Our three day clinic in the hills above Kilgoris ended yesterday with a big push to see all of the patients who had walked long hours to be seen by our staff. In the end there were still 20 people we could not see. The light was gone, the doctors and nursing staff were wearing head lamps to finish the last of the work. One of our nurses and I walked through the waiting people one last time to see if there was just one more urgent case. We focused on infants and children and found several to squeeze in after the doors were closed. It is heartbreaking to see the people continue to wait, holding out hope that we just might hear their plea. We ended the day with a total of 162 patients treated. To date the API team has treated over 700 patients in 6 days!

Throughout the day we had many public officials come and inspect our ministry. In the end we were written unconditional letters of recommendations.  Nothing happens quickly in Kenya and to receive handwritten letters from top officials within several hours is an honor.

Today, Thursday, was our day off, and what a day it was. We were out the door at 4:30 AM on our way to Masai Mara to view one of the premier game parks in Africa. Our hope was to be at the Oololo Gate by sunrise. We didn't make it. Not for lack of trying but because of mud. Kenyan mud is particularly nasty, clogging the treads of any tire like pores on a teenager! Only one of our three cars got stuck but the push out time put us behind schedule. No worries, as we rounded the last bend and made the sweeping right turn down the escarpement in to the park we were greeted by hundreds of elephants grazing just off of the road, before we even entered the park! It is the peak of the annual migration and at one stop we climbed on top of the land rover to view tens of thausands of zebra, wildebeast, antelope and other assorted game.
 
We saw all of the big cats, lion, cheetah and leopard and were treated to a close up view of a lioness eating a very fresh kill.

Our return trip is where the fun began. The climb out of the valley was uneventful. It had rained again and the roads, which we had hoped would dry up during the heat of the day, were even worse than before. All three of our 4x4s spent time being pushed and teased out of tricky spots. Our team was joined by many people walking on the way and were a great help. At several points we had to leave the road altogether and make our way through the bush. We had one final stretch to pass through. First went the land rover with cheers from the other to cars she made it through. Then it was my turn and with much bravado I made it half way though before finding myself turned around and almost upside down. Our car was laughing so hard as we came to a stop that we could hardly see! As we came to a stop out of the back seat came a plaintive, "Are we stuck?" It sent us in to a new burst of belly busting, eye watering laughter. In the end, we were ready for anything. We even consider a game of mud football and were beggining to ask the local Masai's for a match when we noticed the spears........they got away lucky.

God Bless and Good Night,

Darby