A Day in the Life

Trip to Mosiro: A Typical Maasai Day 10/15/09

7:00am: Wake up, have morning prayers and quick breakfast, check email
8:00am: Go to office, Sam the field extensionist is there, tells me we’re going to Mosiro (2 hours away) to check on some projects there.
8:30am: Try to think up ways to get out of Mosiro trip
9:00am: Pack survival kit of things needed for Mosiro trip and possible car breakdowns (including flashlight, matches and rice and beans)
9:10am: Leave from MFSP farm for Mosiro
9:30am: Tire puncture, nobody is surprised.
9:45am: Spare tire in place, back on the road
10:00am: Car turns off as we slow-down to look at elephant dung. See pictures of dung. Push car to get it started
11:00am: See carpenter driving on a motorcycle towards the MFSP farm. Try to flag him down but he keeps going
11:30am: Arrive at Mosiro.
11:45am: Inspect dam fencing, things are poorly done. Maybe that’s why the carpenter was going the other way!
12:30pm: Carry cement bags in car to nearby water tank. See 100 women carrying stones/sand and digging a trench for food for work. See pictures of women
1:30pm: Take numerous pictures of women. Women surround me to see pictures. Everybody is happy.
1:45pm: Women are gathered together to hear “sermons” and introductions of guests (me included)
2:30pm: More speeches
2:45pm: Still more speeches
3:00pm: Finally speeches are over, head to the church for dinner
3:30pm: Still no dinner, not sure why we’re waiting for it
3:45pm: Head back to town to buy some meat
4:00pm: Leave Mosiro
5:30pm: Visit goat and tank beneficiaries of the project
6:30pm: Nice sunset. See sunset pictures.
6:35pm: Arrive at home. Steph made a nice dinner for me and we crash by watching an episode of West Wing.
10:00pm: Zonk.

Recent photos

Steph swinging

Ewuaso gas station--note the Coke bottle to measure

Friends Sam and Nicholas doing a Masai jump!

Homecoming

Homecoming
A short tale of feeling welcomed
As our vacation was ending, we were not looking forward to facing the logistical nightmare which is getting home. First, we needed to get ourselves and all our bags (numerous shopping bags from numerous trips) to Ngong. From Ngong, we hoped to get a spot on a matatu or bus that would then leave sometime for points west.

Step one was made easier by Jacob volunteering to drive us to Ngong. We were even able to buy a new LPG cylinder and have Jacob put it at the MCC office where Ron can bring it to Najile later. We were at Ngong by 1:30 and considered ourselves quite lucky.

Step two was to find a matatu and then burn time until it left. Fortunately, I had called our partners and was able to meet with them at their office. This impromptu meeting came after failing to meet for 3 consecutive weeks of various mishaps. Sometimes planning just isn’t as effective as God’s grace.

Steph went ahead and toured Ngong market for our last food items, and reserved a spot on a bus to leave at 430. At 4:05 she called frantically telling me the bus was ready to roll away. I walked/jogged from the MIDI office with my hands full of bags to the bus stop and made it just in time.

Our ride was uneventful if not bumpier than a wooden roller-coaster. We were in Najile by 6:30 just as it was getting dark and were wondering whether to walk from the town centers (a 20 minute walk) or try to get the bus to drop us closer to home (it stops pretty much anywhere along its “route”). We were again blessed by the bus conductor who actually brought us most of the way home, even going a little out of his way for us.

We felt our way through the dark to our house and got home with a sigh of relief. It was 7:00pm and we were already home! As we started to unpack, we got a knock on the door. We both internally groaned as we didn’t really want to interact with anybody at the moment. Steph goes to the door and finds two farm caretakers who live next door, looking to make sure that it was us who had turned on the lights at our house. One guy even came with a club, ready to beat off any robbers. This sign of caring was truly touching, and made us feel more at home than any goat slaughtering could.
Throughout the day we felt like part of a community. We got things done when we could, and let each moment determine what our next step would be. Throughout the day, God was with us and reminded us that while our family and friends are thousands of miles away, we are still home here, and He is happy we are here.

R&R

Rest

This past week we took a much-needed vacation, staying with friends in Nairobi Tuesday through Friday. It was a great time of relaxing, buying up things only available in Nairobi and eating lots of good food.

