Sian and Amy Mallett

Mount Kenya and Maji Moto

2012-02-20T17:55:00.001+03:00

So since I've last blogged, we have had two really big adventures.
A few weeks back, PACU took a school trip to Mount Kenya. There was about 50 of us. We were supposed to leave PACU at 6 am, but Africa time, we left at 6:45, drove the 5 hours to Mount Kenya, stopped to pee (thank goodness!!! I was about to burst by the time we arrived), took some pics, and then we hiked the 9 kms up to base camp, which is 10,000 kms above sea level. It's cold up there, and it's a long, difficult hike. I made it up 8 kms, then my lungs began to give me trouble, so I had to ride the last km to base camp. We had some lunch and told each other riddles, John Wesley (one of Sian's profs) gave a little speech (no big surprise there), took some more pics, then we made our way back down. That was a long, very tiring, but very rewarding day.

Our stop in Muranga Town on the way up put us in contact with the only "Starbucks" in Kenya. It's not quite the same...

At the main gate.

The long haul up begins.

Reached the top!

Goofing around.

More goofing around.

Canadian pride!!!

Descending.

On our way out.

So that's our Mount Kenya trip in a nutshell. Sorry I didn't take more pics en route: it wasn't too scenic on the way, the road was surrounded by trees and bamboo and we couldn't really see too much of anything.

Last Wednesday, Sian and I had the pleasure of delivering 6 Bumbo chairs to Happy Life that had been sent with Cal Anthony from Ontario! You see, because the babies don't get held as much as they should, their back muscles don't develop properly and they have a difficult time learning how to sit, crawl and walk. As I mentioned before, Happy Life has a physiotherapist who comes to work with the babies a few times a week, stretches them, and props them up against the wall to get those muscles strengthened, but they are always sliding down and she can only work with five babies at a time. So I thought about these Bumbos and how they are designed to combat these very problems. I told my mom about it, and the project totally took off! She began to look into Bumbos and discovered that they are manufactured in South Africa (though not distributed to any African countries), and is run by Marathana, a Christian organization who puts a portion of the proceeds back into South African communities in a variety of ministry formats. There was a number of people and groups who donated directly to this undertaking, including, but not limited to, the Port Rowan Community Church's senior youth, as well as the ladies in the Woodstock General Hospital's medical records department. And together, my parents we able to pull together 6 new and used Bumbo chairs and we able to send them with Cal Anthony, who is with the Eastern Ontario District of the PAOC and came to Nairobi last week. So last Wednesday, Sian and I delivered the chairs to Happy Life. The staff were thrilled! They wanted us to express their most sincere, heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated. As soon as we brought them upstairs into the nursery, the ladies on duty just began to plunk babies inside until they were full! SO ADORABLE!!! Their little heads just bobbed! There are a few pictures below (sorry about the poor quality, we took pics with our video camera because our picture camera was dead. I will take better ones this week.)

Since I had been sick this last month, I've been staying away from Happy Life, so as to not spread my virus. So when we arrived, the staff informed us that they had received two new babies while I had been gone: Baby Sean, and Baby Amy. This is Sian with Baby Sean...

And me with Baby Amy. Apparently we're connected somehow, because Baby Amy has been sick this last month as well! So we had a little chat and we decided that now it's time to get better ;)

So our second little adventure took place this last weekend. Sian goes to school with a guy named Jackson, and Jackson is Maasai. The Maasai is one tribe of the 52 in Kenya. The Maasai are the inhabitants of the world famous "Maasai Mara" safari. Like, the picture that you have in your mind of "African plains", this is where they live. So, this last weekend, Jackson took us to see his village in Maji Moto, a region within the Mara. We had arranged to sleep in the Guesthouse in Maji Moto, along with a documentary team from Central in St. Catharines (small, small world...), and Rob Beyer here in Nairobi (who sort of maintains the Guesthouse in Maji Moto) arranged for this doc team to see the whole traditional Maasai stuff, so we kind of piggybacked on their being here.

We took a taxi Friday afternoon into downtown Nairobi to catch the shuttle to Narok (the shuttle is actually my previously mentioned "Shadow" van from the Kakamega post. There's the accent for ya...) The shuttle is basically a matatu with a lot more leg room that is used as public transport for longer journeys. So we took the shuttle 2.5 hours into Narok, and from Narok, took another taxi 1 hour into Maji Moto. The road our of Narok is paved, then turns into a dirt trail road through the savanna into Maji Moto. We arrived at the Guesthouse at around 5pm, and a group of about 10 Maasai men were there in the full traditional Maasai outfits. The red cloth patterned with blue, black, striped and checkered; the stretched earlobes and pierced and slightly stretched helix; all the Maasai jewelry; everything, picture perfect for the doc guys. The first thing they invited us to do is Warrior Training (basically dodgeball with these green stick weeds that whiz through the air and leave huge welts if you get hit). I wasn't allowed to play because I'm a woman, but I was totally cool with that. After Warrior Training, they did their music and dance and jumping. Their music is all vocal. The leader sings the melody while the other Maasai sing harmonies, and utter these sweet guttural sounds that sound like clearing one's throat from the very bottom of the lungs (I have no idea how they do it. I'll have to post the video.) Their dance is a combination of a bunch of different moves led by one and the others follow behind in a line, turn and back, doing the same move as the leader. One of the moves done often is kind of like doing the wave, leading with their head and rolling down their neck, shoulders and down through the lower body. They also incorporate a forward head bob similar to the way a bird moves it's head when it's walking. (Like I said, I'll have to post the video.) They are also very famous for their competitive jumping dance. They get into a circle or semi circle, and one or two at a time go into the middle and show their stuff (similar to a Western dance-off). They jump as high as they can, maintaining an upright posture, and they never let their heels touch the ground. They jump maybe four to seven times, then retreat back into line. It's their cultural way of showing off for the girls ;). After all of this, they made a fire. They use a flat piece of wood with a small round hole in it, a rounded dowel-like stick and a machete. They place the machete on the ground, the flat wood on top of with the hole over the machete, making a cross shape with the hole in the cross-point. Then the insert one end of the dowel into the hole and twist the dowel back and forth, creating friction between the wood and the dowel, which creates hot ash like coals on the machete. The coals are then transferred from the machete and buried into a pile of dry donkey dung. The process is repeated five to eight times until they have enough coals inside the dung to light the dung on fire. And there you have fire. While they were making fire, the storm that had rolled in began to let loose rain (odd, since it's the dry season and has not rained in two months, and isn't supposed to rain for another month). Once the rain sort of let up, they began preparing supper. Which was goats. They were alive when we arrived, and we ate them for supper. If you are squeamish or an intense animal lover, scroll down to the asterisks.

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They lay the goat down on some leafy branches, so as to not spill blood on the ground (that would attract some very large predators), suffocate the goat by clamping it's mouth shut and covering it's nostrils. When the goat is no longer breathing, they slit the goat's throat, and, by tradition, drink the blood right from the throat. They collect the rest and it is used as a source of iron (absolutely no spiritual connotations about this process, it is simply them not wasting their resources). Once the blood is pretty much drained, they skin it, extract the ribs and meatier portions and BBQ them the way we do hot dogs, only the stick the pokers into the ground and let them cook over coals. They cook everything- nothing goes to waste. They boil the organs in water and gathered herbs into a soup, except the liver, which the BBQ like the ribs, and they fry the smaller meaty portions. Sian wants me to add that he was offered a raw kidney, and that he accepted (GROSS!!) but he's proud of it. Okay, I think the gory is done.

************************************************************************************ No worries, my squeamish friends, both me and a guy from the doc team couldn't bear to watch most of this process. Anyway, so that was supper, which we ate by the campfire, since it's pitch black by 6:45pm (and when it's dark in Africa, it's DARK. Absolute. I can hold my hand in front of my nose, touching the tip of my nose with my palm, and not see my fingers. It engulfs everything. Night is BLACK in Africa.) After supper, the Maasai took us for a night hunt. Maasai are very conscientious about development and seek to avoid it, yet some modern conveniences like flashlights and oil lamps are used often. This may get a little too graphic for our animal lovers, so again with the asterisks.

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The Maasai have these heavy wooden clubs called rugus which they throw at their smaller prey. They will have a handful of guys, and when they see a smaller animal, like the jumping rabbit that we saw, they run towards it, surround it, and chuck their rugu at the animal. If it was intended to be dinner, they would aim for the head and intend to kill, but when we went, they used lighter, unclubbed sticks, just intending to stun it long enough for us to get a look, then let it go.

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Welcome back (for your peace of mind, as before mentioned, the hunt was not to kill, but to stun so that we could watch how they would have done it in real). After this, we walked over to the manyatta's (village's) watering hole, where, at night, herbivores such as zebra, gazelle, buffalo and antelope will come and drink. Our Maasai men informed us that these animals come to drink around 9pm, and that the lions know it, so they set themselves up accordingly. So we needed to be back indoors before 9pm. Since it was still early, we went to the hot springs. The guys all went in, but being the only girl, me and Jackson chatted just up the way a bit until they were finished (I'll describe it tomorrow night). This was partially due to the fact that Maasai men and women bath in separate springs and since the Maasai guys were there, I didn't want to offend that, plus it would have been really awkward. After the guys were done, we wandered around in the dark for a while, which is not very relaxing, since the savanna floor is littered with cacti and thorny trees and these little prickly bushes that stick you if you walk into them. After our little wandering, we went back to the Guesthouse and sat around the fire and drank chai (which is caffeinated, but I didn't think about it). Tried turning in at eleven pm and laid awake in bed until four am. Then up again at seven am. I was not impressed...

