The Adventures of Chris & Lesley

A poem, a prayer

2011-01-18T23:29:00.000-08:00

This inspired me today.

The Long View:

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying that
the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

That is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything and
there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

Monseñor Oscar Romero

Chicago-Style Stuffed Pizza

2011-01-12T23:33:00.000-08:00

A post dedicated to all my Northwestern friends – here’s how to get a Chicago-style stuffed pizza even when you live on the east or west coast! Much thanks to Karen for teaching me how to make this.

Sorry if it's confusing, the pictures are of two different pizzas that I was making at the same time (one spinach, one pepperoni).

INGREDIENTS:

DOUGH:

- 1 tablespoon sugar

- 1 cup warm water

- 1 packet (1/4 oz.) yeast

- 3 cups flour (plus extra for kneading)

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 cup olive oil

TOPPINGS:

- Veggies or meat of choice (I like ½ bag of fresh spinach or 1 packet of pepperoni)

- 8 oz. mozarrella cheese

- pizza sauce (1 jar or equivalent homemade)

EQUIPMENT:

- mixing bowl

- measuring cups and spoons

- wooden spoon

- place to roll out dough

- rolling pin

- pie pan or other deep round baking pan

STEP 0: If your house is cold or drafty, heat the oven to 200* F. This is just to help the dough rise later, so if your house is warm and cozy there is no need for the oven to be on yet.

STEP 1: Make the dough

Dissolve sugar in water and add yeast packet. Let stand for 5 minutes and foam should form at the top. If no foam forms, discard and try again with new yeast.

Put 3 cups of flour and salt in mixing bowl. Pour in water/yeast mixture and oil. Mix with wooden spoon for as much as you can and then mix with hands.

Use flour on counter surface to knead dough. Knead until dough is thoroughly mixed and then for an extra minute, about 2-4 minutes total.

(I seriously don't know why picture is flipped.)

Coat dough ball in oil and place back into mixing bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise on the counter in a warm room for 1 hour or until dough doubles in size. Or, put dough in fridge and let rise overnight or during the day (dough should still double in size. If not, let is rise a bit more out of the fridge in a warm room.) If your house is cold, set bowl on top of warmed oven or set bowl on open oven door (turn off the oven if you choose this option – can’t have too much heat).

STEP 2: Prep toppings

Grate the 8 ounces of cheese. (Picture shows 16 ounces since I always make 2 pizzas at a time.) Thaw frozen toppings or otherwise prepare them. Do some dishes or relax a bit until the dough is ready.

Now, preheat your oven to 400* F.

STEP 3: Make first crust

When the dough has risen, break it into two sections (or three, if you are using a small pan like I do – the third section will be kept for a thin-crust pizza later).

Roll one section out into a circular shape about 1/8^th inch thick (I roll it into I can’t get it any thinner without breaking. Because you have two crusts, neither one needs to be very thick, trust me.)

Lay the dough over your baking pan and allow it to drop into the edges so it fits the pan. Cut off excess dough but leave enough so it hangs over the edge slightly. Don’t worry if it’s not gorgeous, this is homemade pizza!

Put the crust alone in the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes, until it is somewhat baked but not too hard.

STEP 4: Add “stuffing” (toppings)

This step is a matter of some debate in our house. Do you add toppings first and then cheese, cheese then toppings, or cheese before AND after toppings? Or should you mix them together? I say this is up to the chef. I add toppings first then cheese, only because I like to make pretty patterns with the pepperoni (the prettier the pattern the less likely sneaky hands are to steal a piece of pepperoni!!). If you are using various chopped veggies like mushrooms and peppers and think it would be good to mix it all with the cheese.

Put the toppings on your par-baked crust.

STEP 5: Add second crust

Roll out your second section of dough the same size as the first (although you will have more to cut off, you want this one to be the same thickness or maybe even thinner). Place this dough over the toppings and pinch the edges over and into the par-baked bottom crust.

You may need to push down on the upper crust (yes, it’s clearly the better crust) to flatten your toppings a bit. The photo shows some spinach poking through – not a big deal.

Poke a few holes to let steam escape. Bake for 10 minutes.

STEP 6: Add sauce

Once the top crust is browned, pour sauce on top. If you used fresh spinach you may need to press down on the crust before adding sauce to give yourself a little room, but the sauce always ends up fitting.

Now you can refrigerate your pizza and serve later or do the final baking right away.

Before eating, put back in the oven (400* F) for about 15 minutes or until sauce is hot and cheese is melted. Happy eating!

Wrap leftover dough and store in fridge or freezer. BE FOREWARNED – if you put it in the fridge it will CONTINUE TO RISE, so don’t put it in a tight ziploc (I learned the hard way).

This is how big baby is today

2010-12-21T22:14:00.000-08:00

14 weeks - actual size of a lemon

This kid is already making me exhausted, so he/she better be growing big and strong!

Fall Festivities

2010-12-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

We've had a fun fall in CA - really enjoying the fact that we have extended family in the bay area and that a trip down to so cal is not too hard to manage. Here are some photos from our latest adventures:

We went down to Irvine for a weekend in October and got to see my brother perform with the marching band. He's been doing it for four years but this was the first time I got to see him!

It was homecoming, so they made "IHS" - Gordy's in there somewhere! Happy senior year, Gordo!

My mom and I went to a baby shower for Meredith (middle). Mer, Katie and I were all babies together in the IPC nursery about 26 years ago!

Meredith with some of her loot :-)

While in Irvine we also went to a big suprise party for Katie's mom, but I sadly don't have any pictures of the Beatles cover band, gorgeous view, or crazy dancing.

We took a trip to Sacramento to visit my cousins and spent a rainy day at soccer games and the pumpkin patch. They're awesome kids!! (Holly even scored a goal, but I don't have a pic of that.)

After church on Sunday we discovered the local donut shop was closed so I showed them how to make "boko dogo" (short for "kiboko kidogo," one of my made-up Kenyan recipes. It means "little hippo" since the fried dough looks like hippos floating in the oil.)

Then I found out I was pregnant.

(sorry if that's an awkward picture, it's all I have for now!)

For Halloween, we dressed up Alphie. He didn't seem to mind until he began chasing a squirrel and jumped right out of the shirt collar.

Lauren and her boyfriend Ryan came over to carve pumpkins. (Note the World Series in the background - YAY GIANTS!!)

We took 100 of my students to the Harry Potter premier, and we even dressed up, can't you tell?? We're James and Lily Potter. See inspiration here.

Lauren came, too, and since she's my sister, that makes her Aunt Petunia.

For Thanksgiving we went to the Sacramento area to visit Chris's grandparents and uncle and went for a hike by the American river.

In early December we went down to Santa Cruz for a relative's Christmas party, and decided to stop by the lighted boat show first.

Those were fire-breathing dragons! By far the coolest boat.

Ok, that's all for now, since that brings us up to about last week. Clearly I need to update the blog more often! Stay tuned for more info and pictures about that whole "I got pregnant" part! ;-)

Normal Saturday

2010-11-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

Sometimes life isn't an adventure ... sometimes it's just normal, and sometimes normal is fantastic. It's been a busy week at work for me, and I wanted nothing more from this weekend than to relax and catch up with all the aspects of my real life that seem to be ignored between Monday and Friday.

I particularly love Saturdays in fall. Crisp, cool air and crunchy leaves when we walk the dog ... wearing sweaters and scarves ... and college football on TV. I thought I would sleep in this morning, but woke up at 7 like usual ... Chris tried to convince me to go back to sleep while I tried to convince him to wake up ... of course he woke up right as I fell back asleep. Finally we both got up to discover that the Northwestern game was actually being broadcast, so we put on purple shirts and watched them BEAT Iowa!! (and then Wisconsin scored 83 against Indiana ... EIGHTY-THREE?!)

The rest of the day will most likely involve cleaning the house, running some errands, and hopefully catching up with some friends on the phone. I also plan to make cookies for a church bake sale tomorrow, and may read a book. I know my life is boring right now ... but it's wonderful :-)

Alphie's Adventures

2010-11-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hello, blog readers ... if we have any anymore (or perhaps readers via facebook is more accurate).

The Stahl household is doing well - and has grown by one! We got a dog :-) His name is Alphie the ALPHA dog (the dorm we live in is called ALPHA, and we thought it was a funny/cute name). He's a golden retriever mix, about 5 years old, 30 lbs - he kinda looks like a golden puppy, but he's full-grown! After finding him on Petfinder we adopted him through Golden Retriever Rescue. He was staying with a foster family for a few weeks, and we LOVED the experience of adopting from a foster family. Instead of a quick visit to the pound or humane society, the first time we visited the family we spent an hour hanging out with Alphie, walking him, playing with him, and talking to the foster family about him. They really knew his behavior and wanted us to wait a week or two to think about it while they were on vacation, so after they got back we went to visit again and got to bring him home :-) They called to check up on us for the first few weeks and helped us trouble-shoot whatever issues were going on.

Alphie investigating the apartment

His favorite spot to get attention

So far it's been really fun and he's a great dog. He's fantastic in the house - he's completely house-trained (no accidents!), doesn't mess with or chew on things, and seems fine being home alone. He already knew how to sit, stay, lie down, and go to bed, and we taught him to stay in certain rooms of the house. So far the only major issue has been his barking - he's rather inclined to bark at people who startle him as well as bicycles, skateboards, and other dogs. It was rather rough the first couple weeks as students wanted to pet him and we live right at the busy center of campus. Luckily it's been getting a lot better - he has a relapse here and there, and we may still talk to a behaviorist, but we know he is capable of really good behavior. He's such a silly, fun dog around the house - he amuses us, and as Chris says, is probably amused by us as well ;-)

Look at that face!

Sleepy puppy

Mombasa door paper cuts

2010-09-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

In Mombasa and along the East African coast (Lamu, Zanzibar) there are some beautiful old doors in historic buildings and museums. We saw the following doors and carved artifacts at Fort Jesus when we visited in November. The fort itself was occupied by Portuguese, Arab, and British, and finally Kenyan people over the last 400 years, and many of the artifacts in the museum came from an 18th century (I think) merchant ship that was recovered near the port.

I loved these items - I'm not sure why I gravitate toward them so much, but something about the wood being carved with the combination of organic and geometric patterns - something I've always really liked. Since you can't really bring home a door, I took a bunch of pictures with the idea that would create some original art - not wood carving, but the next closest thing - paper cutting!
So I studied the pictures, sketched the individual elements that repeat in patterns, and came up with these:

Design 1:

Design 2:

Design 3:

I still need to give them some backing/matting/framing - I'm thinking a really dark brown or black behind them so it is reminiscent of the original wood carving, and maybe a simple black frame. And since this post is mostly for my mom, who inspired me to make my own papercuts ... mom, what do you think?

Adventures in Road-Tripping!

2010-08-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a blog post I wrote while on the road in early July and forgot about in the craziness of moving and starting a job ...

***

After nearly a year of traveling in Kenya and living in other peoples' homes, Chris and I have spent the last few weeks ... traveling in the US and living in other peoples' homes! We were reunited about two weeks ago in Illinois, where we spent some time visiting with his family and meeting our new nephew for the first time. Then we packed up all our earthly belongings in a Uhaul, attached our Jetta to a trailer on back, and hit the road for California!

Our nephew, Robby, and niece, Libby, on a boat in IL.

All packed up and ready to go!

Day 1: Edwardsville, IL (near St. Louis) to Lawrence, KS
Miles: 304
- Stopped for coffee on the way out of town, had to park in the far end of a remote parking lot because of our enormous vehicle, and found $20 crumpled in the gutter. There wasn't even a shop around at which to turn it in, so we considered it gas money.
- Drove through Illinois, Missouri, and into Kansas. Missouri always has the greenest grass, bluest sky, and perfectly fluffy white clouds.
- Stayed with my aunt and uncle, enjoyed a nice meal at Free State Brewing Co. and browsing at Signs of Life bookstore.

Day 2: Lawrence KS to Denver, CO.
Miles: 572
- Drove through Kansas and Colorado in heavy wind, going about 4000 feet vertically over 500 miles to get to the mile-high city.
- Stayed with our friends from college, Scott & Marisa. We enjoyed a nice meal and barely lost a rousing game of couples corn-hole - Chris rocked, I sucked.

This smile is completely fake. I hated driving the Uhaul. You may notice my death-grip on the steering wheel.

Mountains!

Day 3: Denver, CO to Salt Lake City UT
Miles: 543
- Drove through Colorado, Wyoming, and into Utah, traveling alongside and through beautiful rolling hills and the Rocky Mountains. Definitely the prettiest day of the trip.
- Stayed with Nancy and Dave, a couple we met through Couch Surfing. It was our first time using the website, but I had a good gut feeling about them - and they were fantastic! They are retired teachers, active Christians (Presbyterians, even!), love to travel and do outdoor stuff, have kids about our age, and Nancy spends 4 months of every year teaching in Tanzania! They fed us, drove us around to see the mountains and ski resorts, and even prayed for our trip the next morning. Chris and I agreed they felt like family and couldn't have been better hosts.

Snow?!

Yay, more mountains!

Day 4: Salt Lake City, UT to Sacramento, CA
Miles: 650
- Drove through Utah, Nevada, and into California
- After passing by the Great Salt Lake, drove into the middle of the Great Salt Lake Dessert. Saw multiple signs for a town where we planned to get gas, only to find that there were "no services." Ran out of gas 40 miles past and 35 miles until the next gas station. Called AAA, played with the salt/rocks until they came.
- Stayed with Chris's grandparents, who we hadn't seen in a couple years.

Sad face. In reality, I pouted and Chris played in the salt.

That's salt, not snow!

Day 5: Sacramento, CA to Santa Clara, CA
Miles: 138
-Had breakfast with Grandma & Grandpa Baribeau, Uncle Gerald & Donna, while watching Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup quarter-finals. Sad as we were that the US didn't continue, we were also a little relieved that we wouldn't have to alter our travel plans to watch them play.
-Arrived in Santa Clara, CA, and began moving in to our new apartment! I am so thrilled to finally be home.

Chris shows pictures while I take pictures.

Celebrating our 4th anniversary a few days after we moved in.

Great Salt Lake Desert

2010-08-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

Looking through pics from this summer, I came across this one ... for about an hour we hung out in the middle of the Great Salt Lake Desert, where our Uhaul ran out of gas. The white is salt!

Story of Stuff

2010-08-07T10:14:00.000-07:00

Following right on the heels of the blogpost in which I talk about how much I love my stuff, comes a video that shows what I actually know to be true about "stuff." This video really resonated with both Chris and me, and the relationship of environmental responsibility and social justice reminded us of Blessed Unrest (see Chris's post about the book). Although I can cognitively rationalize my consumer behavior to justify my frequent trips to Target and IKEA, I know my experiences in Kenya and my gut reaction tell me that she's right.

Watch this - it is worth your 20 minutes.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Design challenge - Marrying Craftsman and Kenyan

2010-08-05T22:24:00.000-07:00

One of the happiest things about being "home" again is that we have an apartment and our household things back. Now, I'm not that much of a "thing" person - we parted with a lot of our possessions before leaving, but I do particularly love my home furnishings and decor. However, I encountered a design challenge when I realized that our pre-Kenya and post-Kenya possessions really didn't go together.

Here is a glimpse of our style before we left for Kenya - mostly Craftsman/Frank Lloyd Wright inspired:

And here is a glimpse of the beautiful things we brought home from Kenya:

So I have a challenge on my hands: I still love the decor we had pre-Kenya, but I also love the new items we picked up. How do I mix the straight lines and muted colors of FLW with the geometric curves and bright hues of Kenya? For a while I thought I had to pick one and ignore the other. Then, after watching a fair amount of HGTV and analyzing the actual differences, I realized I could challenge my traditional sense of what matches, and could also create my own pieces of decor to bring the two divergent styles together.

Idea 1: Just put different pieces together and see how it goes

Idea 2: Make my own throw pillows that use both muted and bright tones of the same color (so far have just purchased fabric, but I plan to put them in alternating thick stripes)

Idea 3: Create original papercuts that ties in one of my favorite Kenyan themes (the Mombasa doors) while being executed in a format that fits with previous home decor (they will be similar to the FLW papercut coasters above)

Any other ideas for me? I love getting input, especially from people who are better at home decor than I am :-). I still have a lot of work to do, like sewing the pillows and getting art framed, but it can get very costly very quickly (especially custom framing), so it will be a work in progress for a while.

Life updates!

2010-07-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, it has been a LONG time since we posted to the blog - mostly because we're back in the US and life is not nearly as exciting (or at least exotic) as it was in Kenya. But, we will still find adventures, so don't worry - the blog is still on!

A few updates from us:
- I (Lesley) was offered/accepted/started a job! I'm a resident director again, and very happy to be getting to know a great campus and awesome colleagues.
- Chris is looking for a job in the area of mechanical engineering and product design. Let us know if you have any ideas or leads!
- We are officially living in Santa Clara, CA, meaning that we have 1 sister, 2 close friends, 2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 2 cousins within about 15 minutes. We can then add 2 grandparents, 2 uncles, 1 aunt, and 2 cousins about 2 hours away, and an additional 1 grandparent, 2 parents, 1 brother, 2 aunts, and 1 uncle if you expand to 7 hours away. Pretty darn good, if you ask me.
- We have a nice 2-bedroom apartment on campus that has a PATIO. I cannot express how happy this makes me. It came with a grill and patio furniture, and we bought some potted flowers and little herb plants. I never thought I liked gardening but it thrills me to sweep our little outdoor room and give my beloved plants their water :-)
- We are starting to embark on a new adventure of healthy/organic eating and cooking, so I may post more about that later. It all began with me having stomach issues upon returning to the US, but I've also been reading a variety of books on the subject and cooking in a way that is hopefully better for us and the environment!

I realize these are slightly more tame activities than we have had the past year, but I think it's all about perspective. Moving to a new state? Starting a new job? Growing plants? Cooking new food? Totally adventures! ;-)

Reflection on coming home

2010-06-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post anticipating what reverse culture-shock I may experience upon returning to the US. Now that I have been back nearly a month, I can do a little review of what the experience has been like and what adventures lie ahead.

My experience of transitioning back to the US was not exactly what I expected. Getting out of the country was a little more rushed and stressful than I would have hoped (since I suddenly had to leave a week early), but that date change actually gave me plenty of time to relax and adjust back to the US before conducting three major back-to-back interviews. The majority of my reverse culture shock came from the interviews themselves: each interview covered about 36 hours including multiple meetings, tours, presentations, Q&A, and overnight stays (which is the typical process for higher ed positions). I don’t know if I was exhausted from the travel, cultural transition, the interview process, or just the speed of American life, but it was a very intense week.

Reaction to other things that I anticipated:
• Seeing friends and family = fantastic.
• Cooking = not relevant yet, since I have been staying with other people who cook.
• Driving = like riding a bike.
• Grocery shopping = anticlimactic.
• Healthy, fresh food = not as healthy and fresh as I remember.
• Starbucks/Peets = pretty awesome.
• TV = haven’t really watched anything other than streaming Netflix.
• Restaurants = great when I have an appetite.
• Haircut = unnecessary!! Turns out my hair just needed a good wash and blowdry.
• Laundry machines = mankind’s crowning achievement.
• No bugs = how on earth did I ever manage those bugs in Kenya?!
• Hot showers and hairdryers = don’t know if I can live without them again.
• Libraries and bookstores = inaccessible since I don’t yet have a permanent address or money.
• No mold = THANK GOD. I am also quite thankful for the absence of gecko poop.

Some things that surprised me:
• I had no problem getting back into the swing of things with driving, shopping, etc. True, it takes me a little longer to get through a Target run, but it’s been a bit of a guilty pleasure to find all those little things I did without for the year.
• Although technology may have advanced, I was probably dreadfully behind the times before I even left for Kenya, so I’m still pretty much in the same camp.
• I haven’t yet missed the hospitality/friendliness of Kenyans, probably for two reasons: 1) I am spending most of my time with family and very close friends, so they are already very loving and hospitable; 2) when you drive everywhere and always stick to your normal social circles, you never meet strangers on the street or have the opportunity to show extraordinary hospitality. Hmm.
• My stomach had significant difficulty in returning to American cuisine and getting over jet lag. Ironically I had no trouble whatsoever when I went to Kenya!
• The weather is gorgeous all over California, but it is SO DRY!! I’m constantly applying lotion and chapstick … I guess I should appreciate the lack of humidity though.

What probably remain the hardest things for me are the pace of life and trying to incorporate my “Kenyan self” back into my “American self.” As I mentioned with the interviews, Americans live at breakneck speed, and you either need to keep up or get out of the way. I’m a little nervous to start work in a few weeks, as I will really need to rev myself up. Additionally, it is challenging to bring back what I learned and who I became in Kenya as I develop a new life in the US.

