Celebrity Status

    Yesterday morning we headed to the Tuigoin Church of Christ for a cluster service.  We took a car with two other women from the Sang’alo Church because it was an hour car ride away.  This was probably our first true cluster meeting.  We arrived around 11:20, which was earlier than most people.  The service started around 11:50 (I think they started it because the Americans were here haha) although many people were still not there.  Throughout the service more and more people came in, and you could see by the expression on their faces that they did not expect to have wzungus at church J.  Finally a bunch of children sat in front of us, but I highly doubt they heard any of the service because they were staring at us the whole time.  I mean, we are used to being stared at, but most people in Sang’alo are used to us so it isn’t as severe.  I had forgotten what it is really like to be stared at until yesterday haha.  The greatest part of the staring is that you can stare right back at them and it doesn’t phase them at all, they just keep staring.  I should clarify that most of these children have never met a mzungu in their lifetime, so we were quite the spectacle. 

    After service we ate lunch and talked with the teens for a while.  They were all very nice and asked us to sing a song with them, so of course we did.  They were the most youth we had seen at a Church of Christ since being here.  It was actually really encouraging to see all of them praising God.  They of course couldn’t help but ask about the U.S. and differences between it and Kenya.  One of the funniest questions we got was “what would happen to your skin if you didn’t bathe?”  Evidently they wanted to know if our skin changes color if we don’t shower…and maybe it eventually would if we left all the dirt on it haha, but we told them we would just smell really bad if we didn’t bathe haha J.

    Eventually the little ones started crowding in again—the teens got away fast (maybe they knew what was about to happen).  The kids started playing with our hair and then touching our skin, especially our faces so we’ll all probably break out from it J.  They were very intrigued by our skin and the fact that we have hair on our arms…what a phenomenon!  They were interested in our piercings, bracelets, and watches—anything and everything!  We were like the main attraction at a zoo. 

    The best part about the whole day was when we left the Tuigoin Church of Christ.  The kids went crazy…like little teeny bopper girls after Justin Bieber.  Katy and Abbie made it into the car before I did, and some of the kids instantly started trying to crawl in the car.  The kids outside with me kept shaking my hand over and over again.  I had a few more hands to my face…they had to get one last feel in haha.  Eventually our driver told the kids to back up so I could climb into the car.  Finally the doors were shut and we drove away.  Never in my life have I felt more like a celebrity.  I totally expect this to occur when I get back to the U.S. J.   

Some Visitors and a New Teammate!

This past Thursday Katy and I were sitting in the Teacher’s Lounge after lunch and were reviewing our plan for the next day—meet Monte Cox at 9:30am to pick up Abbie at Tachasis!  All of a sudden Katy yelled, “There they are!”  It took me a minute to realize what she was referring to, but then I came to my senses and ran out to meet Monte, Philip Hoggard, David Hatfield, and Abbie!  Needless to say Katy and I were very excited to finally have our new teammate arrive! 

Amazingly Monte and his team made it out of Mariann within 30 minutes of arriving.  This may be a record J. That first day Abbie got here she met the students and teachers.  We then decided to take her to meet Chumba who lives a two minute walk from us.  We ended up staying there for almost three hours—Welcome back to Africa Abbie J! 

This weekend was great with the addition of Abbie and Monte and his team! Monte, Philip, and David were meeting with many churches in the Eldoret area—see how they are doing (Monte was a missionary in the Eldoret area for ten years and helped plant many of these churches).  We had a wonderful time visiting with these men!  Throughout the weekend they were an encouragement to us and the surrounding community!  One of the neatest things to watch was Monte speaking Kalenjin to the elders who had come to Mariann from many churches in the area and the students! You could just see the joy on their faces to see a mzungu talk to them in their language!  Maybe someday Katy, Abbie, and I can be that skilled haha. 

Abbie is adjusting well to Mariann—no surprise to us since she was in Zambia this Fall! Already she has been an encouragement to Katy and I! We are thrilled to have her as part of our team, and we look forward to seeing God use her at Mariann! 

8 Cups of Tea & Broken Sandals

In Africa, we have experienced such wonderful hospitality and generosity!

