Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sunday, November 13, 2011

My internet has been spotty again, so I haven’t posted for a few days.   I ran out of internet time on my modem stick tonight, so I’ll have to buy more time and post this tomorrow.  I’m just writing this as a Word document now.  (It didn't work on Monday, either, so I'm now posting on Tuesday.)

Diane arrived safe and sound on Thursday, so I’ve been busy with her.  I took her over to visit Grace and the kids Thursday night (partly just to keep her awake), and we had a fun time playing and dancing around in their little house.    Friday, we hired a tuktuk and tried to check out the orphanage close to my house, but we couldn’t find any adults.   Tomorrow, we’re going to ride my school bus down to the road that leads to the orphanage and walk the rest of the way.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to connect with someone to see if there is anything we can volunteer to do there.

Saturday, we got up early and took a taxi into Mombasa at 8:00.  The ferry line was non-existent (which never happens!), so we got across about 40 mins. early to meet Bro. and Sis. Scott.  Our taxi driver, Charles, suggested that he walk with us through the park that’s by the channel for the ferry.  That’s where I went with Grace and Samuel, and it was a very nice walk.    We saw a ship from Japan that dredges the channel about once every ten years to get rid of things that would eventually block passage for the boats.  I thought that was pretty cool that we got to see it.  Apparently, the ship travels all around the world doing this.

                           Japanese dredging ship

                           Me, Diane, Bro. & Sis. Scott

We met the Scotts at 9:30 and drove to Chumgamway where we went to the Akamba Woodcarving Shop.  We saw all kinds of different items being carved out of various kinds of wood and went shopping in their main shop.   It was absolutely stifling in the shop, but it was a really fun excursion for us. 

           Albert, my new "husband" (add him to my collection)

                                  The finished products in the store.

We then drove to Ft. Jesus.  The Scotts wanted us to go to a restaurant in the area, but we ended up walking for about an hour in a huge circle through a labyrinth of streets only to end up where we started without coming to the restaurant.  They’d never been where we walked, and honestly it was a bit scary.  It was predominantly Muslim, and Sis. Scott said there were many Somalis there.  When we got back to the car, Bro. Scott asked someone if they knew where the restaurant “with a fish hanging over the door” was.  He didn’t remember the name.  The man knew exactly where it was, and in less than 5 mins., we were at the restaurant – VERY hot and sweaty!

                Don't think this would pass our electrical wiring codes!

                          

I had spent practically all my cash at the wood shop, so the first thing I did was ask if they took Visa or MasterCard.  He said they took Visa.  I was relieved, because I only had Ksh150 left!  We ordered lunch.  I had red snapper, boiled vegetables, and rice.  It was all very good.  When we went to pay, everyone put their money in except me.  We were going to put the whole thing on my Visa card.  Well, I took it up to the cashier only to be told their machine was down, so we couldn’t pay with a card!  I had to borrow money from Diane to come up with enough to pay my bill.  We had actually tried earlier to get money from an ATM, but it wouldn’t accept my debit card.  I’m so used to having everything work in the USA.  I always have some cash, a debit card, my checkbook, and several credit cards that work.   It’s not a problem.  Here, however, you just never know for sure who will take what, or if it will even work when they say it will.

After lunch, we shopped for only a few minutes, then walked over to Ft. Jesus.  Diane and I had planned on going through it, but finding the restaurant and waiting forever for our lunch, we ran out of time.  I took a few pictures, however.  We caught our taxi back at the ferry and arrived home around 5:30.  It was a long, hot day, but really fun.

 Sitting on a canon at Ft. Jesus that was ready to protect the port into Mombasa.

                                              Potato chips anyone?

Today, we went to church, and Diane really enjoyed it.  The first time I went, there were only two of us who were Caucasian, and two white missionaries.  Today, there were 10 of us, plus the missionaries.  All but two of us could somehow be connected back to Louis.  After next Sunday, there will only be one again besides the two elders. 

