Evans in Africa

You've seen it before.

2010-06-12T18:20:00.004+01:00

Once again, I'm posting a silver-cheeked hornbill on the blog. This time along with a better photo I have a little video. God's creation is fascinating and sometimes funny to watch. Listen to the sounds as you wait for the hornbill to poke its bill out of the branches for a berry. Furahia (Enjoy.)

Angaalia siafu!

2010-05-15T15:03:00.007+01:00

Angaalia siafu! Beware. Safari ants! Also called "army ants". I took this video along the road as we walked to the "lake." (Photo of lake below.) In Zambia we called them impagi (not sure I got the spelling right). In 1998 impagi/siafu came through our yard and completely cleaned-up the roach infestation in our home. The funny thing is that the roach infestation was so bad that nothing was working. So I began to pray about it. Well, I didn't know God would send the impagi or siafu to do the job. But that is exactly what happened. In the rural areas people will move out of their homes for a couple of days and let the ants do the work. The ants do not stay. They march through cleaning up anything that is edible to them. Back in 1998 I saw the roaches running through the grass trying to get rid of the ants that clung tenaciously to their legs and all over their backs. John make the remark today, "Too bad we don't have a big fat roach to drop into the ants." By the way, you don't want to stand too close and have some begin to crawl up your leg. It was either son 1 or son 2 or maybe both that had that experience growing up :(

About the lake. This is normally DRY ground. One of the lecturers here said that the last time she saw it like this was back in 1982! Many of you have already received my prayer request regarding the rain here. If I see any photos of the dams, I'll be sure and post them. God has blessed the rains down in Africa. Now we need a little sunshine!

What do you have in your hand?

2010-05-04T15:11:00.007+01:00

A very short story about a new friend. I'm not going to give all her story as it is very complex and at points distressing. Let me shorten it to say that this woman in the depths of despair and poverty heard God say something like what He said to Moses back in Exodus, "What do you have in your hand?" That staff Moses had in his hand was going to be used to display a little bit of God's power to Pharaoh and the people of Israel. Well, my friend in a dirty refugee camp heard God say the same thing to her. What did she have in her hand? Paper. Bits of paper were all over the camp.

The photo shows you what she makes with her hands with paper and has now trained hundreds of other poor women and HIV+ women to make in order to have their daily bread.

Iko chui moja (There is one leopard)

2010-03-29T19:34:00.006+01:00

Last night a visitor entered our garden from the dirt road behind our house. Apparently it jumped onto the roof of a shed in our backyard and then dropped down into the garden. It then made its way over to the neighbors' yard walking around their house several times. They had been keeping chickens (which by the way were getting into our garden and eating our sukumawiki) but apparently they have taken the chickens to their new home where they plan to move in a month. Anyway, from there the leopard prowled on down to some staff housing jumping onto the flat roof and awakening rafiki mwangu (my friend) at 3AM. She had no idea what it was but she knew it was something big.

John took some great photos of the tracks. He found the tracks after our neighbor (and colleague) told him at work that she thought there had been a leopard in her yard. John wanted to see the tracks, so they went up to her house. John then got our mammal book and compared the tracks to the book and also measured them. They matched with the description of an adult leopard's. He then looked in our yard and pieced together what seemed to be the sequence of its entry. After further checking he discovered it had gone onto the main campus. I say, well done, Sherlock! As far as we know it was not in the student housing area.

So the entire campus is on alert. Leopards are nocturnal, so the evening is when everyone must be careful. The wildlife authorities were notified but they have not visited the campus yet to set up a trap. Apparently, this is not the first time for a leopard to be on campus. I would love to get a photo of it, but I'm not willing to go out looking for it! Tutaonana. (See you later.)

Monkey business and an extra bill.

2010-03-15T15:43:00.006+01:00

Monkey business! A whole troop of these guys are enjoying whatever free food they can find around here. At least they are not baboons. Baboons are aggressive and will attack you to get whatever food you have in your hands. One of our missionary friends in Zambia took his family on a picnic only to be bothered by baboons. In order to get them to go away he started acting like the big chief baboon moving towards them making loud noises and holding his arms out like some football lineman. It worked! The baboons ran away.

