It's official, I'M AN ALIEN!

No, I don't have green antenna or spew slime!

Last week, I finally received my Republic of Kenya Alien Certificate. Basically, this means that I can now pay the resident price at attractions (which is about 1/10th of the tourist price).

In other news, I got to spend the afternoon with a Kenyan family yesterday. It was nice to talk to someone my own age and see the new place where she is living. Her last place had landlord/neighbor problems and she didn't feel safe letting her kids be there alone. Now she lives in a nice area, surrounded by friendly neighbors and other kids.

All and all, I spent about 5 hours talking/chatting with her and seeing her family's new chickens.  Mary, my friend, has two daughters and her youngest sister is the same age as her youngest daughter. Ester (her sister) and Michelle (her daughter) are only 3 months apart. Mary is the one who pays for their preschool/kindergarten education. Also, her oldest, Abby, has mild epilepsy and has to go to private school to get the attention she needs. Public primary school (1st thru 8th grade) is "free" in Kenya. However, private education is quite expensive. This is a great burden for someone who makes less than $60 a month.

Mary is the oldest of seven children. Four of her siblings are in high school (3 are seniors). In Kenya, you have to pay for high school and also to take the final exam. Therefore, even though her 2 sisters and 1 brother are not the same age, they are all the same year in school. Having 4 children in high school equates to what it would be like in the USA to have 4 children in college at the same time. Its a HUGE financial burden. Mary's father does not make a lot of money working as a guardsmen. Therefore, part of the responsibility to feed everyone falls to Mary.

I met Mary back in November in one of the shops in Kijabe. Her younger sisters, Salome and Rose, have been coming to my house since about a month after I got to Kijabe. I met them through another American living here. Mary and I had never met until that day at the shops. Mary and I have become good friends. She is very close to my age and believes in the value of hard work. We have a lot in common. We are both the oldest, both care deeply for our families, both work hard, and we get along very well with one another.
She has good advice on Kenyan customs and I can help her with financial advice and budgeting.

Other than that life is going along as usual. I have run into another obstacle with the evaluation. My boss decided to change the adapters we were to use. There must be some spiritual warfare going on here because when I ordered the new adapters from China, two completely unexpected weather conditions hit the area. First, heavy fog has entombed the area (closing airports and roads) and second, it snowed in March! Hopefully the adapters will get here quickly.

I miss my family and pets. I don't think I am allowed to have a pet in the house where I live. Plus, if I am only here for a short time, getting a pet would not be wise.

PRAISES

•   The healthcare strike is over. Most workers have returned to work, those who have not have been fired.
• I have stayed relatively healthy
• An election date has been set in March 2013
• Administrative finances for the evaluation have been worked out =)
• I got to spend Sunday afternoon with Mary and her daughters

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Continued health. Strep throat has been going around the area.
• Continued prayer  for the knee evaluation. The program still has not started. Each time we get over one hurdle another takes its place. (Current hurdle: Change to new adapters, therefore, longer delay as we wait for parts from China)
• I have been offered to stay in Kenya for a second year. Please pray for wisdom about this opportunity. If I stay I would need to be able to raise the support for a second year. Also, my US insurance runs out this year so I also have to consider how to handle this. 

          I would love to stay. My work here is so fulfilling and I can see Christ working.

• Please pray for relationships. 
• Please pray for the coming elections in Kenya. This will be the first presidential election since 2007 when there was so much post-election violence. Pray for peace!
• My parents have considered coming over to see me in Kenya. Please pray that God's Will be done!
• I have been getting lonely. Please pray for friends, emails from supporters, etc!

Prayers and Praises

One of the most important things for a missionary is prayer and yet, I have not updated any of my prayer supporters in over a month. If "Seven days without prayer makes one weak", I must be close to death.

Anyway, this post is focused on just that, PRAYER!