So Saturday, the doc team went out to look for animals in the early morning. a little later on, Jackson, who had returned to his manyatta for the night, came back to collect us and take us back again with him. So we walked the African plains for an hour and a half, 4 kms to his manyatta to meet his family (we've heard many Africans refer to a 4 km walk as being 'just there' as in, "Jackson, how far is this walk?" "Oh, it's just there." "Jackson, how far is just there?" "Hmmm, about 4 kms."). His manyatta had a few mud and stick huts, a booma (spelling?) which is the protected corral where they keep their livestock overnight and a lot of adorable kids covered in flies! We met the dignitaries, the children greeted us by bowing approaching us with bowed head, which you touch your hand to, which signifies respect for their elders. We then went into his family hut, which is mud walls, no windows, a fire to cook over, and raised 'beds' which is a wooden platform with goat skins overtop that you sleep on. So there is no light, little air from the fire's smoke and it's about 110 degrees, because the fire is only coals, and there is no ventilation. So we sat and had chai with Jackson's mother and sister-in-law, and they gave us Maasai names. They named Sian Leshan because Leshan is the name given to a baby born when it's raining, and when Sian arrived Friday, so did the rain. So he was Leshan, and she named me Naserian which simply implies peace or blessing. After we finished chai, Jackson showed us around his village, then we headed back to the Guesthouse, where the doc team was packing up to leave. We had lunch, chatted for a bit, said our goodbyes and they headed out. Jackson left to tend to something or other (he's a busy guy in his area), so Leshan and I took a nap (8 kms on 3 hours of sleep in the heat of the day will do that to a girl). So we just relaxed for a bit. Then at 4pm, we headed over to the Girls Boarding High School where Jackson taught C.R.E. for a term (Christian Religious Education, mandatory in the Kenyan school curriculum). On the walk over, it began to pour rain (Leshan...) but it let up while we were inside. So they had a fellowship, which involved singing and dancing, Jackson gave a message, then we danced and had a sort of coffee, chocolate, tea mixture which was really good. Then we headed back to the guesthouse. We got our shower things together, and headed over to the hot springs, just Sian and me and Jackson and one of his Maasai buddies, Josh. Jackson and Josh stood guard while Sian and I went in. The hot spring was this shallow pool that has hot tub temperature water flowing into and out of. So you can lay on your back, half submerged in this lovely hot water, and stare through the trees at the stars, and the stars in the Mara are unlike any I have ever seen. Firstly, they are different stars than the ones you see in Canada, and among them is this huge streak of the Milky Way. I have never in my life seen so many stars so clearly. It takes your breath away. It makes you not want to look at anything else (which is dangerous when you're walking). And they flicker, like they dazzle. I can't even begin to describe it. It's like shining a flashlight at a spinning disco ball and the reflections light up thousands of tiny, perfectly cut diamonds laying on an enveloping, unreflecting woolen blanket that is the blackest of black. You know, that comparison is pretty lame, and does not even do the smallest amount of justice to those stars. I'm just going to stop trying. So we showered up in this bath (the stream where the water trickles in is hot enough to boil an egg. Seriously. Jackson was going to bring an egg to show us.) and we headed back to bed.

Sunday, we walked around the village in the early morning, spanned some final pics, went to the Maasai church, where they danced and sang, then the pastor began saying something or other in Swahili, and another guy translated into Maasai, all the while these seven little girls were all squishing right up next to me, trying to get to be the one to sit next to the mzungu. Then the pastor invited us up to say something, which was translated (it feels so unnatural having your words be translated), then we were invited to sit up at the front behind the pulpit while the pastor preached (I'm assuming). Then did some sort of altar call, where a bunch of people surrounded the stage and were praying and praising (could've been in tongues, but I really have no way of knowing), then Jackson, who had been preaching elsewhere, pulled us out of service because our "taxi" was here to take us back to Narok. I say "taxi", because this car was the greasiest, nastiest, most falling apart piece of junk either of us has ever seen. Sian said his crappiest field beater was in better shape than this thing. So we rattled and shook and crackled our way up the dirt road, attempted (poorly) avoiding all the potholes and bumps and washed out areas, until we finally got onto the paved road into Narok. Once we were on the paved road, the driver put the pedal to the metal. It sounded like we were going to take off, like in an airplane. I guess the car couldn't handle to speed, because we're going along at like 80km/hr or so (seemed much faster) and the hood flew up, ripped off and flew over the roof of the car, landing in the ditch. So the driver stops the car, begins to back up, swerving from one ditch to the other ditch, back and forth, all over the road, as if backing up can't be the least bit straight, gets close, and runs over hit hood. We told him that he ran over it, so he stopped, and we were right on it, so he pulls ahead, throws the hood back onto the car, ties it on with this frayed piece of binders twine that he had kicking around in the boot, and continued on. About five minutes up the road, we get a flat. So we call another taxi, throw some rocks at a plastic bottle in the ditch for about twenty minutes while we wait, finally the second taxi comes and takes us ten minutes up the road into Narok. We caught a shuttle back into Nairobi, and then a taxi home to PACU, where we are dusty and sunburnt something is rotting in the garbage (which we forgot to empty before we left) and, or course, we have no water. Anyway, I'll save you the boring old details. So that was our weekend! I'm going to post those pics now, then I'm going to let Sian have the laptop because I've been typing this thing for like three hours (again, so sorry about the length, I just didn't want to leave anything out).

Warrior Training

Storm rolling in.

Building fire. Sian tried his hand at it.

Preparing dinner.

Suppertime Friday, and my feet were FILTHY. It's so dusty out there!

Proceed with caution if you are squeamish....

BBQ

On our way to Jackson's manyatta.

Jackson's sister-in-law preparing chai. I really had no idea of anything that was in there until I looked back at the picture taken with the flash. I've had friends who have been in these huts, and looking back at their pics, realized there were people in there that, the whole time, they had no idea were there!

Cuties.

Kids in the booma. This one was a day and a half old.

And back to the Guesthouse.

Sian goofing around. What else is new?

Jackson speaking at the Girl's School.

They pulled me up there to dance, but white people just can't move like they do!

I told you I can't move like that!!! They just laughed...

Where the ladies to laundry.

The watering hole.

The hot springs. You can't really tell, but they were amazing. Sian wants to build one in our backyard when we have a house someday.

Church. The specks in all the dancing pictures is the dust they kick up.

Our flat...

Waiting.

Anyway, we love you all, and so appreciate your support, your prayers, and even that you care enough (or are curious enough) about us, that you take the time to keep up with what we're into. We can't tell you how encouraging it is to know that we aren't alone over here.

We love you! And again, I apologize for the length (I'm getting really bad at this short-and-sweet thing)... Sorry, sorry!!!

