As I sit down to write this morning, I wish I were a poet. For if I were I would write “Ode to a Warm Chapati”! I just bought some freshly made, warm chapatis this morning and, although I had already had my breakfast, I had to eat one. Ahhhhhhhh. They are surely Kenyan comfort food. Although I have written about chapattis before, I want to be sure you understand just how wonderful they are. Chapatis are the bread of...
Continue ReadingThings that probably wouldn’t happen in the United States:
A friend is buying a car and is having it delivered to his home. The car does not arrive when promised: he finds out it was damaged when it ran into a giraffe.
Some Kenyans are talking to a medical doctor from the States. They ask him about his wife, and he informs them he is single. They are shocked by this; since he is a young man, he asks why. The response...
As we are into Resurrection Week my heart is full to overflowing! God is indeed a triumphant God! His own son, Jesus, willingly paid the price of his life to reconnect us to God, then God raised Him up from the dead, and anyone who asks can be connected to God the Father and Creator of us all! And this week I have been able to rejoice with 2 friends whose husbands have accepted Jesus’ offer of new life!
Grace’s husband...
The good news is that we received 8 more boxes of toys.
The bad news is that they wanted $500 US Dollars or about 35,000 shillings. So we had to negotiate, and it got pretty fierce.
Customs: You will pay 35,000.
Me: These are donated toys given to orphans free of charge. And you want to charge me 35,000?
Customs: Yes.
Me: Send them back.
Customs: Send them back?
Me: If you aren’t going to clear them, send them back.
Customs: OK, 29,000.
Me: Send them back. And by...
We had the opportunity to go to another game park this week. Samburu is known for the river that runs through the park. I was completely dry. You could walk across it. Which is why there was a staff member whose job was to walk back and forth all night to make sure that none of the leopards came across to the people side. Whenever you think you have a bad job, remember, you could be walking back and forth...
Continue ReadingThere is always one event that signifies that yes, it is time for the end of the term. Our neighbor had college age twins visiting her, and we invited them over to do devotions with the guys. They are both bright cute woman, and after they sat down, one of the guys tooted loudly. And they all laughed loudly. And so I said loudly `That’s it. In this dorm, we honor woman. We will never pass gas in front of...
Continue ReadingIn good ways and in not so good ways. In funny ways and in sad ways:
My sister sent Grace’s sons watches. Grace has 3 sons, Macharia who is 15, Charles who is 13, and Martin who turns 10 tomorrow. After Grace took the watches home, I asked her if the boys liked the watches. “Oooh, yes,” she said as only Grace can say it. Then she went on to tell us about Martin. She showed him the watch and he...
This time I was determined.
During the break, we have the opportunity to take Swahili again. Since I had made a fool of myself on the last one, I was determined not to make my instructor laugh.
Which is tough to do. In general, Kenyans are a very polite folk, and would think it would be the height of rudeness to laugh at an inept, earnest American. Last term I managed to make them laugh quite often, but this was this term,...
