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!