Last week, Ashley and I had the opportunity to visit the family of our dear friends, Julius and Esther Kosgei.  They were my friends and CC/track teammates at Harding--a precious couple.  We awoke early to begin our journey to Timboroa, which we thought was much closer to us than it really is.  By 3 pm, we had finally arrived to their home after a hike up the steepest hill I have seen in awhile.  What a beautiful place with a gorgeous view of the surrounding hills, farms, and forests!  We immediately met Julius' mother, who is the sweetest, cutest, most joyful African lady.  We also met his brother, sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephews.  What a blessing to be with them!  In one morning with Julius' family, we seriously drank 8 cups of chai by the time we had visited with everyone.  They kept saying: "You must drink tea.  It is very cold here."  They served us a feast of chicken, rice, potatoes, and chapati.  And we even watched some American music videos on their TV.  Ha!

During our time here, I have struggled with my Chaco soles.  One split, so I tried to repair it with duct tape.  I finally broke down to buy some Super Glue (which cost about $0.50 here).  Just when I fixed one, the sole of the other shoe broke off.  The dusty dry season took one, and the rainy season mud took the other.  Africa: 2, Chacos: 0.  When we went to visit our Maasai friend's home, I couldn't find my Chacos one day.  Come to find out, our host had taken them to be repaired in town!  When I got them back, the sole had been sewn together.  Now they are better than ever, and I own a one-of-a-kind pair of Chacos.  Africa: 10, Chacos: 0.  :)

Safari Njema

Wow!  April was quite a month!  The students were going on break, and we had to renew our visas, so we thought we would do a bit of traveling.  God was so good to us.  He blessed us with a safe journey, amazing new friendships, and incredible hospitality.  We were overwhelmed at the thought of including every wonderful experience in one blog post, so we created a brief list of favorite things for your reading pleasure:

Mtwara, Tanzania:
1.  Hanging out with the Sarah, Reed, and Andrew Fraser
2.  A scenic dhow ride along the coast
3. Camping trip to Msimbati with the Trulls and the Sims
4. Swimming in the Indian Ocean
5. Amazing food!  (Sarah is an incredible cook.)

Rombo/Maasailand:
1. Spending time with our new friend, Tumaina, and his family
2. Seeing Mt. Kilamanjaro up close!!
3. Visiting the Osotua Enduet Women's Group: fully experiencing Maasai culture through dress, jewelry, dance, and milking a cow
4. Watching music videos of Charity Tajeu, Maasai Christian singer
5. Amazing food!  (fried bananas, mashed bananas/potatoes, at least 5 pieces of fruit daily)

Nairobi:
1. Spending time with Larry and Hollye Conway
2. Experiencing Made In the Streets, which ministers to people living on the streets and provides children with access to education and job skills
3. Walks with Hollye on the country club golf course, with monkeys running around!
4. Visiting the Village Market and eating fro-yo
5. Amazing food!  (Hollye is an amazing cook.)

Ngong Hills:
1. Meeting Seeyian and Evans, who instantly welcomed us as family
2. Hiking to the top of the hills and seeing the beautiful view of the Rift Valley

The children will be returning to Mariann next week and starting school!  We are so excited to get back into our daily routine.  Also, we will be welcoming Dr. Cox, some elders from Downtown Church of Christ, and our new teammate, Abbie, in a week and a half.  :)

Blessings to you all,
Katy and Ashley

A trek to Pius'!

Yesterday afternoon Katy and I had the opportunity to head to Pius’ home to buy eggs.  So of course we took it! We thought it would be a fairly quick trip.  But one thing we have learned since being in Kenya is not to assume or expect anything J.  So we could not have predicted what was about to happen on this trek.

   As we were leaving Mariann the nursery school children were also leaving.  They are some of the sweetest children, so naturally they wanted to walk with us.  Katy had an amazing line of five children hand in hand J.  I also had a few children holding my hands as well.  Being as small as they are their strides were quite a bit smaller than Katy and mine.  We slowed our pace to match their strides.  Don’t misunderstand me, we loved walking with these children but it slowed our progress to Pius’ a great deal.  Katy and I like to joke that the Kalenjins produce great runners, but they do not produce speed walkers J. 

   Once we left the children we continued our hike to Pius’ making only one wrong turn, which we realized very quickly.  As we approached Pius’ we received a call from Ludya, his wife, explaining to us that she would be home shortly.  One of the perks of being the only two wzungus in the area is that people can spot you from almost anywhere! Anyways Katy and I thought that Ludya must have been at a friend’s home and seen us pass by. 

