Kitale Trip

We have spent the last two weekends traveling to visit possible ministry sites. The first place we visited was Kitale, located in the western part of the country. It is approximately 60 miles north of Lake Victoria and about 20 miles east of the Ugandan border. The travel guide says, “It is a small, market town at the center of the major maize growing area in Kenya. During the colonial times there were 900 settler families living there. Today there are four.” It has a beautiful view of nearby Mount Elgon. Click here to see some pictures we took while we were there.

It was so nice to leave the big city behind and travel in the countryside. The trip took us almost nine hours. We had been warned not to drink too much that morning as the bus only made two stops.

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442786248845293730" />This was the most common animal except for cattle we saw on the trip. John did see a baboon, but there were no other wild animals.

There were about two hours that were an extreme African massage (rough roads). It was so bumpy that you couldn't even read. That's when an ipod with podcasts comes in handy:) It was a beautiful drive. Probably at least five of the travel hours included the Rift Valley, extinct volcanoes, and mountains. It just takes your breath away when you come up to the edge of the Rift Valley. You’re traveling along gaining elevation when all of the sudden the ground seems to give way. The sheer drop of the escarpment looking down over 1000 feet and being able to see for who knows how many miles is amazing. The view is similar to what you see when an airplane is flying at low altitude and the fields appear like a patchwork quilt. Have you ever heard of a soda lake before? We went by two, Lakes Baringo and Lake Borgoria. We also crossed the equator. There was a small sign on the side of the road to mark it.

Our room here at Flora Hostel is adequate, but we loved being in a real house for the weekend. It was nice to have more room, to be able to walk into a kitchen, living room, have chairs and a couch to sit in, even a TV to watch!

Saturday morning we met with the bishop. He was very gracious, welcomed us and tossed around ideas for possible ministries. We sat on his veranda and talked for almost an hour. Then he took us on a tour of his front flower gardens and the farm behind the house. His newest addition is a greenhouse that allows them to germinate plants to transfer into their gardens and grow even more vegetables for their use.

We looked at a possible house if we decide to move there. It is in the same compound as another Maryknoll Lay missioner. It is a settler's house built in the 1930s. That area of town is nice and quiet, originally the British section of town. It has four bedrooms and one bath. There is both a front and back porch, plus a flagstone patio area by the front porch that would be great for sitting out to grade papers, read, take tea or chat. The banda (think gazebo with a grass roof) is out back, plus a nice open area.

Currently there are two MKLM in Kitale. Russ runs the Don Bosco Children’s Center. They work with orphans and vulnerable street children placing them in schools yet maintaining contact with their families on weekends. Kathy is a physician’s assistant that works at Kimini, a small town about 10 miles away.

Of course, we had to go into town. We went to two supermarkets to see what kinds of things we could buy right there in town. One of the stores is small and caters to wazungus (whites). The other was a large modern supermarket that has also started carrying those types of items and causing competition which means lower prices. (A Betty Crocker cake mix was about $6.) You can even get Ragu spaghetti sauce and Kellogs’ corn flakes, but no chocolate chips. There is a third, even larger store that we didn’t go into. We ate Sunday brunch at a lovely coffee house that also has an internet café, lending library and gift shop. The food was good.

The climate is wonderful. They said that the warmest day of the year was Saturday. It wasn't bad at all. In fact it was quite nice. Now is the dry season, but the dust was nothing like we saw in Olitokitok. Kitale is the maize basket of Kenya. Lots of farms, lots of corn, we even saw hay being baled!

Now it is time to pray and consider our options. Please pray for wisdom for us as we discern where we are most needed.

Nairobi Tourists

Since we are in Nairobi for only three months, we are taking advantage of the fact. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, weekdays are spent studying, studying, and then even more studying. However, the weekends are for exploring (and studying). We’d like to share a few photos from the last two weekends with you.

In Central Park there is a large monument called Harambee or the Nyayo Monument. It was built to promote and recognize the importance of unity among the people of Kenya. The story goes that the president was on his way to an important meeting. His car became stuck. Many people were watching as his driver was trying to get unstuck. He encouraged the people to all work together and push to get the car out of the mud. He said, "Harambee",(which really means heave, ho) and they replied as they pushed, "Nyayo". Now the word harambee is used to mean "Let's pull together for a common good."