It can be fairly easy to block out thoughts of Kenya; by focusing only on the present and future, the year fades like a dream, a distant memory, or a story about somebody else. During my interviews it was essential that I block it out so that I could focus on the task at hand, but every once in a while someone would ask about Kenya. Most of the time I would give a generic answer – “it was a great experience,” “I learned a lot,” etc. etc. But one time an interviewer dug deeper, and I began to explain what I really felt about cross-cultural respect, international aid and more, and I became very animated. I think she and I were both surprised by the passion and energy in my answer, and I realized it was because it was basically the first time that I had an opportunity to speak about these deep issues with someone face to face in the US.

A couple nights ago something similar happened. My mom and I were cooking dinner for the family: she was making a curry chicken and I offered to make my I’ve-been-told-they’re-pretty-darn-authentic Kenyan chapatti. She put on some African music but it really wasn’t anything like the music we listened to there, so I found my favorite Kenyan pop song online. As I listened, mixed, kneaded, rolled, twisted, flattened, and fried my soul was transported to the big hill in Ribe. I danced around the kitchen but was thrown out of my reverie when I began talking to my dad and brother – what were they suddenly doing in Kenya? It was a surreal experience to have pieces of who I was in Kenya mixed with pieces of who I am in the US. It made me so happy to bring some of that home, to eat chapatti with my parents, that I nearly cried.

So am I experiencing reverse culture shock? Do I miss Kenya? Let me answer those questions with questions of my own: How can I throw myself into the major life transition of moving cross country and starting a new job if my head is in Africa? Then again, how can I honor what I learned and who I became if I suppress those thoughts to move forward in my life?

Something cool

2010-06-18T09:34:00.001-07:00

I am again stealing a link from my friend Brooke's blog because I like how she thinks.
This is a little "sound bite-y" but I think it's a good introduction to the ways in which young Christians are re-thinking what it means to apply our faith to social issues.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/face-american-evangelicalism-10744135

Both in US

2010-06-17T01:16:00.003-07:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Chris is also back in the US now. We'll be in Irvine/St. Louis for the next couple weeks, then moving to Nor Cal the first week of July.

I'll post something longer and more reflective tomorrow! :-)

Update Letter #9

2010-06-04T07:20:00.002-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but you can find our newsletter about May (and April... oops!) here.

Thanks so much for all your support. We couldn't have done this without you!

Stay tuned for a few more blog posts, perhaps on into our drive from the Midwest to California, and even beyond if our adventures merit.

A Most Splendid Day (Considering I’m here without my wife)

2010-06-03T09:24:00.005-07:00

I think reading The Wind in the Willows has affected my speech, because I don’t think I’ve ever used the word splendid in my life.

Nevertheless, today makes up for some mildly frustrating past few days. You see, I think it is the height of the planting season, because I have had a tough time reconnecting with some skilled workers that I had waiting for this time. I recently received some funds donated for the school to wrap up what I can before leaving, and now I was having a hard time finding the men I had put on hold while we were waiting!

This morning, I was able to catch up with one of the guys I have been communicating with lately, and he had thankfully spoken with another that I still haven’t found. They had discussed what material was needed for a steel door for the library, and I was able to go to Kaloleni to purchase it. I also confirmed the dimensions of a “standard” wooden door, and was able to order three of them for the other rooms of the new school building. This lifts a huge weight off my mind, because hopefully they can begin making the steel door tomorrow and the wooden doors should arrive on Monday!

I pray that next week allows us to get these doors installed. I hope to help move books from the “store” (short for storage) to begin setting up the secure library, complete with a home for the computers that have so far had to be set-up and taken down every time to store in the head teacher’s locked office.

Meanwhile, here is a photo of the stairway after completing the floors, varnishing the handrail, and you can see the shadows of the “ventilated” half-walls that were added above the midway landing.

On the matatu back from Kaloleni, we happened to pick up one of the teachers, Mr. Ade also. He is about our age and has become a great friend; he helped me with the handrail and he even reads our blog. (Hi, Ade!)

So, it really made me smile when he made reference to one of the “Things [Lesley] Learned in Kenya” by pointing out that he was the 18th person in that matatu. Believe it or not, we picked up two more passengers before we alighted at Ribe (keep in mind that these are 13-passenger caravans with rows of bucket seats forming benches, so as you squeeze together, you likely sit on a ridge between seats – if you’re lucky enough to get to sit. By the time there are 18, or 20 apparently(!), you may get to crouch or hunch over attempting to “stand” just inside the sliding door. Oh, also these numbers don’t really include children; they crowd onto their parent’s and other people’s laps.)

Once home, Eunice, the mama who is cooking some meals for me (since the culture didn’t really support me, as a man, learning how to cook with the local tools and ingredients) …anyway, she offered to make some special sukuma wiki, but I needed to pick up the sukuma and other vegetables, and the shop was still closed before I went to Kaloleni. Thus, I returned much later than she imagined, and she had gone home. I somewhat desperately packed up the ingredients, along with a couple hotpots, and headed to her house. She wonderfully received me as though it was what I was supposed to do, but grabbed a few of her things and brought me back to Tito’s house for her to cook my dinner here! This got even better when she discovered I had ground beef in the "freezer" - it doesn't really freeze - and cooked it into the sukuma wiki.

That is when I had the opportunity to read more of The Wind in the Willows, and reflect on what a good day it was.

A Slightly Ironic Day

2010-05-30T04:53:00.003-07:00

The other morning, I noticed the tail of a rat behind the couch in the living room. I was aware of at least one around due to the nibbled holes in packages of cornmeal, flour & oats that were in double zip lock bags hoping to enclose the scent, and even packets of milk were nibbled and leaked all over the place beginning on Lesley’s last couple days. Therefore, I was more than happy to move the trap I had in the kitchen over to the end of the couch and barricade both ends with shoeboxes. Sure enough, curiosity killed the rat (to modify the common phrase) and it was caught within about 5 minutes! It was a big one too, but I’ll spare you the pictures. I reset the trap in the kitchen just in case there are more, and found another caught later in the day too.

The irony comes in when I picked up the book The Wind In the Willows that evening… this is a book that I’ve never had the chance to read until now (Lesley’s parents sent it in a care package recently for us to read if we want and donate to the school). Yet, I’ve long loved the following quote from it (as many sailors probably do), “There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half as much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Little did I realize that the phrase is declared by Mr. Grahame’s Water Rat character.

Looking back, I also took a new computer mouse to the school among a few other things. Mouse or rat, the live ones are both creepy, annoying rodents if you ask me.

Home safely

2010-05-25T12:54:00.003-07:00

Just in case you were wondering, I (Lesley) made it back to the US safely as scheduled. Thankfully I was not held up by the BA crew strike, nor were there any additional natural disasters to stop air traffic.

I am going to be in northern California until Chris gets back, so please feel free to be in contact with me via email (I don't have a phone yet, and will not likely be on skype). Chris can still be reached by his email, skype, etc.

That's all for now, hopefully Chris will still update the blog from Kenya :-)

Anticipating Home

2010-05-20T18:48:00.002-07:00

I have tried not to complain much about our living circumstances here, and we have adapted fairly well (I think) with rural living. However, there are definitely a number of things I am looking forward to upon returning to the US!

· Seeing my family and friends
· Cooking meals, or even snacks, in less than two hours
· Driving a car
· Driving a car to a grocery store that is less than an hour and a half away
· Eating healthy, fresh food
· Starbucks/Peet’s/various other coffee establishments
· TV
· Restaurants, cafes, and any other place that has food that I didn’t cook
· Weather that calls for wearing jeans and a sweater
· A haircut
· Laundry machines
· Not having bugs in my food, my dishes, my clothes, my bed …
· Hot showers and hair driers
· Libraries and bookstores
· Not having mold grow on everything

At the same time, I am a little nervous about the reverse culture-shock that I’m fairly certain is coming my way (during her visit, Katie regularly told me how shocked I’m going to be). My fashion sense has deteriorated to what my mother calls “missionary clothes:” long skirts, ugly sandals, faded but modest shirts (to be fair, most missionaries I know are very stylish – I call the look “peace corps chic”). We have been out-of-touch with technology: it is only thanks to facebook that I have heard of an ipad (but I still don’t know what it is). We walk everywhere here and take public transportation – I’m looking forward to driving again, but I don’t know how I will react to American car culture. And what about materialism? And the amount of skin an average person shows on a summer afternoon? And the fact that you don’t typically greet every person you pass on the street? I know we will miss the infamous African hospitality that we have become so accustomed to giving and receiving. How will we adjust to the pace of life and values that emphasize more and more, faster and faster, bigger and better?

Some things are a mixed bag. As much as I look forward to being able to understand everything that everyone says (in English), I will miss learning and practicing Swahili. It will be nice to be updated on current events, but I have realized how much stress is removed from life when you are not constantly inundated with information and bad news from around the world. The weather in CA is ideal, but my body has actually adjusted to the Mombasa heat. However beautiful our future home is, I can’t imagine anything will compare with the incredible views of and from Ribe. I am ecstatic to see my friends and family again, but I know I will miss the friends we have made here and our host family.

Of course our return to the US will be bittersweet and it will take some time to adjust back (I may hibernate for the first couple days). I will miss Chris a ton, and it will be weird getting to know the US again without him at first. But I thank God for a great 10 months in Kenya, and am looking forward to seeing how our time here will have a lasting impact on us as well as the local community.

A quick update - heading home

2010-05-18T01:28:00.002-07:00

A quick update for those of you who don't follow us via Facebook ... I (Lesley) am getting ready to leave Kenya in a few days. The original plan was to stay through June, but I have been interviewing for jobs and it makes more sense for me to come home earlier in order to do some on-campus interviews (interviews in June, position would start July or August). I was supposed to come home the 30th, but after some crazy airline mix-ups I am now re-scheduled to arrive in San Francisco on May 24th. Chris will remain in Kenya for at least a few weeks to continue/finish up working on some of the school construction.

Although our plans for the next couple months are ambiguous, we hope to be in the St. Louis area in late June, potentially in So Cal in July (depending on job situation), and possibly Chicago/Wisconsin for a weekend in September or October. Otherwise we will be in Northern California unless God leads us elsewhere!

Visit with Baby Christiana

2010-05-11T22:53:00.005-07:00

Last Saturday we visited the home of a fellow teacher, Mr. Farah, to hang out and meet his family, especially his three-month-old baby daughter Christiana. She is the first (and only) baby named after me! When his wife was nearing her due date, Mr. Farah and I were talking about names and he asked my suggestions. I gave him a list of my favorite names, and also mentioned my own name, Lesley Christiana. Since the baby was born on a Sunday and in local tradition names are often related to the day/season of the birth, Mr. Farah and his family thought a name that reflects the Christian day of worship was appropriate. Her full name is Pili (also refers to Sunday in the local language) Christiana Medza (a family name). They don’t use a surname the way we do, but rather give each child a different name from a family member. She is such a happy, smiling baby – she loves to “stand” and dance and giggle!

When someone has a namesake here, the two people are jokingly referred to as being interchangeable. So, I became a daughter to Mr. Farah and a sister to his other kids, while baby Christiana became a wife to Chris. All throughout the day we laughed and joked about our new extended family!

To celebrate the meeting of the Christianas, the family hosted us with coconuts, tea, sweet breads, and pilau (a meat and rice dish made on holidays). To make the traditional pilau, they slaughtered a chicken and a goat! This is a very special thing usually reserved for holidays, weddings, and other celebrations.

We spent the whole day with their family, hanging out and eating, mostly. I tried to help the women cook, but after crouching over a smoky wood fire and big steamy pot in a tiny room, my eyes started to burn and I had to bow out. At the end of the day, Mr. Farah presented us with another tradition – a leg from the goat they had killed! He said it is proper to send the guests home with something to eat for a few days.

A fun but somewhat tiring day, as we had to hike 30-40 minutes each way between our home and theirs. It was definitely worth it, though, and I hope I get to see my little namesake again!

Things I’ve Learned in Kenya

2010-05-09T21:45:00.003-07:00

· I learned to be completely unfazed by, and even fairly interested in, slaughtering chickens and goats
· I learned to treat my elders with respect
· I learned how to be the 15th (or 16th, or 17th, or 18th) person in a 14-seat matatu
· I learned to be okay with it when people referred to me as fat – it’s descriptive, not derogatory
· I learned to appreciate my government
· I learned how to make everything from chili to pizza from scratch and on a charcoal stove
· I learned to honestly and truly laugh at myself
· I learned at least 20 ways to greet people, depending on the person and circumstance
· I learned (and am still learning) how to serve, and the value of serving
· I learned to live on 1-2 buckets of water a day
· I learned how to fry things
· I learned how to “shangwe na vigelegele” (celebrate and ululate)
· I learned to like doing to dishes
· I learned to stand up for what I believe in, but also when to pick my battles
· I learned to converse with my husband about every intimate thing, from poop to predestination
· I learned that God is the ultimate answer to issues of poverty and development – he is the end and the means

The Comedic Trials of Constructing a Stairway Handrail in Kenya (almost) by Yourself

2010-05-02T03:42:00.006-07:00

This story begins with another character, because when the group from Project Kenya was here in March, Mr. Tucker began to construct this handrail pretty much by himself as the rest of us focused on getting the corridor railings finished. All the hammers were being used and the handsaws were free, so he cut many of the pieces to length and I helped him briefly to mark where the concrete needed to be drilled to affix the frame. However, the impact drill was occupied with the corridor handrails for the rest of the time.

Therefore, we specified that those pieces were to be set aside for these stairs handrails, and Lesley and I set off for Nairobi with the group as we wrote about before. Upon returning to Ribe after exploring Western Kenya, to my disappointment, the timber was merely set aside within the wide-open school building (granted up on the upper floor, but still…), and to my amazement, all the pieces were still there. Therefore, I not so wisely allowed them to stay as they were as we resumed work with plastering around the windows and sealing the handrails along the corridor with some gloss varnish.

You guessed it – a couple pieces went missing! I was especially baffled, because one of the missing ones was a 2x6 and 2x2 screwed together to make a 2x8 to fix to the concrete; how does that not cry “done intentionally,” huh? We discovered/recovered the 2x2 with the half dozen screws and the remaining bits of the other part that had been ripped off to be used as firewood! Furthermore, by the time I wished to construct the handrail, I had forgotten that the chuck key for the drill was misplaced in all the chaos of the last day the group was in Ribe. I also found that the chuck of the drill was already beginning to rust in the Kenyan coast humidity!

So, now that the stage is set, here are excerpts from my little work/activity journal (more of a “log” since I don’t do much analytical “journaling”):

· Went to the school to measure and layout timber for the stairway handrail. Tom (the school watchman) had a saw, so we cut the replacements needed from leftover timber.

· Got the drill from the school store (locked closet), and made a template of the holes that were marked on the concrete to drill the replacement upright board. Borrowed chuck key from a local handyman to drill the replacement board, but the key was not a good fit & the already rusting chuck cannot fit the other bit for the concrete.

· Went to the hardware shop while in Kaloleni to look for chuck key & anti-rust, but they had neither, so I sent Tito a text message requesting his help getting them from Mombasa.

· Tito brought anti-rust (WD-40), but had to take the drill to ensure the correct chuck key.

· Tito did not make it to the hardware shop due to business meetings & then the shops were closed since it was Sunday.

· On Monday, I picked up the drill from Tito’s office in Mombasa and went to get the chuck key, and also bought more WD-40.

· Finally able to work on the handrail! Couldn’t find Tito’s extension cable, so went to borrow one from the local handyman and return his chuck key. Had some minor frustrations screwing the concrete screws into the concrete, but worked through lunch – which confused Tom (who was helping me); at 1 pm, he asked if I didn’t want lunch today & I told him, “I had wanted to work on this all last week, so I want to do as much as possible.” Got the uprights & top rails in place!

· Fortified the uprights and installed the lower rails, but electricity went out at about lunchtime, so no more power drill.

· [Occupied with other plans with Lesley and Katie for several days]

· Back to the school to enhance the handrail, and discover that the head teacher wants the top rails replaced with some better timber in the school’s storage room (especially since the somewhat questionable timber (but the best long enough of what was left from the corridor handrails) had now been rained on). Yet, it still would’ve been nice if he had said something when he saw them before we installed them!

Found replacement timber with Tom (the watchman) and cut one to length, but the other was a 6x2 board [over 10 feet long], so I carried it [across Ribe] to Tito’s workshop and cut it on his table saw over lunchtime.

Carried the now 2x4 & 2x2 rails back to the school, but Tom went to the hospital for his fever. Couldn’t get the drill from Tom’s store (locked closet), but one of the teachers helped me cut the angles on the ends & temporarily screw them in place.

· Reinforced the replacement handrails & installed vertical balusters at the top (on the landing). Unfortunately broke a couple tired drill bits, but hope to finish tomorrow!

· Got sidetracked from finishing the handrail by some tasks that required going to Kaloleni.

· On Friday before going to Nairobi to sightsee with Katie and then bid her farewell, I went to the school and began improvising with the drill bits to install vertical balusters on the upper stretch of stairs. Broke another drill bit due to the improvising, and got smarter with my creativity.

Took a late lunch, but determined to come back to finish. The same teacher as before offered to meet me to help complete the job.

We resumed at 4 pm and installed the balusters on the lower stretch of stairs before dusk set in (at around 6:30).

Finally finished!

Now, it just needs a touch of

sandpaper and some sealing varnish…

...along with that wall of alternating blocks getting plastered, among just a few other things remaining on this new school building!

best.visit.ever.

2010-05-01T05:46:00.007-07:00

Finally, success!

2010-04-11T06:34:00.003-07:00

During April we have a break from school, so I have had considerably more time to mess around with some domestic projects. This post doesn’t really have anything to do with the culture in Kenya or our work, but it might give you a feel for how creative we have to be while living here. I realize the amount of pride I have in accomplishing these things is completely out of proportion to their importance in life, but just bear with me – it’s the little things that make you happy when you live in rural Africa!

Project 1: Display photos

I have been working on this for months and months, never finding a decent way to display photos of family and friends on the wall over our desk. We don’t exactly have bulletin boards or a big magnetic fridge, and even if we made something like a French message board we couldn’t hammer into our wall. The house is built from coral blocks covered in plaster and then painted … pretty much the enemy to hanging anything.

Last December, after much thought and internal debate, I figured we could put up 3M-type sticky hooks a few feet apart, hang some string between them, and then clip the pictures and cards to it with clothespins. It looked really cute, but fell down less than 12 hours later, ripping huge chunks of paint off the wall. I was rather discouraged after that and of course got busy with school, so we have just been staring at a splotchy wall for the last few months.

Finally, with more time on my hands and a little internet research, I realized we needed a picture rail. I figured since we can't attach a rail to the wall, we could hang one from the ceiling. Thankfully we actually have a ceiling in our room, which is not standard in Kenyan houses. I was just going to nail into the ceiling and tie string to it, but Chris suggested nailing into the side of the ceiling frame so the string would stay better. Then we tied the string to a big stick, tied more string and ribbon hanging down from the stick, and clipped the photos to the hanging pieces. It worked perfectly, so here is our nice new contraption and display, made entirely of items found around the house and yard:

Project 2: Make cookies

Without an oven, it is rather difficult to make cookies. Though I have managed to make a decent cornbread and coffeecake on the charcoal stove, the cookies were never quite cutting it. So I explored no-bake cookies, and found a great recipe that uses ingredients I could actually get (including cocoa powder rather than actual chocolate, which is harder to come by). But for a while I didn’t have measuring cups and I sometimes can only access certain kinds of butter or peanut butter, so it took a few attempts to get it right:

Attempt #1: Margarine + not enough oatmeal = too soft. We ate it with a spoon out of the saucepan, and it tasted like fudge. Pretty good.
Attempt #2: Real butter + full amount oatmeal = too hard. We crumbled it over homemade yogurt and it tasted like chocolate chips. Also pretty good.
Attempt #3: Margarine + full amount oatmeal = darn close to perfect. We spooned it into balls like you’re supposed to, and it tastes like cookies. Very good.

Overall I don’t think anyone minded that I had to make this recipe 3 times lately … and I’m thankful that no matter the consistency, we can find some way to eat it!

