When you know you've been in Kenya a long time

While our family has just spent a year in Kenya, that year represents a huge amount of time for our kids. Nate has spent 1/3 of his life in Kenya, and Lexi 1/5 of her life. Both of the kids have changed so much in this year, and are going to face some culture shock when we return to the States.

Lexi was surprised to hear that not every home has guards that keep us safe and open the gate for us when we get home and honk the horn.

They will both be shocked at the number of choices there are in the States, and the number of toys. They are also used to us bartering when we buy gifts for other people - somehow I imagine Walmart would frown on that practice.

Fast food. It just doesn't exist here. Whenever we "eat out" here, we generally eat outside. Most restaurants have an outside eating area, many of them only have an outside eating area.

While we probably won't always think of it, we will miss the fresh food here. I will miss buying juice that only has one ingredient, for example the label on our orange juice says: "ingredients: orange juice". There are no preservatives in almost anything we buy.

Everytime we drive we see hundreds of people walking. That doesn't happen in the States. We pass dozens of bicycles, a few donkey carts (more often than not pulled by a person), a herd of cows, goats, or sheep walking somewhere across the road, and at least one three-wheeled taxi cab. The kids don't really remember driving without these things. There are also the hawkers usually standing between moving lanes of traffic. Whenever traffic comes to a stop, they try to sell you something (maps, flags, knives, sunglasses, puppies, dresses, birds, phone chargers, jumper cables, pictures, produce, hats, cell phone cases, toys, DVDs, warning triangles, magazines, hiking sticks, etc.

This week when we were driving downtown, and stuck in "a jam," my three-year-old son cried out, "Hey, this guy is selling apples! Roll my window down!" He was ready to start bartering for a bag of green apples.

Here is the 1/3 Kenyan tending a fire with a stick and sitting like a Maasai with his "warrior hat" on. (I have never seen any Kenyan actually wearing one of these hats, but they sell them on the side of the road, and one of our Aunts thought Nate needed one.)

There are many ways we will all face some amount of culture shock. We will miss living here a great deal. It is shocking to realize how much of their lives have been spent living overseas at this point. I hope we can come back someday.

Car Trouble

We had a little car trouble recently. (The Swahili word for "trouble" is "shida" one of Jason's favorite words) The land cruiser wouldn't start. The alternator had gone bad and needed to be replaced. Of course we discovered this after we had purchased a new battery! Car repairs are pretty expensive here (an oil change costs about $100).

We are thankful for the vehicle that we have though. The vast majority of Kenyans walk or take public transportation (matatus = Jason's favorite thing to hate here). We were driving to get a few groceries yesterday and Lexi remarked, "Look at all of the people walking today! I sure am glad we have a car!" That sums up how all of us feel. We are blessed to be able to use a vehicle that is very safe on any road (even the roads in Nairobi).

Sunday mornings are the best times to drive in the city - there is virtually no traffic. Sunday afternoons can be one of the worst times. Many of the citizens of Nairobi who own a vehicle only go driving on Sunday afternoons. They take public transportation to work on the week days, and only go driving on Sunday afternoons. That way they don't have to pay for petrol except four days a month, and they also have plenty of time to forget how to drive during the week!

Driving here in Nairobi has been an interesting experience. In some ways I will miss it, it is always an adventure. I am convinced that people who get "road rage" in the States are Weenies!

Here is a picture of Jason and Edwin push-starting our truck.

Camping with wild animals

Last week we decided to put up some tents outside for the kids. We hung "Shukas" (Maasai blankets) on two ropes between two trees in our front yard and the kids had fun playing in their tents. The kids had a reading room, a room for the babies, and a cooking room. Even the older kids came over for a while to play. Mosquitoes and safari ants eventually began to invade the tent so we had to take it down.

A few days later Lexi and Nate decided to go camping over night. Since we have safari ants in our yard and it is the rainy season we were unable to camp outside or even go to a park to camp with all of the animals. So we made our own tent and slept in the living room. The kids were very excited and were involved in the whole process of putting up the tents (we used shukas again), finding the bedding and making it nice and neat, and then finally getting the animals and blankets that they sleep with into the tent.