Praises

• I have my work permit and soon will be registered as an ALIEN (No, I do not have antenna!)
• I am getting along very well with my friends in Kenya
• God has kept me healthy!
• I have been able to meet missionaries from northern Kenya

Requests

• Continued health. Strep throat has been going around the area.
• Continued prayer  for the knee evaluation. The program still has not started. Each time we get over one hurdle another takes its place. This is quite frustrating and my boss in the States has even threaten to can it altogether. Please pray for wisdom and patience! (Current hurdle: administrative finances for testing centers and national healthcare worker strike)
• I have been offered to stay in Kenya for a second year. Please pray for wisdom about this opportunity. If I stay I would need to be able to raise the support for a second year. Also, my US insurance runs out this year so I also have to consider how to handle this. 

          I would love to stay. My work here is so fulfilling and I can see Christ working.

• Please pray for relationships. 
• Please pray for a friend of mine (Tiffany) in the Praise and Worship team. She has been suffering from stomach pain. Please pray that she would have the courage to get it checked out and that God would heal her body.
• The national healthcare workers (Nurses, Orthopedic Technologists, anesthesiologists, etc)  have been on strike since March 1st. Please pray that this will be resolved quickly! Not only does it cause delays in my work, but more importantly, it causes the patients (or potential patients) to suffer. People in urgent need of medical care are being turned away from public hospitals and those who are in the hospitals are left to fend for themselves. 
• Please pray for the coming elections in Kenya. This will be the first presidential election since 2007 when there was so much post-election violence. Pray for peace!
• My parents have considered coming over to see me in Kenya. Please pray that God's Will be done!

Thank you so much for your continued support!

A week in the Life!

In and effort to update more regularly, I decided to write about last week.

Monday night I went up the hill to Bible Study at RVA. We are studying1 Corinthians. This is definitely an enjoyable time of the week. I get to talk to other missionaries/people who understand my accent (and I understand theirs).

Tuesday, I went to a meeting in Nairobi alone for the first time. I have been in Kenya for 5 months now
(and been to Nairobi almost once a week every week) so I should be able to navigate around Nairobi by myself. Yes, this was a new experience for me but God took care of me. I did go the wrong direction twice. However, God was there. The first time I got lost, I ran into a lady who happened to be going right by where I was trying to get to. The second time, there was a security guard to direct me. Also, the second time when I turned the wrong direction I was in site of my destination and still turned the wrong way. SILLY ME!
In the evening, I went to praise and worship team rehearsal. 

Wednesday, I decided to work from home instead of going into the workshop. I had a lot of computer work to do and need peace and quiet to concentrate. I got about half the work done, but it was still more than I could have done if I had been around all the machines and co-workers.

Thursday, I went to another meeting in Nairobi. In addition to the meeting, my coworker needed to run some errands. Therefore, the two of us went running around Nairobi (on foot) to find what he needed. Man! my feet hurt that night!

Friday, I was back at the workshop. I basically spent the day responding to emails and helping out my co-workers. I thought there was a meeting that night, but when no one showed after a half hour, I went home.

I have started taking Swahili lessons on Friday nights. This is usually my only free night (other than weekends) and I thought, "Since I'm in Kenya, why not learn Swahili from a Kenyan?"

Last Friday night I got to speak to my family on Skype. In total, I spent 3.5 hours talking to them (2 hours of that was with my brother!). I really enjoyed it!

Saturday, I rested. Sleep is wonderful!

Sunday, after church, I went with a friend of mine to Nairobi to meet some Master's Mission Missionaries. Although, we only had 2 hours with them, I enjoyed myself immensely. I got to talk with some of the wives about life in Kenya.

So that is a week in my life!

Chinese Supplies and Safari Walks

Sorry I have not updated in a while. At first, I was really busy and then, I got writer’s block.  Life is pretty much going on as normal and I didn’t want to bore you with the mundane details.

However, sometimes it takes a shock to clean out the cobwebs. Yesterday, I saw a man that had been killed in a road accident as I was traveling by bus in Nairobi. The face was covered and a pool of blood was around the body. I just saw it in passing, but it still gave me a jolt. 

Things have been progressing with the evaluation that I am trying to get going. Typical communication challenges.

