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
