Jambo All!
Hope this finds all of you well and Spring on it's way! With just one week left--and a full one--this may be the last email many of you get from us while we are in Africa. We'll be leaving Kenya on Tuesday morning headed for the Rafiki village in Moshi, Tanzania. It's about a 12 hour trip mostly due to the fact that we have to go around Mt. Kilmanjaro. We'll be traveling by bus with Dr. Elaine and who knows what we'll be doing there. I'm sure we'll spend some time admiring the mountains & maybe even do a little hiking. So we'll just wrap up the last ten days happenings:
Home Office Visit: Last weekend was filled as a team from the Rafiki Florida home office washere for three days. They come about every 6 months or so to check on everyone and give recommendations as well as learn needs. We were especially honored to visit with Rosemary Jensen, the founder of Rafiki, and her husband, Dr. Bob. Rosemary, almost 80 yrs old. They had many meetings with the Kenya church heads so she could show them the bible lessons that Rafiki has developed and encourage them to use the plans, free of charge,in their many (about 800?) church schools. She also offered free teacher training to them. What an exciting concept to think these lesson plans could reach millions of children! Rosemary also visited with Her Excellency Mama Kenyatta (who has leased this land to them--it use to be one of her homes--her husband was the first president of Kenya). Jane was busy serving tea and homemade the cookies (about 12 doz. chocolatechip/raisin/oatmeal) which we made for all the guest as they arrived. We also worked on preparing and serving several meals to the home staff. Rog got to use the homemade charcoal and homemade grill to cook chicken, sausage & hamburgers. We also prepared meatloaf, lettuce salad, applecrisp, spaghetti pie, Waldorf salad, corn on the cob, watermelon & pineapple...besides washing dishes. Thank goodness for Jackie who was hired to help us. We were very busy but much appreciated--especially by Yeen-lan who delivered 18 beautiful roses to us.
High Standards: We look around here and can't help but compare the higher quality and standards that Rafiki village has compared to the neighboring areas. At first you think, why not lower the standards and be able to take in moreorphans? But then you listen as those who work here tell us that the rest of Kenya's standards can not hope to improve if not given an example. Won't the Kenyans learn most by example things like clean water, proper nutrition, solid education besides strong faith, will improve their lives? We saw this concept working at the orphanage we visited a couple weeks ago. Because of the good care they get there, 80% of there orphans are adopted by Kenyans--that's up from 1% when they started!! We noted that this same concept is applied in Habitat for Humanity philosophy --build a new but modest home in a run down area--and soon the neighbors start noticing ways they can fix up and improve their homes. We visited a home we helped Habitat build ten years earlier in a terribly run down part of Ypsilanti and were thrilled to see not only the Habitat home still looking great,but also most of the neighborhood too!! The children raised here will hopefully be the leaders who will help improve the lives of many Kenyans. That is the dream of Rafiki and why home office keeps looking for ways to improve the village. The mustard seed concept at work.
Cooking & Learning from Jackie: Jackie is a Kenyan who lives up country (a term they use for place they were raised) about an 8 hrs drive from here. Her sister, Bevin lives close and works here all the time. She was thrilled to have a job for two weeks to help with all the prep and clean up of the home office visit. About 70% don't have jobs. As we worked, we talked. She told me though she was 26 years old, she could not think about marriage because she could not support herself let alone children and she could not count on a husband to support them. She said, "Those who cook in Kenya, are usually hungry." It would also be hard to find a man willing to take a test to check for diseases. While my heart was breaking for her, she spoke of herstrong faith in God saying these troubles would only make her stronger andhelp her become more pure--like steel becomes after it's been heated.
Subbing in the 2 & 3 year old class: Three mornings found us subbing with the nine youngest children here. Though we did have lesson plans, just soothing the tears, toilet runs and listening to their stories filled lots of the time. We did manage to get the bible lesson, read a short story, have them "color", have a bit of activity time and end each day with a prayer--(their
prayer of thanks for us!) We did love how they sang and recited their verses. We think it was in English. It was also a hoot watching each one individually show us how they danced. There was lots of hopping, jumping and clapping. Rog especially got a kick out of when Jane tried to show them how to move. Should an American show an African how to dance??? Atleast not Jane!
