Wheelchairs aren’t funny; it just SEEMED that way

September 23, 2002 by Steve Peifer

Grace told our Swahili teacher that he should bring Nancy a present for how well she is doing in language studies. It seemed natural to ask her `Don’t you think he should bring ME a present also?’
At this point, something happened that was difficult to interpret culturally. Fortunately, I have been in Africa for a while and have developed an expertise to interpret what occurred next.
Grace started laughing as hard as I have ever seen anyone laugh. She went to...

Africa is whiter than Indiana

September 8, 2002 by Steve Peifer

Several years ago, I signed a contract with a company in Indiana. To celebrate, they said they wanted to go a Mexican restaurant. I had lived in Texas for years, and told them I ate lots of real Mexican food, and we could go someone else. They insisted, so we went.
When the waiter came over, he asked if I wanted to hear the specials. I said sure, and he said `We’ve got (I’m going to write this like he said...

We’re not even in the race

September 3, 2002 by Steve Peifer

I guess I say this a lot in these emails, but I’ve never had a day like Saturday in my life. The drop out rate in Kenya is almost 70%, but when lunch is provided, the numbers tend to drop dramatically. We hoped to decrease the drop out rate and help children learn a little easier.
The plan was that all the maize and beans would be delivered to the orphanage where they had a guarded locked room. On Saturday morning...

Tea Party Girl

August 28, 2002 by Steve Peifer

The thing that is causing the most tension in our household is not that school has started, not that we have 16 8th grade boys living with us, but Katie. My older boys are outraged with her.
She can say Da-Da and Mama. But her third word was not JT or Matthew.
It was Jessie.
The dog.
This has NOT gone down well with the boys.
Katie has also caused some tensions with Nancy. Although I was the one who really pressed for a girl,...

I’ve got to go tie the goat

July 28, 2002 by Steve Peifer

Until Kenya, the best one I ever heard was a prof at the Naval Academy. He excused himself from a meeting because `his ship needed to leave the harbor’. I was puzzled until I saw him leaving the restroom.
The older boys and I are taking Swahili lessons while Nancy is gone, and he confirmed to us something that she had told us earlier. In Kenya, if you’ve got to go do your duty, you excuse yourself by saying `I’ve got...

You are my favorite student

July 16, 2002 by Steve Peifer

For the last day of school, I borrowed something from Erma Bombeck, and modified it for my classes. I started alphabetically, and told Ha-Sun Ahn: `You are my favorite student. I appreciate your brilliance in grammar, your witty writing, and your hilarious speeches. Please don’t tell anyone in the class that you were my favorite student.’ I moved on to Ryan and said `Ryan, you were my favorite student. I loved your accents when we read out loud, I appreciated...

Broken Cheerios Need Not Apply: The Twins Turn One

July 7, 2002 by Steve Peifer

Ben and Katie turned one on Sunday. It was a festive day, with them eating their first piece of cake (Katie put her finger in the frosting and licked them; Ben ate his cake and then started looking at Katie’s with heightened interest.)
Katie is pulling up but not quite walking; Ben is crawling but not as ambitiously curious as Katie is. He is content to thoroughly examine one toy for a long time; she needs to see everything.
Perhaps the biggest...

It is very nice to eat sitting down

July 1, 2002 by Steve Peifer

They asked the staff to provide prizes for the talent show. Most people made cookies, or something like that. Not me; I wanted something BIG; significant even.
Without beating a joke straight into the ground, what I offered seniors in high school was a CD of Neil Diamond’s Greatest Hits.
This being RVA, the kids cheered mightily when it was announced, although several kids asked me if it was a first place prize or a LAST place prize. They had a special...

Category: Organization