At 90 years old, you would expect Papa Matilda’s grandmother to be either retired and living a quiet life at home, or possibly in a nursing home somewhere. But that is much less of an option in rural Kenya, and as we showed up at her house on Saturday we found her sitting on the ground enjoying the afternoon. Our presence prompted her to get up and excitedly greet me, Mama Matilda, and her great grand-daughter Jasmine. After talking for a while, she led us past her kitchen (which is a self contained room at the front of her property which seems to have a constant stream of smoke coming from it), and the main house building, to her garden/farm. There are avacado trees, banana trees, maize, passion fruit, and sugar cane growing right by the house. Further down the valley they also have chai (tea) growing plentifully (the whole area does and walking around you are surrounded by beautiful bright green plants). She had carried her machete and quickly cut us 5 stalks of sugar cane to carry back with us. As we sat back down to eat one before going home and sharing with the rest of our family and friends, she stripped the outer covering off from her seat on the ground, passing each of us and some of the kids who were playing nearby the fruits of her labor. At first I felt awkward that she had given it all away and kept none for herself, but then I realized that she has only about 5 teeth, and therefore is unable to eat this delicious, chewing intensive, treat.
The big reason for us going upcountry was to host a Thanksgiving service at the local church there. So we invited lots of friends and family and were able to fill the little church to the point of people standing outside and listening from there. Mama Matilda had two very difficult childbirths, and this was a celebration where they publicly thanked God for the immense blessing of their two beautiful children and healthy mother. It was very humbling to be a part of their family, which truly takes the time to see God in the little things and doesn’t take his blessings for granted. As a family, we bought a bunch of plastic chairs to donate to the congregation as an upgrade from the thin wooden benches with no backs which I found uncomfortable, never mind the aging population of the church on a typical Sunday. Mama Matilda was telling me that their plan is to buy more chairs each time they are blessed with money.
This is Mama Matilda, Papa Matilda, and Jasmine standing up the hill a bit from their upcountry home. There is not a bad view in the area, and I love just standing outside by the house and looking out at the hills and valleys filled with various crops and especially chai. I like the pace of life upcountry, especially when there on vacation (farming is very hard work and I wasn’t involved in that side of life there). Saturday morning I washed the floors throughout the house, ridding them of a few months of dirt and dust since they’d been up there last, while our good friend Ann washed all of the dishes. Then the two of us just hung out for a while on the benches by the house, later we helped cut things to help cook lunch, and watched Jasmine. It was a nice amount of having time to just relax and enjoy being there, while also having the opportunity to work and pitch in when you wanted to. I spent one night on this bench where I laid down just as it was beginning to get dark, and stayed there for the next 3 hours or so (even taking my dinner on the bench) watching the stars. It was so cool as there is not power there yet, so the stars are many and it was sweet to see them all come out, and then wait as the clouds rolled in and they disappeared again. I liked feeling like I was part of the whole cycle. Papa Matilda’s brother Michael and also one of the young boys who live with the neighbors kept me company, and we laughed and joked while watching the stars. It was a great night!
The class 8 kids at Hamomi are eagerly learning in computer class, even taking their exams early so as to get in more time with me. Today we built a spread sheet and learned about Microsoft Excel, they will each be getting email addresses soon as well. Last week we went online and I asked them what they wanted to learn about. So we googled “planets” and they were intrigued to click links and learn information about each planet very easily. We checked out image searches and found nice pictures as well. It’s cool seeing their eyes opened to things that I’ve known most of my life and taken for granted. I haven’t been using the internet much at all lately (either because I haven’t bought credit for my modem, the internet here hasn’t been working, or I’ve been busy and away from my computer), and there are many times that I realize how easy it would be to find out information quickly online, but instead end up going through a more round about process to figure things out. For instance, I wanted to know who won March Madness, and met a kid at the basketball court who had DSTV (the big cable package here) and then he went home and later texted me what he found out from watching ESPN. Everyone is a bit more dependent on each other here.
We had a lengthy discussion on the car ride home from upcountry yesterday about the culture of giving in Kenya, and the challenges facing foreigners living here. It is very Kenyan to serve a large meal to visitors, no matter what time they come to your home. So no matter what the culture is where you are from, you are expected to adapt to the local culture and provide this to visitors, especially since they do it for you whenever you go there. The mutuality is nice here, although I’m realizing that I need to depend on people a bit more, asking of them just like they ask of me. We also talked about giving money to people in your family who are really in need, and when it would be ok to refuse them, and especially when working in the NGO world, to ensure that you are not neglecting your own family to help others in need.
I’m learning about myself as I struggle daily with the opportunities to give to those around me. When within a mutual relationship of giving and taking, I am excited to join into this culture and love picking out food to carry with me and give whenever I stay at someone’s house for the night. But when I feel that people are expecting me to give, that is when I find myself holding back and becoming more guarded. Ironically, those situations are when I am truly faced with need and when people could really benefit from a gift. Yet I struggle with wanting to be seen as a person, building relationships, instead of just a meal ticket.
How people view “the rich” is also an interesting thing. It seems that nobody anywhere ever likes the rich, yet they work their whole lives to be one of them. People in the US get annoyed when people with money spend it, and see it as flaunting it in their faces. People in Kenya get upset when rich people don’t spend their money on them and share what they have.
So I hope you are doing well! Kenya is great, starting to get rainy which makes things a bit different, but still very good. I love the work I’m doing with the various organizations I work for, and am loving getting better at Swahili. Going to see an And 1 basketball game this weekend which should be lots of fun! Love you all :)
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