Museums: We "skipped school" and went to the National Museum and the National Archives-both in Nairobi. What great places to learn about and appreciate not only Kenya but all of Africa. The Archives was mostly the private collection of a former Ambassador which was donated to Kenya after his death. He had collected most of the items right after the Europeans colonized several countries and were destroying many items/customs they considered uncivilized. Most items were very rare. A personal guide walked us around explaining and answering our questions. We also had a personal guide for the National Museum. It had a large collection of the Leaky finds--all found in Africa--one 18 million years old! Many animals of Africa were on display. Over 25 large cases of birds alone found in Kenya! We especially liked the exhibit comparing items from long ago to items today. Baby bottles made of gourds! We ate lunch and shopped at Amani ya Juu (higher peace) which was a training project in sewing & marketing for African women affected by wars and ethnic conflicts. Again, Yeen-lan had steered us to a wonderful ministry!
British: After seeing some of what the British destroyed, we asked our Kenyan guide how the Kenyans felt about the British. He said most realize Kenya would not have the education system, roads or railroads if not for them. He thought Kenya was more modern and had a higher standard of living than most African countries because of the British. So the good came with the bad. We asked our Kenyan driver the same question and he said most Kenyans have a short memory and feel the British are their friends. He also explained that Kenyans are quite easy going, don't hold grudges and it takes a lot to get them mad. That sure is true when it comes to driving! American's would be blaring their horns and swearing lots if they had to drive around here!!
Kiswahili Lesson: While teaching the Primary 2 class last week Rog had a 45 minute session to teach Kiswahili. Knowing nothing about the language he turned the table on the kids and invited them to teach him some words. They were very patient and pronounced carefully then spelled the words for him. Henow knows a few kiswahili words: kaka (boy), kiti (chair), baba (father),kitabu (book), mama (mother), wanafunzi (student), mwanimu (teacher),simba(lion),dawati (desk), dirisha (dirisha), yatima (orphan), chakula (food), gari (car), paka (cat), mtoto (baby) and lala (sleep).
Weather: It continues to be in the low 80's most days with just two nights of short rains. At night it may get down in the low 70's so the Mama's make sure the kids wear warm P.J.'s. We had to chuckle when David hugged us goodnight wearing fleece footy PJ's with a turtle neck fleece sweatshirt under it. Sleep warmly! And have we mentioned how the guards wear full mask beanie caps at night? Add the bow and arrow they carry and it gives you quite a scare when you see one in the dark!
Wow! Until we sit down and write, we often don't think about how much happens but we want to store the memories so this long update is the way we are keeping the memories in a much safer place than our brains! As I said, who knows if we'll get another email out so until we see or talk to you... Thanks for all the support and emails. We are so much richer for it.
Roger and Jane
Hope this finds all of you well and Spring on it's way! With just one week left--and a full one--this may be the last email many of you get from us while we are in Africa. We'll be leaving Kenya on Tuesday morning headed for the Rafiki village in Moshi, Tanzania. It's about a 12 hour trip mostly due to the fact that we have to go around Mt. Kilmanjaro. We'll be traveling by bus with Dr. Elaine and who knows what we'll be doing there. I'm sure we'll spend some time admiring the mountains & maybe even do a little hiking. So we'll just wrap up the last ten days happenings:
Home Office Visit: Last weekend was filled as a team from the Rafiki Florida home office washere for three days. They come about every 6 months or so to check on everyone and give recommendations as well as learn needs. We were especially honored to visit with Rosemary Jensen, the founder of Rafiki, and her husband, Dr. Bob. Rosemary, almost 80 yrs old. They had many meetings with the Kenya church heads so she could show them the bible lessons that Rafiki has developed and encourage them to use the plans, free of charge,in their many (about 800?) church schools. She also offered free teacher training to them. What an exciting concept to think these lesson plans could reach millions of children! Rosemary also visited with Her Excellency Mama Kenyatta (who has leased this land to them--it use to be one of her homes--her husband was the first president of Kenya). Jane was busy serving tea and homemade the cookies (about 12 doz. chocolatechip/raisin/oatmeal) which we made for all the guest as they arrived. We also worked on preparing and serving several meals to the home staff. Rog got to use the homemade charcoal and homemade grill to cook chicken, sausage & hamburgers. We also prepared meatloaf, lettuce salad, applecrisp, spaghetti pie, Waldorf salad, corn on the cob, watermelon & pineapple...besides washing dishes. Thank goodness for Jackie who was hired to help us. We were very busy but much appreciated--especially by Yeen-lan who delivered 18 beautiful roses to us.
