ROBB’S TRIP TO HENRY’S HOUSE

The head guard at our main gate lost all of his and his family’s possessions and most of his house in a fire recently. Our estate committee was asking everyone to consider helping him out financially. Robb talked with Henry regarding his needs and we decided to give him the mattress our bed came with along with the metal frame that we couldn’t fit up the stairs of our house.

Henry explained that he also had another mattress someone gave him but wasn’t sure how he was going to get them home. Robb offered to put all three on top of our car and take them to Henry’s house one night after he got home from the hangar. Henry told Robb that he lives “close by here.”

Okay, so he doesn’t live really far but it isn’t what I would call “close by here!” Henry lives in Kibera Slum about 3 miles (or about 15-30 min, depending on traffic) from us and then another 20 mins into the slum. Robb had to park the car at a certain point (Henry arranged for a couple of men to watch it – for a fee of course!) and then they walked the rest of the way to Henry’s house, about 30-40 yards down a hill, through open sewage. If we thought driving in Nairobi was interesting, driving in Kibera is like a whole different world! There are no roads, so imagine driving down a wide dirt walkway with dukas (or small shops) along both sides and hundreds of people sharing the space. Occasionally, it is necessary to find a space along the side to allow another car to pass. There are very few cars in Kibera. Robb only hit two dukas, almost taking the roof off one with one of the mattresses, a wheelbarrow, and maybe nudged a pedestrian or two (it was hard to tell since so many were faking it!)

Robb left around 5:30pm. I called him at 6:30pm to see how things were going and he said he would be another 20-30 mins. I called him again at 7:15pm and he said they were almost to our house. Henry insisted that he drive all the way back to the gate with Robb to make sure that Robb got back safely. Henry’s wife, daughter, and a friend also came along, just to the end of Kibera. As they drove through Kibera Henry’s wife and daughter were having a great time waving and chatting to friends they passed, making sure they were seen in a car being driven by a mzungu (or white person!) It was funny!

Apparently, Robb offering to take the mattresses and frame to Henry’s house was really really BIG! While at Henry’s house some bread and soda were brought in and they talked for a while. (Silly us for thinking Robb could just go drop the things off and come right back! It completely slipped our minds that it is culturally polite for Robb to spend some time with them. You never just stop by someone’s house for a couple of minutes!)

Henry’s house is probably the size of our small living room. It did not appear to Robb that the bed frame or mattresses were going to fit but they will figure out something. Robb said that they had already rebuilt most of the house with mud and sticks, and corrugated steel for the roof. I am sure they are still lacking a lot for what they lost in the fire.

Robb met Henry’s wife, daughter, older sons, several neighbors and their kids, and even the neighbor who caused the fire (it was electrical)! Anyway, they were delaying Robb at the house for some time when finally someone returned with a rooster for him! Now I imagine you are picturing a nice little rooster in a wood box or something. I am going to blow that imagine right out of the water! It is still hard for me to see this, but they transport live chickens and roosters upside down, feet tied together. They are a resource of food (eggs) or just food themselves!

Robb told them that he wouldn’t know what to do with it and everyone had a good laugh over that. If Robb brought home a live rooster we would have a new pet who would contribute to the neighborhood’s early morning wake-up cockle-doodle doos! (which incidentally start at 4am!!) One of the guys at the hangar told Robb that in Henry’s tribe from Western Kenya (Luyia, I think) giving a chicken is of the highest honor! Henry is so appreciative of an effort that seemed like nothing to us! It was not so much the giving of the bed and mattress, but transporting them to Henry’s house that was huge!

A Few Signs We've Enjoyed!

We often see interesting signs when we're out and about, so we decided to start taking pictures. The first is near a cemetary we often pass on Langata Road. We really have no clue what it means!

While sitting in stop-and-barely-go traffic on our way out of Nairobi one day, I spotted this sign outside a little shop. Buy your shovel, broom head, rope, and oh yes, don't forget your housegirl!

Lastly, my favorite! I spotted this sign while waiting in line to check out at Uchumi, a grocery store. Around the holidays I came to realize that the increase of the goats I was seeing was not because people were getting pets or starting small herds. It was getting close to holiday meal time! I haven't seen the two white goats that first showed up in the field in our complex, but the black and white one is still happily grazing!

