Imiliwaha!

Hi!

We are now in Imiliwaha! It was a longer trip getting here, and we had some unexpected surprises along our journey here. I'll start with last Thursday night and then finish to where we are today!

Thursday afternoon most of us helped in the kitchen to make a delicious treat called mandazi na ndizi. It is like a fried banana bread. Sister Claudia and Sister Didima helped us out. After cooking we all headed over to St. Laurent's and had a huge disco! The kids absolutely loved it and were going crazy!! It was a lot of fun, but after about an hour of dancing we were all exhausted. The dance went from 4-6:45, and then we went to our last dinner in Hanga. A group from Austria arrived the day before, and we had a special meal that evening with them and a few others. That evening we packed and played games before heading to bed.

Friday morning we ate and were on the road by 9:00! We were headed to Njombe and brought some seminary students with because they are now on their "winter" break! This part of the ride was uneventful, but the drive was very beautiful through the mountains. Once we got to Njombe we stopped for about 30 minutes, and then we headed to Nole, the water bottling factory for Hanga and a lot of the surrounding area. The factory had some new equipment that they showed us, and we also saw the dam that powers the factory. After the tour we heard there was not possibly room for us in Imiliwaha, so we stayed at the factory! Fr. Salvatori was extremely glad to host us, and we were all thankful for the hospitality. It was a very cold night though, and we were frozen!

Saturday we left at 9:00, and it was supposed to be an hour and a half until Imiliwaha. After two hours of what seemed like driving in circles we met some construction, and our bus decided it would be a good idea to slide off the side of the road and get stuck! The drivers, Br. Jacob, and some local people helped dig us out. It took about 30 minutes before we were back on our way. It took another 2 hours until we finally arrived to Imiliwaha! The sisters were very glad to see us, and they made us lunch. They made spaghetti and then cake for dessert! That afternoon we settled in our rooms and then took it easy the rest of the day.

Sunday morning we went to breakfast before heading to 8:30 mass. It was the mass of Corpus Christi, so after the nearly two hour long mass we all walked in a long parade route that the sisters had set up with flowers. The sisters sang the entire route, and it was really neat to see some of the celebrations here. After mass we had lunch, and then we headed to the orphanage. The little kids are all in matching outfits and were super fun to hang out with. They all wanted to be held, and some of them actually knew a little English. After the orphanage we walked to the lake that the sisters use for powering the hydroelectric dam. It is surrounded by mountains and is a very beautiful site. Afterwards we visited a school, had dinner (they had pizza!), played games, and then went to bed around 10.

This morning half of us got up to walk down to the lake and take pictures of the sunrise, but unfortunately it was cloudy. Nonetheless it was a good way to start the day. After breakfast some of us headed to the orphanage, others went on a hike, and Lindsey and I headed to check out the internet situation. We don't have much planned the rest of the day, and tomorrow is our last full day in Imiliwaha.

Ben is trying to upload the photos, so stay posted for that!

-Brandon