On the Ups

2012-02-02T19:34:00.003+03:00

I've been sick. For the last week, I've been sicky. Very heavy chested, and every time I lay down, all the congestion that is weighing on my lungs, oozes into my throat, and I choke and cough and hack and it's very unpleasant. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday of last week, I ended each evening with a nasty fever and crazy nausea. Then Saturday, I got some yucky liquid medicine that at least took away the fever and nausea. We attempted to see a doctor that day as well, but it was going to be a two hour wait, and I figured it's just a virus that's going around, because quite a few people around have been feeling the same way. Dr. Gary Cymbaluk is another PAOC missionary who is teaching here at PACU, and he said he had the exact same thing last year at this time and it lasted a month with him. (Oh, please, no.)
Saturday night, after excitedly purchasing this medicine that will give me my life back, I learned the hard way that the recommended dosage can't always be trusted. The dosage reads, and I quote, "20ml (four 5ml medicine measuresful) four times daily." (measuresful isn't even a word, but I am quoting exactly what it says.) So I read that as 20ml four times daily, because if you use brackets (which I do a lot, as you can see), you should be able to remove the brackets and read the sentence as intended, correct? So that's how I read it. 20ml four times daily. Seemed like a lot, but I was too excited to get some relief to question it. It was afternoon by the time we bought it, so that day, I took two 20ml "measuresful". I took the first on my way home, and when I got home, I passed out and slept for an hour. It advertises that it "aids in restful sleep" and one of the side effects listed is drowsiness, so I didn't think anything of it. But after my second "measuresful", taken right before bed, I was wide awake. As I lay in bed, I could feel my muscles trembling, the way they do when you put too much weight on, like, your arm for too long and it starts to shake. It felt like that, only inside. It didn't hurt, just weirded me out. I slept for a total of one and a quarter hours that night. Yep, I think it's safe to say that I ODed last weekend. Weird.
Anyway, these last couple of days, it's turned into more of a heavy chest cold; runny nose, scratchy throat, but no fever and no nausea (yay!), so I've been weaning myself off of the juice box.
We lost power over the weekend as well, two full days, and Sian got food poisoning again Monday night, this time from spaghetti (last time, it was samosas, but Sian ate spaghetti in between and that came up too). Sian knew right away what it was, so I stayed up until 3am, praying and asking God to spare me the trauma (see food poisoning, take one post) and deliver Sian from the harmful bacteria in his stomach by pushing it deep and deeper into his intestines where it would be rendered harmless and useless (I know this goes against the natural order of things, but I was desperate). And Sian did not throw up once. I can't explain it. Sian has said a number of times since that night that he thought for sure, so many times that night, that he was going to throw up everywhere. He was sure of it. But I think God heard me and had compassion. Hmmmm... :)
AND, as if this past week hasn't been a big enough of a train wreck, I was deleting some files yesterday, trying to make some more room on our little Air, and I must've deleted some supporting files. At first, the trash bin couldn't empty, then Safari wouldn't open, so I tried restarting it, and it wouldn't boot. At all. So we had to take it in. The techie hacked in, retrieved all our files, restored the whole thing to factory settings and upgraded it to Lion (cool). He was quite prompt, we got it back this afternoon and everything seems to be here. It was just a pain.
So, yes. That's been our week.
Oh! But, we were on our way home today, and we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some stuff, and Sian found Pepsi! Don't get me wrong, we have access to a lot of soda here, but it's mostly Coca-Cola products, which we have never complained about (Dad), but Pepsi tastes different. So Sian bought a can of Pepsi......... And I took six sips......... And it took me back. All of a sudden, I felt like I was driving home from a Saturday at the beach, home to shower, get ready and go out for a nice little dinner at MT's with my Sian. All of a sudden, I was sitting on my parent's front porch in late spring watching the rain fall through the leaves in the early evening. All of a sudden, I was sitting on the floor in my parents' bedroom watching an oldie but goodie with my baby sister some Sunday afternoon. I remembered Merrittville Saturday nights, and big, loud family gatherings, and obscene quantities of clementines at Christmas, and all the way back to 7/11 slurpies in my early childhood. Oh, Pepsi.
Sian just came back from volleyball, and he's in the shower, and he's reminding me to write about cold showers. A few days before we left for Kakamega, the shower head that heats our water broke, so now we have nothing but icy showers. We asked our groundskeeper to look into it, he promised us that they would fix it the morning before we left, and nobody came. We reminded him again when we returned, somebody came to look at it last Wednesday, turned it on and off a couple of times, told me that it was broken (duh) and would have to be replaced, and that he would have to tell our groundskeeper that it needs to be replaced. And we haven't heard back since. We don't really want to go nagging a third time for the same issue, but cold showers are really not that enjoyable. (We arranged for our groundskeeper to put a bar on the towel rack in our bathroom so that we can actually use it and we are still waiting on that. We asked him the second week we were in Africa.... Yep. Given up on that one.)
Anyway, that's all for now. Nothing really interesting, I suppose, but I figured I'd keep you all up to date. We're going to climb Mount Kenya this Saturday, so I'll probably tell you about that one afterward too.
Love you all!