This strange looking bird is called a horn-bill, specifically a Silvery-cheeked Hornbill. The extra bill on top of the functional one gives a scary look to the shy bird. Such birds are as large as eagles but they are not predators and only eat insects and fruits. This campus is full of birds, so I'll be putting other bird photos on at another date.

The last interesting bit I want to add is a celebration of a marriage of one of the staff members here. He and his bride come from Ethiopia. At the party the Ethiopian contingency sang a song of blessing to them. The video is shortened to facilitate uploading from this end.

Bathroom blessings?

2010-03-12T10:30:00.004+01:00

A hot shower. What a blessing! A toilet. What a blessing! (Yes, the photo is of our bathroom.) This isn't the typical kind of blessing that comes to mind when we are reminded during difficult times to count our blessings, is it? Today as I thoroughly enjoyed my hot shower I began to feel guilty knowing so many in the world live in areas where water is a big problem. Either they have to walk far to get it, or they have to pay what to them is a lot of money to have a bit of water for cooking or drinking. But then the more I thought about God in the whole scheme of things and His sovereign control, I thought the best thing I can do is to thank Him for the blessing of having a nice bathroom with running water and even hot water. I know not WHY God has blessed me. But I do know He HAS blessed me and that's all I need to know right now.

Hakuna shida

2010-03-10T18:34:00.006+01:00

Hakuna shida. A friend told me today. "No problem." That's my phrase for you to tell your friends :) I have some interesting views for you today, friends, that I saw along the way to see son 2. Can you read the back of this matatu? Interesting acronym. In case you can't read it, it says: Get Higher Education to Teach Others (GHETTO).

The next photo is a HOTEL, though it is hard to read the entire word because of the angle of the photo. I'm still learning to be quick on the click. One thing to understand (I recently learned), when you see Hotel, that means food is served not that rooms are available. So think "cafe" instead.

Kufaidi. (Enjoy.)

Nimeshang'ao (I'm surprized!)

2010-03-03T15:53:00.004+01:00

Nimeshang'ao (I'm surprized!) That's exactly what this three-horned chameleon said to me as I scrambled to photograph him on my way to chapel this morning. Not only did I get some photos I have a little video for you. They are so interesting to watch. Notice his little feet and his slow movements. Enjoy. I hope you can laugh!

Haba na haba hujazaa kibaba

2010-02-21T14:59:00.002+01:00

"Little by little the cup is filled." The Swahili study is going well. It's been about three months since taking 10 days worth of classes and I've continued to add to my base. Thanks be to God. How easy is it to get discouraged when you have so far to go. This week I learned a wonderful Swahili proverb, hence the title of this blog. The story behind it is much like an Aesop's fable.

The photo is of a children's song we learned back in November. The simple translation goes something like this:

The children are saying "Jesus has died." We say "Jesus is alive." From our heads to our feet we say "Jesus is alive."

On that wonderful note, Yesu ya hai, I will close.

Water, bugs, and good stuff on the web

2010-02-01T16:37:00.000+01:00

Here's an interesting question: Which way does the water drain in the Northern Hemisphere? Clockwise? I know there are some scientists who read this blog :) Take a look at this photo of my kitchen sink draining the washing machine water and see the direction it goes in the Southern Hemisphere.

The other night after dinner as
we were sitting around chatting a huge beetle came down the chimney and hovered in the room drawing closer and closer to me. (Son 2 told his mom not to freak out.) It landed on a curtain. That gave us an opportunity to trap it and photograph it! This beetle was about two inches long when not flying. I'm not sure what it is. Can anyone tell me? The spider photo isn't very good but let me tell you that was a big one! Was that a brown recluse or are those only in the USA? Our floor is black so the spider blended in and the camera didn't focus well. I'm sure the camera would have done a fine job focusing if I could figure out manual exposure and such :) Any tips?
New items for you to see. The first is Martyn's new blog if you haven't looked at that: http://grownupmk.blogspot.com/.
The second is John featured on NEGST on-line magazine. http://negst-letter.rowbory.co.uk/2010/01/dr-john-evans-lighting-fires-for-gods-word-in-students-hearts/

Twanane (See you later), E

2010-01-27T10:04:00.009+01:00

Eunice has now started with a program called Global Outreach Bags. She is learning how to make these bags (sorry I don't have a photo of the completed bag) which are environmentally friendly for people to use when they shop. So instead of plastic bags, you can use one of these. I'm still learning about this program myself so I don't have a lot of information about it right now. I met a student here at the college who is involved in it and asked her if she had room for Eunice to join the class. Eventually she was allowed to join. The goal is for Eunice to learn to make these bags and become part of the team which fills orders for customers primarily in the US. She will make a certain amount of money per bag increasing the small income that she earns by washing clothes and mopping floors. It also gives her a skill which she can also pass on to another or one that gives her flexibility. She can even begin to dream! Thanks to you who have prayed for her. God has been answering your prayers!