There are 3 new orthopedic Technologist Interns in the department where I work at AIC-CURE Children’s Hospital. One of even is even a female! It is nice to have another lady, Margaret, in the department. One of the other interns gave me a blast from the past. He remembers when my church sent a team I was in to the Hope Center in Kimatha slum in Kenya in 2003. He was one the students in the VBS we conducted there. He could tell me the names of his teachers and the game leader. I showed him my pictures from that time and he told me what had happened to each of them, which of the older helpers had died, and how the place had changed since the last time I was there.

Big Update: The components that I have been waiting for from China for the evaluation have arrived. Now I just have to package all the supplies and ship them to the various testing locations. This may sound simple, but, it has taken me over a week to assemble all the supplies needed without including the stuff in the newly arrived shipment.  I am hoping now that the overseas shipment has arrived things will go more quickly.

PRAYER REQUEST: I found out this week that there are some communication issues at one of the testing locations; something to do with the communication protocol. I thought this had been worked out last year, but apparently not. Please pray that God’s Will be done and the He would be glorified in this situation.

Emotionally, I’m doing alright although I miss being at my parent’s house for my birthday. The strange thing is that I have not been there for my birthday for the last 6 years. Culture adjustment is not rational!

This weekend I went to visit some friends in Limuru. It was nice to get away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. Yesterday, we went to the Nairobi Safari Walk. Some of the animals were not out but it was cool to see a lot of animals up close. The Safari walk was like a small zoo and nature walk put together. You could get really close to the lions, crocodiles, rhino, and jaguar. However, the African buffalo, white zebra, and warthogs were quite a way off. Safety procedures were in place to keep the wildlife and humans from mingling. The only exception to this was the baboons which are native to the area and move about the area like squirrels and rabbits would at a zoo in the States. The baboons have plenty of food to steal from other animals so they don’t bother the human observers. Some of their babies looked so cute and I thought it would be fun to hold them. I know, however, that this is not possible or wise because they are wild animals and are VERY protective of their babies.

Today, I went to church with my friend. The service was entirely in Kikuyu (which I don’t speak). My friend translated some of it for me. It was an interesting experience!

The most memorable thing actually happened before the service, a young boy asked me, “Are you God?” I quickly answered “NO”.  I guess he hasn’t seen too many white people and most of the pictures of God and Jesus show them as white. 

I will post prayer requests and praises soon!

Around the World and back

If one of the requirements of a good missionary is to keep her supporters updated, then I am a bad missionary.

The last month has been VERY busy and trying. So much has happened since my last update.
1. I got to go to North Carolina for Christmas and see my family!
2. Got two very sentimental gifts (and lots of other nice things)
3. Learned my lesson about NOT updating my Christmas wishlist once I found out I could go home.
4. Returned to Kijabe, Kenya and returned to work.
5. Had a stressful week of problem-solving a new knee prototype on two patients.

Now for details!
In regards to going to NC for Christmas. Originally, I thought I would not be able to return to the US for Christmas. But God provided me with a ticket paid for by relatives. PRAISE THE LORD! The trip lasted exactly two weeks from departure date to departure date. I struggled a little with jet-lag at first, but soon got over it. The first 5 days in the USA were spent finishing Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, seeing a couple of really good friends, Christmas Caroling, and animals!

Even though Christmas this year was on  Sunday, my family didn't change our traditions that much. We just got up earlier. Every year we start our celebration of Christmas off with the telling and acting out of the Christmas story. Many, many years ago, my aunt gave us felt puppets of the nativity (Mary, Joseph, bald Baby Jesus with "swaddling clothes" hat, one shepherd, one sheep, one camel, three magi, and one angel).  Each member of the family is given a role and the appropriate puppets. My Mom always reads the story from the Bible so she does not need a puppet. We start with the story of the birth of John the baptist and continue to the Magi's arrival after Jesus' birth. As the story is read, each of us recites the lines for our character(s). It is almost a tradition of who has certain puppets. My Dad usually has a wise man and the camel. He has quite an imagination when acting out the part of the camel and always finds something to act as the gift for Jesus. David is always the shepherd and sheep. I always get to play the character of Elizabeth since that's my name. It has no puppet, just lines. The rest of the puppets rotate around each year on who plays them. I was the angel this year. This tradition is my favorite part of Christmas and has enabled me to memorize almost the entire story of Christ's birth. Presents follow, then Stockings, and this year preparation for church.