Kakamega- beware, this one's a longy

2012-01-25T22:45:00.000+03:00

Sian and I went up to Kakamega this past weekend. To be honest, I wish I could say it was all straight forward, but I had a lot of mixed emotions about going, and even now after returning to Nairobi. To start out, I really didn't want to go. It is at least a 6-7 hour drive, and I was a little paranoid that we'd be carjacked. I'm not really fond of the guy we were going to visit, but he is Sian's good friend, and Sian was determined to go. So I agreed and wrestled to get my attitude right. We took our malaria preventatives, packed up and were ready to go on Friday at 12:00pm sharp.
Well, firstly, we were told that we would be going with a group on this long, bumpy ride in a nice, luxurious Shadow van. It's supposed to be this lovely, roomy, relaxing vehicle suitable for long trips. We were piled into, not a Shadow van, but a run-of-the-mill private matatu van. Any of you who have been to Africa, you know all about matatus and the type of vans they are. I felt nervous about letting my own skin directly touch the seat I was sitting on. And my butt was more flat than I have ever felt in my life. Even the three day drive to and from North Spirit Lake on a regular bus seat was better than those benches.
Secondly, we were told that we would get to see Kakamega, just hang out all chill with the kids at the orphanage, really just relaxed. We were surprised with the request to run children's ministry and do church service Sunday morning. That wasn't a big deal. I was fine with that, just wasn't expecting it.
Thirdly, we were told we would be returning Sunday afternoon so that the students would be back for their Monday classes. Halfway through the ride up, the trip was suddenly extended to Monday morning, which meant that we had to stay almost a full day extra and cause the students to miss their classes. Whatever, that wasn't a terrible thing, just, again, not in the fine print.
So it was a long ride up, and I was trying really hard not to be irked. And the whole way up, pedestrians are looking into the windows and staring and pointing at the mzungus in the matatu, as per usual. About two hours from Kakamega, we stopped for a pee break, and when we got back in the van, there were two extra men in the van. Apparently we were going aid a couple of hitchhikers. Uh huh. Trying really hard not to be irked. Or nervous. A lovely headache began to set in, but we eventually arrived safe and sound, around 8ish. The orphanage was called Mission to the Fatherless.
We were greeted with 47 beautiful smiles gleaming in the dark, each orphan wanting to shake our hands and introduce themselves. We were showed our rooms, then ushered into the common room for dinner. We had sharp sukumu wiki and soggy spaghetti that tasted impeccably similar to the way Sian's food poisoning barf smelled way back when. Not a big fan of either, but mixed, it wasn't bad. My headache had gotten really bad, so I willingly turned in early.
Our room had two single beds consisting of a wooden frame, itchy woollen bedding, an old foam mattress that was too thin in all the wrong places, claustrophobic mosquito nets, no towel in the bathroom and no pillows on the beds (good thing I brought two of our own). And as I lay there, pouting, fighting off my annoyances and irks and failing miserably, sort of muttering under my breath all the reasons I didn't want to come, the kids in the common room next door began to sing. Praises. To their loving God. First in English, then in Swahili. And you know, there is something about people singing in their mother tongue. It delivers them incredibly deeper level of intimate worship. A deeper level that, even a mzungu who doesn't speak Swahili can notice, can see, can feel. I was in the building next door, and just heard them, heard their intimacy with their God, their Deliverer, their Provider and their Friend. And I was convicted. Hard. And I wept. And I thought 'Stink, here I am, little Miss Priss, acting all snooty and put out, and next door are 47 vulnerable orphaned children, who have nothing to call their own, and they just love and praise and worship and are so thankful to their beautiful loving Saviour for letting them live day-to-day.' And I wept. I apologized to God for my selfish, self-centred, picky, icky, nasty attitude. And I apologized to Sian when he came in to bed for dumping it off on him. Don't you just love how the Holy Spirit does that? Hmm, I so do. I needed a wake-up call.
Saturday morning, Sian was up at 5:00am because there is a mosque right behind the orphanage and they start their chantings nice and early. Everyday. So Sian went and offered to take the kids to school since he was up anyways, and had to make three trips (yes, they attend school on Saturdays and every fourth Sunday even. Their school days run from 6am until at least 5:30, sometimes as late at 8. I know, my mouth dropped too.) I, on the other hand, got to sleep in until about 8, got ready, then went out. We sat out on the patio and had chai and ndazi (yummy).
Then at around 11ish we went to the hospital because a couple of the kids needed to get their typhoid shots. The director of the orphanage is also the doctor at the hospital there, so we got to meet him. And he asked us to pray over some of the sick patients there. So we had the opportunity to pray over the sick. We were introduced to four of the patients there at the time and one of our team, in true African pentecostal fashion, he prayed and urged them to believe in faith. The doctor there said, "We can only treat. It is only God who can heal." On our way back to the orphanage, we stopped and bought some big jugs of bottled water for Sian and I since we would get the Africa runs if we drank theirs since we aren't used to it, and we got some little treats and supplies for the games we were going to run that evening.
We came back to the orphanage, only to leave again right away. There was supposed to be a 'Parent-Teacher' for one of the high schoolers who had been raised in the orphanage, but was now boarding at a high school outside of Kakamega. So we took off on an hour long, sweaty matatu ride down bumpy, dusty roads. We heard somebody say once that when you drive down roads in Africa, you have to maneuver the roads based on which pothole is smaller. Saw some cool things though. Wanna talk about typical Africa! Sugarcane fields, and tea plantations, and mud huts with straw roofs, and dust roads with barefoot African women walking in bold print dresses and carrying anything and everything on their heads, and kids running after tractors transporting sugarcane and collecting what falls off. I so wish I had had my camera. We got to the high school, got out, stretched our legs, chatted with the high schooler for a bit while their meeting was going on, then headed back to Kakamega. On the way, there was a lady who was selling fruit on a corner surrounded by sugarcane fields, and we asked her if she was selling any. She must have said no (the whole conversation was in Swahili) but why didn't we just get out and get some. So we did. We got out of the van, and walked right into the field and picked some sugarcane. Big long shoots! Then we climbed back into the van and waved down a tractor that was carrying some, and asked if we could have a little for the kids at the orphanage, and he gave us like 7 big thick shoots. Of course, me and Sian both had no idea how to go about it, so we just observed and attempted and failed badly, but, oh, is that nectar sweet. Sugarcane, if you've never seen it, looks like a tall grassy plant, ten feet tall easily, but the sugarcane itself looks kind of like bamboo, but more tan than green. And the shoots can be like an inch or an inch and a half in diameter. The thicker the shoot, the sweeter the nectar. And the inside is like a soft wood that is saturated with sugar-sweet nectar. It tastes just like the sugar we buy here, but liquid. And sticky. And you have to peel off the bamboo-like outside in strips and then you can bite the softer inside, and every strip and bite you take, this nectar just oozes out, down your chin and all over your face and onto your hands. And you get so sticky and it's fantastic! Way better than any candy. Plus, it's supposedly whitens your teeth too :) Bonus!
So we got back to orphanage around 5 or 6, hung out with the kids for a bit, Sian played some football (soccer), I shelled some peanuts with two little sweethearts. Then we prepared and did our games. We did a water balloon under-over/potato sack combo, which was very fun and funny. Then we went into the common room and played a balloon stomp game, then did a heated round of musical chairs. The kids loved it. Then we ate. We had ugali, sukumu wiki and some kind of traditional chicken. It was quite chewy, but the chicken had been running around the orphanage that morning. Probably free-range, grass-fed ;)
After dinner, the kids had a little talent night, then we gave them sweets and sent them to bed (cruel, I know.)
Sunday, the mosque man woke us both up at 5am, then the church that is just next door started their sound checks at around 6:30 with "Check, check, 1, 2, 3 HALLELUJAH! Check, HALLELUJAH!" We got up at 8, got ready, had chai, hard boiled eggs, peanuts and bread with jam. We did service there with the kids. Sang a few English songs, then they were led in Swahili, and man, it just punctuated that, no matter how amazing we do and English song, any Swahili song will deliver them into their element, into their worship. We had a girl from PACU share her testimony and had great encouragement for the kids. Then after we had finished, we were taken to another orphanage outside of Kakamega called Victorious Children's Home.
There were around 30 or 40. We came in, did the sameish service all over again but this time with an interpreter, during which my camera battery died. Erg! Then we had some incredible chai and jam sandwiches. Then the kids took us and showed us around their orphanage, they took us to their school up the road, gave us more sugarcane. There were two kids who took my hands from the beginning, never told me their names, but the girl told me all about Kakamega and their land and their fruit and their school and her favourite things to do and favourite things in school and their planting projects and their sugarcane. Her English was quite good, which I very much appreciated. They gave us sugarcane, and my two little friends laughed as they watched me attempt mine. They showed me how to do it properly, and I promised that I will practise and if we come back again, that I will come and show them how good I've gotten and they laughed and laughed. We returned to the orphanage, the kids brought back some really thick sugarcane. We had sodas and a dish whose name escapes me, it was kidney beans and uncooked corn in a tacky paste. And the kids put on music and they danced to it. Oh my, some of those kids can really move. I mean REALLY move. Then we were rushed off. As I was putting on my sandals, my little friend, the girl, came to me with a black baggie, and inside was some of that thick sugarcane, sliced nicely and easy for any beginner to eat. And she said that it was her gift to me to help me practise. Oh! Melt my heart. We had only been there a few hours, but leaving there was tough. Both she and the other little boy stood outside my window seat and waved and waved until we were no longer in sight. I didn't even realize that I had never gotten their names until we were gone. And I haven't stopped kicking myself for not asking.
On the way back, we dropped the van off to be fixed or washed or something (You know the entire time we were there, I never knew what we were doing, or why. I just did as I was told.) so we walked back to Mission to the Fatherless. It was only about the distance of a couple of blocks. It's funny though, because I felt more comfortable being in a group of Africans in a city that I don't know than in a group of mzungus in a city I do know. Weird.
We got back, we got some of the kids together and let them ask us some questions about university, one asked about Canada, then we did some Bible trivia. A couple of those kids really know their stuff. I mean little teeny details.
A few from our team went out to watch the Arsenal vs Man U game, so we had supper with the kids. Soggy seashell pasta which turned out to be tasty, ndengu and chapatis (another yummy!). The kids stayed up late getting the last of their homework done (they get beaten if they don't), then we all got together, prayed together, thanked them for having us and gave them more treats before bed (again, I know, cruel), said our goodbyes and then we packed up and went to bed.
The next morning was early. We were up at 4:30am and I wanted to make a lot of noise and wake up the mosque and see how they like it! We left at 5:30am (that's Africa time for ya, and let me tell you, it is COLD at that time of morning). Our driver decided on his own that he was going to take us the scenic route. I got carsick right away. He took us past the Kakamega Crying Stone, but it was too early in the morning and it was dark, so we could see anything. He took us down to Kisumu and showed us Lake Victoria. Then we went some back roads. I mean really back roads. And really dusty back roads. We were stuck on this dust road for about 3 hours, behind another matatu which was kicking up to much dust to open any windows, and somehow, no matter how late in the day it was, my right arm and leg were always in the sun, and since it was so cold in the morning, I had my sweatpants on. Needless to say, it was hot. So when we finally realized that we had our first flat tire, I got out, changed into shorts, and dried off in the shade. Our spare had a hole in it too, so we sent it to get fixed, waited an hour, replaced it, then continued on. We got back onto a major road and had to get the original fixed because the spare was now flat. So. We still had about another 2 1/2 hours left until we get back to Nairobi. And there are police patrols everywhere stopping vehicles for whatever reason. We passed through three without being summoned to stop, passed through 3 being summoned to stop, but didn't. We did stop for 5 patrols, the last of which gave us lovely picture of the infamous corruption in government officials. The vehicle we were driving had something wrong with it (again, everything was in Swahili). I think it had something to do with insurance. So the police guy said something like "Give me 5000 shilling and I'll let you go" (5000 is equivalent to approximately 60 bucks), the guy driving us said, "Well, I don't have that kind of money. I don't work." So the policeman said, "So? Make the mzungus give it to you." (When I heard that, my blood boiled. I wanted to rip a strip off that guy. But he had a AK47... Might have ended badly...) Anyway, our driver told him that we don't work either, to they settled on the 500 shillings we gave them and we drove off. So at the end of it all, this 6-7 hour trip took 10 1/2 hours. All the students missed their classes and every inch of both us and our stuff was covered with dust.
I woke up yesterday feeling a little sicky and ended the night sitting next to the toilet. In the middle there was also a 'bath' created from a knee high and wide laundry tub and our kettle, and there was also some onions in my socks. But I won't get into detail about those things because this post is far too long already, and also because I think those are both pretty self-explanitory.
Anyway, I will end this quickly now. We love you all. We appreciate you incredibly, and we appreciate the fact that you care enough about us that you would want to stay up to date! Really, it's something we hold near to our hearts. We love hearing your feedback. And I really apologize at the length of this one. Sorry, sorry, sorry! Good night all!

Hello All!