The next item I'm posting here is just for fun. I was trying to film what it was like along the road to the famous MK school here.

Football a.k.a. Soccer

2010-01-10T16:43:00.008+01:00

Yesterday John and a couple of PhD students went to a football match, but not American football. We're talking about soccer, "the beautiful game" as our sons remind us from time to time. I loaned John my camera, but unfortunately with the power outages we have been having I wasn't able to recharge my camera before the event. The battery died after he had taken only a few shots before the game really got started. Nonetheless, he did take a few good photos that I want to share with you. The teams were Kenya Harambee Stars (fan on left shows his allegiance) versus the Cameroon Indomitable Lions. Cameroon won 3-1.

Kenya Harambee Stars on right. Cameroon Indomitable Lions below.

Too bad Daniel had already gone back to RVA. He would have enjoyed going with his dad. To end the blog I'm going to try and post a video—the walk from our house to the field at the student apartments where Daniel played football with his new friends here. Notice the lovely crops growing. The rain has been good. Tutaonana! (See you.)

What's wrong with this picture?

2010-01-07T18:00:00.008+01:00

Today the sky grew very dark and in a very short time clouds with heavy winds dumped 3/4" rain. The winds took down branches and trees on campus. Part of a hugh tree came down on the power lines causing a leaning tower of Pisa effect and completely bringing down at least one section. Needless to say, we have no power and we don't know when it will be fixed. The college has a generator it runs for the main buildings when the electricity goes out. So I'll be able to send this later and charge up my laptop a bit at the same time.

"If God sends you down a stony path, may He give you strong shoes." Old Irish Blessing.

2010-01-05T14:18:00.004+01:00

Continuation on the Eunice story: Her husband has had difficulty finding any work for some time. He's a painter by profession and there are MANY painters. When he did go to Mombassa about two months ago for some work he ended up very sick with malaria and being admitted into the hospital. Eunice had received a phone call saying that he was extremely ill. Well, in answer to our prayers, he came back home (sadly, no money) but with arms swollen from the IVs. His arms did not get better after a few days. They continued to swell so he had to see yet another doctor. Apparently he was the victim of some medical malpractice. Who knows what they did to him at the government-run hospital. (I've seen plenty of government-run medical care in Africa. It's for the masses who have no choice not those with money.) Anyway, he is now beginning to recover from whatever was done to him. At the same time that happened, Eunice's oldest son started suffering from a boil in his nose. It got so bad that his entire face and ear swelled and he was running a very high fever. He was almost delirious. I told Eunice to get her son some good medical attention right away, so she took him to the emergency room. They did some cutting and draining for the boil, put him on some antibiotics and sent him home. The doctor told her he may not have lived until mo

rning. But through all of this, Eunice continued to trust in God.

It was also around this time that she was going with a friend to get some water there in the slum where she lives. The friend is not a Christian so Eunice was using her time with her friend to share about Jesus Christ. Her friend was saying things like, "How can you trust in God when things are so bad? What good does it do to follow Jesus?" Eunice continued to explain her faith in Christ. Well, when they reached the point where they wold pay for the water and fill their containers, the old man who was selling the water heard some of what Eunice was saying to her friend. He laughed saying to her friend, "Don't listen to that kind of talk. I have never gone to church. I don't believe in God. Look at me. I have plenty of money. I have not just this business but other businesses and I never lack anything. I e

at whatever food I like. I buy whatever I want. I don't live where you live. What do I need God for? God. Ha! " Eunice knew that satan had at that moment tried to snatch away the seeds sown in her friend's heart. Her friend began to join the man's argument. It seemed that all was lost. Eunice has not given up on her friend. She continues to pray for her.

