Tough day and almost went home ..............

Last Wednesday was the toughest day I've ever had here in Nairobi and it even led me to completely giving up trying to make more plans and actually even booked our flight home the next day.

One challenge after another throughout the day till I said to myself "enough is enough".

However, with Riccardo continuously challenging me and pushing me as he too wanted so much to visit the Dadab Refugee Camp to see the food distribution, I perservered.

Since before we left the Netherlands, I have been arranging with WFP Rome and WFP Kenya for a visit to the Dadab Refugee Camp to witness the devastation and also the distribution of the Supplementary Plumpy to the children there but this had proven to be the hardest to arrange. Challenging and truly frustrating.

The problem ranged from no transporation possible on the road as no WFP vehicle is available to drive us to Dadab, they tried booking us on the UNHAS flight but because so many humanitarian actors wanting to go there too, they could not accommodate us. We waited from the night we arrived on Monday till Wednesday only to receive news that nothing can be done. We were totally disappointed and devastated.

Riccardo really wanted to make this trip, of course myself as well. We tried to plan to make the trip on our own on the road but with the worries of security and not wanting to jeopardise the programme. Not wanting to be daredevils, we decided to give it up.  I was close to tears. I can't believe that I could just give up. Its so unlike me to give up on any challenge.

As we were with the TNT Kenyan team, they overheard our discussion and Victor Mwanga said "hey, why don't we try to arrange this for you as we ply the road to Dadab and we can arrange a security guy to come along".  These words were the miracle we were searching for. When Victor said that it could be done, I asked if he could check with his contacts on the safety of the journey on the road and if we would have accommodation when we arrived Dadab.  He started making his calls while I too make my calls to WFP Kenya to find out if we could get to Dadab ourselves, will WFP Kenya be able to take care of us and host us at the Dadab Camp.

Then I had to clear with my Rose and also Frank who is our field expert. We finally gotten the clearance from all parties and Victor confirmed a team to drive us there, then we finalised costs.

You can imagine the emotions running through me when the whole plan came to materialise and the feeling of triumphant was amazing. Victor was our angel. He gave us the miracle and the hope we were looking for.

Now all we need to do, is stay on and wait for our road trip up to Dadab which will be another challenging experience. 6hrs on the road and may be stopped by Kenyan police along the way which will want some bribe for us to pass through, then when we reach Garissa, we have to be Police Escorted for 2 more hours on the road to Dadab. In Dadab, our accommodation will be tents and zero luxury. All in all, both Riccardo and myself are totally looking forward to this trip and this adventure.

What we most look forward to is to see for ourselves, the BENEFICIARIES, the lives we touched and the lives TNT's decision to sponsor the airlift will save. I can now only pray that the trip up will be a smooth one and with all your prayers and blessings we can complete our mission.