Right across the street is an even larger public park called Uhuru Park. It’s a nice park with lots of trees and green space. Every time we have been there, it has been filled with lots of people enjoying the outdoors. There is even a lake where you can rent paddle boats. There are great paths for walking and one is a shortcut to get us back home. One day when we were there, Richard Roberts, son of Oral Roberts, was having a healing crusade. We heard music and decided to go over and investigate.

We met Sister Elizabeth during our first days here. She lives across town in Mathare. It is one of the oldest slums in Nairobi. She is a nurse in Italy, but they don’t recognize her credentials here. So she is currently taking a course to become licensed in Kenya. At that time there was a matatu strike here. A matatu is basically a van that transports people. They stop at specified places, the conductor slides open the door and encourages people to ride. When everyone is aboard, he slaps the side of the vehicle. That is the signal for the driver to take off. (The driver can’t see that since the steering wheel is on the right side of cars.) Sister Elizabeth takes two different matatus to get from her place to the hospital where she is working. It was too far for her to walk so she stayed here during the strike. Mary and she are about the same age, so they struck up a friendship.

Sister Elizabeth invited us to come and visit her at her home. She is a member of the Contemplative Missionary Movement of P. De Foucauld. She lives with five (I think) other Sisters in Mathare. We had to leave here at 6:30 in order to arrive at Mass at 7:00 am. Afterwards, she took us to her home. It was amazing. Her order has been in Mathare since the 1970s. Because they had been established in that area for so long, the government leased them land for 99 years as long as they would build a stone structure on the grounds. It is a paradise inside those gates. They have housing for nine families, their beautiful stone home, a stone structure for meetings and a large building for large meetings. We visited three different Sunday School classes that were going on. A priest had come to offer Mass for handicapped people who were unable to get to church.

We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden. While you were all suffering with another round of snow, we were sitting outside enjoying beautiful summer weather and outstanding food. It was fun to see the actual setting for Out of Africa. Just a block or two away was the Kazuri Bead Factory.

Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi. It was begun after WWI as a place for soldiers to live since they couldn’t own land. Today there are over one million people living in less than a square mile. The government owns the land but provides no basic services, schools, clinics, running water or bathrooms. During the post election violence in 2007, Kiberia experienced the most violence in Nairobi.

We spent Saturday morning a 10 K Peace Run held in Kibera. Young men with nothing to do, no jobs or work were out burning and killing during the riots. The purpose of the race was to promote unity among the people of Kibera, to work together toward a common purpose, to reach out to the young people and help install pride in themselves. This race was a joint project between several organizations. Father Dick Quinn (MK priest) was one of the sponsors. He is such a quiet, gentle soul, a dear man.

They had over 900 runners registered. Due to rain the day before you can imagine what the start and finish lines were like. It is a dirt soccer field. A sticky, mucky mess! Vikki, also a MK lay missioner, is a superintendent of 8 parish schools in that area. They closed schools (yes, on Saturday morning) today so they could participate. She was so excited. Over 50 students took part, and many of the classified staff were there as well as several teachers. One of her primary students won his division. It was an interesting morning.

We still have several more "must sees" on our list. Hopefully we'll get a chance to enjoy them all.

Candy As Change

I bet you have never gotten candy and/or gum as change back from your purchase!

Friday afternoon we stopped at a large supermarket to get some snacks for our Friday Game Night. We had a large bill that we wanted to break. Street vendors don’t have a lot of change and can’t break large bills. That makes it necessary for people to keep small change so they can buy things. For example, we went to the fruit market this week and purchased bananas and an avocado. It cost 110 Ksh. If we would have given her a 500 Ksh note, she wouldn’t have been able to give us change. We have also discovered that an askari (guard) at a compound just across the street from us has mangoes for sale. It is mango season and they are a wonderful supplement to our breakfast! He is selling them for 10 Ksh apiece. (That makes them about 15 cents apiece.) We have become regular customers. If we gave him anything larger than 100 note, he probably couldn’t break it. The best thing to do is to keep as much small change as you can so that you can pay the exact amount.

