late afternoon game ride

5/1/07 -- late afternoon

We met up with Alex about 3:30 and off we went in yet another direction! This time to the hippo river. On the way we saw Ostriches (another die happy moment for me), more Grant's gazelles, Crowned Plover, large herds of Thompson's gazelles, a solitary hyena and a pair of mongoose (mongeese?). The Lilac-breasted Roller is one of the most beautifully colored birds we saw, with a patch of lilac, obviously, but also with turquoise blue wings that flash when it flies - stunning.

We also saw a mom warthog with a baby, running along with their little skinny tails in the air. This of course inspired a song from Kerry -- "I'm a little warthog, short and stout, here is my tail and here is my snout!" which became the theme song of the day...

The hippos were just hanging out in the river -- they seemed to be snoozing...they would float up and down in the water, and we never saw much more than their backs and noses. They are mostly nocturnal. The hippo river was one of the few places in the park that tourists are allowed to get out of the vehicles - so of course we took a picture. I nearly fell out of the vehicle when we got out at the lodge, my foot slipped on the step and I ended up with one foot in the van and the other about 3 feet down on the ground. Good thing I have long legs.

Dinner is late -- after everyone returns from their excursions. Tonight Tom awed us all with his dessert -- a big bowl of caramelized bananas in a thick syrup with a big chunk of bread pudding on top. The man can eat.

Norm and Gloria saw a huge owl in the tree at night.

Full moon tonight over the Mara. Wow! What a place.

Maasai culture

5/1/07 -- afternoon

After lunch, we met with Ole Kuya (also known as Charles -- his English name) who gave a very interesting hour and a half lecture on Maasai culture. There was way too much to write about here and many books have been written about their culture, but here are some interesting points:

• The Maasai believe that they were put on earth by God with their cattle, which are a sacred part of their culture and very important to them. They believe that all the cattle in the world belong to them. I was showing Joel some of the pictures I had taken in Masii, and showed him a picture of a Brahma cow, and he goes "hmmm, nice cow..." -- I loved it.
• They have migrated from northern Kenya to the south over many years, due to pressure from other people groups and colonists, most of them are now in the south of Kenya and the northern part of Tanzania
• Maasai "warriors" are a certain age group of young men (I think about age 15-22, approximately) who do not cut their hair for seven years and during that time, spend most of it herding the cattle and "learning to be men" as Ole Kuya says. After this period of time, they "graduate" in a huge ceremony and become "young elders" who are then allowed to cut their hair and marry. Joel was a "young elder."
• First marriages are always arranged by the fathers of the young men and women. Men may have more than one wife and the group practices male and female circumcision. Joel said to me that he is only going to have one wife now that he is a Christian. Ole Kuya says that you have to have many cows to be able to have additional wives. The Kenyan State is fighting against the practice of female circumcision.
• Their religion is monotheistic, based on a system of sacrifices. It seems that this is why Christianity is appealing to the Maasai -- the idea of Christ as the Lamb of God makes a lot of sense to them. Joel says that there are many churches in his area.

Both Joel and Ole Kuya went to a local town to go to school for primary, but left at about sixth grade as far as I could tell. They are both very well spoken and extremely intelligent, but have not been exposed to much of the outside world. They both read and write English very well and asked us to write to them. I have not yet had an opportunity to write but hopefully will soon. These two young men were one of the most interesting and unexpected joys of the trip.

EARLY game ride

5/1/07 - early morning

Last night, after dinner, Joel and about 7 or 8 of his Maasai warrior buddies came to the lodge to chant and jump. These guys can jump 18 inches to two feet off the ground from a flat footed stand. They were great. Afterwards, we talked to another warrior, Ole Kuya (son of Kuya), who told us a lot about Maasai culture -- he gives a daily lecture about Maasai culture. We said that we would come tomorrow. He and Joel told us that all the chanting and jumping was developed when they were still raiding other groups of Maasai for their cows, they were egging each other on...it was a kick.

After we were done last night, Alex said, we'll leave tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. That meant we needed to get up at 5:30 a.m. Ohhh. I did not sleep well the first night, either. Coffee was the first item on my agenda.

Once we were out, though, it was gorgeous and beautiful. This morning, we headed in a different direction, towards a little plateau (or a pla-too, as the Kenyans call them) -- we saw giraffes (lots), zebras (more) and a lone wildebeest hanging out with the gazelles. He must have been left behind because in June and July, they have huge herds of wildebeest that migrate from Tanzania. I guess it is really an astounding sight, and many people go up in the hot air balloons to watch them. Apparently many Americans come in those months to see the migration. According to Alex, this is a bit of the "off "season, but you could have fooled me. We still saw huge numbers of all different types of animals...Today we saw many elephants all day long -- there was a small herd of different ages that hung out around the elevated boardwalk area -- Norm was fascinated and spent most of his time out there before we went out again in the afternoon. Other animals and birds this morning -- dik dik (a very small gazelle), Grant's gazelles, Gray-crested Crane, Yellow-throated Longclaw (like a meadowlark), Egyptian goose, Wattled Plover and the Lappet-faced Vulture (very ugly).

We also saw an interesting tree with large sausage-shaped fruit hanging off it, apparently the locals make beer from these pods. I don't think the giraffes like them, because they are not eaten up to giraffe neck level like the acacia trees are (the "lollipop" trees). Alex also told us a lot about Kenyan politics -- the current president is very popular because he has made elementary school free for everyone. He also says that most Kenyans like Americans -- we certainly have felt welcome here.

We finally returned to a great breakfast (as all the meals were). I learned more Swahili -- "Asante sana" means thank you very much and "Caribou sana" means you're welcome, very much!

