Each day this week brought something different.  “Every day is an adventure” is a statement we hear quite often from Fr. David - a statement that aptly describes our days here at the Mission.  We do take time each day to check the news back home and around the world.  We were deeply saddened when, on Wednesday morning here, we read the horrific news concerning the school shooting in Ulvalde, Texas.  Lilian had come to the Mission house that morning since we had follow-ups for Water with Blessings.  In the conversation with Lilian regarding the shootings, she didn’t understand how someone could and would kill innocent children especially at their school which is unheard of here…all we could say is that we don’t understand either...such a senseless tragedy. 

Last Sunday, we attended Mass here at Gekano Parish while Fr. David celebrated Mass at three different Outstations.  Because Fr. David leaves by 6:30 am and doesn’t return until approximately 1:00 pm or later, we attend Mass next door.  The Mass was in English which were very happy about!  The celebrant was Fr. Elijah, a priest from Nigeria (most likely why the Mass was in English since Nigerians do not speak Kiswahili).  Fr. Elijah was on break from Catholic University in Nairobi and ended up coming to this area to help out with Masses on the weekend.  The Mass started fifteen minutes late and lasted two hours.   The most surprising thing was that the homily was only twenty minutes in length and though short, it was a homily that provided much food for thought.  He had several different talking points encompassing the topics of peace, unity and love.  Fr. Elijah started his homily by saying that we will always have problems no matter where we live or come from and if we didn’t, we would not have a history…it is how we deal with those problems that will make the difference in our history.  He went on to say that love is expensive – it is expensive because it takes work, sacrifice and the giving of oneself for others but if we have love, unity and peace for and with one another, we are stronger.  He told the story of a dying man who called his adult children to his bedside.  The man asked the youngest of his children to bring a broom to this bedside (think of the African broom made of grass and bound together – see photo in album).  He then instructed him to remove a bristle and break it in half which the child could easily do.  The man then told his other adult children to do the same until all the bristles were broken in half.  The dying father then asked the oldest child to gather the broken bristles and tie them together.  Once tied together, he told the oldest one to break the bound bristles but the child was unable to do so.  The father proceeded to tell his children that together they are stronger.  Fr. Elijah went on to point out that it doesn’t matter if it is family, politics, school, work, etc. we are stronger when we work together…a timely and poignant message for our country and our world. 

Every day we recite the rosary with each of us taking a turn to lead it.  Prior to a few weeks ago, when Fr. David led the rosary, he would say the first part of the prayers in Kiswahili and we’d answer in English.  When it was our turn to lead the rosary, the entire rosary was recited in English because we were not very confident in our ability to pronounce the words correctly in Kiswahili.    Recently we took the plunge - when it was our turn to lead, we recited the first part of the prayers in Kiswahili and the other two would complete the prayers also in Kiswahili. There are many words we struggle to pronounce correctly whether short or long in length and part of that is because of the vowel sounds.  For both of us, there were two words (found in the Hail Mary) that gave us much trepidation when trying to pronounce them:  Umebarikiwa (you are blessed) and Amebarikiwa (he/she is blessed).  In Kiswahili, the vowel sounds are as follows:
                       A always takes short A sound as in ‘far’
                       E always takes the long A sound as in ‘pay’
                       I always takes the long E sound as in ‘feel’
                       O always takes the long O sound as in ‘hoe’
                       U always takes on the sound as the ‘oo’ in ‘fool’
Besides remembering the sound the vowels always take, you also need to have correct placement of the stress within the word.  The stress does not change from word to word and is always found on the second to the last syllable of the word.  In the two words we struggled with (Umebarikiwa and Amebarikiwa), the stress is on the ‘ki’.  While trying to pronounce these two words when saying the rosary, Fr. David would constantly have to correct us though by the end of that week there were less interruptions for corrections and the rosary went much faster!  We cannot recite the entire rosary from memory and it will probably be some time before we can but we continue to try.  The Hail Mary is a lot easier than the Our Father…it may take us all three years that we are here to get that one down as well as the Creed…hatua kwa hatua (step by step). 

