Life by the slice (pt. 2)
Well, I got tired of posting and checking Facebook all the time, so I stopped posting individual slices for a while. Here are the leftover slices that never got posted.
“Friendship day”
It was a strange way to start things off with 10 days quarantining in a brand new house, unable to meet the neighbors. By the grace of God we survived it fairly well. First day out of the house Ransom deemed “Friendship day” where we would go and say an outdoor masked “hello” to our neighbors. So fun to see Ransom and Gideon hit it off with so many of our neighbor children. Shepherd simply likes to walk the earth.
Gideon in what folks traditionally call the “giggle tree”
Our schedule these days
6-7 am Wake up, dress and feed kids, give them a show, consume a Psalm 3 to 5 different ways.
7-8 am Ransom has reading class with me. Moselle preps the kiddos and house for the day.
8-9 am Couch time, reading books to all the kiddos. Moselle preps for her tutoring session.
9-noon Our kids are left to play outside with a childcare provider. Moselle is tutored. I study.
Noon-2 pm Lunch break together as family.
2-5 pm I am tutored. Moselle studies. Kids continue to play.
5-7 pm prep dinner, eat, family regroup/debrief/prayer together, start heading kids bedward
7-10 pm kids to bed, study, clean up, reboot, prep for tomorrow
This kid still likes his dinner.
Chai time
Around 10 am in Kenya, everyone stops what they are doing and takes a tea break. More accurately, this is a break for “chai”. 4 ingredients: milk, water, sugar (enough to make an Alabaman proud), tea leaves. Our children will likely want to keep the chai break tradition for the rest of their lives. We have had many opportunities to get to know people during some outdoor chai breaks.
Teeth
Ransom lost his two front teeth just in time for that one Christmas song to apply to his situation. Shepherd is quickly gaining a mouthfull of teeth. Sometimes he lets us all in on his teething pain, and sometimes he is pretty chill about it.
Nutrition facts
In the US, nutrition facts are always given per “suggested serving size” which is typically defined as something smaller than any American would eat. Kenyan nutrition facts take a different approach. They do not suppose what your serving size may or may not be, but only give nutrition info for a standard “100 mg”, almost a quarter lb of whichever food. So in case you were wondering, 100 mg of peanut butter has 616 kilocalories (what Americans call Calories) of “energy”.
“Dukas”
Tenwek is a small “village” situated in the area surrounding the hospital. It has quite a few small shops in wooden structures surrounding the main drive to/around the hospital. The Swahili word for these shops is “duka” for 1 shop or “maduka” for many. We have had to make approximately a one trip a day to the dukas to get anything from bread to produce to toilet paper. I have gotten to know some of the owners/keepers of the dukas, and they have graciously humored me as I practice my Swahili on them. A handful of them are very encouraging, and will even take the time to correct me and challenge me with new phrases. Fun times!
Rainy season
We are learning there are 4 seasons in this part of Kenya. 2 of them are hotter and drier, and the other two are cooler and more rainy. It has been the “short rainy season” the whole time we have been here, roughly November through December. Rains have come nearly every day at about 2 pm, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for the remainder of the day.
Afternoon rains usually come from over these hills.
Now we are transitioning to a dry hot season for about 3 months beginning sometime in January. Some of the cleanest water we can access for further filtration and consumption come from catching rain off the roof collecting from gutters to a large tank to the side of our house. Hopefully what we caught this season will be helpful through the drier times.
Dirt
Our kids play outside about 5 hours a day. There is a wonderful swing hanging from a tree directly outside of our house. Their legs and feet are perpetually stained brown with the strong color of the dirt under the swing. The bath water every night ends up looking quite yucky from all we have to wash off them.
Mpesa
Kenyans have figured out how to do almost all of their money transactions completely cashless. Nearly every Kenyan has the ability in their phones to transfer money via app or sms text messaging to any other Kenyan, from the individual “muuzaduka” (shopkeeper) to the large department stores in the city. Like if “venmo” or “cashapp” worked for every transaction you ever made. It is quite impressive. As a result, I would say a good 75% or greater of our purchases in Kenya have happened via Mpesa. Quite helpful in COVID times, and it helps everyone feel a little more secure, knowing that petty cash theft is less of a risk.
Colleague Retirement
The same time we are transitioning into Kenya, we have the privilege of seeing a missionary who has served here in Tenwek for 40 years go through the process of retiring. After helping start up the nursing school here, then teaching nurses for many years thereafter, our new friend Barbara is will be moving back to the states long term. While much of her well-deserved farewell festivities have been altered due to COVID, we have been able to participate a little remotely via Zoom. Amazing to see how God has worked over the years, hear some stories, and glean some wisdom while we can.
The other fantastic thing is that she gave us all of her Christmas decorations, so our house looked surprisingly festive this Christmas season!
Strikes
There is a constant threat in Kenya of the doctors’ and medical staffer strike. This specifically is the medical professionals who serve in the local government hospitals, who feel that neglected by the government in their fight against the Corona Virus. As the strike occurs, Tenwek (a non-government hospital) continues to operate, and it receives a good deal of the emergency cases that have been redirected from the hospitals under strike. This is not the first time this has happened, and it always causes higher stress upon doctors and staff at Tenwek. Please keep Tenwek and the rest of Kenyan healthcare in your prayers. This is not a good time for a large amount of Kenyan hospitals to shut down.
Christmas in Kenya
We had a nice meal as a family on Christmas day, on our porch with a missionary respiratory therapist. Christmas festivities can be plentiful here in different years, but COVID toned them down this year. Still we have had the opportunity to meet outside with some other missionary folks and sing some carols together, and exchange some cookies. We even attended a sparsely attended, distanced Christmas Eve Candlelight service.
As far as local traditions, my new Kenyan friends celebrated in big and small ways. The main thing everyone did was eating well with their immediate family. I know of one family of 9 grown siblings who all gathered together, pooling resources to purchase and slaughter a goat to roast over the fire for their family feast. Next year, I hope we have more opportunities to share in traditions with our Kenyan neighbors.
Milk
You can get your milk from 2 different methods primarily over here:
1. Buy it from a store in a bag, no refrigeration necessary until you open it. Super convenient until you try to pour liquid out of a bag and feel completely incompetent. Certainly a different flavor than your typical American milk in a jug.
2. Buy a two liter bottle of it from a friend who supplies it fresh from their cow, or a “maziwa” duka with a big tub of locally sourced milk. You have to boil this one before drinking it, and it is quite different from your US skim type. Often comes with chunks of cream/milkfat once you get to the dregs. I personally think it is awesome.
Our children oscillate between loving and being quite cautious of the milk here. I may eventually miss the American stuff, but it has worked out just fine so far.