Houseguests

2010-04-10T03:48:00.004-07:00

We have spent the last part of March and the beginning of April alternating between having houseguests and being houseguests! A few weeks ago, Tito’s mother passed away (see newsletter) and his family members came from all over the country (and even his brother came from the US). Some of them stayed a few days, some a week, and Tito’s youngest brother, Shakespeare (goes by “Speare”) and his family stayed at the house here for about 3 weeks. It was actually really fun to have them here – they are about our age, and they normally live in Nairobi so we were able to communicate easily and probably had more in common with them than we do with folks in Ribe. Speare and his wife Kate have a daughter Betty, who just turned 3, and she provided constant entertainment with her singing, dancing, and favorite game “atanishika!” (“you can’t catch me!”).

One weekend while everyone was at our house we escaped for a bit to visit our missionary friends Josh and Maggie and their young boys. It was Maggie’s birthday, so the four adults went out to SUSHI (wow! first time having sushi since we’ve been here!) and then hung out the rest of the weekend at their house. We played a lot of Settlers of Catan and along with their oldest son Matthew (who’s almost 4, I think?) made a birthday cake for Maggie. You can see Matthew and Caleb loved the chocolate cake! :-)

The next weekend was Easter, and in order to make the trip to church more relaxing we stayed overnight with another missionary couple, the head pastor of the church. If we haven’t mentioned it here, it takes about 2 hours to get to church, so we like to stay overnight either before or after so we can maximize the time we have in the area to do grocery shopping, errands, etc. Easter itself was very relaxing – Chris and I went out to lunch, then spent the afternoon swimming and reading by the pool. The next day we headed to town for a variety of errands and had a fairly successful but hectic day.

Kate, Speare, and Betty just left to go back to Nairobi, but we are getting ready to have another houseguest in Ribe … my best friend Katie!! Her trip was planned rather last-minute when she found a cheap flight and realized she would have a couple weeks free between her med school classes and graduation. I think it’s been a little crazy for her to get travel arrangements, shots, and pack within the last few days, but I hope it’s all worth it! She’ll be volunteering at a local hospital for a week and then spending the rest of the time hanging out with us and seeing a bit of the country.

101* Uses for a Kanga

2010-04-06T09:07:00.003-07:00

*More like 33, but it’s still a lot!

The ubiquitous piece of rectangular cloth used by Kenyan women for EVERYTHING … the kanga, or “leso” (lay-so) in some locations, usually features a 2-color design (plus black and white) that is either geometric or organic, or both. There is always an inner rectangle that has one pattern, then a border that has a different pattern with the same colors. Kangas also always have a saying or proverb on them in Swahili, which can be an expression of joy, sorrow, religious fervor, personal values, or social commentary.

[women wearing kangas at a wedding]

Kangas are sold in sets of two (uncut and un-hemmed), because women usually use one to wrap around their waist and the other to wrap around their shoulders/hold their baby/wrap around their head. However, the majority of women combine their clothing and kangas without any worry of matching – it’s a great cacophony of color! We have learned that kangas are much more common in rural/village areas – people who live in the city and working women do not wear kangas outside of the house.

[women wearing kangas at a burial]

Kangas can be used to show solidarity in significant life events – engagements, weddings, funerals, etc. Typically the main people involved decide on a pattern (sometimes specific colors, other times you can choose any color with the same pattern) and then spread the word to others who are closely involved or will attend the event. Then each person purchases her own from any various kanga shop and then can make an outfit from it or just wear it wrapped over her clothes. Kangas are identified by their sayings, so you can’t just go ask for “the red and yellow one with the pin-wheel looking design,” as I found out the hard way!

[women wearing kangas at work]

Wrapping a kanga around your waist or making clothes from it are definitely the most common uses, but you aren’t limited to wearing a kanga! I have either personally used or witnessed a kanga being used for each of these things – and I’m sure you could come up with many more ideas!

Wearable:
1. wrap skirt
2. sarong
3. mini skirt
4. shawl
5. girl’s dress
6. head wrap
7. head band

8. hijab (Muslim head scarf)
9. nightgown
10. robe
11. apron

Around the house:
12. bath towel
13. dish towel
14. rug/mat
15. mop
16. oven mitt
17. trivet
18. picnic blanket
19. sheet
20. curtain

21. table cloth
22. laundry bag
23. appliance cover
24. couch cover
25. throw blanket

Other uses:
26. baby holder/ one of the original “Bjorns”

27. handkerchief
28. water filter
29. basket/bag
30. purse/money holder
31. ipod holder
32. cloth for sewing anything
33. “carpet” laid down for bride to walk on at wedding

ps. So the men don’t feel left out, there is a man’s version, called a kikoi. This is definitely limited to around the house (though a few old men in Mombasa wear them around the streets), and they don’t usually have cool patterns and sayings. But they are very useful for keeping off the mosquitoes in the evening!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-03T21:28:00.002-07:00

He is risen! ...

...He is risen indeed!

Our update letter about March can be found here.

God Bless

Our own "march madness"

2010-03-21T09:00:00.008-07:00

No, we aren't following basketball here (in fact, I would have forgotten about the tournament entirely if it wasn't for facebook), but we've had an eventful few weeks of March so far. From Feb 28-March 7, a group of American volunteers came to Ribe to help with the school building and library. It was fun for us to visit with some new folks and see returning friends, but it was also a bit more stressful than we anticipated. It was interesting to realize how much we were straddling the American and Kenyan cultures and trying to work with both sides to have a successful experience.

Some highlights from the week:
· Some guys from the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and a carpenter joined Chris, and together they installed all the windows and door frames in the new building with the help of local workers who also mortared them in place.
· One of the MSOE students designed, led the construction, and installed railings for the upstairs corridor of the new building with the help of Chris and the other guys from MSOE.
· I was joined by a librarian (who specializes in cataloguing) and someone who works with computer databases, and together we labeled and catalogued over 500 books for the new library.
· One of the volunteers was an English professor and poet, and he gave a guest lecture to my English class and led them in a poetry-writing exercise. Also, he brought some art supplies so that the students could make drawings and send them to his artist daughter in a type of art-exchange. He is now compiling the poems and art into a booklet for us!
· Each of the volunteers got to stay with a host family and seemed to make good friends with the people of Ribe. By the end of their stay in Kenya, many were saying Swahili phrases and wearing kangas and kikois!
· We all enjoyed some relaxation time together with a meal at our house and then a trip to the beach on the last day. We ended the week by heading to Nairobi, from where the group flew home and we continued traveling …

Group of volunteers

The pupils already enjoying the updates to the building

(Does anyone from the American group have a link to photos you can share with us? We are not able to upload very many.)

Then, from March 8-March 12, we traveled with the Project Kenya folks (Brydie and Mophat) to Western Kenya, where Mophat is from and where Brydie had some developing PK projects …
· Day 1: Drove from Nairobi to Kisumu, saw Lake Victoria for a few minutes, had dinner with Mophat’s mother and sisters, and stayed the night in Kisumu.
· Day 2: Visited the Kisumu Museum (awesome, learned about Luo culture). Drove from Kisumu to Migori, Lesley squeezed in a phone interview while Chris joined the others for dinner at Mophat’s father’s house, stayed the night in Migori.
· Day 3: Drove from Migori to Kisii and surrounding area where we visited Kuja School for the Deaf (great place and people), a new children’s home, and soapstone carvers. Returned to Migori for dinner at Mophat’s father’s house again (learned even more about Luo culture).
· Day 4: Drove back to Nairobi, stayed with friends, Eda & Albo, hung out with their kids.
· Day 5: Bus from Nairobi back to Mombasa, then to Ribe. Whew!

The landscape of Western Kenya

Our travelling group at Lake Victoria

It was a very exciting, albeit fairly exhausting two weeks. I guess it could be considered a vacation from our usual schedule, but it was also work-related and very educational. It was definitely nice to relax a bit, enjoy the cooler weather, and get a much broader understanding of the country in which we live.

Update Letter #7

2010-03-01T12:03:00.002-08:00

We have received the Project Kenya short-term mission trip group, and had a busy first day at the school today. There is much to be done, but we got a great start. We look forward to sharing about the week.

In the meantime, our 7th update letter can be found here.

Asante! (Thanks!)
Chris & Lesley

Things that make me happy ...

2010-02-25T07:25:00.003-08:00

- Wearing my "hakuna matata" shirt ... yes it's cheesy but was given to me by a Kenyan (thanks, Laura!), and it just declares "today is going to be a good day." Also, it makes everyone laugh, and that's nice, as long as I laugh with them!

- Seeing my students perform songs, dances, and poems in preparation for a little performance next week. They are really quite talented.

- Care package that arrived today - thanks, Chrissy!

- Having water and power, and using both to take a nice shower.

- Unlimited internet for one week, and all the fun that comes with that!

- Making homemade "fudge" - supposed to be no-bake cookies, but they don't really harden (but they're still great). Perfect when you want something very chocolaty but don't have access to real chocolate (only cocoa powder).

- Three day weekend since tomorrow there is a "games day" at another school.

- Grading exams and realizing my students actually improved since last time.

- Group of visitors arriving on Sunday! A short-term trip is coming to Ribe for a week to do work on the new school building and help set up the library. It's going to be so fun having more friends here and we're looking forward to hopefully accomplishing a lot!

- Oh, and this picture:

Lessons about Poverty: Whom are we serving?

2010-02-20T09:03:00.002-08:00

The story of the “Rich Young Ruler” being unable to get into heaven and Jesus’ cautioning in Matthew 6:24 about idolizing mammon (money) that I closed the last entry with are things I have heard before, but God has shown me these lessons in a whole new light recently.

Rowell wrote in To Give or Not To Give? that “We could call this the ‘mammon principle.’ Jesus taught the disciples that riches are dangerous because they have a definite demonic power at work behind them.” He explained that, “‘mammon,’ is an Aramaic word defined in the New American Standard Bible’s footnote as ‘wealth, etc., personified as an object of worship.’”

Earlier in this installment of blog entries, I shared Proverbs 23:4, which advises, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.” Shortly before that gem is a more ominous piece of counsel in Proverbs 22:16, saying, “He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich – both come to poverty.” Based on the themes I have been learning from Rowell and the Elmbrook Church sermon, I imagine the poverty that type of individual comes to is spiritual. He is devoted to mammon, and thereby despises God.

In an especially poignant section of his book, Rowell explains, “If we are not alert to the delusions of grandeur induced by our relative financial strength, we may never gain, and we may not long hold on to, a proper understanding of God’s heart for the poor. We must remember that according to James 2 the poor—especially the believing poor—are to be viewed as spiritual assets and not as financial liabilities. They are with us in part because we need them to teach us about what it means to truly trust God for everything and to avoid the influences of mammon. They are in this sense richer in faith than we are. The poor deserve to be treated with dignity in the family of God. There is simply no room for partiality as we relate to those less materially blessed than ourselves.”

In re-reading it just now, I noted his distinction of “less materially blessed,” not less blessed. His words here also contributed to my conviction in the last installment that even my meager material wealth (compared to Western standards) does indeed hinder my spiritual affluence.

Rowell’s assertion that “the poor deserve to be treated with dignity” rings very true when you take Proverbs 22:22-23 into accord. It states, “Do not exploit the poor because the are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them.” Not only should they be viewed as spiritual assets to our own learning about God, but the Bible makes it clear that God is on their side. Remember we are called to take care of the poor, widowed, orphaned, etc.

How have we gone astray from that call when the Bible is very clear on the matter? Rowell strives to answer that question, but I wish to leave it a bit hypothetical. However, I was alarmed at some information in his book. For example, he wrote that “…even committed believers in North America appear to be keeping over 97 percent of their income. In 2002, only 6 percent of US evangelicals actually tithed” (according to Ron Sider in The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience: Why Are Christians Living Just Like the Rest of the World?). Rowell quotes Sider again when pointing out that these facts lead to some other statistics that he shares, which amount to an “observation [that] is consistent with the general recognition that ‘the richer we become, the less we give in proportion to our income.’”

It seems almost as if people reach a point in their giving that they feel they are meeting a set quota rather than continuing to tithe based on a percentage, more specifically a tenth as established in the Bible. Ten percent is not that much! Only a dime from each dollar, and don’t tell me they add up, because that is precisely my point. It can certainly add up for a much greater good, but apparently most people cannot part with so little of their wealth, while it could help the poor so immensely.

Lastly, Proverbs 22:7 caught my eye, stating, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” The first half certainly applies here, and plays out almost subconsciously even when the rich does not stipulate it. Rowell described, “Undeserved deference heightens the sense of superiority that is presumed by the wealthy and conceded by the poor who relegate to the rich from a position of decided economic disadvantage. This is a natural dynamic, but it misses the kingdom expectation anticipated by James 1:9-10: ‘The brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.’”

I have been blessed to experience some degree of that situation in James. While there are certainly times that learning Swahili in advance would have benefited us, it has not been very detrimental that we did not. However, it is by that means that God has placed me in situations of humility when interacting with elders in the church and community here. For that I am thankful.

To close, Proverbs 22 proved to be a paramount chapter for enhancing these lessons, and verse 2 reminds us that “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.”
So, whom will you serve – Mammon or the LORD?

Lessons about Poverty: Which of us are really “the poor,” again?

2010-02-19T11:42:00.001-08:00

In the sermon we downloaded from Elmbrook Church’s website, the pastor was preaching on the Sermon on the Plain from Luke 6:20-26. He explained that it is shorter than the more famous Sermon on the Mount (in Matthew 5-7), “but the main theme and contents are basically the same.”

In Luke 6:20-21, Jesus says:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”

The pastor said, “‘Blessed are the poor’ – what does he mean by poor? He means POOR – beggar, destitute, to have absolutely nothing.” But then he echoed some of what I read in To Give or Not To Give? (and shared in the last post). He described that in their physical poverty, they’ve realized their spiritual need – they have absolutely nothing to give but themselves, so they come and throw themselves at the feet of Jesus.” The poor are better positioned to have a stronger faith, because that is what they rely on a lot of times, whereas the wealthy lose focus on God when they rely on themselves.

The Elmbrook pastor described that Jesus was in effect saying, “In your poverty, you will know kingdom life, you will know the Christ life living within you, you will know kingdom power, kingdom joy, kingdom fulfillment and satisfaction in the midst of your circumstances whether they are good or bad.” He went on to point out that “these are revolutionary type thoughts.
In that time [and I would say in our time as well], the world said the blessed were only the wealthy, well fed, popular, but Jesus basically says, ‘No, not in my economy.’” People still usually use the word “blessed” for something physical, tangible; something the world would say is good. Meanwhile, when Jesus says “Blessed are the poor,” he says they will be fulfilled and content with the kingdom of God.

Likewise, in “Blessed are the hungry,” the pastor claims that by “hungry” Jesus means starved or famished. He explained that “Jesus says, ‘I have a food from Heaven that will satisfy you, a food that will last forever, a bread from Heaven that will go on and on and on’” and that Jesus is “looking for people with a holy hunger for Him, and passion for Him more than anything in the world.” The pastor paraphrased Paul’s sentiments in Philippians 3 that, “everything the world has to give me is like rubbish; it’s worth nothing.”

It is in these ways, that the pastor said, “The values of Heaven are on a collision course with the values of the world.”

In Luke 6:24-25, Jesus says:
“But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”

The pastor explained that “woe” means sorrow, dismay, and disappointment. He also pointed out that “Jesus is not saying laughter is wrong; it is not an attack on laughter, joking around or having fun. But what he is saying is, there’s many people in our society today that all they’re trying to do is have fun, to party, and just have a good time at the exclusion of God.” Therefore, the woes Jesus warns us about are not predictions upon all of us, but rather to those who enjoy their wealth and laughter while leaving out the Christian lifestyle of sharing, giving, and loving. Again, the pastor explained that Jesus is in essence saying, “What I have to offer is going to last; what the world offers is temporary. Divorce yourself from that all out pursuit of popularity and wealth.”

In fact, this is supported in Matthew 6:24 where Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon.”

If “mammon” (money) and the pursuit of riches has consumed us in the Western world, I think many of us would agree that it has become difficult to connect with God. Even as I try to commit to reading my Bible consistently (if you may recall I am trying to read the whole Bible this year), I can see that many of our Kenyan neighbors are richer in their faith even without owning a Bible. Since I have “already received [my] comfort” in many ways, I am finding that I am the more poor in spirit.

Lessons about Poverty: Learning from our poor brothers and sisters

2010-02-18T12:01:00.001-08:00

We can definitely identify with Rowell’s description in To Give or Not To Give? that “in spite of the sacrifices apparent at home to those who watch well-intentioned friends and family members ‘forsake all’ in order to serve the gospel in foreign and faraway parts of the world, missionaries to the poor often arrive on unreached fields only to find that they are fabulously wealthy in relative terms. Surrounded by poverty in the new mission setting, the Western missionaries’ attempts to abandon worldly wealth often serve only to magnify their material abundance.”

Later in the book, he explains that “historically, material wealth has caused lost neighbors among indigenous people to manifest utter indifference to what a missionary says while attracting rapt attention to what he or she has.” I think it is for this reason that I am thankful that we are in a fairly Christian community since we came to volunteer as Christian servants rather than serve directly in cross-cultural evangelism since I was previously not aware of such facts. I like something Lesley recently said, which was something to the effect of “more often than not, when we try to share Jesus’ love verbally, we end up getting preached to!” Beyond that, our neighbors are almost always very gracious in sharing what little they have, receiving what we offer and respecting us in what we do not.

In continuing a bit more to the heart of the book, Rowell points out that “James [the book in the Bible] teaches that poor men and women who are chosen to be part of the family of god are to be prized because they are uniquely prepared to be ‘rich in faith.’” He describes, “poverty somehow creates conditions that reinforce the human compulsion and capacity to rely on God in humble ways. Prosperity, on the other hand, induces pride, self-reliance, and disregard both for God and for the poor. The corrupting influence of riches is a danger the Scriptures repeatedly warn us about—one so great that wealth alone can make it hard for rich people even to enter heaven.”

The pastor from Elmbrook Church referred to this very fact in part of his sermon as he talked briefly about the “Rich Young Ruler,” found in Mark 10. In this story, the man asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Eventually, Jesus tells him, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:22 states, “At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.” The pastor described that the young man basically debated “’Jesus, or riches? Jesus, or riches? Which is going to be the focus of my life?’ …and the man turned away and walked away from Jesus.”

In my opinion, Jesus is a bit extreme in that story, as he makes a point about the dangerous lure of riches. He directs the disciples to notice how difficult it is for the wealthy to get into heaven. Meanwhile, central to Jesus’ directions to the rich man (literally the center of the statement) is “give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” I think this is more practical, because we sold a lot of our possessions before coming to Kenya, and yet it was not “everything you have.” If we would have been required to do that, I know my face would have fallen, and I would have been sad just as the man in the story was. I would have had to debate, “Jesus, or some of my cherished belongings.” Of course, I like to think I could still follow Jesus in that situation, but I am glad His call is not that extreme, and I take heart in recently discovering Proverbs 22:9: “A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”

As we have shared at other points in this blog and in monthly updates, we have felt blessed at many points this year as we try to live sacrificially to serve in the community. I feel even more blessed though, for the opportunity to witness, meet, and get to know people here that truly do seem richer in their faith as a result of their circumstances.

Lessons about Poverty: An Introduction

2010-02-17T13:27:00.003-08:00

There have been times in our living here that there is a break in the activities and projects that I (Chris) can get involved with. I tried to visit the school more and help Lesley a bit extra during those periods, but I have also taken pleasure in my rediscovered enjoyment of reading. It is like this year has alternated between contributing to projects – not only mentally, but also very physically (making up for never working a manual labor job growing up) – and on the other end of the spectrum, it is sometimes like a sabbatical.

This month has definitely not had the quiet, sabbatical time periods. At the end of January, I began to take on a bit larger role in the completion of the new building at the Ribe Primary School. At first it was just acting as liaison between Ribe and America to enhance the information flow. Then, I was taking and sending measurements and specific information for the group coming in a few weeks.

Last week, I managed (and helped with) completing the cement floors in the classrooms, including making a quick run for more cement sooner than expected on Wednesday. Over the weekend, we had Mophat (the in-country Project Kenya representative) and an electrician in town. They are both from Western Kenya, and came to confirm some arrangements for the group coming and do a lot of the electrical work, which continued to keep us pretty busy. I am now managing a little remaining plastering and hoping to get the floors in the corridors done before the group arrives as well.

Thus, I have been quite busy even through the weekends, but today we had an unexpected day to relax because a cement delivery was delayed. As a result, I finally got a chance to put some thoughts down to share. Managing the progress at the school and discussing the labor wages between the donors in America and the laborers here in Ribe has been a lesson about the poverty level in this area, but most of these thoughts are from other sources. In fact, I have had some blog material bouncing around my head since mid-January when we were experiencing the power outages.

