St. Monica's Day 2012

Our school is named after St. Monica, our patron saint. Unfortunately the feast day of St. Monica is on August 27th when we're not in school. So we celebrate it in third term before the KCSE exams begin.

Our school is under the patronage of the Catholic Diocese of Kitale. That hasn't always been the case. We used to be known as Kitale Girls. At that point, it was a day school and had a poor reputation. The Board of Governors asked the diocese to take it over to help make improvements both morally and academically. We are currently one of the top three girls schools in the area. St. Monica's Day gives us an opportunity to remind ourselves of our history, successes, achievements and future goals.

Bishop Maurice Crawley is the chairman of the Board of Governors and we can't celebrate without him. He has been welcomed at the gate and escorted to the administration building with singing and dancing.

Of course there are the customary greetings to be exchanged before any meeting or celebration can begin.

Construction on a new classroom was just completed, so the day began with a dedication of the new building. We then moved to a shady area for Mass. This was followed by entertainment, a speech about St. Monica, a history of the school, and recognition for achievements this past year.

The day ended with a football (soccer) game between the teaching staff and students. The girls are proud of the fact that this is the third time they have successfully beat the teachers!

Click here to see more photos.

Maize Harvest

We live in the maize (corn) basket of Kenya. The ground is very fertile and we get plenty of rain. The growing season is now over. People are wanting the rain to stop so the maize can start drying and they can harvest. Currently the fields look like this.

The first step in harvest is to cut the maize and put them in shocks for drying.

After the maize has adequately dried, the cobs are twisted off the corn stalks. Then kernels are removed from the cob and set in the sun to further dry. It's a common sight to see tarps on the ground with the maize spread out. You can see women sitting amid the kernels sorting and cleaning. When it clouds up men put the maize into large sacks or move it to the center of the tarps which are wrapped up to protect it from rain. The men sitting under the porch are in charge of this maize. Can you see the empty bags the maize is stored in on the left hand side of them?

Saturday we drove to a nearby town on a shopping expedition.

This is passion fruit. Andrea calls them snot fruit. That's an apt description of the texture of the fruit inside. It is tasty if you can get over the look and texture.

Passing Time

I got home from school one afternoon before 5:00. The afternoon was beautiful and I needed exercise so decided to take a walk. I was about halfway on my route with I met Robina going home from work. Robina used to do our laundry and clean our house when we first arrived in Kitale. However, she works for a couple other people. Their needs changed and so she was unable to work for us any longer. She still cleans Russ's house on Saturdays so is on the compound weekly. She is a lovely lady so we always stop to chat with her. She introduced me to a tailor that I like. She has a friend that goes to Uganda to buy fabric so I occasionally buy fabric from her. It doesn't get any more convenient than that. She brings several pieces for me to look at and if I like something, I buy it.

I was delighted to bump into her on my walk. We walked together for several blocks. When we got near her corner she asked me if I remembered where she lived as I had taken her home once during a downpour. Of course I remembered. I intended to resume my walk when we got to her corner, but she invited me to her home. You don't turn down an invitation like that.

After we reached her house and settled in, she offered me a soda. Again, you don't turn something like that down. Even though you feel bad and know they can't really afford it, it is an insult to refuse food or drink. So, I replied that I'd like one. She didn't have any in the house so left to have a neighbour's child run to the nearest duka (small neighbourhood shop that typically sells bread, soda, eggs, a few pieces of fruit that are in season). The neighbour's children were gone so she had to run to the duka herself about two blocks away. I felt so bad for her!

We chatted and enjoyed our sodas. I enjoyed the conversation very much learning more about her, her family and her work.

As I was leaving I thanked her for the visit and soda telling her that I was very honoured. Her reply was, "No, I am the honoured one. You helped me to pass the time."

This comment pointed out to me how very different our cultures are. Keep in mind we grew up on farms and didn't have close neighbours that we interacted with daily. John and I both like and appreciate quiet time. We enjoy living in a quiet house in a quiet neighbourhood without people and noise around all the time. When we get home from school we look forward to a quiet evening in our own home.