Internet...

I had no intention of writing about the internet, especially since I have not posted in almost one month. However, the reason I have not posted in almost one month is because of the wonderful internet!
I do not like to be on the computer during the day because of Micah, so the only time I have to get on the internet is at night after Micah is in bed. Well, it just so happens that the internet strength decreases significantly at about 4pm and doesn't get better until around midnight, if I'm lucky! I know this because I was up that late one night trying to complete one post! Take tonight for instance. I have been trying to upload one image, compressed and all, for the last hour.
Not only is the connection really bad, but it continually disconnects! "Dial-up" comes to my mind!
Our intention is to get a new internet service called Zuku. They claim to have very fast and very reliable connection! They actually come to your house and install an antenae of sorts on the roof of your house.
So, stay tuned! Please be patient with us and keep checking back!

Some things you just don’t want to think about too much!

The other day I had a couple of experiences that made me realize how I have acclimated to life in Kenya. Although I was aware of the situations (as I will explain), I realized that I was not bothered by them. It is just life here, and it is what it is!

I walked to Kenyatta Market (about an 8 -10 minute walk alone, 18-20 mins with Micah!) to buy some vegetables (5 carrots for 20/- {27 cents}, 4 Roma tomatoes for 20/- {27 cents}, 3 zucchini for 30/- {40 cents}, and 2 apples for 40/- {53 cents}.) Apples are expensive, but for the most part veggies are very inexpensive here. I guess they have to be less expensive to make up for the high prices for everything else!

Then I went into the Farmer’s Outlet butchery (thankfully, “outlet” in this case does not mean overstock or last years models!) to buy some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and ground beef (or mince.) We do not buy our meat all nicely packaged like at the grocery stores at home. They do sell meat & chicken at the large grocery stores here but it’s pretty expensive (ex. chicken at butchery: 550/- per kilo [$3.33/lb], chicken at grocery store: 860/- per kilo [$5.21/lb]!).

I ordered 2 kilos of mince & 2 kilos of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and was waiting for them to skin & de-bone the chicken when I started really looking at my surroundings. The meat is kept in 2 glass cases with sliding glass doors on the workers side. The 2 cases are end-to-end but they are not the same so there is about a 2” triangle shaped open spot where the two cases do not line up. There were two flies inside the cases. Only some of the meat is wrapped in plastic.

One of the workers removed an empty tray from the case and used a cloth that was on the counter to wipe off the blood or whatever else was on it. He threw the cloth back on the counter, returned the tray to the case, then filled the tray with whole chickens (don’t worry, they’re each in a clear plastic bag and they look like the whole chickens at home!)

I decided to ask about ordering a ham for Christmas (I prefer turkey but they’re expensive here) so they sent out Elizabeth, one of the head workers. She was in the back working with a huge meat grinder. I could see the ground meat coming out and plopping down into a large plastic bin that’s sitting on the floor. Anyway, Elizabeth told me she will have to call me when she finds out how much pork she will be getting. She handed me a pad with a couple of other names and numbers on it and then a pen and asked me to write down my name and number. When she handed me the pen I noticed that she was not wearing gloves and she had mince all over her hands! Come on Deana, you can do it! Keep reading!! At least she wasn’t working with chicken! Incidentally, Margaret never called me about the ham! I checked in 2 more times since that day and both times she told me that “they” were supposed to call that afternoon and let her know. We had lasagna for Christmas!

When I arrived home Margaret (or Mama Samaki {fish} as she jokingly calls herself!) was waiting for me. She greeted me then informed me that as soon as she got there Micah ran into the house and came out with a glass of water for her, without her asking! Whenever she comes by she always asks for water and Micah remembered!

As I wrote previously, Margaret sells tilapia fish. She brings a bunch of whole fish in a large bag and sets up on the ground under the carport. She requests newspaper, a bin of water, and a good knife. On this particular day, Margaret tells me that the fish are small right now. She believes they will be big in January! (Margaret is Luo, a tribe known to be avid fishers, so they know fish!) She asks me if I will take 6 fish. I tell her that I will take my usual 4. She says, “They are small so you will take 6” and she begins taking fish out of her bag. This is typical of this culture! You have to admit she is a pretty good “saleswoman”! I say, “No Margaret, just 4 today, thanks!”