2012-01-13T16:28:00.000+03:00

I told that I'm going to start blogging more often, so this is me blogging more often. I can't guarantee that this post will be the least bit interesting, but I made you a promise, and I'm sticking to it.
Sian started his second semester this past week. He has four classes, so it'll be a much heavier work load than last semester. Everyone is back on campus, so what was our ghost-town is now back to the hustle and bustle expectant of students. They launched a Youth and Discipleship Program here at PACU so there's all kinds of youngin's here now.
I've started my work again this week. Back at Happy Life and doing the odd catch-up day with Maureen at CCP.
We actually had an interesting series of events begin the night that I posted our last blog. Remember how I said we are were going out for a midnight walk? Well, got out onto the track and as we were approaching the water tower on campus, Sian heard leaking water. Like, a lot of leaking water. So we walked over to the tower, and sure enough, the barrels that act as our water reservoir is overflowing. Like really overflowing. We weren't sure what to do, so we figured we'd let a guard know and perhaps they could get in touch with our groundskeeper. So we walked up to the front gate and wake up the gate guard. We explain the situation, and he says that we should notify the guard who does the rounds. So he walks off the find the guy, and we're waiting outside some of the classes, and Sian sticks his head in one of the classes (he hadn't had class in there yet and wanted to check it out) and low and behold, there is the guard we are looking for, sleeping in the corner behind the door. So we wake him up, and go to fin the guy who went to find him, and that guy is in the chapel, talking to a guard who had been sleeping in there! Needless to say, we felt REAL safe knowing that all of our guards, who are supposed to be keeping us safe, especially in this time of war, are sleeping. So we finally walk over to the water tower, because they couldn't understand what we were talking about. And we stood below this spewing water tower for a good 20 minutes, trying to figure out if the night guard had ever seen this before, if it was normal. We finally used very small, easy words and they understood that 'if we leave it until morning, everything will be okay.' So we finished our laps and went in. We talked to our groundskeeper the next day, and he was quite perturbed by our sleeping guards. We heard that they had gotten a talking to, and one of them was even let go (we felt pretty bad about that, but we need to be safe!). So a few night later, we were out walking again, not very late, 10:30 or 11, and a new guard was walking the track with this new German Shepard guard dog. And he comes up to us, the dog is going nuts, wanting to bite our faces off, and he keeps coming closer. The dog is really pulling him closer to us. At about five feet away from us, the dog about three and still barking and lunging, he wanted to tell us that we were interrupting his work. So we call it a night, a little shaken and a little angry. But we figured that we were walking late, and they were probably annoying by the mzungus that got them in trouble. So whatever. The next night, we went out to walk at 9pm. We made a point to go out early as to not interrupt their work. We were walking along, and the same guard is standing with this demon dog right next to the track talking to some other guy. And the dog sees us and starts lunging and barking and snarling and LUNGING right at us. And the guard and his buddy just laugh at us, cuz it's a scary dog! So we moved to the far side of the road, and kept walking, shaken again and angry again. Sian came back to the apartment to grab his pocket knife (strictly in the need of self-defense), and we kept walking. This time the guard had moved down to track a bit and was sitting inside one of the church tents and the dog is nowhere to be seen. Fine. We do another lap, and this time, as we are coming up on the tent, we see somebody walking away from the tent, and the dog is not with him. As we approach the tent, we see the dog standing on the outside of the tent, and the guard is nowhere to be seen, so we don't know if the dog is on a leash, if he;s going to come charging at us and scar us up, or what's going to happen. We walked through the buildings and did the rest of our laps walking between the buildings, not on the track. Anyway, the moral of the story is that we now walk at 7pm and now know that our guard dogs are vicious and need to be kept on a shorter leash (no pun intended). So that was frightening.
Umm, Tuesday, some of the people here in Nairobi, our missionary friends included, received texts stating that the Al-Shabbab have issued a bomb threat on Nairobi specifically for Tuesday night. Reading up on it now, some articles have informed us that the Al-Qaeda have joined the Al-Shabbab in their war against Kenya. I read professionals quoted saying that they are surprised that a more major attack hasn't happened sooner. We're not sure what to think. We're not sure what to expect. For now, we're just requesting our friends and family to keep Nairobi in their prayers, for safety and for peace to come. We've also been remembering Jessica, the teacher from Jordan's school, who was kidnapped and has been held for ransom since October. They don't think that she is being abused from the little contact they have had with her. Her husband is here in Nairobi and apparently this has been extremely hard on him. The last time they spoke was Thanksgiving, so I can imagine that he must be going out of his mind. I know I would be. So please, also keep them in your prayers as well.
I'm feeling the need to end this on not quite such a discouraging note, so I'll tell you about the mongooses. Mongeese? No, mongooses. When we first arrived here in Nairobi, Sian and I were coming back to our apartment late one night and saw this animal by the boys dorms. It had a dark body, almost looked black, with the long-haired white tail and it was fast. It sort of waddled like a skunk, but had a leaner looking body and a little ferret-like face. So we asked the Potters, and they had no idea what we were talking about. Nobody had ever seen anything like it. Then, the night of Sian's birthday cake-party, I went back to the apartment alone and saw one again in the field. Two nights later we were walking and we saw two in between the main building and one of the classes. So we asked the Kohls, and they too didn't now what we were talking about. They had never seen anything like it, in all the years they had been here. We knew what we saw though, so I googled it, and sure enough they are these mongooses. They're very common throughout Africa, they eat small animals, reptiles, snakes, things like that and they can spray like a skunk! So we told both the Potters and the Kohls. I don't think they actually believed us, but then the other night they were walking together, and they saw one. So we're really relieved, because I think that our missionary friends thought we were a little bit nutso or hallucinating or something.
Anyway, that's really all the news nowadays. I want to thank you all again for all your support, all your prayers and, I wanted to let you know that we enjoy reading your feedback on these posts. When you guys write back, I feel like it less me just updating, but more normal conversation-like, and we love hearing back from you guys! Love you all!!!

2012, potluck, and another year older

2012-01-02T23:58:00.000+03:00

New Years was pretty good. All our friends are home from their vacations and everything went well. Everyone came home safe and sound and accounted for, which is a very good thing. Lots of stories to hear and share.
We brought in the New Year with the Keans, the Potters and the Kohls. We went over to the keens place, had chili (yum!) for supper, then just visited for a while. We had a fire in the backyard and the teens set off some fireworks. Some of them sounded more like bombs than fireworks, and it gave us a good scare. We brought in the New Year with pots, pans and good cheer. We then warmed up inside to some nice Dormans Kenyan Arabica, brie cheese and crackers. We played a few hearty games of dice, a few rounds of Catch Phrase with the kids and finally called it a night around 3am.
Yesterday, we had been invited to a Kenyan potluck for all the families and married couples on campus. It was very cool. Some of the Kenyan foods we had last night were ugali (staple made from sticky maize, looks like mashed potatoes, but doesn't really taste like much of anything), chapati (like an oily nan bread / thick crepe), sukuma wiki (literally translated to "to push the week", another basic staple which is a lot like a collard greens type of thing), mukimo (a delicious mashed potato, maize and green pea dish, sticky like ugali, but popular in Kiyuku tribes), rice, nyama choma (roasted meat), and kachumbari (a warm cabbage, onion, tomato coleslaw). There were also some beef and vegetable stews, roasted potatoes, and lots of fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon and orange). We brought soda. Believe it or not, they love their soda here. It's readily available, and cheap (we can get two 500mL bottles for 50 shillings here on campus: ~5 cents). There were about 50 people there last night, and we all went around and introduced ourselves and told a bit about ourselves. Then they danced. They love dancing. Finn, the tech guy on campus, and one of the guys who organized the dinner, made Sian and I kick off the dancing. Ha. Enough said.
Today was Sian's birthday! He's 24 today. We slept in a bit, then went into Village with the Potters to get Jordan some fish for his fishtank and we had lunch. Then we came home, chilled for a little while, Sian had a nap. I made Sian dinner (homemade hamburger helper and salt and vinegar chips. Extravagant, I know!) We skyped with some family, then went over to the Potters for cake. They had a little get-together for both the boys' birthdays (it was Jordan's yesterday). The Potters had the Kohls, the Cymbaluks, and us. We had cake and ice-cream and tea and coffee. We visited and got all caught up. We played some dice, then came back home. I gave Sian a t-shirt had had his eye on for a while and a box of Belgian chocolates. We're just heading out for a midnight walk now, then we'll be turning in.
Happy New Years to you all!
Thank you again for your continued support! We really can't tell you just how much it means to us for all your thoughts, prayers and finances. We feel so incredibly blessed and loved.

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T19:33:00.001+03:00

So, we're here at the Windsor. Last night we had the special Christmas dinner. It was very Kenyan. Have I mentioned what Kenyans do at Christmas time? They eat. They don't put a lot of focus on the gift part, but more on the family gathering part. Especially the eating part. They served us a five course meal. And each course could have been a meal in and of itself. I did NOT sleep well last night with that much food in my belly. And it's not like I could have just gone and thrown it up (though I felt like I was going to a few times) because it was a forty dollar meal. Each. Let me just say that we got our money's worth, and not necessarily in quality, but in quantity.

Other than that, our stay has been pretty good. Laying beside the pool was a relaxing and very different way to spend Christmas Day. I can't say that I prefer it though. Christmas and HOT shouldn't be used in the same sentence. Maybe that's just the Canadian in me coming out though. I will upload pics once we get back to PACU.

Anyway, on behalf of the both of us, we wanted to take the chance to wish all of you, our dear friends and family, an incredibly merry Christmas. Surround yourselves with the ones you love, if not just for yourselves, then for us, because you can. Celebrate the beauty and magnificence and love that this day signifies.

Merry Christmas, world! <3

Christmas time is here!

2011-12-19T13:00:00.001+03:00

I always feel like I have to apologize for not blogging more, but I was Skyping with Jes and Mark last night and really realized that the things that you guys might find interesting, I would consider ordinary now, so I often don't realize when I have something cool to say, so I don't think to blog about it. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
We went to Jordan's Christmas play, and it was so cute. Jordan had one line, which he delivered like a pro. But we really spent the whole time watching this funny little kindergarten girl in the front row (ever noticed how they always put the distracted, funny-to-watch kids in the front row?). She was hilarious. She would watch her hands doing the actions to the songs and had the biggest facial expressions I've ever seen. It was so funny. But Sian and I both walked away from there just excited to have kids someday. I got excited for practicing the songs and actions at home with them and being able to videotape their big debut. Just dumb little things, I know, but it just warmed my heart at the thought of being able to do those things someday (and the answer is no, we're not pregnant, so there's no need to inquire. Thank you.).
Last Sunday morning, a woman named Gertrude from New Song Church and her family had a bunch of men walk into her house in the slums, tell her that she had an hour to all her stuff out before they bulldoze her house because they sold HER property to someone else, and they did bulldoze her house. After she moved her stuff out, she was robbed and they took everything she had. So now she and her three kids are living in someone's shed somewhere (I don't know all the details), but they have nothing and it's just so heartbreaking. We just request that you would keep this little family in your prayers as we have been, and if you feel moved to donate a little something, please let us know, and we would be happy to arrange something accordingly.
Stanley and Christa Gitonga had us and the Potters over for supper Friday night, which was really nice. Then Stanley put in the ABBA Gold music video collection and we chatted for a few hours with their big hair and groovy outfits in the background. And we realized that Bjorn Ulvaeus in his day looked an awful lot like David Spade. Check it out, seriously.
A bunch of the PAOC missionaries in the area had a farewell lunch on Saturday for Felix and Cecilia Paluch-Chiriseri who were working with Village of Hope in Zambia then moved to Kenya and are now returning to Canada. It was a very nice send off.