Robina lives on a compound that is probably an acre. Her's is the only house on the nice walled in compound. The rest of the compound is planted in banana trees, corn, sukumawili, pumpkin, etc. that she uses to feel her family. In my opinion, it is a perfect compound: large, comfortable, quiet, just off the main road, etc. They are building a new house across the road from Robina's compound. She had commented during our conversation that she was glad that she would soon be having neighbours. Her landlord intends to build at least one other house on the compound where she lives. She can't wait for that to happen.

It seems to me that Kenyans like and want people around all the time. They like the noise and chaos. Her children are away in boarding school. She is lucky in that her husband now works in Kitale but works long hours at the hospital as a physician's assistant. Her comment that I helped her to pass the time was a sincere compliment indicating that she doesn't like to be alone, doesn't like the quiet. She not only appreciated my visit to her home but it also made her evening more pleasant.

You've Gained Weight

I know perfectly well that I have gained weight over the past year or so. When we were going to language school in Nairobi we were walking at least 5 miles every day. That helped me lose weight. Then there was the fact that we were eating “strange” food, not our typical diet. Thanks to care packages we have been able to enjoy such things as peanut butter (that we like), familiar candy, chocolate chips, caramel apples, etc. Living in our own house and cooking for ourselves means we can eat whatever we like and as much as we like. I’m not getting as much exercise as I should. My clothes still fit although they are a little snugger than I would like.

I haven’t seen the majority of my co-workers for six weeks. When we started returning to work this week, one of the young women teachers who is very nice made the comment that I had gained weight. Then she was explaining to me Kiswahili words to use. You can’t use kunona the equivalent of fat when referring to people. Instead use the word kuenapa that means grow big, healthy.

Yesterday the father to one of my Form II girls brought her to school. We haven’t seen one another for over a year. After greeting and chatting for a few minutes he gave me the ultimate Kenyan compliment, “You’ve gained weight.” Laughingly I replied, “I’m afraid so.” “That’s a good thing@ was his reply, “ it means you are healthy!”
I’ve got the message. Although it is considered beautiful to be a larger person here, that’s not what I want to be and so I need to start watching more carefully what I eat and get more exercise!

Gladys

Gladys was the head girl at St. Monica’s Girls Secondary School last year. Being Head Girl is the ultimate student leadership position at school. Their responsibilities are many: being a role model, peer counselling , supervising student activities and special events, maintaining and enforcing student discipline, inspection of dorms, classrooms and school grounds, liaison between administration and students, impromptu speeches at assemblies, meetings, special events etc. It is a stressful position with a huge responsibility for the day-to-day management of the school.

Gladys handled the position with grace and humility. Her sunny disposition and optimistic outlook charmed the teachers and students alike. St. Monica’s had an extremely successful year under her leadership. There were few discipline problems and in the all important measure of a school’s success, our KCSE exam scores were the highest we had ever achieved. The school administration feels that a large part of this success was due to Gladys’ leadership skills.

She is the youngest of 10 children. None of her older brothers and sisters has ever been to school. Her father died on the day of her birth. Her mother disappeared shortly thereafter. She reappeared when Gladys was 8 years old and was extremely sick. Gladys helped care for her mother until she died a few months later.

When Gladys was 9 years old she begin to attend school. Within five years she was able to complete the eight grades in primary school! Although it wasn’t a very good school, her score on the KCPE enabled her to attend St. Monica’s. The brother who is her guardian is a boda boda (bicycle taxi) driver. He barely earns enough to support his own family so the Ursaline Sisters (a group of nuns) paid her school fees. Gladys said that when she started at St. Monica’s her English skills were terrible. She worked extremely hard to improve those skills.

Because Gladys really had nowhere to live and no source of income, Madam Akech, our principal, asked Gladys to come and live at St. Monica’s. We have been trying to hire a school nurse for two years now. Due to the nurse shortage in Kenya, we have not been able to fill that position. In exchange for housing, Gladys has been asked to help out around the school. One of her responsibilities is to take students who are ill to the hospital for treatment and then supervise their treatment. As Gladys wants to be a nurse, she loves having this role. She wanted to go to nursing school, but has no way of obtaining the necessary fees.