So back to my story . . . We went to a large, well known supermarket chain. The bill came to 413 Ksh (less than $5). The clerk asked us to give her the bill plus 3 ksh to make change easier. We didn’t have it. So, she gave us two pieces of candy and a small packet of gum as part of our change equivalent to 7 Ksh. What a practical solution.

Kathy, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner that is in Kitale, is in town for the weekend. She is a physcian’s assistant and will be attending a medical conference in Nairobi this next week. We are going to visit Kitale on Friday. She isn’t going to be there to greet and help entertain us, so she came to Nairobi a couple of days early to spend time with us. We had previously met her in December 2009 as we were snowed in for our interview with Maryknoll. It is so good to see her again. Of course, this time we had much more specific questions to ask since we are considering moving to her town.

We spent the afternoon sightseeing. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden. Many of you can probably picture where we were. Karen Blixen was the Danish woman who wrote the book Out of Africa which was later made into a movie of the same title. The Coffee Garden is located in the gardens of the plantation manager’s house. The afternoon was beautiful, the garden was wonderful and the company delightful. We all had hamburgers that tasted just as good if not better than we could have made at home. It was a short drive to see her house. The gardens there were also lovely.


Our final stop was at the Kazuri Bead Workshop. We have heard wonderful things about Kazuri beads while we have been here. They are ceramic beads made here in Nairobi. Kazuri means small and beautiful and they are! This industry was started in 1975 as a way to employ single mothers. They now employ over 350 women and their jewelry is in demand internationally. There are only three places in the US that sell them: New York, Boston and Kansas City. Yes, you heard me right, Kansas City! The store Ten Thousand Villages, a free trade store, in Kansas City sells them. Their web site is www.tenthousandvillages.com. You can learn more about the beads at www.kazuri.com. (Note: They took plastic there, we didn’t get any candy for change there!)

Good Samaritan

I have another Good Samaritan story. Well, I don’t know if you could really call it that, but we were at the right place at the right time. First, a little background. The last few days have been really tough at school. I have been extremely frustrated and felt I need to spend every single minute studying. However, we needed to purchase some more time for our internet connections, plus John was having trouble with his modem, so he needed to go to the Safaricom store. So, on Wednesday he and Mary walked to the shopping center to take care of that. I stayed here and went outside to study in a beautiful garden.

I had been working for quite some time when an older Sister came by and stopped to chat. We had a nice visit. I learned that Sister Elizabeth was originally from Scotland and had been a teacher for over 60 years. She taught everything from the primary level to university. Eight of those years were in Michigan. I thought it was interesting that things hadn’t changed much over the years. She left the United States in 1965. While there she was a principal of a school. I gather that it must have been a new school that had just opened. She talked about how PTA meetings were the bane of her existence during that time. Always parents were complaining about teachers, wanting to make excuses and special allowances for their children.

I had been watching for her since then, but haven’t seen her since. Today is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Consolata Sisters. At the conclusion of Mass this morning the priest told us that whenever we saw a Sister over the next few days we needed to wish them a happy anniversary.

We get out of class at 1:00 on Fridays. It’s great because it gives us a chance to take care of business things and have a little more time to explore the city. Since we will be traveling to Kitale in two weeks, we needed to purchase bus tickets. (There is no such thing as making reservations or paying via internet here!) After eating lunch and resting a little, we headed out.

We had only gotten about a block away from the hostel when we saw Sister Elizabeth walking towards us with another woman. Of course we greeted and offered her congratulations. The other woman explained that she had just been on a bus with Sister Elizabeth. The bus stopped several blocks away from the usual drop off spot and Sister was disoriented and confused. This woman was on her way back to work and asked if we could escort Sister home. Of course, we were glad to. It was midafternoon and Sister was flushed so Mary asked her if she needed a drink of water. Her reply was “I really need a drink of whisky! You know I’m Scottish!”

