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.