My Kiswahali skills are terrible. I wish I was able to understand what my colleagues are saying when they chat in the staff room. It would be nice to be able to understand the words of the songs sung in church. A couple of months ago I got the idea to ask Gladys if she would be interested in tutoring me in Kiswahali. It would help me become more fluent and at the same time give her some income. We have been having lessons for a couple of months now. In my opinion it has worked out well for both of us.

Showing me how to make chapati

There has been talk among the teachers that we as a staff need to try to help Gladys with her education. Although her marks on the KCSE aren’t outstanding, they are good. (That often happens to the head girl due to being taken away from their studies to attend to school matters.) The discussion has also included the idea that the teachers could pitch in some to help with some of her with fees.

John and I have always been impressed with Gladys. We attend Mass on the school compound every other week. She has always been so welcoming not just with the traditional handshake but also stopping to chat for a few minutes. Even during the school day she would often greet me. It always made me feel so welcome even when I was feeling that I was a stranger in a strange land. Our admiration has only increased as we have gotten to know her on a more personal level. We also want to help. So, we decided to use some of our mission account donations to help her obtain her nursing degree.

When I was telling my fellow missioners about Gladys they were able to offer advice and information that I needed to be able to help her. Kathy is a physicians’ attendant at St. Raphael’s Clinic in a slum in Kitale. She offered an attachment (internship) to Gladys at the clinic. I’m happy to report that Gladys started last week as the receptionist. When patients come to the clinic, she records their information, takes their blood pressure, pulse, weight, etc. While she is working there she will be able to see and assist with the work of nurses in a clinic, physicians’ attendants, midwives, and medical technicians (lab technician). It will be a great practical experience for her.

In the meantime, she is in the process of applying to the St. Elizabeth’s School of Nursing in Kakamega. If all goes well, she will be able to start in March. We pray for her success.

Sisters Centennial Celebration

We were privileged to take part in the centennial celebration of the Maryknoll Sisters last weekend. The sisters serving in Kenya, Theresa, Giang, and Sia, decided they wanted to celebrate relationships among friends. So they hosted a seminar "Spirituality for Mission in the 21st Century". They invited other Maryknollers, people they work with, nuns and priests from other orders, and friends. At one point there were over 150 people attending the seminar that lasted a day and a half.

Members of Maryknoll participating in the Seminar

Sister Claudette LaVerdiere was the speaker. Whenever anyone hears about Maryknoll Sisters, they always ask about Sister Claudette, so due to this positive reputation, she was selected as the speaker. Recently she completed writing a book about the founder of the Maryknoll Sisters, Sr. Mary Joseph Rogers. Using that, the topic of her lectures was the spirituality of Sr. Rogers and how it applies to us in mission today. It was a thought provoking, inspiring, educative, validating and motivating two days.

However, the best part of the weekend was the celebration of relationships. We knew that three of our fellow missioners from Mombasa, Mary, Susan and Judy, were going to be there so we were looking forward to spending time with them. It is so far from Kitale to Mombasa that we seldom see one another and cherish the time we have together.

Members of Orientation Class 2012
A huge surprise was Sister Genie who was in our orientation class in the fall of 2009. She is serving in Tanzania. Unfortunately, she has constantly been sick in the two and a half years that she has been there. Two weeks ago she came to Nairobi for medical treatment. Although we are sorry that she has been sick, we loved getting to see her again. Please pray for her as she has a difficult decision ahead of her. Due to all the health problems she has experienced, it looks like she is going to have to leave Tanzania. She is in the process of discerning where to go now.

Maryknoll Sisters Giang, Claudette, Sia, Rachel, Genie, Theresa

After the seminar the sisters invited us over to their home for an impromptu dinner. It was a true group effort since it wasn't planned. Susan, a friend from NY, had some pasta sauce frozen in her refrigerator. She ran home to get it. John and Dr. Susan ran to the store to get cheese and crackers. We ended up having a feast fit for a king. Even though the food was good, the best part was spending time with friends. The theological discussion continued around the dinner table as we shared our thoughts and experiences with laughter and tears. It was a joy filled weekend.

