We have been waiting for it to rain here in Nairobi, and today it happened. In church last week the pastor asked the congregation to pray for rain, although my mom (who was here for a week with my Melissa and Uncle Dave Johnson as well) said she’d pray that there was no rain for as long as they were here. Apparently her prayers were stronger than the rest of the people, because it held off, and a day after she returned to the US, it has rained. I love the smell of rain. I’m realizing that living in California, and then moving to Kenya, I have gone almost an entire year without seeing much rain. The rain tends to depress me sometimes like in a place like Meadville where it happens for days without letting the sun shine, but here, knowing that it has come to nourish the fields and that food will once again become cheap, and farmers will be able to make a living, it comes with a different connotation than just making me stay inside. My friend Greg told me that if a Kenyan hears a gun shot, they will continue to go about their business in the same vicinity of the shooting, whereas if they feel a drop of rain- they will run screaming for cover. Today as I arrived and began my walk to Hamomi, I was enjoying hearing the swirling of the thunder, knowing that the rain was about to come. Just as I came into sight of the school, it began pouring. The 1st and 2nd grade classrooms spotted me and begain screaming “kimbia! kuja! mzungu, kimbia!” which means come, run, come!! So I ran through the first few minutes of the rain and reached the safety of the classroom and we pulled the door shut just as the rain turned very heavy. It must have made for a very humorous sight (that is if anyone had braved the rain and stayed outside to watch long enough, which I strongly doubt). The roof of the classroom is tin, so then we all sat trying to move the desks away from the walls that were getting wet, yelling instructions to eachother, yet unable to hear anything due to the pounding on the roof. The teacher had gone out and left them with some homework to fill out, so I sat and made sure they finished it. Next, they gave me books on science and religion, so I taught about the parts of animals such as wings and horns, and then told the story of Abraham obeying God to the point of willingness to sacrifice Isaac. After the rain let up, I climbed up the hill to the offices (which I’m very proud to say I managed without falling), and hung out with the teachers over lunch. This is always a fun part of my day and I enjoy the jokes we tell and how I get better at Swahili.
I had a great week with my mom, uncle and sister! They got to see my life here, ate lots of food, met many of my friends, and spent the end of the week by the ocean. Thank you guys so much for coming!!!
Yesterday I went swimming at a public pool and I love going here because the level of swimming is so different than in the US. Here most of the learners are adults, and many of the kids can swim circles around the adults, many of who learned on their own in rivers. We have been teaching my friend Kevin to swim, and his goal is that by the time I leave to go back to America, he will be able to go with us into the deep end. I learned to swim all these fancy strokes in swimming lessons as a kid, so it was funny teaching them to people who have just learned to swim on their own and without formal teaching. My friends want to learn to “stand in the water” next time we go, which is to tread water without your hands.
Last night I boarded the bus to go back to Mwiki and read my book. For the last 10 minutes of the bus ride there was a drunk guy who kept yelling at me and trying to bother me. It was dark by the time I reached the bus station in Mwiki and I was trying to think of a way to get rid of this guy as a boarded so that he couldn’t follow me. Then one of the guys I know from a barber shop I stop and talk to people at occasionally (some of my many friends in town I greet daily) spotted my trouble and pushed the other guy away and walked with me to the barber shop. We then picked up another friend and they bought me soup. They boil meat with some water, adding flavorings, and then serve the flavored water as soup. My friends handed me my cup saying that it would most likely make me sick. How’s that for a warning! But it was delicious, and I finished and then had them walk me home. So I’m happy to report that God has blessed me with many good friends, and turned a potentially bad situation into a good one that didn’t even end up with a stomach ache!
Here are some random observations I’d like to share with the world. You should be able to share these insights with your friends and feel smart and cultured:
When Kenyan women are learning to type on a keyboard, they have difficulty just pushing down a key enough for only one letter to be typed. Their hands are rough from years of tough labor and that delicate touch is not the first instinct.
The word “funga” means close, and is also used in basketball to refer to finishing a basket, or dunking the ball. (This tidbit is courtesy of the women’s club team I’ve been playing on lately which is really fun)
Standardized testing is huge in Kenya. The news for the last week or so has been all about the secondary schools in the nation who ranked the best on last years end of secondary school examinations (KCSE). Kids in their senior year put tons of effort into passing this test, the results of which are the biggest factor towards any continuation to university.
I watched the Uconn Syracuse Big East Tourney game with friends and we all were thinking of where we were when watching that epic 6 over time matchup a few years ago. Even separated by so much distance, its kind of cool to see how common our lives are at times. And even though my internet has been super spotty lately, worked it out and filled out my March Madness bracket!
“1 like a stick, 2 like a duck, 3 like a butterfly, 4 like a chair, 5 like a pussycat, 6 like a spoon, 7 like a walking stick, 8 like a snake, 9 like a head and leg, 10 like a stick and ball” This is a song for how kids here learn to write numbers.
This is a bit old, but an interesting tidbit none the less- There is a province called Nyeri in Kenya and last month a bunch of cases occurred there of men being beaten by their husbands. Spousal abuse by men is much more common here than in the US, but it was very interesting to see it going the other way, and the cases were on the news showing men being beaten and scarred within an inch of their lives. In response to this, the chairmen of Men’s rights issued the women of Nyeri a “red card” for their actions on national tv.
There was a soccer game between two national teams that are tribal rivals here recently and they had to stop the game for 15 minutes because the fans started to riot and throw rocks on the field. An interesting sight to watch on tv as these professional athletes walked across the field removing the rocks from the playing field so the game could resume. It was like the girls who gather the flowers once a figure skater skates and people throw things like animals onto the ice.
One of my favorite things about Kenyans is that they like sharing stories. Hope you’ve enjoyed the selection of ones I’ve told here!
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