While we were looking for the hippo in the pool at the "Hippo Bar", Joel and Ole Kuya came to find us. We found that they really enjoyed talking with us and when we were just "hanging out", they would show up! I think many of the tourists treated them as "exhibits" but we were all very interested in them as people and they in us. They mentioned that they really did not like all the posing for pictures so I only took one of them (see above) -- they were enjoying Gloria's MP3 player -- Ole Kuya (on the left) wanted her to send him one! They really liked the Latino music she had and were fascinated by the whole thing. They had never heard most of the different kinds of music she had on her player.

Kerry was teaching them American idioms, expressions such as "I could eat a horse!" and "I'm stuffed!" and I told them about "Out of the frying pan, into the fire!" for getting oneself into worse trouble than you are already in, they liked that one as I guess it made sense to them.

Another meal! Lunch! I'm starting to feel like the lioness in that picture!

First game ride

4/30/07 - afternoon

Alex picked us up for our afternoon game ride and off we went -- we went on a total of four different trips to different areas of the park and saw something different every time.

The Land Cruiser has a "pop top" which was great for standing up and looking out of. Alex had great eyes and could see an animal at several hundred yards. He was an excellent driver and guide. When he found out that I was also interested in the birds, he started stopping to point birds out. The others weren't prepared for all the bird life -- it had not really occurred to them that there would be so much -- we saw hornbills, bustards and vultures, Secretary birds, pintail Whydah, Lilac-breasted rollers, Snake Eagle, you name it we saw it...I was in heaven. By the end of the first ride, my friends were starting to understand the bird "wow" factor and why I enjoy them as much as the large animals.

We saw plenty of big animals too - elephants, giraffes topi, impala, Thompson's gazelles, Lions and a cheetah. Jackals. The cheetah was the best story. We were watching a big old bull elephant when Alex said '' look at the black spot" -- it was a cheetah's head, about 200 yards away. We casually drove away from the other group of vans and Land Rovers and drove up to within a few feet of him, he just chilled for a while then casually stood up and took off. After I saw the cheetah, I made some remark about the fact that I could "die happy" so of course everyone wanted to know when that was going to be...ha

The animals are not afraid of people, since they have a very strict code and rules for the vans and drivers. No one is allowed out of the vehicles except in a very few places. Any one found walking can be shot on the spot (discourages poachers) and no one is allowed to yell or throw anything at the animals. They basically didn't care if we were there or not.

We stayed out until it was almost dark, the moon came up as the sun was going down. It was gorgeous.

It just about killed me that Bill couldn't be there. He would have loved it.

Masai Mara

4/30/07 - morning

Before I went to Kenya I had no idea about what a safari entailed...I figured we might see a few animals. I bought a Kenya bird book, just in case. I really wasn't prepared for the "Mara" as they call it in Kenya. It is a National Wildlife Preserve in Kenya at the northern end of the Serengeti Plain in Tanzania -- not that big of an area but oh my, what a place!

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning - a bird was singing beautifully in the night. I never did see what it was, but I didn't go back to sleep, either. I finally got up and got dressed and went downstairs to email home -- 40 minutes to log on, read email, send one email to family and that was it. Slow, slow, slow. Boy are we spoiled by high speed internet. After breakfast, we were off to the airport -- Joseph was there at 7:30 sharp and it took us nearly an hour to get to the airport. Only six of us are going on this part of the trip, Norm, Kerry, Gloria, Tom and Teri and myself. As I told several of my friends before I left, I couldn't go to Africa and not see large ungulates (biologist joke -- I think I used it before, oh well, too bad).

The plane was a small "Twin Otter" type, about 14 seats, you nearly had to double in half to get on. Gloria and I sat in the back row, by the door. Kerry climbed into the seat next to the pilot. Now, my sister's ex-husband was a pilot and they had a small plane when I was a little girl, and we went on many excursions -- for some reason, I feel very secure in a small plane, flying doesn't seem such an affront to nature as the big planes are, but Teri and Gloria were not as sanguine about the trip as I was. As we took off, I noticed that Gloria was hyperventilating (first step to a panic attack) and I told her to take some deep breaths and she did pretty well after that. The trip was uneventful, beautiful views of the Rift Valley and small villages on the plain.

The duty free shop and the airport terminal were quaint to say the least, a couple of shacks in the middle of nowhere (I will add my pictures if I can find them) -- we were met by Alex, our driver, who was another one who was "one" with his vehicle, a 10 passenger Toyota Land Cruiser.

We drove a few minutes to Keekorok Lodge -- one of the first safari lodges built in the area -- a truly beautiful place, were dropped off and instructed by Alex to be back out front by 4 pm. Well, we settled into the rooms and since it wasn't time for lunch yet, we went for a walk around the grounds. There is a marshy area to the west of the compound (which has no fence by the way, more about this later), which has a raised walkway, and several seating areas, where you can relax and observe animals. I had taken a picture of a giraffe taking a snooze under an acacia tree within a few minutes of arriving, and there was a beautiful impala close by.

A few minutes later, Gloria comes up with none other but a Maasai warrior in tow. His name is Joel Moseka Ole Nchoe (Ole Nchoe means "son of Nchoe" - his father's name). Moseka is his Maasai name and Joel is his Christian name. We had found a Maasai warrior who had converted to Christianity a year ago and wants to be a preacher -- he works at the Lodge to earn money so he can go back to school. A girl who visited the lodge gave him a Bible and he read it and decided this was the truth. He's 26, married to a girl named Mary, and has two sons, 2 yrs old and 1 yr old. And he has an email address! We thoroughly enjoyed talking to him, and he was very interested in where we were from and what we were doing in Kenya. We told him about our trip to see the children and he was very moved by their plight -- we found out later that AIDS is not common among the Maasai, because they do not usually go out from their own tribe, but he identified with the orphans since many children and their parents die from malaria. The lodge hired him to keep away the wild animals -- he carries his stick and club with him all the time. He wore many bracelets and chokers and a special one that his wife had made for his wedding. He finally said goodbye for now as it was lunchtime, but we would see him many times in the next two days.

