3rd March 2023 - Sarah
I was one of the first of our group through security and my first thought was “where on earth is Cafe Nero.” We had planned on all convening there, but it was not in sight nor was it on the map of Heathrow Terminal 2. Given that, we decided to punt and meet at the Prêt instead. Naturally, of course, there was no seating so “meeting at Prêt” quickly became “meet in the seats sort of nearby Prêt”. Nevertheless, the 6 of us flying that day from London all found each other (although it sometimes involved hoping that you weren’t about to ask a random person whether or not they were apart of the Leap program). We then tried to have our first drinks at a pub only to find the flight was boarding much sooner than our passes had indicated. As it turns out, our gate was actually in a different part of the terminal (not on the unhelpful map) and we had to cross under the tarmac (at which point we did find the Cafe Nero—oops) but we all safely made it onto the flight with time to spare.
Following an almost 8 hour red eye, we arrived at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where we connected with the 7th member of our party (arriving from the US) before boarding our next flight to Mombasa.
When we arrived in Kenya, I was (not by choice) one of the very last people off the plane which meant I was at the very back of the line to get through customs. Everyone graciously waited for me before we all exited the terminal together to be greeted by team of very smiley people holding a massive Leap sign.
After an 1 1/2 hr drive including an impressive number of speed bumps we finally got to Popes where we met our lovely group leaders (Leah and Janet), Tilda, and many other members of the staff. We were given a brief introduction and then some down time before reconvening for a swim in the pleasantly warm Indian Ocean. Although we were joined by many sea urchins (on which one definitely does not want to step), it was an incredibly relaxing experience to float and swim in the waves, which was made even better by being joined by some of the program’s many adorable dogs (Crosby, Kipling and Shark).
Finally, after a delicious dinner of spaghetti with a vegetable sauce, we joined the 5 African Leadership University (ALU) undergraduate students, who are also staying here, to watch the movie “Inception”. Exhausted, many of us went to bed, but I’m told that there was a very exciting game of cards after the film. It was a fantastic start to the program (despite the travel hijinks) and we all look forward to seeing what we do next!
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