Wazee

It's been just over twelve months since we arrived in Kenya -- as evidenced by the fact that I spent last weekend in Nairobi getting a final extension on my visitor's visa (and an alien card... that should be ready just in time to pick up on my way out of the country...). But, until the last couple of weeks, I don't think that my team really comprehended the fact that we had been living here for an entire year.


The STEM team that came over Thanksgiving was our first clue that we had learned a lot more about this place than we might have thought that we had.

At the same time that the new team arrived, though, just under two weeks ago, -- actually, on the same bus that they came on -- we had a short term team of doctors from the States and translators from a church in Nairobi come up to do some medical clinics, and we realized then just how comfortable and familiar this place has become.


It was strange to ride out to the bush in a van full of Kenyans, pointing out to them different types of trees and wildlife that, even though this is their country, they had never seen before. And, it was strange to realize that, although they had a better chance at blending into the crowd (ish), we were the ones who were more comfortable with the situation and more familiar with the culture.


It was strange to listen to the American doctors diagnose and realize how my thinking has changed and how it seems natural now to start with the tropical ("exotic") diseases and only move on to things like colds and influenza after other things have been ruled out -- as opposed to the doctors, who looked at (seemingly) every other cause before considering malaria.

This morning, we helped to chaperon the boarders at a local primary school on a visit to the children's wing of the general hospital, and it was strange to be the one trying to encourage the kids to talk, be the one taking them by the hand or the shoulder and helping them to introduce themselves to the mamas and babies in the room that they were visiting.

The strangest part, though, is that none of the situations felt strange in the moment.

(Completely unrelated picture of chicken plucking...in which only Jason has a head

**"Wazee" is a Kiswahili word for old people or elders. We use it as a sort of a joking method or differentiating between the "old" team and the new team. When we got here, the team before us were the "wazee." Now, we're the old ones.**

At One End of the Road

There is a world where markets are open air, a maze of stalls, brightly colored clothing, and fresh vegetables, a world where the road stretches as far as the eye can see, bending into a potholed ribbon in the distance.

Last week, seven new interns arrived from the States, joining us in their new home. Pray that they would adjust well and learn to see this area through the eyes of Christ.

And...the Newbies are Here

And, they have officially survived their first week here.

We took them on an Amazing Race their first full day here, to get them familiar with town and more comfortable interacting with people outside of our teams. Laura, Warren and I each led a team through town - "led" being a relative term, as our main job was to follow, unless they were getting themselves completely lost.

Within a few minutes of starting the race, my team had met a Somali businessman who took them back to meet his father, then bought them pops and sat and visited with them behind the counter in his shop. Cool cultural experience, not so conducive to racing.

Somehow, though, they still managed to come in second, so they got the best of both worlds.

We put about half of them to work this Saturday, chopping up meat and vegetables for a staff lunch out at one of the schools, and all of them got to experience the challenge of plowing through a mountainous plate of pilau at a school function. : )


So far, they are eager and excited to do anything, even chop vegetables while sitting on the ground or slaughter chickens, and it will be interesting to see how they grow and change over their internship as the initial uncertainty wears off.


And, since we haven't left yet, some pictures of the wazee (old folks) chopping vegetables as well.

Reusing Trash

Imagine if a rich man died and left his huge house to his only child. The child, upon receiving the keys to the house, wandered through the rooms to check on the state of things.

In every room that he entered there was a huge pile of trash, paper, metal, Styrofoam, wood, plastic, even old food. In the one of the rooms, the trash was actually on fire, a slow, soldering burn that filled the entire hallway with smoke.

Not exactly the type of inheritance that one would hope for, huh?

Like it or not, we are piling up mountains of trash that will take far longer than our human lifespans to decompose. Essentially, we are ensuring an inheritance of garbage for future generations.

Everybody learned in elementary school how to get rid of extra trash. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

So, today, have some fun with justice.

Rescue some toilet paper tubes and make something goofy out of them or cut up some clean plastic wrappers and use them to stuff something. If you would normally throw it away...it's fair game!

Joyful Justice

Yes.

Having God turn your life upside down and ask you to live out your faith in a way that embodies social justice carries a steep price tag.

Yes.

Opening yourself up to reality of the things that are going on in our world can hurt.

But,

At it's core, justice is something that God instigated. It is a gift from Him.

And, that makes it a good gift, a joyful act that leads to worship,

Because where justice is, His glory follows,

And, His glory inspires joy in His children.

Yes.

It's okay to be not okay with the things that are going on in the world.

That's kind of the whole point.

