Karibu Turkana!

That means "welcome to Turkana" in Swahili...and what a welcome it was! If we didn't feel like we were in Africa yet, then it definitely hit us when we got to Turkana. Turkana is a stark contrast to the heavily western influenced Nairobi. Whether it was the dry heat, sand, poverty, destitution, or poorly built "structures", our team stepped off that 15 passenger plane completely wide-eyed. Here's what some of the team had to say about their initial shock:

" Wow when we first got off the plane? I guess my first thought was yup this is definitely Africa. The airport was this dusty dirt road they used as a runway. That, and we all were either sick or almost sick. But the airport terminal was this lean-to pavilion thing that read LODWAR on top. Looked like something your Grandpa would store his 1952 lawnmower under. The scene was straight out of a movie. There was the littlest old lady you have ever seen there greeting all of us. I couldn’t understand a thing she said, but I assumed it was nice because she was smiling when she said it. We were loading up the truck at the airport and I remember not being comfortable at all. We all climbed in the back of truck to ride a few hours to our camp. And when I say truck I mean this big ole’ cattle truck. I remember when it pulled up I asked Joel “Is that our truck?”. He responded with, “What? You want to walk?”. Of course Mel was in the background laughing at me. That was only the beginning. It took a while to get comfortable and it definitely didn’t happen that day." -Brian

"When we arrived in Turkana, we were relieved to get off the plane, but as soon as the heat hit my face, I knew that the little bit of air conditioning found in the plane was the last I would get for almost two weeks. We arrived to a host of people looking at us with puzzled faces, probably wondering why so many muzungus (white people) have come to their town. After getting some gas in the truck and water in the cisterns, we were on our way to the "bush", which is just another way to say "the middle of nowhere." However, the "bush" was soon to become our home away from home and what a home it was. Our boma, another name for compound, had multiple manyattas (huts) and tons of space without any thorns. Since I have been to Kenya multiple times, I knew that this boma was a paradise in disguise. This paradise would become our hotel when we needed sleep (even if it was on the ground), our restaurant when we needed food and our refuge when we need comfort. It was a great boma. It was a great home. It was Turkana!" - Ernest and Sara

"When we first arrived in Turkana I immediately thought to myself "it is about to get very real". It was uplifting to be met with such a welcome from the locals. I was somewhat nervous for the fact that I had no idea what to expect. Yet, it also was amazing to meet up with the two missionaries John and Joel for the first time since we had heard so much about them." - Travis


"The first big surprise was landing in our little tin can of a plane in Lodwar, where there happened to be no actual airport. Then the next shocker is that we will not be traveling to Turkana in trucks but instead our mode of transportation is an open topped cattle car that we have to literally climb into (while wearing skirts mind you). Sitting on bags of grain, we fry in the blazing sunlight, bumping and jolting along the so called "road." It was literally nauseating for some of the team. With bars stretched across the top, there are legs of your teammates dangling above your head. There is also the occassional warning of thorn trees ahead so that those sitting up top would not be mauled by the three inch knives that grow everywhere." -Kate

What really hit me was riding for hours in the back of that truck and looking at the horizon and seeing absolutely nothing but sand and dry bush. I thought to myself, "wow...this is truly out in the middle of nowhere...I hope nothing happens to one of our team members that requires immediate attention". At one point I saw the silhouette of a tribal man and his staff standing way out in the distance watching us as we went by. At first it was kind of eerie, but then I remembered that this was why we came. He was why we came. To reach the "least of these" that even though the rest of the world has forgotten about, our Almighty Father still loves and cherishes.