Margaret fillets the fish spread out on newspaper right there in our carport. Micah sits right beside her chatting away! As you can imagine, with the fish come flies! As Margaret fillets the fish, flies are buzzing all over. Micah enjoys shooing them away as Margaret does her best to cover the freshly filleted fish with newspaper. The fillets are rinsed in filtered water and I usually freeze them immediately!

Margaret will usually wrap the fish bones and heads to take home and make fish stew. Sometimes I will request to keep them for Wycliffe. He is also Luo so he also enjoys making fish stew. I asked Dorcas, who is Kikuyu, about fish stew and she said that she has never made it nor has she ever eaten it!

Several of you have asked what it is like where we live. Here is a visual. I stood at the end of our driveway and took a shot looking in each direction.

Looking straight ahead is about 5 houses on each side then the road ends at another house (white gate) so it is a dead-end.

Looking right (pic with large white truck) is the gate to our section of the complex we live in. The gate is kept shut and is manned 24/7 by a guard (see Micah with one of the guards below.)

Looking left are 4 houses, a corrugated steel wall, then the railroad tracks (so, another dead-end.) Yes, we hear the train! They do not hesitate to toot their horns (or whatever it is that trains do!) at all hours of the day and night!

Here is Micah and the twins, Barry and Larry (or Body and Lody as Micah calls them with his Kenyan English accent!). This guard is Evans, and he is so nice and just loves the kids!
Micah and Evans


The kids love to "race" up and down the street. Poor Micah tries so hard to win but he is very cautious of the rocky, very uneven road so he doesn't "win" often (he fell and scraped his knees every day when we first moved here!) It breaks my heart when he tells me that he always loses, but recently he has been beating Barry! He has such determination as you can see by his clenched fists and his face!

Traffic

Greetings! It's been a while, my apologies for you few faithful ones who check our blog! The internet is so slow at night (I sometimes cannot even get connected) and night is when I usually have the time to post.

Anyway, today I got to experience true Nairobi driving. I wanted to learn the way to Amani ya Juu so that I can drive there myself. I have been there a few times but it had been awhile and getting there is not a direct shot! Amani ya Juu is a place where marginalized women from all over Africa come take part in a sewing-marketing-training project. It has a shop to purchase their handmade products, a small cafe, a nice garden area with tables, and a small wooden play structure for the kids!

I followed Ginna, a missionary friend in my complex, as best I could. The traffic was probably the worst I've seen so far! You really need to drive assertively or you will not get anywhere. If you allow a car to go in front of you the cars behind it will all go following each other closely, preventing you from moving.

Unfortunately, when we finally arrived at Amani we found out that they are closed until the 12th. I have learned to be flexible! We decided to go to Westgate, a large mall with an indoor play area. After another white-knuckled drive of cars coming from every which way, people crossing wherever they please, and losing sight of Ginna (thankfully, I made a correct turn and recognized where I was!), we arrived at the mall, one hour after leaving home! As relieved as I was to have made it, I couldn't help but think that I still had to drive back home!

It certainly was not as relaxing and peaceful for me and Ginna as sitting in the garden at Amani, but Micah and Liam, Ginna's son, had a great time bouncing in the Spider Man jumper, riding a couple of "rides", and playing in the small structure. Maybe I'll attempt Amani on my own next week??!!

Catching up

Now that our internet is so much better (faster, more reliable) I'm catching up with some posts I was not able to post due to poor internet connection. This one is from last year, probably November, at Splash, a fun swim park.
Our Micah coming out of the big water slide with our friend's son, Micah (He's 12. It's Big Micah and Little Micah when we're all together.) Little Micah LOVES the big water slides. His only complaint is that it's dark in the slide! I actually went down both slides with him (one is closed [in the pic] and the other is open) and they are sooo fun!

Micah floating around in the little kid pool.


One of lifeguards took to Micah and actually gave him a 20 min swim lesson! Of course, he wanted us to pay for official lessons and come twice a week. I would like Micah to have more lessons but I'm waiting for it to warm up. The water is really cold!



Micah going down the smaller water slides. He loves the water! I think we're heading into cool, cloudy weather though so it may be a while before he gets back into the water!