Being Counted

Today, August 24^th is the day Kenya starts counting – it is census time! Kenya takes a census every 10 years. Tonight everyone is instructed to be home between 6:00 and 10:00 pm in order to be counted. Each home is given a special number written on the exterior -- this number has been on our door frame for weeks. Enumerators will go door to door and ask each household a series of 30 questions. The government is looking for information on unemployment, number of deaths due to socio-economic reasons (starvation, HIV), number of people that have left the country in recent years, how many livestock, phones, vehicles each home has. There is also a question about tribe affiliation. This question has sparked some debate because tribe affiliation is not usually asked. People are required to share the tribe of their father.

The President decided today to declare tomorrow a National Holiday in order to facilitate the census taking. People are asked not to go to work or travel anywhere tomorrow. There is also some concern that there may be violence associated with the census -- possibly because of the tribe question, or because the Mungiki are threatening to disrupt the government activities, or because the people displaced by last year's post-election violence still do not have homes to live in and fear they may not be counted and, thus, further ignored.


The boys will not have school. Tim will still need to attend a Board of Governors meeting. National Holidays are somewhat a surprise here here in Kenya -- whenever the President wants one!

Even though a lot of effort has gone into publicizing this event, local Kenyans don’t think the census is ever very accurate. Several staff say they have never been counted due to the fact that enumerators do not come into the slums. Apparently it is usually an estimation that 600,000 people live in Mathare slum and 1million live in Kibera slum. The man in charge of this year's census is trying to correct that problem. 150,000 enumerators have been hired for the job.

The Great Fire

One of the things that has taken us some time to accept is that personal security in Kenya ‘looks’ different. That is, if you see an officer with an AK-47 standing next to the banking machine then it is safe to take out money. Unlike Canada, where your security is largely unseen but you know that you can call the police and they will be there when you need. The same is true of the fire department... they sit on the side of the road.... no number to call.....visible security.

All week the Kenyan staff at Rosslyn have been clearing the area behind our house – cutting down corn that did not mature because of lack of rain, slashing grass to improve visibility to the edge of the property. And Friday afternoon at 2:00 the burning began 100 feet from our house.This is typical Kenyan custom to burn the brush, garbage, and foliage after a clean up.

Just as we were finishing supper at 6:00 Simon says “Dad is that tree on fire?” It surely was! A 70 foot tree was on fire in our backyard and at that moment a large branch fell burning to the ground. Because Kenya has not had rain in months the ground is a tinder box and the trees are DRY. Because of the lack of rain there is a national water shortage. Because of the water shortage there is no guarantee that the fire trucks have water.

We gathered the neighbours and began carrying buckets of water to the fire. The fire was burning inside the tree and the spot where it showed itself was 40 feet in the air, so even water guns proved useful. We gathered hoses and connected them with strips of rubber to reach the fire. Tim and a couple of other men took turns climbing the ladder and spraying water into the heart of the tree. There were embers raining all over and another branch threatened to fall.

For two hours we poured precious water on the ground until the fire was cooled and seemed to be contained. We left two men on guard through the night. At 4:00 a.m. it flared up again – we heard a “crack” and could see flames from our bedroom window. Another hour of water pouring into the tree and it settled down again.

This morning it looks calm but we will be vigilant watching for flare ups.

Out with the Blue

When we moved into our home a year ago the lovely furnishings were provided by Rosslyn. We have completed some decorating using browns and reds and the bright blue sofa cushions no longer suited the living room. This summer I purchased tan suede fabric. I had a local merchant who makes bean bag chairs make me some zippers. Then I asked Anne to make the cushion covers. Anne is a Kenyan staff person who lives on campus and works for a Canadian family on campus. She is a very talented seamstress (in her free time).


Last evening Anne brought the new cushion covers and we had great fun making the switch!

Emily’s comment this morning is that the new colour is “nice but dull”. Emily is a flambloyant character which is why I enjoy her company when hanging out clothes and drinking chai ….. and then enjoy the peace when she leaves!

