by the facility, but also the larger community.  There will also be a Rotary Foundation dinner the evening of the ribbon cutting ceremony.  I will volunteer for a few days at Tumaini.  I will get to visit many other friends who have been so wonderful.

I return home on November 18th.  Once again, I know the time will fly by and it will be only a dream.

I will keep you posted along my journey.  You can sign up to receive all updates to this blog right on this website.  Otherwise, you can check back periodically.  If you wish not to receive any mail or updates, either let me know or just opt out.

I will keep you all up to date as internet access permits.
~Dale