Mimi ni Mzungu

My coworker Faith and me

I am a white person.

I have never been more aware of this fact than I am now, being in Kitui. I know, it seems like a weird introduction to a blog that should be about the new place I am living, how beautiful it is (it is very beautiful), how nice the people are (they are very nice and welcoming people), and how much I like my new host family (I have been very blessed with an awesome host family).

However, for me, the thing that stands out most is indeed how white I am. There are no wazungu (white people) in Kitui. In Nairobi it is not as shocking for people to see a mzungu, but here it is a little overwhelming. Three facts about being white (more specifically a white girl) in a small East African town:

1. ALL of the children want to say hello and wave at the mzungu, and you make their day when you respond to them. I don't mind this part so much because I like kids, and it brightens my day to see them so excited just to say hi to me.

2. You will get stared at everywhere you go. If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, this is where you should come! For me, it has been strange trying to get used to people staring at me all the time.

3. You have no shortage of dating options.There isn't much I can say about this except that it is true. I am not looking for a date, but there have been a few guys already who have seen the white girl in town and wanted to take me out to coffee. I am flattered, but that is not what I am here for :)

I am settling into Kitui well. During the week I live with my host mom, Lucy, and the house girl, Marie. I met my host dad this weekend, and we traveled to Nairobi to meet their kids. They have 3 children (Faith, Mutua (Francis), And Ndinda (Jen)), all of them have graduated university and are working. They were very welcoming and hospitable to me.

My new bedroom

SASOL (the NGO I am volunteering for) has great employees that I get to work with. The work is more difficult than I expected, above my knowledge of expertise, but I am learning on the job. I could use some prayer for the Lord to lead me in the work I need to do, because I will not be able to do it on my own knowledge alone. 

My new office!!

Mutheu (Marie) the front desk attendant

Thank you to everyone who has continued praying for me! Please continue to pray, and send me an email or a FB message if you need prayer for something. I would love to be a part of your prayer community as well.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

-Numbers 6:24-26

Saying Goodbye, and Saying Hello :)

Mwalimu Judy and Me

It is time to say goodbye to Nairobi, and all of the wonderful people I met here. Today is my last day here. Chris left for his assignment site this morning and I am spending the day preparing to leave for Kitui tomorrow. It is definitely bittersweet. I have had such a great time learning Kiswahili, hanging out with the Carpenter family, and getting to know the people at my guesthouse. Chris and I finished Kiswahili lessons on Friday and had to say goodbye to Mwalimu Judy (teacher Judy). She was a great teacher, and she insisted that we can always text or call her is we need help with the language (only reaffirming how awesome she is!)

Chris and I did a few different things our last week in Nairobi:
1. We made a cake for our guest house workers and the other guests. The cake was a carrot cake with pineapple and cream cheese frosting (Thank you Selena for letting us use your cream cheese! It wouldn't have been as delicious without it) (To Reid: You are the cream cheese frosting to my carrot cake). Fortunately, the cake turned out well! Everyone at the guest house really liked it so we were pleased, and very grateful for their hospitality.

2. I got to hang out with Mary (on the left), who is one of the cooks at the guest house. It was such a blessing to hear her story. A little bit about Mary:
- You will never see Mary without a smile on her face.
- Mary hopes to some day own her own business doing mani/pedis for people.
 - Mary works to take care of her grandparents and her two younger siblings because her mom passed away a little while ago and there is no one else who can work in their house.
Mary's story reminds me that there are people everywhere who struggle with very similar things. Though the specific circumstances may be a little different, there are people like Mary everywhere who find themselves bearing a larger burden than they can bear on their own. When I was talking to Mary about it she just smiled and said "I just do it, there is nothing else I can do." She also insisted that she believed God will have something better for her family in the future. I am going to miss seeing her smile around :)

3. We got to make pizzas with the Carpenter family twice in one week. I LOVE pizza, so there was no way I would be complaining about that. The pizzas were great, but the company was even better!

Reid Carpenter, the Pizza, and Me

 

 

Tomorrow I will be saying hello to Kitui! I am excited and nervous all at the same time. There will definitely be an adjustment period, so I could use prayer for the next few months to go smoothly, and that I will be able to connect with my host family! Thank you to all the people from back home (Momma, Ivonne, Shiloh, Teresa, Kim, Nini, and anyone else I forgot) and those in Kenya who have been keeping in touch with me, encouraging me, and praying for me. I love you all so much!

Until next time! God bless and keep you all!

"And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

-Isaiah 58:11

Karibu Nairobi!

I am in Nairobi! I decided to start this blog because even after a week of being here there has been so much to talk about, but I want to leave the choice up to YOU whether or not you would like to know more :) 

 

First of all, Najile!

Rift Valley Hike

The day after Chris (the other volunteer in Kenya) and I got to Nairobi, we were whisked away by the Kenya Reps (Rand and Selena Carpenter) to visit a Maasai village in Najile. There are two volunteers in Najile, Doug and Corinna, who live in the community and help with communication between project partners and the MCC Kenya Reps. We had so much fun in Najile! The first night we cooked chepati (really awesome flat bread) and made dinner on fires outside. We ate dinner with a Maasai woman and MCC partner named Anne along with her family. The next day we had a Maasai thanksgiving ceremony to go to, at which we all received awesome beaded jewelry and were fed as honored guests; (that was strange seeing as Chris and I had just arrived in the country). The last day we went for a hike across the Rift Valley landscape in hope of seeing some zebras or giraffes. We didn't see either, but it was still a very beautiful walk! Over all, my first weekend in Kenya was awesome :) It seriously felt more like a camping trip than being in a new country and among people of a different culture.

Anne, Corinna, and I after the Maasai Ceremony

Next was Swahili lessons:

Chris and I started kiswahili lessons on Monday, and have so far had a whole week of lessons. Ninasema kiswahili kidogo... I speak a little swahili. It has been so much fun though! I really enjoy the language. The only difficult thing is that people in the city speak so fast, and they also speak in Sheng, which is kiswahili slang. So far I can't understand much, but it has only been a week! 

 

Today!!! Today was so awesome. Chris and I had our first full free day, so we went to the elephant orphanage and the giraffe breeding center.

Giraffe Kisses!!

It was AWESOME!! I got 3 giraffe kisses from the giraffe named Ed, and we got to pet many of the baby elephants. All of the elephants that are in the orphanage are younger than 5 years old, so they were not too big. They were still very strong though. One leaned into me as I was petting him and almost knocked me over!

God has been great through this whole process. It has been challenging learning to rely on Him more fully since the wonderful group of ladies I am so used to being so close to are now on a different continent. I know the hardest cultural challenges are still yet to come, but I trust my God!

 

 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your path!"

-Proverbs 3:5-6