The walk and the small copse of trees by the boardwalk are also home to a troop of vervet monkeys. We were warned not to get too close and to never have any food on us, as they will attack. I watched a few of them play.

Lunch and as a matter of fact, all the meals were more like a cruise ship than a lodge. It was a nice change from the sameness of chapatis and stew from last week, but the excess was a bit much. I really enjoyed the fruit and vegetables though...Norm had a big sundae...it was good. Kerry usually had cheese and crackers and had trouble getting the right amount -- either there was too much cheese and not enough crackers or vice versa -- it always entailed another trip to make it turn out even!

We relaxed until it was time for our afternoon game ride.

church in Masii

4/29/07 - morning into afternoon

As you may remember, last Sunday we went to church at one of the biggest Baptist churches in Nairobi -- it was an experience not unlike home, just enough different (praise songs in Swahili!) to make it cool...Well, church in Masii was another story entirely, but much more interesting.

We arrived about 10 am, not everyone was there yet, but we were met as we got off the bus by a little old lady (see above) who greeted us with "Huacha!" (as she was older than all of us!) and when she realized that we knew what the proper response was -- "Aaa!" - she started to laugh and went around the whole group, laughing, shaking our hands and greeting each one of us. It was great.

We had intended to sit in the back, but of course, they cleared out the kids who were sitting in the middle and gave us good seats. The whole first hour or so was taken up with prayers, singing, announcements, several choirs performed (different age groups), as people gradually filled up the room. We were introduced, other visitors brought greetings from other churches. There were several things that I enjoyed about the service.

Many things that were done that were straight out of the Bible. Of course, the singing and praying, but when the offering was taken, people brought their offering FORWARD, just as the children had done at the Tumaini VBS. Some of the church members did not have any money, and had contributed in kind -- fruit, eggs, beans, corn, dish soap and a couple of chickens. Much to our surprise, after the offering was taken, one of the elders of the church held an auction for the remaining items, including the chickens (see above). People (including us) bid on the items and either took them home, or donated them to the older members of the congregation.

They also took care of the widows and the orphans. I recognized several of the Tumaini children in the congregation and two or three of them were called forward to receive a bag with clothes and food. They also did this for the widows in the congregation. One of Tumaini's main scripture verses is James 1:27 "Religion which is considered pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world" -- I could see how it comes straight from their daily practice.

They also had what could only be described as a "drill team" for the young boys -- they marched in a formation, did several fancy maneuvers under the command of their leader, stood at attention while the second in command inspected all the boys, straightened collars and then presented them to the leader. After that, they marched out, all in very strict formation with the drummer and the keyboard player keeping the time. I thought to myself -- what a great way to channel the energies of these kids -- this showed a tremendous amount of self-discipline and apparently they practice all the time...

After the auction and other events, announcements and so forth, they turned off the generator, and Kerry preached with Stanley interpreting in Kikomba. It was quite an event and the best demonstration of "tag team" preaching that I have ever seen!

They wanted us to stay for lunch, but we had already been promised to have lunch with the Tumaini Board members back at the hotel, so we left fairly quickly after the service.

Lunch was very nice, we packed up and got ready to leave while they were having their meeting. I took pictures of Ellen and her husband Abraham and Agnes. Lovely people. Hard to leave.

The trip back to Nairobi was long -- there had been lots of rain during the week and the road near Nairobi was a mess. We had to get ready to leave early for the safari -- we quickly repacked and crashed back at HEART.

lunch at the shamba

4/28/07 -- afternoon

We walked a couple of hundred yards down a little road to the Mutunga family farm still occupied by Stanley's mother, Grace Kanini (Kanini means "little" or "tiny" -- she is probably less than 5 feet tall), a couple of sisters, and various children. His older brother Francis, seen at the far end of the picture above, is a retired fruit wholesaler and now lives in a little house next to his mother's place. It is a beautiful farm, well tended, with all the crops seen frequently and some that I haven't seen before -- maize, cowpeas, pumpkin, papaya, mango, banana, and a huge patch of sweet potatoes.

We were seated ceremoniously under a pleasant sun shelter with chairs and low tables. Water was brought around to wash our hands (a nice Kenyan custom we saw in many places). The meal was a chicken stew, with potatoes and other vegetables, along with fresh homemade chapatis (the Kenyan equivalent of a flour tortilla -- delicious). We enjoyed a relaxed lunch with the family dog and a few chickens scratching around and afterwards, one of the nephews, Sebastian, brought around sodas in bottles (such as orange and grape Fanta, and Coke - it's everywhere!). After lunch, we walked around the farm, enjoying the nice day and the beautiful blue sky full of clouds. Kerry, Paul and Mike were investigating the small one room school house that the family used when the children (10 of them!) were young...Paul headed in first and the other two followed, when Paul suddenly backed up into them and yelled "Get out! Get out!" -- there was a hive of wasps! they ran for it -- fortunately no one was stung.

As we were getting ready to leave, we all gathered for prayer -- Stanley asked his brother Francis to pray. Now Francis had not said more than a few words the whole time we were there, but my goodness could the man pray! We were protected from all kinds of evil, he rained blessings on us, called down angels to stand around us, and bound Satan away from us (always a good thing...) -- afterwards, we were laughing that NOTHING bad could happen to us now! And truly, nothing did. We had adventures, but all was well.

