Ode to Strapped Chickens

Dear chickens strapped atop the bus,

We know you put up quite a fuss;

But there you ride in highest style,

While inside salesmen shout and smile.

You might be sad to leave your home

Upcountry where you used to roam.

But ride with grace to meet your fate

Beside ugali on my plate.



My Town

In my town, buildings are built with beautiful stone quarried next door.

 

Those buildings might take weeks to build, or months or years, just depending on when the owners come into money.  They build when they can instead of saving.  If it's already been spent on the building, no one can ask to "borrow" it.

 

Eventually, people will come to the building to live and hand wash their laundry in buckets, then hang it on the railing to dry.

 

Most buildings have a name.  Actually, I think everything in Kenya has a name.  Some are decorated more than others.

 

In my town, people shop for groceries on the street and at Naivas.  You can find lots of wonderful things in Naivas from American Garden peanut butter (made in Iran) to fresh somasas in the bakery.  You have to ask for the machine clothes detergent because everyone else uses the hand detergent. People double park at Naivas, so it can be a tricky business.

 

In my town, children hold hands with their mom and love balloon animals, just like in your town.

 

In my town, all the children ask, "How are YOU? How are YOU? How are YOU?"

In my town, I'm quite fine, thank you.

Then and Now

We have had the privilege of watching God bring 6 of the 97 children home to our orphanage.  Millicent and Ruth came on the same day with two others.  They were scared, malnourished, shy and obviously apprehensive. 

Check out Millicent's eyes and the circles under them.

Ruth looked like she expected the sky to collapse at any minute and never smiled.

Fast forward three months. 

On a walk this Sunday afternoon, Richard and I met several of the kids playing.  Here is Millicent, spontaneously posing for a photo.  Check out those sparkly eyes.

Ruth was sharing the see-saw with John and loving every minute.

What a privilege we live everyday to see God transforming the lives of the "least" ones.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Remember Christmas?  And how we slaughtered and skinned three goats?  Well, their skins have been drying by our burn pit for a month. 

At first, the smell was kind of rank.  All of the neighborhood animals came to investigate.  The resident Kite (like a big hawk) could be seen standing on the middle skin, obviously scheming how it could fly away with its prize.  Thankfully, the skins stayed safe, and are now on their way to the tanner/drum maker.

He will prepare the skins, and then stretch them over a suitable container. Using more skin, he'll stitch the two sides together.  This is one goaty drum.

They come in all sizes.

They come in all brands of toxic chemicals.

They come in all shapes.

Some are more decorative then others.

But the point is: by February, we'll have almost a complete class set of goat drums!  I can't wait.



The Cathedral

All Saints Cathedral is the largest Anglican Church in Kenya (ACK) and it was built in the early 20th century with British help.  On the small bridge that crosses a stream into the parking lot, there is a plaque dedicated to a man who was killed by lions in 1903 at a certain railway station.

Richard and I have visited here several times as the preaching has been pretty solid.  The ACK is also one of three partner denominations we work with to train headmasters and provide an outlet for widow's crafts to help them to support themselves.

The church also has a large pipe organ and traditional choir as well as the common Kenyan praise team that leads English and Kiswahili praise songs.  I want to bring my music students on a field trip to hear the organ.

On a recent Sunday, a Kenyan pastor who has been ministering in England for the last nine years was asked to speak for a moment in greeting to the church.  During that time, he exhorted the Christians in Kenya to hold fast to Christ and not be led astray as the Church in the West is failing.  "The West is looking to Africa.  It is our time.  Hold strong and true. Do not give in to corruption. We must share the love of Christ with the world."  I wanted to stand up and cheer.

Spotlight

Sometimes, it's like God shines a spotlight of love on you.  Don't get me wrong, His love is always there.  It's just that sometimes, He reminds us of what we know in extra-special ways.

Case-in-point: I'm supposed to start teaching 6-12 kids piano lessons in the next week.  I have two beginning piano books.  I need the books to teach the lessons, and the kids will need the books to practice.  I prayed that God would work that out as I didn't know what to do.

Yesterday, a missionary that volunteers two days a week to tutor a few students knocked on my classroom door.  He popped his head in and said, "I hope I'm not bothering you, but my wife wanted to know if you need any beginning piano books.  She has several that she would like to give you.  Would you have any use for them?"

He almost left because I couldn't say anything for a moment.  It was a spotlight of God's love shining right on me.

Good Morning

I have prayed for a long time to become a morning person.  One of those weird people who could pop out of bed and not feel like I had been run over by a train or that half of my face was still lying on my pillow.  Mostly I wanted to be a morning person so that I could spend time in God's Word before my day got really started, and I could actually understand what I was reading.  Otherwise, it felt like I was missing part of my brain.

These past few days, I've woken early, sometimes earlier than my alarm clock, and actually felt happy about it.  That's never happened before.  I actually was happy to get out of bed!  Maybe I'm getting sick. 

Besides devotion time, and breakfast time, and general get ready time this morning, I was also gifted with this:

It was a good morning.

Signs

"Keep Tidy"

I must say, I love when acacia trees offer me sage advice unexpectedly.

Random

We started a new school year yesterday.  All the kids are in new grades and I'm desperately trying to remember not to insult them by forgetting it.  I would just like to note a few things about this school year:

1.  On the first day of school, while I was on recess duty, a student found a 4-inch dead baby snake frozen in striking pose.

2.  I hate dead bodies of any type, including snakes, but somehow, I found myself funneling kids into a line while holding this dead baby snake above their heads until order reigned so they could hold it one at a time.

3. It was kind of an out-of-Kate experience.  I'm not really sure what came over me. 

4. I made two boys cry today at different times.  Well, they made themselves cry.  I just disciplined them.

5.  A new student in Class 1 from the community decided to smile handsomely, shake my hand and ask very nicely how I was doing right in the middle of me negotiating which Class 2 student had to clean their lunch table and how to get Class 3 in a straight, quiet line.  I could have hugged him.

6.  We received funding to purchase a nice, electric piano (not to be confused with an electric keyboard) and it was delivered yesterday to my music room.  Wow.

7.  I played the new piano for a long time last night after I put the stand together. I starting using it for music class today.  All of the kids were really impressed until they learned it could only make 10 different sounds, not hundreds like the old keyboard.

8.  I am going to start teaching a few students piano in the afternoons.  Next question, how do I select a few students out of 97?

9.  Totally unrelated: Did you know the bark of the Papaya tree makes hearts in the wood?  I didn't either until this weekend.

Rift Valley Overlook

We drove to the Rift Valley overlook today after church.

It was a bit hazy, but breathtaking.

We were so high, that we actually looked down twice.  Once to the plateau of the first "drop" and then down the second drop to the valley floor.

To do this viewing, we stood on crudely constructed platform built into the side of the mountain.

They also held up curio shops and their owners.

You could buy lots of things,

if the shopkeeper was awake.

Masai necklaces,

dancing warriors,

and fuzzy fur hats.

Discovery

Stephen

+ mushroom =

happy