Wednesday 28 November 2012

Dear Readers,

I have recently learned that many of you cannot leave comments for reasons unknown. I will leave my email address if you have any questions or comments feel free. freelandc12@gmail.com

Thanksgiving in Kenya was great despite the fact that I had to work part of the day. A large group of my colleagues went to Rev. Phyllis house (our site coordinator) and had a huge lunch with turkey, sweet potatoes, veggies and three different kinds of cake. Needless to say I was completely full when I left. It was a great time to get together with my Kenyan family and remember all that we have to be thankful for.

I have been working with my colleague Will on a Peace Bench Campaign for the OAIC. The purpose is to get youth in Kenya to come together to create a bench to serve as a visible symbol of peace. Last week met with 10 youth from Nairobi informal settlements to start the process. The bench is made of plastic bottles and bags along with some cement. We are working together with the youth and local businesses to gather the recycled material.  While constructing the benches we will have discussions with the youth about barriers that prevent us from having peace and what we can do to break down those barriers. The youth are to come back on Dec. 5th to begin the construction process and I look forward to getting to know them.

See OAIC website for more information if you wish on the Peace Bench (oaic.org)
Above is an image of the peace bench created in Nakuru about an hour outside of Nairobi.


I have recently had a hard time dealing with something that I face on a daily basis. Just about every day while walking home or to the grocery I am asked for money or food. At first I felt compassionate and would sometimes give bread that I had in my grocery bag but as it happened more and more I began to get frustrated. I cannot really explain why exactly I got frustrated at the situation. I think it might have to do with the fact that they only ask white people for money and food. Some even sit and wait for us to walk by.  I have thought about what one is supposed to do in this situation and have realized that me giving them food does not really help them at all. It gives into the stereotype of skin color and it encourages them to continue to beg. It is definitely hard to ignore these people that come up to you, but honestly on a missionary salary cannot afford to give to all that ask. It is hard to know what to do in these situations, I guess all I can do is pray for them.

Tomorrow I am supposed to be on a Family TV show which discusses the meaning of Christmas. I am supposed to discuss how Christmas is celebrated at home. I will definitely mention the beautiful decorations, the smiles and singing Silent Night by candle light on Christmas Eve at my home church. I think the music is also something that creates comfort inside me. You cannot listen to Holly Jolly Christmas without feeling jolly!  I do however think that we have been sucked into materialism and it seems to get worse and worse each year. I think we get consumed in the gifts rather than the blessings we have right in front of us. I think it takes stepping back to be with family and friends to make memories that will last, rather than a shirt you will grow out of. That is something I am choosing to work on this year.



Thursday 15 November 2012

A Humbling Experience in Kisumu Town

This past weekend I traveled with Caferine my best friend here to her village for her grandma's funeral. I had the privilege of staying with her family for the weekend who taught me so much. I learned Luo greetings and now have four new Luo names (Akinyi meaning in the morning, Achien'g meaning during the day, Truphosa the name of Caferine's grandma, and Atieno). Her family despite it being a sad time for them was so grateful and kept saying how happy there were to have me there. The whole family wanted to build me a semi-permanent house out of cow dung and mud on their land to live.  I was honored to be asked back for a longer stay next time and requested by her sisters to bring chocolate.

The Funeral:
Here like church services are all day processes which start at around 10 with actual burial ending around 3. There is an introduction of family members where many close relatives talk about their lost loved one followed by the actual service lead by the preachers. During parts of the funeral around mid day I noticed people getting up and leaving and later found out they were going for lunch but would soon return. This service takes place on the grounds near the house of the love one  where they will soon be laid to rest. I had trouble understanding the service because it was in Luo so I spent much of the time helping in the kitchen prepare food for family members and guests. The most memorable part was at the actual grave site feet away from grandma's house. The singing was beautiful as family said goodbye.

Village Life:
It was definitely hot where at my new home with few trees for shade. I got to enjoy and learn more cooking of traditional Kenyan dishes over charcoal and firewood. I learned how they fry their fish, make ugali, smashed potatoes, and mandazi. One evening after visiting family we got to ride the boda boda (motorcycles) at night and I swear I have never seen so many stars in my life the sky was gorgeous. What I will take back from this experience is the simplicity in the lifestyle of the people in the village. They do not have much but what they do have they are so grateful for and make the most of it. They live wonderful lives and are true examples to follow.They took such good care of me and made sure I was always alright.