   When we reached Pius’ we learned that Pius had just arrived home, and Ludya was down at the river rescuing one of their cows that had fallen in (just to clarify these rivers are more like small streams).  Pius asked us to accompany him to the river.  When we got there Ludya, Rosa, and another man had managed to get the cow out of the river.  But the cow was very weak and was now lying in tall marsh grass.  Pius explained to us that when cows stand in water for a long time it makes their legs very weak, which helped us understand why the cow wouldn’t just get up and move.  Granted they were not sure if the adult cow was hurt or just being stubborn, but they seemed to conclude that the cow’s legs were too weak for the animal to stand up. 

   The poor animal was poked and prodded for over an hour.  Pius, Ludya, Rosa, and a neighbor were able to slide some pieces of wood under the huge animal (around 300kg).  At one point they successful got the cow onto her feet.  Unfortunately after one step her legs gave way, and she was back on the ground againL.  There was some more poking and prodding, but Pius finally decided that they could not move the cow at this time, so we left it in the marsh grass for the time being.

   You are probably all thinking wow Katy and Ashley tried to help get a cow to its feet.  Quite the contrary haha, we stood there and watched as everyone else gave assistance.  We wanted to help but really didn’t have any experience in this area.  We felt like we would be more in the way than help, so we took our position and observed J.  The Kenyans kind of view us as dainty weaklings from the U.S. anyways haha.  In the words of Pius (sarcastically talking to his neighbor) as we were walking to go help Ludya with the cow, “I brought some wzungus from America to help pull the cow out of the ditch.”

   We went back to Pius’ home where we had chai and bought 11 eggs.  Finally around 6:45pm we headed home.  Pius left with us to try to help the cow. And I received word today that the cow is now on it’s feet, but is still needing support.  Pius reported that she is slowly improving--Praise God! So what we thought would be a fairly quick trip yesterday turned into quite an African experience!

Running Club!

Athletics (Track & Field) will begin next term! I'm so pumped!!

The kids are already wanting to prepare for competition, so I invited them to join me on my morning run (thinking that only a few would come). I showed up at 6:30 AM, and no one was stirring. Ha! But when they eventually started showing up, practically all of the boarders came. :)

I thought to myself, "Okay, Katy. Yes, they are Kenyan; but they are still children. Do not make them do too much." So I said, "Let's just run down to Sang'alo Primary. You can turn around there, or keep going farther if you want." They started out in a full sprint!! I kept trucking along at my normal pace and began catching up to some of them. Many of the older boys kept going, but the rest stopped at Sang'alo, so I told them they could run back to school. Two girls, Regina and Marion, joined me in following the boys, who showed me how two of my favorite routes link up. :)

We finally made it back to school, but all of the others had not yet arrived! Of course, I started panicking and thinking, "What if something happened? What if someone's injured? What if they're lost?" The last thought is actually quite humorous since I, the mzungu, am the most likely to get lost. So I kept running back and forth down the road. Finally, I spotted the whole group making their way back. Praise God! Come to find out, they had run farther up the road (not knowing that we had turned to make a loop) and waited for us to return. I guess we had another miscommunication. Go figure!

I am so looking forward to running with these kids and cheering them on during their competitions!

Recent Updates

I cannot believe that it has been a month since our last post! We have had many new experiences and some unanticipated changes.

We are sad to announce that Laura decided to return to the U.S. last week. She will be greatly missed by all here at Mariann. May God bless her in the next chapter of her life.

Mr. Oscar, our beloved head teacher, was transferred to another school closer to his home. Thankfully, we are able to see him on the weekends when he comes to Sang’alo to check on his field. Mr. Yego, a teacher at Mariann for the past decade, was promoted to head teacher and has been doing well. We have welcomed some new teachers, Jonathan and Paul, who are quite the jokesters.

Toward the beginning of the month, we found out that the children had a mid-term break for one week. On the spur of the moment, we decided to travel through Uganda to Kigali, Rwanda. We were able to visit some old friends from Harding who are teaching at schools there. We also were blessed to meet new friends from Rwanda, who welcomed us into their homes and took us to their favorite places in the city.

Our gracious host, Ian, with Laura and Ashley in front of the Hotel des Milles Collines

View of Kigali (with Parliament to the right)

We are so thankful to be back at Mariann with our students, even though we will be leaving soon for another break for Easter holiday. We treasure every precious moment!

Ashley, handing out marshmallows to the nursery class