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 War

July 23, 2009 by Steve Peifer

When it comes to cold, I am pretty darn stoic.
When it gets down in the 40s and we don’t have heaters here, I am widely admired for how I handle the temperature. I’ve found that yelling “I’m dying of the cold, and no one CARES” a dozen or so times a day does WONDERS for office morale. I’ve discovered that wearing a hoodie with the hood up under a winter coat is a wonderfully inviting image for impressionable young people...

Eating Soup with Chopsticks, Roasted Squid and Other Adventures in Korea

April 6, 2008 by Steve Peifer

Rift Valley Academy, the school where I am the college counselor, has a Korean population that is 15% of our student body. I’m probably like most Americans; I knew there was a war in Korea during the 50’s that killed many people, but besides that, I had never thought about the country much. But when an invitation came to speak at a university because of CNN (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=451a94jO5I4), it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
With 80 Korean students,...

It is a two-stroke penalty if you hit the warthog

April 7, 2003 by Steve Peifer

We are having an identify crisis of sorts in our home.
Every Peifer male has gone through being called Bubba. It’s a Texas thing, and Ben really is a Bubba; just a big old sweet guy. Although most of us call him Bubba from time to time, that is how Katie always refers to him.
The problem is this:  that is how Ben refers to KATIE. He calls her Bubba all the time. I’ve told him that if this continues, we would...

This is RVA

November 19, 1999 by Steve Peifer

Last week I wrote about Kenya. This week I have to write about RVA. Although RVA is in Kenya and is influenced by Kenya, it is not really Kenyan. And it is a unique experience to live here. The following are interesting facts about living and working at RVA based on real events in the lives of real people (us) this term:

The only fist fight I had to break up as a dorm parent of 5th grade boys was because...