As we were leaving, we walked back out to the road, and Joseph followed in the bus. As he was turning to get back onto the road he got stuck again -- this time because the rear tires were not touching the ground as he went over a bump. Kerry and Norm jumped on the back bumper for ballast and hung on and jumped up and down. As they did, the bus tires caught suddenly and the bus shot forward. They all swung out from the back of the bus but no one fell off. Everyone was scrambling for their cameras, but nobody caught the moment -- the picture above was taken as they were all jumping down and grateful that no one was hurt.

We decided to walk past the area where the local people were fixing their road -- we didn't want to have another incident. Watching everyone join together to solve a community problem was exciting, however, as there were no County Road Crews coming around to fix the road!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing -- we had had it!

Tomorrow is church at one of the churches Stanley used to preach at near Masii.

Wamunyo wood carvers

4/28/07 -- late morning

After we left Masii, we headed off to the Wamunyo woodcarving village, about 30 minutes away, where we were absolutely overwhelmed by the amount and quality of the craft. I bought way more than I should have, but oh well. A little retail therapy for me, and gifts for the good people who donated back in the States. I chatted with the woodcarvers for a bit and they were delightful -- we watched them carve a giraffe out of a single piece of wood in just a few minutes.

Laureen was not feeling too well, so she and another couple of people got off the bus at an intersection (Paul was on the cell phone and had the other Tumaini van come out from Masii to pick her up), and the rest of us headed off to have lunch at the home of Grace Kanini (Little Grace) -- Stanley Mutunga's 87 year old mother, who still lives just outside of Masii. We had to take a different route, as the main road to her house had been washed out recently in a heavy downpour. The local folks were out en masse re-doing the road (they would dig out the dirt from the side and throw it on the road) and the bus got stuck up to the back axle, just as we were getting to the turn off for Grace's shamba. We all hopped off, which helped a lot (since all the weight was in the back) and Joseph had the bus extricated from the mess by the time we had all walked down the side road to the house.

goodbye

4/28/07 -- morning

Saturday morning was a bit of a stressful time. We got up early to go to the school to see the children before they went back home. Most of the morning is spent by the staff getting bus fare ready for the children and sending them off home. Some of the younger children are picked up by their mothers (if they still have her) or their guardians, but many of the children just take their bag and hop on the local matatu or other public transportation (there are some larger buses) and off they go. Still others who live in the local area walk home.

I said good bye to all the young people we had met, Ndunda, Annah and Ruth, Ruth Ndolo, Mutie, Lazarus, Miriam, Judy...several of them wanted me to take a picture so I would remember them...as if I could forget them. Ndunda finally gave me a good smile for a picture. We also said goodbye to the Tumaini staff that was not going to be going with us today -- we have one more day in the area and tomorrow we will return to Nairobi for the rest of the trip. We had group pictures to hand out, of course everyone wanted one, and it was impossible to give one to everyone. I made sure that the kids I had spent time with got one.

We finally boarded the bus and waved goodbye about an hour later with very mixed feelings. It was hard to leave these children. They have a way of attaching to your heart that was not what I really expected. I thought I might not have too much to talk about with the kids I sponsor and with the other children, but they are so bright and curious and so appreciative of our help that it is difficult not to feel close to them.

On the other hand, we were all exhausted. It was a very emotionally taxing week. Some of the stories of the families were truly heartbreaking, but in many cases, as in the case of the Mwanzia family, we were astounded by their resiliency and devotion to each other. We were also continually impressed by the kindness and devotion of the Tumaini staff, both to us as visitors, and to the children.

last day of VBS

Our devotion this morning was on Psalms 68: 5-6...

" A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling, God sets the lonely in families...."

Something I have mentioned before is how seriously our children in Kenya take our role as sponsors -- we are now the mothers and fathers that they have lost. We are part of new families in Kenya...

We went to the school fairly early this morning. I was going to go to a class with Teri and Tom, who have been sitting in with the high school boys class all week, but Ellen snagged me to come talk to our young boy with nightmares again. You could see an immediate difference -- he had been in my memory book class and so felt much more comfortable with me this time -- but he also seemed much more relaxed. He said that he had not had any bad dreams this week. I told him that we were glad for him and shared with him the technique of having a plan prepared when he goes to sleep of what to do if he has a nightmare. He will be able to yell at the demons that he is protected by Jesus and will have power over them, not them have power over him -- and then wake up safely! He asked me to write to him in a few weeks, I am just about ready to be able to do that, after nearly a month at home...!

Ellen also asked me to talk to another girl about a behavior problem that had been reported by a teacher in her town. She was very sad and cried (I felt bad about it...) but Ellen told me that it was all right, as it was important that this girl know that people were concerned about her and were watching her behavior. An interesting cultural spin on an uncomfortable situation for me...

We also handed out the memory books (Mutie of the fancy shoes was in charge) and took pictures (of course) with everyone holding up their own book. They were very proud. We will send the individual photos back for Ellen to distribute in August.

Debbie and I also presented the stove to Mary and her children. That was really a moment -- this small thing will make a real difference to her. She will be safe taking care of her children at night, and will not have to leave her house after dark.

It was very interesting -- last day, about 11:30, the bus started to fill up. By about noon, nearly everyone from the team was on the bus. I think we had reached the limit of what we could absorb. The little children can be overwhelming -- they are so curious, crowd up very close to all of us, want to look at the veins in our arms, touch our hair and skin. It can be difficult to handle. After a while, we reemerged from the bus and found some of our favorite people to talk to...Ellen, the older girls and boys, Paul, Agnes. The younger children were off somewhere playing and it wasn't quite so anxiety producing.

