in december i was lucky enough to travel to kenya for a truly epic and once-in-a-lifetime family reunion! 67 family members convened for a week that had been in planning for years. due to the fact that it was residency interview season i didn’t think i would be able to make it, but i managed to avoid scheduling any interviews for that week and a couple days prior, when airfares remained exceptionally cheap, i decided to go for it!
it was so great to see my extended family, many of whom we hadn’t seen for years. also many young children who i had not yet had the chance to meet. we stayed at a mission-run guesthouse in nairobi for a few days, visiting an elephant orphange one day. another day we went to the town of kijabe, where all my mother’s siblings grew up. we visited the gravesites where some of our ancestors are interned. the family has lived in kenya since the american civil war!
we took some crowded buses to tsavo game park for one night, where we stayed in an opulent game lodge! then we continued through mombasa to turtle bay, a resort on the indian ocean! it was all-inclusive and amazing! then it was quickly back to america, with a residency interview dinner on the day of arrival. it was a really special trip; memories forever!