She told me one day, "You can't believe the things I see sometimes. It makes you want Jesus to come very soon." ("What things, Eunice?") "Some women do not want their babies. You will find them down the latrine or thrown behind some places. One day I found one fully (grown) that was lying in a big puddle. The water did not cover the baby and it was twitching all over. I called the police but by the time they came it had died. It was a beautiful girl. You know there are some women who cannot have babies and they want a child very much. Why didn't this woman give hers to one of those women. You just can't believe the things I see. It makes me very sad."

Another day she told me, "Well, it was such a rain last night but it was no good. My neighbors and I usually put our basins outside to collect the rain overnight because then we don't have to pay for water. But this morning when I opened the door to find my basin, it was gone. And so were all the basins of my neighbors. Someone had stolen all our basins!"

2009-12-31T19:56:00.004+01:00

Believe it or not we are not seeing the New Year in at Club Texas though this place is not too far down the road from us. Nope, we're just here on campus doing internet :)

Here is the photo I promised: Eunice. We were having a cup of tea together when I took this. She has a strong faith in God and her smile is worth a thousand words! Eunice comes from Western Kenya. She's a Luya though she says that she is a Christian first. She and her family had to leave where they were living up shortly after the elections because the Mungiki were looking to kill her tribe along with the Luo. So they moved to a huge slum called Kavangware. I hope at some point to travel out there with her and visit her home. Anyway, she is married to Sammy and they have three children: Jasmith (13), Rivaldo (11), and Michelle (3). This January Jasmith will start form 8 (grade 8). Eunice herself has only had schooling through form 7. Her father died when she was in grade 7 and there was not enough money after that for her to go to school. Eunice was the youngest child and was the only one left at home. But her siblings were not in a position to help her with school fees. Eventually she started working washing clothes for some income and then she married around the age of 16. Later on when she had her first two children she just stayed home with them while her husband worked as a painter. But then jobs were getting more difficult and the children were older so she started washing clothes for people again. More later.

Nasema asante kwa Mungu wangu. (I say thanks to my God.)

2009-12-28T10:04:00.012+01:00

Before the end of the year arrives, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! It has been incredibly difficult to get on the internet to blog even though I have much to write. I'm hoping the connection will be better over this week before the students start classes again. Many students are away now in a last attempt to get some rest before they start their heavy schedules in the New Year.

God has been faithful this year and brought me through some "interesting" times. At church yesterday we sang a song with the title of this blog. What was nice is that I understood all the words and could sing them with correct pronunciation :) Thanks be to God.

I want to put some photos of our house on this entry while it is decorated for Christmas. I have a photo of Eunice to put on when I write about some things she shared as I promised though I didn't do it when I said I would. Our house is a duplex as I mentioned before and you can look at previous photos of the outside. I managed to photograph the inside downstairs and stitch the photos together to give you an idea of our living quarters.

There is only one door to the house

oddly enough. (The first photo you are in the entry way. Stairs to the second floor where we have our bedrooms and bathroom is to your right as you face the door from the inside.) When you step into our house,you see one room.(Second photo as large as possible. This is the stitched one.)

The house is an octagon, so if you look closely at the photos you can see the crease where the five walls are. Obviously you can't see the remaining three. Starting from left, the first wall meets the second wall to the left of the window where a wreath of the Manger scene is hanging. The second wall meets the third to the left of the chair standing all alone. The third wall meets the fourth wall to the left of the second window and the fourth wall then meets the fifth wall to the right of the window. This photo is a bit distorted because it was "stitched" together. The room has sharper angles than appear here.

Behind the wall with the bookshelf, jutting out into the one room, is the kitchen. The rooms are too small upstairs for a good photograph. Because the architect was not thinking about space, much needed space was lost in this design. The staircase (rather dangerous) winds around in an angular fashion taking away more living space. The rooms upstairs are various shapes to accommodate the stairs and the odd shaped duplex. Just thought you'd be interested in seeing this.

I'll leave you with one photo that should encourage prayer. Yes, Kenya is getting some rain. But Northern Kenya is still seeing much drought. Look at the cows I photographed on the way to church yesterday. These belong to some Masaai who will take their cattle long distances for green pasture.

Jikoni yangu. (It's just a kitchen!)