                       Baptismal font outside church's window.

                            Entrance to the church (notice the sign).

Back row:  Elder Belyejusa, Me, Kenneth, Caroline

Front row:  Kenneth's kids - Jessica, Esmiraldah, Keccy, and Lillah

   Abraham's family - he had to leave church early because he was sick.

I had my second “driver’s ed” class today and drove part-way home from church.  Diane was nervous, as were many others in the car.   I noticed Kenneth didn’t have his seatbelt on and asked him to put it on.  He teasingly said, “No, I want to be able to get out of the car as fast as possible if I need to!”  He actually said I was a good driver.  I’m nervous that I won’t know how to drive on the “wrong side” of the road when we get to So. Africa, so I need to practice here while I have a tutor.

Our hot water pipe broke Thursday night.  Luckily, Diane had had a chance to shower once before it broke.  My ascari, David, had to turn the water off and on for us from the water tower so we could do our dishes and get ready for bed.  Friday morning, a guy was supposed to come fix the pipe at 8:00 AM.  He didn’t show.  Then he said it would be 2:00.  Again, he didn’t show.  We left around 3:00 and he came sometime after that only to say he would have to come back Sat. at 9:00 AM.  He never came back.  Luckily, Samuel ended up getting out of bed for us at 10:30 PM Friday night to come figure out what he could do to help us get water.  We hadn’t had any all day!   He filled up several big buckets and an empty water jug.  I don’t know what he did, but we ended up having cold running water.  Thank goodness, or we would have gone 3 days without water!  I guess it’s back to cold showers again, but at least we HAVE a shower.

Tomorrow, Henry, Louis’ very tall Maasai ascari, has arranged to do a Maasai dance for us with several of his friends.  I have been telling him for a long time I love the Maasai and love to watch them dance, and would he please dance for me sometime?  I’m very excited for that and for Diane to see it.  Now, Louis has decided to turn the dance into a sort of farewell party for everyone because by the time Diane and I leave on Nov. 23, all the Americans will have left Shamba la Salama until next January.  It should be a most enjoyable evening.

Kadi

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
  
  

Monday, November 7, 2011

I guess I need to give a bit of an update.    I’ve had internet problems recently and couldn’t get onto my blog…. Darn, it just happened again!  I’ll have to post this tomorrow…

First of all, my last school day was last Friday.   I took a couple of chocolate cakes to share with the faculty, and they acted like little kids.  Even they don’t see a cake very often.  I took Smarties from home and gave them to all the kids and faculty.  They were all excited to get them.  I made them promise that they wouldn’t throw the papers on the ground and told them how we don’t litter in America or we get fined if we are caught.  They were dumbfounded by that!  There are so few garage cans anywhere, and everyone throws all their garbage on the ground.  They don’t ever even think about it.

           Corner where I catch the school bus or matatus each day.

            School bus - I didn't realize I had it on video, sorry about that!

                Hezron, the bus driver with kids sitting right next to him.

             Kids who sit up by the bus driver.  (Less crowded than usual.)

 As kids are leaving the bus, so there were actually more than this.  They also have seats that fold down in the middle of the aisle.  They would never pass our safety standards with all these kids crammed into the bus!

Abel works on the bus to help load the kids, then he works around the school yard as a gardener.  He's the one who was cutting the grass in my previous video.

                                Class 6 (that's Lillah next to me)

                Class 5 (My favorite because I worked with them the most.)

                  Class 4 (There are several "squirrels" in this class - smile.)

The faculty from Class 1 to Class 8 and the Head Mistress, Esther in the orange and pink. Mwangi (Class 6 math) is on the top row, far right; Job (Class 4 math) is left of me; Peter (Class 5 is on my right).  Ternet is in the green - it was her village I visited.  Baby Class, KG1, KG2 and KG3 teachers taught on the other side of the road by the church, so I didn't really see them much.

