Once again, I know, much time has elapsed since my last post. But things have been very busy. In the last three weeks I have been involved in HIV/AIDS trainings, CHE (Community Health Evangelism) trainings, and Micro-enterprise trainings. Apart from that I have had four speaking engagements and many other meetings. Oh, also I'm working on a big database and mailmerge project for the current 273 students at the Missions of Hope school and I'm starting the work on the 400 new students. And I've been working on recording and writing down many different people's stories. The stories of how their life has been affected because of the CHE work or Missions of Hope school. I'm doing the project for CMF but I'll also plan on emailing my finished product to all of you on my email list so that you can also be enlightened a little more as to how life works in slums of Mathare and Kibera.

If you have facebook you can see the most recent pictures that I've posted from my trip to Nairobi and also my trip to Maasai land. As soon as life becomes more routine I will post more often but until that time...

I composed a poem last week that I'm a little hesitant to post, but I think I'll be brave and put that up here with my next post.

Time is running out at the internet cafe so I've gotta go.

As I’ve written about previously, the matatus are the public transportation in Nairobi. Sometimes I don’t get downtown to get on my matatu 108—which to goes my house—until after rush hour has started. On those days I usually wait in line for quite a while. While waiting for over two hours yesterday I wrote in my journal because I had it with me and because the situation called for me to record it.

1/31/07

“So here’s how it went down: first of all its rush hour and things are very busy anyway. Then, a power truck, with a bucket, decides to come work on a pole along the side of the street. He parks his truck in a way that takes up the most possible space on the street. Then, a full sized charter bus decides to turn down this street anyway. He clears out 50 feet of the matatu line as he tries to make the turn. He finally gets back on the street and begins to go around the slight turn in the street and he can’t do it. I looked below the bus and realized that the shaft that connects his right wheel to the steering mechanism is dragging on the ground. He tries a few more times to go but the bus will not turn right at all. The people finally unload off of the bus. And the story in only beginning. The power truck finishes its work and goes around the other side of the bus, only to be followed by another full size bus. Of course it can’t go around the bus that is blocking most of the street, so it is now wedged on the other side of the street, completely blocking traffic from both directions. As time has gone on the broken bus has been able to reverse enough so the other bus could get by. One matatu comes about every 20 to 30 minutes and they only hold 14 people. Hopefully things will pick up soon.”

I know that it has once again been a long time since my last update but things have been really busy AND I’ve been having trouble with the internet service. I know everyone has probably experienced dial-up at one time in their lives. Now, imagine dial-up through a cell phone. Yeah, not exactly a stable or fast connection. But, life goes on.

This past week I have been attending an HIV/AIDS workshop that was held in Eastleigh of the Mathare Valley slum. At the current moment my Kiswahili skills are very limited, and the entire workshop was spoken and written in Kiswahili; therefore you could say that I’ve had a challenging week. Today I was asked to lead the devotion that takes place in the morning of the workshop and we studied Luke 10:25-37, the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Last weekend I was able to travel to Maasai land. Our final destination was a small town/village called Endoynya Erinka where we met with one of Keith’s friends Jonathon who is a Maasai warrior, who speaks English, and has a Toyota Hilux (it looks similar to a Nissan Xterra). I’ll now copy an excerpt from my journal about some of those adventures.

1/24/07

“Next we went to Kioko’s house and drank chai. Entering the Maasai hut shocked me and completely surprised me. The temperature change was dramatic—from the cool, fresh evening air to a very warm air. The smoke was so think inside the hut and such a surprise to me that I really did feel like I was suffocating when I first entered. When I acclimated and got over the initial shock (and when I sat down where the smoke wasn’t as thick) I felt much more at home. The hut had walls made of mud and cow dung which separated it into rooms. We were in the small center room where the fire and chai was. We were seated like this: two people, one sheep, one person, one lamb, three people with some chickens sitting behind them. The chai was excellent, with a good smoky flavor. And the conversation about circumcision was equally as good. The Maasai men aren’t circumcised until they’re about 13 and when they’re cut they can’t flinch or ‘even move a toe or blink’, as Jonathon said it.

After chai in the Maasai hut it was finally time. Time to become true African hunters! We went hunting for the fiercest, the most ferocious—the African jumping hare. It looks like a mix between a rabbit and a kangaroo; there are no front arms. Before we made it to our hunting spot we got stuck in the Land Cruiser (Yes, they do get stuck, contrary to popular belief). Jake, Jesse, and I were sitting on top of the Land Cruiser with the spot light. While we were stuck in the mud there was a hyena about 25 meters to our right, walking by, staring at us.

The jumping hare hunt consisted of a Land Cruiser and Toyota Hilux with headlights, someone running the spotlight (always on the Land Cruiser luggage rack unless on the ground due to falling from a sharp turn), and people ready to jump out at any moment to run after the jumping hares. The goal was to grab the jumping hare by the tail and hold it up. Although all attempts were unsuccessful this night I’m sure there will be another chance to catch one in the future.

As I chased my second hare the Hilux was beside me keeping it’s headlights on the hare, but the hare dove into its hole and I bent over to catch my breath. In a few seconds I realized that the Hilux had gone to join the Land Cruiser to chase another jumping hare and Jonathon had forgotten that I was standing in complete darkness, under the starless sky, in the middle of the savannah, in the middle of Maasai land, with very thorny Acacia trees, and who knows what kind of animals surround me. I decided to start jogging in the darkness toward the hum of the diesel engines because I didn’t want to be too far away when they finally realized they had left me. Luckily for me, Jake fell off the top of the Land Cruiser and during that whole ordeal I had time to catch up.

During the third and final chase I was chasing the hare but the Hilux shedding light had to stop because the Acacia trees became too thick. Jonathon called me off the chase and said, “No, we don’t want to chase that one anymore, we’ve seen lions in this area.” I got back in the Hilux and said, “Oh, good, good, I’m glad I did that! I’m glad I went sprinting into an area of Acacia trees, in the dark, after a little hare, in an area where lions are known to be.”

Well, the night ended with zero bagged jumping hares, zero injuries, and zero people eaten by lions. Depending on the perspective you take I would say it was an overall successful night.”