Out of Africa

Last night we watched the movie Out of Africa starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. It has been years since I had seen it and of course at that time we were living in the US. I enjoyed it so much more last night, not for the romance, because so many things were familiar.

Oh, the landscape. There are beautiful shots of the Rift Valley, the savannah, the wildlife. We would say, “We’ve seen that.” “That’s just like we remember it.”

We’ve been to the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden twice for meals. It is located at the house of her farm supervisor. The house has been restored to that time period and the gardens are beautiful. It is a fun place to visit and eat lunch. We’ve been on the grounds of her house, but not inside. They obviously shot part of the movie there, because the drive, gardens and area around it we’ve seen with our own eyes.

Lord Delamere was a character in the movie. He was a successful British farmer with vast holdings near Lake Naivasha. We go past his “plantation” on the way to Nairobi. Although we have never stopped, his family has a nice area to rest, eat, and shop where they sell dairy products and meat from their farm.

It was fun to see what Kenya was like in the early 1900s. The period date was 1913 when she first moved to Kenya. Members of the high society of England were living here with their fine china, extravagant lifestyles, time spent in the club socializing.

We could understand the Kiswahali spoken in the movie.

It was interesting to see the two tribes depicted in the movie. The lifestyle of the Maasai haven’t changed much in the past hundred years, but the Kikukus are now the dominate tribe having most of the Kenyan owned businesses. They are considered to be the most well educated and richest tribe in Kenya.

This morning I did a little research about the movie. Of course, they have taken some liberties with the truth, but it is essentially factual. The major characters in the movie are based on real life people. She did lose the land due to the failure of the coffee crop and moved back to Denmark but lived in Kenya for 17 years rather than just a few.

"I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills..." begins both the book and movie. If you get a chance, you ought to see the movie again. It is long, but it is a real charmer and lives you a slice of what life was like in Kenya once upon a time. Now I want to read the book.

Annual General Meeting

Last Saturday was the Annual General Meeting (AGM) at St. Moncia’s. It is considered to be an important day, a yearly meeting of parents with the Board of Governors (school board), PTA, teachers, administrators, and of course their children.

Any Kenyan celebration would be incomplete without worship, entertainment, speeches, and food.


The day started at 8:00 am with Mass. A typical Kenyan Mass lasts two hours or more with all of the singing and dancing. After Mass, it was time to take tea. That gave those parents who had already arrived a chance to visit with their daughters.

After tea, the entertainment began. It consisted of some dramas (plays), recitation of poems, singing and dancing. At one point even Madam Akech, the prinicipal, and Mrs. Kandie, the deputy principal, joined in the dancing. Of course, that was a real crowd pleaser.

The Chief Guest (keynote speaker), was an adjunct professor from Moi University. She is a real advocate of education for women. Her speech was positive, uplifting, filled with good advice and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

One of my favorite stories was . . .

God created Eve with the rib from Adam’s side. He didn’t take a bone from his head or his foot. That is because God meant for Eve to work side by side with Adam as a partner. One person is not be raised above the other nor be trampled upon. She went on, do you know how when you do thing more than once, you improve? Well, God saw that there were a few imperfections in man and he was able to improve upon these when he created Eve!

After the speeches and the business meeting, it was finally time to eat! The school had prepared food for the parents and student, but many mothers brought in their daughter’s favorite foods to supplement. You could smell fried chicken, chips (French fries), and chapatti. The girls were also thrilled to be able to drink sodas and eat bread that their families brought.

The next Visiting Day will be in June. The girls are already looking forward to that day.

Tulirudi Numbani, Kenya

We realized that we have returned to Kenya from a trip to the United States when we

. . . remembered that we can no longer brush our teeth in tap water.
. . . need to change our driving habits to slow down and brake for motorcycles, bicycles carrying passengers and potholes.
. . . find the wings of flying termites on the floor underneath our windows in the morning.
. . . must hang laundry out for a second day to dry during the rainy season.
. . . drive into a petrol (gas) station and the attendant motions you on because they don’t have any petrol.
. . . discover eggs of various sizes in your shopping bag.
. . . eat sweet, sweet bananas and mangoes.
. . . see students dressed in uniforms.
. . . fellow coworkers invite us to take tea.

AND BEST OF ALL

. . . students clap and cheer when we entered the classroom on our first day back.