Rebecca, Class 2 Teacher, wasn't at school earlier when I took the faculty picture.

Class 8 started their exams today, so none of the other students will be going to school again until this Friday when their exams start.  They will all finish on Nov. 18.  The Head Mistress wants me to come back on Nov. 19 for their final day of celebration when they acknowledge the Candidates from Class 8 on their achievements.  They also promote all the other students to the next class starting in January.  The day goes from 9:00 to 1:00 or later and is supposed to be a really big day.   I will enjoy seeing the students and faculty one more time before I leave.  Everyone keeps asking me to come back and teach next year.  I just say it’s not in my plan at this time, but who knows.

Now that time is running out here, many people I’ve become friends with are asking me the same question, “When are you coming back?”  When I tell them the same thing I told the teachers, they all say, “No, you can’t just come and then leave us.  We need to see you again!”  I tell them I just may, I just don’t know right now.

Young Kenyan men see a mzungu woman and see dollar signs.  I’ve had more than my share of marriage proposals, being asked to lunch, asked to become “their mzungu”, wanting my phone number, etc.  Too bad they aren’t older, wiser, richer, members of my church, etc., etc.  Oh well, life goes on.

Samuel and Grace now have until December to move out of their house here.   I'm not sure if it will be the first or last of the month, but Grace is due the first part of January, so the timing will really stink no matter when it is.  Samuel started doing a construction job today and will be paid 500 shillings/shift.  That's about $5.  He's decided to look ahead to figure out how he can manage to get out from under his debts and start to save money (based on things I've taught him about managing his money).  He's working three shifts straight, so he won't be home until tomorrow night.  I told him he'll burn himself out in a hurry doing that, but he thinks he can handle it.  We'll see.  Working construction straight for 24 hours doesn't make much sense to me.  He'll come home around 7:00 pm tomorrow, then go back to work the next morning by 7:00 am.  He'll make 1500 shillings in two days, which is huge for him, but I worry about the cost on his health.

Once Grace has the baby, she and the kids will go stay with her mother in Lamu.  Samuel will stay here in a cheap apartment and work until he has enough to build a small house with mud, cement, and sticks on their shamba (garden) plot in Lamu.  Then he'll move up there.  He told me that he's been offered a mason job in Somalia  for 30,000 shillings/month!  He wants to take it, but he hadn't told Grace when he told me, so I don't know if that will happen.  It will take him at least a month or longer to get a visa, etc. to go there.  It's great pay, but I hate to think about him going to such a dangerous place.  The job is subsidized by the United Nations.  It's probably such good pay because no one would take the job otherwise.

I have to admit that I’m worried that all the progress they’ve made with the missionaries, reading their scriptures, and asking questions will come to a screeching halt in the above process.  Samuel does still want to meet with the missionaries on Sundays after church, but it also means he’ll have to have money to pay for a matatu to and from church – Ksh120/person.  He wants to take his whole family, which would cost 2,400 sh. for one month.  That’s a huge part of his wages!  Until I leave, he’ll at least be able to ride with Kenneth, but he feels (and rightly so) that he should be responsible to get his family to church.  It’s just too bad that it’s so far away.  There’s absolutely no room for all of Samuel’s, Kenneth’s, and Abraham’s families in one car.  That’s 17 people!

I forgot to mention one thing about Pauline’s visit.  There was ONE positive thing that came out of her visit – she got the hot water fixed!  Now, I just have to get up ½ hour before I want to shower, turn a switch on in the kitchen, wait for 30 mins., and there you go – a HOT shower!!!  I’m supposed to turn it off after my shower, so I still have to heat up my water to do my dishes, but it’s a major improvement over my cold showers, one body part at a time.  The water here has lots of minerals and salt, so my hair never really feels clean, but again, it’s better than the salty sweat that I experience daily on my head and body.

