Heri ya Krismasi (Merry Christmas) to you and your loved ones as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  This is our third Christmas here in Kenya and yes, it is still hard to be away from family and friends especially at this time of the year.  We are grateful to those who offer to take in our Aaron and Nathan so they are not alone at Christmas.  We have had people ask what we are doing here at the Mission house for Christmas, if we decorate, do we see Christmas decorations in the stores, etc.  We have not seen many decorations in the few stores we frequent in Kisii.  We did hear Christmas music playing last week when purchasing mirrors for the new house – it was nice to hear the melody of “O Holy Night”.  We were in Kisumu last Monday and saw a very skinny Santa Claus at a mall but not many decorations beyond that.  As for decorating the house, we don’t.  There wouldn’t be room for a tree and not sure where we’d purchase a tree or decorations since we haven’t seen any at the stores we have been in though if we were in Nairobi, we most likely would be able to purchase those items there.  At church, the decorations we have seen consist of ribbons or pieces of fabric tied to a line strung across the church.  Here at Gekano church, they do have a creche in the shape of the traditional hut. The commercialization of Christmas is not seen here at least from what we have observed and we don’t miss that.  Kathy does miss the baking, the making of candy and other goodies for family, friends, work, and to give away as gifts.  She has looked in stores for ingredients but hasn’t been able to find them.  A lot of the goodies Kathy makes call for butter and shortly after arriving here in December of 2021, we found that butter here does not taste like butter the butter we are used to - we assume it is because of what they feed their cows.  Why make something if it is not going to taste good?! 

Last Sunday Mass was scheduled at Gekano for 9 am but we chose to go to Kisii.  One of the Sisters next door was out doing laundry when we got back and she asked us why we went to Kisii.  We told her it’s  because we never know when Mass will start.  She proceeded to tell us the Mass time here is always at 9 am when school is not in session to which we said, “We know”.  We tried to explain that even though it is scheduled for 9 am that doesn’t mean it will start at 9 am and then she got our drift!  We were doing laundry when we heard Mass start and only about 10 minutes late though they were there for almost three hours…again we were glad we went to Kisii.  We wanted to get our laundry washed as we knew it would be a busy week with activities scheduled every day.  Lately, we have had to resort to washing clothes on Sunday because of all the events going on during the week. 

On Monday the two of us went to Kisumu which is about 70 miles north and approximately a 2 ½ hour drive from the Mission house.  Kisumu is located on the shores of Lake Victoria – the second largest fresh water lake in the world.  Kisumu has a population of around 380,000 and is the third largest city in Kenya.  The drive there was beautiful and very diverse as you drop about 3000 feet in elevation from where the Mission house is which also means the temperature gets noticeably warmer – the temp was around 90 degrees.  The landscape in this part of Kenya, even though less than three hours away from the Mission house, is much different.  As you get closer to Kisumu, rice fields are seen and on the roads are large trucks hauling sugar cane.  It is a busy city and since it is flatter compared to the Kisii area, there are many tuk tuks that take the place of the pikipiki to transport people and materials.  Our reason for going to Kisumu was to return mirrors that ended up being too large for the space because of where the electricians placed the lights above the sinks in each bedroom.  We also needed to purchase other items such as towel bars, door stops, etc.  We went to an appliance store in the mall and found a clothes washer.  Washers here are different than what we are used to buying back home.  We ended up getting a 14 kg top load washer because of the price and warranty compared to others we had been looking at – according to the advertising in the store they were having a Christmas sale!  Before we purchased the washer, we had to measure to make sure it would fit in the back of the car and it did! The process of buying the washer vs the oven last week was a much smoother one.  We have one major appliance left to purchase – a refrigerator which we most likely will purchase in Kisii.   Kathy is looking forward to using the new washer though that won’t be until we move into the new house. 