When it comes down to it though, make sure that your sense of justice is coming from a place of joy.

If it's not. There is a problem.

New Friend

So, when Jessica gets bored and the power is out...

...four legged creatures get made out of scrap fabric and stuffed with clean trash (shredded candy wrappers, etc). She (it??) even got super cool antenna made from the bottom edge of a Reisen bag. Lol.

Thanks mom for the Christmas candy!

New People!

The new team is not in town yet, but they have officially landed in Nairobi and are getting ready to take a bus here tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile... we have been concocting a miniature Amazing Race for them to complete on Wednesday morning.


Maps are a little scarce around here, so we drew one for a class a while back. Of course...our mad ninja skills at eyeballing distances, mean that it is precisely according to scale...or not. Lol.

Do One Thing

Learn.

Everyone knows that Reservations operate under different justice systems -- after all, that's how get the "good" fireworks for the 4th of July, isn't it? But, what do you really know about tribal justice systems?

Today, do one thing. Set aside thirty minutes, and honor America's first neighbors by showing that you care enough to learn.

A Little Explanation

Underlined words like these are hyperlinks that take you to other cool places. If something I say doesn't seem to make sense, look for underlines.

Odds are good (in theory) that there is some sort of an article that will give a better idea of what I'm trying to say.

For instance...

In the case of the chocolate bar, it is not the fact that you are eating chocolate when someone else might not be able to that is injustice.

It is the fact that Hershey’s has documented human rights abuses, that include the use of child and slave labor, and they have not yet moved to find a way to address those issues. So, if I sponsor a World Vision kid AND buy Hershey’s chocolate, I am essentially speaking out of both sides of my wallet.

With one side, I am saying that children deserve the right to go to school and to play and to be protected, but, with the other side, I am saying that they only deserve those rights if my rights to free trade (not FAIR trade) chocolate are taken care of first. Obviously, that’s not what most people are thinking when they buy a chocolate bar, but, regardless, that is the message their actions are sending, and, intentional or not, that is a form of hypocrisy.
Justice doesn’t necessarily mean that we all live exactly the same lives. It means that me trying to get what I want is done while making sure that I am not taking advantage of your position and hurting you.

Moral of the story? Hyperlinks are cool.

Stories

It’s crazy, sometimes, the stories that people have.

On Thursday, my team got to go and meet with a man who was, for many years, the head elder of the Munyaya tribe (one of the unreached people groups in this area).

He was in an accident early on in our internship, and we were able to help pay for some of his medical bills, but we still had not actually ever met him.

In the common style, three of the walls in his front room were taken up by upholstered, FIRMLY stuffed couches – enough seating for the eleven us of us, plus himself – and the fourth was covered by a large, cabineted (Is that even a word?) entertainment center with a small television and a drape blocking the view into the back bedroom.

We sat and drank chai (tea) and watched a video of a ceremony where he was granted a religious honor. (I think. I was sitting near the end of the entertainment center, so my view of the screen was…not.) And then, he told us stories.

We learned that, if you are ever going to shoot an elephant, you have to hit it right between the eyes, any higher than that is, “just like hitting the radiator.”

And, he told us how he remembered the hills near one of the local schools being formed by bomb blasts as the Italians and the British fought during World War II, with the smaller planes coming down “like rabbits” to drop their bombs and then jump back up to safer altitudes, long before there were any local schools.

After the war, he joined the army as a sharp shooter, back in the days before Kenya had earned her independence and, even though he was not educated and did not speak English, was repeatedly promoted.

Eventually, after a stint of leading hunting parties for foreigners, he ended up back here and, basically, took it upon himself to bring his people up to the same standards that he had seen in other parts of Kenya.

He built schools, brought in teachers from other tribes (the British, as well as the early Kenyan government, had intentionally neglected the development of this area as a way to prevent uprisings by the majority Somali populations), and started an irrigated farm; and one of his thirty children was the first of any of the Tana River peoples to earn an university education.

How's that for an impressive life story?

An Extra Picture, Just Because We Can

Lest you think that I am living in some uncivilized sort of a place...

...we're so civilized here that even the goats know how to use the toilet.

And So We Come to the End of the Week

1) - 5) Hanging out before and after the Christmas meal
2) The green things are the bags of food staples that we prepared on Christmas Eve

Saturday

1) - 4) Enjoying the smell of food while the Christmas meal was being prepared

Friday

1) Chopping meat for pilau
2) Stirring Katchumbari in a laundry basin
3) Serving up the meal Somali style in large dishes
4) Eating off of one of the large platters