DODGE BALL

One of the few PE activities I was reasonably good at a young girl was dodge ball. If you don’t know the game, half the class stood in a circle throwing a large ball at other half of the class who were inside the circle trying to ‘dodge’ the ball. It was not rocket science to excel at the game but it was an achievement for me none the less.

I thought of that game as we were discussing prioritizing the tasks before us. Just as in doing business at home in Canada there are urgent tasks, important tasks, busy work tasks and curve balls ( I was never good at dodging those ones). We want to give our best to the relief work we came to help manage. We want to be wise in the use of our time. We want to invest in encouraging and mentoring the wonderful promising bright lights of Kenya – well at least a few of them.

Kenyans are a fascinating people and I have great fun trying to adapt my North American accent to be clearly understood. Many Kenyans speak at least 2 languages – often 3 and sometimes additional local dialects on top of that. I am not particularly good at picking up languages. I have to concentrate on my English pronunciation, realizing how I often run one word into the next and drop endings!! I am improving. I try to use a little Swahili.

I love how Kenyans take time to warmly greet each other – looking at you with an big smile and recalling the last time you met. I love the custom of stopping in somewhere just to greet a person you have previously met. I love how even very small children will come to shake your hand. I love being wished a ‘safe journey’ and ending a conversation with ‘sawa sawa’ which loosely translated is something like ‘OK’ or ‘it is all good’.

I love buying vegetables in the local market and often gladly pay the first price I am given because it is an OK price in my eyes and it helps out the vendor. Sometimes we barter seriously; sometimes we barter and they pay a higher price because we want to…it is all part of living in another culture.

I love coming back to the house where we are stay in Eldoret and looking at the photos of the coast of Vancouver Island which we left on the walls here last year in December …. I love thinking about our family, friends, neighbors and church .. I love connecting with people here too and knowing that a part of us will always belong to Kenya!

Blessed in Turkana Country

We have been to greet the people of Turkana (many of whom are still pastoralists) in a dry arid region in northwest Kenya , and more specifically the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who call Turkana their ancestral home. They are amazing, adaptable and perseverant, welcoming us warmly and politely. They are ingenious at making a house out of the simplest of materials … they have many basic needs: food, irrigation, hope, schools….. hunger is an on-going serious problem and much of the land is unforgiving. Thousands live in camps.

We have travelled on long bumpy hot roads , seen an outstanding brilliantly colored rainbow, watched dik-diks and wart hogs scoot across the road, and observed the shepherds with their goats or camels. We have seen evidence of elephants and heard how they trample the crops.

We have met many of our local partner representatives and are getting to know some of them more personally. There are many stories among the IDPs – hard to fathom stories… as well as stories of the goodness of churches and well wishers.

The newspapers are still full of news relating to the post election violence, Keyans are still working through what happened and the evidence is widespread ….. here in Turkana we do not have to look far.

We are eagerly anticipating the beginning of food distributions – the lorries will be challenged by the road conditions…. very challenged! Please pray for safe passage!

We are happy to be here. We are blessed! Blessed in Turkana country!

Back in the Saddle Again!

It is good to be back in Kenya – to renew friendships and to face new challenges.
Life is interesting and Africa makes it even more so! We are anticipating our responsibilities with lots of questions and excitement as well.

Regrets? Probably one -- I did not bring our digital SLR which we found attracted much attention and was somewhat cumbersome. So I need to adjust to using the small camera which we got using Aeroplan miles.

We are still in Nairobi – working out a plan for a quality vehicle to drive and delving into the details of the relief project. We should be in Turkana by Tuesday experiencing a whole new world.

Nairobi is cool with much needed nightly rains. Ron has been off to the Toyota dealership, the bank, & the Canadian embassy. I hope to experience a little more of the city on Saturday.

We will have the same house in Eldoret that we had last year which is very suitable for our purposes. Everything Turkana still feels like a mystery!

Tomorrow is a holiday in Kenya so getting all the needed work done before we head out looks a little questionable at the moment ….. time to prioritize.


In between times we are enjoying connecting with people at the guest house who serve in a multitude of ways.

Our National Relief Manager will head out for 2 weeks in Canada and the US as a speaker and attendee at the IRM conference in Michigan. It will be an amazing experience for him and dream come true,

Bless you all and stay tuned for some more descriptive colorful events!!