Mombasa

“Kenya has an idyllic coastline, a magnet for all who visit the country with its 480 km of tropical beaches, white sands fringed with palm trees, with aquamarine and turquoise waters sheltered by coral reefs close to shore, or golden sands flanked by sand dunes. . . Mombasa became pivotal in the development of Kenya as a British colony, being the starting point for the building of the Uganda railway. Today it still plays a vital role as the hub of commodity transportation inland and is a strategic port on the East African coastline.” (Kenya Bradt Travel Guide) Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya with about 1.5 million people.

As we were planning our weekend trips, we added an extra day for Mombasa because we wanted to be able to see and experience the Indian Ocean beach. We are sure glad that we did. It was a crazy weekend packed many people to see and places to visit. Yes, we did manage to get in a few hours at the beach.

While traveling to Kitale we saw only domesticated animals: cattle, goats, donkeys, and sheep. However, on the way to Mombasa we spotted many different types of wildlife. We saw camels, zebra, giraffe, taupe (large antelope or elk type animal) and baboons. I’m sure passing near a couple wildlife areas made the difference.
We had been warned by many that the climate in Mombasa is hot and humid. As this is summer in the southern hemisphere it is the hottest time of the year. We were glad that we would feel Mombasa at it’s worst. Luckily for us it had cooled off to the low 90’s, but the humidity was still high.

The end of our bus trip ended rather excitingly. Coralis was to meet us when we arrived. Her instructions were to call when we passed by the roundabout that said Welcome to Mombasa. We never saw it (and later found out the welcome signed and been painted over)! The bus made several stops to let people off. We weren’t for sure where we were supposed to get off the bus and assumed it must be the last spot. As we were pulling away from one of those stops we sighted Coralis! The bus driver was alerted and stopped several blocks away to let us off as soon as he could. It was a problem for him because we had a bag stored underneath the bus that they had to get out for us. There we were in a strange town during heavy rush hour traffic wondering how we would ever find Coralis again. Mobile phones are a wonderful thing. Once she realized where we were she had us walk about a block away and cross the street (not an easy thing to do) to another roundabout and stand at the side of the road until she could get there to pick us up. Were we ever glad to see her drive up.


After a quick wash up in her apartment, we spent our first evening in Mombasa eating dinner beside the Indian Ocean feeling those wonderful sea breezes. There are three Maryknoll Lay Missionaries in the Mombasa area. Coralis has been there for nine years. She is involved in many different ministries, but her primary one is an AIDS Orphan Project. Pat and Ilona have been in Kenya for a year. They are working on the founding of a self sustaining Children’s Village that will serve AIDS orphans.

Friday was a full day. We meet with various people in the Mombasa Archdiocese. It is a huge diocese with 46 parishes. Because of that, they have many opportunities for ministry. The Bishop had been called away for an emergency meeting of all the Kenyan bishops, so we weren’t able to personally meet him, but he called during our appointment time to welcome us. We met with the head of the Education Office, the personnel director (a MK brother), Father Nikki at Bangladesh (slum), the AIDS orphan project, toured a secondary school, and SOLGIDI (a project to work with girls in distress).

Saturday morning Pat and Ilona took us to see an archdiocese pastoral center built with Maryknoll funds. Probably the highlight of our visits was at a rescue center for children that had been sexually abused by their parents or trafficked for prostitution. Ilona volunteers there weekly. Not only did we get a tour of the center, but the children all introduced themselves, sang some songs for us and shared warm chapti that they were preparing for lunch. Even though those children have experienced such horrors in their short lives, the feelings of love and acceptance there were overwhelming. It is a wonderful place doing wonderful things.

That afternoon we packed our bags for an overnight trip. The first stop was the beach. Mombasa itself is located on an island. We drove over the causeway to get to Mombasa, but now we drove south to the resort area. To get there we first had to take the ferry across the bay. You go to a resort to use their beach. It is the off season for tourists, so it was not crowded and was nice and quiet. It cost us $7 to use the beach and get a towel. The facilities and service was great. When we arrived the ocean was at low tide. We ventured over coral and sand to reach the water. It was great fun and John loved the chance to take pictures. There were many pockets in the coral with small fish, sea spiders, tiny fish and various other plant life.

After we left the beach we drove about an hour further south to Mivumoni to spend the night with Father Joe in his parish. The area was definitely rural. We were about 12 miles off of any paved roads. Father Joe has a beautiful view from his front porch since his house is located at the top of a hill. We spend most of the evening sitting outside watching the stars and trying to identify constellations. Father Joe serves eight churches. He used to say Mass at all of them each Sunday, but he is not able to do that any longer. The largest church is only a few feet away from his house. The building is nice, but very simple. After Mass Mary talked to a women’s group, I spoke to the high school youth group and we later toured a secondary school. We enjoyed leaving the city behind and spending time in the country.

Now the hard part is discerning, to decide which area, Kitale or Mombasa, will be our home for the next three years. Mombasa has many opportunities, but Kitale has that rural feel that reminds us of Kansas. So we will pray and ponder. Please pray for guidance for us as we come to a decision in the next few weeks.


If you'd like to see photos of the Mombasa area click here.

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!)