We all went to bed around 8:00 (a half an hour after the kids usually go to sleep) but they were so excited about their camping experience that they didn't fall asleep until about 10:30. We didn't get to see any wild animals (except Lexi and Nate), but we all have very good imaginations so we pretended to be in the wild with the animals. It was a very fun experience for all of us.

Preaching

On Sunday we had the opportunity to worship at a Maasai church out in the bush. It was one of the best experiences we have had in Kenya. The church was down in the Rift Valley about 3 hours away from our home. Jason had the privilege of preaching at the church. It was his first time preaching with an interpreter as almost no one at the church spoke English.

The service was long by American standards (we left at 7:30 AM and got home at 6:30 PM - that was with only 1 service, they asked us to stay and have an afternoon service with them, but we weren't able to). The service was filled with much singing and dancing. The church building is in the middle of nowhere, everyone walks to church. There are very few trees and plants near the church and everything that grows there is covered in thorns. The "road" leading to the church is guarded by a "fence" of thorn bushes. There is no electricity in the area, but they do have a battery to power a microphone and a piano. The building is made of sheet metal, and most of the seats are plastic chairs and rough wooden benches.

After the service, we greeted everyone outside of the building. Jason was given a beaded necklace by one of the ladies, and Nicole was given a beaded ring. The Maasai greet children by touching the tops of their heads, all of us really enjoyed this. Lexi was the first kid most of them had seen with long blond hair. The children spent a lot time stroking her hair and feeling her skin. Both Lexi and Nate handled all of the "hands-on" attention very well, and made some friends.

After the service we ate lunch with the pastor at his home. We were very honored and humbled by his kindness. We had red beans, goat meat, and chapatis. (Lexi and Nate decided they don't like goat meat - but everyone loves chapatis and read beans!)

The area is very hot and dry most of the year, and desperately needs rain. Water is scarce, and a very precious commodity. Many of the Maasai's cows have died, and carcasses were everywhere. We were able to help take corn meal (for Ugali) and sugar to help those in need. We have too many pictures to show here, but will post a few. It was an opportunity we will never forget, and are so grateful for the memories.

Bowling

Nicole and I got to take almost all of the AG MKs bowling today. Our field moderators went with us (basically they are our bosses here in Kenya - absolutely wonderful people. We are really going to miss Uncle Bill and Aunt Barb! It was their idea to go bowling in the first place, and we were honored that they asked us to go with).

There were 13 kids ranging from almost 2 to 15. We had a pizza part picnic before we went bowling. Our pizzas were delivered on the back of a motorcycle (one little boy we know refers to all motorcycles as "motorcycle pizza"). To our huge surprise, the pizzas were right on time (we have friends who have waited 5 hours for their pizza to be delivered before!).

We almost had the whole bowling alley to ourselves. The younger kids bowled 1 game in the time it took the older kids to bowl 2 with a 15 minute break between their games.

We really love the kids in our mission, and wish we had more time to goof off with them. They have really embraced Lexi and Nate, and we have a lot of fun with all of them.

Lexi scored a 93 and Nate got a 73 (hooray for bumpers and ramps!). We just got home, the water has been off for 5 days and the electricity is off, so we might just go out for supper!

A first time for everything

We went ice skating last week. Lexi and Nate will always be able to tell everyone that they went ice skating for the first time in Africa. Not many people can say that!

We went with some of our very favorite people (MKs) and had a lot of fun. The ice skating rink had these little soft penguins that the kids could hold on to to help stabilize them. We skated for about an hour (the kids couldn't have taken any more), and then went to watch a movie.

Monday, June 1, was Madaraka Day. A national holiday (sort of like independence day). We drove past the thousands of people listening to speeches at the stadium, and were fortunate to miss all of the pedestrian traffic. We had our own celebration at the ice rink! There were a few falls; a few nastsy looks (Dad tried to spin each of the kids, much to their dismay); and a lot of fun.

I don't imagine there are many ice skating rinks on the entire continent, so it was a unique first.