Nthenya came for the last day after her class got out and came to find me. It was good to see her again before we left. I brought a little voice recorder with me on the trip and she sang a song for me -- it turned out to be the best thing that I recorded the whole week and a real treasure for me at home. I can listen to it and be totally transported back to Kenya. She has a beautiful sweet voice.

Lunch was LATE, we were starved and so were the kids, but it was worth waiting for -- a delicious stew, rice, chapatis and fresh fruit. After lunch, we had the final program, which went on for HOURS (about three hours), singing, dancing, presentations, a short sermon to wrap up the teaching by the same man who had been there the opening night, Solomon Mumo. Amazingly, again, the children hung in there and actually behaved themselves until it was nearly over, and even then, their behavior wasn't BAD, just a tiny bit rowdier. We were all sore from sitting on the hard metal chairs.

We were totally surprised by an offering they collected for the girls in Cambodia. The children had been so touched by the plight of the girls that they asked if they could take up an offering. In Kenya, offerings are brought forward and put in a basket at the front of the room -- we were all sitting there crying as these Kenyan orphans gave what little they could out of their poverty to help girls nearly half a world away.

The rest of the evening we relaxed -- a few returned for the final goodbye program (more singing and dancing). Many of us were just too worn out. I don't even remember turning off the light that night.

Cambodian presentation

4/26/07 - evening
After supper, Kerry and several of the team members returned to the high school to give a presentation to the older kids regarding the work Kerry and other Pathway members have been involved in Cambodia, and the situation of the girls there. The children of Tumaini have all lost either mother, father or both and most feel as if they have many disadvantages compared to other children of Kenya.

Kerry has a slide show DVD that he showed them, and told them about how these girls at Rapha House in Cambodia have been sold by their parents into sexual slavery. The Kenyan teens could hardly believe that someone would do that to their children and they were deeply touched by the plight of the girls. He also told them how the girls at Rapha House had been rescued and what is being done to help them recover from their terrible experiences. The grief recovery workbook that Kerry adapted to use with the Tumaini college age girls was originally written for the Cambodian girls at Rapha House.

Everyone who went to the presentation was moved by the compassion that these children -- who by any standard have lost a great deal -- showed for these girls in Cambodia, and they all returned with serious faces.

We have all been through a great deal this week -- it's a bit of the emotional rollercoaster...

running amok with Paul and Jackson

Before I finish off the week in Masii, I need to write some about a few of the people who work and volunteer for Tumaini.

Paul Mutendwa is a fairly recent addition to the staff and is now the in-Kenya director of Tumaini. He is a crackerjack accountant and knows exactly where all the money for the children is, all the time! He has a wife and two little boys and is devoted to them but is also devoted to the children of Tumaini. He also has a great sense of humor -- the running joke during the entire week we were there was that when things were kind of up in the air we were "running amok", then when things settled down, we were "back on track"...this was an on-going thing, that has continued even in emails after we returned!

Jackson (never heard his last name) is one of the most indefatigably cheerful people I have EVER met in my entire life. He is the chaplain for Tumaini, and originally kept track of all the children. Now he supervises the volunteers who do this work in several regions around Masii. Jackson was always full of laughs, songs (he would break into a song at the least provocation -- including "Shut de door" -- a song that Laureen and I knew from way back) and jokes, but was also very intensely interested in the welfare of all the children. He knew where every one of them lived, and knew everyone's story. This is really amazing when you consider that Tumaini has over 500 sponsored children now. He also is the pastor of a church in the outskirts of Masii, and told me that his church is what keeps him going. He is truly a man of God.

Esther was another amazing person we met. She was the director of the VBS, along with James (I do not know last names). They were also extremely well organized and I was surprised to find out that she knew where every child was in the VBS and could run down any kid that anyone needed to see. Remarkable.

I have already written about Ellen and Agnes.

I have mentioned Joseph -- our driver. I have never seen someone who was so "one" with his vehicle. He knew exactly where he could go with that thing -- we only got stuck twice during the whole time we were there. One of the best moments of the trip was on the way back to Nairobi from Masii, when Joseph took us on a "short cut" through a town to avoid a terrible traffic jam. The pot holes could have held a Volkswagen and were full of water but we bounced on through and made it out the other side. In this little town, there were some people having a Sunday evening church service by the side of this muddy road, with several of them up on a platform, singing and dancing, and we started to wave at them with both hands as we went by -- they all became very happy and waved back -- it was a great feeling of connection with these Christians we didn't even know or have time to meet.

There were many other wonderful people we met, including the young men who cooked for us and the others who brought us a bucket of warm water every morning at the hotel. In general, the Kenyans we met were gracious and cheerful.

I felt very at home and welcomed everywhere we went.

road trip to Kitanga -- Mwanzia home

4/26/07 -- afternoon

Annah and Ruth have been asking me all week when we would be going to their house, so I was happy to be able to tell them this morning during the trip to Machakos that this afternoon was the day! They were so excited and Ruth immediately called her brother on the phone (as an aside, many of the Kenyans had cell phones! We were amazed at the great reception everywhere...we would be out in the sticks some place with Paul in the bus and he would get three or four phone calls -- made us laugh. The phones are very economical and many people have them for emergency use). I spent lunch with Ellen and Agnes, talking about our families. Ellen has a daughter in Houston who I tried to reach while we were there, but I could not. I hope I had the right phone number -- I would like to send her pictures of her mother and father I took. Ellen will help Laureen this afternoon with the class -- finishing up their books. Since the Mwanzia family lives in Kitanga, about an hour away, a special trip had to be made.

