Hiking with Churches

Friday evening we got a text from the Church family, inviting us for a Saturday morning hike.  Davona Church is the director of Cradle of Love where Brent works, mostly teaching her two daughters Mariah and Staci. 

The Churches (Davona, her husband Max, their son Brendan, Mariah and Staci) picked us up in the morning and we began driving towards Arusha National Park.  Just before the park we turned off and continued along a very bumpy road through villages, forests and farms, heading up the slopes of Mount Meru.

They had brought along some extra blankets and cookies that they didn't need, so we started got out at a village rather high up in the hills and passed out our goodies. 

 

We were also passing out cookies to any kids we saw on the side of the road, usually working hard carrying huge piles of wood or buckets of water on top of their heads.  Sadly, the first group of little girls we stopped for, carrying very large buckets of water on their heads, saw us stop the car and their faces reflected sheer terror.  One of them screamed, and they all began running away as fast as they could, dropping their hard-earned water on the ground.  Max told us that in some more remote areas where they rarely see a white person, children are told that the "Mzungus" (white people) will try to eat them.  We felt terrible about this!

Finally we arrived at our destination.  We parked the car in the middle of the forest amidst some very tasty wild raspberry bushes and started hiking up.

Us looking fresh at the beginning of the hike.  We're not actually that tall.  It's some kind of optical illusion.

The walk was beautiful... taking us through vine-covered jungle, misty moss-covered trees that reminded us of coastal BC, and alpine meadows.  After awhile the girls became tired and Davona took them back to the car, leaving me, Brendan, Brent and Max to keep exploring.  We had a lovely time, chatting about our dreams and admiring the plants and scenic views.

Max and Brendan take a well-deserved rest.

Seems like a little fairy should pop out from under here or something...

When we got back to the vehicle, we had a bit of a depressing discovery... the window had been smashed and the contents cleared.  Davona and the girls were mourning the loss of Davona's purse, several more blankets they were going to give out, and the girls' backpacks with books and toys.  Argh!

Despite the damper on the mood, we headed back to their house at the baby home, for a delicious pasta lunch.  We felt blessed with the warmth of good food, good conversation and friendship. 

As we were headed out the door to hug some babies and then head home, we found the girls on the stair landing, giving their Barbies a bath.  It was such a quintessential scene of sister-hood. 

 What a lovely way to spend a Saturday.  We were truly grateful for the invite!