2009-11-25T15:35:00.006+01:00

Habari mafiki! Greetings friends! You are looking at our kitchen. Thought you might like to see where we do our cooking and now our clothes washing. No more washing in the bathtub or outside in a plastic tub. We bought a small washer that can be loaded with a bucket and that can be drained into the kitchen sink. As I mentioned before, this house does not have a washer and dryer hook-up. But we simply moved the refrigerator and tucked the machine next to the sink. You can see the exhaust hose is just long enough! The bucket is on top (with some water weighing it down a bit) to secure the hose.

If you look to the right of the stove you can see the blue canister of liquid propane for cooking. Brought the stove from Zambia; it served us well all those years. Bad news now is that the oven won't work. Had someone here unsuccessfully work on it. Oh well. Do you see the white contraption on the counter above the blue canister? That's our water filter. That trusty filter took care of us in Zambia. However, there is a problem with the water supply here in Nairobi. Apparently Nairobi is in an area where volcanoes have ruined the water supply. The flouride level in the water around here is three times more than our bodies can handle safely. Unfortunately, not just any filter can remove the flouride and our trusty filter cannot, sorry to say. Since we do not have the special filter needed to get enough flouride out of our tap water to make it drinkable, John has to lug buckets up a hill from a huge tank that supplies the students with safe water.(Pretty soon he should have muscles on his muscles lol.) The tap water cannot be used for boiling either as flouride is simply concentrated when heated.

I asked Eunice what she did for water in the slums of Kavangware where she and her family lives. Her reply was that they have to go to a special tap and purchase the water. Costs about 5 shillings for 3 liters. That works out to be about $.15 for almost a gallon of water. BTW, Eunice said her entire house is the size of our kitchen. Five of them live there: Eunice and her husband and their three children (13,11, & 3 years). Before she said that about her house I was feeling that our kitchen was small. With Eunice's words, I felt a gentle rebuke from the Holy Spirit. How easy it is to be ungrateful with what we have. Bigger is always better. More is always best. Right? Hmmm.

The past three weeks nilijifunza kiSwahili. (I have been studying Swahili.) I've learned some grammar including the noun classes which require corresponding prefixes or adjectives. Everything has to match in sound. Very different from English. Pardon my ignorance and mistakes as I use Swahili on this blog. The title of this blog "Jikoni yangu" just means "my kitchen" but I'm not sure if I have the right form of the possessive. Is it yangu or wangu or zangu? Please feel free to make corrections on the blog if you know Swahili. Also, please ask questions. I want this blog to be informative but I may not be devoting the time to it that would make it interesting.

Someone asked about the differences between Zambia and Kenya. It appears that Zambians may be more interested in lending a helping hand and quicker to give you the benefit of the doubt. I don't know how many times in Zambia someone helped me out of a predicament. I remember one time in Ndola when I walked out of a store called Shoprite. (Shoprite is a South African chain store like a Walmart but scaled down version.) I found one of my tires completely flat. A few men came up beside me and offered to help. That could be dangerous. The guy could take the tire and run. But this story ended well. My spare tire was put on that vehicle in no time! Another time the vehicle just completely died while I was driving alone. I pulled over and tried to start it. Nothing. Some guys walking by asked me if I had a problem. I got out, lifted the hood of the car, looked under like I knew what I was doing and then I said, "I think so. Can you help?" Long story short there, after looking it over one of the guys poured a coke on the battery cable. Bingo! I'm not sure what would happen here if those situations were repeated. There are many reasons for the differences I mentioned and I may not have observed correctly.

Next blog I want to write some of the stories Eunice has shared with me. Those stories will reveal something of what life is like here in Nairobi for a large percentage of the population. Plus I’ll get a photo of Eunice, too.

2009-11-22T17:44:00.001+01:00

Something to ponder.

2009-11-01T15:36:00.000+01:00

"Is life so wretched? Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddied? You are the one who must grow up."

—Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings

Now we're really shopping.

2009-10-30T14:59:00.008+01:00

Last night the rain poured. Not the best preparation for my time at the market today. The stalls were not completely filled as they probably are normally. Surely the rains were the factor. But there were the dedicated ones or those that just really needed the income they will earn today.

Some even sleep while waiting for a sale.