On Tuesday we, along with Emma, made home visits in the Mongorisi area.  These mamas were trained approximately a year ago.  We were able to make eight visits which we thought was pretty good considering the terrain we covered.  Wes figured the slope of some of the hills we went up and down was probably a 45-degree angle.  After we finished with the visits, we took Emma back to Kisii where she lives.  The dirt road we turn onto when coming off the main tarmac to get to Emma’s place is always very crowded with watu (people), matatu (van), pikipiki, etc., not to mention the dukas (small shops) that are situated right next to where you need to drive.  As we turned onto the dirt road, there was both, a pikipiki and a matatu which Wes was trying to avoid but didn’t realize that on the other side and out of sight were tins/basins of viazi (potatoes).  We knew we hit something when we heard a crunching sound and so we stopped.  The mama who was the owner of the viazi came running towards the car and Emma, who was in the back, said she would handle it…meaning it was best for the mzungu to not get out of the car and try to negotiate because for a mzungu, the price would go up.  After a short time, Emma came back to the car and told us the mama wanted Ksh 900 for the two tins that broke plus the viazi Wes drove over.  We gave Emma Ksh 1000 ($6.50) to give the mama.  After giving the mama the money, Emma came back to the car and said we could go.  Kathy asked where the potatoes were that Wes drove over as not all were crushed – Kathy felt we should get them since we paid for them!  Emma thought the same so she went back, purchased a bag for 50 bob (32 cents) and picked up the potatoes that were good – we told Emma the viazi were hers!  We joked that from now on the mamas would be putting their vegetables out further onto the road hoping the mzungu would drive over them!  A few days later Emma mentioned to us that the mama whose viazi we drove over told Emma she should have made the “mzungu pay more than they did”.   Emma told her she got enough for the basins since they were in rough shape to begin with and left it at that.  After we had dropped Emma off, we drove into Kisii to pick up four more mirrors and another 15 curtain rods for the Mission and caretaker houses.  We also bought a few groceries and checked the mail – we have a box at the Posta (Post Office) as there is no delivery of mail here.  There were three cards in the mail – two for Fr. David and one for us.  We were so happy as most times when we go to the Posta, the box is empty! 

On Wednesday, we had a Water with Blessings training at Bonyunyu where another 15 women were trained.  At this training were a number of watoto (children) but one that stood out was Briana who was a year old.  She was a busy one but in a good way.  Briana found an empty 20-liter oil jug in the back of the church and carried it a short distance to where we were doing the training.  She decided to roll it around which then became a game between her and Kathy - if Kathy pushed it with her hands to Briana, Briana would do the same pushing it back to Kathy. If Kathy pushed it with her leg or foot, Briana tried to do the same.  She was adorable though it was hard to get a good picture of her.  Upon seeing a camera, she would head the other way.  There was another little one present that was three months old.  Kathy has learned to not assume that how the child is dressed is an indication if it is a boy or girl.  This little one had a camouflage shirt and orange pants on and to Kathy looked like a boy.  Upon seeing the little one, Kathy asked the mama, “jina la mtoto ni nani?” (what is the child’s name) to which the mama replied, “Maryann”.  This surprised Kathy because she thought the child was a boy!  Any time this happens Kathy remembers what Lilian once told her when it comes to putting specific colors and types of clothes on their babies - Lilian relayed that if they did that, their children would be naked! 

On Thursday, we had the Christmas gatherings at Manga and Ichuni.  The event started with introductions and each of the Mission employees telling the orphans what their role is at the Mission.  Fr. David then read the Gospel (Birth of Jesus) in Ekegusii and gave a reflection.  Finally, each family came forward as they do at Mission Saturday to receive their gift of mafuta ya kupikia (cooking oil) and unga (flour).  The kuku (chicken) they received in the past few weeks was also a part of their gift this year – the kuku were made possible by a donor to the Mission.  After the mafuta and unga stations, they headed to the soda and mkate (bread) station to get their treat. 

On Friday, we had the Christmas gathering for the orphans here at Gekano which is approximately 300 of the 450 total orphans that are enrolled.  The process was the same as on Thursday.  The children and their guardians were very grateful for the gifts they received and that was expressed verbally as well as the smiles seen on their faces as they came through the lines to receive their gifts.  It is very humbling to watch and hear the gratitude expressed for these simple gifts.  The flour and oil will probably be used to make mandazi (a form of fried bread) or chapati (an unleavened flatbread) which is a treat for them.  Because of the tough economy and the cost of staples like flour and oil, the children tell us they don’t get to eat those foods very often but now at Christmas they most likely will. 

On Saturday morning before Mission Saturday started, we drove over to the shamba to help load more kuku since the Week 4 orphans from Gekano had not yet received theirs.  Just as last week, the orphans were surprised and grateful for the kuku in addition to their monthly ration of maize and stipend. 

This past week we received about 1 ½ inches of rain which is not a lot but some is better than none.  The temperatures have been in the upper 80’s with one day reaching 87 degrees though at night it does cool down to the upper 50’s which is nice for sleeping. We were without power for about five hours on Thursday but it wasn’t bad because it was during the day!   

As we stated at the beginning of the blog, this is our third Christmas here and though we yearn to be with friends and family – especially our sons - we are grateful to have this experience here in a different culture with the people of Kenya. 

Please know that we keep you in our prayers and ask that you keep us, the Mission, and those we serve in yours.  Mungu Akubariki!

See photos from this week in the album section by clicking on the link below.  Note:  If unable to view the photos using the link below, you can still view them by going to St. Joseph’s Parish website and scrolling down to the section titled Kenya Mission – photo album.  The website:  www.stjparish.com

https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/12-24-23