Shoot

I got to go shooting with the Assistant RSO the other day from the US embassy. What a blast! (pun intended). I got to fire fully automatic rifles. We fired a glock, an SMG, and an M4 rifle. Got to practice from various distances, firing positions, and moving at the targets.

The gentleman who took us is basically an expert with firearms. He did a great job of training all of us. I also got to meet one of the men who helps train the Kenyan police force. It was a thrill! Most people don't get to practice on a range where you have to stop shooting to let the Giraffes walk through.

The day was a lot of "guy" fun. I have a nice bruise on my right shoulder, but it was worth it. Kind of fun to have a purely "redneck" experience in Africa!

Kisii

A little while ago, Jason was able to take some students to a small village and help build some homes. They worked with Habitat for Humanity in a small village near Kisii. It is about 7 hours away from Nairobi (near Lake Victoria). The drive was beautiful. Kenya really is one of the most beautiful countries. We drove through the very dry Rift Valley (no moisture anywhere, cattle and people barely surviving), then through an incredibly forest, then up into the mountains covered with tea fields that were brilliant shades of green. Kisii experiences rain almost everyday year round. Kisii is full of agriculture (much of Kenya's tea and sugar comes from this region).

The team slept on the floor of a local school and ate in an unused classroom. The boys' room had a very uneven dirt floor (35 feels older than it sounds after a night on the hard ground!). We had a roof over our heads that kept out most of the rain, rafters full of wasps (fortunately we had mosquito nets), and a small family of rats that kept us company at night. The girls' room was much newer and had a nice smooth concrete floor - hard but at least even. All of us were serenaded at night by goats, cows, dogs, crickets and roosters.

We ate our meals in an unfinished classroom and ate at school desks. The desks were very primitive boards nailed together. It was a great opportunity to eat regular Kenyan meals. Lots of beans and rice (my favorite), meat stews (goat and chicken), chapatis, potatoes and cabbage at every meal, and matake stew (banana stew) cooked in a peanut flavored sauce. Breakfast was very simple white bread with Blue Band and red plum jelly, hard boiled eggs, and loads of fresh bananas and mangoes.

There was no electricity anywhere in the village. The night sky was beautiful up in the mountains. For 10 shillings, they will charge your cell phone at a little shop with a small generator (great business opportunity). At night we used a couple of kerosene lanterns to eat by. The school had put up four "shower" areas. They consisted of small branches holding up plastic grain sacks. Inside there was a large bucket you could fill with warm water to take a sponge bath. Down the center of each stall was a shallow trench for you to pour the used water in. (I enjoyed being at the top of the hill more than the bottom). A couple of innovative village children climbed one of the nearby trees to see what we were doing behind the tarps. Needless to say there was a lot of laughter! The school also dug us two brand new long-drop toilets. It was very much appreciated. (New means no smell).

The local people were wonderful. Incredibly friendly, even though there was a language barrier - smiles work everywhere. Actually, many Kenyans are tri-lingual, speaking English, Kiswahili, and a tribal language. Our village was very remote, and most of the adults spoke only Kisii (which is a city, a county, a tribal group, and a language). The people there were incredibly poor, yet very happy. Most of the community lived in huts with walls made out of a mixture of mud and manure. I had the great honor of eating with the village chief in his home. He became a great friend, and we spent a lot of time together.

We helped build two homes in the village. The people were very skeptical of our skinny white girls especially, but we all earned their respect with our hard work and great attitudes. The students I got to work with were wonderful. Each year students from Rosslyn Academy go on a CFS (Cultural Field Studies) trip to learn more about Kenyan culture. It was a great experience that I will never forget.

Here are a few pictures. The students in our group; some of the village after a church service; two pictures at the work site (in one I am standing next to the chief); and a picture of the students who let us sleep in their classrooms.

Ode to Frosted Mini Wheats

Food is very expensive here, but once in a while you just have to treat yourself. One of our biggest treats is breakfast cereal. The stuff made locally is basically variations on the theme of cardboard. Both in flavor and texture. Once in a while our grocery store gets some American Cereal (usually made in Egypt, England, or Canada). Lately we have been treating ourselves to Frosted Shredded Wheat. It is about $6 a box, but it is worth it to be reminded of home.

