A Letter Home

The Kenya Diaries (vol. 21)

July 10, 2006

Hello everyone! It is July 10th, and we will be home exactly one month from today!!! We have lots of things scheduled to do between now and then, so time sure is flying!

We gauge our time here by when we take our mefloquine (malaria prophylactic). We have to take it once a week, and we have chosen Sunday evening at dinner. Whenever I announce that it is "Mefloquine Day" the kids can't believe it. They say that they just took it a few days ago. That's how fast  our weeks go by.

It has gotten quite chilly here. July is the dead of winter in Kenya! We wear our long pants and sweatshirts every morning. One morning the thermometer read 49 degrees F. The days warm up quite nicely, though, and it is probably in the mid 70s, but very dry and the sun is very intense. The people here don't seem to realize that it has warmed up during the day. When we walk into town, we see winter jackets and knit ski hats on just about everybody.

At night we hear all kinds of birds and insects outside. The crows seem to come alive at night and I think their favorite tree is right outside our window. There is also some sort of insect that makes a noise like the blip of a radar screen in a submarine. The first time I heard it I had to ask Andy if it was coming from his computer. It was keeping perfect rhythm, too. There are all sorts of whooping, chirping, clicking, buzzing and whatever other noise you can think of at night. I thought some sounds were monkeys or baboons, but I've been told they aren't around here. So, they are just creatures of the African night of one sort or another.

Last night I actually heard something on our roof that was bigger than a cat. It had toenails and seemed heavy on its feet. The boys said that a mongoose has been getting into the chickens, so maybe it was one of those. That is actually good news, right? Mongooses eat snakes...poisonous ones. So I'll take a mongoose any day around here!

I am keeping a journal for each of the kids so they will be able to remember their time in Kenya (especially Lucia who is only three). Last night I asked them to make a list of things they like and things they don't like about Kenya. Here are some of their responses:

Kevin

Likes: 
1.  Farm animals everywhere, (in the streets, towns, and shops).
2.  Chipati (Kenyan flat bread), fresh mangoes, pineapple and bananas.
3.  Cement houses like Fr. Zak's and the school.

Dislikes:
1.  Bumpy roads - sometimes it is smoother to drive OFF the road.
2.  Malaria medicine and mosquito nets!!
3.  Needing to boil the water and washing all fruits and veggies in bleach water.









Ania

Likes:
1.  The boys at the school - they play with us all the time.
2.  Seeing Fr. Ted - he taught us how to be better clothes-ringer-outers.
3.  The banana trees are weird but BEAUTIFUL!!!

Dislikes:
1.  Boda-boda rides!!
2.  Taking a bath in a bucket - to get hot water you have to cook it.
3.  Mosquitoes and mosquito nets.









Philip

Likes:
1.  Seeing LIONS!! Especially the big man lion!
2.  Boda-boda rides!!
3.  The huge flying termites that came into our room one night.

Dislikes:
1.  Children touching my hair all the time to see if it is real.
2.  Sharing a bed with Kevin and the mosquito nets.
3.  Bumpy rides in matatus (taxi vans) -- the roads are very bumpy!









Lucia

Likes:
1.  ELEPHANTS!!!
2.  Princess beds (mosquito nets)!
3.  Matatu rides on bumpy roads!

Dislikes:
1.  Everybody asks, "What's your name?" and wants to shake my hand.
2.  Bathrooms with only a hole in the ground -- too stinky!
3.  Mefloquine and Dramamine!










So you can see that each child has a different view of Kenya. Lucia seems to like all the things that the older kids don't like. She does get a lot of attention wherever we go, because no one here has ever seen a white baby, and she is the closest we have to a baby. Everyone wants to get a good square look at her, and her response is to hide her face in my shoulder. We are, however, becoming a familiar sight in Rongai, and don't earn as many "looks" as we used to. At the school she loves the attention!

I have been rethinking some of our American sayings, such as "variety is the spice of life." Here there is not much variety, especially in the area of food. We have the same three or four things alternately through the week, and if we do happen to go out to a Kenyan style restaurant, the menu is always the same: buffet of chicken, beef, goat, chipati, ugali, rice and sukuma wiki. I think that we, as Americans, put too much emphasis on food options; we live to eat. Here people eat to live.

But, let me tell you, we have plenty of spice in our life! We can find adventure in any given daily chore, whether it is running out of propane in the middle of bath time, or finding huge flying termites in your bedroom during bedtime story time.

So, I think the "spice of life" comes not from variety, but rather from an inner quality that is the ability to laugh at life's adventures, and to find wonder in God's creation. All the way from the awesome elephants and big man lions down to the termites that sneak through holes in your screen. (Let me tell you these are pretty big holes for these bugs to get through). When we become too big to wonder about what God has created, we lose our "spice." And, we become too big by focusing on ourselves rather than on those around us, making us the center of our own universe. Isn't it ironic that when we become too big in our own minds, we are diminished in others'? Hmmmm......there is time here to contemplate such things.

Well, I must be finishing up; this letter is getting quite lengthy. By the way, Fr. Ted tells Andy and I that we both have "wonderful Kenyan accents." How fun! Hugs and kisses to everyone! We sure do miss all of you!

Love,
Janet, Andy, Kevin, Ania, Philip and Lucici Bean!