Imani Workshop

We were in Mombasa a couple of weeks ago on holiday. Mary, our friend, bought a cute pencil holder made out of recycled paper. We noticed on the bottom it was labeled Imani Workshops Eldoret. Eldoret is a town only about an hour away.

When we got home John started an internet search to find out more about this Imani Workshop. (Imani means faith in Kiswahili.) He found them on the web and sent an email. It was answered by someone in the States! They gave him a phone number in Kenya and directions to find the workshop.

Last week we went to Eldoret and decided to stop by. Imani Workshop is an amazing place. It provides income generating opportunities for HIV positive women doing handicrafts. They receive references from doctors and social workers when they find women who are not able to purchase food and medicine for themselves. Imani takes 30 women a month and train them for three months on papermaking, bead making, tailoring and jewelry making. During this time they also offer business training. At the end of the three months, these women are then able to either do piecework to sell at the Imani Workshop outlets or go into business for themselves.

We got a wonderful tour of the workshop and of course bought several items in their gift shop. If you’d like to find out more information about them you can visit their webite: www.imaniworkshops.org They are in partnership with USAID and AMPATH.

We were able to watch them make recycled paper. They make two kinds: one out of recycled paper only and the other from papyrus. Here is how it is done:
First, they tear the recycled paper into strips and small bits. Then they add water. Here she is holding a piece of papyrus before it is shredded.

The next step is to pound it into pulp.

Now they pour the pulp into pans. Using a screen they filter out the solid matter that will become the new paper.

The new paper is removed from the screen on toweling to remove excess water.

The new sheets of paper are arranged on formica to dry. This can take several days to a week or more depending on the weather.

After drying it is ready to be cut and shaped to make cards, picture frames, notebooks, stationary, bowls, etc.

Trip into West Pokot

Joe and Nancy are friends who live on our compound. Their ministry is teaching Bible classes to preachers. They have lived in Kenya for six years and travelled

many places teaching their classes. The past several years they have concentrated on the West Pokot area. They've been wanting to take us into West Pokot for quite some time to show us the area but it hadn't worked out until last week. We had a wonderful time seeing a new part of Kenya and appreciated seeing where some of our students come from.

First a little about the Pokot. The Pokot are originally a nomadic tribe raising cattle and goats. They measure their wealth by the amount of animals they own. They don't slaughter their own animals for meat as they are more valuable alive. They only use them for their milk to drink and make butter and cheese and to pay bride price (dowry).

Today there are two groups of Pokot: the hill Pokot who are both pastoralists and grow crops, mostly corn and sorghum, and the plains Pokot who are strictly nomadic. They live in a remote area that's only about an hour from here. There are few roads in West Pokot, so they are still isolated. Due to this, many still live in the same way they have for hundreds of years. The vast majority of homes don't have access to electricity. Today the raise goats, cattle, camels and donkeys. The area is considered a semiarid area as you can see from this photo.

We spent the day driving to see the area in their four-wheel drive vehicle. We needed that four wheel drive several times as in places the road resembled an animal path.

Some of the interesting sights we saw included:
* some people wearing traditional dress
* herders (typically young boys)always carried a bow and arrows
* older men carried their walking staff and a small stool that is used to either sit on or rest their heads on while reclining
* women carrying firewood on their head (that's not unusual even in Kitale)
* a heard of about 50 camels being driven to a different location
* beautiful scenery
* driving across several dry river beds

Probably the most exciting part was when we got stuck. Joe is an excellent driver. We came upon a low section of the road that had standing water and mud. There was a tractor pulling a wagon loaded with huge rocks that was stuck to one side. We watched for about 10 minutes while Joe was deciding whether to turn around or try to go through the mud. Another four-wheel vehicle came from the opposite direction. He came on through just fine so Joe decided to try it. We weren't so lucky and got stuck. There is a wench on the front of Joe's vehicle.