It was quite a happy day for at least three vendors at the market. Susie, Stephanie, and I came loaded with shillings as the result of a

sale the Ladies Fellowship had on Wednesday this week. The money was raised in order to buy baby clothes for new babies in our midst

and for the ones yet to arrive! Now we were going to

make the shillings stretch as far as they would go, hence our

trip to the market.

We bought around 150 items of clothing if not more and spent around Ksh4,000 or a little over US$50.

You can see our two baskets full of clothes.

These items were in excellent shape—no stains, tears, or much wear. But we had to sift through many piles and look in many stalls.

Care to shop?

2009-10-25T15:07:00.003+01:00

Habari! That's the common anytime greeting here. Basically it just
means, "Hello" or "How are you?" There are many other Swahili words
one can attach to habari to make it more specific such as "Habari
gani?" (What's the news?) or "Habari za kazi?" (How's work?) If you
reply, "Vizuri" (fine) to any of those you have passed the test. Funny
thing about the word "vizuri," my language books have "nzuri"as the
proper reply. Yet vizuri is exactly what I am being told by Kenyans to
say. Eunice, my language coach and laundry helper :) spelled it out
for me and she wrote "vizuri".

As promised, I have a list of some basics and their cost. Though I pay
for everything in Kenyan shillings, I have converted all the prices
into US $. If there is a brand name most are familiar with I included
that brand name. The exchange rate when I bought these items was
around US$1=Ksh74. The really high prices are correct.

Here's the list:

flour (white) 4 lb — $1.43
flour (brown) 4 lb—$1.47
sugar 2 lb — $1.49
butter 1 lb — $5.41
rice (brown) 4 lb — $2.32
rice (white) 4 lb — $2.09
honey 1 lb — $2.55
yogurt (plain) 500 ml (16 oz) — $5.13
gelatine not Jello (small package) $.59
chicken breasts 1 lb — $16.00 (yes, your read right)
beef mince (hamburger) 1 lb —$3.18
cheese (cheddar) 400 gm — $4.80
Heinz ketchup 855gm — $3.85
green beans fresh 1 lb — $1.07
carrots 2lb — $2.72
peanut butter 400 gm —$1.42
fruit juice 32 oz — $1.89
spaghetti noodles 250 gm — $1.14
eggs — 6 for $.96
milk 64 oz container — $3.28
Kleenex tissues 140 count — $3.51
Listerine 250 ml — $4.31
brown bread $.68

Let me know if I don't list an item you are interested in. I wanted to
put more photos in this time but on my side it doesn't look like the
last ones I put in of our house and some friends were added
to the blog. Can you see them? Let me know if you can't. I really want
to put photos and video on here if possible. I'm learning how to do that.

Kwaheri!

A bit of this and that.

2009-10-17T10:23:00.004+01:00

October 17, 2009

Internet access is difficult only because I have to walk somewhere to get on instead of have it in my home. I'm still not completely techy either so I don't do it on a cell phone. Hence, not as much blogging as I had hoped. I'd like to mention a few things in this blog about settling into a house and I'd like to include a few photos. The house that we are occupying now is a duplex. It was built by some Germans in the 70's, I think, for African faculty at NEGST, or so I was told. Because of that the house does not have a hook-up for a washer &/or dryer. I found it a bit disconcerting that putting in a washer hook-up wasn't considered. I didn't want to rush to judgment about why not. Many Africans wash by hand but most Westerners do not. Still, I had a hard to hearing what I did. It is time consuming (for most Westerners time is money) plus you really need to have strong hands for that task! Try doing an hour's worth of hand washing and see how your hands feel. I'm not talking about swishing out some underwear either. Try sheets, blankets, towels, blue jeans and the like.

All of our stuff that had been in storage and transported from Zambia is musky, moldy, and grimy. All that stuff is being washed without a washing machine! It has been a chore. I actually hired a young lady to help me but she can't do it all or the wash would never get done. Add to that two other problems: The rainy season is beginning and the fact that everything hung on the line to dry must also be ironed. Why? Because of what we called the "putse fly" in Zambia. Well, Kenya has that fly too. But I don't know if it is quite as predominate. It lays microscopic eggs on the damp clothes. Those eggs adhere nicely to your skin when you put on your clean clothes. Your skin then becomes fertile growing material for the larvae. Those grow into maggots before they come out of your skin. A very painful process. Unfortunately, our family experienced it in Zambia. It is so painful it makes grown men cry (or want to cry). Just thought you'd be interested :) As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I want to make this an informative blog. Please feel free to comment or to ask me questions. Maybe you want me to take certain photos. Let me know.

