Kendall describes a pretty intense day in the field.

Today, we hiked.

Not like “walked around a mountain” hiked, more like “scaled a mountain to the valley and back up” hiked.

As I’ve previously mentioned, the region we’re in is extremely mountainous, rocky, and dry. That terrain made our hike up, and especially down, very difficult because lots of rocks means lots of sliding on loose rocks.

We got to visit a site that is still under construction at the bottom of a valley. We were all sweaty and tired by the time we reached the site so it gave us an extreme appreciation for all of the workers and community members who carried stuff down to the site. We were especially surprised to see a young lady with a baby strapped to her back helping build the wall around the well. Not only did she carry a baby all the way down there, but she was doing work at the site.

On the way out we were invited to a community member’s house to sit on the porch, have fresh jebana buna, and eat yummy corn bred with fresh honey.

Time and time again, these people show nothing but the best hospitality; everywhere we go we are invited in to a pre-made feast and lots of coffee.

I think we can all learn a little something from this culture and these people about the importance of community and how hosting people in your home can create relationships faster than anything. I have fallen in love with this country and it’s people and I am so sad that we are leaving in 3 short days!