High Standards: We look around here and can't help but compare the higher quality and standards that Rafiki village has compared to the neighboring areas. At first you think, why not lower the standards and be able to take in moreorphans? But then you listen as those who work here tell us that the rest of Kenya's standards can not hope to improve if not given an example. Won't the Kenyans learn most by example things like clean water, proper nutrition, solid education besides strong faith, will improve their lives? We saw this concept working at the orphanage we visited a couple weeks ago. Because of the good care they get there, 80% of there orphans are adopted by Kenyans--that's up from 1% when they started!! We noted that this same concept is applied in Habitat for Humanity philosophy --build a new but modest home in a run down area--and soon the neighbors start noticing ways they can fix up and improve their homes. We visited a home we helped Habitat build ten years earlier in a terribly run down part of Ypsilanti and were thrilled to see not only the Habitat home still looking great,but also most of the neighborhood too!! The children raised here will hopefully be the leaders who will help improve the lives of many Kenyans. That is the dream of Rafiki and why home office keeps looking for ways to improve the village. The mustard seed concept at work.
Cooking & Learning from Jackie: Jackie is a Kenyan who lives up country (a term they use for place they were raised) about an 8 hrs drive from here. Her sister, Bevin lives close and works here all the time. She was thrilled to have a job for two weeks to help with all the prep and clean up of the home office visit. About 70% don't have jobs. As we worked, we talked. She told me though she was 26 years old, she could not think about marriage because she could not support herself let alone children and she could not count on a husband to support them. She said, "Those who cook in Kenya, are usually hungry." It would also be hard to find a man willing to take a test to check for diseases. While my heart was breaking for her, she spoke of herstrong faith in God saying these troubles would only make her stronger andhelp her become more pure--like steel becomes after it's been heated.
Subbing in the 2 & 3 year old class: Three mornings found us subbing with the nine youngest children here. Though we did have lesson plans, just soothing the tears, toilet runs and listening to their stories filled lots of the time. We did manage to get the bible lesson, read a short story, have them "color", have a bit of activity time and end each day with a prayer--(their
prayer of thanks for us!) We did love how they sang and recited their verses. We think it was in English. It was also a hoot watching each one individually show us how they danced. There was lots of hopping, jumping and clapping. Rog especially got a kick out of when Jane tried to show them how to move. Should an American show an African how to dance??? Atleast not Jane!Museums: We "skipped school" and went to the National Museum and the National Archives-both in Nairobi. What great places to learn about and appreciate not only Kenya but all of Africa. The Archives was mostly the private collection of a former Ambassador which was donated to Kenya after his death. He had collected most of the items right after the Europeans colonized several countries and were destroying many items/customs they considered uncivilized. Most items were very rare. A personal guide walked us around explaining and answering our questions. We also had a personal guide for the National Museum. It had a large collection of the Leaky finds--all found in Africa--one 18 million years old! Many animals of Africa were on display. Over 25 large cases of birds alone found in Kenya! We especially liked the exhibit comparing items from long ago to items today. Baby bottles made of gourds! We ate lunch and shopped at Amani ya Juu (higher peace) which was a training project in sewing & marketing for African women affected by wars and ethnic conflicts. Again, Yeen-lan had steered us to a wonderful ministry!
British: After seeing some of what the British destroyed, we asked our Kenyan guide how the Kenyans felt about the British. He said most realize Kenya would not have the education system, roads or railroads if not for them. He thought Kenya was more modern and had a higher standard of living than most African countries because of the British. So the good came with the bad. We asked our Kenyan driver the same question and he said most Kenyans have a short memory and feel the British are their friends. He also explained that Kenyans are quite easy going, don't hold grudges and it takes a lot to get them mad. That sure is true when it comes to driving! American's would be blaring their horns and swearing lots if they had to drive around here!!
Kiswahili Lesson: While teaching the Primary 2 class last week Rog had a 45 minute session to teach Kiswahili. Knowing nothing about the language he turned the table on the kids and invited them to teach him some words. They were very patient and pronounced carefully then spelled the words for him. Henow knows a few kiswahili words: kaka (boy), kiti (chair), baba (father),kitabu (book), mama (mother), wanafunzi (student), mwanimu (teacher),simba(lion),dawati (desk), dirisha (dirisha), yatima (orphan), chakula (food), gari (car), paka (cat), mtoto (baby) and lala (sleep).
Weather: It continues to be in the low 80's most days with just two nights of short rains. At night it may get down in the low 70's so the Mama's make sure the kids wear warm P.J.'s. We had to chuckle when David hugged us goodnight wearing fleece footy PJ's with a turtle neck fleece sweatshirt under it. Sleep warmly! And have we mentioned how the guards wear full mask beanie caps at night? Add the bow and arrow they carry and it gives you quite a scare when you see one in the dark!
Wow! Until we sit down and write, we often don't think about how much happens but we want to store the memories so this long update is the way we are keeping the memories in a much safer place than our brains! As I said, who knows if we'll get another email out so until we see or talk to you... Thanks for all the support and emails. We are so much richer for it.
Roger and Jane