One highlight was a thanksgiving meal on Thursday. In honor of the many Mennonite Canadians (none of whom were available, ironically) in Nairobi we had a Canadian Thanksgiving meal with chicken, stuffing, guava sauce (like apple sauce), beans, and much much more. We started the meal with the traditional, “name one thing you’re thankful for” to which I said, “I’m thankful for popcorn, ice cream and chocolate chip cookies, things that remind me of home.”

The meal was excellent, and truly took me back home. There’s something about the combination of foods, eating with friends, and an attitude of thanks that make thanksgiving meals seem like home to me. Like very few other things, Thursday night made me feel like I was home. Later, after the pumpkin, chocolate, apple, and peanut butter pies, we had a hymn sing. Our family used to always gather around the piano, dragging my brother or me in to play before we finished for the day.

As much as New Tripoli, PA will probably always be home for me, one meal made Nairobi seem not so far away.



Favorite Things of Our Nairobi Vacation:
1. Buying many new things (like a sweet printer for under $100)
2. Eating eating and eating. We had ice cream multiple times, a thanksgiving meal, plus our first experience of Diamond plaza, an Indian food court with excellent selection.
3. Sterns driving us around. Jacob and Alvera pretty much picked us up wherever we were, making numerous logistics easier.
4. Access to unlimited internet
5. Good conversations with friends
6. Crossing off multiple things from our to-do lists, something nearly impossible in Najile.

Bible Study

One of the great blessings Steph and I have had recently is starting a Bible study at our church in Najile. For many, it is not only the first time they've ever studied the Bible, but their first structured educational experience. We're studying the book of John and its been a learning experience for us all.

Our first week, we met with about fifty people, of whom maybe fifteen spoke any English. We worked through an interpretor and tried to talk about who Jesus was. Week two started with just a few people, (as we wanted to start "on time") but soon it built up to around 25. The biggest realization was that people just have never critically read anything....well most have never read period, but those who have never have critically analyzed what they hear. We'd read a verse, "and John was questioned by the pharasees...." and we'd ask, "so who was asking John about who he was" and we'd just get blank stares. Maybe somebody might speak about how John did many miracles, and Steph and I are thinking...uhhhhh......

Some things we just take for granted. We take for granted that people have went to school, and even more so, that analyzing literature just comes with being born. Not true. We've now adjusted our teaching style to do more role-plays, skits reinacting the scene, and also tying in what our group-members know (like....cows, goats and sheep) into the passage (lamb of God who takes away the sins of the earth makes a lot more sense here than the States).

It also reinforces, to us, the idea that people aren't just magically able to succeed from birth. In today's world, you need a lot of help, a lot of advantages to have the tools (like critical thinking) that are necessary to make an honest living. Picking yourself up from your bootstraps is really a distortion of reality, a vast majority of people need to have access to some advantages before they'll be able to succeed. I think this is important to remember as we think of the poor (people who have created their own fate, versus those who were never blessed with the advantages to succeed).

Vacation

Things have been getting tiresome. The last few weeks we've been needing a break and we decided to come into Nairobi before the onslaught of work continues. Both of us are feeling better about our roles and have lots of work to do, but the work can be all-consuming. The biggest issue is we are facing powers that oppose us. Some of the changes that we'd like to see would come at the expense of people in power, and we've seen the difficulties of such a challenge. It makes me more sympathetic to people around the world who are up against governments, organizations, or companies that control their lives. Here we are, we are here for only 3 years and just trying to do our best, we are payed by an outside organization, but still it's a struggle some days to want to continue to fight for what you believe is right. Imagine if you didn't have an education, wealth, security, etc....how could you be willing to stand up to your employer, your government, your chief if it could mean losing your job, your land, or your (or your family's) life.

Part of the answer lies in remembering we are fighting principalities and powers that are not only of this world. Much of what we are facing has a spiritual side and it brings hope to remember that we worship the God who created the universe, who has defeated death is working in, through, and around us to unveil His kingdom on earth.

Anyway, it's hard to proceed each day with a positive attitude when you run into opposition so we decided to take 3 days in nairobi off. So far we have spent 25,000 shillings, which is about what we spend in 2 months normally. Mostly it was a printer, dry goods to feed a group of hungry Canadians who are visiting later this month, and this month's food for program meals (we'll be reimbursed later).

So, after a day of rest, we're enjoying Nairobi. I may be planning on going to Ethiopia with Nate (from Eastern) to see the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. Also, on our schedule are a trip to Maasai Mara to see the animals and a beach trip to Mombassa. You know, you got to enjoy yourself sometimes. As a friend of our said recently, if mental health is worth getting back, it's worth keeping in the first place.