A FULL FRIDAY

Last Friday we went on a tour of some of the places in Nairobi where the Baptist have been working over the years. At our first stop, we met pastor Euticuls Wambua at Baptist Chapel (Lakisama-Lucky Summer). The church is continuing to grow so they are in the process of adding more space. Pastor Wambua is a very busy man who wears many different hats. Not only is he pastoring a church, he is director of the Kariobangi Baptist Youth Centre (Korogosho) and chairman of the Nairobi Baptist Association.

Pastor Wambua (orange shirt) and headmaster Mutemi (blue shirt), headmaster of the school at the youth center

Baptist Chapel (Lakisama-Lucky Summer)

We also went to see the Kariobangi Baptist Youth Center and Academy. The center was started years ago as a place to teach locals carpentry and sewing classes. Over the years it has expanded to include hairdressing and cooking classes. There is also now a full time school there with preschool up through level 5 classes.

The children were such a joy to be around. When the director would take us into a class, they all would stand and say, “Good morning sir”. He would say, “How are you class?” They would answer in unison, “Fine, Sir”. They would then sing us a song or two complete with hand motions, each song told about the love of God. This went on in each class we visited. One class also recited a Bible verse for us.

The Center was literally built on the site of the land field for dumping garbage for all of Nairobi. You can look through the windows and see (and smell) the present land field. We watched as people were going through the garbage and pulling out anything they thought was of any value. Here you can see a collection of trash bags divided into separate piles by their color.

This is Virginia preparing a snack for the students. It is usually bread and butter, but because today is Friday, they will receive Jam and bread.We also went to the Baptist Children’s Home. Those who stay at the children’s home are orphans who have lost their family members to AIDS. There is a school, clinic, Chapel, Technology center and demonstration farm all on the same campus with the children’s home.
Our travels through the city took us through some pretty rough areas, but everywhere we went the children would smile at us and wave and say, “How are you?”

When we returned to the office, We had a Going Away Celebration for Roy and Dena Brent. Roy and Dena have been on the mission field for over 30 years and 25 of those have been right here at the Baptist Mission of Kenya where Roy has been responsible for the travel bookings and computer networking. These are the positions we are now in since Roy is retiring. The ladies in the office and on the compound cooked up a huge feast. We had roasted goat and chicken, Sumuka wiki (Incidently, sukuma wiki means 'to push the week' which implies that sukuma wiki is a food used to stretch the meals to last for the week. It is like collard greens), rice, guacamole, mashed potatoes cooked with pumpkin leaves with corn added and chipates. Everything was delicious and then the Brents were honored and given gifts.
After the celebration we had our first Swahili tutoring session with Hellen. Hujambo, Jina Langu ni Jan. Ninatoka nchi ya America, jimba la Georgia. Habari Yako.

Hello, my name is Jan. I come from America, the state of Georgia. How are you?

Jeff had to leave before the class was over to make an airport run to pick up a group of missionaries coming into town for a conference. The traffic is so bad in Nairobi, it took him over 4 hours to make the trip to the airport, drop the missionaries off and then return home. It is only about a 20 miles trip total! He had fun with it anyway. As the missionaries loaded into the van, he announced, “I have only been in Nairobi for 5 weeks, so you might want to tighten up your seat belts”. The lady sitting in the front seat quickly jumped out and went to the back. Upon arriving at the hotel, the gentleman who ended up in the front seat commented that he had made a hole in the floor board slamming on his imaginary brake.

As if that was not enough excitement for one day, Molly added to our excitement when we got home. She cornered her first hedgehog. They are so small and very prickly. We set it out on the sidewalk and left it alone until it finally unrolled and walked away. The perfect ending to a long day.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON DRIVE

Well after being here for a whole month, Jan finally drove for the first time this Sunday. Sunday is the slowest traffic day and we went out of the city on a divided highway, so it was very easy driving for the first time. It was still very stressful and she is not looking forward to the day she has to drive in the city. It is like NASCAR at Bristol Motor Speedway (bumper cars at 80 MPH)!

The Bible study group that Jan is meeting with is using one evening each month to work on crafts. They then sell the crafts to raise money to purchase bibles that they then give away. This week they worked on rolled paper bead necklaces. They also began making a storying quilt to be used to tell the Bible in Chronological stories. It is going to be red, black and white, great Georgia colors. These ladies are very talented . We hope to send some pictures of the necklaces if anyone is interested in purchasing them to help out.

We have mentioned that our yard is full of beautiful plants and trees and one of those trees in a banana tree. This week we picked our first stalk of bananas and hung them on the porch to ripen. They are a small variety and very sweet. So for now it is bananas in the cereal, banana sandwiches for lunch and banana bread for dessert.

Funny story: Jan has been working with Shem, the volunteer coordinator at the mission. This week we had a meeting with the drivers who drive the volunteers on their trips. As Shem was talking to the drivers about identifying who was the volunteer team leader, he mentioned that all “wazungu” (White Men) look alike. He then laughed and said, and believe it or not the wazungu think that we Kenyans all look alike too. Funny but true.