I was talking to an area merchant (at a little shop called a duka) who used to stock some items we liked to buy. The duka stopped stocking them. When I asked why, as it seemed they were good sellers, the reply was, "I didn't like that stuff, as soon as I put it on the shelf someone would buy it, it was just too much work!" What a great lesson on economics and marketing I learned!

It is more about the social aspect of having a shop than about selling things I guess.

Well, anyway, we are enjoying our taste of home. We tried some ice cream sandwiches the other day. They were made in Egypt - not quite the same, but close enough for Jason and the kids. Nicole didn't want to buy them again (the cookie part wasn't chocolaty enough). You can't win them all. Here are the kids enjoying the treat in their Easter outfits after church.

Happy Birthday Nate!

We celebrated Nate's 3rd birthday on Sunday, April 19th by inviting our missionary family over for cake and ice cream. Nate chose to have a blue cake and wanted Prince Charming on it. Since Nicole was decorating the cake, she gave Nate a few choices of what could be on the cake, he had a blue cake with a soccer ball on it. The whole day Nate was excited about being 3 and having his birthday. He caught on quickly and told everyone that it was his birthday and showed everyone how old he was by holding up 3 fingers.

On Monday, his actual birthday, he kept telling people that he was just "little again" and he wasn't 3 anymore that he was only 2. By Tuesday we had convinced him that after your birthday you stay 3, so he realized that it was good to be three. Nate sang Happy Birthday for everyone for 4 days after his party.

We are so grateful for our adopted family here. We feel extremely close to all of them, and are already sad about leaving them here. We feel extremely blessed to know them and will always consider them our family.

New Baby! Revisited

The rains aren't the only blessing we have had in Kenya. We came as 4 Sprinkels and we will be returning to the States as 5!

Nicole is expecting another baby, due sometime in late October. We have been to a doctor here and had a sonogram (paid cash for that - can't do that in the States!).

We are all very excited, and looking for some good Kiswahili names!

Here is a picture of my two little rugby players.

Rains

The rainy season has finally started here. According to everyone else it is very late, and if it goes a day without raining people get worried that it is over and we didn't get enough rain.
We have a hard rain all night long, almost every night. Then in the afternoon we have an incredible downpour. It doesn't always last very long, but it tends to be one of the hardest rains I have ever seen.

The water is desperately needed here, and it is nice to see things getting greener again. The temperature is still very hot, but the cooler weather is on the way as well. Some afternoons after the rain, you see steam rising everywhere from the hot ground. It is really a fun effect.

The rains also brought the termites out. They can be collected, de-winged, and fried. Apparently they taste just like popcorn. Some of the ladies at the school collected whole bags of them.

We carry an umbrella and jackets with us when we go out, and try not to splash pedestrians.
The flowers in our yard are blooming, everything is green and growing - looks like a great start to the winter season!

Birthday

Jason celebrated his birthday (35th) earlier this month. We really miss our family and friends back in the States at those times, but we had a great celebration here anyway. Nicole picked him up after school and took him out for a nice steak dinner (it is actually hard to find a really great steak here, but we found one. Cows that have to forage for survival don't always taste the best - go figure!).

After a fancy dinner Nicole and Jason went back to the compound to get the kids. The family who had been watching the kids had planned a surprise birthday party for him. Lexi and Nate helped bake the cake (guess who picked out the frosting color). It was a great party spent with family and friends. Here are some pictures of the two cutest bakers in the world, and some of the best MK's anywhere.

New Baby!

Bet the title made you want to read this!

Recently Nicole had the opportunity to go with another missionary wife to take a Kenyan woman, Christine, to the hospital to deliver her baby. The private hospital where Christine was going to deliver her baby was quite impressive. It looked and smelled very clean. There was a waiting room and two exam rooms. After being checked, the nurse midwife said that Christine had placenta previa and could not deliver at that place. So we had to take her to a public hospital.