About two p.m., nearly everyone else loaded into the bus and off we went. Ndunda, Ruth and Annah couldn't stop smiling. After about a good hour of bumpy road and hill climbing (Kitanga is substantially higher than Masii) we arrived at the home. The older sister Mary and brother Samuel met us and were surprised and pleased to see how many had come to visit. You could see how proud they were of their home and shamba, which was well-maintained and cultivated. Chickens were scratching around and they had the very first actual "pet" dog we had seen -- Simba was her name, very friendly. Ruth says she likes to play games. All the dogs we have seen so far have been scroungy generic types, little skinny tan things. She was more of a brindle color and looked healthy (no ribs showing).

They have a shady area with trees planted in a circle in front of the house and we soon were sitting on every possible thing available under the trees -- I think there must have been at least 10 of us plus the family of 5. The little dog made friends with Jackie Grignon immediately (she recognized someone who would scratch her around her ears). Jackson introduced everyone and Samuel (25)talked a little about the family. As I shared before, he has kept the family together since the mother and then the father of the family died. He was only 17 when their father died. He kept the family farm going, kept his sisters and brother in school, helped his sister Mary (23) finish teacher's college (she is now teaching in a local school). As Jackson said to me later, "he is a small man with the heart of a lion." I could see the respect the older adults had for him and for his accomplishment.

After we had talked a little, I signaled Paul, and he told the family that funds had been made available for Samuel to go back to school. It turns out that he had started teacher's college this past January and was able to finish the term, but still owed money and was not going to be able to go back to school when it started back up again in May. The family had been praying for a way to be made for him to return. I was reminded of the song we sing sometimes "God will make a way when there seems to be no way." Samuel's eyes filled with tears and I don't think there were any dry eyes anywhere....He thanked me, but I told him that it was a gift from several generous friends who just wanted something special to happen with the money. I also told him that we would continue to support him until he finishes school at the end of next year. (A special scholarship fund has been set up for Samuel Mwanzia through Tumaini International -- it will only cost a total of $2000 for him to finish school and nearly one-third has already been paid, through the generosity of state-side donors.) He promised that he would study hard and make us proud.

After we returned to the States, Kerry and I were marveling at the way God can work. The family had been praying, they knew I was coming to visit but they had no idea that I had asked my friends and family to send me with money to meet some as yet unknown need. Several of the people who gave me money don't even go to church, but their goodwill was used anyway. I would not have even known that this need existed except for the fact that I had met Agnes (Tumaini Board member) who visited our class on Wednesday afternoon. What an amazing thing...God is great, all the time. All the time, God is great.

As is often true, sometimes when your heart is so full that you can hardly stand it, something happens that will break the mood -- here we were, all sitting there, very serious and tearful (Paul was openly wiping his eyes), listening to the story and then their thanks and gratitude to God for this gift, when all of a sudden we heard this awful noise coming from behind one of the small outbuildings. I don't know how to describe it, but it sounded like someone was being strangled, and not liking it very much! This went on for a while, we are all trying to ignore it, but finally I had to ask Samuel what it was, and he laughed and said it was a goat! Well, I had never heard a goat that sounded like that, but I took his word for it. Of course, later, Kerry was able to duplicate the noise perfectly and spent the rest of the trip occasionally bursting forth with the "goat whinny" -- I don't know what else to call it...it was hilarious. Later, we went to meet these goats (see above). After the presentation of the gifts to the family, they showed us the house. It was quite large, as the family had been fairly prosperous before the parents had died. Apparently their neighbors had been kind to them as well. It was a situation where they had just what they needed but no extra. Tumaini has been a godsend as well for the family, keeping Ruth, Annah, and Ndunda in school as well.

We stayed for about an hour and then headed back. I received so many blessings that day. I can't even begin to describe them.

Before I went to Kenya, I selected a postcard at Berean with a verse from Jeremiah 29:11 for Annah and Nthenya -- "for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Both Annah and her sister Ruth really liked that verse and seeing how God worked that week showed me again how there is a plan for each of us...you just have to be open to being the instrument of his works...

almost home

We've had a wild few days. Good flight out, overnight in Houston with Matt and Danielle (after I got lost getting out of the airport), then off to Austin. Matt and Danielle have two cute doggies (Karma and Kizzie) - and we took them to the dog park for a good run and Danielle gave me a quick tour of the Rice campus where she is working now. Matt has a job with Chevron Natural Gas in downtown Houston. Checking into our hotel in Austin was a ADA nightmare. They originally gave us a so-called Handicapped accessible room that had a bathtub (not a roll-in shower). When Bill tried to use it with the shower chair that they provided he did ok for a while, then Laura and I heard a big crash and found Bill on the floor with two huge welts on his back and the shower curtain and chair on top of him. The darn thing did not fit in the tub, and shot him out onto the floor like a wet fish. My poor husband. Fortunately he was not seriously hurt.


I was hot. Laura cooled me down a little, before I went downstairs to growl. (Something happens to one of my family and the mama lioness comes out...watch out!) I ended up with a new room on the bottom floor (the other one was on the third floor), with the recliner for Bill I had requested, three days comp'ed (only paid for one day) . It may have helped that I took pictures with my cell phone and showed them to the on-duty manager. To cap it off, we had a fire alarm that caused a complete evacuation of the building at 3 am. If we had still been on the third floor, I would not have been able to get him down the stairs (the elevators don't work when there is a fire alarm).

The rest of the weekend was a blur of dinners, parties, barbeques and meeting new people. The hooding and graduation ceremonies were inspiring even to an old social worker like me. I really enjoyed it all, but now we are vegging out back in Houston. Tomorrow, we have to find Laura a car (her old Honda with over 200K miles died about a month ago) and then it's back home Wednesday afternoon. I will be glad even though we have had a good time. The good thing is that we have had really great weather -- in the 70s and 80s, not too much humidity. Other times we have been here in May, we have cooked...I was very happy.