The electricity is so expensive here, we do not turn our water heater on but about 2 hours in the morning. So, today we had a "widow maker" installed in our bathroom. For those who are not familiar with a "widow maker", it's a shower head with an 220 volt electrical wire running into it. Let's think about this. You're standing in a shower with a 220 volt electrical cord above your head. The husband must typically get the first shower, hence the name "widow maker". We are now able to flip a switch in our bathroom and have instant hot water whenever we want to take a shower. Yeah!

BUSY WEEK

This has really been a busy week. We have discovered that much of the life of a logistic coordinator is spent on the road. Jeff spent the first part of the week working on getting internet service to the office where the media consultants will be working since they were due to arrive this week. He also made a presentation for improving the internet service for all the Baptist facilities here in Nairobi. Everyone was in favor of it. It will be implemented in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully we will be able to post more pictures more often in the near future.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent time with our Regional Logistics Coordinator as he gave us an orientation and his expectations from us. He is a very nice gentleman and will be great to work under. Jeff is still researching how to keep the network running and Jan is struggling through making travel arrangements for everyone. She will not receive official training in booking reservation until after we return from our trip to Zambia.

On Saturday we spent the day with Barry and Marleen Robinson. We visited the Giraffe Center and the Elephant Orphanage. The giraffes were very friendly and Jeff and Barry were brave enough to let them take a piece of food from their mouths! Check out the long tongue. The baby elephants were so cute and we learned a lot about their personalities.This picture is out of focus but you can see how long a gariffe's tongue is.

We also welcomed two new members to our team this week. They are two young ladies from the media department who will be working out of Nairobi. One is a photographer and the other a journalist. Today after church, we took them out for their first adventure at driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car. We took a trip out into the Rift Valley and saw some beautiful country side while they practiced their driving.

DAILY LIFE IN KENYA

We have learned many new things in the two weeks that we have been in Kenya. We had been told that the traffic was terrible and that is a fact. Not many Kenyans actually own a car. They either get around by walking, riding bicycles or the public transport system which is 14 (always room for 3 more) passenger vans called matatus. These vans have fixed routes but not necessarily fixed stops or schedules. They will stop anywhere to pick someone up. Some are brightly painted to attract attention and some are equipped with stereos and DVD players. There is a driver of course, and also a conductor who takes the fares and hangs out of the sliding door of the matatu directing the driver in and out of traffic. The drivers are required to collect a certain amount of fares each day and then the amounts over that are theirs to keep. So they drive like mad men to get to the next stop. They will drive on the shoulders and on the sidewalks and make up their own “extra” lanes where ever they want to go. They will pull out in front of you or cut you off in traffic. They cause more traffic jams than you can imagine. Fortunately we have not had to ride in one yet, but it is our understanding that it will be part of our training next month is Zambia to get around using the public transportation. Pray for us.

We have also learned that Nairobi is very multi-cultural. There are many Muslim and Hindu families living here. The city is loaded with mosques and temples. This pictures show a Hindu temple we call the “Sand Castle”. We take our phone to be unlocked and the shop keeper has gone to pray at mid day. We see many women and girls walking the streets wearing their burkas. This month has been Ramadhan and we hear the public prayers being chanted even from our own home. We go out to eat on Friday nights in the Indian district and enjoy Indian cuisine. We have a whole division of our IMB team that works with the Asian population in town.

We are still learning how to purchase our food at the “Hawkers Market” where you go in and bargain with the vendors who are hawking their goods. We are getting some really good fresh fruits and vegetables but it is a learning process on how not to overpay. Our money system is in Kenyan Shillings, (Ksh). The exchange rate makes it work out that 100 shillings equals about $1.50. So as we are trying to barter, we also have to be calculating in our heads how much we just offered! Today we had our first “experience” going to the butcher to buy a few chicken breasts. The smell was delightful, NOT! Not to be too gross but it smelled like decomposing flesh.

Electricity here is very expensive so we try very hard to keep the lights off whenever possible and we only have our hot water heater turned on 2 hours a day to save on electricity. We do not have a clothes dryer because it would be too expensive to use. Our clothes are hung on the line to dry and then ironed. We have hired a sweet national lady named Grace to help out in this area.

All in all, we are adjusting well to the many changes and are enjoying our new friends that we are meeting each day. Please continue to pray for us as we adapt to our new culture.

HELL'S GATE

After a busy week of working in the mission office learning the network system and travel booking, we took a day trip on Saturday up into the Nakuru District in the Rift Valley to Hell's Gate National Park. We saw many of God’s wonders, from awesome rock formations to all kinds of wild game.

We encountered zebra, giraffe, warthog, ostrich, cape buffalo, baboon, elan, gazelle, and dik-dik, a small deer looking animal that hops like a rabbit. There were also many species of different birds.

We hiked on the rock formations and up into an area of small caves.

After a peaceful picnic lunch, we were visited by some mama baboons with their babies hanging on their bellies. One decided she wanted a Tupperware container full of nuts off of our table. She walked right up beside Jan, snatched it and ran. After opening it and dumping out some nuts, she left it behind. It was too funny.. We were warned to watch out for our cameras, that they would take them as well.

