Like returning to America, there is that definitive moment when you know you are back in Kenya. That was a lot of competition this time. A guy stopped me in Nairobi and asked me:

Guy: Do you want to buy this box of chicken heads?
Me: What do you do with a box of chicken heads?
Guy: I do not know but they are very good.

My sister and brother in law had taken JT and I out to dinner and I had eaten a steak so tender I could just say `Divide’ and it would slice itself and then melt in my mouth. I ate a steak in Kijabe that was so tough it was almost a wrestling match.

But the real Kenyan moment was when I went to the restroom in Kenya. American toilet paper is like silk, and without being too disgusting, you can use it with abandon. You don’t need to think about how you use it; you just use it.

Kenyan toilet paper is a bit lower on the food chain; it might be charitably described as having a rougher texture. Once you get use to it, it is fine, but to make an abrupt adjustment from silk to coarser materials can be a bit abrasive. And, sad to say, that is when I knew I was truly back in Kenya.

Matthew had his eighth grade formal this week, and he had a wonderful time. You aren’t allowed to ask a girl, but you can ask her to sit at your table. I’m not sure I quite understand the distinction, which is probably why I never went to law school, but a very pretty young lady was quite happy to be at his table. This young lady would, over the course of several weeks, be happy to see him and annoyed to see him, sometimes in the same day. He asked me if it was always this confusing to go out with girls, and I was able to tell him that of course it was, which did not comfort him.

Matthew (number 3) and some buddies at the formal

We have gone through myriad of adventures whenever we try to do our food program. Police pull us over, demanding some of the grain for themselves. We got stuck in mud and had to move hundreds of bags off the truck, push the truck, and reload the same said bags. It never goes right.

This time it was the money. When I started doing this, no one had a checking account, and so I had to pay in cash. Margaret, a short large woman who has won bids several times, would stuff the money in a place that good missionaries can’t easily find a way to describe. I finally put the provision that if you won the bid, you had to be able to take a check.

There was a problem; the bean crop had failed, and the prices were almost triple what they were last term. It was a big check that we gave to her.

And the bank wouldn’t cash it. They said it was too big, and told us that no Kenyan woman could have that much money. I called them and explained that there really was that much money in the account(which I assumed they knew because it was at their bank) and that we had made the check out to Margaret.

They refused to take the check; we had to get another check, and after 11 days, they finally cashed the check (charging her one thousand shillings for the privilege)

Somehow, we got it all to the schools, and we are again grateful for what you have done. I was at a school last week and the children were dancing as the bags were unloaded. One of the most alarming and frightening sights during the drought was students chewing on their sweaters; I haven’t seen a sign of that since the rains have returned.

RVA has their first student going to Dartmouth in the fall. She is an exceptional kid in every way, but the greatest thing that happened is how He connects the dots. I met a guy last year when I was having car blues, and he invited me to his Bible study. We have become good friends, and it just so happens that one of his friends is the head of a campus ministry at Dartmouth. So Wan, who has never been in the states, will go and meet someone she has already been in correspondence with. It has been such a wonderful gift.

RVA has outreach days when we try to do things for the community around us. One of the projects was to paint the inside of all the outhouses (or choos) on the campus. It hadn’t been done in years, if it had ever been done. They were quite nasty.

There were several surprises regarding the day. Having lived with junior high boys for three years, I was mostly immune to horrific odors, so I managed quite well. Katie was an amazing painter. She has told us that she wants to be a house painter when she grows up, and now we understand. She was good, and determined, which we all tended to be because even with my natural immunity, it was pretty rank in there.

The biggest surprise was who signed up. It was mostly high school girls, and the ones that showed up were ones you would think of as the popular cute girls. If you ever despair over today’s youth, the best antidote is to come here and watch cute kids wade into a project like that without a complaint.

Katie and Catherine

I asked one of them why she had signed up and she said `I just wanted to do something nice for them.’

I carried that word with me for a whole week, and then yesterday we went to New Life, the orphanage where we met Ben and Kate, for their annual open house. It was a wonderful day, and that night, there was a skating party for the 1st-6th graders, and Ben and Kate got to skate for the first time. I was holding their hands as they skated and the song `What a wonderful world’ came on. It was a beautiful night and they were having such a good time that I was tempted to end this by saying `Yes, it is a wonderful world.’

However, Ben then said `Dad, I would like a baby brother.’ And I told him he could have a baby brother the moment he got a new daddy, because this old daddy was NEVER going to have another child.

It sort of spoiled the mood for a moment. But it was a lovely evening just the same. And NO, just to make sure everyone is absolutely clear.

Your pal

Steve

PS. There is a nice lady, Diane Peters, who has made a cd and is donating the proceeds to our feeding project. Her website is surrenderedmusicco.com to find out more; it is really beautiful music.