I need to just slow down.,..Whoo eee.....

break

Bill and I are going to Texas tomorrow to visit my son and daughter in law in Houston and then we are all going to Austin for my daughter Laura's graduation from University of Texas School of Social Work. Soooo, all my dear readers, there will be a break in the story. Still to come, the visit to the Mwanzia's home, closing ceremonies and saying goodbye, lunch at Stanley's mother's house, getting stuck twice in the bus, three hour church service in Masii complete with chicken auction, the trip to the game preserve, Ole Kuya and Joel (my Maasai warrior buddies) and the trip home...If I am bored stiff (unlikely with my family) I might write, but otherwise I will return to finish this opus after Texas...probably about 5/24 or so. Take care all...Jean

tumaini complex

4/25/07 -- late afternoon

I almost forgot one of the most important things we did all week. Wednesday afternoon, after our class, we all went out to the new Tumaini Community Center to see what has been accomplished. The guard building and the first large meeting center has been completed -- cost approximately U.S. $100,000. The building is huge and will serve for large meetings, parties and other events. The next building is to be the health center, for the Tumaini children and the community as well. They will not have to be transported a long distance away if they are sick and they will have a nurse to take care of them. There is also to be a study and conference center with rooms for visitors. It is a grand vision but very attainable. The dollars raised in the U.S. go a long way in Kenya. This center will be a very important step for the community and much good will come of it.

We were accompanied by the local Tumaini Board (see above) and you could see how proud they were of this accomplishment. Several of our group were very impressed with this plan and vowed to help with this project. Not everyone is called to sponsor a child. I was again impressed with the integrity and stability of the Kenyans involved with Tumaini in Masii. They are solid gold people...

Rain has been an issue as I mentioned before. While we were there, the clouds turned black (see the background behind Stanley above) and within a few minutes it was POURING! It turned off as fast as it started, but it was good to see the amount of rain that fell in those few minutes -- it was about as much as we have had all winter here in California!

shopping in Machakos

4/26/07 - morning

Can you imagine taking 20 kids clothes shopping with only 6 adults to supervise in the United States and a $15 limit each? That is a recipe for chaos and disaster. We did it in Masii in less than three hours without losing a single kid, and everyone was happy.

Thursday morning, we rounded up all the Pathway church-sponsored kids plus the kids who were sponsored by individual Pathway members who were part of the team, took a group picture, then loaded up BOTH vans with kids and as many adults as we could spare, and off we went to Machakos. This in itself was an event, as many of the children had never even been to Machakos, which is about 40 minutes away. They were all delighted with the trip, and behaved very well on the bus -- I don't know what Paul said to them, but everybody was just happy to be going ANYWHERE! The fact that there was a shopping trip at the end was a bonus. The children each had KSH 1000 (Kenya shillings) to spend. Paul told them that this was for clothing, anything they wanted, but that they had to stay within their budget. When we got there, we each took charge of several children, with the older kids helping out. Lazarus, Mutie and Ruth Ndolo are all about 17-19 yrs old and responsible and very helpful. We started with the younger kids and worked up to the older ones. Each child had a shopping basket. Some of the kids ended up with several items of clothing, a shirt, a pair of pants, socks or a skirt and blouse. Two of the older boys had their hearts set on what Janice lovingly called "pimp shoes" -- very shiny pointed toes with a squared off toe. We laughed at them a little, but they were so pleased with themselves, it was hard to tease them too much. The next day was the final program and everyone dressed up, including Paul, and I noticed that he had the same style of shoe. I guess it is popular in their locality. They cost KSH 995. That was all they got, but it didn't matter a bit. They were stylin'!

Annah and her friend bought matching denim skirts and a blouse each. A few of the kids were doing the math on their hands, and we had a hard time convincing them that it was ok to go a "little bit" over (up to 50 shillings), if it was something they really wanted. One little girl bought a very pretty satin dress for church and dress up. At first she didn't know if it was ok, but I asked her if she liked it and she nodded and her eyes glowed, so we said, you can have it. Ruth and I spent about 10 minutes trying to find her a pair of shoes for school -- she is attending catering school and wanted to look nice. She enjoyed talking to me and later took my arm and said that I "was a very nice lady" to help her shop. I think the older girls especially miss having their mothers around to do such things. I know they sure enjoyed just being with us, especially the women. We talked all the way back to Machakos, and she asked me to write to her.

Our group is not particularly young -- most of us in our 40s and 50's, one 38 yr old and one 73 yr old. It was nice to be in a place where we were valued for our years and experience and our grey hair was honored rather than something to be dyed away.

I was continually amazed at the sweetness of these children. So many of them have an underlying sadness that is easy to understand but very little self pity. They depend on God, and each other.

memory books part two

I mentioned that we did another class on Wednesday afternoon 4/25/07 with another group of kids. It went well - they had a blast.

I also found out what I was supposed to do with the rest of the money I took with me. Ellen of course came to my class, along with her friend Agnes, another Tumaini board member. She is a widow who owns a small hotel in another town close by. We were chatting and she asked me about the children I sponsored - I mentioned Ndunda and that I had met his two sisters and was looking forward to meeting the rest of the family on Thursday. She said, oh, I know that family, do you know about the older brother? Samuel? I said (I knew their names from the conversation with Ruth). She said, oh you know them! He is an amazing young man. She then proceeded to tell me their story. Both the mother and father died in the late 90's. Samuel was barely 17 when his father passed away. He kept the family together, made sure the farm was taken care of, and helped his older sister Mary get through teaching school. He started teaching school, but was not able to continue due to lack of funds, and he owes part of his fees to the school. The three youngest siblings (Ndunda, Annah and Ruth) all have sponsors and are doing very well, but he is too old for a conventional Tumaini sponsorship. The hair stood up on my neck. She had no idea that I had funds to help in some way. After considering everything and discussing the situation with Paul to see if he knew if Samuel was serious about school (he is), I decided to divide the remaining cash between Samuel and Annastacia (correct spelling of her name -- just recently found out) to assist them both in returning to school.