Sian and I exchanged gifts Saturday evening. We're terrible at waiting for Christmas Day, we just can't do it! Last year, we exchanged gifts like two weeks early. It's pathetic, we know, but we're figuring that we'll actually hold out until Christmas Day when we have kids. Sian bought me a beautiful African Lily leather purse and belt, and I bought Sian a Katadyn water purifier (for camping, hiking, etc.). Really nice little gifts.

Yesterday, Sian and I did two songs for the New Song Family Christmas. We did Silent Night (the MercyMe rendition) and Joseph's Lullaby, also by MercyMe, but since MercyMe's singer is a man, and I am not a man, I renamed it Mary's Lullaby, which is just as applicable. During the first verse of Silent Night, the hotel's power went off briefly, but we kept going and it came back on before verse two, but it really took us off guard. TIA.

We went for Indian food for lunch with the Keans, the Johnsons and another family who was living in Sudan, but their Visas expired and the government refused to renew them, so they were given three days to get out of the country and are now living in Kenya temporarily. Really crazy story, but apparently it happens all the time here. I am not a fan of spicy food at all, but I had the vegetable korma and garlic nan and I actually really enjoyed it.

Everyone has been bustling with activity here with Christmas just around the corner, but most of our close friends have left for holidays already. Everyone (literally everyone) at PACU is gone, so it's quite quiet around here. We're housesitting and keeping busy with Happy Life during the week and Sian with maintenance, but otherwise, it's kind of lovely in its silence.
Anyway, we hope and pray that this Christmas season finds you all happy and healthy. We thank God daily for our beautiful family and friends. We are just so incredibly appreciative of the prayers and support that you have given us.

Our "Christmas Tree"

Stockings made by Jacaranda Creations

Blogging is way overdue!

2011-12-09T10:35:00.002+03:00

I really have to apologize. I know it's been like forever since I've written. It's been one of those things that I remind myself to do daily, but never wind up doing. So here I'm doing it.

Since the last time I've written, much has happened. I'll probably just ramble it off in no particular order, because thinking back this far, I can't recall dates.

We visited Lake Nakuru with the Potters over the American Thanksgiving. We stayed in a lodge on the safari grounds. I had my first HOT shower in three months-it was glorious. Pretty sure I just stood in there for at least 45 minutes. It was great. I will post a few of Maureen's photos (I've got all the same shots only a lot more pathetic).

Sian has since finished his term and is quite happy to be free. He's helping out the maintenance men three days a week just to keep busy.

We've been going to Happy Life twice a week. We go in the mornings and help the infants with feeding, bathing, physical therapy, feeding again then nap. We're usually there from 9am until around noon or 1ish. Those babies, let me tell you, are single handedly the most adorable, loveable, heart-breaking, heart-filling little ones I have ever seen in my life. They range from three weeks old, born a month premature to, I think 8 months is the oldest of the infants. The kids also are too cute. They are such good little helpers. One of the little girls I recognized from Sian's photos when he came here two years ago on his two-week trip. She is so precious. The ladies are great, real life heroines. One of them has been with Happy Life going on 9 years. Pictures soon for sure!

We helped Maureen out with the Mistletoe Market at Rosslyn Academy way back when. It's basically a giant garage sale/fair. It was very fun, but very exhausting. The Potter's sales were pretty good.

Sian had his big football tournament out at St. Paul's, this was also a very long time ago. They did great. They came in second, only because the sun went down and the pitches weren't lit, so they had to stop playing.

So, yeah. It seems like there is so much more that has happened, but I guess it's just daily life stuff.

We're going to Jordan's Christmas play at school tonight. Preparing for Christmas has been so strange here. There isn't any of the things that makes Christmas feel Christmassy, and it makes me realize a lot of the things I really loved about Christmas, but always took for granted. One thing that's really been on our hearts is that, though all the seasonal things are missing, Christmas isn't about the things. It's not about the snow or the tree or the lights or the skating or the mittens or the presents or the cookies or the fireplace or the sledding or the stockings or the snowmen or anything else. Christmas is still Christmas without all the stuff and conditions. There is only one reason that we even acknowledge this time of year, and it's Jesus, and His loving us so much so as to humble Himself and come and walk among us so that He could one day give His everything to save us from ourselves. It's an age-old story that everyone knows of, but sometimes forget that that love, that unmeasurable, indescribable, immense love is the whole point, and anything else that we feel is missing is just stuff and conditions. That has been my heart on Christmas, and somedays are tough and I miss it because we've always associated Christmas with things and activities, things and activities that are all good and fine and wholesome, but when those things and activities, stuff and conditions are all absent, it's made me reflect on my heart and caused me to refocus. And it's been difficult, but really healthy. I'm not sure where I'm really going with all this, but it's Christmas, and even though I don't have a single Christmas decoration or lightbulb, my heart is full and I am happy. "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." :)

Anyway, I will try really, really hard to keep this blog up-to-date. I promise, I will try.

We love you all. Thank you thank you for all your loving, caring support. We are so grateful and so appreciative that we have family and friends like you.

I'm going to try to upload these photos from Nakuru, but it doesn't work, you can also find them on Sian's Facebook.

Since the barf...

2011-11-08T12:42:00.003+03:00

Not much has happened since I blogged last. Sian got over his food poisoning in a few days, but my feelings of nausea stayed with me right up until Sunday. We considered a lot of things about that, but it finally went away. It was really weird. Lasted all day everyday. What a yicky experience that whole thing was. But since then, there's nothing really new to report.
Sian saw a monkey walking behind our apartment building last week, which is very strange since there aren't any monkeys around here. We don't know where he came from or what he was doing.
We had a mini hurricane come through last week as well. It did a bit of damage. Lots of branches going through windows and one massive tree over by the Potter's place came down onto a maintenance shed.
We did worship again last Sunday for New Song Nairobi and the whole service went really well. A guy named Kelly from Texas spoke and had a really good message on discovering our gifting and abilities within the church and how physical, emotional and spiritual damage and the walls we put up to protect ourselves can hinder us from filling our God-created place in the church and focused on tearing down those walls. Anyway, it was a very good message and we're looking forward to part two next week.
Before the service Sunday, Sian and I were having tea and these little Kenyan children came over and started tailing with Sian, and one little girl came over to me. Her name is Jane and she's in the 2nd grade. And she came and sat on my chair with me. And what she did and said next broke my heart; I had some old braided bracelets that I had gotten in the Dominican Republic, and she pointed at one of the bracelets and said, "Give me?", then she pointed at the watch I had on and said, "Give me?", then she pointed at my wedding rings and said, "Give me?". So I said, "No, I'm sorry but I can't." Then she stopped for a second, then looked in the in eye and said, "Well, do you want a picture?". This little girl lives in the slums. She is used to mzungus, white people, walking through her home, giving her candies and little treats, and taking pictures of the poverty that is her everyday life. So I looked at her, I told her that I didn't need a picture. She sat there for a few minutes, then I saw her counting to herself, you know, just being a kid, and so I asked her how many fingers she had, so she counted ten, and then I asked her how many fingers I had, and she counted ten. Then she started to count other things that we both had. Noses, ears, cheeks, mouthes, fingernails, shoulders, knees. Then service was about to start and I just said, "See, we're the same." And she smiled and then we went into sanctuary and we went and did church. But I was thinking about this afterward, and it struck me about the reality that these adorable little smelly kids actually live in. To each other, they may not have as much as some people, but what they do have, they are proud of and take good care of and appreciate. But to white people, they are the picture of poverty and they are acutely aware of it. Yuck. What have we done to these people...
On that note, I have nothing else to say. Umm, yeah. Sorry to leave you on disruptive note, but that's all I can say. We do thank you for all your support and prayers. Keep the war situation in your prayers as well as it is yet to be resolved.

Food Poisoning...

2011-10-30T23:24:00.000+03:00

Yep, food poisoning. Or that what we think it is. Yesterday all day I felt really nauseous and Sian had the runs, but we went to bed, not thinking anything of it and did not see it coming. Sian woke up at 2am and went into the bathroom, the next thing I know, he's calling out for me and throwing up violently (I mean VIOLENTLY), and it went on until about 5am. I did a whole lot of praying last night and into the morning, initially that God would make my stomach strong so that I wouldn't be throwing up right next to him and that I could take care of him, then my prayers changed, because Sian mentioned that the first time he thought he was going to black out, and the second time that he felt like he was going to have a stroke, so at that point, my prayers turned into that he would just make it through the night and I pleaded with God to not take him. I literally laid in bed for four hours and prayed that God "would take every speck of sickness from our stomaches and push it deep, deep, deep into our intestines and that it would be bound there and would cause no more harm" over and over and over. Sian's feeling a 9/10 this evening, and I would put myself at a 7.5/10 (still feeling pretty queasy), but we're hoping that it's gone and over with. It was utterly awful. In the three and a half years that I have known Sian, I have never seen him sick, so this was SCARY for me. It was such a nightmare. I felt so powerless to help him. And it was terrible for him! I think it may have had to do with our power being out those two days, because there were things in the fridge that we thought were still okay to eat, but I'm thinking it was the samosas we cooked Friday evening. I'm just hoping and PRAYING that it's gone and we can both sleep through the night tonight.