So he crawled out of the car, climbed over the hood and got down in front of the vehicle. The cable was about 50 feet long. There was a stump that it was able to reach. Of course during all this time we had quite an audience watching us! Several of the men were helping. After about 30 minutes the wench was able to pull us free of the mud and we continued on our way.

We continue to be amazed that a country as small as Kenya has such a wide diversity of geographical features and is so beautiful. It is a privilege to be living and serving here.

To see more photos from our trip click here.

MKLM Reunion in Mombasa

We arrived in Mombasa Saturday early afternoon to spend some time with Katrina at the beach. After checking into our hotel Katrina made arrangements to begin her scuba diving lessons on Sunday.

So Sunday we spent with our fellow missioners. Coralis lives pretty close to here. Mary picked us up and we went to church together. Coralis cooked a wonderful lunch for all of us: Mary, Susan, the Klugs (Kurt, Anita, Rhema and Bethany) and us.

The Klugs are a young family that have returned to Kenya after five years in the States. Kurt and Anita came here in 2004 and served one contract. While they were here both of their daughters were born. After finishing their contract they returned to the States so Kurt could finish his masters degree. They just arrived again in Kenya on Thursday. The girls are now 7 and 5. We helped Kurt to celebrate his 39th birthday on Sunday.

Everyone is doing well and are busy with their ministries. Susan is a doctor and spends her time going to medical clinics in the different parishes in the Mombasa diocese and doing other consulting work. Judy is a nurse and runs a clinic in a slum in one of the parishes. Coralis is running a clinic in her parish as the administrator, working to establish a school for children with epilepsy and taking a course in sign language. Mary 's project is helping 100 children affected by AIDS to obtain an education. When they aren't in school during the holdiay months they offer study sessions and workshops for the students.

Cindy, Susan, Mary, Coralis

After lunch we walked to a resort and spent the afternoon playing on the beach and swimming in their pools. It was a nice relaxing day with plenty of visiting, catching up and laughter.

It is just beautiful here. The ocean is magnificent.

Oduri's Wedding

One of the teachers at St. Monica's solemnized their wedding on Saturday. I blogged about the wedding planning meeting that we attended a couple of weeks ago. See Wedding Planning.
They had asked to use our car to get the wedding party to the church and we were happy to oblige.

John was to have the car at their house at 7:00 am so it could be decorated. It was an extremely busy place with cooking for the reception going on, car decorating and the dressing of the male members of the wedding party. While they were waiting they were served a breakfast consisting of ugali, fish, and cooked cabbage.

The schedule of events was a follows:
9:45 Arrival of visitors
10:00 Arrival of groom;s party
10:15 Arrival of bridal party
10:30 Mass
1:00 Photography
1:30 Lunch
2:30 Entertainment
3:00 Speeches
3:30 Cutting of cake
4:00 Presentation of gifts
4:30 Vote of thanks and closing prayer
4:45 Guest leave at their own pleasure

As this is Africa, things never occur on time. I was told earlier in the week that the teachers needed to arrive in style together on the school bus. We needed to be at school by 9:00 so we could get there in plenty of time before Mass started.

Over 150 St. Monica's students attended the wedding plus all the staff. Mr. Oduri is the class teacher of Form IV South as well as the Scout Master. All the students from Scouts and his class went as guests. Then other students were selected for entertainment purposes - singing and dancing groups. Our school bus took three trips to the wedding. Teachers were still sitting in the Staff room at 11:00. Needless to say, we weren't there when Mass started!

While I was at school waiting to go to the wedding I stopped by the home science (home ec) room. Mrs. Okindo, our home science teacher and assistant principal, baked the wedding cakes. She was making last minute repairs to the decorations before taking them to the wedding. It isn't expected that everyone will get a piece of wedding cake. Instead the cake is cut into tiny slivers. The bridal maids them come among the guests and if you are lucky you are able to take a taste.