Annastacia will be sponsored with half of the money for about a year and then we will find a sponsor to pick her up (my sister Joan has agreed to do this...). We established a scholarship fund for Samuel with Tumaini and after I got home, I found a couple more sponsors (still could use some more however). Paul agreed to tell Samuel about the decision to set up a scholarship fund for him when we went to visit the house on Thursday 4/26.

It is amazing to see how God is working in this situation.

kerry's class

4/25/07 - morning

This morning several of us had the wonderful opportunity to sit with the college age girls in Kerry and Janice's grief recovery class. He told us that they were having a hard time getting any discussion going, and that he was not going to give them an option this morning. They had each been given an assignment the night before to complete "My Story" which they were to share with the rest of the group. There were no volunteers to start, so Kerry picked up an empty water bottle and spun it in the middle of the room -- whoever it pointed to had to start!

All the girls finally told their stories, one by one. Some of them were so poignant that it was hard not to cry a little. I sat next to Ruth Mwanzia, the older sister of my sponsored child, Ndunda. She later gave me a copy of her story -- I will share it with all of you...(most of these were listed in a column -- I am stringing them together in sentences).

My Story

My name is Ruth. This is the story about the loss of my parents. I want to tell you about my life before my parents died. At home, I felt happy and joy with my parents. I was secured. I had parental love and care. I had hope. We had lots of fun when all the family members were present. We shared ideas and stories concerning future life. We had unity and togetherness. We lived as a family filled with harmony and peace.

Then my parents died and I felt loneliness, hopeless, stressed, depressed, inferior, embarassed, worthless, sad, uncomfortable, empty, worried, desparate, useless and frustrated.

My story doesn't end there, I was accepted by Tumaini. I felt happy and joy. I thanked and appreciated for what God had done to me. I was optimistic and hence I could visualize my life. I was secured. I was protected and knew that somebody somewhere loved and cared for me.

Now, I am happy. I know that God has a good plan for my life. God has enabled me to pursue in my education. I am hopeful. I have light in my life. I have realized that the death of my parents was God's will.

I am Ruth. Thank you for hearing my story.

At teatime after this class, Ruth brought Annah to see me (see above picture -- Annah is in pink). I had not had a chance to meet her yet. They are both delightful girls, full of cheer and smiles. We will go to visit their home tomorrow afternoon and they are really excited about it. Laureen and Ellen will finish the afternoon class for me (my dear friends).

Speaking of Ellen, I now get a hand slap and double kiss when I see her -- somewhere between Monday and today, we have started calling each other "Sister"--I don't remember who started it.

memory books - the class

4/24/07 -- mid afternoon

When we returned after lunch, we had a few minutes to prepare and then the 25 kids descended on our room. My other Pathway girls had helped to clean up the room and the desks were arranged in a circle. This school is normally used by high school boys (it is a boarding school) and we were amazed to see electromagnetic theory and formulas written on the chalkboard. Physics! Many of the children have said to me that their science classes are their favorites.

We passed out the books and the kids (all Form 1, approximately the same as 9th grade) looked at them curiously. I started to explain what the idea of the books was -- we felt that each of them was "fearfully and wonderfully made" (one of the Bible verses of the week) and that they were special and unique in God's eyes. The book was for them to record their own thoughts, dreams and wishes and tell special things about themselves, as a memory book to pass along to their own children to tell them how they thought at this age. There were places for pictures, we had many many pens and markers of different colors and stickers which we passed out. I got a lot of blank looks. Ellen told me that 9th graders are just beginning to be taught in English (they can already read and write it) but that they were having trouble understanding my accent! So she explained again in Kikomba -- I started to see heads nodding, and the kids got busy. Some of them were a little afraid to start -- they were not sure what they were supposed to answer. I told them, with Ellen's help, that there was no particular right answer, just what was true and right for each of them.

The hour and a half allotted for the project this day flew by and many of the kids were enthralled drawing detailed pictures and didn't get very far with the written part. We decided to have the kids skip the picture drawing for now (tomorrow's group) and have both groups return Thursday afternoon to finish. We all assisted the kids in understanding the questions, but I found that as soon as they understood, the light would come on and they would immediately have an answer. We took pictures of the kids (see above for a few) and since we had decided not to print them here due to voltage issues, will print them and mail them back to Ellen for the August VBS. She will make sure that each child receives his or her own picture for their book.

Later, it occurred to me that it was possible that these children were never asked these questions and something that we often take for granted may have been an entirely new experience. Some of the kids really enjoyed using the colors -- Michael (see above) decorated his book so beautifully it was a work of art! Many of the kids had incredibly thoughtful responses. Here are some of their responses to some "complete the sentence" questions:

I wonder... why God loves me so much.

I wonder... why my father died.

I wonder... how Americans can love Africans like I so different.

I worry about... my mother and father who loved me much and left me but I am not alone.

I am ...a very funny and storytelling boy!

I am ... active and I love everybody, even my enemies.

One of my big regrets of this trip is that I didn't have time or the resources to make some copies of the books. They were wonderful.

The next afternoon 4/25/07, we repeated the activity with 25 Form 2 kids. They understood me much better and really had a good time with the activity -- they understood immediately what it was about and really got into it. Both groups will return Thursday to work on them some more and the finished books will be handed out Friday morning.