It is hard to believe that it is May 1^st and, in a few days, it will be five months that we have been in Kenya.  Since returning from language school, time has flown by.  Every day is different, interesting, and each day gives one opportunity to reflect on life here and the many blessings we take for granted living in America. 

Last Sunday, Fr. David didn’t say Masses at the Outstations like he usually does every weekend.  Because it was Divine Mercy Sunday, there was only one Mass and it was here at Gekano Parish.  Gekano Parish is the main parish church and the area surrounding it is further divided into subdivisions known as Parish Zones, Outstation Churches and Small Christian Communities.  There are approximately fifty Outstation Churches and it is to three of these Outstations that Fr. David travels to every weekend to say Mass.  On average, parishioners belonging to an Outstation will have Mass celebrated at their church only three to four times a year.  To attend Mass every weekend is a huge sacrifice for them as they have to travel some distance to do so.  As stated earlier, Divine Mercy Sunday was celebrated here at Gekano; therefore, the parishioners had to travel long distances with some traveling up to seven or more miles.  Seven miles doesn’t seem like much to us but here it is because people have to walk since most don’t own a vehicle.  If one does not walk, they would take a PikiPiki (motorcycle) or a matatu (van) to get places.  We are always amazed to see the number of people riding on a PikiPiki or in a matatu.  We have seen upwards of five people in addition to the driver on a PikiPiki and when you see a matatu pass by, the people are packed in almost like sardines in a can!  The matatu doesn’t seem like it would be a comfortable ride and the PikiPiki definitely doesn’t seem safe but it is what they have for transportation.  Going back to last Sunday, we were told the start time for Mass was 10 am.  The start times are always different and in our short time here we have become very skeptical of when Mass starts…Masses have started up to an hour after the scheduled start time.  The Masses we have attended here at Gekano have never started on time unless Fr.  David was the celebrant!  While we were at language school, Masses always started on time so we got very spoiled. Fr. David told us around 9:45 am that it would be some time before Mass started and we asked how he knew and he stated “I have not heard any one doing the mic checks yet”!  The church is right outside the gate of the compound so one can hear any activity going on and there was no activity.  At 11 am we could hear people singing as they walked by so we thought we should go.  Fr. David said it will still be some time and he chose to stay behind for a while which he could since he had a guaranteed seat!  When we arrived at the church grounds, we realized the Mass was going to be celebrated outside so we found space beside some children who were sitting on a very narrow bench – two rickety posts in the ground with a rough piece of timber nailed to the top of the posts.  We were still early so we got a seat!  The grass was another option but we didn’t care to sit on the grass that was still quite dewy plus it had rained the night before and therefore mud here and there.  The bench was very uncomfortable and also not very sturdy and realizing that Mass would probably go quite long based on the people that started arriving after us, Wes walked back to the mission house to get us some plastic lawn chairs.  He hurried back but would not have had to because Mass didn’t start for almost another hour!  Finally, at 11:54 am Mass started and it lasted until 2:30 pm.  During Mass it got very hot.  The temperature was not bad (73 degrees Fahrenheit) but because we are close to the equator, the sun can be very intense when beating directly on one’s head and skin.  During the 45-minute homily, a young lady who was probably around sixteen years of age, came over to us and offered us her umbrella to shield us from the heat.  We were most grateful and at the end of Mass we thanked her multiple times…in Kiswahili, of course!  Fr. David estimated there were over two thousand people in attendance. 

On Tuesday, we had another Water with Blessings follow-up and it was held at Enchoro, one of the most beautiful locations we have been to in this area.  The church is nestled on the side of the mountain and there are spectacular views and shades of green no matter which way one looks – the sides of the mountains have the appearance of a giant patchwork quilt!  When visitors have come to the Mission, Enchoro is one of two places Fr. David likes to take them.  He took us there when we visited the Mission for the first time in 2018 and then again in 2019 when Liz Bustad traveled with us to Kenya.  We were glad this was a WWB follow-up session and not a training session as it allowed us to sneak outside and take a few pictures while the women were coloring in their books.  We also had the opportunity to babysit watoto wachache (few children).  Quite often, when a small child or baby sees us, they start to cry because we scare them and most likely it is because of our white skin.  One little guy named Jayden, who was about seven to eight months old, was more than happy to come to us.  Between the two of us, we held him for most of the follow-up session which lasted about an hour.  He kept saying “dada” while Wes held him which sounds funny but in Kiswahili the word “dada” means sister.  There was a little girl around four years of age who was a little timid but she gave us a few smiles when Wes handed her a biskuti (cookie).  Her name was Precious… a very beautiful little girl.  She was wearing a red and white dress and carrying around a small yellow jug which we have seen small children do.  These yellow jugs are empty cooking oil containers.  I asked her Bibi (Grandma) if there was milk in the jug and she said it was chai!  Chai is a drink of choice for most everyone here.  We don’t particularly care for the taste as it is milk with a few tea leaves.  We would rather have black tea with a little sugar instead of chai.  Milk and other dairy products like butter taste different here and most likely that is because of what the cows are fed.  It is edible but just not the taste we think it should have and what we are used to…we both grew up on dairy farms so we have a preconceived idea of what we think milk and butter should taste like!  We asked Lilian if children that small really drink chai and she said “of course they do”!   She told us that children as young as six months of age drink chai and eat ugali! 