Above is a photo of our side of the duplex. Our neighbors on the other side of the duplex are Dr. & Mrs. Nyende. The bigger duplex across the bush fence (you can see in the photo of laundry in the back yard) is home to Dr. & Mrs. Habtu and to Mrs. Mutua and her husband. All are lecturers at NEGST. We've met all our neighbors and even dined at the Habtus. Once we are completely unpacked we will also invite our neighbors over for a meal.

This week we had the pleasure of a meal in the apartment of a NEGST student and his family, who happens to be a TCCA graduate. The Mwaangas have been helping us deal with our culture shock. Believe it or not, we are experiencing culture shock coming as if we are going from Zambia to Kenya and not from USA to Kenya. That means John, Daniel, and I are finding that we are actually making adjustments from being in Zambia to being in Kenya. So the Mwaangas have been helpful. They have been here for over a year now and have already gone through what we are going through. We are also anticipating another TCCA graduate and his family coming to NEGST as soon as scholarship money is available. It is so nice to have a bit of Zambia around. That eases our transition. It was so hard to leave Zambia, as if you didn't already know that!

Next time I write I plan on giving you some prices for items we buy here and give you some exchange rate info for those who love numbers!

OK. Tutaonana! (See you later)

Photos added

2009-10-03T11:32:00.001+01:00

Ever see a sheared sheep in a tree?

Karibuni Kenya!

2009-10-03T09:51:00.002+01:00

Finally here after a 3 month Providential delay. Presently I'm trying to figure out how the internet thing is going to work for doing a weekly blog with photos. Don't know if video will work as the connection is quite slow. Already I had difficulty logging in to blogspot in order to post.

What I'd like to do is bring you into the world here, the REAL world. Let me give you a bit of background for that adjective in all caps. Soon upon our return to the US for home assignment back in 2000, the entire family was having medical check-ups. In my situation a nurse inquired about my work and such. When I told her I worked in Africa, specifically Zambia, and was back in the US for home assignment she remarked, "Well, welcome back to the real world." "Real world? The US is the real world?" I questioned. Anyway, you can imagine we had an interesting conversation. Back to my aim, I do hope that I can give you a glimpse into my REAL world as I experience it in Kenya.

There are a couple of photos I wanted to add to this week's blog. Unfortunately, I can't get the connection to work right, so I'll have to rely upon what words I can use to give you some kind of glimpse into the real :) world this week.

After John and I arrived at the airport after long flights enduring the cattle class seating on two of the flights and being mercifully given a little more leg room on the last flight, we felt completely exhausted physically. But the thoughts going through my head were, "Ah, finally. Africa." As we stood in line at immigration I watched the tourists all around me and didn't note anything obnoxious. I was praying that I wouldn't appear as such. The last thing I wanted was to appear as an "Ugly American." (Tourists from any country can be ugly but Americans are the ones singled out particularly. I've witnessed justification for the label and have probably contributed to it.)

John was over in another line, a very short line, for those holding work permits. He was next in line there when I got his attention and said, "Can you ask the gentleman if your wife can also come to that counter?" John was way ahead of me. The tourist visa line I stood in was much longer though we had dashed off the plane quickly. The immigration officer called me over to John's side. That was good for those in the long tourist visa line and good for us. Happily I presented my passport and paid the $25 visa fee and John and I were on our way to collect "mizigo" luggage. In Bemba, a Zambian language if you had a large load it was called a "katundu." I'm not sure how that would be said here or whether mizigo has that connotation. (At times I may refer to a Bemba word in comparison with a Swahili word, so be prepared.)

A gentleman from NEGST met us at the airport and helped us with the heavy load. We've received a very warm welcome, "karibu." Already we have dined in the home of two lecturers, a British couple and a Korean couple. We look forward to being able to reciprocate and to having staff into our home as well as students.

