Karibu Kisii!

That's "Welcome to Kisii" in Swahili!

What a whirlwind of a couple of days it has been! Unlike anything I've ever done or experienced before - being totally out of my element and totally immersed in every way in a completely different element! (Although basic training and AIT for the Army in 1983 comes pretty close!)

There is SOOO much to tell it's going to be hard to decide what to include in each blog entry. The best thing for me to do is to just take my time and share as I have opportunity at the local cyber cafes here in town. (I have as yet to find a Wi-Fi hot spot that "works" for me.) I also will start with being here rather than my good-bye "there" in Syracuse...but there are some really cool things to share with you about that experience

A quick overview of the last couple of days:

After getting my visa and bags, I met Pastor Benard Mose, 34-year old leader of the Kenyan Conference and the "bishop" to the other SDB pastors of Kenya. It was a great first meeting.

Benard and Bob at the restaurant

The drive was right out of an episode of The Amazing Race from getting out of the airport parking lot, through the unlit city streets of Nairobi onto the open, long and winding roads, full of mud run-offs from unusual June rains and very deep chuck holes. We stopped for some food at an open "restaurant" where I had goat, ugali (greens), chai (Kenyan tea leaves with milk) and the staple of Kenyans, maize (corn).

A shot of my room at the Hotel Dados

After dodging some recently chopped down HUGE sections of tree in the middle of a road, I was brought to a "good" hotel at 1:30AM (Kenyan time) where I would spend my first night in Kenya by myself (gulp), called Hotel Dados.

Benard told me that it was not wise nor "safe" for us to go together to his room at that hour with my luggage because no security would be able to accompany us up (and I mean UP) the 1/4 to 1/2 mile long trek in total darkness with extremely slippery mud and deep washed out ruts under our feet. (When I did move to his room the next evening, I found out for myself why this was so true - all of the elements listed above being the same except we had "security" with us, helping to carry my two 50-pound bags.)

Inside Dorica's store

The next day I saw the office for the SDB Kenyan Conference, graciously provided for in its setting up and in its monthly rent by funds from a very generous state-side SDB (whom will remain unnamed until I have permission to give more open appreciation). Some of the other things there have also been provided for by one of our churches, the Seattle SDB Church, if I'm not mistaken, in addition to support in various ways by the Verona church herself over the last 10 years.

The next part of the day was spent doing some shopping of things that would be needed at Benard's family's compound (their piece of land on which lives his mother, Grace, his sister Jackie with her husband and two boys, his three younger brothers, Shem, James & Edwin and soon to be wife Dorcas (in Benard's hut that is undergoing renovations for his bride's arrival after the wedding on the 29th).

Store owner Dorica and Benard

The main store where we went that day was owned by a woman named Dorica, to whom I would be the age of her 7th born child (which she does have) or her first-born grandchild. She was fun to talk to.

We then used Bob's car and made our way outside of Kisii to where Benards's family lives. The welcome was so very, very humbling and warm by all of his family. It was just amazing - the word I find myself saying out loud quite often since arriving here. Grace shared chai and bread with me, I had a tour of the "compound" that makes up the family's home (don't let the word fool you, it only conveys the place where everyone lives together as family and not a description of means or wealth - as they, like much of Kisii, are very impoverished).

The SDB Kenyan Conference office is housed here

I saw the addition being put onto Benard's hut, made out of mud and limbs of trees. I saw their goats and cows (once stepping where I shouldn't have). I was shown the tree under which Benard's dad, taken tragically by an accident in 2002, is buried. I saw some of the preparations being made for the upcoming wedding, where, by custom, some of the festivities will take place, including the rebuilding of the main outhouse, which is just an open hole covered by boards and, after the renovation, will be enclosed.

Purchasing goat for dinner from Thomas the butcher.

After spending time with the family, Benard and I made our way back into town and rented a taxi to take us out to the other side of town to his room. It was a very hard journey on foot. Before going there, we made another stop to another store where we picked up a few more things needed to stay in his room, including what I found to be very essential, my new knee-high rubber boots to make the walk up to his room and, the next morning, down to the main road.

Hopefully today, Thursday, the path won't be as wet or as rough.

Along the streets of "Kisii town"

I will end for now, but stay tuned for more including my time with the mother church of the SDB Kenyan Conference, the Keera church, yesterday (Wednesday), in teaching and fellowship, my encounters with dozens and dozens of school children who were in school that day but who saw me from their playground next door or from the dirt road that went by the Keera church building as they went to and from their lessons. 

Part of the family compound: dwellings; kitchen; dining

I'll also share my experiences in using 3 different modes of transportation from Benard's apartment to the Keera church and then, last night, to Kisumu, Kenya, where today I spent some free time at the Kisumu "game park", seeing Lake Victoria and the sights at the Kisumu "museum".

Thank you for your prayer support, and it is definitely SUPPORT like I've never needed before. I am glad that I'm here - that I'm experiencing so much first-hand for this month. I miss Debbie, Keith and the Verona church BIG TIME! But this is God's call and God's timing and I am trusting His heart and His hand.

The "muddy" addition to Benard's hut for his marriage

Benard's mother, Grace, and I in the kitchen/dwelling

Grace at her favorite place, making chai.