In the past two weeks we have been without power more than we cared to be! Being without power during the day isn’t so bad - it’s more of a pain when getting ready for bed and/or getting ready the next morning and it’s a really big pain when it is both. It’s not much fun either when trying to make the evening meal and doing the dishes when there is no power. Sunset is around 6:40 pm and sunrise is around 6:40 am give or take five minutes so it is very dark when retiring for the evening and the same is true when waking in the morning; thus, we have to use our torches or candles (flashlights or lanterns). It also means cold showers if one wants to take a shower. During the week, we get up around 5:30 am since daily Mass is at 6:30 am. The Sisters next door have control of the generator - if school is in session and the power goes out in the evening, they will have the generator turned on from 7-10 pm so the girls can study. The same is true in the morning; if the power is out when the girls get up at 5 am, the generator is turned on until 6 am. It so happened that last week starting on Thursday (May 26th) the girls were on break from school which meant if the power went out, the generator would not be turned on. The next day (Friday), in the early afternoon, the power went out after a heavy rain. The probability of the power going out here during the rains is very high (99.9%) or at least that has been our experience! It goes out randomly as well even when the weather is perfect but not as often. Going back to last weekend, the power was out from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon with the exception of about one hour on Saturday evening. For that one hour, the Sisters must have either felt sorry for us and/or they wanted power as well because they had the night watchman turn the generator on! We were pleasantly surprised and very grateful…grateful for about 60 minutes of power out of the almost 48 hours without power.
Last Sunday, we traveled with Fr. David to an Outstation to attend Mass. He only had two Masses last weekend as opposed to the normal three he usually celebrates and it so happened the two churches were close enough in distance to the Mission house that we could attend the first with him and then be dropped off on his way to the next one. The church we went to was Nyabigege (Nigh-a-bee-gay-gay) Catholic Church. The drive to this church was very beautiful and from the church and surrounding courtyard, which was nestled high on the side of the mountain, one had gorgeous views of the valleys. Masses at the Outstations usually last around 1 ½ hours as opposed to the two-to-three-hour Masses here at Gekano Parish – the Masses are long at Gekano because they never start on time and homilies are usually forty-five minutes to one hour. At all the Masses, whether here at Gekano or one of the Outstations, there is usually a lot of singing and almost always there are liturgical dancers which add a beautiful element to the liturgy. The people have no missals or music books from which to follow the readings and/or sing from. When they sing the Mass parts, certain refrains are repeated many times and some songs such as the Gloria, can take five or more minutes (Kathy has timed them). During the Sunday Mass, there are two offerings. The first one, called the Sadaka, people will bring forth their monetary offering and place it in a box in front of the altar. The second offering, which takes place immediately after the first one, is called Mateleo. For this offering, people may bring money, but most often it will be items from their shamba such as stalks of sugar cane, beans, maize, tomatoes, eggs, avocados, oranges, pineapple or other produce. We have also seen live animals such as a mbuzi (goat) or more often a kuku (chicken) brought forth and other items such as bags of sugar, flour, salt as well as toilet tissue and soap – this second offering is given to the priest. As people bring forth their offering for Mateleo, the priest blesses them with Holy Water. At the Mass last Sunday, someone brought a live kuku; the feet were bound with twine and it was placed in front of the altar. The kuku was silent through the whole Mass! When we went up for Communion, we could see it just calmly sitting and watching the people as they filed past…only in Kenya! When Fr. David dropped us off between the two Masses, we took the kuku with us because it would be too hot for her to stay in the back of the Hilux and also for the reason we didn’t want to have to clean up any messes she might make! The produce that Fr. David receives from the second offering on any Sunday is given to the Sisters and/or to needy families of which there are many. He also gives the live animals away. Distribution of Holy Communion is quite chaotic though Fr. David tries his best to get people to form two lines in the center aisle and then once they have received to go to the side aisle to return to their bench. Here there is no order – people get up at any time from everywhere and anywhere including outside and will form four to five lines jockeying for position to receive Holy Communion – they do not go bench by bench thus distribution of Holy Communion takes some time. Fr. David figured that at this Mass there were probably 350 people inside the church and there were probably just as many standing or sitting outside on the grass. After the Mass, some people wanted to have a picture taken of them by themselves or with us and then for them to see the picture of themselves. An older lady approached Kathy and motioned for her to take a picture of her (lady) while she stood next to Wes – though she spoke in Ekegusii Kathy knew what she wanted!