Much of the wedding is the same as our, however there are differences.
* One side of the church is for the groom's guests and the other is for the brides.
* The groom and his men come into the church and take their seats in the front row on the groom's side.
* The bride is escorted into the church by her best maid. They sit in the front row on her side of the church.
* The Mass begins and procedes through the homily.
* After the homily the groom's family and groom's men escort the groom to the front center aisle. Meanwhile the bride's family and bridal maids escort the bride to the front center aisle. Once there the family members greet one another and shake hands. Then they return to their seats. Now it is time for the vows.
*During the exchange of the vows they clasp hands high above their heads for all to see.

*The rings descended from heaven in a basket lowered from the ceiling.

* At this point, the train of the bride's gown was thrown over Oduri's shoulder. It was symbolic of their union like the rings. It remained over his shoulder during the rest of the day. They were't able to get too far apart from one another!

* Next was the signing of the marriage certificate by the priest, best maid, best man and married couple at the altar.
* The bridal party and St. Monica's teachers were then invited to come and greet the newly married couple at the front of the church before the Mass resumed. Now that the couple was married in the church, they could take part in communion of the Eurchrist.
* After Mass was over photographs were taken with anyone that wanted on the steps of the church.

Now it was tme for the reception. Tents were set up in a grassy area adjoining the church. A meal of rice pilau, cooked cabbage, chicken, beef, and chapati was served while more pictures were being taken. After the bridal party was able to get to the reception, they were served their meal and the entertainment began. Entertainment here consists of dancing, poetry recitation and songs.

There was the cutting of the cake. Do you see the train of the bride's gown across his shoulder?

The final part was the presentation of gifts. It was a presentation! The groups that had gifts for the couple danced their way carrying the gifts. It was probably the most fun to watch the groups that brought beds! Imagine a bed swaying above the crowd as it is being carried to the front! This is St. Monica's staff bringing our gift to be presented. We got them a gas cooker (propane stove).

For additional pictures of the wedding, click here.

Blood Donation

Yesterday St. Monica's had a blood donation drive. I knew that they had held them yearly but had never had a chance to participate. John and I decided we wanted to be donors so we stopped by school after doing our weekly shopping. I apologize for the quality of photos. We didn't have a camera so we used John's phone. The pictures are of a poor quality, but you can get the general idea.

We understand that the majority of adults in Kenya don't give blood. They are frightened of the situation. If a family member is need of blood, sometimes they will donate for that family member, but it is not common practice to donate to a blood bank. Therefore, there is an acute shortage of blood in Kenya. According to statistics, every 10 minutes someone dies because of a lack of blood. We thought it was a perfect opportunity to lead by example.

The blood banks here do blood drives in schools nine months of the year. The regional blood bank came and one of the nurses gave a talk to the girls about blood donation and answered any questions they had. They were hoping to be able to get 200 pints of blood from our girls and staff.

The rules for donation here are a little different than in the States.

You must be 15 years of age and weight 50 kilograms (110 pounds). The first step was to step on the scales to see how much you weighed. Then just as in the States, you start by filling out a questionnaire about your general health status. They asked pretty much the same questions as what we were used to. Then a nurse tested a drop of blood for your hemoglobin level. The next lady put the sticker on your questionnaire and handed you the bag for your blood. That was it. No private interview and further questioning.

There were two chairs with arms that John and I used being the first in line. We were in the physics lab, so they used the twelve lab tables as beds for the majority of people. There were three technicians in the room who drew the blood and watch to see that everything was going all right.

Just like in the States, after finishing, we got a bottle of soda and some biscuits (cookies). That was a real treat for the girls as those foods are outlawed in school. They only get to have them when they are home between terms.

Peeking in the window to see what is going on. They are mostly my Form II East class!

In Turkanaland

Last October John O'Donoghue, a fellow MKLM, had the opportunity to travel with a five member media team from the Maryknoll Society. We went to Lodwar about an eight hour drive from Kitale. While we were there we attended a confirmation at an outstation in Lorubum and went to Kakuma Refuge Camp. Here are links to post I made about them:
Lorubum Confirmation and Kakuma Refuge Camp.

