Kenya - Day 9

Friday, June 15

We began the morning by meeting a small group of five women who gather in the mornings at the Bible College (there are also some ELCK (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya) offices located there) where we were staying. They gather for a time in God's Word and prayer and song and then they work together to sew various items from scratch. I will have to admit I don't know much about knitting or whatever proper term describes their work, but they begin with wool sheared from a sheep. And they work the wool and stretch it and eventually make it into yarn which is then made into baby clothes or hats or rugs or socks or whatever else they had on hand. Everything they do is completely natural so all of the colors are derived from flowers, plants, or roots that are boiled down and then applied to the yarn. 

Our only destination for the day was KaBichBich (sounds like KaBeachBeach) to see a Rescue Center that is in the beginnin stages of construction. There is a small church building there and when I say small I mean small even by Kenyan standards. We filled the one small room to what felt like capacity with our 10 plus 2 other American missionaries and a friend of theirs plus 7 Kenyans who were church officials or somehow connected to the congregation/rescue center construction plus 5 deaconesses - I think that adds up to 25.  If my memory serves me correctly I counted off 12 of my shoe lenghts by 17.  The kitchen/dining area is built but the work on the dorms has a long way to go. The site of this Rescue Center is way off the main road and up in the hills so the scenery is beautiful, but the purpose of the visit was so that Megan could prepare a report of the construction progress for Pastor Chuchu's office.  Knowing that we would be there that day some work was being done, but there is still a very long way to go.

After some time spent walking around, we were greeted and welcomed by various church officials and served tea. That meant we were served a full lunch meal and then also brought tea afterward. Friday presented maybe the biggest challenge in a collision between cultures.  It is custom in Kenya to feed your guests and it is said that they have not been properly welcomed if they have not been properly fed. So people had spent a lot of time and given up their food or finances to prepare a wonderfully delicious meal for us over a fire.  But we had a flight to catch that night and still some road to cover to get to the regional airport that would take up back to Nairobi and some members of our group were extremely time conscious and worried about the schedule to the point that they could not appreciate and enjoy the hospitality we were being blessed to receive.  It was almost like the kindness of the Kenyans was an imposition.  The effect was doubled when we returned to the Bible college to load our luggage and they had also prepared a lunch for us - equal in wonderful deliciousness.  Before our departure the deaconesses gathered us together and sang for us and presented us with gifts - a closing gesture of their joy in the Lord and how that translates into their generous and kind treatment of others.  From there our drivers did what our drivers always did - they got us to the airport in Eldoret well ahead of our departure back to Nairobi.