We parked at the public hospital and had to walk Momma to the furthest building which was the maternity building. When we walked up to the building there were 8 Babas (fathers) waiting outside (in Kenya no one is allowed to be with the Mommas while they are giving birth, not even the fathers). Walking inside there was a small corridor with glass windows as the far wall looking into the big rooms. The rooms the corridor looked into were big because they were common rooms with beds tightly lined up on each wall (about 15-20 beds in each room). There were pregnant women in all of the beds and some women had to share beds (one bed was shared by three women nursing their babies). The corridor was also packed with pregnant women waiting to be examined and waiting for beds. This public hospital smelled a bit like a toilet and looked very dirty.

Momma was taken into a small exam room (about the size of a large closet) to be examined and then she laid on the floor until we made a big fuss and she was given a bed. Christine’s husband Edwin had to wait outside the whole time she was in labor and was only told that the baby was born around 11:30. He was not told anything about the well being of Momma and baby. Edwin was not allowed to see his wife or new baby until the morning after the baby was born. Brandi is the baby’s name, she was a little over 2 Kilos (about 4 pounds) and momma took her home from the hospital the day after she was born. They were in the hospital about 16 hours. The total cost of the hospital stay and delivery was 2,300 Ksh (about 30 US Dollars). Here is a picture of the new big sister playing with our kids (actually enjoying hot chocolate during a break).

Puppies

Our compound is losing our guard dog when the McGee's return - his name is Buster, and he belongs to them. (The McGees are moving to a new home on the Rosslyn Campus - where they will be able to be closer to the place they minister). Anyway, the compound decided it was time to start thinking about new guard dogs.

We bought two German Shepherd puppies. They aren't exactly the most ferocious looking animals, but we are sure glad we have them. Lexi and Jason got to go pick them out - from a litter of 8. (One of them had a pink ribbon tied around it's neck - any guesses how that one got picked?) There are several small children on our compound, so all of the kids take turns "acclimating" the puppies to children - so that when they are bigger they will be friendly with kids.

The guard dogs are let out at night to roam the compound. They bark if they notice anything out of the ordinary, and help alert our guards. It is ok if their bark is worse than their bite - with kids all over, that is a good thing.

As a rule, Kenyans don't really like dogs. It is a hard life for a dog here. They tend to roam all over, scavenging for food when they can get it. Villagers chase them and throw sticks at them. I think Kenyans think Americans are a little crazy in regards to our love of pets - maybe we are.

Our puppies are named "Ginger" and "Masala". They are a lot of fun, and spend at least 1 day a week with Lexi and Nate.

Here are some pictures. WARNING: the images you are about to see might be a little frightening!

Water

This week has been a crazy week with water. For whatever reason, it has been coming out of the tap very, very dirty - some days brown. So before we filter it, we actually need to let all of the dirt settle. One day it came out clean, but smelled like bleach. Hmmm. Makes you wonder.
Obviously we try to avoid washing clothes when the water we are attempting to clean in is dirtier than the clothes.
Good friends of ours travel all over Kenya helping villages get good wells so they can have access to clean water. Much sickness and death could be avoided here by simply having good water. Someone told me this week that almost 60% of the deaths in children between birth - 4 years could be avoided by people simply washing their hands at least once a day with soap (even if the water was dirty). Hard to comprehend.
All in all, we are thankful for the water we have access to. Not much of a post this week, but honestly, the water was filthy. Here is a picture of the ceramic filters. We cleaned them about 4 days before this picture was taken.

Animals

We were able to go to the Animal Orphanage recently. They take in baby animals whose parents have been killed. Lexi and Nate really enjoyed it. When we were walking with our tour guide, he asked us if we wanted to get into the cheetah cage and pet the cheetahs. Silly me, I thought he was joking.

They let us into the cage with 3 cheetahs, and we got to pet them while they were laying down. We also got to go see the brand new baby cheetahs that they have. The babies were a little more aggressive and playful the big ones (which were only 18 months old) had been around people their entire lives. Nate and Lexi thought the babies had "scratchy tongues."

We were also able to visit the Giraffe Centre. The kids got to feed the Giraffes (it is possible to do it by holding the food in your mouth, but none of us was interested.) Because we are now residents of Kenya, the price was very inexpensive.

For lunch, we had meat stew and ugali (which is maize meal that looks deceptively like mashed potatoes). The meat stew was complete with stomach - Lexi and Nate did a great job of trying everything. We brought some fresh fruit with us. It was very good.