I wish I had pictures to show you of my experience and eating fish from Lake Victoria with my hands but my memory card was not working. It has since been fixed so expect more pictures soon!

Monday 5 November 2012

Sunday Service

Since many my readers are from my home church I think that it is important to share with you what a common service is like here. I will use an example from this past weekend.  My friend Caferine took me to Thika, a town outside of Nairobi (about 36 kilometres) for a baptism. We arrived at the AIC (African Independent Church) about 10 AM to the sound of energetic singing, drumming and dancing. The singing and dancing featured children, a women’s group and elders from the church and is my favorite part of the service. I wish I could take the children back with me to share with you their beautiful music. It is not like at home where you read from the hymnals, the congregation just knows the songs and I just danced and clapped to their inspirational music.

After about an hour of singing or more then it was time for visitor’s introduction.  This time is when all visitors or friends of the church go to the front and introduce themselves. Take note that everyone but me spoke Swahili or Kikuyu so I am not even sure when I spoke the audience understood anything I said.  After, from what I understand, the church asked for offering in honor of the children being baptized to go towards the church.  Concluding the baptism (which was very similar to ours just longer) the preacher or ‘bishop’ here delivered his message. From the translator I understood that his message was simple, ‘that if you believe in God he will provide for you wealth, possibly not monetarily but through another measure.’  At churches here, an entire Sunday is spent worshiping and praising God, I admire this quality because at home if church goes five minutes over an hour then people get restless. Something after being here and experiencing these worship styles is hard to understand.The advantage is that congregations are truly family and know one another. It's like a church picnic every Sunday.
                After the actual service, there had to be food. It is a Kenyan tradition to eat and eat a lot! The entire church came for rice, chapatti, beans and potato- carrot soup. It was great, the entire day was filled with joy and celebration of the baptism. Concluding the event was tea time where the group gathered around the circle and introduced themselves and the preacher from earlier would end with prayer.  The preacher said that their church was blessed because a white (mizungu) girl was there worshiping with them.  I should tell you that I cannot go unnoticed here; all eyes were constantly on me especially by the elders and children. The people in Thika were grateful for my presence and they welcomed me with open arms as I have been everywhere I have gone. I hope this gives you a bit of insight into worship. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.  

 
 
Next weekend I am going to my friend Caferine’s grandmother’s funeral. She found out just yesterday that she was burned alive in a house fire and the causes are unknown. I hope to share this experience with you also. 

Thursday 1 November 2012



Sorry all for my lack of postings. Here is a brief update on what has been going on recently:
ENJOY and feel free to comment! Thanks to those who have!

I have learned from the past weekends that Birthday parties in Kenya are how we should celebrate them at home. Basically they are all day events, they have bouncy castles or blow up slides for the children to play on while the parents and older youth eat and chat. The two I have been to so far have been so fun and I have eaten so much I can hardly walk out the door. The food is amazing! I promise I will come home knowing how to make chapati, ugali and all sorts of Kenyan delicacies so I can share them with you.

 
This past weekend I got to run the Nairobi Standard Charter Half Marathon with my host dad. It was an amazing experience. Being a runner, it's one of the great races the world has to offer. There were thousands of runners. My favorite part and my inspiration throughout the race was seeing the Kenyan Olympians running (passing) all of the 'average Joe' runners like myself. It was so great to see that many people running for a cause. My host dad gets enjoyment when he tells his friends that I am his first born child. I am also in the process of being adopted by another family two. I think I have like four Kenyan mothers now. Everyone is so welcoming here!

I am starting to get into a routine at work I have posted pictures on the OAIC website (oaic.org) if you would like to check them out. I will soon be writing stories to come, which are going to be more formal than this blog. We have other projects we are working on like a peace bench for Nairobi area to help promote peace especially approaching election time.

I have become very adventurous recently through forms of transportation. In Kenya public transport is mainly through matatus which are vans that carry about 15 people or so. The other day while in a matatu heading back from the Westlands area to the apartment (about a 20 minute ride with stops) our matatu ran out of gas in the middle of an intersection. Not to mention matatus do not really follow normal traffic rules. Once they get tired of waiting in traffic they simply go around cars ridding through the middle of the road. So that's where we were stuck in the middle of the road on the wrong side of the road stuck. This stuff happens all the time so two guys got out and pushed the matatu to the side of the road where we waited for the conductor to come with gas.Once the conductor came we proceeded down the wrong side of the road. I had my eyes closed the entire time!