INSPIRE BEYOND BOOKS : OLOI/INSPIRE KIDS TRIP

I love TRAVELLING KENYA. You, yes you!, are probably wondering what I have to gain by saying this in the midst of the chaos we currently find ourselves in as a country. Here is my one and only good reason.

This weekend we chose to see Kenya through the eyes of a child.Their minds are not really affected by travel advisories or terrorist just yet. Sometimes its not the easiest thing to cast away our fears and misconceptions and learn to see the way this kids do.

We had informed our luck group that the trip would begin at 7am in the morning and anyone coming in later would be left behind (although really that was an idle threat). To our surprise they were there at quarter to seven. That should tell us adults that keeping time the Kenyan way should have an amendment of some kind. This unprepared bunch of adults was caught off guard....smiles at this point. There is nothing like a good movie to keep minds busy for a while

So lunch was packed and ready and the excitement was palpable. it is time now to hit the road. You must understand that this are kids from the ghetto. Most of them have not been beyond certain geographical locations and therefore the oohs and ahhs were most welcome. Oh if only one can rewind the clock of time.

Past the rolling green hills that makes the central highlands beautiful onward past the Sagana bridge and then the highlight of our morning which did wonders to our morale, all the smooth flow of traffic on the Thika Super Highway. I will pause here briefly and let myself have a moment of utter joy just like a child at the prospect of driving here on this road. Maybe by 2030 we may have it all down to village level but, when you come from the village and you see all the lights and traffic and in betweens then it does not matter who you are you have got to be excited especially when the kids are screaming at each other to see, see and see some more, and there is excited chatter all round.

Then came the city, with tiny eyes straining to see the tallest buildings and harmoniously counting down the traffic light signals at every junction (maybe its time we have a little city in the village).Any other time this would probably be annoying and irritating but this is not the office or home and i am not in the mood to reprimand so i join in the chorus of 23, 22.....9, 7..(you get the point). It is my firm belief at this point that the adventure that is GOING BEYOND BOOKS should be a necessary occurrence.

Children have such a beautiful way of seeing things it literally makes all things new. We then head out towards the KWS Safari walk. Passing through the Wilson airport and as usual there was a shout of " there is a plane landing with its 'legs'" out. (i prayed in my heart that one day we may be able to fly them anywhere in Kenya. With Jambo jet the prices are good enough...smiles).

Drama with kids is normal and you would probably think they saw a chicken do the moon walk from the excitement in their voices. From seeing a real live rhino to a leopard showing us its bottom, to the girrafe and the antelope that no one could name and the beautiful Columbus monkeys hiding way up in their tree house to that beautiful Leopard that everyone thought would jump over the fence ......i saw a beautiful Kenya.

We should not spoil our children with the hateful

mentalities. Here they have only been seeing their small world from a bigger view and i like it. Time to move on and more eating.

Time is running out and really everyone's mind is focused on Naivasha but then a pass through state house road to see where the president lives got us a beautiful response of WOW. At this point we had alot of changed minds and dreams on the future, present and past and i did not want to spoil the moment by asking irrelevant questions. So we let that internalize. It was proving to be rather interesting.

Down the road past Limuru and then the escarpment. Nothing in the world would make us not stop here including the freezing warm weather. Our little tourists promptly jumped out of the vehicle and there was camera action with lots of questions including "What was God thinking". And they could not help huggling over mementos from wrist decorations to necklaces to earings and yes i got mixed up in the whole affair and ended up doing a few purchases myself. That night i was confident that someone would sleep with a smile on their face having huggled with a bunch of children to even being offered 20 Kenyan shillings for an item.

It is interesting watching ourselves from this perspective. Irregardless of my grown up mentality i was having fun. I am more convinced than ever that it takes a non judgemental brave heart to traverse this land of ours and therefore claim boldly "KENYA NI YETU" .

Aha Naivasha here we come. Hells gate is our destination and swimming in the Spa/Swimming pool is everyone's objective and top priority. The park is visually stunning from the giraffes browsing on the wayside, amid herds of antelopes and warthogs grazing peaceful, to the people riding their bikes and those climbing the sheer rocks. On wards towards the geothermal plants (now i understand why i must protest at the destruction of parks) and WALLAH!! the pool.

No! really we could not keep the dear ones from bolting towards the tempting pools. I could only sit by and watch contentedly as they played in the white waters that felt like one is being hugged by a teddy bear all warm and cuddly. I don't suppose the water here gets cold at any point. (its just sad that more people don't come here more often before they turn this into a high class SPA - once the hotel next to the pool is complete) and enjoy what is given to us naturally. To have thought of tapping this warm waters was a genius idea (congratulations to that beautiful mind)

Getting this young ones out of that water was a battle in itself. No one wanted to come out. Yet we all knew it was time to go back home. That trip i assure you would be remembered in times to come as one of the things they and me included enjoyed the most.

Education does not happen from books alone. When INSPIRE and OLOI TRAVELS comes together on behalf of the community we ensure that learning happens beyond the classrooms. This is our one way of making sure that this happens, and we would like to thank AFK for this opportunity to have made a difference in the life of a child.