Here are a few more pictures than usual.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Some things never change. In Nairobi, just like in Illinois, the price of roses went way up for Valentine's Day. The price today was 5X what it normally is! So instead of paying $2.50 for 20 roses, they were going for a little over $12.50 for 20! Lucky for us, the kids and I bought them early for Nicole.

We recently got to see miles and miles of greenhouses where they grow roses. (Most of them are shipped to Europe). Most of Kenya enjoys 3 growing seasons. On a recent trip out west, I was explaining to the men in the village that where I am from we only have 1 growing season, and it is very short compared to Kenya. They were shocked to hear that, and wondered how we were able to have so much food. (I wish you could have seen their faces when we were talking about seedless fruit - they no doubt still think I was joking.)

For all of their growing seasons, food has been in very short supply here lately. The price of maize meal (corn meal) has more than tripled in the last couple of months. It is a staple food here for much of the country, so many people are starting to go hungry. Many children have been forced to leave school to help their family forage. Last night we saw two little boys, late at night walking home with bundles of firewood - they probably spent their day collecting it. Lexi prayed a beautiful prayer for them as we drove.

Love and compassion are curious things. Nicole and the kids have been helping out at an orphanage whenever they can. We take a little girl to soccer games with us, and she has spent the day at our home - just to give her a little extra love.

We have recently "adopted" a local family who have some desperate needs. The father was seriously injured in a car accident. The oldest boy is mentally handicapped pretty severely. We are helping to provide clothing and a little bit of food each month to help them survive.

Whether it is giving flowers, food or extra attention, I am convinced that showing even small amounts of love to others makes a huge difference in this world. We love you all!

It's been awhile!

Sorry it has been so long since we had an update. Our internet connection at home has been terrible lately - not sure what the problem has been, but it seems better today. Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and remember you live in Kenya.

We have been extremely busy lately. Jason was gone to western Kenya (Kisii) for 5 days to help with a Habitat for Humanity build. We are getting back into the routine of school after a great Christmas break. The church where we pastor has been going great, but has kept us busier than ever. Life seems to have been full of zig-zags lately, but we just wanted to check in with everybody and let all of you know that we are doing fine. We will get back to some regular postings as often as we are able.

Jason got to visit RVA (Rift Valley Academy) recently. It is a boarding school for Missionary Kids. He was excited to see a cornerstone that had been laid by Theodore Roosevelt - a big thrill for a history "nut" like him.

Foundations matter in buildings and life. As crazy as things have been lately, we are glad our lives have been placed on a good foundation.

Road Update Again

We get more emails asking about how our road is coming along than anything else. Thanks for your concern!

The road is coming along. They are done with the chipping and have placed all of the rocks. They just started covering the chipped rocks with a very fine gravel. It is a pretty nice surface to drive on now. I am not sure if it will be covered with anything after all of this - but we are hoping for tarmac/asphalt.

In related news, they are starting to smooth out the road right outside our compound. We have new gates and guards at both ends of our road - to stop through traffic, they have torn out some bushes and a fence to make the road wider, and have delivered about 20 piles of rock. We just can't get away from the road construction, but it will be nice to say goodbye to the pot holes!

Here are some new pictures.

Jamaa

We were really blessed to have family visit for almost 3 weeks over Christmas Break. Nicole's parents and brother came to celebrate Christmas with us.

It was great for us to have some of our homesickness cured, and to have them experience our lives here in Nairobi. Lexi and Nate were thrilled to have a captive audience all to themselves. They were also grateful for the presents they brought from our families. Thank you to everyone who sent us gifts and the food that we have been missing.

Lexi got to show Grammy our little friends at an orphanage while Nate and Grandad played at the school playground. Uncle Matt got to experience petting a baby cheetah at the animal orphanage. We also went on safari where Lexi used her new camera to take pictures of the warthogs where we were staying. We enjoyed showing them all our church and the school where Jason teaches. We also got to feed them some interesting foods here. Matt, to our surprise, tried cow stomach. We all had a great time together.

Here are three of our favorite pictures from their visit: