Reflections
First there was Emanuel, he visited my for six days it was loads of fun! I showed Emmanuel a traditional California beach day he loved it, it was the first time he had ever seen the ocean up close and personal he thought that is was amazing! Luckily Emanuel came during Fiesta time you can't fully experience Santa Barbara without going to Fiesta!
This is a classic picture of Emanuel succeeding his goal of riding a bike and getting his prosthetic leg.
Next I visited Panther Bior. That was very interesting to experience his culture and fun of corse. I remember swimming in the Nile River that was very relaxing but I remember I was very nervous that it was not safe and some crocodile was going to hurt me, but I was fine. Some thing that also really sticks out in my mind about that trip was that Panther took my to see a concert in Nairobi. The concert was this rapper who was also one of the lost boys of Sudan. I think that Panther had said that he was friends with the rapper when they we children but I am not quit sure since there were so many lost boys.
This is Panther and his wife.
Next up on my agenda was a unforgettable trip when I visited Maruge! I think that this trip was my favorite one! I did so much I can't tell you every thing I did but if you want to read all of my adventures you should read my previous blog post Visit With Maruge numbers 1-8. But some of my most vivid memories are when we went to Lake Victoria and went fishing for Tilapia. After we had caught some we cleaned then and we fried then our selves. They were the best Tilapia I had ever eaten probably because there we so fresh and things taste a little different when you are the one who caught it and cooked it. We were about to get back on the Matatu/bus to go back to Maruge's village when we saw this little Cafe on the shore of the lake and so we decided to have some dinner there. It was so good even though I did not really know what I was eating it was amazing! Then the next day I went to Nairobi and I went to the Nairobi National Park and Giraffe Manor. That was amazing! Giraffe Manor was so cool it was a once in a life time opportunity to go there and it was just so amazing! I do not really know how to describe it! It was so.. I looked kind of like a old English farm house and manor, but surrounded by Giraffes that look so big and a little scary but when they eat out or your hand and they stick their huge heads into our window you get a different connection with them.
This is the amazing Giraffe Manor. 
This is a picture of Maruge with two of his friends from his class.Then I went and visited Nenita Muleta. The reason I decided to visit her was that I landed her $25 for her banana and charcoal stand. It was so fun to actually meet Nenita and not just know her for her profile on Kiva.org. This is Nenita in front of her stand.
Now my last stop was Glide Memorial Methodist Church. I am so glade that I got the amazing experience of going to Glide how I got to go was my school was on our end of the year trip in San Francisco and Marin County. On the fifth day Pam took about 13 of our the the service at Glide. Glide is an amazing Church that focuses on re habilitating homeless people in SF. The Church is located in the tenderloin District of San Francisco. We got to the Church at about 9:00am for the service and for the service it was mainly gospel singing and people talking and motivating people that it will always get better and that here there is always a warm hug here. After the service we went down stairs to the soup kitchen were we got the remarkable opportunity to help prepare and serve the food in the soup kitchen to disabled and homeless families with small children it was amazing and a life changing experience! I am so glad that I got to go to Glide and now I want to bring my amazing experiences home and help homeless people in Santa Barbara on a regular bases.
This is Glide Memorial Methodist Church.
So all in all thins year has been amazing and life changing! I feel so lucky that I get to go to such a remarkable school as SBMS and I get to have all of these amazing experiences and opertunites. Once you got and experience these people and places that are not so fortunate as we are here in Santa Barbara and at SBMS you really get the sense of how truly lucky you are to have such an amazing family, get to do all these things and experience all of it. Mainly make all of the bridges and connections with all sorts of people from Emanuel taking him to the beach for the fist time and to Panther and his family taking me to the concert. Then there is Maruge the oldest first grader and to sit with him and to hear him tell you stories and knowing Nanita more then a picture and some words on a computer screen but to actually know who you are giving your money to and to know that you are helping someone survive. Ofcorse then there is meeting all of the amazing people at Gilde and hearing their stories and thinking that I just helped someone get their next meal and to feel just how much such a little thing to us is such a big thing to them and that really warms your heart/. I know that I will never forget any of thins and that all of my experiences really truly changed my life for the better! I really hope that other people get to have just some of the life hanging experiences that i have had this year! Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed to that!
