Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I think my internet modem stick is actually working this morning, so I'm going to try to publish the video I made of Ternet's village one more time before I give up and have to figure out how to break it into smaller sections to upload to my blog.  I'm hoping that the reason it wouldn't go before was because of the internet connection, and not because it was too large.  Let's have a try...  Well, that didn't work!  I'll keep working on it.

I had the missionaries over for lunch yesterday because Elder Haynes (from St. George) was  homesick for American food.  I made taco soup and rice pudding and they loved it.  I also invited my new ascari, David, in for lunch since neither Samuel nor Grace were able to meet with the missionaries yesterday, and I had made plenty of food.  Samuel was working on his new construction job, and Grace had to travel to see her sick auntie.  David got a small introduction to the gospel over lunch, and the missionaries left him with a pamphlet, "The Restoration".  He was actually reading it yesterday afternoon when I got back from swimming at Louis', so I let him borrow my quadruple combination to use as a reference if he needed it.  He was happy to have it.  He is Catholic, but he says he doesn't go to church much.  I hadn't expected the missionaries to talk to him about the gospel when I invited him for lunch, but who knows where that lunch might lead...

   Elder Belyejusa (from Uganda and going home in 1 1/2 weeks), Elder Haynes

                     David and me.  I hope this looks lighter on my blog.

Only one more day until Diane arrives.  Right now she's almost in the middle of her journey here.  I do hope that it goes smoothly for her without any hitches.  By around 12:30 PM tomorrow, her taxi should be driving up to my gate.  Yeah!  A friend to go do things with!  We are going to have so much fun.

BITS AND PIECES, AGAIN…

I wanted to jot down a few more tidbits I’ve learned here in Kenya. 

•     Kenyan men rule supreme.  The women basically are supposed to do whatever their husbands tell them to do. 
•      Chivalry is practically nonexistent here.  If you get on a matatu and there are no more seats, rarely does a man get up and offer his seat to a woman – even when it means you are hanging on for dear life half way out of the matatu. (That happened to me.)  When I walk into the teachers’ lounge with a male teacher, he always seems to go in first.    Men do not hold doors open for women.  Apparently, I just found out, the men are ALWAYS served first.  In our culture, all of this is just the opposite.
• People eat with their fingers a lot.  I might have told you, but at school, all the students and even the teaches eat their lunches entirely without utensils.  I'm not exactly sure how they clean their fingers afterward, because there's not much water around and they certainly don't get napkins.
• Everything is dirty here - the sides of the road, the air (because of constantly burning garbage and the dirt roads I'm sure - most of the roads out here except for the 3 main roads are dirt), buildings are dirty, floors, walls, light switches, cars, matatus, tuktuks, people, shops on the side of the road, eggs from the store, vegetables and fruits, classrooms, books and papers at school, the school yard, etc.
• People are very resourceful and make do with what they can find or afford.
• Most buildings and homes are heavily guarded and/or locked.
• There are WAY TOO MANY bugs and crawly things here!
• Most Kenyan men "marry" a woman by simply living with her.  They don't have a problem with having more than one "wife"; in fact, polygamy is legal.  If they do it the "legal" way, they must go to the girl's parents and offer them a dowry of so much money, goats, cows, etc.  They must also sign a legal agreement that if they default on the dowry, the parents can take their daughter back, along with the children, and the man has no more rights to them.  [Maasais are different - the children will always remain with the father.]
• The missionaries here cannot baptize someone unless they speak English because all the church services are done in English, and they wouldn't understand anything that was going on.
• The people here have a very strong faith in God.  They know their Bible and scripture stories very well.  They praise God continually.
• Mzungus are a "cash cow" to Kenyans.  Frequently, a Kenyan man or woman will look for a mzungu to "marry" so they can be taken care of.  There are many Europeans that come here - especially from Germany.  To the Kenyans, "white" means money.  It doesn't matter how old or young you are.   Once they are "married", the Europeans will set the Kenyans up with a house and go back to Europe to their "real" family.  They'll continue to send money to their wife/husband here and "keep" them.
• EVERYONE wants someone to sponsor them, their children, their school, or give them something - whatever it is.  I found this to be true even among the faculty at my school!  Everyone thinks I'm so rich (and I suppose by their standards, I am).  I've been asked to take them on my trip with me, sponsor them to go to the US for college, get them a house here before I go home, fund or find someone to fund a school (this wasn't from someone at school, but rather someone at church).  They are always asking things like, "What did you bring for me?", "What are you going to give me?", "You can give me your phone (my DroidX)," or they want to use my Kenyan phone because they are out of credits.  I have to put prepaid minutes on my phone so I put enough on to last most of my trip.  I've run out twice already.  I haven't minded them using it, however.
• African time is NOT like American time.  If they say they'll be right there, it could be 10 mins., it could be 1 1/2 hours before they arrive.  If they say they'll meet you at 1:00, it might be 3:00 or 4:00 before they show up (IF they show up!).
•                     Both men and women are extremely strong.  It amazes me how much they can push or carry.  There's no way I could do what they do.
  

  

  
  

   

  Men pushing/pulling heavy carts off the ferry up the ramp.  I've seen even larger loads than these.
  
  
  •   In spite of all their problems, these people are very humble and willing to give to one another whatever they have.  They are far more willing to help others than Americans are.  They don't understand the American thinking at all in this area.
  •   Family ties and feeling a sense of responsibility for their extended family is usually very strong.
  •   Most Kenyans would prefer cool tap water to cold purified water. 
  •   Teachers at school stood in awe at my technology – my Droid X phone, my laptop, my camera, and my flip camera.  They would just look at each other like, “Can you believe this stuff?!?”  They’ve never seen anything like most of it before.
  •   People get up VERY early here.  Most kids, and therefore parents, have to get up around 4:00 or 4:30 AM in order to get to school by 6:30.  Then, they go to bed late because the kids are out of school so late, need to get home, do their homework, and eat.  The kids often won’t get to bed until sometime between 10:00 PM and midnight, depending upon how much homework they have!  Then the day starts all over again the next morning at 4:00 AM.
  •   I’ve observed that most people seem to be up and on their way by around 6:00 AM.  It’s been light for a while, and they are already on their way to work or wherever.
  •   Peter, at school, told me that the teachers really act more as parents to the children than their own parents do simply because they spend up to 12 hrs. a day with the kids.  By the time you factor in travel time to and from school, there’s not much time at home.  And even then, often it’s the “house help” that feeds them and helps them with their homework because parents might still be at work in the evening.  In the morning, the parents might be asleep when the children are getting ready for school with the house help, so often the children really don’t even see their parents except on Sundays, in spite of living in the some house with them!  That’s a hard one for me to grasp!
  •   A wound takes forever to heal here and a bandage only makes it worse because it’s so humid here and it holds moisture in, thus bacteria grows.  (I learned this one first hand!)
  
  
  These are all only MY observations or things I've been told by other people.  They may not be the case in every situation.
  
  
  Kadi