We also hiked down into a gorge. There were several hot springs running out of the side walls of the gorge with very hot water flowing or dripping out. Down in the gorge, we met a young Massai boy named Jacob. He lived over the ridge in a boma with his father and his father’s two wives. The Massai people are herdsmen, so we asked what type of animals they had. He said they had 10 cows and 50 goats. While we were in the gorge it started to rain and we wanted to get out of the gorge quickly, so Jacob led us up a steep goat path to the top and we walked to the road from there. Hiking at an elevation of 8,000 feet proved to be very breath taking.

There were 6 of us on the trip and 3 of them had a GPS with them. The plan was to find a Geo Cashe located in the park. It was listed as not having been found in over one year, so we believe it must have been taken by someone because they never found it.

On the trip back to Nairobi, we stopped and got some roasted corn from a street vender. Some here refer to this as “typhoid on a stick”, so please pray we do not get sick! It was really quite tastey, just real chewy. All in all it was a great day spent with friends and enjoying God’s beautiful creations.

AFRICAN CULTURAL EXPERIENCE

Today we went to the home of one of the Kenyan employees from the Baptist Mission of Kenya where we work. Her brother-in-law served in the military and was killed in a tragic truck accident that killed 5 others a couple of days ago. It was a humbling and educational experience. It had some similarities to our American funeral home experience but was quite different.

As we approached the home, we were greeted by singers gathered outside the home singing beautiful songs. These singers sang the entire time we were there. Each person that you passed greeted you, shook your hand and smiled. We all gathered in the front room of the home and were seated. The father of the young man came in and went around the room and shook each person’s hand. The mother came into the room and went around to everyone and gave them a big hug. One of the visitors that had come with us was asked to say a word of encouragement and then another one prayed. The mother then spoke and told everyone she was rejoicing eve though God had decided to take her son home now because He was a God who loved them. She was happy that she had raised her son in God’s Word and could be at peace with God’s decision. It was incredible to see this woman’s faith. The father also spoke praising God’s goodness. There were no tears because they knew where their son was now.

Next some of the family members served us all hot chai. Then someone came with a pitcher of warm water and a bucket. She went around the room and poured water over our hands so we could wash them off. Next the family brought out bread for us to eat with our chai.

Another one of the visitors with us read a scripture from the Bible that had comforted her at the time of her dad’s death and then Jeff prayed for the family again. We continued to sit and stay for quite some time until one of the Kenyan visitors that had come with us asked that we be excused to return home. Then there were more handshakes and goodbyes before we left.

I know that our presence was a comfort to the family, but we were the ones who were blessed the most as we observed the hospitality and faith of this family.

DRIVING LESSONS (YIKES!!!)

The other day Jeff had his first adventure driving in Nairobi traffic. The missionaries here say driving in Nairobi increases your prayer life. Jeff just puts on his Nascar mentality and pushes his way on through. This shot of the traffic was taken on what is actually a two lane street. When things are busy, people will start adding lanes on the shoulders. We actually saw it go five lanes wide this day.
We headed to the “Hawkers Market” to purchase fresh vegetables and fruits. It was unbelievable how many items there were and how fresh the produce was. Everyone wants your business, so we were advised to pick a couple of guys we thought we could trust and continue to purchase from them. We purchased some items but have not had to use them yet as our new friends have all been feeding us dinners this week.

DAY TRIP TO NYERI

Today we drove up to Nyeri, a small town about 200km north of Nairobi. The trip was to carry a lawnmower to the shambe worker (caretaker) of a property in the town that the IMB will be selling soon. We also pulled a trailer and transported furniture for Milka, one of the workers at the resource center here on the compound. Her mother lives in Nyeri and we took the items to her apartment there.

Along the way we saw plantations of pineapples, tobacco, coffee, mango, and many other smaller farms. We also saw large greenhouses where roses are grown. On the way back home, we stopped and I was able to buy fresh pineapple, mangos, avocados, eggplant and butternut squash. Yum, yum.

There were many other interesting sights along the way, including the local Home Depo. Check out the price of gas. This is by the liter, which equals around $6.24 a gallon.

HOME SWEET HOME

Here are a few shots of our new home.

It is called the “Little Farm House”. The history is the house was the home of the plantation manager who ran a coffee plantation on the property where the Baptist Mission of Kenya is now located. It is a small two bedroom cottage with a full fenced in yard that Molly is really enjoying.
It has a small patio on the back and plenty of beautiful plants and flowers everywhere. I hope to plant a small vegetable garden as well real soon.

GO!!!!!!

The time has arrived and we are finally ready to leave for Kenya. As we head to the airport this morning, we are overflowing with emotions. There is excitement, anticipation, joy, nervousness, and even some sadness on leaving family and friends. We are also overflowing with luggage. We have seven footlockers, two suitcases, two carryon bags, and two backpacks. Then there is the dog kennel and the dog. We will be leaving the Atlanta airport this afternoon headed to Amsterdam. After a short layover there, we are on to Nairobi, arriving in mid evening on Wednesday. We appreciate your prayers and support as we prepared to go and now as we head to the field, we petition your continued prayers.

Look out Kenya, here we come!

We will keep you updated