Wes got in a few driving opportunities this week as we had to go to Kisii to get a few supplies and pick up buckets for the WWB program.  Trying to find buckets of good quality has been a challenge at times.  We called ahead of time to see if the buckets were ready and were told they were but they were not.  Thus, another trip had to be made to obtain them.  Kisii is about a 40-minute drive from the Mission house and with the ongoing fuel shortage, one doesn’t want to be making unnecessary trips.  Market Days in Kisii occur twice a week, Monday and Thursday.  Neither of those days are good days to be driving in Kisii unless one has to.   On Market Day, people are selling anything and everything by the side of the road and it gets very congested and you move at a snail’s pace.  Roads meant to be for two lanes of traffic are made into four or more lanes because you have PikiPiki drivers passing you on your left and right and the same is happening on the oncoming traffic side.  Plus, you have people who just walk out in front of you (no crosswalks here) and then you have to account for any animals and/or people pushing carts that may also be walking along with or against the traffic.  Wes and Lilian each drove on Thursday during Market Day and they did awesome!  Kathy was content to sit in the back seat and not say a word…she was grateful she was not driving.  Sitting in the front seat as a passenger is different and sometimes scary, not because of the driver but because one feels like the driver is on the wrong side of the road.  This past week, when we went to get in the vehicle, Kathy went to the right side to get in as the passenger and then realized that it was the driver’s side so she went to the left side, the passenger side.  Once in, she reached for the rear-view mirror to adjust it and then realized it was just fine the way it was! 

In addition to doing the weekly tasks for the Mission, we also took two days to do some spring cleaning around the Mission house…it needed a woman’s touch with regard to cleaning!  The curtains were taken down and washed which in itself was a big project because everything has to be washed by hand and hung on the clothes line to dry.  We have running water (collected rain water) but that would be cold water only.  If you want hot water, it must be heated.  The only warm water we have is that which comes from the electric shower head provided you have power!  There are twelve windows in the Mission house and each window has two curtain panels so it took a very long time to get them washed.  We managed to get them washed and hung on the clothes line to dry before the rains came.  Had they not dried in time, they would have stayed on the clothes line to get an extra rinse!  We received two inches of rain this week and on one of the days it rained, there was pea size hail as well.  It is not normal to have hail though it can happen.  Fortunately, the hail didn’t damage the crops around here.  Again, we are in what is called the long rains so we expect to get rain and no one complains about the rain.  The other day when buying a few groceries, we could hear the rain pounding on the steel roof and as we were waiting for a price check on an item, we made small talk about the rain with the lady who was scanning our groceries.  Her very first comment was “we are grateful to God for the rain; it is a blessing”.   

We know from reading the news and talking to family and friends back home that these past few weeks the weather caused hardships for many people and a lot of damage.  Our son, Nathan, who is manning the fort in our absence was without power from Saturday until Thursday evening and he, like others in the Northwest part of the state, had to get inventive to find ways to have a little heat, cook food, keep the meat in the freezer from spoiling, get a warm shower, etc.  He relayed to us the offers he had from family and friends and how people called to check on how he was doing.  There is not much we can do being we are 8500 miles away but it was comforting knowing people offered to help and checked in on him…we are most grateful.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the people back home hoping power will soon be restored to everyone.  We too, lost power a number of times this week at the Mission house but here losing power is normal and almost an everyday occurrence.  People here don’t have to worry about keeping food from spoiling because most people do not have a refrigerator, a heater, or other electrical appliances so it makes it very simple when without power.  We keep you in our prayers and ask that you keep us and the Mission in yours.  Mungu Akubariki!

See photos from this week in the album section at:   

https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-5-1-2022