I have been reading To Give or Not to Give? Rethinking Dependency, Restoring Generosity, & Redefining Sustainability by John Rowell. Now I’m sure you could’ve guessed which way his argument was to the question “To give or not to give?” even without the subtitle of the book, but I am really enjoying the book and learning some interesting things.

A few things really struck me, and then shortly after that, Lesley and I listened to a sermon we downloaded from Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin that complemented the material very well. Additionally, I then came to a section of Proverbs that had verses that spoke about the same topics.

Combined together, this material added up more than I realized, so I will share it in a few installments. I hope you enjoy, but don’t get your hopes up too much; I am, after all, an engineer, and it has little personal commentary but rather the juxtaposition of the material after milling around in my head.

Random stories from Kenya

2010-02-13T00:16:00.005-08:00

1. Going bananas
Today I wanted to buy some bananas ... shouldn't be hard to do, since there are tons of banana plants growing everywhere in Ribe ... yet I couldn't find any. None of the little shops we frequent ever carry bananas, since they only seem to be used as subsistence farming. This seems odd, because bananas are essentially a communal food - one tree has one branch that produces 30 bananas that all ripen at the same time, then it is done for the season. I can't imagine eating 30 bananas one day and none the rest of the time, but perhaps if your family is large enough and you have enough trees it could work. Anyway, I ran into a smart boy I know and asked him if he knew where I could get some. He offered to go look for me, since he was on a bicycle and I figured he would probably just visit someone's farm. About 20 minutes later, he came back empty-handed. "No bananas?" I asked. "Yes, there are no bananas," he replied.

2. Plant a tree
The other day I taught my English class immediately after they had Social Studies, and the lesson was still on the board. I noticed it was about the importance of trees for the environment and why you should plant 2 trees for every one you chop down. Now, for your average American this may be all rhetoric, but for rural Kenyans this is immediately practical. Their families cut down trees to clear land for farming, to use as firewood, to build houses, etc. It's not that they don't care, but that those are the necessities of the situation. Then tonight I saw on the news that new regulations are requiring all farmers to allocate 10% of their land for tree planting, and that river banks should have trees, not farming, within 50 metres of the edge. Now, I don't know about environmental or agricultural policy in the US, but both the lesson and the news seemed to be very encouraging that the country is continually emphasizing sustainable practices that will be good for the entire community. Let's just hope they provide resources and incentives to make it happen.

3. Kusalimia
You would think that after 6 months in Kenya I would remember very standard cultural norms like greeting people ... but no. Sometimes, especially after being particularly task-oriented doing work at home, I forget that I am in an uber-process-oriented culture (shout out to Steve Weaver for forcing me to be more process-oriented, by the way). When I walk to school I usually wave to the people I see and say "habari asubuhi" or some other greeting, but these are usually people I don't really know. The other day I was running late to school and when a woman yelled out "Lozi!" I just turned, waved, and yelled my greeting. In the US this would be totally acceptable ... but not here. I realized as soon as I got to school that I had probably really offended her by not going over and chatting for a while. In fact, it would have been significantly more important to greet ("kusalimia") her than to be on-time to school. When I saw her again a few days later I went to chat, and she remarked that she hadn't seen me a long time, since the wedding in December. Just further proof that making visual and vocal contact with a person does not count as "seeing" them ... you are invisible until you shake hands!

A Weekend to Recharge

2010-02-09T11:23:00.003-08:00

As Chris wrote, we were without “moto” (fire, slang for electricity) here last week. A day or two in the dark isn’t too bad … but by day 5 we were struggling because everything with batteries was dead, too. Eating by candle-light may be romantic, but cooking and washing dishes by candlelight can be disastrous! So, Friday afternoon, a bit spontaneously, we packed up our backpacks with a change of clothes and as many electronics as we could hold (laptop, phones, AA battery charger, AAA battery charger …!). Since our phones and computer were dead we had no way to contact any friends or hotels, so we just set off to town, hoping we could stop by our host’s house in Mombasa to plug in and look up a place to stay. By 5:30 pm we were on the phone with hotels on the south coast, since we had not yet visited the area and thought we might as well use this opportunity. After booking the cheapest (but still decent) room we could find, our host informed us that they actually wouldn’t recommend trying to cross the ferry at rush hour because of the crowds and security. Well, we decided to take a risk, and managed to arrive at the ferry right as they were closing the gate. We safely and quickly traveled there (and back) without incident or loss of anything – God really watched over us.

We managed to get to our hotel before dark via multiple forms of public transportation and then just crashed for the night in an air-conditioned room. The hotel was quite decent for what we paid, and was just blocks from the beach. We didn’t spend much time at the beach, though; it was covered in seaweed and persistent trinket-sellers, so we took advantage of the power to have a “working weekend” of lesson planning, email responding, local phone calling, international calls on Skype, and just a little DVD-watching.

While the whole weekend was nice, a few serendipitous “mini-adventures” made it great. Saturday afternoon we went for a long walk to a grocery store we had seen … only to find out it was still “coming soon.” On the way back we gazed at the road-side kibandas (huts) that sell paintings, figurines, and kangas. After debating about getting a painting (we have wanted one for a while), I expressed that I wished there was a painting of coastal women, not just Masai women, since we wanted something that represents the people that we know here. The artist said he could paint one, so we commissioned the first painting we’ve ever owned!

On Saturday we had passed a sign for a church, and the artist said that he went there and the service was in English. So, Sunday morning we attended the Word of Life Fellowship Church in Diani, and it was awesome! It’s hard to describe … the grounds and building were the quintessential mix of Swahili style and modern but without any pretension, the small congregation was extremely friendly and welcoming, the worship which mixed Swahili and English was gorgeous and genuine, and the preaching was Biblical and heartfelt. God really spoke to me through his word and the message on Philemon (“PHIL-a-mon” they say). There were a couple American missionaries and a few Germans associated with the church, but otherwise it was very Kenyan and welcomed people from town and villages alike. It was great to see God working in this community and we were glad to be a part of it for one day.

We went away for the weekend to recharge our batteries – literally AND figuratively! – and as we returned home I was contemplating the ways in which I had been asking God for power. The service ended with a prayer that said, “God, there is no power … other than your power.” Chris and I both laughed a bit, but I think I had come to the conclusion that the weekend was going to have a happy ending whether or not there was power when we returned to Ribe. In fact, I felt God used this uncomfortable situation to bring us closer to him … so we were happily (ecstatically?) surprised when, 30 minutes before we would arrive home, we receive a text message from our host saying power was back! Hallelujah! A happy ending that included power was yet a little happier.

Power out in Ribe

2010-01-31T11:12:00.009-08:00

You may (or may not) have noticed our slight absense, and perhaps noticed my (Chris) status updates on twitter/facebook... there was a power black-out all last week. We tried to roll with it and further experience how many of the locals here live (we've now done water shortages and extended time without power, and pray that they don't happen at the same time). However, I wonder if it is even more difficult for us than others around us for the fact that we did not grow up learning how to deal with it!

Exactly one week ago from this moment was not unlike this evening; we returned to Ribe from visiting friends and probably spent a little time online. We had bought meat and other cold items, like yogurt and stored them in the fridge. Then, Monday morning we woke to no electricity! We were just recovering from some upset stomachs from eating suspect foods during the 3 day power outage the week before, so although we were hoping to save the meat a couple days since we enjoyed some over the weekend in Mombasa, we were not going to risk this food going bad!

Monday night, we fixed up some BBQ ribs on a Kenya-style grill. Yes, a charcoal jiko with a wire grate on top. Lesley also made the BBQ sauce from scratch and it was amazing!

We also ate the yogurt much quicker than planned, and the other meat was ground beef, which we browned a bit each night until we made spaghetti on Wednesday night.

Otherwise, in the evenings, we pretty much just watched the flames jumping on the candles, talked quite a bit more than usual, and played cards. Check out the empty peanut butter jar hurricane Lesley devised with a little sand in the bottom to hold the candle up.

Renovation of the old Methodist Church building for the Women’s Sewing Project

2010-01-20T00:06:00.005-08:00

This is a little story about how things work in Ribe. Here is warning that it is a bit long and some parts are overdue, but I wanted to share that the women have begun their project, and that finally occurred recently. It is not a bad thing; it is just not what we expected.

The primary purpose of the November visit from Brydie, the Director of Project Kenya, was to deliver funding and launch a sewing project for the Methodist church women. The church has a fairly new church building, and the old building was identified as a good place for this project to “create employment and eradicate idleness” and “empower and encourage the women in the church”, as well as “encourage other groups around in community developments” according to the proposal.

We had a meeting in the old church building to launch the project, and Brydie accompanied a couple of the women to purchase a few manual/foot pedal Singer machines and sewing supplies.

I (Chris) was assigned the task of managing the renovation project with the remaining funds, to be completed as soon as possible, which I personally feel I handled with mixed results due to differing cultural approaches. For example, rather than ordering and waiting for delivery of cement, we borrowed bags of cement from the school construction site, which I understand due to the time frame. However, I am still trying to pin down the return of that cement with regard to the funding and when the school needs it.

Without further adieu, here goes some of the renovation:

I forgot the camera on the morning of the first day, so I’m sorry I don’t have truly “before” pictures; you’ll just have to imagine… By the end of the first day, the front entrance of the church was blocked up, since a side door is being used. I was just focused on the end goal of the project, but our friend, who is a pastor in Nairobi, pointed out the unintended symbolism of this photo when I was showing him the project over Christmas.

The windows were also reduced, raising the level of their sill in order to enhance security, although I found it a little sad when one of the younger guys working on it with us jokingly told a friend of his who stopped by that we were converting it into a jail.

I think we had a goal of doing it within one week, or at least I did mentally, but Tito spiced things up a bit when on Friday he actually promised the women that we'd turn it over to them on Sunday. Therefore, we still had quite a bit of work, and then suddenly we had a deadline!

Now, it is not unusual for the men to work on Saturday, and I have joined them on occasion, but that was Lesley’s birthday, the harambee (fundraiser) we wrote about before, and a wedding we managed to visit as it wound down. Additionally, there was a different wedding at the church that weekend, and I think most of the workers were going to either the harambee or one of the weddings as well. Therefore, we didn't meet the Sunday deadline, but on Monday, we made a hard push to set up the sewing project by that night with work on several fronts:

Manufacturing a metal security door by welding parts of two doors together to make it larger than either one had been:

Blocking up the large gap between the wall and roof:

Finishing whitewash painting the interior walls:

Fixing stools to be used at the sewing tables (didn't realize I cut off his head while trying to center the stools in the photo!):

& electrical work!

Unfortunately, welding the door took the full day, and the electrician required some materials from Mombasa. Accordingly, it seemed to me that they would finish without my presence the next day since Lesley and I were headed to Mombasa ourselves for a few errands including shipping Christmas gifts to our families. However, the electrician underestimated the amount of wiring and they texted me in town to pick up more. Other tasks such as completing the construction of a table for measuring and cutting their fabric also took longer to complete than anticipated.

The next day, we completed the bulk of the renovation such that in addition to the front entrance being blocked and plastered, the building security is enhanced by the window adjustments and metal door, and also a wood partition wall inside to create a tailoring area and a teaching sewing area. I am still pretty impressed by all that was accomplished in about a week and a half.

All that remains today are some window grills I designed with the materials available; they were requested to further increase the security (the boys around here can apparently get quite mischievous – I was surprised they felt we needed to block up the gap between the walls and the roof!) Eight more grills require welding and painting, and then all of them will be bedded into the exterior of the walls. They are obviously not as urgent; just a to-do item that is now being bumped for other tasks lately. Besides that, the women will probably want to acquire some fans since all of our other security enhancing has reduced airflow through the building.

We turned the building over to the women the following weekend (December 12th I believe), thinking they would get to work making school uniforms for the beginning of this new school year, since “providing clothing/uniforms at a cheaper rate and help in eradicating poverty” is one of the goals. However, the Christmas time, combined with their wedding season, seems to have overruled that taking place. Besides, perhaps the women themselves never planned to try to provide uniforms this term.

After ringing in the New Year, I kept waiting to see them begin until Tito explained that they wanted to mop and clean up the place a bit more after all of our construction. Yet, they (wisely) decided to wait due to the water shortage we were experiencing when the regional pump house broke down and had to wait for repair.

The women must have heard that we were looking forward to their start, because they came to get us on the first day they were going in to set up:

We also stopped by a couple days later and found them taking measurements of a few students:

Some additional VERY EXCITING news about these women, and this project, is that many of the women also comprise the church’s choir. Well, at the same time as we were working so hard to renovate the old church building, they went to Nairobi for a choir competition and took second place! This positioned them to recently become one of the few, if not only Kenya National Choir (we still struggle to get complete information on things like this). Therefore, if the President wants to use them at an event, they would go perform for him! Additionally, some people came “to see where these women are from” and reportedly had a donation to help them begin some sort of project. Now this is where I am really excited that we have helped them help themselves already: Upon learning that they have already started on this sewing project, those people have apparently gone back to Nairobi seeking to double their donation to the Ribe Methodist Church Women.

Christmas & Safari

2010-01-09T03:46:00.008-08:00

We had a really nice holiday season even though we were away from home. After the wedding we went up to Nairobi to stay with our friends Eda and Albo and their two sons (baby Seo arrived shortly after we last visited them in August!). We had a relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas, got to see a movie in a theater, played board games, got some shopping done, visited with a friend, Julie, who is an American teacher, visited with Laura and her parents (Kenyan family friends), and generally took a vacation! We neglected to take pictures, though, since our batteries were dead :-(. This was my (Lesley) first Christmas away from my family, but Eda’s family took us in as their own and we did Skype with family members. We particularly enjoyed the chilly weather (similar to a California winter) and being in the presence of strong Christians and good friends.

The day after Christmas we took off on our safari … though there were a couple of minor mishaps when we first arrived and on the way home, all in all it was a great trip. We visited Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru, and spent most of the time doing game drives. We saw all the main animals except leopards, which are notoriously hard to spot. Here are the highlights, in roughly chronological order:

A cheetah on the chase (even though we couldn't see the running behind some brush, here the cheetah is after sadly not catching any of the antelope).

A lion-buffalo face-off (here is a brave buffalo from the herd trying to run off the lionesses), and a male relaxing in some brush not too far away – probably associated?

Visiting a local Masai village (Chris on the left, in the purple - just in case you can't tell!)

Zebra herds patiently waiting to cross the road:

An elephant herd (with a little baby)... not waiting to cross the road!

A lion crossing the road to join another lying in the brush.

Driving all the way to the Tanzanian border (where the Masai Mara becomes the Serengeti) and seeing a rare Masai giraffe just across it.

Hippos in the Mara River:

A crowned crane dancing for another right in front of our van:

Having an unexpectedly romantic, candle-light dinner at the Mara Hippo Lodge:

"Honeymooning" lions - yes, we can actually attest to it!

A cheetah couple relaxing, and then when they got up, it appears one is pregnant.

The beauty of Lake Nakuru:

A rhino crossing the road right ahead of us - there was tall brush on both sides of the road, and we were looking in the trees for a chance to see leopards, so this rhino just like appeared right in front of us and was already on the other side of the road as you see by the time we got the camera up.

Impala herds – they are separated into the females with one male, and then a nearby heard of the rest of the males. Then, we saw a male challenging the other males in his herd in preparation to challenge the male with the females!

A giraffe herd very close around us, with two neckling (neck wrestling) though it looked like just for fun/practice fighting.

Flocks of flamingos in Lake Nakuru:

ps. We just have a basic digital camera; no special zoom ... we really were that close! And we have hundreds more pictures if you like that stuff ... just ask us when we get home.

Exciting week (part II): A Ribe Wedding

2010-01-05T05:51:00.004-08:00

… Friday night, the 18th, began the long-anticipated wedding in Ribe. We had planned our holiday schedule around the wedding and our host family was coming up here to celebrate, since the groom is Tito’s cousin/nephew of some sort (extended families here get very extended, and quite complicated).

I should give a little background information about weddings in Kenya, since we have learned a lot more about them since we visited part of a wedding a few weeks ago. I still don’t feel I understand how all the details work, but there are traditional weddings and official/religious weddings. In this part of Kenya it seems common for a couple to first have a traditional wedding, which really just means that each person’s parents agree to the union and they start living together and probably having children. (side note: Kenyans don’t think you’re really married until you have kids. Thus they often think we are brother/sister, or that we must have children back in the US.) I don’t think there is much of a ceremony for a traditional wedding, though possibly some dowry might be paid.

An official/religious wedding is held in a church (or mosque, I presume?) and involves going all-out to throw a party for basically everyone you know. Part of the ceremony includes signing a marriage license, so the union is officially recognized by state law and the children and wife are taken care of in case anything happens to the husband. We have learned that the reasons people don’t always have official weddings to start is because they either want to have a “trial marriage” (i.e., like living together, see if they are compatible) or because they don’t have the money for a marriage license and big wedding.

In this case, the bride and groom had been traditionally married for about 10 years and they had three daughters. The wedding festivities started a few days in advance with many extended family members coming into town to do preparations. The day before the wedding, the women do a ridiculous amount of cooking and prepare a large feast for a party that night. All the groom’s family and friends (about 200 people) gathered at his village and had pilau and danced to the music of a live band and DJ. Its closest comparison in the US would be a rehearsal dinner plus bachelor party. I was told that the bride and her family were having a similar party at their home. At one point a group of women from the groom’s side took a bag of presents to the bride’s side. The bag contained personal and household items for the bride to use in setting up her home, so it seems her party could be compared to a bridal shower plus bachelorette party! The gifts they brought her may be considered part of the dowry, but it was probably not the dowry in its entirety.

(Side note: Dowries are still very common in Kenya, and they are either given to the bride’s father (Christians) or the bride herself (Muslims). Asma, our host, is Muslim and obviously thinks they have a better deal! Either cash or goods are given – the groom and recipient decide on a price (or the recipient names one!), and if necessary, the groom can pay in installments. Livestock is a common form of payment to the father, and I learned that 4 cows is a decent dowry (worth 120,000 shillings, or $1,600), but can even go up to $10,000! If the dowry is given to the bride, she might get furniture or other things for the home plus some cash to do some personal shopping.)

The party went late on Friday night, and most of the time the women and men were separated. I (Lesley) got pulled on to the dance floor a number of times by the older ladies who thought it was hilarious to teach me to dance, while unfortunately Chris was stuck with a group of men promising some of the food that never arrived (the men were distracted by the local brew). Finally tired Lesley and hungry Chris found each other and left “early” at around midnight. Others stayed up most of the night dancing and then enjoying mountains of mahambri (triangular shaped sweet bread – like mild doughnuts) in the morning, another wedding tradition. The village women even sent up a tray of mahambri to our house!

Mysara (11), Asma, and Tawfidah (7) all dressed up for the wedding.

We were told the wedding started at around 10 on Saturday … so we left the house at 10:30 and found that by 11ish the church was filling up but the wedding was nowhere near starting. The bride arrived around 12 or 12:30 (everyone seemed like this was completely normal, not her being late) and then the ceremony lasted until 2:30. The ceremony had a lot of singing and dancing performances by the youth group, the women’s choir, and all the women who lived in the bride and groom’s village. The couple said their vows, exchanged rings, and to the complete embarrassment of the bride, even kissed (which was particularly amusing since they have been together for 10 years and have 3 kids … but Kenyans just aren’t big on PDA.) There was also something about popping two balloons, but we didn’t understand that, so we each came up with our own creative relationship-related analogies!

The "bibi harusi" (literally, wedding woman) and "bwana harusi" (wedding man) with their attendants and pastor.

The bride and groom exiting the church, while the congregation sings and dances a wedding song.

After the wedding everyone headed to the village to begin the party, but we were pretty hungry and knew that the food would be a while in coming, so we ducked by our house on the way for a snack and rest. We got to the reception later and discovered we missed some traditional dance performers but were in time for some delicious biryani (goat stew with rice) and the rest of the festivities. It was rather impressive to watch the men cook the food in huge pots and a team of about 30 young men running around serving everyone on big trays. There were probably 500 people there – I know they had to borrow dishes from everyone in the village!

Biryani cooking in huge pots

One thing that surprised us was that there appeared to be party planners who took care of the decorating, tents, chairs, flowers, etc. In the US we would never dream of cooking that much food for a wedding, but would likely do our own decorating if we were on a tight budget. However, here they cook their own food but hire others to decorate! I think there is a correlation to how we live our lives, though – these coastal women are fantastic cooks but don’t have very decorated homes, whereas in the US it’s rather vice versa.