In the past month, we have tried to go for a walk a few times a week.  It really depends on what projects we have going and the time of the day that determines if we go or not.  Because we are very close to the equator, the sun can be joto sana (very hot) plus we are at an elevation of 6423 feet which makes us even closer to the sun.  Even though the temperatures are comfortable (mid 70’s) the sun can be intense.  We are approximately 55 miles south of the equator…it is crazy to think we currently live in the southern hemisphere! Another determining factor can be the rains that tend to come in the early to late afternoon.  Our walks are usually on the dirt roads in the surrounding area and each route we have taken has given us a different view.  As we walk along one of the routes, we can look off to the west and see spectacular views of the shambas dotting the green hillsides and the valley in between.  The dirt roads take us by small fields of maize, banana trees, Napier grass, tea fields, sugar cane, etc.  No matter the route one takes, you are usually walking right next to the boundary of someone’s shamba and often times the doorway of the house is twenty to thirty steps from the road.  Last week, we took a new route and as we rounded a corner and came within sight of a house, we heard a child let out a scream and saw him/her run into the house.  The people standing outside burst into laughter and we soon came to realize that it was us that made the child cry!  As we walked by the group, we could hear the sounds of sobbing coming from inside the house.  We greeted the group and said, “pole” which means sorry.  We didn’t mean to frighten the child but obviously we did.  Because of our skin color, we’ve been told that we appear to them as if we were a ghost.  A few days later we decided to take this same route and early in our walk, in front of a different house, were two mamas sitting on the grass and four children playing.  We greeted them and the children smiled and giggled so we thought we would approach them and give them a fist bump which the children like to do when greeting someone.  For three of the children, the fist bump was okay while the youngest one sat on the ground and started to cry…the look on his face told us we frightened him!  Again, we said, “pole” and continued on.  After walking for a few more minutes, we neared the house of the child who, the week before when seeing us, cried and ran into the house.  This day we were probably 150 feet from this house when we heard the child scream, cry, and run into the house!  We must be really white to be seen from that distance!  As we approached the house, those gathered outside were already laughing so we again said, “pole” and kept on walking.  As we continued on our walk, we made a note that the next time we take this route, we need to bring lollipops to make up for scaring the children.  On Tuesday of this past week, we did take lollipops in case we met either of the children we had frightened.  We came upon two children playing and one of them happened to be the small boy that sat on the ground and cried a few weeks ago.  When he saw us, he started to cry so Wes pulled a lollipop out of his pocket and handed it to him – he took it but kept crying!  We said “pole” to the adult that was with him and kept on walking.  We walked a short distance and then heard that same scream and cry – it was the child we frightened before.  The child, a little girl around 2 years of age, was being held in her grandmother’s lap and as we approached, she covered her face with her hands because she didn’t want to look at us.  We produced a lollipop and the grandmother took it and tried to pry the child’s hands from her face but could not so the grandmother said, “tom-tom” which is another word they use for sweets.  Upon hearing tom-tom, she took her hands off her face and looked at us for a brief moment and then covered her eyes and started to cry again.  We apologized and moved on while the adults just laughed.  We may have to buy a lot of lollipops to bribe the little ones along this route! 

On Wednesday, we traveled to Enchoro and then to Mosobeti for Water with Blessings follow-ups.  Enchoro is the place where one has spectacular views of the surrounding countryside from the church courtyard (see May 1, 2022 blog).  Some of the same children from a few weeks ago were there including Jayden but this time he wanted nothing to do with us…we were so disappointed.  Upon entering the church grounds at both Enchoro and Mosobeti, there were animals in the yards mowing the lawn…nothing goes to waste here!  At Enchoro there were about six goats staked out to eat the grass while at Mosobeti there were a couple of goats and one milk cow!  The animals always have a rope tied around their neck with some of them tied to a stake so they don’t venture too far away.  While we were sitting inside the church at Mosobeti listening to the conversation between Lilian and the women, we could hear a cow and it sounded like it was in the church…much to our surprise it was in the church!  The cow decided to come in through a door that was left opened and was walking around in the back of the church.  Wes’s response was “Holy Cow”! 

On Saturday, we had Mission Saturday for the children here at Gekano parish.   Because Sr. Teresa was not able to come, Kathy was given the job of the bursar which means she handed out the money!  Sr. Teresa is the one who gives the monies for the monthly stipend, uniforms, transportation fees for those children who are HIV positive and travel to a government clinic once a month to obtain their medication, etc.  We also had an orphan that needed to go to the clinic because he wasn’t feeling well so he was given Ksh 750 ($7.50) to see a provider and returned later with the receipt.  The process for handing out the monies is not hard but is time consuming as is the recording of the names…they don’t have easy last names like Johnson, Smith, etc.!  The orphans present as a family unit when their letter is called by Fr. David and their first stop is with him.  He visits with them briefly to ask about school and to see their report card.  They then proceed to Emma who records and pertinent information including how many of the orphans came which determines how many tins of maize they get that month.  The last stop is to get their stipend and any other monies needed as mentioned above.  Kathy had to record the name and amount of the stipend on a receipt which the orphan then signs for.  The stipend and tins of maize received is based on the number of orphans in the family that are present at Mission Saturday as follows:
One member present:  Ksh 600 ($6.00) & 4 tins of maize
Two members present:  Ksh 900 ($9.00) & 6 tins of maize
Three members present:  Ksh 1,000 ($10.00) & 9 tins of maize
Four members present:  Ksh $1200 ($12.00) & 12 tins of maize
Five or more members present:  Ksh 1400 ($14.00) & 15 tins of maize
There were a couple of families where not all the members wore their uniform as they are required to or didn’t bring their report card(s) and for those offenses there are consequences – they received only half of the allowance/stipend.

We continue to 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 by clicking on the link below: 

https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-5-29-22