After Church, we packed up and headed to Winston-Salem to see our relatives. We stopped by maternal Grandmother first and celebrated and visited with her. Then we went over to see my Dad's side of the family. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and watching them open their gifts. My paternal grandmother and great aunt gave me two very sentimental gifts. The first was a pendent with a fancy E inscribed on it. My great aunt found this in my late great grandmother's jewelry. I am the only female on that side whose name begins with E so she thought it must have been intended for me. The second item was a cross from Mexico on a nylon cord, also from my late great grandmother's jewelry. Although these items are small, I treasure them.

My wish list for CHRISTmas contained things that were fairly easy to ship or I could not buy in Kenya, such as: good peanut butter, dark chocolate (which I have since found out I can get in Kenya), and trouser socks.

Well, I got 10 pounds of peanut butter, over 24 pairs of trouser socks, and probably 5 pounds of dark chocolate. I am set for the entire next year!!! One of my aunts and Uncles gave me a down comforter which has been wonderful for keeping me warm on these cold Kijabe nights.
Several of my relatives gave me money for things I needed in Kenya (like a microwave). Many may feel bad or impersonal for giving money, but to me it was the perfect gift. It is light (can be deposited before I leave and withdrawn once I reached Kenya), small (Money in a bank account takes up no room in luggage), and can be used for what I really need/want. With this money I was able to buy a microwave! =) Hallelujah! This means I will have a way to make food if my stove suddenly runs out of gas. (this has already happened once)

My return trip:
God timing is perfect timing! I found out after I got to the gate that flight I thought was at 6:50 pm was at 5:50pm and boarded 20 minutes after I got to the gate. Somehow, I don't know why, I was given priority access during boarding which was a blessing. This meant that although I did not have my preferred window seat I did have first dibs on over head luggage bins. I had good seat mates on both flights back and all my baggage made it. God is definitely watching over me!

I stayed in Nairobi the night I got back since my flight came in at 9pm. The next morning a friend came to meet me along with another friend to drive me back to Kijabe. From what I'm told, the area I spent the night is the safest in Nairobi. It is covered in guards because most of the foreign consulates are in this area, along with the prison (which doesn't seem to fit). We went through at least two checks before we could leave the area.

Before driving back to Kijabe, we stopped by the equivalent of Wal-Mart. I used the money I had gotten for Christmas to buy a Microwave and some pillows for decoration along with a few groceries I can’t get in Kijabe. The trip back to Kijabe went well, although I was exhausted from my travels. God is Good!

I started back to work the next day. (Yes, I push my limits!) It was nice to see my coworkers again although there are a lot fewer now because the students who were doing their practicals at Cure have now left for their next rotation. I will miss them!

New Year means new challenges. First, my preparations for the evaluation I am trying to oversee are not going as planned. I have been delayed another two weeks because of the Chinese New Year. (Our below knee components are coming from China) Second, I spent the last week with two of LIMBS first patients to wear our knee. They came to field test another version our knee. Problems started popping up within the first 24 hours. We are testing out new washers and they SQUEAK. One of the challenges with problem solving this issue is that it takes time to know if a solution worked. The patient has to walk around for at least 4 hours before we can know if the lubricating solution worked. We found WD-40 works for only four hours. However, the Kenyan equivalent to Vaseline works much longer and smells better. And while this is a breakthrough, it took two days to find. These two patients (Peter and Victor) are star LIMBS International models. You can barely tell that they are wearing an above knee prosthesis and they are very good at answering people’s questions about their knee and leg. Also, they are both married and each have a young son. 

I am trying to get back into the swing on things, but I also have a lot of prayer requests.