There were two extremely busy streets to cross. Pedestrians don’t have the right-of-way here. It is dangerous to cross streets. (I have almost been hit three times walking to school and those aren’t busy streets.) Once we crossed the streets she saw a large billboard and recognized where she was and insisted that she could make it on home by herself. Just think of what might have happened if I hadn’t chatted with her a couple of days earlier, recognized her or had been a few minutes earlier or later.

On a totally different note: As we were walking home through Uhuru Park we heard music. Since we weren’t in any hurry, we decided to go investigate. Richard Roberts, son of Oral Roberts, is here for a healing crusade for the next three days. We had seen banners around town but hadn’t realized that it was going to be so close to us. In fact, I can hear music coming from there as I write.

Busy Week

We had a busy week week last week. Tuesday night we as well as the Maryknoll Sisters were invited to join the Fathers and Brothers for the closing session of their African General Assembly. Priests from Kenya, Tanzania and Namibia were there as were five sisters and four lay missioners. There was a panel discussion in which the three branches of Maryknoll (priests and brothers, sisters, and lay missioners) shared what had been happening in their respective organizations this past year. Mass followed said by two priests and one brother who were celebrating their Silver Jubilee (25 years as a priest or brother). We enjoyed getting a chance to visit with people that have been in Kenya for many years and have a lot of experience that we can learn from.


Yesterday we went on an excursion downtown to an art gallery and then to the Masai market. The museum had an art display which we had heard about. Admission if you are a resident of Kenya it cost 100Ksh (about $1.25), nonresidents cost 500Ksh. Bless Mary’s heart(she's the other lay missioner with us), she had her language school student ID and was able to convince the young man we were missionaries in Kenya attending school. We were in process of obtaining resident status, but the hadn't gotten the paperwork yet (which is true). Of course, the gentleman was kind enough to let us pass as residents. There were six rooms with photographs of people who had gone to studios for individual or family pictures. Some of the photos were taken as far back as in the 1930’s. It was really interesting.

Our next destination was the Masai market. We had a general idea of where we were going and about ten minutes later found it. The market is on about a half acre of land that is either a parking lot or empty lot during the week. Many vendors sale their wares there two days a week. There were craft items, clothing, jewelry, paintings, wall hangs, fabric, plus much more. Some of the vendors were actual Masai selling their beaded jewelry, but most were not. As we were about to enter the market we swarmed by a group of about six men. Our first thought was that they were pickpockets, so we all put our hands in or on our pant pockets. These men wanted to know what we were looking for, where we were from, what we were looking for, etc. We realized that they wanted to guide us around, probably take us to special vendors, and of course, collect a fee for assisting us. After about ten minutes of telling them we were just looking, they finally left us alone. There were rows of paths between vendors who more than happy to show you their wares. If you gave more than a quick glance, they would greet you and ask if you would like to buy. "Promote me," they would say. "For you I'll give a good price." One time John was looking at some beautifully carved and painted gourds two rows away and the vendor came over to try to bring us closer to look. Talk about keen observation.

On the way back we walked through Uhuru Park. The day was like a nice warm spring day in Kansas. There were couples and families sitting in the shade enjoying the day. Sylvia, our teacher, had told us that as many as six families would live together in a small apartment because they could not afford other housing. Think about having sheets as walls to separate you from another family. Not much privacy!

Sunday we went with Father John (MK priest) to church on the outskirts of a slum area. The church was made of tin. It had just been built and opened in October. It had a dirt floor and benches for seats. Mass began with a procession of dancing children and young people leading Father in to the altar. There was much singing and dancing during the two hour Kiswahili service. John enjoyed watching a little boy filling his shoes with dirt and then dumping the dirt out.

Click here to see some photographs.

Kenyan Weddings

Mwalimu Sylvia is one of our teachers. I wrote about her and gave a little of her background two weeks ago. She is a young, modern, beautiful Kenyan. She has been married for five years. Her husband is a police officer and they have a three year old son that began school last week. Friday we spent part of our class talking about customs. I had wanted to ask her about dowries, but hesitated to do so thinking it might be impolite. She brought up the subject herself. This is what we learned.

