25-27 March, Kenya

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

25-27 March 2012

Awaking with the windows open was nice. Dorothy says there are no mosquitoes in this area so I slept with the cool night air! Her home is far from the main road and the noises you hear at night are just the insects and in the day, the birds and children…very nice.  Dorothy and Evan are both retired and live here with various grandchildren and grand-nieces and nephews. They are providing a home for them as well as the grandson of a friend. Others help with school fees but this is home for several young people.  Dorothy and Evan have seven children and many grandchildren.

We arrived at the Kakamega Children’s Centre shortly after 10 for worship with the children and with the USFW groups from Kakamega and from Cheybusi. There are two visitors from Maine, Sharon and Judith, who joined us for the first part of the morning. New England Yearly Meeting has been instrumental in fundraising for this centre since the inception some ten years ago.

Worship began with Ps. 133, and then I John 1:7 with a devotional about fellowship from a USFW officer. The children sang songs and recited poetry written by the chaplain/pastor, Nelson. One of the poems had these lines, “There is no application form to be an orphan. If there was, I do not imagine myself to fill it out.” (I had to think of our own little Berkeley who would be considered an orphan in this culture…if you have lost one parent, you are an orphan.)

Dorothy gave the history of the centre…It began as a feeding program for orphan children in Kakamega in 1995. The plans began and the building was completed in 2002 with help from Friends from Maine. In 2005, the first children were admitted. This was done by Kakamega USFW. In 2012, this group divided into two, Kakamega and Cheybusi and both continue to support the centre. There is a staff of 5 employees to care for the children. There are 43 resident children; 58 more are now in boarding schools but still under the care of the centre for fees and return here on school breaks. There are 98 in home based programmes with guardians. The centre pays their school fees and provides them with Christmas money. They also give them a mattress and a blanket every year. (The mattresses here are little more than 3” foam pads. The children in the home programmes often share the blanket and mattress with others in the home; hence the need for annual replacement.) Seven of the former centre children have completed college. There are ten who have passed the exam and have been accepted into college so they are looking for fees.

Judith and Sharon expressed their love and gratitude for the work here. Sharon has been involved since 2002.

Wesley Sasita, General Secretary of Kakamega Yearly Meeting, welcomed us. I traveled with Sasita and Amber Reed last February when she was researching the implementation of the Peace Curriculum. It was good to see him. Prayers were offered for the children and they were released.

The worship continued with the USFW groups however Judith and Sharon did not stay. All the Monthly Meeting and Quarterly Meeting USFW clerks were introduced. Then Dorothy spoke….in Kiswahili. She assured me that it had been a message of encouragement! I shared the parable of the sower and compared the yield to the work of the women as they have built up the centre. I prayed for the two groups of women that they would continue to be strong and faithful. I assured them that they are a model to other USFW groups. They have taken a seed of compassion and love and harvested so many children…saved from a life in the streets and given an education. Sally translated for me. 

Benjamin and his wife are also guests of Dorothy (the speaker from the prayer meeting yesterday) and had joined us. Benjamin was invited to speak and preached on unity.

Now it was time for gifts! The women presented gifts to the visitors. The presenter danced toward me and I held out my hands but then she backed away. Dorothy said I must dance so I did and after a time, the gift was placed in my hands with much clapping and laughing from the women. The other guests, all Africans, did a much better job of receiving the gifts!

After the ‘vote of thanks’ and prayers, we were released and lunch was served at about 2 pm. There was rice, potatoes, cabbage, chicken and beef.  Dessert was bananas. They also had soda and I claimed the Black Currant Fanta right away!

A cozy room for four girls!

Raymond Ojiambo was at the centre. He is the driver and the computer person. He and I are friends on Facebook. He asked if I had access to the internet and I told him not yet so he took me to his office to post a short message. There was little time as the others were just chatting with folks and preparing to leave. I was happy for that offer! I did find out that Nelson had been a student at FTC when I taught there although not in my classes. I seem to be finding folks I know wherever I go…but that’s how it is in Kenya….and certainly in Western Province!

We came home; Dorothy served mango juice and I again took a nap. The heat as well as the long meetings is really draining me. When I woke, the electricity was off. Evan said it is not uncommon during the dry season as the water table goes very low and the generators are not able to function. We had supper by battery lights. It was chicken, rice, potatoes and greens with mango for dessert! We went to bed by 9 pm.

At breakfast Dorothy had asked us to try a new juice…new to her. It seems she has many guava trees in the yard but it is a sour fruit so she lets the neighbors gather them for the pigs. Her daughter bought some guava juice packaged by Del Monte of Kenya in Nairobi and brought it to her. It is very nice and Dorothy is now thinking perhaps the guavas are too good for the pigs. She is hoping to learn how to make the juice when the fruit comes in season.

Monday

Today I move from Dorothy’s near Kakamega to Gladys’ near Kitale. Basin showers and breakfast out of the way and the journey begins. Before we left, Dorothy presented me with a lovely shawl to wear as it may be cold in the north. It is possible it will be cooler due to altitude. There are not so many miles but the climate can be different.  However, I am not sure it will be cold….it is probably 85-88 in Vihiga (at Janet’s) and Kakamega (at Dorothy’s).

