This is a real elephant but it's not alive...phew!  He is at the Nairobi Museum which is just about five miles from our flat.  How would you like to carry those tusks around all day?  No wonder he died.

There were beautiful stained glass windows and tiled walkways in the entry way and through the gardens.

This was a beautiful display of all kinds of guords...all shapes and sizes and some had been painted or carved.

Another view of the guord sculpture.

One of the best parts of our visit to the museum was seeing all the school children.  Each school has their own uniforms.

People in Naivasha are very cautious when it comes to swimming in the lake because there are many hippos and they say they will "chomp" you!  Not eat you...just chomp you and then spit you out!

This zebra looks like he is laughing or has something to say...

This is a rare animal found only in one country in Africa.  It looks like a combination of several different animals.

This is a shot of an Acasia Tree.  It is very common in Africa and the giraffes love to eat the leaves.  You can see the long thorns that grow all over the branches, making it tricky to get to the leaves.

Here is another group of school children.  There must have been 500 children at the museum that Saturday but they were all very well behaved.  Each group had a few adults with them.  They walked in lines with their hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them.  Children who are lucky enough to go to school attend six days a week.

This is a group of older children making their way down to the snake exhibit.

It's hard to see, but this walkway was made from mosaic tiles.  It was beautiful.

We went to Ilima, which is in the hills about two hours from Nairobi.  These children heard the truck coming and ran to meet us.  We arrived at 10:00 a.m. and left at 1:30 p.m. and they were with me all that time.  We sang, hiked around and played games.  Their treasures were bottle caps which they used to play a game similar to jacks.  Here we are sharing some carrots.  The baby was held by his sister the entire time.  She carried him on her back, her hip, and in front...just like he was part of her body.  All he had on was this little t-shirt. 

Here are two mamas carrying their little ones on their backs.  They use large scarves called kangas to tie the children on.  They tie them differently depending on how old the children are so that their heads and necks will be supported.

This little girl is losing the sight in her left eye.  None of these children go to school because their families can't pay the school fees.  They get up in the morning and play all day on their own.  They know to go home when it starts to get dark.  They could count to 100 and they can say their ABC's.

This little girl's name is Purity and her brother's name is Barack.  There are three other children at home.  We visited their home a few months ago when the new baby was born.  The mama wasn't home because the baby was sick and she had taken her to the doctor.  The father was working on a plow and wouldn't talk to us.

Before we left, the two older girls did a full inspection on me.  They started at my hands and lifted my sleeves to see if I was white all the way up.  They were confused because I was wearing black nylons and they couldn't figure out why part of me was white and part was black.  There was a long discussion in Kikumba about my legs.  They tried to braid my hair but it was too short.  They went all over my face and ears talking the whole time.  I wish I could understand what they were saying.  It was a very serious conversation.   I'm sure they had a lot to tell their families when they went back home.  It was a delightful morning and I hope we can go back soon.  Next time I will take some bottle caps as a gift.

Here are two of the amazing missionaries who serve in the hills.  They get lots of exercise walking up and down the hills.

Here we are inspecting their bottle cap collection...lining them up according to color.

Little Purity can do anything while carrying her brother.  Here she is with him on her back while she is playing with the bottle caps.  By the time she is old enough to have a child of her own, she will know all about how to be a mama.  It's hard to know how old they are but I think Purity is between 6-8 years old.