We have Internet!

2011-10-27T12:59:00.007+03:00

We finally have Internet in our apartment! So excited that I can sit here and type this out while sipping my tea and wearing my slippers :) Needless to say, I think I'll be able to blog more often now.
We've been doing well, although the concept of living in a country that has had war declared upon it is starting to encroach worry into our daily living. Somalia has declared war against Kenya, and there were two grenade attacks in Nairobi last Sunday. They discovered a multitude of guns and hand grenades in a city raid just the other day. It is tiring though. When I'm home alone during the day, my ear picks up every plane passing over and I pray silently to myself that it's not an air raid. The UN said it is the Al-Shabbab. Everywhere we go, there are high measures of security, which is comforting and unnerving at the same time.
We lost power and water Monday evening due to a transformer blowing. We got electricity back yesterday morning and our water came back late last night. TIA.

Last Thursday was a national holiday, so the Potters took us to Rift Valley, a gigantic gorge that the makers of The Lion King based Pride Rock off of. It was stunning (I've got half of our photos uploaded onto our laptop and will attach them. And Jessie, I thought of you specifically when taking and uploading these). There is so much air up there on the escarpment. We approached the valley from the top and drove down, stopped at a lookout, and it took my breath away. We then descended into the valley, and it was just like you would imagine Africa. Just flatlands with wild zebras wandering next to road. The Potters took us to a game sanctuary called Crater Lake where we took two safaris: one was a water safari and took a boat through the lake where we saw hundreds and hundreds of bright pink flamingos, and two big pods of hippos in the water. Let me tell you, the idea of those monsterous wild beings swimming beneath the tiny boat we were in was enough to wish for dry land and quickly. It was amazing. Then we went on a land safari and saw lots of giraffe, zebra, heartbeasts, gazelles, water buffalo, and warthogs. There was a storm brewing overhead, so I got some phenomenal photos even with my crappy little digital camera. However, I left my camera in the car (how dumb am I) for the best sight of my life, so I'll just have to try to paint you a word picture. On the safari grounds, they have a nice big crater with a lake inside. The sides of the crater are steep and reached a reaches a really high summit around the edges of the crater. I ran ahead of Sian and the Potters and reached the top first. There was foliage the whole climb up, but at the top, it cleared and wow. Facing toward the inside of the crater, on the left, there was forest. There was a herd of water buffalo in a clearing, but they just looked like brown little flies from that height. On the right was the little lake. Looking over the opposite ridge, I could see the lake we had boat safaried, but it was so far away. It reminded me of looking out over Toronto from the CN Tower on a clear day, but minus all the buildings and skyscrapers. I could just see forever. If I turned around though, facing out over the safari we had driven through, I could see the Rift Valley flatlands as far as the flatlands stretched. I could see a Masai tribe there on the savanna. But the storm that had been brewing was dark and heavy, and it just sat at eye level with me, right in front of me, just hovered over the flatlands, like it was in a pocket. I could see the lightening flashing within the clouds and where rain was touching down. I could feel the cool breeze, but never felt a drop. And the sounds were surreal. There was not one single sound of mankind. Only the tropical birds from within the crater, the wind rushing up the side of the summit and thunder rumbling through the storm cloud in front of me. I was by myself up there for maybe ten minutes, and I couldn't help but sing praises to the Creator of all this. I was totally moved. Rereading what I just wrote, I'm so disappointed, because the words I'm using to try to describe this elation are just so empty... Just as a side note though, I have never seen skies quite like the skies here in Kenya. And the colours...
Maurice and Maureen took me to Ngei school last Tuesday. Ngei is nursery - form 4 (grade 12) school and CCP sponsors some kids there, as well as supports the feeding program that they provide. For some of those kids, the lunch they are fed at school is the only meal they get that day, and that's the only reason why the come to school. Seeing it and playing with those kids made my heart full.
We did worship for the Kean's church the Sunday before last, which went well, so we're doing worship again this week. Umm, other than that, Sian is doing well in school, getting his final papers written.
We're thinking that we might attempt to go on an actual weekend safari for Christmas. The Potters and the Kohls are planning to go down to Cape Town, which is out of our price range. So I think we're going to plan a little safari getaway for the two of us, which won't be nearly as expensive, but as the time approaches, we've been thinking a lot about Canada and autumn and the leaves, the crisp, cool air and the warm-hearted joy that comes with the anticipation of Christmas, skating, snow (the white fluffy snow, not the yucky slush stuff).

P.S. I have to apologize for the stupid formatting of this blog. I have no idea... The pics are in random order too.

2011-10-02T15:39:00.000+03:00

Well, I don't really have much to say since our last update. We've just been plugging away. Sian's new course is Evangelism and Discipleship and he has a lot to do for that class. One of his assignments is that he has to go outside the compound walls once a week and evangelize to five people, the same five people every week, until the course is over. Sian and his partner want to go out to Kibera slums, which is quite a haul to get out there, and neither of them have vehicles, so they'll have to take watatus (absolutely crazy, insane taxi vans). To be honest, I'm feeling nervous about their decision, both their method of transportation and their location, but that is where they feel led to work, so I'll just sit tight and pray them through.
I work with Maureen Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and things are going well with CCP. I've been humbled by my work already thus far. Reading through those kids' letters are both heart-breaking and inspiring. They live amidst some of the most grim realities I've ever learned of, yet they are thankful and optimistic, praising God for every little thing. I met with Rosemary last week, the director of Happy Life, and we're going over tomorrow for our first day working with her. We may adjust my work schedule to work around Sian's schooling so he can come every week as well. We'll be helping Rosemary with feeding, which is at 9:00am, then they play, eat again at 12:00pm then nap, so we'll probably go for the mornings.
Mary, our house help, has been coming on Fridays, but we're changing it to Wednesdays. Having her is still a struggle for me. It's a total cultural thing. In Canada, only the really wealthy employ house help, but here, it's very normal. In fact, if you don't employ house help, your neighbours tend to get the impression that you have something to hide. And for many women, it's their only source of income. Some women work for 200 shillings a day, equivalent to $2.10 CAD. So, the way we see it, we can adjust to having house help.
We still don't have Internet in our own place, so that is why our updates are few and far in between. It will get better, I promise.
We love you all, we thank God daily for all your prayers and support. We'll update again soon.

Catching Up

2011-09-22T19:02:00.001+03:00

Oh boy, okay, so it's been a while. Much has happened since I last updated, so please just bear with me. So last I updated was two Sundays ago, oh dear... I'll try to keep it brief, but I've never been good at the whole brief thing. So last week is a bit of a blur for me now. I'm not sure what happened when so I'll just hit the highlights. Sian started classes, he's really enjoying them. He switched his computers class for something else because they spent their first whole class learning the parts of a computer (e.g. "This is a mouse. This is a keyboard. This is your screen"). Sian said it was very painful. Other than that, he's enjoying his classes. He got his first two papers back yesterday and aced them both with flying colours, so he's very excited. Umm, what else... I visited a massage therapist last week regarding my back and he informed me that, because of the way I sit and stand, that my pelvic bone has actually been shifting and that is what is causing the pain. So I've been doing stretches, and it's slowly getting better, but very slowly. I can sleep through the night now without being really bothered by my lower back and left side, but my right hip is still in a lot of pain. We purchased a hot water bottle with a knitted sweater and named him Chad (Sian thinks that it looks like a Chad, I didn't like it at first, at least not for a hot water bottle, but the name stuck and it's starting to grow on me), anyway, it's really been helping me sleep through the night. I can just move Chad to where it hurts and the pain subsides enough that I can fall back asleep. We visited Paul and Lynn Kohls' church last Sunday. All I can say is that it is an African church. Period. That's all I can say about it. It was very cool. Umm, we've been doing a lot of, not really travelling, but moving around. Maureen and I ventured out to Mombasa Road to look at new curtains for her this last Monday, and when we were riding the elevator up to a higher floor, I looked out and saw the safari from afar (COOL!) I think my eyes got really big and wide and I had a little moment. Other than that, we moved into our apartment last Friday and it's slowly becoming home. I'm going to try to upload some photos if I can make my camera and Mac compatible. Still working on that. Anyway, I think that about sums up the high points. I think I'm going to post then try to get these photos up. Love you all!!!

I got it to work!!! So sorry about the mixed up order. I'll try to narrate to explain.

My lovely bamboo plant that I picked up on the side of the road for approx. $7.00 CAD (that's the plant and pot both). It's in the living room currently.

The view out our living room window. I have some more below.

Our little kitchen (those dishes are clean, I was air drying them)

View from our kitchen window

Our little bathroom. It's a work in progress. Well, actually, the whole apartment is a work in progress, but our bathroom is the most in-progress.