She had served “yams” again for breakfast. We had them yesterday and I thought they reminded me of another food. I asked today if they are like arrowroot…and it turns out that these yams ARE arrowroot. It is a purplish starchy vegetable, boiled and served warm or cold.

We stopped in Kakamega to shop for kikois. The USFWI is redecorating the room at FUM in Richmond and we want table covers and curtains made from kikois to give the International room a real international flair. Dorothy and I went into at least 6 shops and found only 3 suitable kikois. I think I will need 10-12. I will continue to shop for them in Kitale and maybe Bungoma and Kisumu if need be although time will be short by the time I get to Kisumu.

We dropped Benjamin and Ann at a matatu stage on the road to Gladys’ home. They did not have to wait and were quickly on their way. A couple more stops were made to purchase vegetables. The lateness of the rains has made vegetables scarce in the Kakamega area so Dorothy was buying where she found things.  We arrived at Gladys’ home at about 1 pm. She greeted us warmly and served fruit (plums, bananas and oranges) and juice while we waited for lunch to be prepared. Again, there were helpers in the kitchen.  The African culture welcomes guests and others are happy to assist. Our lunch soon appeared…samaki! (fish) along with rice, ugali, cabbage, and sucumawiki (collard greens).

Dorothy and Gladys visited while I took my “daily” nap. This one was only an hour but when I got up, Dorothy had already gone. Gladys and I had a nice visit and even walked outside for a while. We are hearing distant thunder and the breeze feels like rain but so far, nothing. Gladys was reminding me of the time she stayed in my home a few years ago. I took her to see our elementary school and to visit the rescue mission. She said in all her visits to the US, no one else had taken her to such places. I had forgotten about that but I do know that I had thought that most Kenyan Quaker visitors see only our malls and churches.

It is very quiet here this evening, again only the birds and chickens are about. Gladys’ helpers have gone home and she and her husband, Livingston, are in the kitchen just now preparing a light supper. I am charging my phone and computer in case the power goes out.

Gladys, Dorothy and Janet have similar sitting rooms. They are large rooms with 3 sofa sets…meaning 3 sofas and 6 chairs. There are also 3 large coffee/tea tables and several small tables/stools for individual use. Meals are often taken in the sitting room even if there is a dining area.  This is typical of many Kenyan homes.

Tuesday

Gladys and I were up and off to Kitale town by 9:30 but had to make a couple of stops. We arrived at Elgon Yearly Meeting North by 11 am and were joined by women from Tongaren YM USFW and Elgon East YM USFW.  We had tea (with bread and butter, ground nuts and boiled eggs) before the meeting began.

One woman shared a devotional from I John 3. The General Superintendent of Elgon North joined us for a little while and shared from John 6. He mentioned that there are now 17 Yearly Meetings in Kenya but we are still one in Christ. We sang a few hymns including “Baraka Nyingi” (Showers of Blessings)-very appropriate as the rains still are not here- and “Sitaacha Kumsifu”. I don’t remember the English words of the second one but it is a favorite hymn throughout the Friends’ church here. Each of the women introduced herself and gave her position in the respective USFW group. These were the officers of the three yearly meetings. Gladys then introduced me, spoke of the recent tragedy in our family and said that “Patricia is a woman of substance” and is here to visit with us even in her loss.

I gave greetings from FUM, USFWI, Indiana Yearly Meeting, Sycamore Monthly Meeting and my family. I shared from John 17, Jesus’ prayer for unity for all of us. I reminded them that if Jesus prayed for us, the church, then we must also pray for one another, the church! I then shared about the work of USFWI and we had a short Q/A period.

Then each presiding clerk gave a report of the work of their USFW. Elgon East reported that they have over 1200 members. Tongaren and Elgon North did not report numbers but I would imagine they are both over 1000. The vote of thanks was given and then we went outside to look at the project of Elgon North. They are building a guesthouse which will cost over 25 million shillings. They have raised 2.1 to date and are working on the foundation. The women of USFW have raised most of the funds but the men are supportive.

We returned to the church for lunch of matoke (boiled bananas-not the sweet ones but the plaintain type), rice, potatoes, cabbage and chicken. Dessert was an assortment of fruit…mango, apples, pawpaw, oranges, watermelon and passion fruit. The fruit was wonderful!

Gifts were received and we left the church. The driver took me to an ATM to get some shillings and then Gladys and I looked in several shops in Kitale for kikois for the USFWI Room project. We found some that were suitable and then went to another place and found some that were very good. Now I will have some extra but that is ok. 

We left Kitale and headed to Soy which is in Lugari area. The drive was difficult at times as the road has disappeared in many places. My stomach had begun cramping as we were shopping and it was even worse as we drove. I think it may be too much cabbage these last few days. We arrived at my next host home, a lovely place just off the main road. Lydia and her husband and a helper and a granddaughter greeted us. They served tea but I took only black tea. I had a rest and after a bit, felt somewhat better.

Lydia served me supper at 7—matoke, cabbage, chicken and banana. I passed on the matoke and ate lightly. She had also prepared a lettuce and tomato salad but I did not try that. She gave me some flagyl and again I took black tea. I am hoping that tomorrow will bring a settled stomach as we have much to do.  No one ate with me and I asked if they were joining me. Lydia said she was waiting for ugali and that they usually eat at 9 pm but had prepared mine early so I could rest. The electricity went out before I had finished supper so I was given a torch (flashlight) to get to my room.