Nine months later the Maryknoll Society magazine published two articles about our trip. The title of this issue of the magazine is "In Turkeanaland". Some of you may have the actual magazine, but for those of you who don't here's the link. I remember the young woman on the cover!

This is Michael Ball, one of the reporters interviewing Father Luke who runs a Don Bosco Vocational Training Centre at Kakuma.

The article titled "Famine in Turkana" by Kathy Golden was written at the confirmation. I danced with the women as the processed toward the church. You can see a picture of John O talking over the fence. Actually, that photo was taken at the airport and they were discussing soccer!

The other article titled "Guided by a Saint in Kenya" is about Don Bosco, a program run here in Kitale by Russ. You can see a picture of him!

On page 19 I have a similar photo of the kids at Kakama Refuge Camp singing to us in the chapel area!

Wedding Planning

There are two types of weddings here: traditional and church weddings. A traditional wedding is the most common and is the way it has been done for hundreds of years according to traditional ethnic practices. A down payment of the bride price (dowry) is paid to the bride’s family after a period of negotiation between the uncles of both parties. During the wedding the clothing is traditional as well as the ceremony. Years later after the entire bride price has been paid, some couples elect to have a church wedding. Our understanding is that you cannot have a church wedding until after the total dowry is paid. This can take years.

At our staff meeting in April, Mr. Oduri, a Kiswahili teacher, announced that he and his wife were going to have a wedding. At first I didn’t understand and thought he was telling us that their daughter was getting married. It wasn’t until fellow teachers were congratulating him and praising him because most men don’t honour their wives by getting married in the church that I realized that he and his wife were getting married. It is called solemnizing their vows. I’m guessing he is in his late 30s or early 40s. I’m pretty sure that they have a child in secondary school. (You don’t ask questions about people’s families so I really don’t know much about my coworkers lives outside school.)

Immediately after the announcement, several of the men volunteered to be his agents in the planning of the wedding. Oduri said that it is customary that the jumuwia (small Christian communities that meet weekly for Scripture study and prayer) does the organization since it was part of the church. He thanked them for their offer and said he would be happy to have them working with his jumuwia.

Several weeks later Oduri asked me if they could use our car, a Toyota Hilux, saying, “I need a beautiful car to escort my beautiful bride to the church.” We are happy to oblige.

Last week we were invited to an organizational meeting at Oduri’s home along with three fellow teachers, all men. On the way we were taken by the church and then on to Oduri’s so we knew the way. It was in interesting experience and gave us additional insight into Kenyan culture. That's Oduri on the left in the black and grey jacket with the big smile on his face.

There were elected officials in charge of the meeting sitting in front of the room. They had brought in chairs that were arranged in rows facing the head table. Two men were obviously in charge with a woman secretary taking notes. The primary purpose of the gathering was fund raising for the wedding. People would bring money up to the front of the room and give it to the chairman. Do you see the man in the yellow jacket?

He is the one leading the applause. Depending upon the size of the donation, he would lead organized clapping in appreciation. There are all kinds of Kenyan clapping: ascending, descending, hearty claps, flowers, etc. Then the secretary would record the amount in her book.

Odrui told me that I needed to announce the donation of the use of our car for the wedding. Of course we were applauded. Then the question was asked, “Does that include the fuel?” My response was, “Of course! You can’t have a wedding without the bride!” You should have heard the laughter and following applause. I guess normally that is a wedding expense, fuel.

After the fund raising part was over, committees reported on the cake, transportation, decorations, invitations, etc.

Then as with any gathering, tea was served. First is the handwashing. Someone comes around with warm water in a pitcher, soap and a basin. She pour the water over your hands so you can wash. Mugs were passed out and plates of mandazi (fried bread similar to doughnuts) and fried ground nuts (peanuts) were set out. Soon, a lady came by with the chai (tea made with milk)to serve us. Now it was time to socialize and visit.

We had to park the car about half a block away and walk the final distance. I thought you might like to see the path that leads to Oduri's house.

Look at his beautiful house!

The wedding is in two weeks. We are looking forward to joining in the celebration.