I can’t believe it, but I only have 17 more days in Kenya!  This time seems to have whizzed by!   I’m just starting to learn the ropes, and now it’s almost over.   Diane will be here on Thursday, and then I’ll have someone to go do all the “tourist” things with.  I can hardly wait for that.  We’ve talked about working in an orphanage for a week, but I also have a long list of other things I think will be fun to do.

It’s been so nice to see my nephew, Troy, and Louis again.  Everything feels better when they are here.  Unfortunately, Troy leaves on Weds., and Louis is leaving next week.  I’ll miss them. 

I’ve been talking to Henry, one of the ascaris at Shamba la Salama, about doing a Masaai dance for me.   He’s the tallest Kenyan I think I’ve met, and he’s a Masaai. He offered to do it with about 10 of his Masaai friends.   They are going to dance next Monday afternoon at Louis’.  I’m so excited.  I love their dancing!  His friends all dance in the evenings at the hotels around here for all of the tourists.  I’ll definitely have to put pictures of that on my blog!

Well, it’s off to bed.

Kadi

Saturday, November 5, 2011

KENYA THROUGH MY BEDROOM WINDOW:

(I wrote this on Saturday, but my internet hasn't been working for a few days, so I couldn't post it.) 

There are so many sounds I’ve heard through my bedroom window that help to describe what life is like here – different sounds at different times of the day…

Morning:

Samuel’s roosters crowing, tropical birds of all kinds singing melodiously, planes flying overhead, a child crying, padlocks being unlocked, heavy metal gates clanging shut, people talking loudly as they walk down the dirt road beyond my wall, my ascari (David) shuffling just outside my bedroom working in the yard, filling his bucket with water, raking fresh cut vines, talking to Pauline (when she was here) at 6:00 AM through her bedroom window next to mine, his radio blasting at 5:50 AM from his guard house, noisy trucks bouncing down the dirt road, people arguing, the pounding of a hammer, rain pouring down, a Muslim chanting prayers at 4:45 AM, and on Sunday all different churches preaching and singing.

Midday:

Crows cawing, planes flying overhead (so low that I can see their landing gear, they leave a shadow through my window as they pass by, and conversations have to stop completely until they pass, or you won’t hear what is being said), children laughing and playing at the FPFK church’s school, FPFK’s minister preaching from two blocks away (their microphone is ALWAYS on full blast) or singing from the choir, someone calling out for an ascari to unlock a gate, busy traffic clear out on the main road.

Evening:

4:00 brings more planes for about two hours, children talking busily on their way home from school around 6:00, Friday night starts up with the church’s microphone again until around 2:00 AM, Samuel’s singing church hymns from his room or calling out to me, “Hello”, through my window to talk to me without startling me.

Night:

A scrawny cat meowing to get into my house, cicadas chirping, monkeys calling, more music and preaching from the microphone, a bushbaby (a mammal smaller than a monkey and very cute) in my yard screeching, toads croaking in my yard during the twelve days of rain awhile back, something sort of growling (not sure what!).

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

I’m going to backtrack to fill in on all that’s happened lately.  I hope this makes sense because I’ve been giving you more current news that’s been happening during and since some of this information.

I mentioned that Pauline came here from Germany on Tuesday, Oct. 18.  She is the owner of my home and Samuel’s sister.   The first couple of days were okay because she wasn’t around much and then left for Nairobi on Thursday to deal with some family business until Sunday night. 

I told you that Samuel came home from Nairobi on Sat., Oct. 22 and he, Grace, and I went into Mombasa.  Later that day, I went to Ternet’s village.

When Pauline first arrived here, Samuel gave her notice that he only wanted to work for her until the end of December.  (He told her now so that she would have plenty of time to find a replacement.)  Well, on Monday, Oct. 24 right after she got back from Nairobi, she hired a new ascari that very day and told Samuel he was no longer working for her.  So he was now out of a job with no advance notice.

