Pasaka Njema (Happy Easter)! We wish for you and your family a Blessed Easter. Last Sunday (Palm Sunday), we decided to drive to Kisii to attend Mass at 6:30 am. We knew there would be one Mass here at Gekano which meant it would be held outside. When held outside, there is no protection from the elements so it gets quite warm being under the direct sunlight. In Kisii we began outside gathered around a pile of palms on the ground. They hacked some prawns off the trees and further cut them into pieces with a panga (machete) producing all kinds of shapes and sizes. Once the priest blessed the palms, the people descended onto the pile to secure a palm. There was a lot of pushing and shoving going on - so much so that Kathy almost got knocked over so she just let Wes get a palm to share. We were surprised the actual Mass took only 65 minutes and that included the procession from outside with palms. But, before the final blessing, added on to those 65 minutes was another 20 minutes of announcements and three separate collections which were in addition to the two normal collections at Offertory making for a total of five collections at that Mass! We didn’t know what the special collections were for but five collections seemed like a lot. Fr. David celebrated Palm Sunday Mass at three outstations with the first one at 7 am. He didn’t get back to the Mission house until 2:30 pm which made for a long day. As soon as Fr. David reached the house to back up and unload the matoleo (offering) of tomatoes, eggs, beans, maize, sugar, etc., Zack appeared almost as soon as Fr. David was getting out of the vehicle! He wanted to wash the Hilux hoping to finally get that opportunity to make a few shillings. After Zack and his brother Absalom finished washing the Hilux, Wes gave him KSH 500 to split with his brother and almost immediately Zack asked, “and how about the bike?” to which Wes said, “you can use this to save for a bike”. That probably wasn’t what Zack wanted to hear but if he wants a bike, he is going to have to save up for it because we are not going to purchase a bike that he doesn’t need. About an hour later, Zack returned to our front door asking for cooking oil. Wes then consulted the calendar on the wall and told Zack that we just bought him a 3-liter container of cooking oil two weeks ago. Wes has started to write things on the calendar when we purchase items for Zack for the reason that he comes so often and we forget what and when we gave him money, oil, etc. We think Zack banks on us not remembering! He is a nice kid but he also makes a lot of trips to the Mission house asking for money, oil, clothes, a watch, and other items to which we have learned to say hapana (No). We consult Fr. David as well because we have come to find out Zack hits both of us up – Fr. David and us! Fr. David gives a substantial amount of the produce he gets from matoleo at the Sunday Masses to Zack’s family including chickens. Zack showed up again on Saturday evening and would only talk to Wes. He presented Wes with a list of items he wanted one of which was a ng’ombe (cow)! The prices were also written on the list and for the ng’ombe, Zack had written KSH 23,500 which would be about $180! That amount of money would be enough to pay the first term school fees for a student in a boarding school (there are three terms to a school year). Wes told Zack we are not buying him a cow to which Zack then pointed out another item on the list…the bike! Wes told Zack we are not buying him a cow nor a bike and if he wants those things or any of the other items on the list, he would have to save up the money he gets for washing vehicles. Here, we have come to find out that people will ask and if you tell them hapana, they are usually good with it but we also know they will be back on our doorstep again and again…their mindset is that it doesn’t hurt to ask! We have to give Zack credit…he is persistent even though he is told hapana a lot!
Last week, after breakfast one morning, we could see some activity happening not far from the front porch of the Mission house. A man with a rope and machete in hand was climbing a very large and tall Cypress tree with his bare feet. We realized we were going to be watching the felling of a tree the way they do it here – all by hand. It was amazing to watch the man shimmy up the tree without any kind of safety harness though to us it was very unsafe. Once he got to the top, he cut some branches off with the machete and then tied the rope around the tree flinging the end of it to those on the ground. After he came down, a chainsaw was taken to the trunk of the tree and soon after, the tree toppled over falling pretty much where they wanted it to. The groundskeeper told Wes that they were going to make a table out of the large trunk, use the boards for building material, and finally the unusable pieces for firewood. It was intriguing to watch the guy cut the tree trunk into very straight boards with only a chainsaw.
On Wednesday, we went to follow ups at Nyamotenenio and Nyaborabu. Nyamotenenio is where we have to take what we would call “prairie trails” to get to the church. It had rained the night before and as Wes was driving, Lilian, Emma, and Kathy were a little nervous as we were at the edge of the road on the side of the mountain and it was very slippery in places. We decided that if we slid down, the tea fields would stop us with a soft landing though as Emma said, “we would get scratched up”! Tea plants look soft and fluffy with their lush green leaves but when you try to walk between the plants, they are not soft and fluffy. The tea plant is more like a shrub with sharp twigs that can scratch as you pass by them. At Nyamotenenio, while Lilian and Emma stayed with the women who were coloring and talking in their tribal language, we went for a short walk around the bend in the mountain, a short distance from where the church was. We were treated to some spectacular views – we never tire of seeing the patch work quilt of lush green tea fields, crops, trees, etc. Lilian and Emma still can’t figure out what it is that we see is so beautiful! This is all they have ever known and to them it is not all that spectacular. We tell them that back in the United States, people would pay money to be able to have a house with these views. At both places, there were a number of little ones and the only one who would come to Kathy was Esther. Kathy likes to hand out tom-toms (lollipops) and Esther, who let Kathy hold her for almost the entire time, got quite sticky. By the time Kathy gave Esther back to her mama, Kathy’s face, hands, neck, and shirt were sticky! But Esther enjoyed her three tom-toms while her mama colored in her book…the tom-toms are not very big so three of them would be like one large one! There was also little Angellah in her purple and white crocheted hat who would smile a lot but kept her distance. Elyjoy, who has had her picture in the blogs a few times, kept her distance as well. Elyjoy and her sisters came with their mama to the follow up and therefore, Elyjoy was quite content in her sister’s arms.
