Hello, again! It’s been a somewhat uneventful week in some ways and a memorable week in others. I think the highlights of this week would have to be:
I actually rode a matatu to school this morning ALL BY MYSELF without any help from Samuel or others. Usually, Samuel has offered to walk me to the corner to either catch the school bus or a matatu. (I sound like a little school kid, don’t I?) This morning, I decided to venture out all on my own – and I DID IT! I had to walk quite a way to get to where the matatus all start to fill up, or there wouldn’t have been any room to sit by the time they got down here. I just walked along like I knew what I was doing, and everything went well.
I got two needles donated for the ball pumps at school. (I was going to buy them, but when the girl at Nakumatt heard what they were for, she said ‘Just take them as a gift.’) I had brought over a new soccer ball for the school, but none of their pumps had a needle. All their balls were more flat than anything. After I gave them the needles, I noticed that one of the male teachers got two new basketball nets out from somewhere. I assume he took it out to their “basketball court” (of sorts) now that they could blow up the basketballs. What a small thing a needle is, and yet look what it created!
I made the Lion House’s Rice Pudding and actually was able to find all the ingredients for it (except they call corn starch corn flour here). I was anxious to make it and take some to Samuel and Grace for their family. They have three little kids and a fourth on the way. Neither of them had ever heard of “dessert” before, but Samuel thought he’d read about it in books saying, “Is it something like chocolate?” They all loved it! Today, in fact, Grace came over, and I showed her all the ingredients. She didn’t know what raisens, nutmeg, cinnamon or evaporated milk were! (The other day, I was making a tuna fish sandwich, and she had no idea what it was. Every time she’s here, I show her new foods and let her taste them. So far, she’s liked everything I’ve given her.)
I’ve been to their house only once before, and it was just on the outside of their little house. Last night, they invited me inside. Gosh, what shock! Grace cooks all their meals outside on a charcoal burner. They don’t have a refrigerator, sink, stove, or anything like that. It was a very small one-room house with a curtain dividing the bed (I assume) from the rest of the living area. The kids all sat on the ground to eat what little food she had enough money to prepare for them. They live day-to-day with whatever they can afford to buy that day. They did have two small upholstered chairs, which they offered to me to sit in. Grace has tried hard to make it homey with little doilies on the seats and magazine pictures on the wall. I didn’t want to stare, so I know I didn’t take everything in around me.
Their oldest daughter (age 9) came running up to me when I first got there and just hugged me and hugged me. That’s only the second time I’ve met her! She seemed to be quite taken by me for some reason. All three kids seemed to just hang on me. They have a fettish for my skin and elbows for some reason. They just kept touching my skin and elbows. Maybe I’m the first white person they’ve been close enough to to touch. I don’t know. After they ate, I went over some of her homework with her. She seems quite smart for a second grader.
Samuel wants me to volunteer in his kids’ school even if it’s just one afternoon a week. We’ll walk over to it one of these first days, and I’ll see how I feel about that. He also brought up the possibility of my donating something to the school. He made a point to say he wasn’t asking for this for himself because that would be selfish. He wanted something for the whole school, which would in turn also help his children. The kids start “Baby Class” at age 2 and are basically under the care of their teachers from there on out! It’s really sad to me to think how little time they really get to spend with their parents.
I try to give Samuel and Grace a little food from time-to-time because I have so much compared to them – they’re grateful for even a couple of tomatoes or a banana. I could tell it was very hard for them to watch me throw out most of my food last week when my electricity went out for over 24 hours. They kept saying it was still good. I said, “No, it’s not, and I’m not going to eat it and neither are you! I don’t want you to get sick from it.” Today, Grace brought ME some cabbage, but I had just barely bought some today from Nakumatt, so I told her to take it home and fix it for their dinner, and I handed her a couple of tomatoes to cook with it (that’s a staple food here). Samuel and I have been talking about the widow’s mite recently. What Grace did today seemed a perfect example of that. She also brought over ½ of a papaya the other day!
Tomorrow after school, I’m going to add a new adventure to my list – I’m taking a matatu from Word of Life to the end of the road at Neptune Hotel and then catching a motorcycle on the dirt road to Shamba la Salama. I’ll probably get a tuktuk to take me home, however. I’m going to teach Caroline, Kenneth’s wife, how to swim. They have a pool at Louis’, but she doesn’t know how to swim. I’m not sure exactly where to start with her, but I guess I’ll figure it out soon enough.
Caroline offered a little while back to do my laundry. She has a washing machine, so I finally agreed. They don’t have laundramats here. Most people just wash their clothes by hand. She said she LOVES to do laundry – go figure! I usually only need to do two batches every two weeks, so she’s only done it once. I was very grateful for her help!
On Saturday, Grace wants to take me down to Ukunda and go shopping for vegetables at the roadside stands and “show me the ropes.” It sounds like we will be walking quite a way, but I know she’s used to it – I’m the one that will be the woose (spelling?). After we get back, she’s going to clean my house. She thinks she won’t be too tired, but if she is, I’ll have her do it another day. Last week when she cleaned it, I asked her how much people charge for that. She said about 250 shillings or 300 shillings. I told her I would give her 300 shillings, but she worked for several hours, so I gave her more, and her eyes got big as saucers! Even though I’m not doing much for them really, to them, I can tell they think it’s a lot. It’s so nice to be on the giving end rather than the receiving end, which seems to be more the case with me at home and even here. I always feel so blessed that there are so many people in my life who have helped me in so many ways. I think a lot of those people are reading this blog right now. I think you know who you are – THANK YOU!
Well, it’s midnight. I’d better get to bed.
Take care until next time,
Kadi
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