Week 2 reflections on Kenya

Jeff got us some rolly office chairs, which make me so comfy while I'm sitting here typing that it doesn't feel much different than my office in Colorado, except....


...when I look out my window, I see grey, cloudy skies most of the time.

...when I hear people talking and realize I can't understand any of it.

...when guards, grounds workers, and other missionaries walk past and wave in at me (one whole wall of my office is a window.

...when people come up to the door, yell "hodi!" and come right in.

...when I kill yet another silverfish, mosquito, or assorted other crawly thing sharing office space with me.

...when I look at all the receipts on my desk with names like "Uchumi," "Nakumatt", and a dozen hand-written receipts.

...when I look in my wallet and see "1000" denomination bills. (Yahoo!)

...when I smell smoke and realize it's just garbage burning day.


It's really beautiful here. The plants and flowers are in bloom year round; when the sun does choose to shine, the sky is blue and the sun is warm; and friendly smiles are always around to greet me. But, it's also awfully dirty here. Dust and grime get everywhere, so buildings look dingy, food packaging often looks like Goodwill throw-aways, and we've had to wash pots, pans, dishes, etc. that we just purchased from the store -- not because it's a good idea to do that with everyone handling it -- but because they are dirty with dust and grime. My hands were black after our first shopping trip to the store!

I'm starting to relax a bit within our four walls, but when I go outside the compound, I'm still unable to relax. Things are just so different. Driving is very scary what with people walking everywhere, matatus (local small buses) deciding to make new lanes whenver they feel like it, no stop lights or turn signals to help with traffic flow, cars just pulling out in front of oncoming traffic in order to turn, and three or four other cars pulling alongside to also make the turn! The smells are also very different. When walking downtown yesterday and waiting for our curtains to be loaded up, I could smell frying meat, deep fried chicken, curry, urine, and smoke all mixed together. Some of it tantalizing..some will turn your stomach. The other odd thing is the wires that hang everywhere. Most power lines, from what we can see, are above ground and each building downtown has power lines on its roof. From the roof, there are lines that run down to each apartment. Many of these look like they've been cut and new ones strung, so the resulting display looks like a tangled web of power lines, phone cables, data cables, and bare wires. If you look above the first floor, on any building, you see this tangled mass on building, after building, after building.


However, I must say that Nairobi is very metropolitan and extremely international. It's not uncommon to see people from the middle east, people from India, people from Korea or Taiwan or China, people from America or Canada or Great Britain. Even our taxi driver was commenting on how many people from other African countries have moved in. Each has their own culture, dress, food, and language. And, you see it all. It can be quite overwhelming.

I took my first walk down the road, by myself, today! I realize that doesn't seem like such a big deal, but the roads are thronged with people and the cars don't really care if you are a pedestrian or not. If you are in their way, you lose. I passed several dukas (corner stores) with picnic tables packed with people. Right up the street from us at a major intersection are three dukas -- one on each of three corners. One sells food and cooks lunch. One sells fried fish (whole fried fish) and one sells clothes. You could pretty much do your grocery shopping, have lunch, take home fish for dinner and get a new suit for work without walking more than 10 steps!

I'm trying to adjust to having house help come every day. With Jeff not here, I don't have enough for her to do. She takes care of all my laundry, preps any food I ask her to, made a strawberry pie the other day, hand sweeps and mops the whole house and brushes the rugs (who needs a vacuum???), makes our beds, washes the dishes and is helping me with Kiswahili. I'm so spoiled!! So, now I can say I live in tropical city, thriving with lush foliage, within a gated community, have someone to do all the time-consuming, labor intensive, repetitive work, and have a gardner and a guard. I know that ministry work will kick in soon here, but for now, I'm praising God for the respite before the storm. Can I hear an "Amen!"?