Speaking of students, John and I had the joy of seeing the Mwaangas. This Zambian family graduated from TCCA back in 2002, I believe. They had been serving in the pastorate when the Lord opened the way for Mweemba to study for a Master's degree here at NEGST. (He was a very hard-working student at TCCA and made good grades. He hopes to go back to Zambia and serve at TCCA. Mweemba would be an excellent lecturer.) John and I walked over to the student flats (apartments) yesterday to visit them. I saw Winnie out hanging up laundry. She was behind her clothes when I called out "Winnie?" Needless to say, it was quite a surprise for her to see her old teacher. Winnie had also been my language helper. She's from the Bemba tribe. Winnie invited us inside where we also saw Mweemba. What a joy to see them!

I think I can speak for both John and myself when I say that it feels as if we have come home though it was Zambia that had been home since January 1997. Neither one of us is feeling culture-shock. What we are feeling is the jet lag. It may be that since Kenya is similar to Zambia in many ways we will not have the kind of culture shock we did when we first went to Zambia. One thing we don't want to do however, is have a mindset that this is Zambia. No. We have much to learn in our new home, Kenya.

God's ways. A mother's thoughts.

2009-08-31T03:27:00.000+01:00

Years ago when we began our mission work in Zambia we had to make a decision regarding schooling our little ones. At the time they were 8, 6, and 4 years old. I had had the wonderful privilege of homeschooling them up to that point but we were finding it difficult to do any "school" as living was more complicated in a good way—people and simple living.

To make a long story short, after visiting a school in Northwestern Zambia called Sakeji, all of us made the decision that the oldest two would begin attending there. At the time I can remember how hard it was for me as a mother to send my little ones off to "boarding" school. Well, the comforting thought came to me that no matter how much I may love my children (and I felt that it was gobs and gobs!) God loves them infinitely better and deeper that I do and that His plan for them that far exceeds my dreams for them.

Though our life has been far from storybook, for we are sinners, God has never failed to show His great love and care for our children as they have grown up in Africa. They have been through many difficulties but God has been there in the midst. One thing we have learned from living overseas is that life isn't like Hollywood movies make it out to be or as our American hopes figure it should be. It's much more complicated and at the same time it is much simplier. And God is much more Awesome than we can ever possibly imagine. He has shown me that in the countless ways He has loved the dear children he has given me.

This has come to me forcefully again as our youngest son was kept providentially from boarding a plane to Kenya this past week. Little did we know at the time that God was protecting his life. Two days after he was delayed in boarding his flight he ended up having an emergency appendectomy this past Friday evening. Just another story of God's sovereign loving rule over His loved ones.

The time comes to fly away.

2009-06-08T18:48:00.000+01:00

Dear Praying Friends,

I want to begin this month's blog with some quotes to ponder from St. Augustine taken from a book, Early will I Seek Thee, which is a compilation of short essays from his many works.

Here are the quotes:

"This is a warning: If you wish to fly to God, there are those who want to pluck your wings!

I am saying—take heed— . . .

If you love earthly things, you wander from God. Listen to this warning: The body wanders in places; the soul wanders by affections. To love God is to throw off every spiritual weight that will keep your soul from rising to Him."

It won't be much longer before we leave for Kenya. Lord willing, we will leave the US on June 29 and arrive on June 30 to settle into our new work at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. Our desire is to do this work with all our might by the grace of God, to be a blessing and to be blessed. If our time in Kenya is anything like what we experienced in Zambia we know it will a blessed time. And so in Kenya we want to be used of God to touch the lives of others. We also want to grow in our love for Jesus Christ our blessed Savior. Pray towards that end.

Pray too for safety in our travels and for God to give us opportunities along the way to share His love.

I'm actually already transitioning mentally. If you want to know more about that, you can ask me.

Grace & Peace

The beginning

2009-05-01T18:43:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

We will begin our new blog with dedication and praise to our Lord God Almighty for all His wonderful works, especially for salvation through Jesus Christ. Praise to the Lord!

This is a test blog to see if we can actually do this sort of thing before we leave for Kenya in June. If you have any problems or suggestions for this blog let me know. I may not be able to solve the problems but your suggestions will certainly be considered carefully. Anyway, we hope it will be interesting and informative as time goes by.

God's blessings on you, our praying friends.

Elizabeth