On Tuesday, October 25, we played Sharks and Minnows again for PE at school, and I made arrangements so that I only had one class.  I also gave instructions inside before we went out.  It worked a lot better than last week.  I had planned on starting with stretches, then Sharks and Minnows, and then a relay, but I ran out of time.  We played the game and did some stretches.  I told them next week we'd do the relays.

I still found it difficult to play because there are no lines for boundaries, and even though I told the kids where they were, they didn't follow what I said (what a surprise!) and seemed to get confused.  I'm beginning to think they have never had to play games with boundaries before.  You should see how they play football!

After I got home from school, the missionaries came over and met with Samuel, Grace, another sister of Samuel’s that lives here (Lucy), and me.  We had another good discussion, and Lucy set up a separate time to meet with the missionaries the following Tuesday because she’s not in the same place in learning as Samuel and Grace are.  Then I went with the missionaries again to Kenneth’s and swam.  Nobody was around to give lessons to, however.

On Thursday, shortly after I arrived home from school, Lucy and Pauline got in an argument over Lucy’s passport that she said Pauline has had for 7 years which ended in Pauline calling the home security guards.  Lucy started arguing with them and Pauline ended up taking Lucy to the police station with the guards.  People with money here can buy off the police and get them to do whatever they want.   Lucy was put in jail for two full days with no way to get out!  I heard today that there were 10 people in the same small cell – both men and women – with no bathroom even.  They all had to go in front of each other!  I can’t even comprehend that!  I’ll comment more on this later.

When Samuel heard about what had happened to Lucy, he went to the police station to see if there was anything he could do to get her out.  Neither she nor he has any money, thus she had to stay.  Because Pauline didn’t like what he did, on Friday, she told Samuel he needed to move out of his home (she owns the plot and home) by Monday and that he had to leave Ukunda.  She would pay to move his things wherever else he wanted to go.  So now, he was without a job, income, home, and being told to leave the city he is familiar with and has friends and connections for work!

By Saturday, Grace pled with Pauline to reconsider so that at least their children could stay here until school was out in about 3 weeks.  If they missed the final exams, they would not be able to go on to the next class, thus they would all have spent a whole year in school for nothing (not to mention the cost to Samuel and Grace).  Finally, Pauline relented and let them stay but said that if Samuel did one thing wrong, he would be out immediately.  (Yesterday, she changed her mind again, and said they could only stay until December.)

I’ve already told you about Sunday. 

Yesterday, Samuel and I rode a matatu just to the ferry and met Bro. and Sis. Scott.  I was able to get Diane’s ticket cleared, I hope, Samuel exchanged a couple of the clothes I bought his family that weren’t the right size while we went to Kenya Airways.  We ran a couple of other errands, but by the time we were finished, it was 1:40.  There was no way I could get back to school in time (I had previously told Peter that might be the case), so we ended up going to lunch before heading back across the ferry.  They drove us all the way to my house, which was a real treat!  It was so good to have a different set of missionaries to add additional input into Samuel’s questions.  We had a great time all in all.

                 Interesting mailboxes in the Posta (post office) in Mombasa

Unfortunately, shortly before we arrived home, Samuel found out that his house had been robbed!  Can you believe that?!?  They have so little anyway, and now, the guy stole their one good mattress that cost almost a month’s wages for Samuel, he took Grace’s identification card, her bank information and bag, her sufferine (I don’t think that’s the right word, but it’s the only pot and stand that she had to cook her food with charcoal – you saw a picture of it earlier), and he took ALL of Samuel’s pants except for the dress pants he wore to Mombasa with me and the levis he had on before we left that he just threw into a bag to hurry and leave.  So he has only 2 pants to his name!  Grace was actually over at my house washing drapes and laundry for Pauline when it happened around 11:30.  She had gone home to start cooking some beans, ugali, and tea, then she came back to my house.  The guy even ate all that food!!!   He obviously knew that no one was going to be coming back any time soon. He had gone through everything in their house and things were displaced everywhere.  He also took all their sugar (a big thing here).