The red carpet and head tent in the middle of the village (groom's house seen behind tree)

Following the food came the time to give presents. The bride and groom sat in the head tent and people lined up to individually to give them their present – kind of like a receiving line plus gifting. It’s funny how gift giving in the US is done behind the scenes and surreptitiously at weddings – I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guest hand a present directly to the newlyweds (though I suppose pre-wedding showers are the opposite). After presents, the couple walked along their red carpet to the cake table, where they pretended to a cut a cake (couldn’t tell if it was a real cake or why they pretended) and then all the guests were served bite-sized, pre-wrapped pieces of dry cake and certain family elders were given the display cakes (Chris thinks the cakes must have been real and this is another tradition we don’t quite understand). A number of guests left at this point but we stuck around hoping for more dancing.

Soon we saw a band starting to set up and got excited, but our hosts told us that the dancing wouldn’t begin for a few hours. Everyone takes a bit of a rest in the afternoon (since the night before they went to bed very late, if at all), and then in the evening the bride and groom do a first dance to kick off another late-night party. So with this in mind we headed home for a rest and our weekly Skype date with Lesley’s family. However, after changing out of wedding clothes and relaxing with our host family, we all crashed for a bit of a nap and then didn’t feel like going back down the hill again. We later learned that Asma actually woke up around 2 am and decided to rejoin the party! Needless to say, most of Ribe slept the entire next day.

For us, the wedding was quite a cultural experience, but unfortunately there was a lot we didn’t understand and in which we couldn’t fully participate. Most of the people in the village who typically take us under their wing to explain things were pretty occupied with arranging the festivities, feeding and entertaining 500 people, and cleaning up after them! Nevertheless, we extended congratulations to our friend Dicky, his “new” wife and their families :-)

Ps. I may not be entirely accurate in my understanding of Kenyan weddings, or this may only be applicable to the coastal area where we live. So please don’t make any generalizations, and feel free to correct me if you happen to know more than I do!

Open Letter from the Director of Project Kenya

2009-12-25T01:24:00.004-08:00

This is a letter from Brydie Hill, Director of Project Kenya Charity, that we want to share with you.

“Hello-

Yes it is the week before Christmas and in just a few days we will be opening up presents, eating dinner with our families, and thanking God for our loved ones and for all that we have. For the past five years, I have been working (unpaid) for the hope in making a difference in the lives of some Kenyans and in the lives of some Americans. Project Kenya Charity is a volunteer organization that simply wants to teach, share, and help Kenyans so that they can “change their stars.”

This Christmas, Project Kenya and the children of Ribe, Kenya have a HUGE gift wish. We are trying to raise money to send a 40ft. container to Kenya. I did type 40 FOOT container! The cost will be $8,000 for shipping and taxes. We have already raised $3,000. Please help us bring this 40 foot container to Kenya. It will ship in early January and meet our Project Kenya missionaries in March (if we raise the money for shipping).

The village of Ribe, Kenya is very small and rural. Just imagine the faces of 600 children as a 40 ft container filled with books, school supplies, computers, tools, clothing, shoes, and much more arrives and is unpacked. Their faces alone will be worth every cent.

Please consider making a donation to Project Kenya, memo: container. This shipment is so important to this village that I will even come and pick up your donation. Just let me know when and where. Your donation is tax deductible through Project Kenya.

Lastly, we are looking for a few more items for the container as well. If you have any of the following please let me know and I can come and get it.

ITEMS NEEDED FOR THE CONTAINER
Gently used clothing
Gently used shoes
Adult bicycles (that work)
Sewing equipment and machines
Hair clippers for men
Push lawnmowers
Soccer equipment
Lumber
Tools-all types and kinds
Learning aids for the classroom
Photocopier
If you have other items you would like to donate please give me a call.

Have a blessed Christmas- and remember to pass this email and wish along!"

Brydie Hill
Project Kenya Charity, Inc.
4360 Jackson Drive
Jackson, WI 53037
www.project-kenya.org
c-262-573-6523

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:11:00.003-08:00

Exciting week (part I)

2009-12-23T02:48:00.004-08:00

Warning: ridiculously long posts ahead

This past week we have taken part in a number of fun things. The previous weekend was pretty much consumed with Chris being very ill – don’t worry, he’s fine now. It was probably malaria, since the malaria treatment made him better quickly, but without a lab test we don’t know for sure. So, this week was full of activities to make up for it.

-On Tuesday the 15th, we went to the primary school for a little event with some American donors. They were from a small organization called “Motherland Mission” – some Kenyan sisters from Ribe had moved to Virginia and started this organization with a US pastor. The group of 5 people was entertained by the kids singing some songs and the donors passed out new uniforms to those who were there. I was particularly touched to see them bring plastic flip flops (the typical Ribe footwear); it breaks my heart to see so many kids going to school barefoot, which can lead to all sorts of infections/bug infestations/skin issues.

-On Wednesday we went to visit the home of a teacher, Mr. Gege. Mr. Gege sits next to me in the staff room and has become our good friend. He guided me through my first term and teaches both Chris and me Swahili lessons whenever our three schedules line up. I have also been teaching him about computers and we were able to help him recently when he was in a bicycle accident.

To get to Mr. Gege’s house, we took a matatu and then a motorbike for the first time, since it would have otherwise been an hour and 15 minutes walk through rural farmland. When we got to his house around 11, we met all the members of his extended family who lived nearby and then enjoyed chai and mandazi that his wife served. We spent a while sitting and chatting; for a few minutes we would sit outside under the mango tree, then see storm clouds roll in and go inside while it rained. Then when the heat of the house became too much, we would go outside again and repeat, carrying our chairs with us all the while. Conversation topics ranged from North American animals (can you name and describe 10 mammals that are in the US but not Kenya? And how on earth do you describe an opossum?) to the differences between the 9 local tribes, from the Swahili verb conjugations to strategies for enacting effective and humane discipline at school.

After a while Mr. Gege took us on a tour of his shamba (farm/garden) where he keeps chickens and goats, and grows maize, cassava, peas, mangos, and coconuts. We stopped for a nice drink from some madafu (young coconuts with water) and then headed back to his home when we realized that the equatorial sun was scorching our skin. Luckily I brought the umbrella with me – although we encountered no rain while on our walk, it made a nice parasol as we returned to his home! His village is called “mikomani,” meaning “location of mikoma,” which are local trees. They didn’t know the translation in English, and we still don’t know what a mkoma is even after seeing it! Some kind of palm, perhaps?

After returning from our walk and chatting for a while, his wife prepared a lunch of pilau complete with kachumbari (relish of onion and tomato) and bananas (traditional accompaniment). We relaxed some more, and then took off on another walk to see the church where Mr. Gege sometimes preaches (it’s pretty common for teachers here to double as preachers – which are generally unpaid). On the way we also stopped by a little storefront where he and his wife have started a tailoring business. They have a few machines and hope to build it into a small sewing school. Then we walked, walked, and walked some more until we found a motorbike that could take us back to the matatu stage. We finally arrived home as the sun was setting - it was a long, fun day visiting a colleague.

-On Thursday morning we headed to town to do some errands before heading to Nyali (suburb north of Mombasa where Crossroads Fellowship is located). As usual, by the time we reached town we were ready for lunch, so after eating we headed to the National Library of Kenya, Mombasa branch. We had been trying to go there for months, since I’m desperate for reading material. But what a disappointment it was! It was one room about 20 ft by 40 ft, with books on each long side, and a loft upstairs with children’s books. Most of the books were reference and academic, and the small fiction section seemed to have ancient tomes of which I had never heard. Only a few sections were labeled, many of the books were missing spines and the covers were generally faded, making it nearly impossible to find anything in particular. Most of the people in the library were students busy studying or men reading the newspaper on their lunch break. I had only purchased a day-pass, since registering as a member required references from an employer. However, I don’t think I will be pursuing that option – in less than 15 minutes I think I saw all there was to see of the poor library. It makes me wonder about the relationship between literacy/English language skills and library offerings – I would think one would promote the other and vice versa. It also makes me wonder if it would be possible to offer more material in Kiswahili, which would be significantly more useful and accessible to the coast population. This excursion left me with renewed energy to develop as good a library as possible in Ribe.

After the library we went north of the city to pick up a dress I had made for the upcoming wedding in Ribe, then shopped a bit at one of the street-side markets that line Mombasa’s busier roads.
Then, finding that we were about 4 hours early for our next event, we caught a series of matatus that put us in Nyali at a swanky strip mall with a Nakumatt (big supermarket), cinema, trendy clothing shop, bowling alley, and several cafes. We browsed, ate, read, and generally killed time (I discovered The Time-Traveler’s Wife is coming in January!) before heading over to the church for a Christmas concert. The concert was fun – the church was packed, we got to sing some classic Christmas songs and hymns, and for the first time we really felt like Christmas is approaching! After the concert we went home with a missionary couple who lets us stay at their house and we got a good night’s rest on comfortable mattresses with a/c running!

-Friday we slept in and after a quick walk on the beach we went to the supermarket and bookstore before returning to Ribe. If it ever seems like it takes us a long time to do errands, and that we do them frequently, it’s because it does, and we do. Walking to the matatu stage, waiting/getting on/leaving, the drive, and walking to desired location (potentially a few times) takes several hours. Then, repeat that all in reverse with backpacks and arms full of groceries – we can only bring home as much as we can carry, and nothing that will melt in the 100* heat. So, we take advantage of any chance we have to stop in a grocery store and grab some things.

-Friday night began the long-anticipated wedding in Ribe … (see next post for more!)

Wageni Wakaribishwa

2009-12-16T10:57:00.001-08:00

There is a cute song here that is sometimes sung by children (and heard at tourist locations). It goes like this:

Jambo, jambo bwana (Hello, sir)
Habari gani – Nzuri sana (How are you – I am very fine)
Wageni wakaribishwa (Visitors are welcome)
Kenya yetu – hakuna matata (to our Kenya – no problem!)

So, we would like to echo – wageni wakaribishwa! Visitors are welcome!

If you have any interest in visiting Kenya (and us!) we would love to have visitors. It’s definitely a big trip, but if you are interested in either being a tourist or a volunteer, there are opportunities for you.

Specifically, our organization, Project Kenya, is planning a short-term mission trip to Ribe in early March. The volunteers will be working on some of the projects you may have heard us right about – the new school building, the library, and a resource center. The cost of the trip is $500 plus airfare (airfare for March looks like about $1200). This trip is pretty basic (homestays, etc.) to keep costs down, but if you are interested in seeing more of Kenya they (or we) can arrange safaris and other trips. See the Project Kenya website for more information, and feel free to ask us any questions! We would LOVE to see any and all of you who have an interest in this area.

Holiday season: harambee, wedding, birthday, and more!

2009-12-13T04:37:00.004-08:00

Now that the school term is over, we have a chance to do some tasks that need to be done and also have a chance to explore this area and Kenya more. We have already enjoyed hiking in the hills around Ribe, running errands in Mombasa, reading a lot, and working hard! Chris has been working tirelessly this past week at the old church building doing renovations so the women can begin the sewing project. I have been taking a stab at lesson planning for both English and computers, and have kept busy with errands, housework, and visiting different villages in Ribe.

This past weekend we visited a harambee (“ha-rom-bay” - community fundraiser) for a youth group in Ribe called Play Safe. Their mission is to educate young people about how to be safe in all activities, including avoiding HIV, pregnancy, alcohol and drugs. We have seen them practicing drama skits frequently at the school grounds; their dedication is impressive. This was our first harambee, so it was quite a surprising experience!

A harambee is held when a family or group needs to raise money for something. Whenever there is going to be a wedding, funeral, church construction, or sending someone to school/college, the members of the community chip in. Rather than having individual savings plans, they tend to share whatever is available at the moment with each other. It’s an interesting phenomenon, because it goes against traditional western ideals of saving and investing, but it really serves the same purpose in the long run. You set aside or give money when you have it, and when you run into a big expense the money you need will be there.

As with most harambees, pledges are taken in advance and invitations are distributed to important people in the community (educators, church leaders, politicians … us?). We brought a little bit of money that we planned to contribute, and at various points attempted to give it to the organizer, only to be told that it wasn’t time yet. The entire harambee is a well-orchestrated ceremony, with specific steps and timing of which we were initially completely oblivious.
Guests are seated in different areas: some under the shade of a tree, special guests under a tent. The harambee is opened by the chairman of the organization, then in this case the Play Safe group performed an acrobatic show and a skit about safe sex (I think – it was mostly in Kiswahili). Then the official fundraiser came up (someone outside the group), and each person is supposed to go and greet him with “a little something,” ranging from 10-100 shillings (in the range of a few cents to a dollar or so).

After that, various people from the general audience give their donation, and these were pooled to be considered as one big donation. Then everyone is invited to “escort” this donation with a little something extra – 20, 30, 50 shillings. Then each special guest is invited to give his/her donation, each of which are also “escorted” by a little extra from others. As we were doing this process, it appeared that when you escort someone’s donation it is a way of paying respect to them and thanking them for what they are giving. The larger the donation, the larger the escort, usually. During this segment they also totaled the amount of money pledged from those who were not present and encouraged people to escort that as well.

In addition to asking for the escorts, the fundraiser used additional tactics like encouraging the audience to help round out a number (“we have 1,240 shillings, can we get 60 more to make 1300?” or “we have 1300 shillings, can we get 200 more to make 1500?”) It was pretty effective – you really wanted to see the group have a successful fundraiser, and there is definitely peer pressure to keep donating! As each person donates they are applauded, so there is definitely also an aspect of pride and recognition. Finally, when you think they can’t possibly squeeze another cent from you, they ask for things like a “chair” donation – 50 shillings if you were sitting in a chair! It really was all pretty amusing – at least we knew when we went that we were going to be asked for money – we just didn’t know how many times! Next time we will bring the same amount as planned but in smaller bills. :-) All in all the Play Safe group raised 40,000 shillings (about $570) - pretty impressive for a small audience in a small town with poverty struggles – even for Kenya. Their first project, aside from the skits raising awareness, is a water storage tank in an area of Ribe that frequently has water issues.

(video: Chicken! ... sorry, video to come soon)

After the harambee we headed to Kaloleni (where our post office is – larger than Ribe, smaller than Mombasa) to catch the latter part of a wedding. The headteacher’s sister was getting married and he invited us; we had never met her, but it is common to invite anyone and everyone in the community to weddings. When we arrived at 3 pm we thought the party would still be in full force, since we heard there are large crowds and long parties … but I guess this one had started the night before and was now ending. We had a chance to say congrats to the wedding party and then they left about 10 minutes after we got there.

(the ecstatic bride and groom ... Kenyans don't usually smile for pictures)

Although the wedding was basically over, we did get to enjoy visiting with the headteacher and his family, and eating the food traditionally cooked for mass quantities of people: Pilau!

(The headteacher's wife, relative, and brother show us the enormous pilau pot)

(Lesley with some flower girls and other children after the wedding)

Oh yeah, and all this was on my birthday – what fun! We didn’t really do anything additional to celebrate since this was already a lot of activity. I did enjoy getting the chicken you saw above, a new pair of sandals, and some chocolate :-)

Other things we have planned for December:
- Visiting the homes of a few different teachers from Ribe Primary
- Visiting artisan workshops and shopping in Mombasa
- Celebrating Chris’s birthday by attending another local wedding (December is wedding season in Kenya, and there are more than 5 weddings each weekend just in the local area!)
- Spending Christmas in Nairobi with our friends Albo and Eda and their family
- Going on a safari in Maasai Mara and one of the lakes
- Celebrating New Year’s in Ribe with Tito’s family and village
We will also need to continue working on some of the community projects, like helping the women’s sewing project get started and planning for the computers and library. There is quite a bit to keep us busy this holiday season!

Wish List

2009-12-09T12:22:00.003-08:00

Many people have expressed interest in sending packages or asked if we have a wish list - thanks! It's very nice to have such generous friends and family. One thing we would LOVE is any sort of picture, card, or letter from you that we can hang on out wall - so please don't forget to include us on your Christmas card list! Snail mail can be sent to our P.O. Box, which is listed on the sidebar. We don't have a printer, so though we love emails we can't hang them up.

We also would really appreciate donations that would help us to complete projects in the community. This includes the women's sewing project (some remaining building renovations and in the future, more machines), the computer course (computer equipment and set up), and the library (books and organizational supplies).

Donations can be made by check to Project Kenya, and in the notes line put "Stahls" and whichever project you would like to support (or just our names if it is to support our work directly). They can be mailed to 4360 Jackson Drive, Jackson, WI 53037. Alternatively, you can donate online: go to http://www.project-kenya.org/wherewework/ribekenya.html to see the updated page about Ribe, and then go to the "Donate Now" link at the top of the page. However, I don't think you can specify our names or a project there, so it just goes to the general Project Kenya fund.

We really don't expect anything, but if you are feeling generous, we have come up with a few things that we would enjoy personally:
-- Any DVDs of TV shows or movies, since they are difficult to buy here. Anything you can get for free/cheap is great, though if you want to spend money we would love the LOST series, any/all seasons.
-- Books are expensive to ship, but we do love to read. Again, pretty much anything and everything, and the books would then be donated to the library here.
-- Food: Starbucks Via, Propel/Gatorade packets (especially those with hydrating/electrolytes), Power Bars, dried fruit, beef jerky, summer sausage, Splenda
-- Supplies: food thermometer, rubber spatula
FYI, a padded envelope is cheaper and more likely to arrive than a box ... and feel free to remove things from original packaging.

Thank you again to all our friends and family who have been praying for us and keeping in touch - it is so much more important than material things, and we feel so encouraged by you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-07T06:09:00.005-08:00

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving twice, in a country where Thanksgiving is not even a holiday!

Brydie, the director Project Kenya, was here on Tuesday to visit. She was traveling throughout Kenya to see the various project locations and was able to stay in a Ribe for a little over a day. She brought us some goodies so that we could make a Thanksgiving dinner in Ribe!

(picture: Chris & Lesley with Thanksgiving-in-a-box)

One of the coolest things about this celebration was hosting our neighbors and friends and introducing them to our holiday. Brydie made a video capturing all the things for which we are thankful ... I can't figure out how to post it right now, but I'll work on it soon.

(picture: Mophat, Brydie, Judy & her sons, Sophie & Nesta, Virginia, Chris at Ribe Thanksgiving)

The main purpose of Brydie's visit was to help set up the Ribe Methodist women’s sewing project. This was a project that was underway before we came, so her visit was to bring funding and confirm the official launch. We met with about 25 women, had a lunch at our place, and then she took a couple of the women shopping for the first set of sewing machines.

(picture: Lesley and Brydie with the sewing women)

The next day we were also able to bring a donation to the school of 6 laptop computers! Many thanks to Carroll University's IT department for donating these - the teachers and students are ecstatic. We did an unofficial presentation, since we now need to install programs and get them ready to use before the January term.

(pic: Lesley w/teachers)

On Thursday, we were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving again with some American missionaries in Mombasa. There were about 30 people there, including 10 children, all either local church families or American missionaries around the coast area. It was great to meet other young couples and families and we hope to visit them in the future. We enjoyed all the Thanksgiving traditions – turkey, stuffing, pie – while eating outdoors and then enjoying a swim in the pool!

(pic: Chris and friends at ocean-side Thanksgiving)

All in all, we had a great Thanksgiving and there are many projects that are moving forward in Ribe keeping us busy. We have MUCH to be thankful for - God's provision and guidance in these holidays and projects has been very evident and we continue to seek His plan!

Update Letter #4

2009-11-29T10:33:00.002-08:00

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!
Hope yours was great. We had a good time, and apart from missing family a bit, we are doing well.

Our latest newsletter can be found here.
As usual, please leave a comment or send us a message. We'd love to hear from you!

Good news and questions for my teacher friends

2009-11-23T23:01:00.003-08:00

(photo: a kindergartener showing how he can add)

Today I am “happy as a king” as my kids would say, because I found out officially that I will be teaching Class 8 English next term. This means I will get to continue with my current English students as they move up from Class 7 to Class 8. Although I have not yet looked over the curriculum, I know it is a pretty similar style to what I have been teaching this term, and I think being with the same students will really be an advantage to them and to me. I have just finally been getting to know them, and I have developed a number of exercises and activities based around their trouble areas.

I won’t be teaching maths (and I won’t miss it!) since I will be busy with helping set up the library and teaching basic computer skills to the teachers! The computer class wasn’t planned before we came here, but upon arriving we learned that there is a significant desire for adults in the community to learn computers. The teachers are a great group to start with, since they have good English language skills (i.e., can understand our teaching) and they have legitimate reasons to need to use computers (we are hopefully getting some for the new building and will put the library tracking system on them). Of course, if the teachers are computer literate they are the perfect people to in turn teach the rest of the community. We have really seen God’s hand in the development of this project and leading me (Lesley) to take it on as a significant activity while we are here.

