A weekend with Jane Goodall!

On Saturday, January 26th, we took a busload of ISK Global Issues Network students to hear Dr. Jane Goodall deliver a lecture at the Nairobi National Museum. The lecture had been arranged just a few days before, and the hall was bursting at the seams with people who wanted to hear this amazing woman speak about her work. It was an inspiring address about how we all need to do our part in saving our world and the endangered species in it. Imagine how thrilled we were when we discovered, later that same day, that four of our students would be able to spend an entire hour with Dr. Goodall the next day, interviewing her and shooting a short film for our upcoming Global Issues Service Summit! It was an amazing experience. Dr. Goodall was very warm and made the students feel at ease; she spoke easily about her passion for conservation, particularly of chimps and other primates. Brian manned the video camera, I observed from the sidelines after coaching my GIN kids through the interview process, and Cora was one of the four lucky students who was able to engage with Dr. Goodall. It was a moving "life" moment for all of us.

Sunflowers & weaver birds...

The sunflower seeds we brought back from Ontario this year have produced a bumper crop in our Nairobi garden, and the plants have grown to gigantic proportions. A group of black-capped social weavers have decided the big flower heads are the best treat in town, and we've been treated to several daily visits. Even the cats and chickens have been intrigued. Oh, we love our garden here!

A glorious week in Lamu...

We were adventurous and drove down to Lamu on the Kenyan coast from December 27 - January 4th. The 1 1/2 day journey (each way) turned into a lovely road trip, with side excursions to the Arabuko Sokoke Forest and the Gedi Ruins. The week in Lamu itself was absolutely perfect: peaceful and quiet with a great new year's eve party and new year's day dhow races thrown in. Ahhh... a pretty great way to ring in 2013.

Christmas Eve Day at Nairobi National Park

We've lived here in Nairobi for 2 1/2 years and somehow we've never done a game drive in Nairobi National Park... until December 24th! We woke up very early and were lucky enough to spend time with a pride of lions, a lone hippo and many grazing animals for the morning. It was lovely. Oh, and Cora drove for the first time in the park, also - that added some excitement to the excursion (she did a great job)!

Belated Christmas Photos...

We were so blessed to have all three of our girls home in Nairobi for Christmas this year. We spent 1 1/2 weeks in town, just spending time together and visiting some Nairobi restaurants. Rebecca flew home on the 26th and then Hannah stayed on until January 6th. What a precious thing it is to be together. We spent one beautiful afternoon with Margaret's family the village (Margaret is our amazing housekeeper who is really part of our family now!)