A traditional wedding supersedes a church wedding. At least in her tribe, a traditional wedding consists of the man going before the woman’s extended family to meet them and get their approval. Once he receives the family’s blessing, they are considered married.

Next comes the negotiation of the dowry or bride price, but it doesn’t necessarily come immediately. Sometimes the woman must prove that she is a good wife and can produce sons. The husband must reimburse the bride’s family for her loss of labor. Tradition allows that a woman can be returned to her family at any time before the dowry is paid, but once it is paid “her dish is broken” and there is no longer any place for her in her parent’s home.

Sylvia’s husband was in the process of negotiating her bride price, when her father-in-law passed away. Due to funeral financial obligations, the bargaining had to come to a halt. She expects that her dowry will be about 17 cows, the cost of her university education, and a few other items.

There is even a difference in terminology for marriage based upon one’s gender. A man may marry (-oa), but a woman gets married (-olewa).

Most Kenyans want a church wedding. If finances allow, they will have a church wedding, but the majority cannot afford to do so.

As a sign of respect, a husband cannot be in close quarters with his mother-in-law. If they are in a large home, they can be together in the living room, but he may not enter the bathroom or bedroom. The same is true of the wife with her father-in-law. Neither can spend the night at their in-laws home, only the child of the parent can spend the night. The only time a mother can physically touch her son-in-law is at this ceremony.

Kenyan American English Dictionary

I suppose it is because we are so focused on language, but I have been noticing differences in vocabulary and terminology even when speaking in English. I am also motivated by the fact that soon I will probably be teaching and I need students to be able to understand what I am saying. My American accent will hamper them enough. I thought it would be fun to share some of my discoveries with you in Cindy’s Kenyan English Dictionary.

We’ll start with a few words:
chips = French fries
innerwear = underwear
queue here = form a line here
rubber = eraser
washroom = room with toilet and sink only
bafu = room to take shower
wash = wash hand, face, and legs
bathe = wash entire body
hoot = honk horn
car park = parking lot
zebra crossing = pedestrian crosswalk
trolley = shopping cart
look sharp = look nice, well dressed

Now let’s move on to some sentences.
I read in Niarobi. = I studied there. I went to school there.
Let’s give a clap. = Let’s give them a hand, let’s applaud for them.
Are we together? = Does everyone understand?
He’s eating money. = He’s taking money (in reference to a politician’s corruption).
Since it’s eating up your mind let’s review. = It is confusing you, you don’t understand so let’s go over it again.
Do you fear them? = Are you afraid of them?
Let’s go and take tea. = It’s time for tea break. Let’s go have some tea.
The phone cries. The door cries = They make high pitched noises.
Did you jump? = This was said when one of us read the wrong answer. It means did you lose your place?
My husband went to pick him. = My husband went to pick him up from school.
The school provides transport. = The school provides transportation.
It was sweet. = It was tasty, not it was sweet and yummy with a lot of sugar.
Use words like this to make conversation more delicious. = Make the conversation more interesting and longer.
My thinking is destructed. = I’ve lost my train of thought. I’ve forgotten what I was going to say.
Allow me to rub here. = Allow me to erase this part of the board.
They abuse it. = They don’t use it correctly. They mistreat the machine.
Did you revise your lesson? = Did you study last night?
Is what? = What do you mean? I don’t understand.
I slept late = I went to bed late last night. That’s exactly the opposite of what we mean when we say it!
Verbs can never hang alone. = Verbs can never stand alone, they must have subject prefixed added to them.
The road will branch. = The road will divide.
I won't restrict you. = I won't stop you. I won't limit you to that.
I have a small heart. = I cry easily for others. I'm worried about them. (We would say they have a big heart.)
I expect you to be picking from them. = I expect you to be learning from them.

They have two sayings that sum up their attitude about time.
Polepole ndia mwendo. = Slowly, slowly is the journey.
Polepole ya kobe humfikisha mbali. = The slowness of the tortoise enables him to go far. In other words, don’t get in a hurry. People are more important than being on time and getting tasks done. Who says we don’t have things to learn from Kenyans?