This week we had one Water with Blessings follow-up at Enchoro but only a few women attended because of a funeral in the village for a young child. Lilian didn’t know there was a funeral and the women didn’t say anything; had the women said something, the follow-up would not have been scheduled. The women who did come stated the child died from a fungal infection in his mouth which made us think the child probably had thrush and wasn’t treated in time. Lilian also stated that some parents will try home remedies only due to their beliefs and/or the costs incurred by seeking treatment. We don’t know the details but it was sad that he died for such a treatable infection. After the follow-up, we, along with Lilian and Fr. David delivered seven water barrels in the Gekano area to the women who had attended five of the six Water with Blessings follow-up sessions. These barrels, which hold 210 liters, will catch rain water from their roofs. For these women, having this barrel means ten less trips to the river with their five-gallon buckets to carry water back to their homes. The women were so grateful for these barrels and their words of heartfelt gratitude were humbling. As he presented the barrel to each woman, Fr. David would tell them it was because of the generosity of the people back in the Bismarck Diocese that these barrels were possible. He would also ask them if the children in the home had any more stomach issues since using the filter and they all said no which was wonderful to hear…again a very humbling experience and to think how much we take the gift of clean water for granted.
We sat with Fr. David again this week to go through some of the other programs the Mission administers. The Heifer, Housing, and Post-Secondary Student Applications were all due at the end of this past week or will be this coming week which means in the coming weeks, the selection process will begin. In our next blogs we will take each program and go into more detail as to how these programs are administered.
We did get a few walks in and the little girl who would scream and cry when she would see us coming actually looked at us this week and said “Asante” (thanks) when we gave her a lollipop…we have made progress! She did keep her distance as we handed her the lollipop and then ran safely back to the arms of her mama but at least she looked at us and actually spoke a word even if only one word…candy works like magic!
In addition to working with Fr. David on some mission projects, other tasks done this week included the weekly house cleaning and laundry, driving to Kisii to buy groceries, Kathy trying out different recipes for making mandazi and chapati, and the weeding of the flower gardens. Because of the all the rains they get here, the fertile soil, and the warm weather, everything grows including the weeds. Working in the flower gardens is an enjoyable task for Kathy but the Sisters next door just don’t understand Kathy’s enthusiasm for weeding the gardens! Kathy has tried to explain that back in America where we come from, we don’t have flowers to enjoy year-round which is something that just doesn’t seem possible to them as there is abundance of flowering plants, shrubs, bushes, etc. here year round and everywhere you look. We usually do laundry on Monday but probably need to start doing it twice a week. Because all the washing, rinsing, and wringing is done by hand and then hung on the clothesline to dry, it takes a lot of time. Laundry can take several hours to do and when you throw in the bedding, it is even longer. There are different types of towels in the closet for use and over time have learned to not use the thicker ones because they are a pain to wash, rinse, wring out and they take a long time to dry. We are just fine with the thin ones! We really don’t mind doing the laundry with the way it is done – we do it outside where we have a large sink and cement counter to scrub the clothes - scrubbing entails using a bar of soap specific for clothes (works like magic), a soft bristled scrub brush and some elbow grease. Doing laundry is actually very relaxing - as you work you take in the beauty of your surroundings as well as the sounds of the birds singing and/or the singing Sisters next door! They are always singing as they work!
We also got notification from Immigration on Thursday that we were issued our work permits on-line. We now have to make a trip back to Nairobi to be interviewed and fingerprinted so we can get our Alien Card. The Kenyan Government requires that foreign nationals residing in Kenya for more than 90 days be registered…we are now starting our seventh month in Kenya! As Fr. David says, “things take time in Kenya”! This process is still ongoing but once it is done, will write about our experience which started back in December.
We continue to keep you in our prayers and ask that you keep us and the Mission in yours. Mungu Akubariki!