He got in by cutting a hole in the chain link fence on the side of their yard.  He even left his flip flops.  Several people in the neighborhood saw him walking down the street bent over with the heavy mattress rolled up on his back and everything stuffed inside and tied down, but no one questioned him.   That’s not an uncommon sight.  They all described him as wearing a white cap like Muslims do, a black shirt, and white pants.

So as soon as we got home, Samuel had to walk all the way back to the police station to report the crime.  You can’t just call the police here.  He had to stand in line for a few hours and eventually got to speak to someone, but it was late by then, so they said he’d have to come back on Tuesday (today).  I fixed a good chicken dinner with rice and vegetables, cut up some tomatoes, and gave it to Grace and Samuel when he returned home to take home and feed their family.  I figured they had enough to worry about last night without having to figure out what they even had to cook or how to cook it!  Thank goodness for the Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup Troy brought me, and the Lipton’s Onion soup mix I brought with me.

To add insult to injury, after Samuel was home for a while, Pauline wanted to meet with him.  She had previously said she would pay him his Ksh 7000 (approximately US$70.) for Oct., and would pay him Ksh 7000 for Nov. and the same for Dec.  So he was expecting Ksh 21000 from her.  She decided to only pay him for Oct. and kept out Ksh 1000 to pay on his electricity bill (which was only Ksh 669!).

Needless to say, he looked like a whipped puppy.  I couldn’t stand to see that!  I had bought a King James Bible from Bro.  Scott when Samuel got out of the car in the afternoon.  I was going to surprise him with it at some point.  After looking at him and Pauline was finished with him, I said,  “Come here, I have something for you.”  We went to my room and I handed him the bible.  He hugged me and almost started crying, then he held it to his chest and with a big smile on his face, he said, “I am the happiest man in the world!” and at that moment, he was.  His whole countenance changed and he felt like the richest man on earth.  He was thrilled to have the same bible like I have with all the cross references, the Bible Dictionary, and the Topical Guide. 

Today, in fact, Grace told me that he was up very late into the night reading it and at one point, she found him outside praying.  I’m continually astounded by their faith and trust in God that He is watching over them, that things happen for a reason, and that all will be well.  They’ve said that many times in the past two weeks.  Yesterday after the robbery, Grace kept saying, “What am I going to do?”  Then, she said, “I still have my two hands and many things.”

Pauline finally left to go back to Germany this morning.  She’s Kenyan, but totally puts Kenyans and Africans in general down.  I’m glad to get rid of her negative energy in my home!  She’s been like a tornado coming into town and has destroyed everything in her path leaving rubble everywhere.  I hate to say it, but GOOD RIDDENCE! 

Lucy met with the missionaries today, but Grace had to deal with her stolen identification card and Samuel spent the morning with the police, so they didn’t meet with the missionaries.  Samuel even had to pay for the police’s taxi to take them to the house to inspect it and make the report!  He spent the rest of the day trying to get on a bus for Lamu (Ksh 1000) where he and Grace have a piece of land near where her mother lives.  He’s never seen it, so decided before he starts a new job, he needed to travel the 9 hours by bus to see where he will eventually build a home when they can save some money to move there.  He will arrive there tomorrow morning around 5:00 AM and will come back the next day and start looking for work.

I went to Louis' home again with the missionaries when they finished with Lucy so I could swim.  We couldn't get hold of anyone at the house when we got to the dirt road, so we ended up having to take a motorcycle (my first Kenyan motorcycle ride).  To have three or four people on one motorcycle is not uncommon here.  I wish you could see the motorcycle we were sitting on, but the driver was about to drive away, so we had to hurry with the picture.

                                Holding on for dear life.

Sorry this is such a long blog tonight, but I needed to get the whole story out before I quit.  Please forgive me on this one.

Sleep well and please pray for Samuel’s family,

Kadi