Preamble

I am sitting comfortably in a a hotel bar in rural Kenya, enjoying my evening Tusker Lager. We are already a week into our adventure, and I am finally able to find a little time to reflect and document the trip so far. This is one of those travel experiences that both begs to be documented, but is also so frenzied and full of emotion that it can be difficult to find time to reflect upon, come to terms with, and organize one's thoughts. My apologies for the delay in posting.

Four years ago, I traveled to Kenya with A Better World (ABW) to check out a number of ongoing humanitarian projects that were made possible with the support of Canadians (mostly Central Albertans). I kept a blog during that trip (viewable here) mostly as a way to process my feelings as I experienced Kenya and A Better World's work for the first time. I was deeply impacted by the experience. When I arrived home, I tried to convey to my family the impact of that trip, and I wanted them to have those same experiences too. I knew that one day, we would travel back to these places as a family. That opportunity came this year when we learned of the plans for a Legacy Trip with A Better World. 

Traveling with A Better World is a unique way to see another part of the world. Most of ABW's projects are in rural areas and so a large part of the trips is spent off the beaten path away from any touristy areas. Most days include a project visit, a fun event like a safari or boat tour, and a follow-up meeting at the hotel over drinks. This particular trip was organized around Gord Bontje's (co-founder of Laebon Homes) sixtieth birthday. Gord wanted to give something back for his birthday and made a sizable contribution to a number of projects this year. We would be visiting these projects, and a few more built with contributions from other travelers.  

Karen and I talked it over. We were nervous about bringing our kids: Evan is 12 and Anja is 9, and we weren't sure how easy it would be travelling with kids in tow, how safe we would be, and how the kids would react to seeing some of the harder things about life in Africa. Having traveled with ABW before, I was a little more confident than Karen, but we both had to give it some serious thought. Ultimately we decided to do it. 

My Dad, Rick Wiebe, manages a number of ABW projects and so arrived in Kenya a week before we left. My Mom, Sharon, was going to travel with us to meet him, but became very ill a week or so before we were due to leave. She made the very difficult decision to stay home. She was deeply disappointed, but it was for the best: traveling sick, especially in rural Kenya, is not a good time. 

So Karen, Evan, Anja, and I left home on October 10th - bound for Nairobi via Amsterdam. Our African Experience had begun!