First, I have been getting daily headaches for the last 4 days. Tylenol takes care of it for now, but every morning I wake up again with a headache that gets progressively worse as the day continues if not treated. So while Tylenol works for now, I don’t want to be taking it every day! Please pray that the headaches will cease or at least I will find the cause of them. Next, as I mentioned above the evaluation preparations are not going as planned, please pray that they get moving in God’s time and that He will be glorified through it. Third, some of my coworkers are not cleaning up after themselves after they finish working. This frustrates me because, not only do I know how important a clean work environment is to productivity, but also because we just did a “Continuing Medical Education” seminar/meeting on the importance of cleanliness and organization last week!

Please pray for patience! Fourth, please pray for my relationships and walk with the Lord.

Praises

·         I got to see my family for Christmas

·         I made it to the USA and back safely

·         All my luggage made it both ways.

·         My sister has a nursing job

·         Small blessings like Priority Access plane seating

Prayer Requests

·         My daily headaches

·         The LIMBS Knee evaluation in Kenya

·         Patience and loving-kindness with frustrating co-workers

·         Strong Walk with the Lord

·         Relationships

·         That my work visa would come through soon.

·         Punctuality in updates

Matatus, Monkeys, and Guacomole

In the last 2 days I have been to Nairobi twice and both times got stuck in horrible traffic.
On Thursday, Alex and I had to go to the outskirts of Nairobi for a meeting. The meeting ended early so we went into town to pick up a few supplies we needed that day. We started looking for a matatu to return to Kijabe while it was still broad daylight. However, by the time we found one it was dark and raining. I have rarely seen so much pushing and shoving for a matatu seat in my life. Thanks to my co-worker, Alex, I was able to get a seat but my bread got smashed. Then, it took us 3.5 hours to get to Kijabe because of traffic instead of the usual 1.5 hours. We didn't get back to the CURE Compound until around 10pm.

Then the next day, Friday, I needed to go to Nairobi to purchase supplies for the LIMBS knee evaluation. This time I went in a CURE vehicle with Alex and Peter (someone from the spiritual department). We were supposed to leave in the morning, but it was after noon before we left. Due to traffic and delays during the day, none of us got everything we needed. We started back towards Kijabe at around 5pm. However, since Nairobi University had its graduation yesterday, we didn't get out of Nairobi until after 9pm. The major highway was like a parking lot all the way through the city. By the time we reached Kijabe, it was after 11pm. It was a VERY long day!

So it seems it doesn't matter what type of transportation you use, when traffic arrives everyone waits in it!

Today, I had my househelp, Rose, with me and it was finally sunny most of the day. Because the sun was out, the baboons also came out to play and exercise. The troop around my house was made up of a nursing mother with infant (the boss) and several "teenagers".  At first, they were racing around my and my neighbors houses and yards enjoying the sun. They finally settled down in the yard next to the side of my house. Rose and I decided to see what they would do with the skin of an avocado. They loved it. We ended up feeding them most of my fruit and vegetable rubbish (rotten tomato and half an avocado, mango skins, carrot peelings, etc). They seemed to enjoy them. (And yes, they did grab a bag of rubbish in my trash can when I stepped into my house to grab something.) =)   Rose and I cleaned up the remaining trash after they had finished and left. The following pictures were taken literally right outside my house. Who needs to go on a safari when live in Kijabe?! What entertainment!!!

On approach

Mother gets first picks

The rest fall in

What a meal! (Notice the one in the upper left corner who took
his pick and then left the group to eat without competition)

And there go my good intentions of putting down a plastic
sheet to ease clean up!
They just pulled it out and tossed it aside.

I made guacamole (minus the onions) for the first time today. Avocados are in season right now and the ones I bought were about to go bad. I could only find small limes at the produce market and was disappointed at their lack of juice. Therefore, I replaced the called for lime juice with lime plump. The sour cream here in Kenya is different than that sold in the US so I used 1.5 times the sour cream called for in the recipe. It turned out really well!! I splurged and bought tortilla chips to dip in the guacamole. (These chips are basically a knock off of Cool Ranch Doritos) The guac and chips made a really good lunch along with mango and a slice of avocado.

Guacamole on the left. Chips on the right.

So much has happened and I wanted to update all of you!! =)