On Thursday, we went to Nyantaro, Kianyabao, and Esamba. It had rained the night before so the roads again were quite slippery – at times you felt like you were on ice instead of mud as you slid from side to side on the road. Nyantaro is the place where the piano is. Kathy was kind of sad that this follow up was the sixth and final one which meant Kathy would no longer be able to sit at the piano and play while the mamas colored. During the follow up at Kianyabao, a man came inside the church where the mamas were coloring. The man approached Wes, knelt down in front of him, and proceeded to ask Wes to bless him! Wes told the man, “Si Padre” which basically meant “I am not a priest”! The man, who seemed to have had something to drink before coming into the church, wouldn’t stop talking and the mamas kept telling him to be quiet but he wouldn’t. Therefore, Wes had to ask him to leave the church and the man left without incident. It was an interesting day!
On Friday, we went with Fr. David to the Good Friday service at Nyaguku – a place we have never been to. We arrived at 2:15 pm and the service was to start at 3 pm. When we got to the church, there were a lot of people standing outside and we were thinking that they were just waiting to go in. Much to our surprise upon entering the church, it was already full which explained why people were outside. Fr. David figured there were probably around 800 people at the service. The catechists told Fr. David he could start even though it was early and so he did. At the beginning of the service, we could see a plastic covered mattress on the cement floor in front of the altar – it was there for when the priest prostrates himself before the start of the service. The floors were a combination of concrete with some dirt here and there; therefore, if not for the mattress, Fr. David’s vestments would have been very dusty and dirty. During the Solemn Intercessions, where you stand and then kneel for the ten different intercessions, our knees were getting a little sore as the concrete was not smooth and had ridges plus there was the loose dirt with small pebbles. Towards the end of the service, it started to rain and by the time we left the church, it started to hail. Fr. David had celebrated Holy Thursday Mass at Biticha the day before and during the Mass, he had to stop and wait for 15 minutes for the rain to subside so they could hear one other. During a downpour, it can get quite loud in the church as most roofs are made of tin.
On Thursday evening, the Sisters next door invited us to eat with them. They had ugali, mboga (greens), chapati, and matumbo. The word tumbo means stomach…you probably know where this is heading! Matubmo is basically the edible stomach lining/intestines of an animal especially cows or goats – the Sisters informed us the matumbo they prepared was from goats. We keep hearing how tasty matumbo is but we haven’t had any great desire to try it. The Sisters made the matumbo by first boiling it and then frying it with garlic, onions and other spices. Wes was game to try it whereas Kathy was not all that excited about trying it but she reluctantly took one piece…she kept it to one tiny piece. The Sisters say it is sweet…maybe it is but Kathy could not get past how it looked and the chewiness of it…and probably knowing what it was, she had a hard time eating the one piece. You don’t want to be ungrateful but it is one of those foods that Kathy could pass on though Wes didn’t mind it. Mixed in with the matumbo was the liver as well…Kathy just took more of the ugali, mboga and chapati!
On Saturday, we had Mission Saturday at Ichuni and Gekano. Later in the day, we went with Fr. David to Rianyagemi where he had the 3 pm Easter Vigil Mass. We are used to the Easter Vigil starting after dark but here they celebrate it much earlier…probably has to do with people having to walk up to several miles to get to and from church and by being held earlier do not have to walk home in the dark. We started outside with the blessing of the fire and then processed into the church with lit candles. Back home, the candles are provided for us but here you bring your own candle…we didn’t know that and therefore didn’t have a candle to light. When it came time to bless the water, a 5-gallon bucket of water was brought forward which Fr. David blessed. After the blessing of the water, there was the sprinkling rite where the Fr. David walked around the church to bless the people with the holy water. When he asked the catechist for a sprig to dip into the water to bless the people with, he didn’t have one. We saw the catechist whisper something to a guy who then went outside - we figured he was probably going to get some freshly cut ones! Fr. David decided to just use his fingers to sprinkle the people and about the time he got done going around the church, the guy came back with a large sprig of some type of shrub…we had to chuckle. The Mass lasted around 2 hours. When we got back to the Mission house, we could hear the Vigil Mass being celebrated here at Gekano. That Mass started at 3 pm and we heard the final song at 7:05 pm…it lasted a little over 4 hours!
This past week, it rained every day of the week, receiving just short of 5 inches. It usually started raining around 4 pm and sometimes into the evening and night. With the rains and thunderstorms, the chances of not having power are increased and this past week, we were without power a lot. On Monday, the power went out at 9 am and it was out until 10 am on Friday. We were grateful that school was in session as that meant the generator was turned on from 7 pm to 10 pm each night and from 4:30 am until 6 am each morning. There was a day or two where the power came on for an hour or less but never anything consistent. It was a long week with not having electricity but we were happy for the rains…guess we couldn’t have both this past week!
Shamba update: The workers are plastering the ceiling and the walls – much like we would put up sheetrock and then mud and texture it. For some of the larger rooms, they made a design along the outside edge of the ceiling as well as a circle in the middle for where the light will go. It is different from what we are used to and we shall see what it looks like once it gets painted. The men are currently working on the roof of the house to make a covered area over the steps leading to the roof as well as a railing that will go around the edge of the roof. We will be able to walk around on the roof – can’t wait to go outside at night and finally see how the stars look at night in the Southern hemisphere! Here, where the Mission house currently is, it is hard to see the stars because of all the trees that are on the property plus the artificial lighting around the compound. There will be a nice view of the surrounding area during the day time as well.
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: stjparish.com