One day and I will start my journey to Kenya.

When I was thinking about summer plans in February I had no idea of the adventure ahead of me. But a few weeks later I came across the Global Civic Innovation Challenge, a University wide competition and the prize was being sponsored to be part of the Balloon Kenya team. I applied but didn’t have high hopes on getting it, yet a few weeks later I met Dave Jarman, the brains behind the competition and found out that only an interview with him and the founder of Balloon Kenya stood between me and the 6 week trip. Understandably I was blown away. The day of the interview came and I was as nervous as I’ve never been before. 45 minutes I waited afterwards, unsure about the outcome with mixed emotions. Finally my phone pinged and I had mail: “you’ve got it”. A victory dance and lots of laughter and happy screams followed within seconds. I’m sure if someone had seen my reaction they would’ve thought I’d gone crazy,… or that I was part of the theatre department (after all I was standing in the amphitheatre of the university). I didn’t care, I was happy.

Shortly after I had received the good news, the attack of Garissa University College happened. This obviously came as a shock and made me rethink whether it was safe to go. For many weeks I talked to different people, especially family and friends, weighed both sides and finally had peace about going. I’m glad I was able to go through this process because it made me see all sides of the picture and plant a sense for caution into my brain and heart. I must say that the Balloon Team supported me in remarkable ways. Everyone made themselves available to chat and not once I felt urged or influenced in my process towards a decision. My thanks goes out to them!

Throughout it all I felt supported and understood and even when I wanted to change to the late summer team, I was granted my wish. At the time, the biggest reason among many was that I did not feel ready to go, my head was still stuck in England between moving and university assignments. I was supposed to leave Mid-June but luckily was moved to the second group starting in August, which allowed me to move without stress, take part in the funeral of our close friend Marlies, witness two of my closest friends get married, see friends and family and prepare mentally and physically for the journey.

Now I can say: Kenya, I’m ready for ya! 😉

 

 

PS: In my next post I will write a bit about what I will be doing in Kenya, so keep your eyes peeled! :)