Presents from Canada

One of the fun things about returning to Kenya is catching up with our Kenyan friends.We also bring a few gifts to them and these are very much appreciated. The items that bring the most “oohs” and “aahs” are cotton underwear and deodorant. Most clothing made in Kenya is poor quality and falls apart quickly. I learned the hard way that underwear is highly sought after: my $40 brown La Senza bra went missing from the clothes line last summer. Deodorant (the stick kind) is not available here. The only deodorant for sale is the roll-on type and it does not work that well! We have also learned this the hard way!This time we were also able to bring a few special things: a white sweater for Cathy (yard sale find), shorts for Cathy’s son Ricky (made by a friend), blouse for Emily (from my sister’s closet), gardening shoes for Timothy, a cotton shirt for James to wear to prison (where he preaches on the weekends).
I also brought some green plastic garden bags for Timothy to plant in. I am excited about putting impatiens in these and hanging them by the front door. Because flowers bloom year round here it should be a beautiful welcome to our home. I have spent the last week trying to explain to Timothy what I am talking about…. At first he thought the bags were “to catch soup” like a bib. I was able to show him photos of these hanging plants to help break through the language barrier. Now he is afraid the flowers will be confused because they are growing sideways. “We will try it” he says doubtfully.

The other thing that we have been asked for is storage bins. Because we travel with Action Packers instead of suitcases, we have several of these storage bins in our home. The Kenyans have few items to store but do keep their clothes in old cardboard or metal boxes. We gave a plastic storage bin to Cathy, Timothy, and Emily. They were all very excited.
My concern was how they would get these bins home. Emily immediately put hers on her head (filled with many items) to demonstrate how easy it would be! We paid 200 shillings to buy a seat (for the bin) on the matatu traveling across town and she walked the rest of the way home with it on her head. “No problem!” she told me the next day.

School has started!

Simon, Max and Tim are all back at school and getting used to a busy routine.

Simon is excited to be in Grade 4 with his teacher Mrs. Milton. He is especially excited about the class hamster named Moses and the opportunity to earn extra time playing with Moses by having good behaviour and work habits.




Max is mostly over the nervousness of being in the Middle School for Grade 6. He finds the responsibility a big change from Elementary School. He is excited to be able to earn Bedsole Bucks from his teacher Mr. Bedsole.






Tim is happy to have the year rolling. He has been busier than usual because of taking on the added responsibilities of High School Principal in addition to Middle School Principal.

I am at home, finally adjusted to the time change, and working at the routines of cleaning and cooking. Today, Cathy and I made peanut butter cookies, oatmeal bread, and zucchini muffins. I have begun to share food with local people in need and heard that 2 more people died yesterday of starvation. We continue to pray for rain and do what we can to help those around us.

Home Sweet Home

After 2 night flights and full day layover in London, we arrived back in Nairobi yesterday. Walking back into our home was a joy. Tim had put flowers in every room to welcome us.It occurred to me that I have not shown photos of our home since last summer when we first arrived at Rosslyn Academy. We have made some cosmetic changes this year – paint and decorations. Here are some pictures from today.

The living room walls were orange when we moved in. We now have Maasai Red walls and have purchased a rug from Treo Carpets for the tile floor. I have purchased tan coloured suede to recover the cushions on the sofa. The prints on the wall are Kenyan landscape and were taken by a fellow Canadian teacher at Rosslyn named Jeff Kirkpatrick. You can visit his website at www.jeffkirkpatrickimages.com

The boys’ bedroom looks dramatically different with its Apache Brown walls. The bed spread is a Kenyan fabric of safari animals and the wall hanging we bought at a duka (shop) on the side of the road.

I have decorated our bedroom with turquoise and brown (Fawn Beige on the walls).





The family room is where we hang out in the bean bag chairs, pick at the guitars, watch movies, or play games. The walls are Burnt Toast.


The kitchen has lovely cupboard doors but we have painted some black trim and added black knobs. The appliances and dishes are also black. The walls are yellow.


After writing all of this about our home I am struck (again) by the wealth and space that we have compared to Kenyans in Nairobi……