Kenya is becoming like home to me!

Jambo (Hello) Everybody:

I am really starting to feel like Kenya is home to me. Things/views I would whip my camera out quickly to take a photo of is now just part of the day. Riding Matatus is the mode of transportation now. Gadari (beans and maise), ugali (maise flour/wheat flour cooked/baked), ooji (poridge) are our meals lots of the time - like potatoes and pasta in Canada!

I thought of you all on Thanksgiving. We took our host family out for dinner to a semi-western restaurant. There were 10 of us and we did have a wonderful time. Saw two mazoongas (white people) at the restaurant, and you just become instant buddies! These two girls were from Norway doing a teaching practicom in Kenya.

As we walk to the orphanage after our Matatu ride, little kids come running out of their houses yelling "How are you fine." It's a statement and all run together - the ony English these little ones know. Then you go shake their hands - very important. The majority of the population in Kitale speak English. All the children at the orphanage speak English, with the exception of the 'baby class' who are still learning it. They all have a certain accent when they speak English, but we're getting used to it and I can understand most people's English now.

I find that here people use every piece of earth to grow their staples and everything they have is used - over and over. Right now it is harvest time for their maise plants. They take the corn cobs, cut the corn off, then dry the corn on huge tarps in their yard. When the corn is dry, the corn is ground to use for their meals. The empty corn cobs are used for fuel. Then they stack and dry out the corn plant itself and use for animals feed. Nothing waisted. My host mother took me on a walk around her garden which has coffee plants, banana trees, papayas, guavas, avacados - it's amazing!

We visited Challenge Farm the other day. It is sponsored by some organization in California. That Farm takes children right off the street and provide a place for them to live, eat and have an education. Lots of children stay; some do go back to the street as it's just in their blood and hard to stay in another way of living.

Our orphanage/school has no power - yet (has been promised by the electrical company to be connected for two years!). You can imagine how this affects life there. There are no computers, no televisions, no lights. After 6ish there are two lanterns which are lit and the children study by those. I believe everybody goes to bed early in the evening but they get up very early so they can use the daylight hours. We (our Team) wanted to help in some financial way, so a chicken business has been started, spearheaded by Dane. We have ordered egg layers, meat birds and free range chicks and they will arrive in two weeks. In the meantime, a chicken house is being built. I think the dimensions are approimately 20' by 40'. Did an excavator come in to dig up for the foundation? Did a pumper truck full of cement come in to fill the foundation? A team of men hired by a fellow who is building the house, came with picks and shovels and in one day had the area for the foundation dug and ready for the next step. Next day men were mixing the cement by hand then wheelbarrowing the contents to the holes and filling them up with big rocks first then the cement. All by hand! We are so excited about this chicken business as it will help the orphanage become more self sufficient.

We helped Peter out again (the fellow who needed stitches in his leg). Peter needed to get the stitches out and it was good for us to be able to take him to the hospital to have that done. He is always thankful. We're hoping he is able now to ride his boda boda (bike) and make some money transporting people that way.

We soon will be able to send photos, as Nancy Cahill e-mailed us with the instructions and the whereabouts of the camera card reader which we need to send the photos. Believe me, David has tried every other method and it just did not work. We tried from the laptop my GES staff gave me, but it ended up being hours for one and it never did go. So soon.....!!!

The weather has been cooperating for me - I don't like it too hot! It's been around 24-28. The daily rains have stopped for right now but there is talk of an El Nino arriving next week, which would bring more rain.

It's been good chatting with you. Thank you all again for your prayers for our health and safety. Other than Trudy getting bronchitis, we have kept well and happy, and our little 'family unit' has bonded nicely.

Until next time, asante (thank you) for reading the email!

Love, Nancy
And, ladies, this one is for you! Candice and I went to the food preparation building. They have huge vats which they cook the food in. This is done by lighting a fire under the huge vat. While we were there, Dorcas came in. She is the lady who makes all the uniforms and anything else which needs sewing. Dorcas came with a cast-iron iron, which opens up in the middle length wise. She opens up where the fire is under the huge vat, gets a shovel and shovels out some coals, puts the hot coals in her iron, closes the iron and away she goes to iron!

The children are trying to teach this old mind to count to ten and laugh at my pronunciation of the words. They now come up and say, "Mama Elizabeth, it's (whatever their name is)" because they know I can't remember their names!