Kitchen sink. We're waiting on Claus (pronounced Clouse) to install a towel rack... He said he would get on it when we moved in last Friday. TIA

Sian's little office room / storage room / Sian's closet (see below)

Our nice little (king) bed, fully protected by our very own mosquito net. That's Chad there waiting for us :)

Again.

My closet. I have these great scarves so I'm using them as closet doors :) It helps keep the dusty dirt off of my clothes.

Sian's closet and my misc. storage unit... We're making due with what we have.

Sian's view from his office window.

The living room again with the curtains partly drawn.

View from our living room window.

And again looking the other way.

View from our kitchen window. The black barrels are PAC's water supply. If we want to have a hot shower, we shower in the afternoon, once the sun has had the chance to heat up the water. Or we let the water run for 15 minutes, then hop in and it's lukewarm instead of freezing.

Again view from the kitchen looking the other way.

Our living room. That carpet is getting on my nerves, so we might move it into Sian's office since he really likes it.

And again.

Kitchen again.

And my great little bamboo plant again. I'm so proud of this little guy. I even bargained for it (not my forte).

Candle holders. Currently in the bathroom because Sian got caught in the shower when the power went out last night. Always entertaining.

P.S. I am aware that these photos are only in our apartment and don't speak any sort of justice of the world we are living in, but we are cautious about our picture taking. The reason being that we don't want to make us the tourist and them the poverty. We are here to live among them. We want to love them, encourage them, support them, not make a spectacle of them. We are eager to be able to share our experience and surroundings, but please be patient with us as we build up love and trust. We will post more, but we want to choose our photos wisely. Thank you for your understanding. <3

Monkeys

2011-09-11T17:20:00.000+03:00

Alright, I know I probably blog way more often than most global workers in Africa do, but I've got so much time on my hands while we are waiting to move into our place, so I have to do SOMETHING in my downtime...
Yesterday was nice, Sian and I had our very first breakfast on our own since being here, with our little toaster and kettle, we had a nice light breakfast of peanut butter toast and tea for me, and nutella toast and coffee for Sian. We relaxed with the Potters in the afternoon, then went to Stanley and Krista's (another younger couple on campus) for dinner and 'football' (soccer). Stanley was a student at PAC and fills in for the profs as they are away, and Krista teaches at Rosslyn School, where Jordan Potter attends. They had invited two other couples who teach at Rosslyn, so it was a full, noisy house, because the guys there are all diehard football fans. After the first game, we skipped over to the Potters and watched the Djokovic/Federer tennis match (the Potters love tennis and we've been keeping up with the US Open and can't wait for tomorrow's match. I'm rooting for Nadal: he goes for everything).
This morning was our first church service. We attended Jacaranda Church, the one Garry Kean pastors at. I was preparing myself for the stereotypical 6hr service, but it wasn't at all. We were out by 11! We had tea and cake in the courtyard behind the hotel that they hold their services in, and it was just like being out in the jungle. Absolutely gorgeous back there. We had a few wild monkeys (like real life wild monkeys) come by and apparently they're quite aggressive. So of course, Sian walks over, like two feet away, and feeds the thing some muffin bites. After the service, we went to Java for yummy lunch with the Potters, the Keans and another missionary family, and all the kids.
Anyway, nothing really too interesting, but I figured I'd catch you up because right now I'm into anything and everything.
<3

A day of blessings, and of thorns in the flesh...

2011-09-09T21:20:00.000+03:00

Today was a sort of very productive day. Sort of. I'll start with the yuckies. Sian and I went to Village Market today to get our rent paid up. The way we have to do, since we bank in Canada, we have to find an ATM that is linked to our Canadian account's interbank network, withdraw the funds, then deposit the cash into the university's bank account. Simple, yes? No. The amount we had to pay for rent is 60,000.00 shillings per term, just under 650.00 dollars. But the max amount that you can withdraw from the ATM at once is 40,000.00 shillings. No problem there, we would have just put our bank card in a second time and make another withdrawal for the remaining amount. We would have done so and been perfectly fine, except that the ATM completed our first transaction by debiting our account but without giving us any money.... Okay, not cool. So, as we stand, we've got 40,000.00 shillings in limbo somewhere. Maureen actually had the exact same thing happen to her a week ago today, at the same ATM for the same amount. She got reimbursed yesterday, so we're just trusting our bank to pull through for us. TIA.

Anyway, so the good news is that after we had this unsettling event occur, we walked over to Nakumatt (Kenya's version of Walmart kind of), as we were going to price out a stove. We had brought along our list of basics that we needed to pick up as well. Well, we were looking at this stove and started doing the math in our heads, so we downgraded to a couple of hotplates (electric for when the power is on, gas for when it goes out, and it does go out VERY frequently) and with the money we saved by not buying the stove, we were able to fill our entire list of needs. Oh, and you know how we were also looking for a fridge and bed? Turns out the Keans, of Jacaranda Creations, with whom I will be assisting a little bit, has a good condition queen size bed and working fridge and she is letting us use them for the year at no charge. Apparently the family is going back to the states for home assignment for a while and letting us use them is a better choice than storing them :)

We have really been counting our blessings. Despite the little annoyances that provide the inevitable hiccups, we are being so looked after. The Potters are really taking care of us, making sure that we land on our feet and easing us into things. They've introduced us to some really beautiful people and we're so looking forward to the time when we can stand on our own two feet and bless them back.

I know it's a little early for us to be requesting prayer as we're away, but if you're in the praying mood, I'm having some very, very painful issues with my back that has been hindering my sleep and therefore my focus, in a really big way, and it's just not getting any better. I won't get into details, but we have tried everything we can think of, so the next step will be tracking down a Kenyan chiropractor or massage therapist to work it out. However, we know that our Lord, Jesus Christ is the ultimate Healer, our Jehovah Rapha and we put our trust in Him.

Anyway, we want to thank you all so much for your loving care and support as Sian and I trying to get a feel for this new culture. We'll be here. Drop us a line sometime! We love hearing from you!

It Starts...

2011-09-07T16:23:00.000+03:00

I've got the internet and a little extra time on my hands, so I just thought I'd chat.

Sian got all registered yesterday (my little university boy) and is at orientation today 9am-5pm. We had lunch today with all his profs and fellow students, and let me tell you, we are already well known. We're the new 'mzungu's, which means 'white people'. It's funny though, we've been into Village Market a few times already since we've been here and they all just look at us all the time, and I almost feel embarrassed to be white. It's been cold these last few days, so I've been bundling up, but a part of me is glad that most of my white skin is covered and it's not quite so obvious. :S

I've started work with Maureen, helping her out administratively with the Child Care Plus bookkeeping, and I have to say, I really enjoy it! I'm helping her clean up the database, reading and recording the children's letters to their sponsors (some of them are really adorably heartbreaking) and tracking payments made. I may be a nerd, but I really like this kind of thing.

We had two birds fly into our temp. apartment this morning, the one got caught in the curtains, but the other flew under the curtains and perched itself on the showerhead. Sian swatted the caught one out of the window and wrangled the other out the front door. Just the way we like to wake up in the morning :P

So, umm, yep. We're gonna walk done the road and grab some fresh fruit from the vendors so we can have something edible in the apartment.

Love you all, we'll update again soon.

We're Here!

2011-09-05T21:11:00.000+03:00

We are here safe! It was quite a journey, but we made it. Our flights were supposed to be
Buffalo to Chicago
departure 8:15pm EST arrival 9:00pm CDT (1hr 45min flight)
1hr 30min layover
Chicago to Istanbul
departure 10:20pm CDT arrival 5:05pm EEST (10hr flight)
1hr 30min layover
Istanbul to Nairobi
departure 6:15pm EEST arrival 12:35am EAT (7hr flight)

Our flight to Chicago about 30min was delayed due to the weather, so we boarded the plane at 8:45pm, flew to O'Hare (which is GIGANTIC), literally ran from our plane through terminal 3 to catch the train to terminal 5 where we were the very last people on the plane, with about 5min to spare before takeoff. We were just hoping and praying that all our luggage would make it onto the plane with us (which it did, thank the Lord!) Our other flights went good, long, but good. Our flight to Nairobi was another 30min late, so we arrived at just after 1am EAT. The Potters picked us up, we didn't have any trouble with customs, and, like I said, we got all of our luggage (hurray!!!)
So, without the entire rundown of the last two days, we're alive, we're safe, we're jetlagged, but we're happy to be here. Our new apartment will still be in renos for another two weeks, and it's not furnished whatsoever. A stove, fridge and bed are our biggest needs so far, so the hunt is on for furnishings that we can afford.
So, that's the long and short of it. We'll update again when we have internet again and there is more to say.
Thank you all for your prayers and support! We love you all!

Preparing to leave

2011-08-30T21:30:00.000+03:00

So, this is more of an attempt to try out this whole blogging thing and make sure that it works because neither Sian nor I have ever blogged before. But, in typical blog fashion, I guess I should update. It's three days before we fly and we're quite excited and busy and a little nervous, as is to be expected. The only real thing there is to do is just pack up. So I guess I should get on that...