Since I now know which class I will be teaching next term, I have some questions for all my teacher friends out there. As much as I have learned in the last few months, I feel like I have many questions and need advice! So, please respond if you have any ideas or suggestions:

-How do you handle large classes with a huge range of abilities? Classroom control isn’t as much the issue as the fact that students aren’t used to breaking out in groups. Any ideas how to successfully introduce group work? I know that the current wisdom says to use heterogeneous groups that help each other – how do you set those up? And does anyone actually use homogeneous ability groups so that you can give them separate assignments and assistance?

-Do you have any ideas for warm-up activities to start the class? I seem to get significantly better participation if I start with something fun and non-threatening that I can transition into a lesson. For instance, I ask them what they did over the weekend (they need to practice oral skills more), then I write what they did on the board and transition into a lesson on past-tense verbs. Any other ideas?

-In a similar vein, do you have any ideas for songs, poems, and games that help encourage English learning? Not things ABOUT English, but things IN English that are easy to learn. I’ve tried a few songs; so far the most popular was “make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold.” I created a lesson on conjunctions (“but,” “and”) and we held a debate on new friends vs. old friends. Anything that encourages oral skills and writing is good.

-Do you know any good resources on teaching writing (especially for English as a second language)? The curriculum here teaches grammar and gives the student writing prompts, but doesn’t actually do anything to TEACH writing. So, do you know of any books, websites, etc. that I could explore for some advice? The kids are expected mostly to do creative writing/story telling at this stage, not really analysis or anything.

-I like the idea of doing some things on a daily and weekly basis, such as word of the day or a daily journal entry, and perhaps a word puzzle/riddle of the week, that type of thing. Have any of you done things like this? Have any suggestions/advice?

Ok, those are my specific questions, but if you have any other suggestions or advice I’m all ears! Thanks so much!

(photo: Chris with this year's graduating class)

A Day in Mombasa

2009-11-21T08:34:00.003-08:00

Sorry for lack of posting ... here is one with some more to follow shortly.

From Nov 15th:

Last week was the KCPE exam (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) – the exam that all the Class Eights take to determine if they pass out of primary school and qualify for secondary school. We had just a little involvement with this class, so we wished them luck but otherwise didn’t have anything to do with the exam. Because the exam is a major event and our school was used as a testing center, Lesley didn’t teach M-Th, so we took the opportunity to go into Mombasa for some errands. On our to-do list was going to the immigration office, public library, grocery store, and maybe visit a friend.

A wise man once said you should only try to accomplish one thing a day in Mombasa, and we probably should have heeded this advice, although we did manage to have fun. After sitting through ridiculous traffic in the matatu, we arrived downtown. We were thrilled that our map of Mombasa (conventiently purchased in the US, since they NEVER use maps here) actually had the location of the immigration office shown. So, we walked about 6 blocks and arrived at … a bank. We asked the bank watchmen where the immigration office was … after asking around, they pointed down a long road and said, when you reach a big turnabout, go to the right. Ok, so we headed down the road … after more than a mile, we finally reached a turnabout – a turnabout with two roads to the right! One of them looked like government offices, so we walked through there, and asked for directions again – they said to take the other road, of course. We headed through a beautiful park and up the other road, and after a few blocks found a big building with the office. When we arrived, they told us it was lunch time and to come back in an hour!

Picture: park near government offices - these trees look like they have roots growing from the branches (don't know if they really do or not)

As we had walked the last few blocks we noticed signs for Fort Jesus, a major historical site in Mombasa. So I asked a man standing near the office about how to get there – he said he would walk us there on his way to lunch. As we walked, we discovered he worked for the immigration department, and he was very friendly and helpful. We got to Fort Jesus and took about two hours to be tourists, which was really fun. We got a guided tour, bought some presents at local shops, and just generally relaxed (and thankfully, due to having our volunteer paperwork with us because of our immigration errand, got a drastically reduced price at the entrance!).

Picture: inside the fort

Fort Jesus was a fort founded by the Portugese in the 1500’s, and has since been controlled by them, the Arabs in Oman, the sultan of Zanzibar, the British, and Kenyans. The history was pretty interesting – whoever controlled Fort Jesus basically controlled Mombasa and the coastal region. The views were beautiful, too.

Picture: One of the famous carved doors of Mombasa

Picture: Chris, on the lookout for pirates, or maybe cute girls ;-)

After being tourists we went back to immigration and managed to take care of our visas without trouble (or bribery), thanks to our new friend. Then, realizing it was getting late, we skipped going to Nyali (north of the city), and took a matatu to a Nakumatt we hadn’t been to before but was theoretically closer. We stocked up on groceries and finally bought a FAN! Since that day I think we have slept better than ever before (it is about 85-90* F, 80% humidity). We grabbed dinner and eventually we got a ride back to the bus and headed home, long after dark. It was a pretty typical excursion to Mombasa – random, long, exhausting, and fun!

Successful Projects!

2009-11-07T08:53:00.002-08:00

I forgot to share that when a few trees had to be “felled” for the new road, the wood was quickly claimed for firewood… a few “mamas” (in the Swahili sense of mothers, not the slang from MTV or anything) came wielding their machetes much better than I hacked away with one when the men gave me a turn. However, I believe most of the firewood was collected by the men for Ribe Youth Development Association (RYDA), because by “youth” they mean up to 30, or 35 even… good for them, right? But the great thing is many Mribe (Ribe people) look younger than they actually are too!

When I asked where they were taking the wood, they told me they would sell it and the money would go back into RYDA to continue to benefit the community.

The main reason I wanted to share this is that they used the handcart we made! The loose dirt on the freshly grated road still made it a struggle, so once I snapped this photo, I joined in pushing it up the incline.

Update Letter #3

2009-11-05T08:41:00.002-08:00

Hello, here is our latest update letter.

Also, we have had some people ask questions, but we're always curious what you want to know about Kenya or what we are doing here - so ask away!

The new road in Ribe

2009-11-01T03:44:00.007-08:00

There has been quite a lot of work done in Ribe to turn a footpath from the current Methodist Church to the site of the first Methodist Church in all of Kenya into a dirt road wide enough for two cars to pass. The site of the first church is now mostly just the foundation, but also has the graves of the original missionaries. Then, the road continues on a little bit down to the river, and may connect up to another road for a more direct route to Mombasa.

Tito has a European friend who has lived here for about 20 years and has a construction company near Mombasa. He has helped the project by providing a bulldozer and a huge grader at various points to clear the road and even create some degree of embankments and ditches so the road does not get washed out so quickly.

I was not expecting to see the type of machine that this grader is... it was a lot bigger than I expected, with tires that are about 5 feet in diameter. In addition to dragging the earth around and leveling the road, they used it to push over a couple trees rather than having the men I was helping cut them down with their machetes (see the photos). If you recall Lucky, the chameleon we had for a couple days, that machine is what I saved him from! Once, after the grader passed by me, I hopped out into the forming road to move some stones as we were doing and then looked up to see if the grader was coming back yet, and I saw something small moving across the dirt about 10 meters away. When I went to look, I saw Lucky and the grader driving back towards us. The driver saw me looking at something (from a safe distance to the side of the approaching grader) and he slowed down just enough that the chameleon barely got out of the tire’s path – it would have definitely been crushed under there! I am not sure how it survived being tumbled through the brush and dirt in the first place, but I thought he was lucky I saw him.

Here are a couple pictures of the transformation of the new road:
Here is the site of the first church and the cemetery:
Beyond there, the road weaves through a small forest that I think could be turned into a nature preserve. Here are a couple of the sights:

Adventures in Cooking, Part II: Recipe for Ribe Coconut Beans

2009-10-31T08:46:00.008-07:00

We recently enjoyed some delicious coconut beans for dinner, and it reminded us of our first attempt at preparing this meal:

Ingredients: beans, coconut juice (clear and white), onions, oil, Royco mchuzi seasoning (like bullion), stamina, patience, strong muscles, strong teeth, sense of humor

Directions:
1. Go to market to buy beans.

2. Attempt to cook beans on gas stove for 1 hour. Realize they are still hard, eat some buttered bread, etc, but go to bed hungry, letting beans soak overnight.

3. Ask Sophie for help and find out the next day that you should use a charcoal jiko for cooking the beans longer so as to not use so much gas, and should also add coconut.

4. Find someone to shimmy up a coconut tree, throw down dafu (young coconuts) to enjoy fresh and nazi (mature coconuts) to use for cooking.

5. Cut hole in dafu.

6. Drink coconut water.

7. Cut coconut in half, scoop out and enjoy fresh.

8. Discover that coconut is a natural laxative. (no picture needed)

9. Recover, cut nazi in half, and reserve water.

10. Grate coconut half while sitting on cool-looking yet scary tool.

11. Press cream out of the grated coconut by using a tool that looks like a woven bag (or a tea strainer), and reserve.

12. Break up charcoal chunks and place in jiko. Light “gazette” (newspaper) with a match and feed it to the stove.

13. Continue feeding it newspaper until the charcoal starts to burn. Let jiko burn until stops smoking, about 15 minutes, then bring inside.

14. Cook beans on jiko for about 5 hours, then transfer to gas stove.

15. Saute chopped onions in oil, then add beans and coconut water and cream mixed with Royco. Cook for about 10 minutes.

16. Serve with chapati or rice.

17. Eat carefully, realizing that any “beans” that are still hard are actually rocks. Vow that next time you will carefully pick out stones and twigs from the beans before cooking.
18. Optional: attempt to make stove-top macaroons with leftover coconut gratings, since they are otherwise just thrown away.

Giriama songs at Super Saturday

2009-10-31T08:04:00.005-07:00

At the last Super Saturday that we wrote about recently, at least one of the groups found a little free time and began to sing some songs in their local language. Here is Lesley's favorite (note the harmony!).

These kids, as well as the ones in Ribe, have rhythm in their blood. They cannot possibly sing without beating out rhythms and dancing. I (Lesley) taught my class the round for "Make new friends but keep the old" - they sang it well, and added percussion and dance moves! Our host's daughters are some of the best dancers I've ever seen ... even though we were just in the living room dancing to the radio, I've never felt so white as when I danced next to them!

Super Saturdays

2009-10-20T10:35:00.004-07:00

Today was a national holiday celebrating Kenya's first president, so we took advantage of the day off and went to the beach with Tito's family. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time at the beach, which reminded me that we needed to post this blog entry... we are finding it a little hard to limit our internet time to keep the cost resonable and also keep up with what we want to share with you all!

I mentioned the Super Saturday trips on twitter/Facebook, but it’s time we shared some of the details.

We have been so blessed by these opportunities to join others who also have a heart for reaching out and helping communities around this area. God has been at work in these interactions all along the way: It began when we wanted to go visit Crossroads Fellowship as described here a month or so ago, and began our new friendship with Kristin (from Waukesha, Wisconsin!) We joined her another weekend to visit an orphanage called Tumaini (too-my-ee-nee – “Hope”) House, and hike and bike through a nature reserve.

She told us about the Super Saturdays coming up, and the first one fit our schedule (most things do, but even Chris’s futbol game was Sunday evening instead of Saturday that weekend). That Super Saturday was up the coast from Nyali/Mombasa in a village called Vipingo, at a school supported by Fox River Church in Waukesha – Kristen’s connection, and our slightly looser tie to all of this. It was awesome to help lead groups of roughly 30 village children ages 5 to 12 through art and game activities (including a parachute!), as well as a snack time and bible lesson. They also learned a couple songs with hand motions to perform in church the next morning. After church on Sunday, Kristen came back to Ribe with us to see the incredible views and experience a slightly different part of Kenya. Tito’s family was here, so she got to meet them, and we all watched the futbol game. Kristen also met Sophie and Nesta, and invited them to Nyali. It may have been a casual invite, but they wanted to take her up on it, so we looked into it and it was indeed possible!

We skipped the second Super Saturday at another Fox River location in Bomani, but the head teacher there also works at another school nearby and asked Kristen to do a third event there. So, this past weekend, we went to help with the third Super Saturday in another coastal village called Injili (what fun names to say, aren’t they?), and Sophie and Nesta came along with us. Sophie helped lead a group of kids Nesta’s age, and he joined the fun and games. Afterwards, we went to the pool at the missionaries’ house where Kristen has been staying, then beach nearby, and Sophie and Nesta swam in the ocean for the first time! After church and a long relaxing lunch on Sunday, we prepared to come home to Ribe. Nesta had so much fun that he didn’t want to come home! For us, these trips have been such great refreshment and seeing the children enjoy the events so much is so replenishing from working in a school setting and kind of “behind the scenes” in the community in Ribe. Seeing and learning the activities and schedule of those events has been great to possibly do something like them in Ribe too (let us know if it sounds like something you’d like to help support!)

Perhaps the most incredible “God thing” is that before Kristen got a mosquito net when she arrived, she wrote in her blog about the mosquito bites she was suffering and something to the effect of “imagine what the children who do not have nets are like.” Then, some of her friends at home had a fundraiser for nets for the kids and let her know afterwards as a surprise! The past week, Kristen had received the funds and purchased about 85 nets to distribute. Well, with the nets was a promotion of “FREE! Geometrical set! with every purchase of a PermaNet® mosquito net.” Lesley had been lamenting that the geometry lessons are much abbreviated and parts even cut completely due to lack of supplies. She had mentioned it to Kristen, so when Kristen told her and began showing her the sets, Lesley was shocked and told her, “You are such a liar about them being free,” but had to believe Kristen when the promotion labels were still on the geometrical sets. The number of sets is pretty much the exact same number of students in Lesley’s maths class too! It is so many that there would have been no way that we could have brought them all back to Ribe if it were not for Kristen coming to Ribe, meeting Sophie and Nesta, and them coming with us to Nyali! God has truly provided in many ways through this chain of events!

Mimi ni Mwalimu (“I am a teacher”)

2009-10-15T03:35:00.003-07:00

I apologize for not writing in a while - school has kept me very busy! Here is a taste of my life at Ribe Primary ...

Scene: School room with dusty, cracked concrete floors. 35 two-seater wooden desks in four rows, each labeled “Supported by World Vision” or “CDC.” A wooden door propped open with a rock, a blackboard with remains of yesterday’s science and last week’s math. Four windows on each wall, sporting bent horizontal bars and broken mesh, the last efforts at security and sanity. Two torn sheets hanging above the openings, one twisted and shoved between the bars, the other flapping in the persistent breeze.

In the four rows, 58 heads with short-cropped black hair rise above 58 short-sleeved, collared, sea-green cotton shirts. Beneath the wooden desks, 32 khaki shorts and 26 khaki skirts have been patched, hemmed, and re-fastened after growth spurts and active childhoods. 116 feet, 32 bare and 84 adorned with plastic flip flops, shuffle around the dust and each other. Outside the windows, 8 more dark heads can be seen hurrying past and shuffling in the open door as a metal bell, hanging from the roof’s awning, is struck twice by their classmate.

Enter the teacher. Arms full of lesson plans, plastic-covered text books, red pens and chalk. A pupil nearest the door leaps up and says, “may I help you madam.” Pupil takes books and writing tools, turning around an empty desk and putting the items atop. 15 pupils jump up as the teacher enters, 30 others stand as usual, 13 take their time and 8 remain standing from their recent arrival.

“Good morning, class,” the teacher greets them.
“Good morning madam,” they say in unison. “How are you madam.”
“I am fine, thank you,” replies the teacher. “And how are you?”
“We are fine madam. Thank you madam.”
“You may be seated,” says the teacher, always to her private amusement that she should receive a standing greeting upon each entrance.
“Thank you madam. Welcome madam,” is the reply, and they shuffle again into their desks.

Thus begin my mornings at Ribe Primary School, where I am teaching Class 7 English and Class 6 mathematics (“maths”). It was a strategic decision to place me in these classes, since the students must have learned enough English to understand me, yet be young enough that they are still learning, not just preparing for the exit exam. We have recently begun Term 3, the last of the school year terms which runs September through November. So far, at six weeks in, I am still adjusting, but time is going so quickly and I am enjoying this great learning opportunity.

For the most part, the students are obedient and hard-working. They struggle because of the large class sizes, lack of educational support material, and life circumstances that make school work difficult. In Class 7 there are up to 72 students, and in Class 6 maths, up to 88. Attendance varies significantly and students may miss school due to illness, caring for family members, traveling to funerals, harvest time, water shortages, and a host of other reasons. Primary education is now free at public schools in Kenya, but there are still times when the students must pay fees, such as to “sit for” exams, which deter them as well.

Though the students may struggle, the teachers work hard to do their best. I have been impressed by the teachers, many of whom are experienced veterans. In the staff room we have enjoyed discussing the differences between Kenyan and American education and helping each other improve our Kiswahili and English. While we disagree about methods of discipline (caning is used frequently here), I have still been brought into the staff “family” as we are all in the same challenging situation together.

Some of my favorite moments at school include getting to know the other staff members and the times when I have an opportunity to present a creative lesson or work with a student one-on-one. Although the students are disciplined, they have a lot of energy and love to burst out into laughter when I’m willing to laugh at myself (which, in a new culture, is a pretty essential skill!). I have actually really enjoyed teaching both English and math because it gives me some variety and because I get to work with different ways of thinking and teaching. The curriculum is very structured but pretty good once I figured out how it works to culminate in the Class 8 exit exam. As a new teacher here, it’s also nice to have something to guide me so I know my teaching isn’t way off track.

Some of the toughest things are when I am dealing with administrative or scheduling procedures that would be forbidden or at least frowned upon in the US, and when I have literally hundreds of assignments to grade. Sometimes teaching English is frustrating because the students are still very much learning it as a foreign language even though it is supposedly the only language allowed on campus. Kiswahili and the local Kiribe can be heard in the assembly, staff room, classrooms, playing field, etc., and even the English exam questions are riddled with grammar and language mistakes. At first getting students to participate was hard, but as our communication increases they feel more comfortable with me and I am learning what teaching methods motivate them to respond.

Overall I am very happy to be able to jump right in and teach this term, though I am not sure how my time will be allotted as I start to do more work on developing the new library. I feel like there are so many things I want to do in the classrooms, with the staff, and with the school as a whole that I could easily get burned out if I don’t take my time. Please keep me, the staff, and students in your prayers as we hope to be planting seeds of knowledge, skills, and faith this term and throughout the year.

Futboli

2009-10-12T07:55:00.003-07:00

We’ll finally share some pictures of Chris as a Kenyan footballer… they are quite overdue, since they are from that first weekend’s game. The RYDAS F.C. are a fun group of guys who I had already really enjoyed joining their practices. As we told Lesley’s mom, we thought the team name was simply like “riders” but with the somewhat unique Kenyan spelling that we see sometimes. We did not recognize at first that it is the acronym of the Ribe Youth Development Association we have partnered with in coming here! So, it is quite fitting that I joined them and not another team.
However, I apparently did not get fouled enough to merit more play; we’ve been hoping to get more pictures of me playing, but the guys want to win. Therefore, a few of the players and I have not gotten to play. I’ve begun joking with Tito that I think we need to be winning by 3 goals for me to have a chance to play again. Well, this past week, we did not have game a game (thankfully, since we spent the weekend in Nyali again), but the weekend before, the guys did win 3-0! Just my luck that it was the week that I had been sick with a bit of a cold/minor flu (they seem to call everything with a sniffle or cough the flu though), so I hadn’t practiced all week and was not prepared to play.
Fortunately, I had caught a ride to the game with Tito, or else I would not have gone, because the game was in the next town over, which the team walks over an hour each way to get there! The other time we had a game there, I walked with them, did not play, walked back with them, and was completely exhausted. I can’t imagine how tired the guys who played most of the game must have been! I would not have made it when still trying to kick that cold, but was sure glad I went in Tito’s car because it was great fun to celebrate with the guys.

Even the goals were quite exciting! Here is a brief recap: well, we missed the first one since we arrived late (after helping a truck with Obama’s “Yes We Can” slogan on it with a flat tyre, so sadly “no they couldn’t.”) However, it was scored by one of the guys I’ve gotten to know a bit, so it was great to congratulate him at halftime. The second goal occurred when our striker was tripped in the box and blasted the penalty kick past the goalie. Then, in the second half, Jimmy, our captain who invited me to play with the conversation I shared in the blog and I’ve also gotten to know a fair bit, took a great shot from the corner of the penalty box across to the far post… barely too far rebounding off the post to another attacker who one-timed it out of the air over the goal. I was jumping up and down on the sideline in excitement and then disappointment. Just a little bit later, Jimmy’s efforts were rewarded with a beautiful head ball to the upper corner of the goal on a cross from the corner. It was all so fun to watch… I’ll continue enjoying practices and let you know if I play in a game again.

Wildlife...

2009-10-07T05:57:00.009-07:00

We are looking forward to doing a safari sometime this year, but until then, here is a bit of the wildlife we see. Part of living in a rural area is that there are plenty of creatures to keep us company! Here are some of our friends:

Mbwa (dog) – Tito apparently bought him with a couple others many years ago, but he is the only one left and is more like a stray that lives at our house … we give him leftover food occasionally and he sometimes growls at night to protect us from whatever is out there, but mostly he lies around all day. We just called him “Mbwa” for a while until we found out he has a couple other names: “Rhino” and “Marty,” depending who you ask.

Ng’ombe (cow) – We see small herds of like a dozen or so in town being guided down the streets by their herder to graze, etc. However, some people, including Tito, keep a few in stables and feed them as shown in the picture. On our third day in Ribe, one of the guys who lives and works on Tito's shamba (farm), Masudi, came to our house and motioned something about the cows. We had the impression we would milk them, and excitedly put on boots and headed down the hill with him. When we got there, he motioned to some gloves, which Chris put on while Masudi explained in Swahili that was completely lost on us. Then he pointed to a large serrated blade, and made a cutting motion. We looked at each other in pure horror and thought that we were about to help kill a cow. After a few moments of whispering furiously to each other about what to do, Chris began taking the gloves off asking him to demonstrate. Masudi picked up an armload of nearby brush clippings, fed it to the cows, and urged us to do the same. We think it turns out that he had explained that the equipment was for cutting down ndizi (bananas), not killing the cows. Phew, one animal slaughter avoided.

(a relieved Chris with Masudi)

Nguruwe (pig) - One of the duka (shop) owners also has pigs including this mama and her babies that we've been able to peek in on since they were less than a week old!

Mbuzi (goat) – They are around town grazing, often tied to tree stumps, and can be quite loud - sometimes we think it is a child crying for help! There are usually 4-5 near the school each morning.

Kuku na kifaranga (hen & chicks) – These also roam around town and the school, and we enjoy seeing the little baby chicks run around except when they dart across in front of me and I have to watch my step!

Kijusi (lizard) – In this quiet rural life, one of our typical evening activities was sitting after dinner and watching the geckos. At first we were a little creeped out that so many lived in our house, but when we realized that they ate mosquitoes they became our best friends. Some of the regulars include Tom, Beck, and Charlie, whose names are derived from the founding missionaries of Ribe, as well as one that blends in with the door that we call (GI) Joe, a small guy called Tiny Tim, and the even smaller Junior. Yes, we do realize they are very unlikely to be the same geckos from night to night, but they have became fun “pets” anyway. We don’t see them as much anymore because geckos don’t like noise according to Tito.

Kinyonga (chameleon) – Chris found a small chameleon the other day that we tried to keep for a bit. We named it Lucky, because that is a name here (Lesley has a student named Lucky), and also because Chris saved it from certain death. He’ll have to write about it. Hoewever, he wasn't so lucky when Tito's family visited and, as his wife said, "[their daughters] probably gave it a heart attack!" ...as they tried to see if it would turn red on the floor of the porch (it did not turn red - see the picture). So, while they were distracted by something else, we let Lucky go into some bushes.

Dudu (bugs) – there are lots and lots of them … ants, millipedes (this one was on the wall of our kitchen), flies, beetles, bees, wasps, and of course, mosquitoes. DEET is a wonderful thing here – the lesser of evils!

Update Letter #2

2009-10-01T12:23:00.003-07:00

Hi everyone! It's hard to believe it has been over a month since the last letter already... There are so many things to see and do that Ribe still seems very new to us even as we have settled in with such a warm welcome.

Our second newsletter is available here.
Enjoy, and feel free to write. We'd love to hear from you!
Love,
Chris & Lesley

An awesome handcart...

2009-09-29T09:44:00.005-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but a week or so ago, I finished helping construct a handcart to be used in the community.

Many of them are wood, but this one is metal for extra durability. It was also great practice ahead of constructing a trailer for the tractor to helping with harvesting and general transport, which is slowed slightly while searching for an axel with a differential, which we identified as necessary for the stability of the trailer given the terrain it will be traversing.

In a recent blog entry titled “Life Changing,” I described, among other things, that nearly everything is reused, and the materials for this handcart were no exception; only welding rods and paint were purchased at this time. The axle and wheels are from an old wooden cart, the rods for the frame are reappropriated from something else, and you may or may not be able to tell, but all the flat sheets on the bottom and sides are cut and flattened 55-gallon drums. You know, the ones commonly used in the US as trash cans at parks and such.

We pounded them flat with a mallet and then cut them 1 inch at a time with a chisel and the mallet. We also cut a worn out steel-belted tire with a hacksaw for the “brakes” at the back, which are installed reusing some nuts and bolts with some homemade washers from left over sheet metal.

This handcart is very useful in the community for helping fetch water in 20-liter jugs, as well as other materials. There has been a water shortage lately that we have even felt; our host has enormous water storage tanks that he thought would keep us from realizing any water problems, but when he needed to refill them the local waterline had been broken by elephants that were looking for water several towns away. We have been able to fetch water from his well for washing (we buy pure drinking water), but we have seen ladies along the road carrying a full 20-liter jug balanced on their head (probably like 40lbs - I don't know how they do that!) from watering holes and boys on bikes can manage 3 of the jugs, but this cart has already allowed them to fetch a lot more in a single trip.

[Update: I saw it in use with one teenaged boy pulling it by the handles and about 6 younger boys around the sides and back kind of helping push. They had 7 or 8 of the water jugs, which the younger boys probably wouldn't have been able to carry theirs once filled. The cart was serving its purpose!]

Adventures in Cooking, Part I

2009-09-28T09:39:00.004-07:00

Ever wonder what we eat in Kenya? A considerable amount of our time here has been spent learning to prepare new food, and old favorites in a new way. Before I began teaching, it felt like I spend about half of each day in the kitchen … not because there’s nothing better to do, but because if you want to eat, you’ll have to cook! There is no take out, no convenience stores … the closest thing to fast food in Ribe is a duka (small shop) that sells samaki (fried whole fish) in the evenings. It’s a good thing that we have really learned to like cooking over the last couple years, and that we have found a great friend and teacher here (Sophie to the rescue!). We have limited ingredients, but I’m trying to be as creative as possible …

First meal we made in Kenya, which became a staple: beef stew, green gram, and rice

Another staple: cabbage stew (cabbage, carrots, onion, garlic, tomato, Royco seasoning) with ugali (cornmeal … kind of like polenta or the rice part of bao)

An artichoke?

No, a tomoko! What is it in English? Maybe a custard apple?

Guacamole is totally a Kenyan food … they just don’t know it! Homemade guac with locally bought avocado, tomato, onion, garlic, dhania (cilantro), pili pili (hot sauce), a handpicked lime and our attempt at homemade corn tortillas (our Kenyan friends actually liked this dish).

Quiche a la jiko… since eggs and veggies are easily available, I made a quiche over the charcoal jiko stove by placing charcoal beneath and above the covered pot!

Fried rice ... we found a sauce that tastes like soy sauce left from the previous American resident of this house. So now we can have Asian food!

I’m trying to be as creative as possible, but without cookbooks or regular internet access, we are often stuck with the basics. Chris would remind me that eating for pleasure is a luxury of the affluent, but I still think we can come up with some variety using local resources.

So, if you have any suggestions for recipes, please let me know! Our staple foods are white flour, maize meal (corn flour), rice, eggs, milk, oil, tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans, cabbage, tomato paste, bullion seasoning … we occasionally have meat brought from Mombasa or seasonal fruits (mangoes, bananas, coconut) and veggies (eggplant, okra, carrots) from the local duka. We can also keep white bread, peanut butter, jam, margarine, coffee, and tea in the house. We can cook on the stove and “bake” over charcoal, but only in a round pot. Seriously, if can think of any good recipes that only use those ingredients, I’m all ears! (or, uh, eyes!)

Stay tuned for Part II … featuring a local recipe!

Life Changing

2009-09-18T02:27:00.004-07:00

I just finished an awesome book that I highly recommend to everyone. It is
Blessed Unrest; How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World by Paul Hawken

Right before we left the States, we went to Borders for a couple specific books, and Lesley couldn’t resist looking through the $1 books out front. I teased her about it, but then had to swallow my words when I vaguely recognized the author of this book, the title intrigued me, and it was only one dollar. Not too long ago, I read a great commencement speech that Hawken gave, which was posted in a Design Thinking blog I follow. Plus, the title of the book seemed like it might correspond with our work in Kenya.

Little did I know just how much the material in the book and our setting here would complement each other! As I told Lesley the other day, “It has been a life changing book,” (on top of this life changing year in Kenya!) and I think I could read it a couple more times to absorb more of the very wide range of information he touches on. I was reading excerpts from it to her so frequently that she asked me many times to stop because she’ll read it after I finish it.

I’ll share this synopsis from the back cover of the book:

“Across the planet groups ranging from neighborhood associations to well-funded international organizations are confronting issues like the destruction of the environment, the abuses of free-market fundament-alism, social justice, and the loss of indigenous cultures. Though these groups share no unifying ideology or charismatic leader and are mostly unrecognized by politicians and the media, they are bringing about a profound transformation of human society.”

Blessed Unrest was published in 2007, which is the only reason I can imagine this New York Times Bestseller was only $1 now due to overstock, but their loss was certainly my gain, because I think this book is invaluable. I have already noted morsels that I can hopefully apply this year! Yet, since it was published a couple years ago, there were portions of the reading that made me feel way behind on this “movement,” especially considering all the research and breadth of knowledge Hawken shares! Nevertheless, it seems like it is never too late to join this “infinite game” which is a term he attributes to James Carson and explains that “the rules change whenever necessary to keep the game going” and they “pay it forward and fill future coffers.”

Within the book, Hawken writes that, “People trying to keep the game going are activists, conservationists, biophiles, nuns, immigrants, outsiders, puppeteers, protesters, Christians, biologists, permaculturists, refugees, green architects, doctors without borders, engineers without borders, reformers, healers, poets, environmental educators, organic farmers, Buddhists, rainwater harvesters, meddlers, meditators, mediators, agitators, schoolchildren, ecofeminists, biomimics, Muslims, and social entrepreneuers.”

Living in Ribe made a lot of the reading that much more real. Ribe includes a couple villages that probably have residents that are living at the $2 a day level (and yet they seem healthy and happy!) not to mention our awareness of the severity in the orphanages and slums near the cities, We are picking up the Kiswahili language pole-pole (slowly), but they also have their specific mother tongues such as Kiribe here in Ribe that they’ll sometimes throw in and thoroughly confuse us even more. Accordingly, a section of the book about cultures and languages dying and the importance of preserving them and the heritages of these people is something I can see everyday rather than not being able to relate at all. Another everyday presence that we are blessed with is local and organic foods, which the book touches on as well, but the people here probably have not considered that it is organic; as far as I can tell they do not have pesticides. They are concerned about rain and water, much the less "treatments" with adverse side-effects.

Sections of the book about the environment are just as undeniable when we see litter pretty much everywhere, and their “garbage dumps” are just fields full of trash that there are people actually going through for anything even marginally useful. Even our trash is tossed in a corner of the property and burned much to our chagrin. This is evidence of the Western world’s industries that have found their way to places that do not have the necessary infrastructures to handle them. Believe me when I say that the US is not better; it is only better at hiding our waste from exponentially worse consumption; gross over consumption. I have not found any recycling program here (at least the US and other nations have that going for them, but it is not nearly enough). Meanwhile, there is definitely reuse of as much as possible as I eluded to above; probably due to necessity more often than not.

But, to get back to the book, the text is only 190 pages, at which point an appendix begins. On page 193 the author writes, “Except for quotations, I wrote what you have read to this point in the book. Everything you read after this page was written by a community…” and then the book has a 100 page sampling of the categories of organizations in a database that he helped set-up and offers online “at the time this book was written. Although these numbers will be outdated because the database grows daily, they do provide a sense of the depth and breadth of organizations addressing specific interests.”

I have truly found Blessed Unrest fascinating. I realize I truly am interested in the life and writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (rather than just an appreciation of his quotes whenever I see them) and am now curious about some other people due to a chapter called Emerson’s Savants. It may go without saying that I also have a newly enhanced concern in a few areas of this “movement.”

Chris a Kenyan footballer?

2009-09-11T11:34:00.002-07:00

Well, first I should explain that I have begun work on some projects, so I am not just playing football (soccer) with the kids and having fun all the time. I recently went with Tito and the local “engineer” (experienced handyman who knows how to weld) to look at a couple used (and at various stages of rusting) trailers for the tractor. We were inquiring about their costs because they had heard that they were for sale and we could have renovated them. However, it turns out they were not for sale, but a good scouting trip for design ideas and a quote on materials and labor as a starting point.

Meanwhile, my joining the futboli mazoezi (football practices) have led me to an interesting position… that is potentially a position on the field in their league beginning this weekend! I must share the conversation from Thursday in which I learned this information:

Jimmy: We are playing futboli this Saturday.
Me: Oh, yes, the tournament begins… (Tito showed me the schedule of the “Tito Cup Tournament” that he is sponsoring, and it is like a league for a couple months with semi-finals for the top teams)
Jimmy: Yes, we are playing, including you.
Me: Including me?!
Jimmy: Sure, if you can. Are you traveling?
Me: (hesitantly) Well, no, but I did not know I would be on your team. I thought I’d watch another game that is here at this field.
Jimmy: Oh, yes, you should play with us. We have a jersey for you, and socks. You will play number 7. If Tito wants you to travel you should tell him, “No, you’d like to play in the football games.”
Me: (laughing, and having learned that their field positions are numbered) What postion is number 7?
Jimmy: It is right forward.
Me: I’m not a very good forward.
Jimmy: Oh, you are defense?
Me: Yes, a defender.
Jimmy: I see, but the other team is very good, you have to be a strong defender (and a descriptive Swahili word that I did not catch).
Me: (laughing) Oh, so I am not good enough? Is that why I am put at forward?
Jimmy: Yes, see, you go to forward and they come attack you, and foul you, and if it is in the box we get a penalty kick and score! They will see a mzungu (white person) and come attack you, and you go down and we get the call (demonstrating how I’d fall, then whistling like a referee, and adding to my amusement).
Me: Geez! I would need pads!
Jimmy: We have some you can use… (I was joking about some real pads, but it probably did not come across culturally, and I’m sure he is talking about shin guards…)

The topic was changed by one of the other guys at that point, so I’m afraid I have not talked my way out of being on the team. There are several reasons I am hesitant to join them right away: I am still quite rusty and not quite back in shape for a full game of serious soccer, so he is probably correct that I am not good enough. Plus, after his descriptions, I am a little bit scared! Beyond that, if what he says is true, would that dynamic on the field be a very good atmosphere (for all, not only my safety), much less an acceptable tactic if they employed a trend of playing the ball to me trying to get it to happen?

Hmm, to play or not to play…

Church and School

2009-09-11T08:29:00.003-07:00

[Ed note: This is from earlier this week, but we had internet issues. Sorry the posts are sporadic because our internet is sporadic!]

As of today we have been in Ribe for exactly 3 weeks. Time has gone very quickly, and it still feels like we are getting settled. We have taken everything relatively slowly, so it’s amazing to think that some short-term trips are here and home again in only two weeks, and how much they pack in. Our schedule, though, has enabled us to acclimate and actually “move” here rather than just visit. We hope that the work we do and the relationships we develop will be enhanced because we have taken the time to get to know the community better.

Church

We have now attended 3 different churches in Kenya: Nairobi Chapel, which was half English and half urban Swahili slang; Ribe Methodist, which was entirely coast Swahili except for “praise Jesus” and “would the visitors please come up here;” and Crossroads Fellowship, which was so American we could have thought we were in Wisconsin.

Attending Ribe Methodist was amusing not only because we couldn’t understand anything they said, but also because of all the cultural phenomenon we didn’t really understand, either. When we arrived we sat together, only to later realize that one side of the aisle was almost all women and the other side almost all men. We still have not figured out if that is intentional, but there is slight mixing so we feel okay sitting together. There were many hymns for which you were supposed to provide your own hymnal, and people very kindly handed us hymnals so we could belt out syllables that were still mostly nonsense to us (though we recognized the tune for Amazing Grace).

As expected, the church runs on Kenya time, which means that the 10 am service has “intro” music from 10:10 to 10:20 or so, finally people start to trickle in by 10:30. Then, church lasted almost 3 hours! No fewer than 10 people got up to say something lengthy (prayer, sermon, announcements, we weren’t really sure). When Tito arrived later, being the district councilor, he got up front, called us up again to “officially” introduce us, and then the service seemed to evolve into a town meeting for a bit!

One of the most unusual things was that after the offering there was an auction of physical offerings. We had heard that this is fairly common; for their tithe, many rural people will bring whatever they produce: maize, bananas, mangos, a live chicken, etc. Luckily we had just learned our numbers in Kiswahili and were able to pay “hamsini” (50 shillings) for a bunch of bananas. The funniest thing was the fact that after the auction, the service went on for a while with the recently-sold chicken trying to escape between the pews, capturing our attention, but with little concern from the Kenyans since its legs were tied together.

Located in a wealthy suburb of Mombasa, Crossroads Fellowship was the exact opposite. The pastors as Crossroads are some American missionaries serving in the Mombasa area who are supported by various Baptist churches including Fox River in Waukesha, WI. Two weeks ago we emailed the missionaries asking about their church, only to find out that one missionary couple was home on medical leave and the other was leaving for a 6-month furlough in 4 days!

Luckily we could attend that weekend (which was comparable to Fox River, Elmbrook, IPC, or any other big American church) and connected with the family who was about to leave and they introduced us to some other local missionaries as well as one girl in particular from Waukesha, WI who is here doing volunteer work with schools and orphanages for 3 months. Kristen is about our age and we hung out with her and some other folks from the church again last weekend. She is staying in one of the missionary’s home right by the beach so we had a chance to enjoy an oceadside Italian dinner (pizza and pasta never tasted so good!) and swim in the Indian Ocean.

We are very thankful that Crossroads provides the opportunity for us to worship in a familiar environment as well as “retreat” from the small rural community, but it takes us almost two hours to get there so we will continue to split our time between churches.

Picture: Us at the Indian Ocean

School

A couple weeks ago we met with the headteacher of Ribe Primary School to discuss what subjects would be appropriate to teach, and I (Lesley) am teaching Class 6 (6th grade) mathematics and Class 7 (7th grade) English. We determined that Chris will not be teaching a course right now because of varying time commitments with community projects, but he has already been very active in the school by participating in soccer matches! Last week we observed teachers and worked on lesson plans, and this week I began teaching.

So far it is a little overwhelming, since I have 60 students in English and at least 77 students in math. The kids are good: they listen well, respect the teachers, and try hard, but it is difficult to assess how much they are learning. Today I tried to “mark” (grade) about 50 English compositions and 70 math assignments, and learned that I will either have to limit the problems I assign or they will have to grade their own in class. I’m sure I will write more about school in the near future, including the needs we have observed here, so stay tuned.

Time... and money

2009-09-09T09:40:00.003-07:00

Lesley recently shared our observation on the American focus on time, and it seems like just as “a watched kettle doesn’t boil,” such a focus on time never seems to provide enough of it to do some of the finer things you know you ought to do, or you’d even enjoy if you made time.

A departure from that is something I suspected would be different here in Ribe, which I anticipated and hoped for. I longed for the opportunity to begin a new habit of taking time to read before going to bed, and began to do so even before we left the states. I finally finished several of the half a dozen books I was somewhere in the middle of…

Anyway, with this newfound time and habit of reading, I have decided I’d like to read the whole Bible this year – a somewhat daunting task; there are definitely parts I have never read, and perhaps more intimidating by the fact that there exist outlines and plans to follow to accomplish it, so I have put those aside to try to keep it from becoming a “task I must do” and I began with Genesis. [edit: I am now in Exodus and added a Psalm and several Proverbs to my night since I remembered there are so many!]

Reading Genesis [was] good; mostly familiar stories, but a few sections I don’t know well, and passages that I have probably read, but catch my eye in a new way. One of those short passages was Gen. 13:1-2 that states that “Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold."

This likely caught my eye based on our setting here in Kenya, but for more reasons than you might think! First of all, similar to how “Abram went up from Egypt,” those who have moved to the cities of Mombasa or Nairobi for work frequently travel “up country” (often much further than Tito does when coming home to Ribe) to visit family in their hometowns.

Some "up country" beyond Ribe

More notably in the Bible verses is that, yes, Abram’s wealth in livestock is perhaps most applicable to the villages and small towns around here, and so it stood out to me that God also seems to put an importance on fiscal savings in the details about silver and gold. It is far to early for us to know whether many folks in Ribe are in the position to save much money or if they are pretty much harvest season to the next or even shorter, and we may never really be in a position to determine either way, but I can guarantee they are not on a tight budget because of maxed out lines of credit.

A fascinating development in Kenya is the use of a service called M-PESA that is offered by one of the cell phone and internet providers to store money on your phone for many uses such as pay for products at certain vendors, send money to family and friends, and apparently even pay bills as of recently. I just read an article about M-PESA, and found it interesting how it was actually recognized with a “Changing Lives” award because among other uses, it “was utilized by Concern Worldwide to distribute funds to households in a rural community that was adversely affected by the post-election crisis” last winter.

Yet, even before seeing this article, a friend explained that M-PESA is great not only for the convenience that he’s found it to be, but it has actually provided a means for more Kenyans to save money where they would not have sought out a bank, or even had easy enough access to one. He described that the banks have tried to shut it down with no success and little support from the people, and went on to say that it is a shame that the banks in the U.S. would probably never let something like this even get started.

Well, that is pretty much the basis of why that passage of the Bible jumped out at me with some true life application areas for the people here.

Sophie

2009-09-03T07:04:00.004-07:00

Hello from Ribe ... where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are ... just kidding. In all seriousness, the women in Ribe are very strong - both physically and mentally. One such woman I have been blessed to befriend is Sophie, and I want to tell you about her.

We met Sophie our second day here when Tito walked us through the place where he grew up, Mango Village (a village within the town of Ribe). Sophie’s house was the first place we stopped and when he mentioned her great cooking, I asked if she could teach me some things. She showed up at our house the next day to teach and “accompany” us (what a pleasant term she used!). We have seen her about every other day or more frequently since then!

Picture: Sophie & Lesley

Sophie is 27, has been married to her husband Chai (Tito’s cousin) for 7 years, and has a 5 year old son named Nesta who also hangs out at our house after he is done with school. Sophie is interesting, intelligent, humble and so gracious about teaching us how to live our daily lives in Ribe. She completed secondary school, which is pretty educated for this area, so we can communicate in English while she and Nesta teach us Kiswahili (the Swahili language). In addition to teaching us how to cook, clean, do laundry, and speak the language, Sophie has blessed us with her joyful spirit and ambitious goals. Over the last few years she has received a few loans to start small businesses, including a video room (i.e. a mini movie theater) and a motorbike for her husband to use as a taxi service (which is very common here). Additionally, she is a volunteer health worker in the community and very active in her son’s education.

Picture: Chris & Nesta

One time I asked Sophie about her favorite subjects in school and what her goals are, and she mentioned that she would really like to learn about computers. So we have begun a series of computer lessons – from learning what a computer is and how to turn it on to learning to type to introducing the concept of the Internet! We have even begun talking about the idea that after I teach Sophie, she could teach other women in the community. I really feel that God has provided this amazing opportunity for us to learn from someone and teach at the same time, sharing our different areas of knowledge for the overall betterment of the community. Sophie also mentioned that she became a Christian a couple years ago and is still learning about the faith, so there may be great opportunities for Bible study, discipleship and learning in this area, too.

I am so thankful to have a friend and sister already in Ribe, and ask that you continue to pray for our relationship and for the opportunities that may be coming in Sophie's life.

Random observations and things we are learning

2009-08-28T05:14:00.005-07:00

Here are some brief first impressions of Kenya (mostly Nairobi and a bit from Mombasa ... we'll touch on Ribe soon!):

*There was much more of a Muslim influence in Nairobi than I expected – it was pretty common to see women wearing a hijab. We expected this on the coast and found that it is indeed very Muslim – in fact, now that it is Ramadan we discovered it difficult to find an open restaurant during the day in Mombasa.

*Driving in Nairobi is as crazy as they say … there are roundabouts instead of large intersections, and many rules of the road are taken as suggestions. If you have a big vehicle or big wallet, you can take the rules lightly. Even when traffic is non-stop at a side road intersection, they just inch their way out until the traffic can no longer swerve around them and lets them in. Mombasa is a little chaotic, but covers a much smaller area and is generally a tad more relaxed. However, there is some large truck traffic between Mombasa and Ribe, and the matatus (minibuses) will often drive onto the gravel shoulder of the roads to either pass the trucks or avoid badly pot-holed areas of the road.

picture: Matatu in Nairobi

*Despite the name of this matatu, Nairobi did not feel as dangerous as they say … probably because we stuck to safe areas and were hosted, but we drove with windows down and walked around quite a bit during the day and were fine. We have generally felt very safe in Kenya but there are times when I realize that I would feel much more vulnerable if I was here as a woman alone.

*English and Kiswahili are both used in Kenya, but it seems expected that the population knows BOTH - it is hard to get by knowing only one language. Signs in Nairobi were often in “sheng” – their slang with a combination of a couple English words and a couple Swahili words, but it was rare to see something translated to include both languages on one sign (such as you sometimes see with English/Spanish in the US). In the urban areas, it is fairly safe to assume that everyone speaks at least some English (our hosts told us it would be rude to ask if someone spoke English). However, in the rural areas this is NOT the case. We have met a number of people whose only English is “hello, how are you” and “I am fine.” Unfortunately our Kiswahili so far consists mainly of the same phrases: “jambo, habari gani” and “nzuri,” so after we exchange greetings clearly we realize that we have no means of further communication.

*There are not many white people in Nairobi, and almost none near the coast. It didn’t seem like anyone was staring at us in Nairobi, but when I saw another mzungu (white person) it definitely caught my eye! In the rural coast towns we are more of a curiosity and children will yell “mazungu! mazungu!”

*How cell phones work in Kenya: you purchase a cell phone (from anywhere), you purchase a SIM card (for about $1), and you purchase “credit.” With your credit you can make calls and send texts, and when you get low you simply “top up” by purchasing more credit at any little store. No contracts, no overage charges, just a sinking fund on your phone. Internet works similarly, and is run by the same company. You purchase a modem, SIM card, and credit, but the interesting thing is that credit buys you megabytes, not minutes. So the more uploading/downloading/streaming you do, the less credit you have left.

*In comparison to Kenyans, Americans are very focused on time as a valuable quantity. We have heard jokes about Kenya time running late, but it is more a shift in focus that is at heart. American cell phones and internet give you “minutes” (as opposed to credit in Kenya, which is not directly translatable to minutes) and when asked how far something is in the US, we would reply in the number of hours and minutes rather than actual distance. Americans seem willing to pay good money for the convenience of finding a product easily (such as online or even at the first place you look), whereas so far we have seen Kenyans look far and wide for a good deal, no matter how long it takes. It’s probably not fair to generalize this to everyone in both countries, but so far it is a striking difference.

"Official" Update Letter #1

2009-08-27T09:57:00.007-07:00

We recently sent our first "official" update letter to our supporters and family. We certainly want to share, so it is available here for you to enjoy as well.

Here is a preview from the letter of our view from the house:

It would have beeen impossible to send it to everyone we've heard from at various points in our preparations, and we will continue to share them in the blog like this, but if you would like to be added to our distribution list, please let us know!

Here is a blog exclusive picture of us in front of the house we are staying in:

Nairobi!

2009-08-20T10:33:00.005-07:00

We have arrived in Kenya! As I write this, we are actually in Ribe already, but I want to recap our fun weekend in Nairobi first. There seems to be so much to write about (culture, people, food, language) and so many pictures to post, but I will leave some of that for future posts. It is hard to describe the richness of our experience so far; hopefully this brief description will suffice for now.

Friday
Our travels went well from St. Louis to Chicago to London to Nairobi. We managed to get some sleep on the flights and arrived in Nairobi at about 9:30 pm Friday night. Miraculously, all our luggage came with us through the transitions! Our dear friends Albo and Eda picked us up at the airport and we headed back to their house where we stayed. Albo and Eda lived in the US for a year about 2 years ago and we had been in a small group together, so it was a very nice transition for us and we felt very much at home.

Swahili word of the day: karibu (“ka-REE-boo”) = welcome

Photo: Our first view of Africa from the plane.

Saturday
After a breakfast of homemade pancakes, we headed into “town” (A&E live about 10 minutes from the city center of Nairobi) on a mission to find cell phones and a USB internet modem. After we scouted equipment at an expensive store, Albo graciously offered to go deeper into town for a better price – apparently the deeper you get the better prices you can negotiate, but you may have to compromise on quality and safety. With phones and modem in hand, but no credit (air time) yet, we headed to Kenchik, Kenya’s fast food, for fried chicken, chips (fries), samosas, and bhajia (fried, seasoned chunks of potato). After lunch we all napped – not so much from jet lag as much as being in town all morning (especially with the toddler, Bulamu)! Dinner was chapati (flat bread) and beef stew – mmm! We were able to sit and chat for a while and it was so nice to get to know Albo and Eda in their home.

Swahili word of the day: kuku (“kookoo”) = chicken (Kenchik’s motto is “we’re kuku for chicken”)

Photo: Bulamu playing the guitar (“ghee-TAA”)

Sunday
Breakfast was traditional Kenyan; tea and bread, then we attended the Nairobi Chapel youth service, where Albo is the youth pastor. It was amazing to worship in a combination of Swahili, English, and even Sheng (their slang), and to DANCE while we did it! We wazungu (white people) probably looked like fools, but it was a really cool experience to experience their culture in that way.

After church my friend Laura and her brother Mike picked us up; Laura and I were penpals when we were younger, and this was our first time meeting in person! When Laura’s father studied at Stanford in the 70’s, my mom’s family served as his host family. In fact, when we arrived at their home, he showed us pictures he took of my parent’s wedding! We had a wonderful Kenyan lunch (ugali, chapati, rice, fried chicken, beef stew, and cabbage) and then took a tour of Nairobi. It was great fun to see the big sites of Nairobi with Laura and her brothers – I remember her younger brothers’ notes on her letters many years ago, and now we all are all grown up. In the evening we ran some more errands to finally look for cell phone credit and a mosquito net, then returned to Eda and Albo’s house for a nap and a light dinner including nyama choma (grilled meat).

Non-Swahili - Sheng (their slang) word of the day: jammas (“jahMAHZ”) = dudes/youth

Photo: Chris, Lesley, Meli, and Laura in front of the Nairobi skyline.

Monday
Our goals for the weekend included obtaining cell phones, internet connection, an adapter (the one we bought at home wasn’t right), train tickets, and a bank account. By Monday morning we only had phones and a modem, none of which worked yet, so we headed into town again with the help of one of the “youth” from church, Muriu. After a stop at Nairobi Java House (Kenya’s version of Starbucks – and similarly overpriced), we took a bus into town where we eventually found an adaptor for 95 bob (slang for shilings) – 95 shillings!! That is about US$1.25 … I think we paid $15-20 in the US for the wrong one. Although we weren’t able to open a bank account yet, we searched for a good exchange rate and changed money … only to later see that the sign said “rates are negotiable.” We also picked up our train tickets (which were unfortunately not negotiable), and some sub sandwiches (per our craving). Back at Eda and Albo’s we ate subs, drank soda, and heard country music on the radio – a bizarre little taste of home! Finally we headed to the train station for our journey to Mombasa …

Swahili word of the day: sawa (“SAWwah”) = okay/fine

Photo: Albo, Lesley, Chris, Eda (with one on the way) and Bulamu at the train station.

Travel … or, Boredom-Induced Deep Thoughts at O’Hare

2009-08-14T00:54:00.002-07:00

People often say that they “love to travel.” In fact, I know very few of my friends or acquaintances who would not include travel as one of their interests or desires, and fewer still who would admit to not enjoying travel at all.

What is it, in the human spirit, that has such a desire to leave home? To see new things, or favorite old things of our memories? Or is it simply that we get a vacation from work and spend time with those we love? And what is it about traveling that we actually enjoy? Do we like to squeeze shut a stuffed suitcase, waddle through security lines, and bake in summer traffic? Would you cherish your experience as much if you just snapped your fingers and arrived?

I would argue that no, we would not, or at least I would not, have nearly the same experience without the transition, discomfort, and sometimes surprise of actually going from one place to another. Perhaps I am a person who needs transition more than others (and I am pretty sure that I am), but there is something about the anxiety the night before you leave, the anticipation of getting closer and closer, and of course the adventure of seeing the new places and people in between. Plus, I actually really enjoy having the chance to sit and read for hours on end! :-)

Chris and I have traveled by road and plane most recently, but have previously traveled by boat and will soon travel by train. Currently we sit in Chicago’s O’Hare airport, and I really am enjoying the fact that we transitioned from our regular apartment to a temporary one, from Wisconsin to Illinois, and now through 4 airports and a few train stations to reach our new home in Kenya. Mentally I am taking steps closer and closer to this huge transition. Maybe if I was going on a short vacation I would wish to arrive sooner, but as it is, I know that I must embrace this initial trip as part of the larger journey.

Luggage is also an interesting aspect of travel. What does your luggage symbolize? Is it sleek and results-oriented? Is it bungee-tied and exotic? Is it floral and comforting? Or is it generic black, with a little TSA-lock and a piece of colorful flair to identify it as your own? Of course we are dreadfully unique with the fourth option.

A guidebook we recently obtained suggested that no one ever returned from a trip abroad saying that they wished they had brought more luggage. I agree whole heartedly; we may have wanted to pack “light,” but when you go overseas for a year your definition of “light” shifts a little. We checked approximately 3.5 bags worth of items that are for us alone and about 2.5 bags worth of items for other people (gifts, donations, things for friends in Kenya that can’t be bought there). We also have backpacks full of books, games, food, and computer for the 40+ hours of travel.

Getting through security (~~twice~~ three times) and trekking across airports is not a piece of cake when you are loaded down with bags, but ultimately I think there is a more significant reason to limit your baggage. As I sit here surrounded by my laptop, favorite snacks, latest bestseller and change of cute clothes I feel as though I am cocooned by my own comfortable world. I am taking my California-Chicago-Wisconsin habits and attitudes and preferences and desires with me as I simultaneously tell myself that I need to be prepared to adapt, learn, and embrace a new culture. Is this the wisdom of experienced international travelers that I have yet to learn? Must you pack less not only to leave room for souvenirs but also for new customs, ideas, and friends? I think we will find out.

About to leave

2009-08-11T10:22:00.004-07:00

Hello, friends.

You are probably wondering where we went ... sorry! We have been traveling around the country saying goodbye to family, going to weddings, and generally getting ready to go (in California a few weeks ago, Kansas last week, now in Illinois). We packed up and left Wisconsin a little more than a week ago and have put most of our belongings in storage (picture).

On Thursday, we will fly from St. Louis to Chicago to London to Nairobi arriving on Friday. We are SO fortunate to have friends in Nairobi who will host us for the weekend and then we will head to Mombasa by train early in the next week. During our travel times we will try to communicate by text message and maybe twitter (which feeds to Chris's Facebook) to keep people updated about our safe arrivals. We should have new contact information when we arrive, so we will try to update the blog with that.

All in all we are very excited and feeling very ready to go. We are practicing our Swahili and learning to wear lesos from our Kenyan friends in Milwaukee (picture), and reminding ourselves that the recent Midwest heat wave is probably nothing in comparison to the Mombasa weather we will face. We do have moments of nervousness, but Chris reminds me that it wouldn't be an adventure if there wasn't a little element of nerves about the unknown.

Our next post will probably be from Africa unless we figure out a way to post from airports.
Kwaherini! (Farewell!)

Interesting, kind of funny, and great information

2009-07-23T18:45:00.007-07:00

We are in California to visit Lesley's family, and it is a great little break from all the preparation before we enter the homestretch that is sure to be a bit crazy (as if times so far haven't been). As you can tell, this provides a chance to post an update with some things I've found and wanted to share:

As you may have seen, we've been meeting with some great people to make some good connections and gather all the advice we can. Meanwhile, Lesley also gets her hands on all the books that she can, and I've taken to browsing blogs to glean information about Africa and Kenya. Well, she browses blogs too - she reads SO much more than I do! ...and probably better ones for our preparation too.

The INTERESTING:
Just the other day, perhaps the best blog about Africa that I've found by a really cool, techie guy who calls his blog "white African", posted an entry about The Curious Case of Africa Blindness. There are a few really great images that I don't want to steal, and he explains that, "A scotoma is a blind spot in your vision. Everyone has it, and it’s due to the lack of photoreceptors where your optic nerve exits your eyeball. Normally, it’s right at the center of your vision. It’s curious to note that most maps have Africa placed squarely in the center, and most are blind to it as well." Then, he goes on with some other great information about Africa's position in the world.

The KIND of FUNNY:
A post back in May also shared some images and maps trying to answer So, just how big is Africa?? The recent entry I talked about above reminded me of this one that I meant to share, but never really got the chance until now. The first map shared the "Total Number of NY Times Articles Covering Countries in Africa, 1981 to 2008," and I was pleased to see that Kenya looks to be above average. It gets funny with another map comparing the land mass of Africa with choice parts of the rest of the world, like Western Europe and the British Isles (aren't they part of Western Europe?) and the (continental) U.S. The humor ensues with the "Contents of Africa According to the Rest of the World," which does not even include the Sahara desert, Congo jungle, or gorillas!?!

The GREAT:
Back to the white African blog, and a post in June that I've found valuable (and need to reference again over the next few weeks!). He provides 15 Travel Tips for Africa in response to another NY Times piece by "Nicholas Kristof [who] is a well-traveled journalist for the NY Times, going to some of the most far-flung reaches of the world, so he does have good advice for travelers." It is quite techie oriented, so not all of it really applies for our trip. Nevertheless, I personally enjoy how he tempered Kristof's "#10. Don’t wear a nice watch, for that suggests a fat wallet and also makes a target..." with his own "#13. Watches are overrated. It’s just one more thing to carry, use your cell phone for the time. Time doesn’t matter as much anyway to be honest… I haven’t worn one for years, but it could be I’m missing something here." I'll side with his closing comment, because I love my watches, but will take only my "Walmart" Timex Ironman - after all, I need something to cover my watch tan line.

That reminds me, I need to get the battery replaced on that trusty old piece. Add it to the to-do list that doesn't seem to shrink, but at least we keep checking things off at a pace to keep it manageable...

Thanks for at least skimming to this point. Stay tuned!

This week's highlights

2009-07-17T13:17:00.005-07:00

Lots has been happening lately! Here are some highlights:

*Got to visit college friends in Louisville, KY for 4th of July. Met baby Annelie and loved being with great people who live so far apart. Louisville is a fun, funky city! We almost skipped the fireworks because of rain, but at the last minute decided to drive and find them. Had to enjoy the American tradition before we leave!

(Pic = 4th of July: Mike, Blair, Chris; Steph, Hanell, Melissa, Lesley)

*Celebrated our third anniversary on July 8th! The traditional gift for the third anniversary is leather or crystal/glass ... I got Chris tickets to the Cardinal's game (leather baseball glove?), and he got me earrings and flowers (glass vase?). We really had to stretch the tradition this year! I was sick all week, but we were both glad to make it to our annual Brewer's/Card's match.

(Pic = Cheering for the Cardinals)

*Spoke at Metrobrook about our trip and were prayed for/sent out by the congregation. We were nervous but think it went okay. We were touched that folks came up and prayed for us and excited to talk to others who were interested in what we are doing.

*Had three terrific lunch meetings with some pastors and a professor who all have Kenya connections (some specifically in the Ribe/Mombasa area). It was amazing to see how the connections are coming together and what an encouragement and support these people are to us. What a blessing!

*Got to visit with my childhood best friend who was in town and generally had fun shopping and hanging out in Madison ... Katie, have we convinced you to come do medical work in Kenya yet? I was also particularly thrilled to find a manual coffee-grinder on this excursion :-)

(Pic = In front of an M-lake ... Monona? Mendota?)

*Did a bit of a 'mock pack' yesterday to see how we were doing on space and weight allocations for the plane. Looks like we're going to be okay ... weight is more of an issue than space. It really helps that we don't need to bring wool sweaters, fleece-lined pants, and down jackets! :-D

*Got a lot of the prescription things figured out (see last post). Thanks for your prayers! Also, we are still figuring out transportation/luggage between Nairobi and Mombasa ... maybe we'll take a train?!

Well, that's the latest here! Chris is off to sail the Hook race (Racine-Green Bay) this weekend, then we will hit California next week. 27 days until we board a plane for Africa!!

(Pic = Start of Queen's cup at South Shore Yacht Club, Milwaukee)