There Are People in America Who Love Your Daughter

February 16, 2013 by Steve Peifer

Occasionally, people will ask me about working at Rift Valley Academy. How does someone who has never taken an education class manage to contribute anything? Is it hard to work in a small community where everyone knows your business? I respond by saying that teaching eighth grade English left a measurable benchmark that has yet to be equaled. During the diarrhea epidemic a few years ago, it WAS embarrassing to have people remark,”So it got you also; sorry.”
My job entails...

Cat Barfed ON Christmas Tree: Our Holiday Prayer Letter

January 1, 2013 by Steve Peifer

Nancy is out with a friend, and our cat throws up ON the Christmas tree. I immediately grab my phone and text her, because I know it will make her laugh. Later, I ponder something: the enemy meant that to depress us, but what it exposed was that after 27 years, my favorite thing in the world is making my wife laugh. It was meant for evil, but He used it for good.
Hard to write a holiday letter this year....

Correcting a GRAVE Misconception

November 21, 2012 by Steve Peifer

There is this unjust, grave misconception about me that MUST be cleared up.
Some people are under the impression that I can’t dance.
I believe that this started when I was in college, and I accepted an invitation to a fraternity party. Not being a detail person, I neglected to note that it was (a) a dance party and (b) sponsored by the African American fraternity. I ended up being the only white person there, but I had a blast and danced...

Bacterial Dysentery Is Just as Fun as It Sounds: Adventures in Africa

November 1, 2012 by Steve Peifer

Nancy went to the States to help celebrate her father’s 90th birthday in July, and so it was the twins and I together for three weeks. There were no serious injuries, and while we missed her a lot, it was actually a lot of fun. When she came back, we had a trip to Masai Mara planned to see the migration. It was a lot of money, so we were grateful for a clear day. The bad news is that...

To Not Live for My Own Comfort: The 2012 RVA Graduation‏

July 16, 2012 by Steve Peifer

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found and hid. In his excitement he went and sold everything he had and bought that field.”
I don’t write a lot about Rift Valley Academy, the school where we work. RVA is a boarding school for missionary kids. It is American accredited, 106 years old, has 30 different passport countries represented on it, and is so remote that there are baboons on the campus. Nancy teaches...

The Attack: The Death of Big Whitey

May 5, 2012 by Steve Peifer

They came after midnight. There were seven of them, and they attacked two of our guards. They snuck up behind the first guard and hit him so hard that he was knocked unconscious and was treated for a concussion. The second guard saw them and tried to fight them. They overpowered him and beat him until they broke his leg and then they tied up both guards.
Because other computer centers had been broken into, we had reinforced all the doors....

I’m Used to Being Hungry

March 16, 2012 by Steve Peifer

One of the most fun things I do on campus is providing music for the K-6th grade Skate Night every term. Although it seems like they would be content for three hours of Taylor Swift, it is an enjoyable challenge to program music that they might enjoy, or at least endure. Last week, I had a special handicap; I had lost my voice.
Although I so perfectly embody the form of a holy missionary, it might shock you to know that...

Your Jokes Are Not So Funny; Evidence of Change

January 29, 2012 by Steve Peifer

So I am grilling chicken breasts, and the pan that was full of chicken breasts was not empty but full of juice and guts, so I think it will be smart for me to take that to the outside trash and dump it in there. I throw the juice in there, and a rather large monkey jumps straight up out of there, and gives me a look like, “Do you MIND?”
I’m pretty sure it was raining and that was the...

Category: Organization